tivo

Peer Pressure and the DVR

by oh amanda on September 27, 2010

in tivo

The following hi-larious post is from my bloggy friend and sisterchick, Mary at Giving Up on Perfect

“Hey, Mary, will you buy us a six pack? I think you’d pass for 21.”

I was such a goody two shoes that I was more shocked that my classmate bothered to ask than the fact that she was looking for a buyer. After all, you kind of expect some peer pressure when you’re young, don’t you?

Tight-rolling your pants.
Wearing clear mascara and Exclamation to the school dance.
Sneaking in after curfew.
Being mean to the new kid.
Letting a cute boy smoke in your parents’ car.
Letting your friends copy your homework.
Learning all the words to every single Salt ‘n’ Pepa song.

These issues weren’t easy to navigate, though some were easier to resist than others – but it’s all part of the growing up package.

Little did I know that peer pressure isn’t just for kids.

Recently I’ve flashed back to those tumultuous years as I’ve been pummeled with pressure from those who are supposed to love and accept me. I opened my heart and shared intimate details with those closest to me, and they responded with scoffing laughter, pointing fingers and stinging judgment.

I don’t have DVR. (I still use a VCR.) And my friends are raking me over the coals for this!

Seriously. I am getting harassed in every medium: e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, blog comments, even Skype! No place [online] is safe. I’m starting to fear leaving the house turning on my computer.

Sure, it’s a well-documented fact that I watch a LOT of television. I’m not saying it’s a spiritual gift or anything, but it’s what I’ve got. And, okay, so I have this rule about not turning on the TV until my daughter is in bed, despite my Central Standard Time situation. And FINE, I’ve had to resort to a spreadsheet to coordinate my methods of TV viewing.

But is there really anything wrong with using the tools available to me without further investment? I feel pretty committed with my VCR and my Hulu.com. Do I really need to take the next step, take this relationship I have with my TV to the next level?

Well, I certainly do if you ask my [so-called] friends. Friends who say things like, “How can you even LIVE without DVR?” or “Oh my gosh, I’d just DIE without a DVR.” or “Huh. I thought you were a real TV fan. Guess not.” or “You are a walking, talking TIVO commercial, proving why every person needs DVR.”

Pshaw, I say. Or, perhaps, hmph. Possibly even, grrrr.

What you will not hear me say – EVER – is, “You were right. I’m getting DVR tomorrow.”

Chalk it up to my stubborn nature. Just like Birkenstocks will never (NEVER) grace my feet and just like you will never (EVER!) see me use the ridiculous phrase, “LOL,” I will never give in to this fad! This silly trend! This . . .

Okay. Hmm. FINE.

I can’t wait for the day a thin black box arrives at my house, promising to record every episode of Chuck and Modern Family it can find, vowing to leave no rerun of Will & Grace behind, swearing allegiance to every single geeky show I adore and pledging to show no judgment for those guilty pleasures.

Until then, though, my VCR and I are doing just fine, thankyouverymuch.

Do you have DVR? What shows do you consider must-see (or must-record)? Will you still be my friend if I refuse to break up with my circa-1989 VCR?

Mary can’t decide what she’s looking forward to the most this fall: season premieres of her favorite shows or quitting her day job to freelance. If only “freelance” meant “get paid to watch TV;” then she wouldn’t have to choose. Mary blogs about her imperfect life at Giving Up on Perfect, writing about family, faith, books, food, celebrity look-alikes and chick flicks. You know, the important stuff.

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Free Online TV Shows & Movies at Fancast

by oh amanda on February 3, 2009

in internet,me,tivo,tv

So last night I stayed up and watched Heroes instead of 24. (Yes, feel free to gasp and throw rotten tomatoes at me.) It was the mid-season premiere. I missed Peter. Well, Hiro anyway. And maybe Sylar.

