I've lost the ability to enjoy movies, sports and TV programmes

[captcalhoun]

weirdos

i can't watch TV/DVDs and do something else, except maybe eat breakfast when watching the morning news.

i can easily read books for hours.

when i was suspended from work the other week, i spent the time when i would've been working (4 hour shifts from 2PM to 6PM) mostly playing Modern Warfare 2.

the only thing i really have trouble knuckling down to is writing my fan-fic.

 

[Holdfast]

I heard about a recent study that indicated our increasing affinity for multitasking has eroded our attention spans and our ability to sit through anything.

You may be referring to a book called The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr.

I purchased it recently, but haven't had time it read it yet.

Brilliant.

While the internet may be a contributing factor, I think the problem may lie with an underlying condition called "getting older," which is incurable and, ultimately, fatal.

There really isn't all that much variety in mass-media entertainment, if you think about it. It's all just different variations on a few familiar themes. And if you consume enough of it, sooner or later, you'll consume all of it. You'll have watched everything there is to watch.

Plus, the older you get, the more you'll discover that most TV programs and films aren't made for you. They're made for younger people. So when you watch them, you're essentially eavesdropping on a conversation between entertainers and their real intended audience.

In essence, you've become like my Dad.

Thanks for the explanation, son. Actually it does make a LOT of sense.

Either you find something you're really passionate and knowledgeable about, to the point that even very small variations are enough to satisfy your need for novelty--like a classical-music listener who keeps buying different recordings of the same symphony, to hear each conductor's different interpretation. Sounds to me like your wardrobe currently plays this role.

Probably. It works for now, anyway.

Or you'll just become bored with everything, and filled with tedium vitae--weariness of life.

I rather like this idea of a becoming a decadent fop full of ennui, staving off anomie solely by the green fairy.

If you ever lose the ability to enjoy TrekBBS weekly threads on hot actresses, it may be time for you to become a monk with a vow of silence.

You're going to have to pick increasingly hot actresses every week to save me from a life in the cloisters. Now, Do Your Duty.

 

[RJDiogenes]

While the internet may be a contributing factor, I think the problem may lie with an underlying condition called "getting older," which is incurable and, ultimately, fatal.

There really isn't all that much variety in mass-media entertainment, if you think about it. It's all just different variations on a few familiar themes. And if you consume enough of it, sooner or later, you'll consume all of it. You'll have watched everything there is to watch.

Ah, this is why I'm not effected. I have a great variety of interests and I don't age.

 

[Spot's Meow]

While the internet may be a contributing factor, I think the problem may lie with an underlying condition called "getting older," which is incurable and, ultimately, fatal.

<snip>


Or you'll just become bored with everything, and filled with tedium vitae--weariness of life.

I think you've just won the award for most depressing BBS post ever. I'm only in my 20s, is this what I have to look forward to?!?!

 

[Goliath]

I think you've just won the award for most depressing BBS post ever. I'm only in my 20s, is this what I have to look forward to?!?!

Yes. Sorry.

*Sips absinthe, stares dully into space*

But seriously--there's a positive lesson to be drawn from what I wrote.

Entertainment should be something you seek when you have nothing better to do. Having too much leisure time can be as bad as having too little.

If you want to avoid tedium vitae, then find something better to do than simply keeping yourself entertained. Fill your life with meaningful activity, instead of meaningless passivity. Live your own life, instead of just watching other people's lives.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

I am physically incapable of sitting and watching TV without also doing something else. I almost always have to have my laptop with me as well.

Ditto.

QFT

For me, there is only maybe 3 or 4 shows on that I watch. My laptop is still on (except for Doctor Who), as I'll generally check a few things online while the ads are on. I should read more, but tried last night a little of a Douglas Adams novel, but ended up just listening to music, while messing around online.

 

[Kelthaz]

If you want to avoid tedium vitae, then find something better to do than simply keeping yourself entertained. Fill your life with meaningful activity, instead of meaningless passivity. Live your own life, instead of just watching other people's lives.

So you're saying I should play more video games then?

 

[Starbreaker]

I am physically incapable of sitting and watching TV without also doing something else. I almost always have to have my laptop with me as well.

Ditto.

QFT

For me, there is only maybe 3 or 4 shows on that I watch. My laptop is still on (except for Doctor Who), as I'll generally check a few things online while the ads are on. I should read more, but tried last night a little of a Douglas Adams novel, but ended up just listening to music, while messing around online.

I watched Lost without my laptop, and mostly Chuck because I watched with a friend, but my attention span is not that long for most shows...

