Anyone cut the cable?

[analog kid]

We have a new Roku too.  I haven't used it very much, but I've watched a few documentaries on it.  I saw they have at least one grindhouse channel, so that'll be perfect for me when I feel like movie.

As someone who seems to like classic horror, you have some great options on the Roku, am I right? There's about five channels that have nothing but horror movies. One of them is especially good but I can never remember which it is.

[HorrorRetro]

As someone who seems to like classic horror, you have some great options on the Roku, am I right? There's about five channels that have nothing but horror movies. One of them is especially good but I can never remember which it is.

Yep.  I've just glanced through the channels, but there seems to be quite a bit of classic horror and sci-fi.  Maybe I'll sit down and take a closer look tonight and see exactly what's available.

[MV/Liberace!]

i went from 2001 to 2009 without cable.  in 2009, nabila and i decided to subscribe to cable because, with our new fancy flatscreen, we thought it was a wasteful purchase without "good" content to watch on it.  we kept the cable for about 3 months and then killed it.  haven't looked back.  between netflix, my WDTVLive, and youtube, there's just no need for cable.  hell... i didn't even see a need for local channels, but ok... i guess i can understand how some might be interested in watching those... but not me.  my mom makes it a ritual to watch the fucking weather on the fucking local news about 5 fucking times per fucking day.  fuck.  you can get all of that information, in a more timely fashion, straight from the source, the national weather service, by looking at your phone for 30 seconds.  old people just don't seem to get certain things.

[The General]

...my mom makes it a ritual to watch the fucking weather on the fucking local news about 5 fucking times per fucking day.  fuck.  you can get all of that information, in a more timely fashion, straight from the source, the national weather service, by looking at your phone for 30 seconds.  old people just don't seem to get certain things.

I'm sure it's the ritual that she feels a need for and not really the information.
People that are obsessed with weather forecasts confound me anyway.
If something severe is coming, they'll make sure you hear about it. 
Chill the hell out and let the rest of it surprise you.

[ChewMouse]

People that are obsessed with weather forecasts confound me anyway.

My husband is one of those watch-the-radar-on-TV people. I have a rather novel approach: I step out on the deck and look at the sky.

About two years ago, I stepped out there and was sort of sniffing the air (the smell of approaching rain is so wonderful) and my husband hollered, "Looks like that rain is gonna miss us!"

Right then, a huge crack of lightning split the sky and thunder rumbled; suddenly rain just poured. I was soaked almost instantly.

I went back into the house and said, "What'd you say?"

It was a great moment in my life.

[HorrorRetro]

i went from 2001 to 2009 without cable.  in 2009, nabila and i decided to subscribe to cable because, with our new fancy flatscreen, we thought it was a wasteful purchase without "good" content to watch on it.  we kept the cable for about 3 months and then killed it.  haven't looked back.  between netflix, my WDTVLive, and youtube, there's just no need for cable.  hell... i didn't even see a need for local channels, but ok... i guess i can understand how some might be interested in watching those... but not me.  my mom makes it a ritual to watch the fucking weather on the fucking local news about 5 fucking times per fucking day.  fuck.  you can get all of that information, in a more timely fashion, straight from the source, the national weather service, by looking at your phone for 30 seconds.  old people just don't seem to get certain things.

I had the regional news channel on for a bit yesterday, and they would replay the weather every 10 minutes.     I mean is it really that dire?  Let's see, we're in the Pacific Northwest and we're going to get rain.  Wow, what a shocker.  :   I ended up turning it off and watching "Jeff, who lives at home" on Netflix. 

We're at about 2 weeks with no cable again, and I really haven't even noticed it's not there.

[ItsOver]

I have to watch The Weather Channel at times for comic relief.  Between their dorky names for Winter storms and the melodrama of Jim Cantore, it's the new Comedy Channel.

[onan]

We're at about 2 weeks with no cable again, and I really haven't even noticed it's not there.

I notice it once a month when I save another 200 bucks.

[HorrorRetro]

I notice it once a month when I save another 200 bucks.

Good point.  I'm sure I'll notice it when the bill comes in.  We still have internet with them, just not the cable TV.

[onan]

Good point.  I'm sure I'll notice it when the bill comes in.  We still have internet with them, just not the cable TV.

Yeah... it is such a sham. We had our television, phone and internet in a package. And supposedly we were getting a special rate. But we decided to cut back. So we dropped all the television, and the phone. We increased our internet speed. So my total bill now is just 80 dollars a month. In the last 6 months Time/Warner has offered to give me all the services back for that 80 dollars a month. If they can afford to give them to me for that price then what was that special pricing they were giving me before?


I will say having subscription tv does make viewing a bit more organized, but for the most part I do not need that much order.

[HorrorRetro]

Yeah... it is such a sham. We had our television, phone and internet in a package. And supposedly we were getting a special rate. But we decided to cut back. So we dropped all the television, and the phone. We increased our internet speed. So my total bill now is just 80 dollars a month. In the last 6 months Time/Warner has offered to give me all the services back for that 80 dollars a month. If they can afford to give them to me for that price then what was that special pricing they were giving me before?


I will say having subscription tv does make viewing a bit more organized, but for the most part I do not need that much order.

And that's another issue.  Bundling and new customer offers are a load of crap.  Our bill differed each month.  Our services were the same, but the price was always a little different.   If I want a service, I want to pay the same thing each month.  I want to know exactly what I'm paying and what that's going toward.  If you have to call on a bill, you get a different answer with every person you talk to.  It's a big cluster fuck getting a straight answer from anyone.  They have recently started sending us e-mails to remind us that we owe them equipment.  Actually, we don't.  We owned our own Tivo box, so we never had a cable box to begin with.   

[MV/Liberace!]

