I Found a 27-Year-Old Camera at a Thrift Store

and It Made Me Feel More Alive Than My Phone Ever Has

There is a Sony CCD-TRV65 sitting on my desk right now and it weighs approximately as much as my self-respect after agreeing to appear on camera, which is to say, considerably more than I expected for $14.

I found it at the thrift store on a Tuesday, wedged between a bread machine that had clearly committed some kind of crime and a lamp held together primarily by optimism. The sticker was handwritten. The battery door had a crack in it that the previous owner had addressed with an impressive amount of electrical tape, which is the universal sign that something used to be someone’s treasure and is now the thrift store’s problem. I bought it immediately, and at this point I had absolutely no plans involving Wolf or a YouTube channel or my dignity.

That part came later.

I told Wolf about the camera. I should not have done this. Within 24 hours the man had developed a vision. The YouTube channel, which has existed in suspended animation under the name “Cult of the Lamb” (long story, our grap…