How have you mistakenly offended people recently?

Yeah, shit like Masterchef is ok, even great, when it happens to be on, but I don't really ever go out of my way to see live TV (Blur at Glastonbury was more or less the first time this year I did). It's a personal thing; I just don't feel much of it enriches me or engages me particularly well, and the good shit you can generally get on DVD. The only thing I reckon I'm really missing out on is good nature documentary (can that be a generic noun?) and there's a fuckload of great natural footage on the internet. I mean, I DID enjoy The Apprentice a coupla years back, and there are other things I'd probably enjoy now, but I'm not really fussed by completely avoiding them. It's a time/priority thing.

That said, my only vocalised problem with TV is with the adverts, and I have absolutely nothing against people who do watch plenty of television. Besides, they're the ones who'll basically tell me what to later see on DVD...

Basically, if a *really* promising new sitcom touches down any time soon, I'll watch it live.

Jaymc is OTM fwiw and The Wire is definitely on my hitlist (having only seen the first 4 eps of series 1)

Isn't part of what people are trying to say when they say "I don't watch TV" that they're explicitly not one of those people who comes home from work and just zones out on the couch with a bag of Cheetos and Two and a Half Men? If they watch shows on DVD instead, it's seen as more purposeful somehow (couples talk about "working our way through The Wire" like it's a project), not just a mind-numbing exercise.

Yeah, I think so but I guess I just don't see how it's really all that different. You can watch TV and still be an intelligent and productive person. It's ok ppl - don't feel guilty etc. You can also not watch TV if that's your thing. Bottom line is who cares? I just don't want to have to hear it from ppl who obv have a *thing* about how awesome they are because they don't watch TV or only watch certain shows on certain formats. They're not move intelligent they're just usually a hell of a lot more pretentious.

btw I am zoning out on the couch in my underwear watching some awesome Two and a Half Men action right now.

w/ cheetos

Isn't part of what people are trying to say when they say "I don't watch TV" that they're explicitly not one of those people who comes home from work and just zones out on the couch with a bag of Cheetos and Two and a Half Men? If they watch shows on DVD instead, it's seen as more purposeful somehow (couples talk about "working our way through The Wire" like it's a project), not just a mind-numbing exercise.

I kind of agree with this except for the mind-numbing part. My problem is less that the consumption of television programmes is passive, mind-numbing and doesn't involve engagement on the viewers part; it's more that it's a very scattershot and haphazard way to consume material, and people generally don't do anything similar with other media. I.e. I don't know anyone who just randomly buys books and reads them without any idea of what they are, nor do I know anyone who goes to the cinema and walks into a screening of a film they've never heard of, yet people will sit for hours randomly flicking through channels and watching anything that looks half-interesting. If it wasn't such a commonplace habit it surely would be thought of as strange.

" I.e. I don't know anyone who just randomly buys books and reads them without any idea of what they are, nor do I know anyone who goes to the cinema and walks into a screening of a film they've never heard of"

public library encourages this behavior w/ books and DVDs with their themed "check these out!" displays, and I think they are successful.

i only watch shows when they air, never on dvd or tivo or whatever. can't think of a snooty line for that other than "i'm lazy"

"yet people will sit for hours randomly flicking through channels and watching anything that looks half-interesting."

Internet. Every day.

yup

i have bookmarks, i very seldom look at websites that i don't use habitually except for of course links from the websites I do read. I don't click links that I don't think look interesting.

Yeah neither do I much I must admit, I only go to about 4 sites regularly apart from things I do for work :/ I'm a bit... stuck in my rut.

I miss having cable/tv channels, which I haven't had on abt 8 months, bcz if you are just fucking brain dead or stressed or whatevs it is the most passive & easy thing possible. I tried having that experience w/hulu the other day – I watched an ep of Fat Albert bcz it was around, why not, and it was boring as fuck. I felt like a dummy bcz I'd actively chosen to watch it, whereas if I had the TV channels & it came on, it wld feel really different.

