One morning a week or so ago the TV blew up. It had been behaving erratically and then one morning in the middle of Sponge Bob, it gave up its ghost with a puff of smoke. The children were devastated. What will we do now? What will we do? There is nothing to do! Dad came and tried to set up the computer with a DVD but the computer crashed and when rebooted would not see the DVD device. Hmm. He spent 4 hrs. So the kids could watch TV. But the curse was too strong.
The TV still sits mute. But we have eaten meals at the table more often in the last week than in the last three months, we have played card games and board games. We rode bikes and took walks. We just talked.
In the interim my husband and I talked alot about cable and what we really want and use, and found that we want little and end up paying for a big package of stuff that we don't want. There is no way to say no thank you I don't want that. And no matter what fancy promotion/rewards/premium offer you sign up for after fees and the promotional period ends the cost is obscene. Similar to the obscene disproportion of space that breakfast cereal and soda take up in a grocery store.
I find myself again in that place of does any one else notice how insane this is?
If Keeping up with the Kardashians is your thing, well .. never mind. But ever the National Geographic Programming has fallen into the hyper dramatized, digitally recreated mode. So little is authentic any more.
I watched Fame with K1 and shocked her with some breasts and the f word, because she has dreams of fame that are fed by Disney and I wanted her to see a little more reality of the struggle. What really impressed me how normal the characters in the film looked. Normal everyday buck-teethed people dressed in hand-me-downs with immigrant parents. Not these shiny perfect beings with clueless or absent rich parents that live on Planet Disney.
So maybe the next title will be in search of authenticity.
3 comments:
I would love to kill the TV's. I watch a little food network and the news. The kids are addicted watching far too much at bio's and totally annoyed that I limit what and how much. My co-workers are still shocked and appalled that I didn't see the latest whatever. Who has time for that? We eat all meals at the table. We read and play and volunteer in the community.
Glad to see you back!!!!
are you back? and blogging? promise?? :)
Yay! You're back!
I killed my TV a year and a half ago when I canceled my satellite TV subscription. Wow. I just realized how long ago when I wrote that. I was watching about 4 shows a month and only on DVR when I could find the time to sit down, and I was paying more than $60 month for those four shows. As you say, you can opt in but you can't opt out. I simply do not miss the thing and it's always entertaining to hear co-workers say "you don't have TV!??!" Shortly after that they remember other conversations and say "or a microwave?!" ...always like I'm some sort of lunatic.
I don't get the paper either -- I read it online -- but I really do miss that. Online doesn't have the same tactile pleasure one gets from turning pages while sipping a cup of coffee.
I did get a Roku about 4 months ago and I love that. You might consider it. It allows me to watch Netflix directly on my TV. Not all Netflix movies, but a very large library with lots of indie and foreign films (the best kind). Only $99, and it doesn't add to the cost of your netflix subscription. I have a $8.99/mo subscription, so I get unlimited movies direct to my TV for $9/mo. No commercials, watch them as many times as I want, stop, rewind, the whole thing. Seems like the best of both worlds to me. Entertainment for when I'm too tired to entertain myself, and no drivel from the MSM.
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