Timewaster's Guide Archive

So I realized that today marks my second week of being television-free.  Not by force of willpower, mind you, but the cable came free with our last apartment and when we moved into this house we decided we didn't need to pay $30+ a month for tv.  And we don't have any sort of antenna so we are literally TV-free.

We haven't even watched a movie in the past two weeks.  I only thought of it now because I just put in Pirates of the Carribean and realized I haven't turned the TV on in a while.

It's just kind of weird, because I've never EVER been a big proponant of the "Turn off the TV" movements or anything.  TV is TV.  It's usually just there.  Yes, it wastes a lot of time, but I don't think ANYONE should try and tell another person how they should and should not waste his time.  Most TV-free proponants work by guilt, and that irks me.

Except now it's not there and it's my choice (even if it's a financially-related and not a morally-related one).   I still feel the weirdness of not being able to sit on the couch and watch TV for several hours straight.  I feel that it's not necessarily a good thing, and wonder how long it will take myself to get that habit to go away.  We'll be here for at least a year - I'm sure that's long enough.  And my husband never really watched TV so I don't think he misses it much at all.

This post doesn't have much of a point, I just thought it kind of intersting and relavent for a time-wasting board.

They recently released the 1982 cartoon on DVD.  I know it was recently, because a year ago (the week after we got married) I was looking for the DVD, and learned it was only available in region 2 DVD.  (If you look it up on the IMDB, you'll note the cover they show is the German one, because that's the only one that was available!)

Then hubby and I were at the new video store last night and they had a copy of it on DVD for $7.  Needless to say, I had to buy it.  Much better than the German DVD rip that I downloaded last year.  This is such a good movie.  I remember watching it on TV as a kid, and thinking it was the saddest story I'd ever seen.  Of course I loved it.

Still do.  And it's still horribly sad.  But that's the kind of melodramatic person I am/was.  I'm excited to see what they do with the live action remake (scheduled for 2006, the lazy slackers...)  The best part is they're using many of the same actors!  Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury, Rene Auberjonois & Christopher Lee.

Ok, I know that Tage is the only other person who watches this show, (or at least the only other person who has admitted to it) but I can't stand it any more.

I freaking love this show.  And if the majority of this board weren't Mormon, I'd recommend it to you all.  As it stands, I will recommend it to anyone here who does not mind swearing.

So we watched the most recently-leaked episode last night, and it was funny beyond belief.  Why, you ask?  Millie's co-worker, Ted.
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Millie is handing out assignments at work to her coworkers beneath her.

Ted: "Uh.. The Ted had not been given a task?  The Ted is taskless."
Millie: "The Ted is to remain with Millie.  The Ted must make Millie laugh."
Ted: "Keep your station tuned to channel Ted! It's all Ted all time! TNT!  Ted n' Ted.
Mille: "Ted on mute."

He's not a recurring character even, really, just a random coworker who speaks in the third person.  And yet I've had Ted on the brain ever since.  I need a Ted at my job.

I love this show. It's funny, it's deep, it's weird.

Am I the only one that thinks commercials are picking some absurdly weird songs to option out nowadays?

I've been thinking of this for a while, but I just saw a GM commercial for their summer sale or whatever, and it's using the Dandy Warhols' song "Bohemian like you", except edited so heavily that all instances of the words 'bohemian like you' are left out of the song.  That really annoys me.

Or that HP printer commercial using the Cure song "Pictures of You".  Because when I think of The Cure, I think of printing pictures off of my computer and being all depressed while I do it.

Ok, that one wasn't so bad, but Hewlett Packard and The Cure just seems like an odd combo.

Then there was the 10-10-220 commercial that used the Wallflowers song "One Headlight".  COMPLETELY inappropriate choice. Not only is the song rather depressing, but what does it have to do with long distance?

Then there was the commerical for family cruises that was using Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life".
My husband was the one who caught that one, and he was almost speechless.

So while reading yet more great reviews for Spiderman 2, I realized something.  I just don't get excited about movies, and 90% of the time it's because 1) I already know exactly what's going to happen or 2) it's a non-fantasy/sci-fi movie.

There aren't great movies that aren't already based on some other medium.  Harry Potter and LoTR are based on books, and while I was looking forward to the movies, there was no real excitement, because I already knew everything that was going to happen.  Spiderman's somewhat different.  I know less about the Spiderman storylines than I do about either Harry Potter or LoTR, or even something like Batman.

Hellboy was good for me, because plotwise I knew NOTHING that was going to happen.  I can't wait for Serenity to come out, and I'm going to avoid any reviews and spoilers.  I'll definitely go see Shyamalan's new movie.

So, why can't they just create really great fantasy movies not based on existing material?  Does the movie genre not lend itself to truly original material, or is it just that screenwriters do better at translating other people's stories to the screen than coming up with their own ideas?  Or is it that it's too big of a risk financially and so movies like that never get made.

Ok, everyone flame away.

So since you seem to deal with it the most, perhaps you can help me address this subject. Oh, everyone else answer too, please, but since Fell claimed expertship in the 9/11 thread, I'd like his opinion and I know he doesn't read everything on here.

If a person legally changed their name to something that is copyrighted, does a company have any legal way to stop them?

Obviously, in most cases, there's no point. Like the fireman guy who changed his name legally to Optimus Prime.    But what if he had changed his name to Harry Potter?  Would Rowling's lawyers have said something?  Maybe not.

But what if you were say, the singer in a band that hasn't really hit big, and you legally change your name to Harry Potter, and then try using that to make money and improve your image?

What if the singer's name was Nicolas Potter, and he claimed his childhood nickname was Harry?  Would they then have any way to prove otherwise, or be able to stop him from doing so?

I discussed this with my husband but we didn't come to any conclusions other than that if Marilyn Manson tried to  legally change his name to Harry Potter, it would be a great fiasco, and amusing to watch.

Fairly simple question- what is your favorite live-action sci-fi TV series?  I was going to include fantasy but couldn't think of a lot.   But if your favorite happens to be fantasy (like say, Dead Like Me) then those can count too.

Of course I love Doctor Who and Star Trek TNG.  But I think StarGate: SG1 is winning as favorite over all.  Not only does it have the bonus of still being on, but it's got such great characters.