Here are videos we made in 1996, this was the first official year of the Arnold Attic Films which is my collection of home videos I made with family and friends between 1996 and 2003. The following is an attempted six-hour-long chronological (as much as possible) collage video of most if not all of the best versions (allegedly) of our videos we made mostly via Rick's first camcorder that year plus some content from VCRs as well. Long story short, I've been making videos for the past thirty years since 1996. The following has been thirty years in the making.
Arnold Attic Films
1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003
As a family, we started making content as late as the 1000s, we started recording to audio cassette tapes in the 1900s, we started recording VHS video tapes via VCRs at least by the 1980s, we started taking photos decades ago, we started drawing pictures a long time ago, and we started officially recording videos via camcorders in 1996 as far as I know allegedly.
Here is version 1 of the 1996 video canon of the Arnold Attic as follows:
WELCOME TO OATMEAL WORLD
ABOUT | AI | CONTACT | CONTENT | GROUPS | SUPPORT
ARTICLES | DIRECTORY | TIMELINE
Here I am on video in 1996 holding our cat Puffer
Video - 1996
Oatmeal Daily - 2026-01-30 - Friday | Published in January of 2026
BY OATMEAL JOEY ARNOLD
Introduction
The following is an as-is (as much as possible) collage of most if not all of our camcorder-related home videos from 1996. When I say these videos are as-is, it means I try to copy them as-is while attempting to limit changes as much as possible which can be tricky.
Home Videos from 1996
The following is an outline of videos I made with family and friends in 1996. My brother Rick Arnold was born on the 5th of February of 1982. I was born on the 11th of February of 1985. In the 1990s, we lived in a manufactured trailer home, space number 163, at the Rose Grove Mobile Home Park at 3839 Pacific Avenue, in Forest Grove, Oregon state, of the United States of northern America, zip code 97116-2234. Our number was 503-357-0477. Some called this trailer park an alleged ghetto at least partly due to teens and young adults being involved in drugs, alcohol, and even crime. In other words, they had alleged gangsters, druggies, some of them white, some of them Mexican, some of them possibly black, some of them maybe even native American. I grew up involved in churches, Bible clubs, and more.
Happy 30th Anniversary
I'm attempting to upload this video on the 30th anniversary of when my brother first got that camcorder. This video is 13.6 GB in size and 6:07:53 minutes or over six hours long. I'm also attempting to upload videos we made in 1997 as well which might overlap with 1996. Some of the videos were not dated or may be challenging to identify which means some of our videos may have been from 1996 and/or 1997 which means this six-hour-long video might have a few clips from 1997 and the 1997 collection might have videos from 1996. But for the most part, I tried making this collage as accurate and as chronological and as original as possible. I used Avidemux in the final stage in saving this six-hour-long video. This video may not include everything we recorded from say like VCRs, it does contain some of what we recorded via VCRs but focuses mostly on what we recorded via that camcorder in 1996. I listed some of the details relating to these videos from 1996 including people, places, names of the videos, details, dates, and also timestamps so you can find and look at some of the content.
Multiple Versions
It's challenging to copy these videos as-is because there are multiple versions of the videos because I would engage in different tactics in editing and/or not editing and/or copying and/or recopying these videos back and forth between different video tapes, DVD discs, hard drives, and the Internet. I would experiment as it relates to different VCR machines, DVD recorders, computers, devices, websites, video formats, etc. Sometimes, downscaling happened. Sometimes, I would try to upscale the videos. For example, if the video was 480p, I would attempt to save the in 1080p as my way of trying to improve the quality of the videos by adding pixels to the videos that were not originally there. Without boring you with all of the details right now, it's safe to say I spent years trying different things.
The 1996 Arnold Attic Videos - Version 001 - Six-Hours Long Collection
Outline
Here is an outline of the video as follows
1996-02-01 - Thursday
My dad got my brother Rick Arnold a VHS camcorder, I remember seeing it on that first day. Dad's friend Gary slept on the couch that Thursday night, Gary might have delivered the camcorder, I think Gary lived by the trailer park's manager's office by the bus stop at that main entrance.
1996-02-02 - Friday
Rick started recording around 06:00 AM for a few minutes before going to school, he recorded people in the house, he recorded Gary sleeping on the couch, me, Katie, mom. He recorded me with Puffer the cat with Pocahontas. He asked me about my life, I said I was a weirdo.
