The greater the selection, the less I watch

..and why not?
User avatar
GoogaMooga
custodian of oldies
Posts: 30320
Joined: 28 Sep 2010, 05:23
Location: Denmark

The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby GoogaMooga » 17 Oct 2018, 20:35

Okay, so I don't go to the cinema anymore, nor the Cinematheque. And the public service TV channels here are cutting back. But then I've got all my VHS tapes, all my DVD's, four cable movie channels 24/7, and I make use of five streaming services. Plus youtube and whatever I can find on the web that is legal. In short, I've never had it so good. I am so blasé that I find myself skipping things I'd have stayed up half the night for in the old days. How about you? Is there some truth to this paradox? Did we enjoy movies more before, when we were a little deprived?
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

User avatar
Penk!
Midnight to Six Man
Posts: 35784
Joined: 07 Aug 2004, 20:12
Location: Stockholm

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby Penk! » 17 Oct 2018, 21:29

I've certainly found as I've grown older that I have much less tolerance for shite.

It might also be something to do with having responsibilities and a job and not having the freedom to turn the TV on at 11pm after five pints and sit through any old bobbins with spaceships or explosions. Even if I do feel the urge to watch something like that on a Friday night I'll invariably give up after half an hour if it is palpably not much cop.
fange wrote:One of the things i really dislike in this life is people raising their voices in German.

User avatar
naughty boy
hounds people off the board
Posts: 20250
Joined: 24 Apr 2007, 23:21

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby naughty boy » 17 Oct 2018, 22:04

The internet has absolutely ruined my appreciation of music and film.
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.

User avatar
GoogaMooga
custodian of oldies
Posts: 30320
Joined: 28 Sep 2010, 05:23
Location: Denmark

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby GoogaMooga » 17 Oct 2018, 22:17

My love of music is still intact, still play up to eight hours a day. Of course, that leaves even less time for movies. Like Penk, I get impatient, switch off quickly if it fails to grab me.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

User avatar
Goat Boy
Bogarting the joint
Posts: 32974
Joined: 20 Mar 2007, 12:11
Location: In the perfumed garden

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby Goat Boy » 17 Oct 2018, 22:42

SUMPTUOUS SI wrote:The internet has absolutely ruined my appreciation of music and film.


Really? That bad?
Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.


Copehead wrote:a right wing cretin like Berger....bleating about racism

User avatar
naughty boy
hounds people off the board
Posts: 20250
Joined: 24 Apr 2007, 23:21

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby naughty boy » 17 Oct 2018, 22:56

Goat Boy wrote:
SUMPTUOUS SI wrote:The internet has absolutely ruined my appreciation of music and film.


Really? That bad?


Unfortunately, yes, I think so. I'm jumping around from one thing to another all the time.

Of course the increase in accessibility that the internet has brought is a good thing, but I honestly think I'd rather go back to a time when you had to work a bit to find the art you really wanted.

You don't agree?
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.

User avatar
Goat Boy
Bogarting the joint
Posts: 32974
Joined: 20 Mar 2007, 12:11
Location: In the perfumed garden

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby Goat Boy » 17 Oct 2018, 23:01

So you mean it's affected your attention span to the point where you find it hard to focus on one thing?

Part of me longs for the days when I was a teenger and I'd live with some new album for a while. I do miss that but I still go through periods with artists and records where little else diverts me.

With movies I'm actually watching more new ones than ever but I make sure I go to the cinema quite a lot too as it's good to have that focus. When I sit down and watch a movie at home I'll often turn everything else off and stick my mobile in the kitchen to avoid distractions.

You have to create good habits.
Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.


Copehead wrote:a right wing cretin like Berger....bleating about racism

User avatar
naughty boy
hounds people off the board
Posts: 20250
Joined: 24 Apr 2007, 23:21

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby naughty boy » 17 Oct 2018, 23:25

Goat Boy wrote:So you mean it's affected your attention span to the point where you find it hard to focus on one thing?


That's one thing, yes, for sure. The other - as GM alludes to in the OP - is that there's just too much choice. You can't decide so you don't decide.


Goat Boy wrote:I make sure I go to the cinema quite a lot too as it's good to have that focus.


Yeah, absolutely. I've been to the cinema more in the last five years than in the twenty previous years. It usually works out for the best, too.
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.

