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