House Tour
Katie started recording around noon, she recorded me, mom, Crystal. Katie told me to stop being a fucking idiot because I was acting crazy as usual. Katie gave a tour of the house. Lisa Evers missed the bus.
Red Riding Hood
Crystal as the little red riding hood, I was the big bad wolf, Lisa was mom and the grandma, Pastor Tom Harris of France and of CCBC was in it for a second as she was there to talk to mom.
White Jordan
Rick played a news anchor, I played Michael Jordan who decided to quit basketball and try out the hockey league.
24:50
5:37 PM - Bill in the house while mom ranting about her doctor problems.
27:37 - Super Cat
28:00 - Naked Baby Power Ranger
29:13 - Dad says clean up the house
29:31 - Michael The Glyde Joey
1996-02-03 - Saturday - 02:49 PM
31:16 - Tom talking to mom, dad walks by
Power Rangers
32:05 - we started filming the hour-long Ghetto Power Rangers parody film: some of the people in this movie includes me, Rick, Crystal, mom on the piano, Bill Bailey, his sister Janet, Tiffany Cumbo, probably also her brother Michael.
1996-02-03 - Saturday
Day 1 of 4 filming the Rangers film
.
1996-02-04 - Sunday
Day 2 of 4 filming the Rangers film
1996-02-05 - Monday
Day 3 of 4 filming the Rangers film
1996-02-06 - Tuesday
Day 4 of 4 filming the Rangers film
1996-02-10 - Saturday
Probably a few days after filming the Rangers film, probably that next weekend.
1:30:10 - Power Rangers post-credit skit featuring me, Crystal, Rick, Savannah Larson, Bill, Janet, recorded by mom.
1:36:55 - SNES Super Mario All-Stars game-play
1:38:20 - X-Men like movie or show on Fox featuring a white Storm
1996-04
Probably around April of 1996
1:39:52 - Funniest Home Joey, a Bob Saget American Most Funniest Videos parody
1:42:01 - TBN Praise The Lord, people probably talking about the dangers of Mormonism
1:43:00 - Lisa, Kathy
1:43:07 - Power Rangers Zeo theme song, Tommy remembering Kimberly; Montel show
1996-05
Probably starting after or around May of 1996
1:45:50 - Bill jumping off the Attic shed with a tarp parachute
1:51:45 - Homeless in a tree fort featuring me
1:55:14 - Wrestling skit
1:57:46 - Homeless in a tree fort featuring Rick
1:58:51 - China Man Jack's house where we would do his yard work, Rick recorded the car dad was getting from Jack. Rick was saying this is Joey Arnold's house and here is Joey Arnold's slave, dad waves hi.
2:04:13 - Jesse Duplantis which included an upcoming event dated the 16th to the 18th of May of 1996, the Celebrate Jesus with Jesse event in Mobile, Alabama.
2:30:44 - TBN founder Paul Crouch saying May 1996 is sweep month, Paul said TBN was better than CNN, Fox, etc. Paul said leave TBN on 24/7 during the entire month of May 1996, if anybody calls and ask, say you're watching TBN, then we see Jan in a giant sweeping truck to sweep up the papers Paul had of the different television stations he mentioned.
2:31:46 - Myles Monroe
1996-05-16 - Friday
2:58:12 - Benny Hinn - This Is Your Day - Miracle Crusade - Veteran's Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona. The dates for this crusade may have been the 16th and 17th of May 1996.
2:59:15 - Mandy dog
3:00:56 - Hit and run skit where Rick hits me with the car we got from Jack
1996-05-19 - Sunday - 07:00 PM
3:02:01 - Heaven or Hell - featuring me, Bill, Janet, Rick, 6 minutes
3:08:18 - Mandy dog around 07:22 PM
1996-05-25 - Saturday
3:09:10 - Baby Kermit goes bungee jumping, Rick voices Kermit saying today is a Saturday.
1996-05-26 - Sunday
3:12:45 - airplane, biker jumping the speed bump, Mike's Back To The Future like red car. We played in the field.
1996-05-27 - Monday
3:16:28 - Katie gymnastics
3:20:52 - Katie dance featuring me in the background dancing; Crystal and Savannah are there. After that, Rick does shoes animation while neighbors at 164 have what looks like some kind of fire.
1996-05-28 - Tuesday
3:27:08 - Katie goals: sleep, eat, get fatter, get dummer; Katie dancing in her room to the Wanna Be Your Lover song.
