television sucks

[o00o]

[vimeo]10857606[/vimeo]

[baph]

the medium is the message

the medium is the massage

[chaosmachine]

 

internet

[noise]

good band, though.

[chassis]

good band, though.

I'll plus 1 this

[Guest Fishtank]

how do I delete my TV?

[Guest ruiagnelo]

the essence of tv perfectly presented

[taphead]

if tv is bad, how are computers any better?

[Guest Masonic Boom]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yan77UKYcg4

 

Second time this week I've had to post that somewhere.

[Guest ruiagnelo]

if tv is bad, how are computers any better?

 

you mean the internet?

[TwiddleBot]

if tv is bad, how are typewriters any better?

[baph]

if tv is bad, how are computers any better?

 

McLuhan would distinguish between a hot medium and a cold medium [from wikipedia, because I'm lazy].

 

For example, McLuhan claimed in Understanding Media that all media have characteristics that engage the viewer in different ways; for instance, a passage in a book could be reread at will, but a movie had to be screened again in its entirety to study any individual part of it. So the medium through which a person encounters a particular piece of content would have an effect on the individual's understanding of it. Some media, like movies, enhance one single sense, in this case vision, in such a manner that a person does not need to exert much effort in filling in the details of a movie image. McLuhan contrasted this with TV, which he claimed requires more effort on the part of viewer to determine meaning, and comics, which due to their minimal presentation of visual detail require a high degree of effort to fill in details that the cartoonist may have intended to portray. A movie is thus said by McLuhan to be "hot" (intensifying one single sense) and "high definition" (demanding a viewer's attention), and a comic book to be "cool" and "low definition" (requiring much more conscious participation by the reader to extract value).[2] This concentration on the medium and how it conveys information — rather than on the specific content of the information — is the focal point of "the medium is the message."

 

Obviously, a lot of modern internet content blurs the lines a bit, but at least a little more conscious participation is needed than in straight tube watching.

 

innit

[kaini]

not all tv sux

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj2NOTanzWI

[taphead]

 

Obviously, a lot of modern internet content blurs the lines a bit, but at least a little more conscious participation is needed than in straight tube watching.

 

innit

 

but the thing you quoted says that movies are different from tv and comics because they don't require that conscious participation in sorting through the presentational aspects of those mediums. so the internet, by the reasoning of your citation, is perhaps the coldest medium in existence.

[TwiddleBot]

the internet is largely what you make of it. if you choose to watch hulu and surf .com sites you will have one kind of experience. if you use the internet to share+collaborate on creative projects, write books, usenet, participate in small online communities, etc you will have a profoundly different experience. i don't see how it is remotely similar to television

[kaini]

the internet is largely what you make of it. if you choose to watch hulu and surf .com sites you will have one kind of experience. if you use the internet to share+collaborate on creative projects, write books, usenet, participate in small online communities, etc you will have a profoundly different experience. i don't see how it is remotely similar to television

 

indeed. it's weird that most people including myself just regularly visit the same 9 or 10 sites when there's so much out there

i kinda get annoyed with myself when i get that 'bored on the internet' feeling

[baph]

Obviously, a lot of modern internet content blurs the lines a bit, but at least a little more conscious participation is needed than in straight tube watching. innit

but the thing you quoted says that movies are different from tv and comics because they don't require that conscious participation in sorting through the presentational aspects of those mediums. so the internet, by the reasoning of your citation, is perhaps the coldest medium in existence.

 

 

the internet is largely what you make of it. if you choose to watch hulu and surf .com sites you will have one kind of experience. if you use the internet to share+collaborate on creative projects, write books, usenet, participate in small online communities, etc you will have a profoundly different experience. i don't see how it is remotely similar to television

 

Yes, I was thinking of things like hulu and streaming content in particular with the line-blurring. And when McLuhan wrote Understanding Media in '64, the medium of television was significantly different than it is at present; it's much more of a cinematic 'hot' and 'high definition' experience now (even apart from content, which McLuhan probably would have argued doesn't matter).

 

It's been a while since I've taken any media theory courses, obviously, but even though McLuhan thought of '60s tv as relatively cool, I think most commentators/subsequent critics bumped it up a few notches? Maybe I'm getting that wrong; it was ages ago. Granted, now you have stuff like Tivo which allows a bit of control over television that had been missing (similar to internet content in this way), which counteracts the 'hotness' a little (or maybe a lot).

 

And McLuhan was notoriously dismissive of content, so I wonder what he would have made of the way a lot of television content is created these days (eg, the goal is to acquire your full undivided attention, per the OP's video).

 

Just thinking aloud, really, and I haven't exactly studied/researched any of this in detail.

[TwiddleBot]

Maybe I'm getting that wrong; it was ages ago. Granted, now you have stuff like Tivo which allows a bit of control over television that had been missing (similar to internet content in this way), which counteracts the 'hotness' a little (or maybe a lot).

 

Good points, the lines are starting to blur.. TV as I knew it growing up no longer exists in this part of the world.

[Guest the anonymous forumite]

I proudly ditched my TV a year ago.

 

I now watch it on the internet.

 

also, a clip made by artist Richard Serra

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXOcCMrhnnk

[Guest Al5x]

I agree with most of what's being said here, but I know quite a few families that are brought together by TV. Without it they'd probably never be around eachother. Internet is a very 1-2 people thing for the most part, 'cept for things like youtube. Which is just internet TV.

[taphead]

the internet is largely what you make of it. if you choose to watch hulu and surf .com sites you will have one kind of experience. if you use the internet to share+collaborate on creative projects, write books, usenet, participate in small online communities, etc you will have a profoundly different experience. i don't see how it is remotely similar to television

 

I just think that the video in the beginning of this thread could be changed slightly to be about how the internet is terrible (just a few images, like of wikipedia or something), and I think it would be just as wrong. The message of the video is that there is this glowing rectangle that wants you to look at it, and it has advertisements and austin powers and promotes ADD. How is that not also your computer?

[goDel]

I proudly ditched my TV a year ago.

 

I now watch it on the internet.

 

 

+1

there was just so much crap on tv in general, i didn't want to waste any time on tv anymore. am i missing out? i don't think so. all the same crap (and much more) is on the internet, and surfing is much more fun than zapping.

[chenGOD]

besides, the internet has lots and lots and lots of porn (for no extra charge beyond your monthly bill).

TV doesn't.

[TwiddleBot]

I just think that the video in the beginning of this thread could be changed slightly to be about how the internet is terrible (just a few images, like of wikipedia or something), and I think it would be just as wrong. The message of the video is that there is this glowing rectangle that wants you to look at it, and it has advertisements and austin powers and promotes ADD. How is that not also your computer?

 

I spent most of today sitting in front of Renoise and jamming out sounds in modular synthesis software. Then I exchanged emails with friends. I typed out some song lyrics. Now I'm surfing watmm exchanging some friendly debate with you. I might turn on skype and do some video chat later. After this I plan on chilling with some video games.. (just bought void off of steam).

 

Once again, it depends on how you use it. A computer is a meta tool.. it doesn't present a preprogrammed linear stream of neverending multimedia strategically designed to hold your attention and never let go (well it can, but that is only one way of using it)

[beariksson]

not all tv sux

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj2NOTanzWI

 

haha wtf is that? hilarious!