Parents Build Autistic Son A Blockbuster Video At Home To Lift His Spirits

Distractify- It may come as a surprise, but there’s still a few Blockbusters left in the world. One of them happens to be in south Texas, where Twitter user Javier Zuniga lives. He and his brother, who has autism, were loyal customers until it finally shut down on Sunday, an event which upset Zuniga’s brother. 

So in what may be the greatest parenting decision this year, their parents decided to create a Blockbuster at home, stocked with their son’s favorite movies. 

Feel-good story to start this rainy Tuesday. This kid absolutely loves Blockbuster and the one remaining Blockbuster in the country, which happened to be in his hometown, shuts down. So his parents build him one in their house. You youngsters might not remember this, but going to Blockbuster/Movie Gallery was the fucking SHIT when you were a kid. You’d choose your movie based on which actors were in it and how the cover of the box looked. There was no rotten tomatoes, no 5 stars, so you were basically shooting in the dark. You’d say “This looks good!” based on the fact that Mel Gibson was holding a gun. It was the wild west of watching movies–you never really knew what you were going to get–but it sure was exciting.

Having said that, imagine if this kid discovered Netflix? I feel like he’d light this Blockbuster rig on fire and run away from home. His parents have kept him in a 20th-century movie-watching time capsule. The moment he realizes he could have rented these movies instantly, from his couch, with a sense of how good the movie would be, he’s going to disown his parents.

“You’re telling me that all this time, we’ve been getting in the goddamn car, driving to a store, renting a movie, and worrying about late fees*… when I could have been sitting here on the fucking couch flipping through movie options that we could rent INSTANTLY?! I’m gone bitch.”

*Haters will say Blockbuster didn’t have late fees towards the end. That was the biggest bullshit marketing ploy in history. They said “no more late fees” but really, they’d just charge you for renting the movie again if you didn’t bring it back on time. Don’t piss on my face and tell me you’re a squirter. Or something.

PS- notice how “The Town” and “The Judge” are on the top shelf? Mom and dad sprinkling in a few of their own choices, selfishly.