1996-05-29 - Wednesday - 01:31 PM
3:28:49 - Katie records outside, Crystal asks if it's recording, she does gymnastics, you see me, Puffer, and Michael. After that, Katie does her dance routine with her friend.
1996-05-31 - Friday
3:42:54 - a television in Rick's room, Arby commercial.
1996-06-01 - Saturday
3:44:02 - Teenage romance skit starring Tiffany, Bill, and Crystal with a gun. After that, Rick is trying to learn how to do flips.
3:45:45 - Puffer
1996-06-15 - Friday
3:45:47 - We went to the coast to see my aunt and Woof. We left either Friday or Saturday. Mostly likely Friday. This might have been the time dad drove the long way driving past even the Tillamook Cheese Factory which can add hours to the trip, so we finally arrived at Woof's place late in the evening.
1996-06-16 - Saturday
3:56:53 - Rick drove with dad to the beach probably Saturday morning, they saw a deer, they listened to country music. After that, Rick recorded the basketball hoop at Jim's house. After that, we all went to the beach. We had a small beach fire, we were probably there around noon. We stopped by the lake that same day or possibly on Sunday.
1996-06-17 - Monday
4:22:44 - Driving through Astoria
4:23:47 - Arriving at the Astoria Column
1996-06-17 - Monday - 01:08 PM
4:35:40 - At a rest stop. We were probably an hour or two from home, dad was probably working probably a 10-hour graveyard shift (roughly 4 days a week on average possibly) at Stimson Lumber where he would leave for work around 04:00 PM, he worked there from like 1994 to 1998, probably around five years at most, his work schedule was at least sometimes random rotating between day and night shifts off and on for years it seems. Dad also had other jobs too like his landscaping yard clients and Steve.
1996-06
Probably in June 1996 or after that
4:36:42 - Bully vs gun skit, after that, we see Funniest Home Videos on Rick's TV, blocks in his room
4:41:27 - Chump starring Rick & Bill
4:47:09 - Baywatch where a wheelchair man is driving a chick down a hall
4:47:36 - Snakes
4:50:25 - TMNT turtle vs snake
4:51:23 - Rick jumps off the Attic shed
4:52:56 - Hanks Talk Show starring Katie, Rick, Jesse Vargas, and me
1996-08-18 - Sunday
5:04:01 - Puffer Show featuring me singing the Puffer Show song
5:05:29 - Darts Championship starring Katie, Rick, Jesse, me, Crystal, Michael, Canaan
5:11:44 - School Bullies - Rick, Canaan, Jesse. Looks like dad is washing his car
5:12:51 - Broke Dad - Rick, Jesse, Canaan, Michael
5:14:40 - NBC KGW Channel 8 weather news with a white old man with glasses, the Columbia Gorge
1996-08-20 - Tuesday
5:14:47 - Jeopardy on Rick's TV. Rick records the TMNT chair talking. After that, Kermit on his day off.
1996-08-22 - Thursday
5:15:55 - Rick's LEGO house in the Attic shed
1996-08-26 - Monday
5:17:58 - Katie's room
5:18:24 - The Karate Kid
1996-09-01 - Sunday
5:21:55 - We were going to the coast for the second time that year, I'm lip syncing in the car to Weird Al. But it is silent, I must have copied the silent version of this.
1996-11-18 - Monday - 4:10 PM
5:23:16 - Snow Joey
1996-11-18 - Monday - 9:56 PM
5:30:17 - I'm singing with stuff animals
1996-11-19 - Tuesday - 1:59 PM
5:30:20 - Snow outside, the smaller front yard club house shed was moved into the back yard by the back porch, Rick walks around outside to show this. Attic shed door was attached, the roof had a tarp.