About two minutes in I said, “Did I miss something? Is this the second hour? What’s going on?” And by fourty-five minutes in I realized, “No. This is just the most insane show ever.” It’s like every season they just make up a brand new story for our Heroes to play out. Last season was actually about fourteen new stories. They have one more week before I jack Jack back up to number one on my Tivo’s Season Pass. (Well, number one under LOST, of course.)

Anywhooo…

I was thinking I totally need to watch the previous episodes online. Then, I remembered a post I saw at Kingdom First Mom the other day about free online entertainment and it reminded me of this super cool new-to-me site called Fancast. Have you heard of it?

OK. You can totally watch EVERY TV SHOW online. I scrolled through and found all my shows (LOST, 24, Hereoes, Biggest Loser) and some shows from stations that I don’t even have. Like for some unknown reason we don’t get The Food Network. (Don’t you think that should be like basic? Yeah, well tell it to DIRECTV!) So, hello! Fancast has every show of Rachael Ray, Paula Deen, Emeril and my best bud Alton Brown!

AND! AND! Noggin! We don’t get Noggin! Fancast has a ton of Noggin shows. Also, shows and movies from Disney Channel (yes, even that big high school musical) and some old skool shows like The Smurfs. There are lots of times I’ve been somewhere with my computer and tried to find full-length shows for Lydia to watch and just didn’t know where to go. Now I do!

Not to mention Fancast has a boatload of free full-length movies to watch for free. There weren’t a ton I was interested in. But I did notice Rocky IV. And Yentl. I know, they totally don’t go together but I saw them both when I was a kid. So. Whatever.

(Parental Red Flag: Fancast does have free rated R movies on it.
So, I’m not sure it would be a great place to let your kids just totally hang out on by themselves…)

What I was really more interested in was just that all my TV shows could be in one place. I never remember which network has what show because my Tivo thinks for me. (By the way, when is Tivo going to start paying me commission?) And it’s kinda youtube-ish in that you can embed the shows, rate them, get recommendations, and even an RSS feed to your faves. Not to mention there are blogs about my favorite shows (yes, there’s a LOST blog. Great day in the morning!) and I love the fact that it’s a clean easy site to navigate. Clean sites make me happy.

They also have the ability to download entire seasons for a fee. But really, why would you do that when there are 45000 hours of free shows and movies to watch?

OK, end of commercial. Just thought you might want to abandon the dishes, or laundry or whatever it was you were working on to watch some more TV…just online at Fancast this time!

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I know. It’s been three days since my only summer tv-pleasure has come on. And I started writing the post in my head the second the show came on. But it’s taken me all the way until TODAY to get to post it.

And it’s even got real dancing on it.

No, not of me, thank heavens.

But still. Real dancing.

So, click on to read more

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TIVO and FOOD

May 5, 2008 food

Remember my big lofty goal of planning my meals out for the week? Well, I think it’s been about 3 weeks since I even attempted it. And we’ve eaten frozen pizza, eggs, take-out, eggs and sandwiches almost every night since then. So, here’s my attempt at another menu plan. And in case you’re bored and [...]

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My One & Only American Idol Recap

April 29, 2008 American Idol

I think I do one of these a season. I really should have done this last week because this week was a little more like watching paint dry than watching our FINAL! FIVE! TOP! FINALISTS! BEST! TALENT! EVER! I’ll keep it short and sweet… Jason: Boring. David: (see rant below) Brooke: Self-Conscious. David: Great. Syesha: [...]

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The Other Woman

March 7, 2008 abc

My Lost recap is up at The Disney Blog. For all my dislike of Juliet, I liked this episode ok. What say you, losties? *** I’m off to view the UBP posts…and hopefully have one up myself soon, too!

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The After Post

January 29, 2008 lost

I’m sticking my head out of the greed-fest (aka Bloggy Giveaways) I’ve been in the past 2 days to post. Seriously, there are like 600 contests right now. 600 things I apparently need more than sleep, tv or a clean house. Ahem. I was going to link to a few of my faves, but I’ve [...]

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