 

[Goliath]

If you want to avoid tedium vitae, then find something better to do than simply keeping yourself entertained. Fill your life with meaningful activity, instead of meaningless passivity. Live your own life, instead of just watching other people's lives.

So you're saying I should play more video games then?

What?

Sorry--I wasn't paying attention.

 

[Deckerd]

Good thread chaps. Whatever it's about. I actually watched the Spain Portugal game last night. That's the first football match I've actually sat through for... uuhh ... ever. Poor Murray. He was well under the radar when England were still being dilettantes in SA. Now he has the full weight of British media on his back.

 

[ITL]

I rather like this idea of a becoming a decadent fop full of ennui, staving off anomie solely by the green fairy.

Becoming?

Surely you passed through that stage some time ago, Your Evilness? Get a lacky to handle the ennui for you, you lazy sod.

 

[Amaris]

I do have to say, the only show that I have been able to watch with completely undivided attention is "Better Off Ted". I would DVR it and sometime around 5:00 AM I'd watch it because everyone else was asleep. Love that show, angry it was cancelled.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Yes, I used to be a big tv addict and movie buff but over the last decade my attention has increasingly waned. I don't think it has anything to do with me being more cynical or jaded-- tv shows and films just aren't that good. If something is good and compelling it will naturally cause me to get caught up in it but sadly as is comonplace these days I find myself constantly doing other things and not really watching what is on.

Films are just big FX-laden sound and fury with no interesting story or characters to anchor them. I'm truly astonished how certain projects are greenlit given how bad they truly are. Even the films that everyone raves over I'm not particularly impressed by. For instance everyone thinks The Dark Knight was a masterpiece and Ledger's performance was Oscar-worthy but I just don't see it. It was a passable but overly long action film held together by a series of action intensive set pieces. I've sampled some films here and there over the last ten years but most of them have been disappointments without a coherent story or satisfying resolution--if they even have a resolution. Contrast that to the 80s and 90s when I was constantly rushing to the theatre to see a new film on the first day it was out. I've got a whole DVR full of movies I recorded from HBO, Starz etc that I haven't had the slightest desire to play.

TV isn't any better. Even the shows I try to get around to watching aren't what I would call solid--they are just decent enough that I want to watch them if for no other reason as background noise. The only series in recent years that I genuinely structured my week around was LOST. TV has mostly become very tired & formulaic with not that interesting storylines or characters/actors that you genuinely care about. I can always tell when a show isn't working for me--I find myself searching for spoilers to see if it sounds like it is getting any better and I don't mind going into a thread discussing it. If I love a show I avoid going into a thread or forum for fear of encountering untagged spoilers as was the case with LOST. I also find that I'm most active in the threads of the shows I don't care too much for realizing that I enjoy the discussion going on in the thread than the actual episode itself.

In addition, I think the fact that tv/films have always catered to the younger demographic explains the increase in shallow vacuous entertainment. Say what you will about other generations but this latest one is extremely superficial and look to vapid celebrities like Paris Hilton or My Super Sweet Sixteen queens which wasn't quite the case for our generation so you end up with much less filling movies or tv shows since airheads are the craze. Say what you will about the original 90210 or Breakfast Club etc but they had more going on.

In fact, I'd rather watch an old sitcom like The Golden Girls or Roseanne or an old tv series like TNG that I've seen a dozen times than watch some middling first run tv show.

 

[Amaris]

Yes, I used to be a big tv addict and movie buff but over the last decade my attention has increasingly waned. I don't think it has anything to do with me being more cynical or jaded-- tv shows and films just aren't that good. If something is good and compelling it will naturally cause me to get caught up in it but sadly as is comonplace these days I find myself constantly doing other things and not really watching what is on.

I think another part of it is that we remember fondly what we feel works, and wonder why shows can't be more like that. Meanwhile, many in the newer generation wonders why we would like older stuff like that and prefers this new stuff. In a scant number of decades, however, they will feel exactly the same as we do.

Films are just big FX-laden sound and fury with no interesting story or characters to anchor them. I'm truly astonished how certain projects are greenlit given how bad they truly are. Even the films that everyone raves over I'm not particularly impressed by. For instance everyone thinks The Dark Knight was a masterpiece and Ledger's performance was Oscar-worthy but I just don't see it. It was a passable but overly long action film held together by a series of action intensive set pieces. I've sampled some films here and there over the last ten years but most of them have been disappointments without a coherent story or satisfying resolution--if they even have a resolution. Contrast that to the 80s and 90s when I was constantly rushing to the theatre to see a new film on the first day it was out. I've got a whole DVR full of movies I recorded from HBO, Starz etc that I haven't had the slightest desire to play.

