Wednesday, August 18, 2004
ALAS POOR CABLE BOX, I KNEW YE WELL
For the past year I had the ultimate cable package with all the premium movie channels and three hundred other channels to mindlessly search. Recently, I decided to stream-line my life, and I started by cancelling my cable. This means that I now have no TV whatsoever. Gone are the days of airwave TV. When I was a kid, growing up in the metro New York area, we had seven channels that we tuned into with our antennas; ABC, NBC, CBS, WNET, WPIX, WOR, and WNYW (FOX5), now I get nothing but snow. I am pleased to report, however, that there is life after cable. Remeber books? Remember records? Remember (eeek!) conversation? God forbid we talk to eachother. I no longer have to worry about 'reality programming' or Fox television insulting my inteligence. I think about how much of my life I have given to the idiot box. What has it given back? I know the lyrics to "Welcome Back Kotter" and "Gilligan's Island". I can play the ever popular "did you ever see the Simpsons episode when..." game. And there are the images that are permanently fused in my psyche; 9/11, the Columbia shuttle, Jonestown...all horrible. I can live without TV. Fortunately my girlfriend is taping "Six Feet Under" for me.
For the past year I had the ultimate cable package with all the premium movie channels and three hundred other channels to mindlessly search. Recently, I decided to stream-line my life, and I started by cancelling my cable. This means that I now have no TV whatsoever. Gone are the days of airwave TV. When I was a kid, growing up in the metro New York area, we had seven channels that we tuned into with our antennas; ABC, NBC, CBS, WNET, WPIX, WOR, and WNYW (FOX5), now I get nothing but snow. I am pleased to report, however, that there is life after cable. Remeber books? Remember records? Remember (eeek!) conversation? God forbid we talk to eachother. I no longer have to worry about 'reality programming' or Fox television insulting my inteligence. I think about how much of my life I have given to the idiot box. What has it given back? I know the lyrics to "Welcome Back Kotter" and "Gilligan's Island". I can play the ever popular "did you ever see the Simpsons episode when..." game. And there are the images that are permanently fused in my psyche; 9/11, the Columbia shuttle, Jonestown...all horrible. I can live without TV. Fortunately my girlfriend is taping "Six Feet Under" for me.
Comments:
Other than a few movies we grab from the "On Demand" menu, and the HBO Series offering on Sunday nights (Sorpranos, Six Feet, Carnival, etc...), cable/Sat TV is a waste of money and I'd be inclined to dump it and save the money myself if it wern't for one thing: SPORTS BABY! College football starts in two weeks and I'll be in a stadium with much libations flowing through my veins, or glued to a tube all day Saturday for the next four months. My wife, not a big college football fan, is bracing for the hypnotic state I get in come each Friday evening when all bets are in and my neighbor and I either set up all the modern technology mankind has to offer in my pavillion on the back of my property (multiple TV's and wireless internet access), or pack up our soccer mom SUV's for the Georgia Tech tailgate festivities (we bring the multi TV and Sat setup to those as well).
I'd love to cut the cord from the idiot box, but my addiction to college football won't let me.
I'd love to cut the cord from the idiot box, but my addiction to college football won't let me.
I'd love to join you in your backyard, that sounds like a blast. In my situation, I can walk to Bruxelles to catch the games. A bar is a great place to watch a game, specially when it's the Jets and a guy in a Dolphins jersey walks in. "Get that guy!" "Break his fuckin' neck!"
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