scrapbooks
by rantywoman
I’ve written about this before, but I have almost no interest in seeing movies or watching television anymore. Today I have even less interest than when I started this blog. This is probably fairly common as one ages; after all, the targeted demographic ends at age 34.
But I think there is an even bigger reason, which is that I no longer feel a part of the culture. I am at the exact midpoint of life, and this year closes the book on the first half. That tale didn’t end as expected, and I no longer believe in or identify with the major story threads promulgated by our society.
Daily meditation likely adds to this strange feeling of being outside the accepted narrative.
Blogging is probably the ideal format to tell my arc-less story. There are no big turning points or neat endings, just buffetings, false starts, recoveries back to baseline, and ferreted scraps pointing the way to fellow wanderers.
thebitterbabe 
Don’t be so hard on yourself. There are lots of different narratives.
I watch a lot of tv. I sometimes discover sitcoms after they’ve been cancelled and are in syndication and I record them to watch as my bedtime story. Frasier was a favorite for awhile. I’ve been enjoying King of Queens lately. I just discovered Drunk History on Comedy Central. Made me laugh. I’m not sure I like the story of Orphan Black on BBC America right now, but I do like watching the actress who plays all the clones. And it’s pretty cool when there are a few of her in one scene. I like tv. It takes me away.
The only TV show I enjoy at the moment is Girls, because it’s messy and seems realistic as to the vicissitudes of life for twentysomethings.
Totally agree on Girls. First time I’ve seen parts of my life on screen and found them endearing 😉
I had the same reaction!
I watch the old shows and movies, they are like comfort food to me. Magnum PI, Gunsmoke (Marshall Dillon was a single guy who wasn’t interested in marriage), the Sunday Night Mysteries, Columbo, Cannon (another single guy), Kojak, Rockford Files, and the old movies just seem to calm me. Also, Brit Coms have many non-traditional characters that are relatable. I would like contemporary shows that speak to me, but since there are none, I go back in time for my escape. After writing the above list, I noticed most of the guys were w/out spouse and kids, it was the 70s. (Antenna TV, ME, and PBS)
Among the many narratives is mine. I have not watched TV (except for a couple of superbowls because I was at a party) since leaving home at 18, 37 years ago. While I did purchase a television with which to watch DVDs about 10 years ago, I have fallen out of the habit of watching those, too.
I read in Vanity Fair recently an article called No, No, Nine-Ettes, about nostalgia for the culture of the nineties. Interestingly, the majority of what was addressed in that article were television shows. These are things that I have never seen. One could conclude, then, that I might be somewhat culturally illiterate if, as the article suggests, Television programming is the culture.
Indeed, I have felt somewhat removed from popular culture since the mid-70’s, but I nevertheless am surprisingly aware of what goes on, including an awareness of the television programming of popular culture, since that type of thing is spoken about frequently on talk radio and in casual conversation.
To be sure, I too, have practiced daily meditation, and I have had other things to fill my time. Over the years, people, surprised to hear that I don’t watch TV, would ask me, “what do you do?” Whenever that question was raised, I was puzzled by the question, because it never felt like I had excess time in which I was not doing something.
I don’t feel I have excess time either and don’t know where people find the time to actually sit down and watch something!
I haven’t owned a TV in three years. Don’t miss it at all and not having one removes the question of what to watch. Now if I find something online that interests, I buy the boxset and treat myself to a big binge.
Recent goodun’s: Enlightened, Girls, Downton Abbey