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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.42.48.84
Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - 07:28 pm:   

Anyone else miss the silence of the seventies? Times in the day when there was no telly? How would you feel if for whatever reason it came back?
I think it made us appreciate horror more, if that doesn't sound too daft.
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - 08:22 pm:   

It comes back when I switch the TV off.
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Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 92.232.244.38
Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - 09:07 pm:   

Time was, telly used to shut down at night. I remember the uproar when it was decided to go 24/7 with TV broadcasting. Everyone was saying how inconsiderate neighbours were going to keep everyone awake all night with the telly at full blast.
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Jamie Rosen (Jamie)
Username: Jamie

Registered: 11-2008
Posted From: 173.32.63.252
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 03:35 pm:   

I'm with John. Most of the day, the tv is off in my house.

I'm not really sure I follow you, Tony.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 05:12 pm:   

I remember those sign-offs late at night here in the States, Caroline. To link it to horror, there's a great riff/homage to that in the original Poltergeist. But even before that movie, they creeped me out to no end... must have creeped Hooper/Spielberg out, too....
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.42.48.84
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 05:48 pm:   

What I'm meaning is, the SENSE of TV being 'off'. Walking the streets knowing people weren't glued to boxes. You really could sense it. People also at the very least 'looked' at you on the street, too, not hide by looking into their gizmos.
I read a thing recently by a psychic saying that all the 'noise' and 'hum' of the modern world blocks our ability to be psychic, in touch with the bigger picture. I think she had a point, and it didn't just have anything to do with the ghostly.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.42.48.84
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 05:50 pm:   

Yes, the white dot, then that whining sound. Dad staying up late and falling asleep in front of it, hearing it in the other room. Or worse, waking to hear it on in the room you fell asleep in yourself...
Yes, that anthem being played in Poltergeist is such an eerie sound, and the shots of that statue. I've only seen it in that film but it gives me chills nonetheless.
Where's Stevie, btw? He comes on and reviews things, but I can't respond to that - I need to hear *him*.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.140.213.156
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 05:56 pm:   

In the 1950s, I recall the streets being empty when Quatermass and the Pit serial was on.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.42.48.84
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 06:18 pm:   

Des - up till the late seventies if a good film was on all me and my friends would disappear indoors to watch it, then come out and 'play' it after. In juniors, the day after (of all things) Godzilla vs King Kong (on prime time ITV!) was on the whole school was buzzing with it so much the teachers let us write about it. What TV showing would have that effect now?
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.180.123.78
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 06:59 pm:   

In the 1950s, I recall the streets being empty when Quatermass and the Pit serial was on.

And apparently, to an extent, when Hancock was on too.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.22.61.240
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 08:47 pm:   

I read this today, seems relevant:

"Scottish teenager Jake Davis, one of two Lulzsec-associates arrested over the hacking of websites including the CIA, Pentagon, News International, and Sony, may face decades in prison if he is extradited to the United States. Right now Davis is free on bail but forbidden to use the internet. Discussing the experience via the Guardian, he sounds like someone freed from shackles:

The last time I was allowed to access the internet was several moments before the police came through my door in the Shetland Isles, over a year ago. During the past 12 months I have pleaded guilty to computer misuse under the banners of “Internet Feds”, “Anonymous” and “LulzSec”.

I’m often asked: what is life like without the net? In a word, life is serene. I now find myself reading newspapers as though they weren’t ancient scrolls; entering real shops with real money in order to buy real products…Nothing needs to be captioned or made into an elaborate joke to impress a citizenry whose every emotion is represented by a sequence of keystrokes.

It is not so much the sudden simplicity of daily life – as you can imagine, trivial tasks have been made much more difficult – but the feeling of being able to close my eyes without being bombarded with flashing shapes or constant buzzing sounds, which had occurred frequently since my early teens. Sleep is now tranquil and uninterrupted and books seem far more interesting. The paranoia has certainly vanished. I can only describe this sensation as the long-awaited renewal of a previously diminished attention span.

A miracle cure or some kind of therapeutic brilliance are not something I could give, but I can confidently say that a permanent lack of internet has made me a more fulfilled individual."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/sep/09/jake-davis-anonymous-charged-ba il?intcmp=239
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.24.28.194
Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 12:03 am:   

That's quite inspiring, David. The internet is very rapidly destroying human culture, awareness, intelligence, literacy, communication and a lot more besides. It has negatively affected my own quality of life in profound ways. I can't fully break away from it, partly because it's integral to my job, but any day I am without it is an exceptionally good day by comparison. The internet has ruined everything.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.42.48.84
Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 12:10 am:   

David - I wish I had the self control to remove the net from my life myself.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.22.61.240
Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 01:29 am:   

It really does destroy your attention span. Being unemployed at the moment, I have a lot of time to kill and there's some days where I can think of half a dozen productive things I could be doing with all this free time but instead I'm just clicking refresh on Facebook over and over or jumping between pages on two or three different websites and barely taking anything in. Yet I just can't close the laptop and go do those productive things instead.

At the moment I only read books when I'm in bed trying to fall asleep and sometimes when I'm on the train (though mostly I'm reading Twitter or blogs on my phone when I commute now).

I even checked Facebook in the middle of writing this post, for crying out loud.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.42.48.84
Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 01:35 am:   

David; ditto. It's actually a real problem for me. Like booze or drugs. I need help, and I hate it when people say, 'Oh, there's an off switch!'. Thing is, they must have a better social life than me, and more will power.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.42.48.84
Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 01:37 am:   

I'm unemployed, too. I think the net might have been instrumental in making me crap at work.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.22.61.240
Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 01:45 am:   

I'm thinking of trying to wean myself off it a bit. Go to a pub with a novel in the afternoon and read for as long as I can nurse a glass of coke, that kind of thing. Try and be out and around people a bit more. The thing is, I had to move back to my home town from Glasgow due to the unemployment and most of the people I know here are proper, functioning adults with careers and families and mortgages, so I can never just hang out with anyone. The net and Facebook are the only way I can stay involved with my friends from Glasgow and not just fade away completely.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 06:32 am:   

Apropos of nothing (but maybe bygone-TV), here's a truly nightmarish kids commercial from the 1960's: http://youtu.be/FtnESCiZRnw
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.42.48.84
Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 09:33 am:   

Craig - that brought this up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVKyH_6ItB4
These glimpses into lives quite haunt me. Another thing the net has done is to show us these moments. So much going on.
David - yes, that's what I'm trying to do. Since not working i've done less writing - it's because i'm at home. While working I used to stop off at the cafe and write, and get lots done. Here at home - well, this is me not writing.

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