1996-11-19 - Tuesday - 4:48 PM
5:33:57 - I dance around my snow man
1996-11-20 - Wednesday - 8:00 PM
5:34:30 - Billy Breaker The Blue Ranger - me; I say eat my marbles; I pet Puffer
1996-11-20 - Wednesday - 8:12 PM
5:43:34 - this is where that skit ends
1996-12-22 - Sunday - 12:00 PM
5:43:35 - The Knife Show - Rick, Joey
1996-12-25 - Wednesday
5:49:00 - Christmas with the Arnold Family featuring all six of us
1996-12-28 - Saturday - 12:46 PM
6:06:03 - Bill and his blue puppet
6:07:53 - end of this video
Conclusion
These were most if not all of our home videos which I dubbed the Arnold Attic Films in later years with 1996 being the very first year that we filmed these said home videos between the years of 1996 to 2003. We also recorded VHS videos of random things via VCR machines at least by the 1980s if not earlier meaning at least by roughly 1988. We also started recording audio tapes of ourselves at least by like the 1980s at the latest. This collection focused on home videos we made during the roughly twelve months of the year 1996 in chronological order as much as possible in the best most original form or format. Some videos may have been recorded in 1996 and/or in 1997. I'm not aware of much if any of additional home videos that we made in 1998 or 1999 probably mostly due to Rick's camcorder running into technical difficulties mostly with the camcorder batteries say for example. I don't remember if Rick ever got additional camcorders after dad got him that main camcorder for his birthday in 1996. I got three to four camcorders, I believe dad got me camcorders in the years 2000, 2001, and 2002 (at least those three years is what I remember). I say all of this to say that we filmed home videos in 1996 and 1997. After that, we probably didn't make home videos again via camcorders until 2000. We made home videos from 2000 to 2003. After that, we probably didn't make home videos after 2003 or not too many, Well, technically, I'm not aware of any after 2003. The goal of this video was to try to archive chronologically as-is all of our 1996 related videos minus edited versions meaning remix versions which I started making from time to time for music videos and highlight videos. This six-hour-long video has most of our 1996 home videos that I know of minus possibly a few seconds or maybe up to say twenty minutes is my guess. It's possibly I no longer have some of the VHS tapes. Perhaps people have some of the missing tapes, if there are any. Some of the footage may have been recorded over or might be damaged meaning tough to copy. But apart from all of those possibilities, this video probably features most of our 1996 videos that I know of to the best of my knowledge.
Video Details
I tried saving this 13.6 GB six-hour-long video into a 480p at 720 pixels by 480 pixels per frame at around 30 frames per second with the audio saved in the Mp3 file format inside a .mkv file format. The goal was to try to keep this videos from 1996 in their original formats, resolutions, ratios, frames per second, video quality, audio quality, as much as possible while attempting to limit changes. I want to minimize edits and even the re-encoding process of video and audio. For the record, the archives, the history books, I've engaged in attempting to archive and also highlight my stuff during the course of my life for better and for worse, I've talked about it since the dawn of time. I've fluctuated over the years between trying to save everything and save only the best of the best of say my content and my life in general which in turn would also include our videos and stuff. Over the years, I would try to create highlights and also music videos displaying our home videos and what not. I first started trying to make music videos as late as 2000. I would use say three VCRs with the third VCR as the music I was dubbing into my music videos. I also started making highlight videos at least by like 2000 if not earlier. The highlight videos were remixes or edited versions of the home videos. After or while making that Power Rangers parody film in 1996, I would even try to edit that video by trying to record commercials or scene transition segments into blank spots in that film say for example. So, in the process, I was damaging the originals of our home videos as I was always trying to make them better as a perfectionist.
History of the archiving
Over the years, I would be copying the Arnold Attic videos to and from VHS tapes in VCRs, DVD discs, hard drives, and the Internet. We started filming these videos in 1996. After that, I would copy videos from VCRs to VCRs. I was copying the videos to DVD starting at least by like 2003. I believe some of the other years might include 2004, 2005, 2007, and possibly every year after 2007 as well. First started uploading these videos to the Internet at least by like 2004 via websites like Xanga, Facebook, Google Video (which launched in 2005), and YouTube especially by 2009. Without boring you for a few hours with the details, suffice to say there was back and forth happening as I was always trying to like edit, upload, download, re-edit, reupload, and so on. I went through cycles or variations of different tactics, I've talked about this over the years online. I made mistakes. I experimented as usual. Not to say I'm always trying to like experiment or what not. I would try different things. It's tough to summarize everything. You might say I made a big deal about my stuff. I'm not saying most of my content is amazing. But I still wanted to at least try to publish as much as I could as I sort of made a promise to myself I would. Long story short, I have mixed feelings about this and about everything. Without boring you with all of the details right now, suffice to say I can talk about these things for hundreds of hours. I have mixed feelings about all of this because I see some value in these videos but I also see value in doing other things too. People are free to upload my videos and content as usual, people can edit my stuff, do as you please, you can mirror my content, you can reupload my content. Save my content while you still can as I do get banned sometimes off all the websites and apps and social media for decades, I get banned off all the websites as I have millions of things online, literally millions of pieces of content if you count up each comment, each post, each video, each email, etc. I have thousands of hours worth of content as of 2025. People try to take down my videos and content online for decades. But I argue it is fair use and transformative. But my content is taken down sometimes. I try to reupload my content when the content is taken down. Let me know when you see my content taken down. I publish content as I try to tell my side of the story as it relates to my life.
