I have recently acquired a large-format Sony televison. Despite the low cost of cable television, I’ve decided firmly against getting cable; my time is valuable and cable is notoriously distracting, and I have lower-cost substitutes readily available through my laptop, which is easily connected to the 42 inch television screen in high definition, giving me oh so much more desktop space and access to much louder and better speakers. My first move was to utilize this increased capacity by playing Explosions in the Sky; the music is intense and the full emotive impact is easier accessed when the volume is very loud, which is something that my laptop can’t do very well.
I don’t think I’ll get cable. I don’t watch many shows on a regular basis and it is easy to find a friend with HBO for the weekly episode of Entourage. Besides, I can port a dvd or YouTube or Hulu to the big screen with ease. And I am excited that I can use the big screen to display interesting images of interesting things; right now my desktop background is a scan of Kafka’s first page of the Metamorphosis with Nabokov’s scribbles all over it, which is a fun conversation piece.
Ducks and Economics 