Yeah, I never watch live TV any more. Or any TV, I guess. Interesting timing of the question - we just finally got round to cancelling our satellite TV, and last night - for the first time in a long time - I saw a news bulletin and a police drama on TV and couldn't believe it. They looked so weird. It was like when you go to another country and you turn on the TV and everything looks a bit ugly and unfamiliar. But it was the BBC.
I felt like I was watching a parody - the weird lacquered-over news presenters trying to be friendly to "you" from behind a desk - or, more disturbing, standing up to introduce reports and graphics (uselessly, but like they were poised for some kind of action). And in the police drama, I found myself laughing out loud at the staging of the shots, the editing, the construction of the narrative, the hamminess of the script and acting. I realised I'd been watching nothing but videoblogs for at least 3 months. I suddenly have this incredible bullshit detector. The last thing I watched on TV was Lost, which ended in May, I think. Someone I know makes a couple of shows, but one of them's a panel discussion and the BBC video podcast that, so I usually watch it on iTunes or on my iPod. Even radio has fallen away. For years, I started the day listening to the Radio 4 Today Programme, which is full of journalists getting aggressive with politicians, but I can't cope with its relentless pitching of opposing points of view against each other, and the fruitless search for a truth or admission that never comes. Everything on TV or radio or in the papers now seems like an expensive Punch and Judy show staged to keep children quiet at a party. I guess videoblogging has turned me into a freak, outside the acceptable discourse of main stream society. On the tube home this evening, I watched Raymond cycling round Copenhagen for 15 minutes on my iPod. Not saying anything, just cycling along the streets. It was really calming to watch on a hot, crowded tube. But the people squished in next to me must have wondered what the *hell* was being said or sung over the video to make it so interesting. Rupert http://twittervlog.tv/ http://feeds.feedburner.com/twittervlog/ On 3 Aug 2007, at 23:46, J. Rhett Aultman wrote: It's worth noting that, despite the fact that I watch a lot of television, I'm generally not focusing on it. Between my job, my doctorate, Greentime, Freetime (still technically active), the ever-impending-event (was my wedding, now it's Dragon*Con), gym, garden, baking and brewing, etc, etc, I don't have a lot of time in the day. But, I often have time when I'm cooking dinner. So, I flip on The Simpsons and listen to an episode. When I come home to eat lunch, I catch up on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. While I'm digging through a book, editing, or updating a website, I might put on an episode of Mythbusters or maybe a lacrosse or hockey game. My attention span is a funny beast. I have a hard time focusing on one thing for any period of time, but if two things compete for my attention, things get easier. The only thing on TV that gets my undivided attention is Battlestar Galactica. Anything resembling "vegging out" is usually done after I've been out with friends and I'm a little too drunk to be productive anymore. I almost never use my TV for watching a movie, incidentally. I don't sit still long enough for watching movies, and when I do, they generally annoy me. I loved movies until I started making my own. Then I started noticing awkward cuts, bad performances, plot and pacing issues, etc. If I want to get frustrated, Fox News broadcasts 24 hours a day, and they'll do the job much quicker than a film. -- Rhett. http://www.weatherlight.com/freetime http://www.weatherlight.com/greentime > For one thing, making media simply takes time and that cuts down amount > I might watch television. > > These days, most of my video watching is online and through out the > day, not at one time. > > I watch almost no "television programming", although I still use my tv > to watch DVD and VHS movies that I own. > > Unfortunately, I still feel that I see more tv programming than I would > like just by "passing by" when others are watching. > > Most people that I have asked who claim to like television say that > they like the veg time. > > While I can still get absorbed in a good video or film, I not into > vegging at all. > > Recently we had a major fire. I turned on the TV to find out what was > up. > > I must admit, it gave me great information. There was just a bulletin > on the screen that said to check out my friend Tyler's > http://ojaipost.com vlog!!! > > So much for television :) > > Markus > > -- > > http://tools.ourmedia.org > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