Why did those kids like 'Legal Eagle'? It's worse than the worst cartoon!

Look I watch the same 237846237 simpsons episodes on DVD ovr and over and over so I cant talk heh.

I've watched the last three seasons of the Wire twice in the past two months, mainly for zoning out purposes.

my tv is on v. frequently even when i'm not really paying attention to it--i mostly chalk this up to living alone and needing hella background noise.

but yeah i def come home from work and zone out with chips and sportscenter, that's pretty much one of my things.

Ha, that first part is how I spent a year and a half of grad school writing with PBS on dimly in the background -- music was distracting, silence was distracting, Lydia Bastianich talking about broccoli rabe over generic mandolin music was perfect

(Although I think I also posted a whole lot in those days about watching Judge Mathis while getting ready to leave the house)

xp I can't have the tv/a movie on without watching raptly, even if it's something totally stupid. That's mainly why I don't watch it - even before the digital conversion when we could have gotten two or three broadcast channels. I just don't have the self-control.

my tv is on v. frequently even when i'm not really paying attention to it--i mostly chalk this up to living alone and needing hella background noise.

When I lived alone I had the tv on all of the time -- silence is too spooky, and the random city noises you hear outside of your apartment sound more sinister if it's otherwise quiet.

nabs, i leave pbs on sometimes to help me fall asleep -- the voices are calm and soothing and there isn't that jarring volume jump when they go to the ads (house ads/interstitials/whatever).

There was a time when I lived alone and did not any cable service due to erm . . . limited finances at the time. The only channel I could get with the rabbit ears was PAX which is basically a Christian family friendly channel. Because of the background noise issue/boredom/loneliness that sometimes accompanies living alone I have probably seen nearly every episode of Highway to Heaven and 7th Heaven.

(anyway, i think i mistakenly offend people when i don't call/e-mail them back right away. it's not that they're low on the priority list; i'm just lazy.)

My best friend lives across the country, does not have a cell phone and is rarely on email. She's also one of those ppl who doesn't call back immediately and is generally really hard to get a hold of. I'm used to it now and just know that it's not a reflection of anything other than the fact that she's pretty flaky. When we do talk it's usually for hours in order to make up for lost time.

I am really bad about doing this, but it is due more to my flakiness and forgetfulness. xp

TBH I'm a bit tired of the expectation to respondez to everything *RIGHT NOW* that email and cellphones has created. If my phone is off leave a message! If I dont reply to your FB event invite maybe I havent looked at FB for a few days. AAAAAAAAAARGH call me an old fuddy but it is so EXHAUSTING. I am not at everyone's beck and call 94/7. Shit, work's bad enough.

you must be really popular.

i didn't have cable when i was in law school b/c i was, you know, a poor law school student. since the reception sucked where i live w/t cable, not to mention that i was busy studying and doing other stuff, it meant that i didn't watch much TV during those years. and then when i had enough money to get cable, i put off subscribing b/c i was working too many long hours and it wasn't worth the cost. i only broke down and got cable to get high-speed internet; i still don't watch much TV even w/ more time on my hands.

i will admit to copping a superior attitude on occasion, but not usually -- and more often i felt like a total dork b/c i would have no idea what friends and family were talking about when they talked about certain TV shows.

Touche, Kerm.

I was at a party a few weeks ago, in the "smoking" room and this girl that looked very very much like Adris Hoyos sat down with us. I told my friend "Omg, she looks like Adris Hoyos!", at which point I turn to the girl, point and and practically yell "You look like you're in Harry Pussy!". Could have been worded much better (blame it on tha...)

this went on for about a minute and I eventually explained what I meant. The girl laughed at the end of it all but was not too happy when I first blurted that out. My friend reports that she rapidly responded back with some male equivalent of "hairy pussy" (she believes it was "wet dick"), but I didn't hear because I was trying to state my case. It was a good night.

