[OT] [I mean totally OT] Re: What can you "new"

[Daniel Keep]

Georg Wrede wrote:
> ...
> 
> It's a conspiracy. You need to turn the volume up to understand, and
> meanwhile the entire house hears the bangs and shots, and everybody has
> to come and see. Same with commercials (at least around here) they got
> the nice idea to send commercials a lot louder than the program, so
> everybody in the building (including your freaking neighbors) has to
> hear what detergent to buy. #@%!@#!!! I'd say that's harrassment and
> trespassing.

I have this long list of "what I'd do if I was made Prime Minister."
One of the entries relates to outlawing advertising firms and anything
other than plain text ads with maybe a voice at a sensible volume over
the top.  (Rivers does this, bless 'em, and I always make a point of
paying attention to their ads if I happen to see one.)

Then, to really bugger 'em up, I'd make it law that if there's anything
in an ad that you can't support with concrete evidence, you get hanged.
 Enough of this "five out of six fluffy ducks love our toilet paper
best" or "Australia's favourite" or any of the other bullshit they use.
 Let's see how eager they are to make stuff up when it's their neck on
the line...

They can keep the cannes ad awards, though; if only as a hobby.

> Check out any movie from the fifties, and all of a sudden you aren't old
> anymore: you can actually hear what they say. Without burning the amp or
> your nerves!

Probably because it was when they still gave a rats about quality and
not annoying the crap out of the viewer.

I guess this is all endemic of the media industry these days.  I mean, I
got so furious with all the bullshit going on that I just completely
stopped buying/renting movies and music.

> I've actually thought of buying a 5.1 sound system, for the sole purpose
> of turning everything else down, except the dialog speaker. (The one on
> top of the TV.) But I've been too lazy to go to a store and test if it
> actually would work. Does anybody know?

See, I just turn on subtitles.  I guess I got used to them from watching
Anime with Japanese language and English subs, so it really doesn't
bother me.

> @#$@$#!!! And they used to have this logo screen between commercials and
> programming, but now they've got rid of it, so when I watch a movie, I
> literally have to have the remote in my hand so I can be ready to cut
> the volume before everybody wakes up. Technology advances indeed.

I have a great solution to this: I don't watch TV.  The only exception I
make on any vaguely regular basis is to turn it on to watch TopGear
(when someone reminds me, since I have an atrocious memory for this.)

Sometimes, I wonder how far above my own the general public's tolerance
for being treated like cattle is.  Just how far do the media and TV
companies have to push people before society at large turns around and
hacks their hands off with a blunt spoon...

  -- Daniel