Man's Bizarre Quest: Own All VHS Copies of Speed

Ryan Beitz claims to have about 550
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 27, 2014 5:29 AM CDT
Man's Bizarre Quest: Own All VHS Copies of Speed
A screenshot from the trailer for 'Speed.'   (YouTube)

Own a copy of Speed you're not watching? Donate it to Ryan Beitz—but only if it's on VHS. The guy is trying to collect every VHS copy of the movie that exists, Vice reports, and so far, he's at "like 550 or something," he says. "I haven’t counted in a while, 'cause who really cares?" It seems he cares, at least enough to create a blog about his World Speed Project, which he calls "larger than life." (And perhaps logistically impossible; he admits he doesn't "want to spend money on this." But, he says, he won't give up, because "that’d be the same as somebody saying like, 'It’s impossible to make the world a good place, so I’m not going to try.'")

It all started when he was buying gifts for his family, he tells Vice. "When I was at the pawn shop they had six copies of Speed, and I thought it would be really funny to get everybody in my family the same gift," he says. "Then when I bought all six it was, like, way too good. I realized it was really fascinating to have that many, like, same copies of a thing." His passion for Speed extends beyond the tapes: He's also trying to turn his van into the bus from the movie. For that project, he's got a Kickstarter page. The risks involved? "Ultimately," he writes on Kickstarter, "for the World Speed Project there are no risk because the project itself IS risk!" (Another hilarious recent Kickstarter involved raising $8 to buy a burrito.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X