Posted in the other thread but:

Saying you "don't watch TV" or "don't own a TV" w/o clarifying is only acceptable if you can honestly say you literally watch NO TV and aren't watching The Wire and Gilmore Girls and shit on your laptop. Otherwise it's OMG FRONTING for sure. imo

with certain past exceptions, i watch only 30 min of tv per week and catch up to favorite shows on dvd

http://www.sfu.ca/~stscott/pictures/dealwithit.gif

"30 min of tv per week" = The Soup

- being a touch too visibly astonished that a normal-sized adult could walk into a McDonald's, ask for "the usual," and be handed a large-size Big Mac meal

http://static.bigstockphoto.com/thumbs/6/8/3/large/386939.jpg

lol

- being a touch too visibly astonished that a normal-sized adult could walk into a McDonald's, ask for "the usual," and be handed a large-size Big Mac meal

This reminds me. The waiter at our local Italian restaurant started laughing when I ordered the same thing yet again. :-(

Witnessed this in local Starbutts coffee shop last week. They have a daily trivia question and you get a free shot or whatever if you answer correctly. Question was 'How much did a hamburger cost at the very first McDonalds in 1940'...and there were like 4 options.
SB employee asks me if I want to guess when I place my order. I guessed wrongly. So she asks the next person in line, who is an older woman, maybe in her 50's. SB girl says, and I quote: "Do you want to have a guess? I'm sure you know the answer." And the woman was all, "Excuse me? How old do you think I am?"...and the SB girl did the craziest amount of backpedalling I've ever seen. I laughed and told the SB girl she better give the woman her free shot regardless, to make up for that. LOL!

xpost I stopped going to a place I really liked when they made too much of a deal about my regular order (which through very complicated, Seinfeldian circumstances, they consistently got wrong).

here is the thing: a LOT of people work at a full-scale urban McDonald's. and there's a lot of turnover. and they serve a whole lot of people. per hour. it's almost unimaginable, the number of Big Macs you'd have to eat to just walk up to anyone and ask for the usual. the only way I can wrap my head around this is to imagine that something memorable happened between this guy and the staff that turned him into the Big Mac guy.

Maybe they gave the special sauce.

My husband recently went to the bakery for a roll. An hour or so later he goes back cause he wants to buy another roll.
The woman:"Are you coming to complain or WHAT?" in a rrrrreally aggressive tone.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I mean, WTF what is she on? All the women working there are really unfriendly but this one just tops it. When my husband asked for a sandwich with ham, she replied she didn't have it "Do you want one with cheese?" This isn't so strange except they usually make the sandwich on the spot. She was too lazy to do it. hahaahah

nabs I worked at fast food on & off over and you do recognize the regulars. There is a lot of turnover but the manager or person who's worked there years for whatever reason'll tell you on the first day, 'this guy always orders a whopper cut in half w/extra mustard & onions.' It only takes a week or two of a customer showing up the same time every day before you can tell they'll have a 'usual' thing. I realized I was this customer once at a McDonald's and that was the last time I went there. ;_;

I knew there's hella customers too but you still get a feel for people who show up every day.

They're in the minority so they're memorable.

I used to buy tons of red bean paste. The owner of the shop (annex restaurant) said to me:"You do know you get fat from that cause it has tons of sugar?" Last time I bought it. Positive outcome: I dropped weight. The woman at the fruit/veg shop asked me if I ate all the fruit I bought there. I said yeah. "Well, you can't really tell, cause you are not THAT skinny." (I was about 57 kgs, which is pretty darn skinny.)

People are fucking retarded when I comes to making comments about people's weight. They say things that they think are innocuous but are actually pretty painful insults.

Apparently while trying to help my girlfriend up today I ~made a face~ suggesting great strain.

lol

People are fucking retarded when I comes to making comments about people's weight. They say things that they think are innocuous but are actually pretty painful insults.

Haha. In Japan, it's entirely acceptable to be simply say, "you got fat." When I see my wife's family, like the first thing out of everyone's mouth is an assessment of weight gain or loss since the last meeting. This is totally normal. People seem fine with this kind of talk, but it often makes me cringe.