Confessions

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by O.M. Hillside, Feb 1, 2018.

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  1. Bruce Johnson

    Bruce Johnson Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    Her biological Dad was part of the 'Dream Team' but her parents were divorced by the time the show started. I still don't know which contributed more to her rise to 'stardom', her father's association with O.J. or her sex tape with Ray J. (the
    brother of singer Brandy).
     
  2. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Oh, dear. I really am out of it. No idea what constitutes the Dream Team or who Ray J or Brandy are.

    Turning in my Up-To-Date card effective immediately.
     
  3. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    I didn't even own a TV from the early eighties to about 2004. That show you really liked? I probably never saw it. Some shows I did see at other people's homes. Had a girlfriend who like Northern Exposure, and so did I. Conscious choice, I have ADD and it was too tempting to turn into a potato.
     
  4. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    I haven't had a TV since 1975. Haven't missed it.
     
  5. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    I would say "You're not missing a thing."

    I still had a satellite subscription in 2014 when I had my heart operation (I had it for my wife -- she died in January of 2014 and I hadn't gotten around to cancelling the subscription when I had a cardiac event), so it was convenient for keeping my mind numbed while I was bedridden during my recuperation. Once I was back on my feet and allowed to drive again, I cancelled the satellite subscription and I have never regretted having done so.
     
  6. Vaughan Quincey

    Vaughan Quincey Active Member

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    I'll give you guys a call, next time I get that 'weirdo' look for not owning a TV (Gave up on TV 20 years ago, with the rise of reality shows and the death of MTV as music channel)

    That being said... Some series and movies on streaming services (Apple TV for instance) are worth the time. Seems to me the content creators enjoy more creative freedom, including who they can hire to play a character - I was a bit tired of the white, caucasian, mr muscle yadayada male 'hero' 'confronting the forces of evil'... Think most of us were. Same goes for the stories, and even genres.

    Don't get the 'binge watching' though. I used to enjoy the anticipation of waiting a whole week for a single episode.
     
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  7. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    The 'Airwaves' are filled with cop shows that fit this description. Often they have storylines that play lip service to recent headlines concerning the police. One cliche plot is of the Internal Affairs dick that they all hate, but who eventually get the 'one bad cop'. All the rest of the cops realize the 'one bad cop' was truly bad, and no one circles the wagons to defend the bad guy. This sugar coats some real issues within the institution. At the end, it's the 'blue lives matter' message that drives the narrative.

    My wife is addicted to them. I sit through them while writing stuff. We watch almost entirely what she wants except for Jeopardy.

    As long as we are still on confessions, she got me hooked on Sex and the City. The writing is quite good.
     
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  8. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    It's strange how some of those without a TV for such a long time are still critical of what's been shown on TV during that time. Am I missing something? Like a book store, there's just as much rubbish as there is quality, but if you're not exposed to the quality you'll assume it's all rubbish. I have a friend that boasts about not having a TV but spends a LOT of time on Youtube watching rubbish. It's really no different. Personally I found the landscape of TV in the last 20 years, post 2000, has been very different to the 80s and 90s. I didn't have one myself for about 6 years after 2003, didn't substitute it with the internet, and while I didn't miss it, it was hard to watch movies when the feeling struck. I currently don't have access to 'free to air', just cable, and tend to watch movies on it, documentaries, or cable sitcoms, but it's fine either way. It all depends on what you choose and like to watch, either on 'TV', streaming, or other.

