In mid-2006, Static Girl allowed me to dump our $60 per month cable and get Dish network. We got a great start-up rate of roughly $30 per month, a digital video recorder (DVR), and some movie channels free for a few months--it's pretty much the same (good) deal you can get now. It took a few days for me to learn to use the DVR, but it became an intensely wonderful companion.
You don't even know how much MORE tv you can watch with the "skip ahead 30 seconds", and the "go back 10 seconds" buttons. No more tv commercials are necessary in your life--imagine that! As a big football fan, skipping ALL the time in between plays is miraculous--and it only takes one push of one button (a 3-hour football game can be viewed in less than 30 minutes). "Contemplate" watching 6 hours of Olympic coverage in about 45 minutes; soccer, swimming, and gymnastics only, baby! Nice! Then you can delete those current recordings, and start new the next day. Or; you can build a base supply of recordings, an "index" if you will, and refer to them whenever. Daily; I can watch Countdown, PTI and the Daily Show in about an hour.
But the problem today is that my DVR died. Because it was only a digital memory, all of my recordings are now gone. I am here today to remind myself of what's been lost. You get to "use" 100 hours of recording, and I had roughly 50 hours permanently in place. We have an appointment to get a new DVR soon, and I want to remember what to go record again:
"Running Down a Dream"--the 4 hour Tom Petty history
"The Who Live at Kilborn"--one of Keith Moon's last performances
"Amazing Story--The Who"--a 2 hour Who narrative
Peter Gabriel's "Growing Up"--concert footage from 2002 (?)
8 hours (episodes) of good UFO Hunters shows
The first 12 episodes of "The Whitest Kids You Know"
Lewis Black's "Black on Broadway"
6 hours of "House", including 2 2-part episodes
6 hours of the new Dr. Who on Sci-fi
4 hours of old "Out There" episodes
My 4 favorite Family Guy episodes
I am missing some things here. Oh well. You never know when technology is going to fuck you. The guy who told me about the Who concert said that I should have IMMEDIATELY transferred that recording to tape or DVD--and he's right. I know better now. Let's hope I can get all or most of what I had back into my library. For the rest of you; don't even sample a DVR. Keep watching political commercials and network promotions--it'll build character. Go away now.