Having persuaded my PVR to take early retirement (read: sacked it for refusing to record programmes I really wanted to see, despite still having several gigs left on the clock), and installed a shiny new one in time to for Red Riding tonight, I can now play: what do I think I want to watch, but actually don't want to watch? Or to put it another way: which programmes did I record but never bother to look at? A portrait of my own self-delusion through the medium of television awaits.- 1 x ep of Free Agents
- Swing Time
- Richard III
- King Lear (? don't even know which production)
- Wallace and Gromit Christmas special
- Lark Rise to Candleford Christmas Special
- The Good Girl
- entire series of Paul Merton in India
- True Stories: Forbidden Lies
- 1 x ep of What To Eat Now (I know the presenter, although apparently not well enough to go the extra mile and actually watch his show)
- Hellboy
- The Long Walk to Finchley
- Imagine: Oliver Sacks (apparently I can imagine him just fine by myself)
- In The Shadow Of The Moon
- Walk The Line
- The Sweet Smell of Success
- Holes
In conclusion: I think I like movies. I think I like documentaries. I even seem to think I like comedy, a bit. But what I actually like are drama series. In the time that I've had a PVR, I've made my merry way through any number of series of Doctor Who, ER, Mad Men, The Sopranos, The Wire, Gilmore Girls, Six Feet Under, Northern Exposure, Being Human, The West Wing, Heroes etc etc, and indeed have purchased a whole new box so that I don't have to miss any more of episodes of these programmes ever ever. I have been obsessively watching Heroes when I could have been watching The Sweet Smell of Success or In The Shadow Of the Moon. What was I thinking? Seriously? It's actually quite sweet that I think I have taste, when really I have no taste at all.
Thing is, I *still* think I want to see all of those things. Just, you know, not right now. Some of them I've had for years, and despite all evidence to the contrary I genuinely appear to think that one day I'm going to watch them. I am completely delusional. Sadder than that, if any of them came onto TV when I was in, I probably would watch them, but there is something about *owning* them which makes me not bother. There is probably some kind of lesson here about why marriages go sour.
All of which means that I'll keep my old PVR in storage because I believe that the urge to see a decent Jennifer Aniston movie will overwhelm me enough to make me reconfigure my entire "home cinema" (ancient second hand television, cheapo DVD player that has subtitles switched on as default so I have to turn them off by hand, irritating me every time I watch anything, and shiny new PVR which [I hope] actually works, as yet unproven - BUT in preference to real cinema, nobody eating loudly, talking, or taking mobile phone calls, aside from me) in order to facilitate this, when being within two button's push of the same was too much effort.
Now: what are the chances of me actually watching Red Riding?
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6 comments:
OK of those progs I have watched, I can recommend
Richard III
Wallace and Gromit - not their best but enjoyable
Lark Rise - don't watch it normally but this was quite nicely Christmas spooky
Paul Merton - bits quite fun but I did lose interest
Hellboy - one of my husband's favourite films, but definitely not my most treasured super hero (probably has to be the Bat for me). It does have its moments, but not my cup of tea really.
The Long Walk to Finchley I really enjoyed which was surprising given that I didn't really like the main character. But thats' Angela Riseborough for you.
Holes I have a pathological prejudice against because I went for an interview at Bloomsbury around the time it was published and didn't get the job (to think how different my life could have been...)
Oooo do you actually have a Humax as your new PVR? I love my Humax (pronounced "Hummux" in my best Yorkshire accent) beyond reason. Probably because it is so good at storing all the stuff I keep telling myself I'll watch one day. For me, it's mainly films. And I used to watch films for a living!
Swingtime is my absolute favourite Astaire/Rogers movie. You have to wait almost half an hour for them to dance, but, my God, it's "Pick Yourself Up". If silly wishes could come true, I'd be able to dance like Ginger Rogers in "Pick Yourself Up". The climax is pretty well orgasmic. Then there's "The Way You Look Tonight" which won the Academy Award for Best Song that year, and the amazing "Never Gonna Dance", plus Astaire's tribute to Bojangles Robinson (done in blackface, but it's such a glowing tribute, that you can overlook it). If you haven't watched it, please do!
Yes indeed bagelmouse - I heart Humax.
All of this is reminding me of the Electric Monk is Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency:
The Electric Monk was a labour-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video recorder. Dishwashers washed tedious dishes for you, thus saving you the bother of washing them yourself, video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expected you to believe.
So did you watch Red Riding???
Love the Electric Monk. I wish I had one.
King Lear is probably the McKellen version, as it was on over Christmas. I guarantee you won't get to the end of it. There will be less depressing things to do, like pushing pins under your fingernails.
Richard III is rather good, though. So is Shadow of the Moon.
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