The same. I watched The Dark Knight and found it quite entertaining, but wasn't greatly impressed. Personally, I still like Batman Begins quite a bit more. My DVR, too, is filled with movies and TV shows that I don't really watch. I just started watching "The Good Guys" (when it premiered) and I'm already growing tired of it. It's the same old formula. I chuckle a little, but that's it. Now, as I said upthread, with
"Better Off Ted" I always laugh. I still laugh after watching every episode over and over again. I must have watched the entirety of Season 1 about 15 times, and still laugh at each episode. It's fun and quirky, lighthearted and, for me, a bit unpredictable (plus, Phil & Lem are my heroes). I was disappointed to see it cancelled, when there are far worse programs on television.

TV isn't any better. Even the shows I try to get around to watching aren't what I would call solid--they are just decent enough that I want to watch them if for no other reason as background noise. The only series in recent years that I genuinely structured my week around was LOST. TV has mostly become very tired & formulaic with not that interesting storylines or characters/actors that you genuinely care about. I can always tell when a show isn't working for me--I find myself searching for spoilers to see if it sounds like it is getting any better and I don't mind going into a thread discussing it. If I love a show I avoid going into a thread or forum for fear of encountering untagged spoilers as was the case with LOST. I also find that I'm most active in the threads of the shows I don't care too much for realizing that I enjoy the discussion going on in the thread than the actual episode itself.

In addition, I think the fact that tv/films have always catered to the younger demographic explains the increase in shallow vacuous entertainment. Say what you will about other generations but this latest one is extremely superficial and look to vapid celebrities like Paris Hilton or My Super Sweet Sixteen queens which wasn't quite the case for our generation so you end up with much less filling movies or tv shows since airheads are the craze. Say what you will about the original 90210 or Breakfast Club etc but they had more going on.

In fact, I'd rather watch an old sitcom like The Golden Girls or Roseanne or an old tv series like TNG that I've seen a dozen times than watch some middling first run tv show.

True, we enjoy the classics, but that's because the actors and actresses who won those roles had to be made of sterner stuff. It wasn't just about looks, you had to have charisma and acting chops. Shows like the Golden Girls in any reasonable sense, should not have been the huge hit that it was, but it was, and I put that credit toward not only the actresses themselves (who were all brilliant), but the writers and editors as well, who knew how to make a TV show that didn't jump every 5 frames and make so many quick cuts and gimmicks.

 

[startrekwatcher]

but the writers and editors as well, who knew how to make a TV show that didn't jump every 5 frames and make so many quick cuts and gimmicks.

Exactly. Shows and films have ADHD pacing anymore. Sometimes it works like with LOST or season one of Heroes where the fast pacing was effective because the writers have a narrative purpose/goal. When the show is good you don't necessarily mind cutting corners and filling in the blanks yourself

Other times it is just too overwhelming--you can barely keep up and really can't appreciate it the first time through. In that situation I find myself rewinding it so I can slowly take what is going on in and absorb. While other times the rapid pacing allows you to initially enjoy a show but then when you have time to let everything sink in and process it you see how poorly put together it is or how emotionally empty it was or how there is no story logic--case in point Abrams' Star Trek film.

Honestly as much as I enjoyed LOST I would like shows to get back to a more traditional format--more modest ensembles not dozens and dozens of characters which you can't connect with, less dense plotting and not a dozen abbreviated threads crammed into an hour where you don't get the depth you want because there are so many scenes they all have to be brief and slow down the pacing. Also while I enjoyed the project that was LOST tv shows shouldn't require as much time and investment. We should be able to watch it once and glean everything from it rather than needing to rewatch it dozens of time to get everything out of it.

Plus I am soooooooooooooooooooo tired of cop, lawyer and hospital shows yet they keep coming out with them--The Closer, NCIS, NCIS LA, Saving Grace, Castle, Law & Order, Trauma, Mercy, Grey's Anatomy, CSI etc etc Enuff already--once you've seen one you've seen them all no matter what the characters are or the chemistry among them--it is the same old thing. I saw the good ones back in the day I don't want watered down ones now. Same for all The X-Files clones like Fringe or Supernatural--I don't want to see similiar stories that were done better elsewhere recycled. I guess that is okay if you have never been exposed to such stories but I have and it makes the viewing experience hard. That was also why ENT was so bland in its first two seasons--it took stories from the other Trek shows and redid them. Honestly the thing that helps shows is serialization. It perks up Fringe and Supernatural. It forces the writers to carve out their own unique storylines and characters because they can't just run to the old ptropes.

 

[Captain Zog]

Excessive computer use can actually do that to you.