august 21 vlc

You can tell a lot about someone if you know a few of their favourite shows, but you can tell even more about someone when they tell you that they don't really watch television. This happened a lot when I was in my 20s and surrounded by artists and academics who would say things like "I don't even own a television." I was some version of an artist and an academic back then and I wanted to fit in, so I told them some version of the same. Thing is, I was cheating. Because while it was true (at times) that I didn't own a television, but it was also true that I owned computers with optical drives and the ability to connect to the internet. Between rented or purchased DVDs and torrented episodes —— I give thanks to my lord and saviour, VLC player —— I was always up to date on my shows all secret-like, in my room, to myself, and by myself. There's something about that period that I miss. And yeah, this is about streaming platforms and how they've forever changed (read: fundamentally ruined)…