ecstaticArticle first published as Window-shopping as a form if entertainment on Technorati
Shall we consider the after taste of sitting thru a bad movie first? It doesn’t take much of a walk before coming across a bus stop with a movie poster behind a glass window. Not only does one feel foolish for spending their money on a movie that may have been overly hyped with advertisement, ninety-nine percent of the time the audience regrets even having sat thru two hours of meaningless gibberish. This daunting situation could have been prevented if reviews and predictions were explored in depth beforehand.
It is definitely a nice feeling to be able to sit on the sofa and take a break from life’s stressful moments to zone out in front of the TV. My big screen TV began to get old and outdated when prices started to coming down for flat screen TVs. I enjoyed watching high definition programming for over two years before I realized that a small tree growing in my neighbor’s yard obstructed the line of site my satellite dish was facing. The small tree had reached rooftop proportions and blotted out the zenith to the signal I was paying so much money for every month. As a result, my viewing experience included cracks in the audio, and blemishes in the video. It is just as well something like this would happen because, from the moment I returned home from work, I would sit in front of the TV eating dinner and channel surf until it was time for bed.
This childish behavior would work me into a frenzy until I contemplated canceling my cable service altogether because I could not find anything interesting to watch. Either I was trying to squeeze every penny out of the costly charges, or I simply couldn’t get enough material to satisfy my thirst for creating my own screenplay. How wonderful it would be to cancel my cable service at the beginning of the year and start it back up when the new Fall Season of shows started up again. I’m sure I’m not the only one who must’ve thought of this brilliant idea. Sports fanatics paying extra for NFL sports packages must agree as well that TV is useless when football season is over. I’ll admit I’m a bit naive to think that consumers should be extended the option to turn their cable service on and off on a whim, but the networks aren’t leading by example themselves when the news is filled with lawsuits between actors and studios, and networks and baseball teams.
These are all relevant issues to consider before taking the plunge on a new electronic component. I was overjoyed when my cell phone company explained to me the upgrade policy of one year eligibility. Two months after I purchased an HTC EVO 3D, I received a letter explaining that the yearly upgrade feature would soon be discontinued. Although I’ve been with the same cell phone company since the 90’s, I wouldn’t feel the least bit remorseful if, for instance, I closed my account because they decided unlimited data plans were not conventional for the greater good of the company. It is the only strategic move a consumer has against the echelons of corporate decision makers; the option to take our business elsewhere.
I’m already going on two months without any TV what-so-ever, and I feel fine. I’ve tried to hook up the old rooftop antenna with one of the digital descrambler boxes the government provided thru discount coupons, but that was a wasted effort as I could’ve predicted the resulting jaggedy pictures with less than audible coherency. I’m stuck with a big screen TV that only plays DVDs, and even the DVD player is behaving abnormally. Do I get a play station with Blue-Ray capabilities, or a simple dedicated Blue-Ray/DVD player? I’m still pondering the idea of exchanging the big screen TV with a more modern HDMI compatible television which can detect feeds from my cell phone.
These gradual advancements in technology may seem insignificant, but what it is doing to our train of thought is confusing us. Someday somebody will identify this happenstance as window-shopping syndrome. The upgrade process was too confusing to absorb for society. Never before did anybody fathom that buying a cell phone would result in canceling their LAN line. People wanted the best of both worlds, a fancy rotary dial telephone and a portable cell phone, a PDA and a vintage typewriter. 1 How much time lapses between the realization that the kids have grown up and no longer require DSL Internet speed as much as they now benefit greater with a smart phone and data plan? About the same amount of time it takes for a blockbuster movie premier to become available in DVD or digital format? The new millennium has shown us the capabilities of smart phones. Live TV streaming, 4G speeds, text messages and video calls, email, Internet, brain tumors, etc.
If I could turn on and off my cable service, I would. I’ll spend a few months next year trying out Netflix or Qwikster, depending on the current performance status of my DVD player, to catch up on my favorite TV series. I’ll have to wait until all my favorite shows are available so I can watch them at the same time. It will seem like I’ve suddenly begun hibernating in the spring time. Awkward. I won’t be able to review the most recent episodes everybody was talking about in November, and I’ll have very few readers visiting my blog about TV shows I review, but I will not be a slave to TV anymore. Praise the lord.
______
1. courtesy of
pocketofgreen http://etsy.com/shop/usbtypewriter