Oatmeal Videos
To be clear, I started making my own Post-Attic videos after 2003 and through to this day. Earlier, I was saying we didn't make say Arnold Attic related videos after like say 2003 say for example as the canon for the collection of the Arnold Attic Films is from the years of 1996 to 2003 officially speaking according to how I look at it. Not to say we don't have say content or even videos say before 1996 or after 2003. But to be clear, the Attic collection is as it relates to those years. But I continue to make videos and stuff even after 2003. This post is just an outline of some or even all or most of our videos from 1996. But these videos and articles and outlines probably contain mistakes, typos, errors, problems, etc. It may be inaccurate at times. It might be incomplete. It may be a number of things. Let us know if you have questions, feedback, concerns, issues, problems, facts, opinions, beliefs, feelings, ideas, suggestions, construction criticism, actions, words, thoughts, fun facts, tips, etc.
Disclaimers
This six-hour-long video is a collection of videos from 1996 which we started uploading online at least by like 2004 and especially by 2009 and many times these past like 22+ years. I've mentioned these videos over the years. I've shared screenshots of the videos. I try to tell my side of the story as it relates to my life via my daily blogs and autobiographies and probably over 30K+ or thirty thousand videos online meaning thousands of hours worth of content as I've been online since like 1995 as documented and archived for the record and history books many times over the years and decades on all the websites as I've also been simultaneously banned and censored and stuff at the same time off all the websites and apps for decades. Not saying most of content is great. But I try to publish stuff as I fear losing stuff. I lost stuff many times. I am simply trying to share as much as I can as it relates to my life and many things. I talked about all of this many times over the years and I always have more to say on the matter. As a public figure, my lolcow trolls spam the Internet since at least 2009 with Oatmeal Fake News deception as my trolls screenshot, soundbite, thumbnail, clickbait, etc. My trolls love taking me out of context and stuff. I sometimes try to provide context and stuff to help those see the context and more. That is why it is critical to include as much content to help people see the full story. This six-hour-long video of our videos from 1996 is version 001 as it is longest video I have ever uploaded to the Internet in my life as far as I know. This post and this video probably contains errors, problems, typos, etc. So, consider this to be more like a unfinished rough draft outline preview thumbnail.
Details
Video software: Avidemux
Video decoder: Lavcodec (VDPAU)
Video output: Mpeg4 AVC part-10 (x264)
Audio output: MP3 (lame) with one track
Output format: MKV Muxer
30.0003 frames per second
Video resolution/buffer dimension: 720 by 480 pixels
Details explained
In 1996, we recorded probably to a VHS RCA camcorder that probably originally recorded to VHS tapes possibly as low as 240p. Most likely at least 360p. When I say 360p, I mean 360 progressive. P means progressive. But the camcorder probably technically recorded at 360i meaning 360 interlaced. The camcorder recorded in analog meaning it was not digital. They say analog video probably should be converted meaning a 360i video should likely be converted into 360p. It's likely the camcorder recorded at a quality between 360i and 480i. My guess is it was under 720 by 420 pixels. It was also probably recorded at around 30 frames per second (fps) or as low as like 24 fps. VHS tapes can deteriorate which means the quality can decline. I would sometimes try to record videos from VHS tapes in like SP or XP modes to like LP or longer modes so I could have more videos on tapes. I was like why only have two hours on a tape when I can have like up to 10 hours. Most tapes were only up to like six hours. I said the same thing about DVD discs too. So, I would engage in those types of things which degraded the quality of the videos at times when I was trying things out. During these past 30 years, I did many different things on and off almost every year, I would often abandon these videos only to return to them later on. I made many mistakes. I learned many things the hard way, to be continued.
Copyright
YouTube sent me these copyright notices even as they're fair use and transformative. Two of the songs restricted in Russia includes Trouble by Shampoo (Detention mix) and Emotions by Mariah Carey.
