Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Watching and Learning
I was skeptical at first, but I have to admit that the advent of TiVo in my life has been pretty fascinating. To begin with, I'm a huge fan of pausing live TV so I can go make a sandwich, water pic my teeth, or write the Great American Novel without missing a single precious moment of The UPN's Veronica Mars. I also enjoy seeing what TiVo thinks I want it to record for me, which for some reason has included a strange preponderance of Malcolm in the Middles and Spanish-language news programs. On Saturday I actually caught TiVo gearing up to tape, without any request from me, a Spanish-language movie on a channel we do not actually receive. You see, TiVo knows me better than I know myself, which is why I watched all three hours of the test pattern it recorded and did so happily. My relationship with TiVo is all about compromise.
And while TiVo was taking in Monday Night Football last night, I managed to sneak away to my friend's house to watch what I had remembered as being a childhood horror classic, A Nightmare on Elm Street. What had apparently once seemed scary, however, ended up striking me only as mildly and unintentionally hilarious. From the sight of a young Johnny Depp in a half-shirt and rolled up sweatpants to the casually comic presentation of alcoholism to the heroine's absurd mood swings (casually accepting the death of a loved one but flying into a rage at a hall monitor and screaming "Screw your hall pass!") , there were plenty of chuckles to be had. And since my own dreams rarely feature burn victims with knives for fingers (unless Oprah has really changed her look), I had no problem sleeping peacefully last night. Which is good, because I've got about a hundred Malcom in the Middles to get through today.
I was skeptical at first, but I have to admit that the advent of TiVo in my life has been pretty fascinating. To begin with, I'm a huge fan of pausing live TV so I can go make a sandwich, water pic my teeth, or write the Great American Novel without missing a single precious moment of The UPN's Veronica Mars. I also enjoy seeing what TiVo thinks I want it to record for me, which for some reason has included a strange preponderance of Malcolm in the Middles and Spanish-language news programs. On Saturday I actually caught TiVo gearing up to tape, without any request from me, a Spanish-language movie on a channel we do not actually receive. You see, TiVo knows me better than I know myself, which is why I watched all three hours of the test pattern it recorded and did so happily. My relationship with TiVo is all about compromise.
And while TiVo was taking in Monday Night Football last night, I managed to sneak away to my friend's house to watch what I had remembered as being a childhood horror classic, A Nightmare on Elm Street. What had apparently once seemed scary, however, ended up striking me only as mildly and unintentionally hilarious. From the sight of a young Johnny Depp in a half-shirt and rolled up sweatpants to the casually comic presentation of alcoholism to the heroine's absurd mood swings (casually accepting the death of a loved one but flying into a rage at a hall monitor and screaming "Screw your hall pass!") , there were plenty of chuckles to be had. And since my own dreams rarely feature burn victims with knives for fingers (unless Oprah has really changed her look), I had no problem sleeping peacefully last night. Which is good, because I've got about a hundred Malcom in the Middles to get through today.