User avatar
The Modernist
2018 BCB Cup Champ!
Posts: 13843
Joined: 13 Apr 2014, 20:42

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby The Modernist » 17 Oct 2018, 23:47

SUMPTUOUS SI wrote:
Goat Boy wrote:
SUMPTUOUS SI wrote:The internet has absolutely ruined my appreciation of music and film.


Really? That bad?


Unfortunately, yes, I think so. I'm jumping around from one thing to another all the time.

Of course the increase in accessibility that the internet has brought is a good thing, but I honestly think I'd rather go back to a time when you had to work a bit to find the art you really wanted.

You don't agree?


I agree for what it's worth.
The only way round it for me is just to limit how much I consume this stuff. I might only watch one film every two weeks or play an album all the way through once every couple of weeks. That definitely helps me appreciate those things a lot more. It does leave me with too much free time to kill though -that's the flaw in my strategy! :)

User avatar
Snarfyguy
Dominated by the Obscure
Posts: 53502
Joined: 21 Jul 2003, 19:04
Location: New York

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby Snarfyguy » 18 Oct 2018, 00:18

I can't remember the last time I played an album all the way through and did nothing other than listen to it.

In fact, I kind of can't even imagine what it's like to do that anymore.

Part of this may have something to do with becoming a parent seven years ago; I have a lot of demands on my time. But it's also to do with having a fractured attention span.
GoogaMooga wrote: The further away from home you go, the greater the risk of getting stuck there.

User avatar
mentalist (slight return)
under mi sensi
Posts: 14575
Joined: 17 Jul 2003, 10:54
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby mentalist (slight return) » 18 Oct 2018, 23:22

Sometimes I find 3 minute videos on Facebook too much.
king of the divan

User avatar
Neige
Alpine Numpty
Posts: 18116
Joined: 17 Jul 2003, 11:11
Location: On 2 oz of plastic with a hole in the middle (of nowhere)

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby Neige » 19 Oct 2018, 14:51

Snarfyguy wrote:I can't remember the last time I played an album all the way through and did nothing other than listen to it.

In fact, I kind of can't even imagine what it's like to do that anymore.



True, sadly.

I really regret the old days, sometimes.

With films, the problem is not just the sheer amount of stuff available, but also that you can watch anytime, anywhere and as much as you want - I've recently discovered that I can download Netflix shows on my cell phone. But I tend to watch small portions, there's no immersion at all and I get bored real quickly.

Movies on the telly? I usually nod off after 30 minutes or so.
Thumpety-thump beats plinkety-plonk every time. - Rayge

User avatar
The Modernist
2018 BCB Cup Champ!
Posts: 13843
Joined: 13 Apr 2014, 20:42

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby The Modernist » 19 Oct 2018, 15:34

I can't ever imagine watching a film on my phone. I've no idea why people do it. If they're on a train or something, can't they just read a book or look out of the window instead?

User avatar
Goat Boy
Bogarting the joint
Posts: 32974
Joined: 20 Mar 2007, 12:11
Location: In the perfumed garden

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby Goat Boy » 19 Oct 2018, 15:57

Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.


Copehead wrote:a right wing cretin like Berger....bleating about racism

User avatar
Snarfyguy
Dominated by the Obscure
Posts: 53502
Joined: 21 Jul 2003, 19:04
Location: New York

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby Snarfyguy » 19 Oct 2018, 20:53

The Modernist wrote:I can't ever imagine watching a film on my phone. I've no idea why people do it. If they're on a train or something, can't they just read a book or look out of the window instead?

I can't imagine wanting to watch a film on my phone, especially on a train.
GoogaMooga wrote: The further away from home you go, the greater the risk of getting stuck there.

User avatar
zoomboogity
Shakin' All Over
Posts: 5307
Joined: 17 Jul 2003, 07:42
Location: Screwball Cultural Center

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby zoomboogity » 20 Oct 2018, 03:17

THE SMOOTH SOUL STYLINGS OF SUMPTUOUS SI wrote:
Goat Boy wrote:
SUMPTUOUS SI wrote:The internet has absolutely ruined my appreciation of music and film.


Really? That bad?


Unfortunately, yes, I think so. I'm jumping around from one thing to another all the time.