    That said, there really isn't such a thing as TV as it's own medium anymore anyway, since old school 'TV' can now be viewed both 'live' or streamed at will on phones and computers. All the live sports I watch is via the internet. Now a TV is just a device. I don't give credence to any claim of not watching TV when they just watch the same content on a computer.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2022
  9. Cress Albane

    Cress Albane Active Member

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    I think it might have something to do with the ads - when I still had TV, I remember that every movie I wanted to watch was constantly interrupted by ads advertising the "rubbish" the TV station in question produced. Like, even if you watch your favorite movie on some random TV station, it seems like you can't escape the ads for such masterpieces as "Stars on ice" (A Polish show about popular people skating), "Asia Express" (a polish show about celebrities going to Asia and laughing at people of different cultures), and my personal favorite, "Farmer looks for a wife" (A show where TV crews pay people with low education to look for spouses and then engineer problems in their relationship so that they'll break up.) Watching youtube, you don't really get an ad for Jake Pauls's new video, so you can kind of live in your information bubble, unaware of the type of rubbish that would offend you. Or when you go to a library and you borrow a book, it's not like the library staff calls you every 100 pages you read to tell you that you should really take a look at the new E.L James book :D
     
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  10. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    All (legal) content is paid for in some way, be it ads, or subscription or pay per view. I'm just as annoyed with Youtube ads for shit I don't want, need, or care about. But if I wanted them gone I could pay for it. Advertising on cable does annoy the crap out of me though, because I already pay for it, but to be fair, all the sports I watch are all ad free for the duration of the game or race. As are the shows I occasionally watch. When I followed Game of Thrones it was always ad free. Although I had to watch it 'on demand' rather than on release because in later seasons instead of cutting to the end credits, and letting the episode breath with the music, they'd cut straight to some panel show with some fuckwits I don't care about 'reacting' to the show. 'WOW, what did you think of that guys?'. Fuck off. But now I rant.
     
  11. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    If you're on a desktop or laptop adblockers are easy to install. On android there's an adblock browser, but it's a little clunky.
     
  12. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    I'm sadly becoming more and more technically inept every day.
     
  13. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    When I say I haven't missed having a TV, it's not a wholesale condemnation of the content thereon or an indication that I think I'm morally superior to those who spend happy hours in front of the screen. It simply means I prefer other forms of entertainment: reading, writing stories, weaving, brushing my dog, gardening, crossword puzzles, embroidery, walks along the river, so on and so forth.
     
  14. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    Sorry, I didn't mean that as a blanket criticism. I acknowledge some people are genuinely happy not engaging with TV or tv type shows, and all power to them.
     
  15. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Hey, not a problem and no offense taken. I was just sayin'. :)
     
  16. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    Through most of the eighties and nineties I did not own one. Part of it was the quality of what I did see, especially the family sitcom, a genre that has improved only marginally this millenium. I did like shows that were adult sitcoms like Barney Miller. It was actually a golden age for that genre.

    Almost all reality shows I've seen are unwatchable with exception of some that are gameshow like, like Survivor.
     
  17. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    If I could afford to hire a scribe, I'd never lay a finger on a keyboard again.
     
  18. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    You know you can dictate to your computer and it will type it up, right? You probably do. I tried a voice-to-text program once and had to make so many corrections afterwards that it wasn't worth it. Maybe if I'd shell out for a really good app like Dragon it would be better. Plus I felt weird sitting in here talking loudly and slowly to my computer if anybody walked by the room.
     
  19. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    When I talk to my computer, especially in a loud voice, I am usually employing a number of socially unacceptable words.
     
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  20. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Haha! And often on the point of committing violent computicide. :supermad:
     
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  21. ruskaya

    ruskaya Contributor Contributor

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    Aside from this forum, my other source of recommendations for books to read is booktubers. Aside from summarizing a book, most of the comments are about whether they (booktubers) liked or not a novel. And I follow their advice based on how they present their comments, which is mostly based on whether I like their voices and whether they say something (unclear) that hooks me on a book. I don't think it can get more random than that.
     
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  22. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    I'd like to give the pope a noogie.
     
  23. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    Probably why he always wears a hat :)
     
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  24. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    I've tried dictating to my phone on my walks. Doesn't work. I can't stand to listen to my own voice.
     
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  25. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    You can fire me, or I'll quit, but I don't want to leave the premises on a gurney.
     

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