THE SEARCH
I get a vague sense that these AI chat bots are taking over from
Web searches, yet the results seem so useless that I have trouble
believing it, and I'm too detached from society these days to
really know what's going on. But then again many people used to
naturally distruct anything on the internet because it could be
written by anyone. It's always been a technology that places more
value on convenience than quality of information. Perhaps it worked
out alright because for humans it's overall easier to tell the
truth than make up lies, but it's rather the opposite with AI.
Anyway a part of me likes to avoid it all. Whether it's plotting my
journeys with paper maps, reading old books and magazines, or
hunting through crowded antique/junk shops. With movies in
particular there's something irreplacable about picking out
second-hand VHS tapes and DVDs in some dusty corner of a store.
They can usually be found on Ebay, possibly on one of the
mysterious paid streaming services that everybody else apparantly
uses now, and almost certainly via illegal P2P downloads if not
simply on YouTube. While more expensive (even just for internet
data in the latter cases), I also avoid them because there's
something missing from the experience. I've tried it a little with
out-of-copyright movies, and you lose that serendipity of hunting
through the stacks of titles in a second-hand shop to find some
obscure movie that might be either completely unwatchable or the
best thing you've ever seen.
After buying and watching one of these movies it can be great fun
to use the Web to find out more about them. Even this morning I
awoke wondering about that little pocket computer I saw last night
on a 1990s DVD release (early for DVD in Aus.) of 1994's The
Specialist. Did it really take MiniDiscs in the side and have a
built-in modem that 'the specialist' uses to connect to a BBS in a
phone booth? Unfortunately the Sharp Wizard OZ-9600 was just a PDA
and didn't read optical discs, though it appears it did have a
modem expansion available. It's only thanks to
starringthecomputer.com that I can find out these things:
http://starringthecomputer.com/feature.html?f=1332
There is a definite 90s and early 2000s bias to the movies I find,
somewhat evened up by all the budget DVD/VHS releases of very old
movies from the 40s and 50s that the mainstream distributors lost
interest in. This means there's a frustrating absence in my
collection of some 60s and 70s classics that seems somewhat bizarre
when it includes completely forgotten B-grade productions of the
40s and borderline cult 80s movies like Low Blow (which I do
recommend for B-grade movie fans). For someone who loves car
chases, the persistent absence of the 1968 classic Bullitt from the
shelves at these stores is particularly annoying.
But at the same time that's the fun, and exactly what forces one's
scope to expand to alternative offerings than those on popularity
lists. Basically like the truely intended viewing method of seeing
the movies in a picture theature, though that's too distant and
expensive for me, plus I couldn't lay around naked there.
But watching movies with people and picking up personal recommendations
is the other method of getting introduced to things besides wading
through reviews and lists on the Web I suppose. I guess it might
still be the most popular for normal people. I haven't watched a
movie with someone else for many years, and then only visiting my
parents or at school. Even less taken recommendations, unless you
count inheriting my grandfather's VHS collection (mostly a complete
set of Dad's Army, which I did quite enjoy). In a way, from buying
in second-hand shops I get a combined recommendation list from all
the locals who bought those titles before (although then they
disposed of them...). But yeah maybe it would be interesting to
know someone else into movies. Of course what I really desire is a
woman to cuddle up with while watching one (probably not Low Blow
in that case), but I know I keep going on about that.
- The Free Thinker