Of course the increase in accessibility that the internet has brought is a good thing, but I honestly think I'd rather go back to a time when you had to work a bit to find the art you really wanted.

You don't agree?


Do you sit next to your computer when you watch/listen? Try putting some distance between you and your mouse (or whatever your "off" switch is). It's easy to fall into that trap of "something else needs to be checked out" - it's almost subconsciously Pavlovian, the way you can develop an itchy trigger finger. It not only results in a compromised attention span, it also causes it. Once I saw myself going down that road, I'd set my laptop at the other side of the room and just watch. That made it easier to just focus, and if I didn't enjoy it anymore, I'd have to make the conscious decision to walk over and turn it off. It sounds silly, but there's something to it.

That's just with films, though, where you know it's going to go on a while. Flipping around every three minutes with music is different. When I find something that sounds good, I turn the screen off and just listen, at least the first time I hear something. I think most videos are pretty lame anyway, at least in the modern era. The pre-MTV era was different, some of that stuff is fun to watch for the rarity of it, but again, visuals off first time out. I now find that most of my online music listening is done with the screen off while the music is playing. I love how the Internet brings all this stuff out, but too much stimuli just sets my brain into a spin, so I retrained myself to slow down and enjoy what was playing and not think about the next thing. It'll still be there when I'm ready.
Image

"Quite."

User avatar
KeithPratt
Arsehole all Erect
Posts: 23901
Joined: 28 Jul 2003, 23:13
Contact:

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby KeithPratt » 20 Oct 2018, 20:57

I think the internet has magnified how blase our consumption of entertainment is, particularly because we no longer have physical products to think about. I'm quite happy about the fact that I don't have a huge amount of DVDs or CDs to wade through or store, but clearing the loft out this week I came across a box of films I'd completely forgotten about, with things like boxsets of Tati, Bunuel, Kurosawa, Kubrick etc. Even so, I can't really imagine when I'm going to get the time to properly sit down and watch some of them. Part of that is because my wife probably won't want to watch them, but fractured attention spans have a big role nowadays.

I've got Amazon Prime, Netflix and Sky. We have an absurd amount of choice and I guess the fall out from that is that we rarely watch "normal" TV anymore, purely because there is alway something on tap to watch. But with films, I think there is something in the ritual of watching them at the cinema that I try to adhere to now. There's that new film "Mandy" out at the cinema and it has limited release, so it's going to be quite difficult to find the time to see it. I won't watch it at home because I know the experience for me at least (22" TV) is not going to be the same at all, but something in me likes the difficulty of seeing something that harks back to the older days.

I have a bit of a ritual with Tarkovsky films. I don't watch them anymore at home, but when they come around at the BFI or whatever, then I'll go and see them then. Not having something on tap I think does make us reflect on them - not having that instant access.

User avatar
GoogaMooga
custodian of oldies
Posts: 30320
Joined: 28 Sep 2010, 05:23
Location: Denmark

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby GoogaMooga » 20 Oct 2018, 21:08

It used to be that the cinema was the first choice for a date: movie, dinner, and you could then talk about the film afterward. All that magic is lost now. I think there is a term for the time between the theatrical premiere and the various windows - DVD, cable, streaming, TV - think it's called "hold back". It is getting narrower.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

User avatar
KeithPratt
Arsehole all Erect
Posts: 23901
Joined: 28 Jul 2003, 23:13
Contact:

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby KeithPratt » 20 Oct 2018, 21:29

I guess the issue is that we're living in a convenience revolution. From having to physically journey to the cinema, to then hiring out/buying videos/DVDs to then having them at the touch of a button, all the while in the past dreaming of such a situation, we are nonplussed by it.

I don't know what to make of it all really. Perhaps it's just the passage of time, perhaps it's the fact that we maybe overinflated the importance of entertainment like this in the past because it was what you did, whereas now we spend our time arguing with twats on the internet.

User avatar
GoogaMooga
custodian of oldies
Posts: 30320
Joined: 28 Sep 2010, 05:23
Location: Denmark

Re: The greater the selection, the less I watch

Postby GoogaMooga » 20 Oct 2018, 21:36

Toby wrote:because it was what you did, whereas now we spend our time arguing with twats on the internet.


:lol: How true! It's that instant gratification again. Even when streaming, you can always pause the film, just to check the replies on various message boards.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck


Return to “Screenadelica”