Jaws

Located a block away from my childhood home in Alexandria, Virginia was Power Video. It was open from 1987 until September 2010. It was easy to be overwhelmed in the small store that at its peak held over 30,000 videotapes/DVDs and 10,000 different titles squeezed into identical white bookshelves. It housed softcore pornography, graphic horror, nunsploitation movies, foreign films, offbeat documentaries, and every episode of The Twilight Zone, Dark Shadows, The Outer Limits, and Star Trek on VHS. I worked there from 2000-2006, some of that time with Ten Sundays co-founder Ian Albetski. I watched from the back office as Bush stole the 2000 election. I was there on September 11th. I met my wife there. When I produced my first feature film "Boxing Day", Power Video was the first place to put it on the shelf. I worked for minimum wage for 2 years and never made more than $9/hr. when former classmates of mine were in law school. But I didn't care because all the movies I took home were free and I could cancel late fees for my friends. At night when it was last call and the few remaining customers couldn't take the hint, we would "play the Wagner". The back lights would be turned off and the air cavalry scene from "Apocalypse Now" would be played. Loud. When I was young, I couldn't even walk past "Jaws" because the box art was too scary. At 7, When I finally worked up the courage to watch it, it was from behind the couch in my living room. That way there was something between me and the shark.