But I WANT to be passive dammnit!
Jan. 30th, 2011 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wendyzskiI have a nifty toy. It's called a Roku. With it and my $7.99 monthly subscription to Netflix I have a virtually unlimited number of movies and TV shows from several decades at my fingertips. I also have a free channel on there with a more hours of recent anime than you can shake a chopstick at. I've got podcasts, NASAtv, movie trailers, public domain movies, and news broadcasts from all over the world.
So why is my TV playing 11-3, CreateTV, the channel where all PBS's how-to and travel programmes go to die? Because it appears that I'm too lazy even to make an actual choice about what I can do while lying on my couch.
It's not even a matter of active vs passive entertainment. Apparently I want to be passive about my passive entertainment. Because it's too much trouble to scroll through the 49 things on my instant-play queue and actually choose to pay attention to something. Or gods forbid actually look at what is on the other "channels".
It's related to the "I've a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear" feeling. I'm doing the equivalent of pulling on old sweats and a T-shirt with holes in it. It's probably why I know so many people with TIVOs nearing explosive pressure.
When you have passive TV on, you don't feel bad if you decide you'd rather roll over and take a nap. If you've made an actual choice to watch something, there is an investment in the process somehow - even if I know I can go back to that exact spot at any time and pick things up wherever I want. That's too much like thinking.
I think that's why I've had that craptastic production of 'Sherlock Holmes' paused on there since Friday night. I invested energy in choosing it and don't want to admit it to myself that even Gareth David Lloyd in an absurd moustache isn't enough to save this thing (although the rock climbing scene reminded me that he does have a really nice ass).
So why is my TV playing 11-3, CreateTV, the channel where all PBS's how-to and travel programmes go to die? Because it appears that I'm too lazy even to make an actual choice about what I can do while lying on my couch.
It's not even a matter of active vs passive entertainment. Apparently I want to be passive about my passive entertainment. Because it's too much trouble to scroll through the 49 things on my instant-play queue and actually choose to pay attention to something. Or gods forbid actually look at what is on the other "channels".
It's related to the "I've a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear" feeling. I'm doing the equivalent of pulling on old sweats and a T-shirt with holes in it. It's probably why I know so many people with TIVOs nearing explosive pressure.
When you have passive TV on, you don't feel bad if you decide you'd rather roll over and take a nap. If you've made an actual choice to watch something, there is an investment in the process somehow - even if I know I can go back to that exact spot at any time and pick things up wherever I want. That's too much like thinking.
I think that's why I've had that craptastic production of 'Sherlock Holmes' paused on there since Friday night. I invested energy in choosing it and don't want to admit it to myself that even Gareth David Lloyd in an absurd moustache isn't enough to save this thing (although the rock climbing scene reminded me that he does have a really nice ass).
