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Sunday, April 20, 2014

Sunday night nerd fix

For the last few years I've been finding reasons not to watch Game of Thrones. For starters it was on HBO, and our budget wouldn't stand premium cable channels. I didn't know if the series was any good. By the time I heard what critics were calling the show, it was too late to watch it because I felt it was something you had to see from episode 1 or you wouldn't know what was going on.
So we got rid of the Time Warner cable a few years back. Last year we got rid of the satellite dish. In our consolidating budget, getting rid of our land line and switching to AT&T U-verse has been a generally positive experience. It's within our budget (Always a plus for me.) the picture is good and we have a nice selection of things to watch. The way it worked out was HBO was bundled with one package and it worked out to be ten bucks cheaper than if we went without it.
Then I found out about their on demand programs that were free. Two weeks back I began watching Game of Thrones from the beginning and I'm glad I did. To sum it up in one word: Awesome.
Now on to the other problem: I've set up the recorder to tape Cosmos, Game of Thrones, and another new series called Turn. They are all on at the same time. So my Sunday consists of watching one while the other two are recording, then watching them immediately afterwards. Makes for a late night getting to bed when I have to get up early for work the next morning.
A quick glance over my shoulder. Family Guy, the cartoon that comes on before Cosmos, is halfway over. People say it's funny. I've tried to watch it and found it... lacking. There's lots of other words I could put there. Juvenile, low brow, asinine. I don't get these cartoon shows the same way I don't get Duck Dynasty. The appeal of these shows baffle me. For my money I'd rather be entertained, informed, and engaged.
I rate Mythbusters up there as higher quality television than the Simpsons. After watching Cosmos, I find myself being hopefully optimistic about humanity.
A long time ago I took a film class at the community college. Some of my classmates were railing on Spielburg and how he made cinematic fluff like Jurassic Park. (That alone should tell you how long ago it was.)
My reply was simply this: 'Amistad.'
The class turned to me with this questioning sneer. Time to back up my statement.
"Spielburg makes movies that sell a lot of tickets, but movie enthusiasts like ourselves look down on them. He makes those movies in order to have the money to make the movies that matter to him. The Color Purple. Amistad. Empire of the Sun. These movies did not do as much in the box office as E.T., but I would argue they're equally if not more important films."
This shut everyone up. I think the teacher gave me a passing grade on that alone. At the very least I gave the hipsters something to think about before they categorically dismiss it.    
   

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