Random thoughts.... post yours!

somebody said this is the golden age of tv in that it's the perfect medium for what could be called the 'maxiseries', multiple-season shows covering continuous storylines. Hill Street Blues and Buffy I think were the first, and still among the best. (Never saw HSB but I'm a total Buffy geek.) GoT and tWD are two classics, as was Breaking Bad.
this format allows character development and complex plots.
apparently multi-season soaps are a staple of Latin-American tv. (would we consider Breaking Bad a soap opera for men?)

to a lesser extent include Gotham and Riverdale. (since they're on network tv I get to watch them). Gotham is continually bloody and gloomy but I still watch. Penguin and Riddler make it worth my while. Riverdale is pretty gloomy too.

The bad part about wearing noise-cancelling headphones with your music selection cranked up high? You tend to forget that just because you can't hear yourself singing along to the music doesn't mean that everybody else in the office can't hear you either.

I have been advised to not give up my career as an IT geek in favor of singing.

I really hate technology sometimes. Had to get a new p.c again. Got one that I thought would save money. NOT!

jaguarstigress said:

Had to get a new p.c again.

Click to expand...

OK, I'll ask... why do you go through so many PCs?

Kevin said:

OK, I'll ask... why do you go through so many PCs?

Click to expand...

To save some money I had gotten, last 2 computers refurbished, 1st one got overheated & blew if that makes sense. 2nd 1 the power source or whatever you call wasn't enough and just seemed to shut off & stop, disk drive also was compromised/damaged. Make sense? I'm so not a technologically inclined so hope you understand. Hindsight I should have just gotten a new 1.

jaguarstigress said:

To save some money I had gotten, last 2 computers refurbished, 1st one got overheated & blew if that makes sense. 2nd 1 the power source or whatever you call wasn't enough and just seemed to shut off & stop, disk drive also was compromised/damaged. Make sense? I'm so not a technologically inclined so hope you understand. Hindsight I should have just gotten a new 1.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear you're having issues. Hopefully your current one lasts longer. When you get them refurbished, do they come with any type of warranty from the shop that refurbished them?

Kevin said:

Sorry to hear you're having issues. Hopefully your current one lasts longer. When you get them refurbished, do they come with any type of warranty from the shop that refurbished them?

Click to expand...

Thank you. This one should and this one has a 2 year warranty so I'm very happy, about that. The refurbished ones didn't sadly, the guy that I bought them from was suggested from a family member so I thought everything was good. But I know better now.

Got court tomorrow for my seatbelt ticket.
I'm wondering how many 'weed' related citations will be heard on 4/20.
Makes me laugh thinking about the implications.

Attended court for my seatbelt violation.
Over a decade with no tickets.
Fine was $81.00! WTF?

Tom said:

Attended court for my seatbelt violation.
Over a decade with no tickets.
Fine was $81.00! WTF?

Click to expand...

Did you get the breakout of how much of that was for "court costs" and other fees tacked on to the actual fine? If nothing else, at least you walked away with just a fine and no points on your license.

Not on the receipt but the clerk I paid said the actual fine was $45.
Yeah, I asked about points on my license and none are assessed because it was an ordinance violation not a traffic violation.
I expected the judge to say "Bailiff, Whack his peepee"
I guess if I get another one I will be strapped to a cart and flogged in the streets?

Tom said:

I guess if I get another one I will be strapped to a cart and flogged in the streets?

Click to expand...

I'm just surprised you got fined for a seatbelt.... I would have thought that in your proverbial 'neck of the woods' that seatbelt violations weren't as strongly enforced as in other parts.

I still think back to growing up in the 70's when we'd be piled up in the back of a pickup truck or sitting in the cargo area of a station wagon looking out. Seatbelts were kind of at the bottom of the priority list of things to be concerned about.

Kevin said:

piled up in the back of a pickup truck

Click to expand...

Y'know, its strange but down here you can still ride in the back of a pickup truck.
Golf carts are driven on the roads without seatbelts.

I figure it was a ticket quota type thing.
I talked to a few others at court and 4 of the 7 I talked to also had a seatbelt ticket.
(I was trying to find out if there were a lot of pot violators, lol)
Only one other person I spoke with only had a seatbelt ticket but it was his second ticket in two months.

I've lived here for 6 years, never been pulled over.
Perhaps the cop was just checking my creds and decided to write the ticket because he couldn't find anything else.

Kevin said:

I'm just surprised you got fined for a seatbelt

Click to expand...

I probably could have pleaded and got it reduced but court was full and things were moving very slow.
Judge got hung up on some details on another case and told the court to take a 10 minute break while he hashed it out in his chambers, I asked the clerk if I could just pay my fine and leave.

The city takes really good care of itself. Always out improving or maintaining and the crime rate is pretty low so I don't really have a problem paying 80 bucks in 6 years. Hopefully, I won't have another chance to 'donate' my money to their 'cause' for another 6 years.

My truck is due for tags this month too.
Its going to cost me $26.78 to make it completely legal.
My insurance is due next month.
Its going to cost me under $200 for six months.

It would cost me significantly more than $80 to get my truck passed for inspection in Pennsylvania (I have a crack in my windsheild).
In my eyes, it works out as saving money over-all.

A stich in time saves nine....

I really hate Sundays, always the ending of the weekend.

I noticed a disturbing change in television shows that has nothing to do with the shows but has to do with intrusion.
Perhaps it is caused by DVRs and commercial dubbout.

Adverstisments are now being overlaid onto the show.
I was watching Crimminal Minds season 13 last night.
Something I noticed and it irritated me was that the advertisers are now placing overlays onto the show content. WTF?
I hated when they started placing overlays of show promotions and now they're doing it with commercials?

Show Promo overlay onto the show contents (common practice that was irritation from the start)



Now, they're doing Advertisement overlays onto the show's content
(I don't watch a lot of shows, first time I actually noticed and it was extremely irritating)





I don't know which is worse?
The desperation of advertisers or the complacency of viewers.

Tom said:

Adverstisments are now being overlaid onto the show.

Click to expand...

Was that over the air or streaming? I've seen the first example before but have never encountered something like the giant orange bar.

So I'm researching a new push gas mower to buy as my last one, after surviving several years of abuse, is about ready to retire to that great machine pasture in the sky.

Apparently I haven't gone mower shopping in some time... a side discharge chute is now no longer just a standard feature?!

Kevin said:

Was that over the air or streaming?

Click to expand...

The streaming source originated from a television broadcast. A CBS affiliate.
I'm thinking the overlay was done at the channel not at CBS.
I suspect that is the case because on the promo for TBBT it gives a time relative to Mountain time.
8/9 MT which indicates a specific geographical location of the channel.

My concern is whether this is a trend/tactic that is being adopted in the advertising industry?
I know that promo overlays have been widely adopted. You can see those quite frequently.
Some of those are seriously distracting from the show's content.
Now, the commercials have invaded the content, commercials that can't be DVR'd out without losing show content.

It makes me think that the future of television will be the end of commercial breaks and the advent of commercial overlays. You can't remove the overlay without losing show content.
Money drives the industry. What better way to assure your company's advertisements get seen?
I know if I was paying a channel to show my product advertisements I would want assured that they will be seen. If you can't watch the show without seeing my ad, I'm calling that a win scenario.

What really irritates me is that these overlays are distracting. all overlays, including the channel watermarks.