My husband is one of those watch-the-radar-on-TV people. I have a rather novel approach: I step out on the deck and look at the sky.

About two years ago, I stepped out there and was sort of sniffing the air (the smell of approaching rain is so wonderful) and my husband hollered, "Looks like that rain is gonna miss us!"

Right then, a huge crack of lightning split the sky and thunder rumbled; suddenly rain just poured. I was soaked almost instantly.

I went back into the house and said, "What'd you say?"

It was a great moment in my life.

heh heh, yes.  that's definitely one of those moments.

[Sleepwalker]

you make it sound so dirty

If I could receive a strong WiFi signal at my house I'd use it with no feelings of remorse whatsoever.  If they don't want me to use it they should keep it out of my airspace 

[ziznak]

If I could receive a strong WiFi signal at my house I'd use it with no feelings of remorse whatsoever.  If they don't want me to use it they should keep it out of my airspace 

hook up a small laptop to do your hacking and get in while at a closer proximity... then just use that connection from your house... only need to have a strong signal while you get access really.

[b_dubb]

What I hate about cable is you pay for it twice: once when you pay for it and then again when you're forced to watch bullshit advertising. forget that

[West of the Rockies]

We went to see Iron Man 3 yesterday -- NO spoilers coming....  (I have to say, by the movie's end, I felt a little roughed up -- so much sensory overload with explosions, collapsing buildings and cranes, and so forth.  Glad I saw the movie, but get ready to be a little buffeted by the end.)

So here's how this relates to our thread.  I've not had TV for some years now and don't see many movies in any given year (probably 1 to 4 at the most).  There must have been 20 minutes of commercials, including four cellphone ads and one behind the scenes look at the making of a cellphone commercial!  I felt my IQ dropping by the minute.  There are so many nasty, snarky commercials and TV programs with glib dialogue and shallow, hateful characters. 

I wonder what the shelf-life of a one-liner in pop culture is nowadays.   Who first said something like, "That's gotta hurt!" or "That's gonna leave a mark!"  How long is it before we all collectively agree that such a line should be relegated to the trash bin? 

I am glad I cut the cable -- if it keeps such inane horseshit from streaming into my home, that's just fine with me.

[stevesh]

There must have been 20 minutes of commercials, including four cellphone ads and one behind the scenes look at the making of a cellphone commercial! 

That's a big part of the reason I don't go to movies in theaters anymore (that and immature dipshits who sit right behind me and  feel the need to talk or text through the entire thing). I also don't rent or buy movies these days, because of the multiple  non-FFable trailers for other films.

[West of the Rockies]

Oh, yeah, there are always a few knuckleheads who think we've all plunked down ten bucks to hear their witty observations about everything.  People don't know how to be in a public audience anymore maybe.  My wife and I went to a classical concert about ten years ago.  Four notes into perhaps the most famous piece of classical music ever, right at that moment of amazing silence -- Beethoven's 5th Symphony -- some jr. high aged kid tore into a cellophane wrapped bag of candy.  I truly wanted to throttle that kid.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

right at that moment of amazing silence -- Beethoven's 5th Symphony -- some jr. high aged kid tore into a cellophane wrapped bag of candy.  I truly wanted to throttle that kid.

That's actually amazing.

[West of the Rockies]

That's an interesting avatar you've got there, MFM... The artwork makes me think of books from the very early 70's.  I looked up the book online and saw a copy with a very different cover:  a small yellow taxi speeding through the legs of a striking blonde who appears to be straddling the road.  I don't read a lot of mystery novels nowadays.  The last one was Sharyn McCrumb's Zombies of the Gene Pool (a mystery that takes place at a sci-fi conference).

I don't know, maybe I'm just turning into a misanthrope who can't stop pissing and moaning about how things used to be.  My wife and I took our daughter to a Shakespeare play a few years ago (Twelfth Night up in Ashland, Oregon, at the big Elizabethan theater).  She was only 9, but she had to dress up and we discussed how to behave in a theater.  She did well.  Of course, there were plenty of people in "Bite Me" tee-shirts who sat there chatting during the play and such.

Isn't it Shirley Jackson who said, "Hell is other people"?

[Mind Flayer Monk]

That's an interesting avatar you've got there, MFM... The artwork makes me think of books from the very early 70's.  I looked up the book online and saw a copy with a very different cover:  a small yellow taxi speeding through the legs of a striking blonde who appears to be straddling the road.  I don't read a lot of mystery novels nowadays.  The last one was Sharyn McCrumb's Zombies of the Gene Pool (a mystery that takes place at a sci-fi conference).

I don't know, maybe I'm just turning into a misanthrope who can't stop pissing and moaning about how things used to be.  My wife and I took our daughter to a Shakespeare play a few years ago (Twelfth Night up in Ashland, Oregon, at the big Elizabethan theater).  She was only 9, but she had to dress up and we discussed how to behave in a theater.  She did well.  Of course, there were plenty of people in "Bite Me" tee-shirts who sat there chatting during the play and such.

Isn't it Shirley Jackson who said, "Hell is other people"?

@books: About 8 months back, 20 or so bags of those Lancer paperbacks showed up in the Friends of the Library book section, priced at a dime each. I bought some mainly for the covers. I doubt I will ever read them, but there is some fun stuff there. I imagine someone died and their family just wanted to get rid of them. I love that taxi driving through the legs-it seems like everything you learn not to do in art school.

@shakespeare: huh. I wonder if that's closer to how Shakespeare was originally-lots of milling and mewing in the crowds. It sort of seems like it was more interactive (in my imagination) than what we see now.   

I didn't know the quote, but it sounds like a reasonable guess. Anytime people ask me who said a quote I answer with Benjamin Disraeli

Here is another silly cover:



http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/ace-books/31