Cellar Scribblings

[Jeff Wrangler]

Another good Halloween movie: The Birds. BBCA is showing this evening. I missed the first hour of it. 

[CellarDweller]

Hiya BetterMost friends!!!!

Staycation is over, back to work tomorrow.



Oh well, all good things come to an end.  I can't complain, however.  I'll have off for Veteran's Day on Nov. 11th, and I took the day before and after Thanksgiving off, so that will be an extended weekend.

Got together with some friends for a backyard firepit night on Saturday, had some pizza and Halloween cookies for dessert.  Now, to spend the rest of the evening relaxing.

[CellarDweller]

I didn't like scary TV shows. Somehow something put me off even on The Addams Family until one Halloween when my mother sat me down and more or less forced me to watch it with her.

Oh, I lived for scary stuff on TV, and I loved watching that stuff during Halloween. 

Often on Halloween I like to watch something in the Halloween spirit, so a year or two ago I rewatched Rocky Horror Picture Show.The first hour or so is great, through Let's Do the Time Warp Again and Sweet Transvestite. And Tim Curry is excellent in that role.

But pretty much everything after that is boring and dumb. Which, come to think of it, is approximately what I thought when I saw it in the theater. But it had sort of blurred in my memory.

I always try to watch Rocky Horror on Halloween.  I agree:  the first half is fun, and the second act is a hot mess.  (Though I kinda like "Rose Tint My World".)  The dvd extras are fun.

I've never been a fan of RHPS.  I've watched it a few times, but it did nothing for me.

Showing my age. Australia did not get TV until my last year of Primary (Elementary) school 1956 and my family did not get it until I was few years into Secondary school. I use to go into my neighbours on Friday night and all I remember was it included Alfred Hitchcock. To go home I had to walk down their tree covered driveway which was always scary.  When we did get it, my parents only allowed me to watch one week night and I chose Tuesday which was 'I Love Lucy' and 'Our Miss Brooks'.

We grew up with TV in my house, but mom and dad monitored what we were watching.  Also, the TVs were black and white.  It was a big deal when we got a color TV in the house, but it was a while after they became commonplace that we got one.   It was the same with cable TV.  We did get it, but after it had been out for some time.

Another good Halloween movie: The Birds. BBCA is showing this evening. I missed the first hour of it. 

Oh, yeah, that's a good one

[brianr]

I first saw colour TV when I went to the UK in 1974. However it had arrived in Australia when I went back home later in the year. I only bought a colour TV in 1982.

[serious crayons]

It was a big deal when we got a color TV in the house, but it was a while after they became commonplace that we got one.   It was the same with cable TV.  We did get it, but after it had been out for some time.

Same here. For a long time I liked staying in hotels because I could watch cable.

I was also late in getting a microwave, cell phone and smart phone. I'm not an early adopter.

[Jeff Wrangler]

We grew up with TV in my house, but mom and dad monitored what we were watching.  Also, the TVs were black and white.  It was a big deal when we got a color TV in the house, but it was a while after they became commonplace that we got one.   It was the same with cable TV.  We did get it, but after it had been out for some time.

The first time we watched the TV broadcast of The Wizard of Oz after we got a color TV set, I had a shock. Until then, I had only ever seen the move in black and white. I had had no idea Oz was in color.

I vaguely remember when cable was uncommon, at least where I grew up. Everybody we knew had an antenna. We even had a device to rotate the antenna; I presume you got better reception of a given channel depending on the orientation of the antenna. When cable came in, everybody we knew wondered why you should pay every month for something you could get for free. We're also talking here about the 1960s, when what was available on TV was a lot less than now.

[brianr]

I have never had cable TV, never available where I lived.  I had fibre installed a few years a go for the internet, installation was free. At Christmas I bought a connection to attach my laptop to my TV. However I never got round to actually doing it until Covid lockdown.
As my European holiday was cancelled this year, I decided to buy a  TV with a bigger (50") screen and internet capabilities. I have watched a movie on Youtube and the NZ Symphony has had programs. I took out a month free with Amazon Prime but only watched one movie so cancelled it. I have thought of Netflix but doubt I would find it worthwhile. I see ads for Acorn which apparently is British TV programs and am thinking about it. I prefer to watch a movie in the cinema.
When travelling I only turn TVs on in hotel rooms to watch the news and rarely do that. I find TVs confusing in North America.
As already said, I only have a cell phone for emergencies. However I love my microwave and doubt I could live without it.

[CellarDweller]

Hiya BetterMost friends!!!!

I spent the day with mom and dad.   My niece (Shana) her boyfriend (Derek) and my grand nephew (Trenton) came by for Halloween.  Trent is 7 next month, so he's at the prime trick-or-treating age.  They got to mom and dad's place about 1:00, and we ordered lunch from a local place.  Then while I went to pick it up, they hid little jack-o-lanterns around the backyard for Trent to find, filled with treats.

After lunch, mom and dad took Trent for some trick-or-treating, a few of the houses in their area put out tables with candy so the kids could take it safely.  When they got back, we hung out and talked, and gave out candy to whatever trick-or-treaters showed up.

We had a large sign on the porch telling kids to ring the bell and then go back down the stairs of the porch, and wait for the candy.   My dad rigged up a basket on a long piece of wood, similar to what you see churches use for collections.



They would put the candy in the basket and extend it to the kids so they could grab it.  We let Trent help, because he is always going out trick-or-treating, so he's never given candy to anyone. 

I also used the time to do my laundry.

They went home about 4:30 or so, so it was early enough for Trent to go out with them by his home.  Unfortunately, Trent is dairy allergic, so I'm sure he gets a bunch of candy he can't eat.

My mom puts together a bunch of chocolate, but she also buys a few bags of "fruity" candy that has no milk or nuts in it, and she gives it out to any kids who have food allergies.  There's a pretty good selection of candy you can get that doesn't have milk or nuts.  Twizzlers, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, lollipops, Nerds, Laffy Taffy....and so on.

[serious crayons]

The first time we watched the TV broadcast of The Wizard of Oz after we got a color TV set, I had a shock.

... When cable came in, everybody we knew wondered why you should pay every month for something you could get for free. We're also talking here about the 1960s, when what was available on TV was a lot less than now.

We had a B&W set, too, but I had always heard about TWoO switch and therefore was very excited when we got color. Of course, back then you could only watch it once a year.

I'm confused. Cable didn't come into widespread use until long after the 1960s. A quick google says it was invented long before then, but became mainstream in the '80s.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'm confused. Cable didn't come into widespread use until long after the 1960s. A quick google says it was invented long before then, but became mainstream in the '80s.

Well, there's "widespread" and then there's just plain existence. Maybe it was more like the early Seventies, but I'm positive there was some sort of cable service available where I grew up when I was still a kid. It was some sort of newfangled thing, and, again, we had good TV reception because we had the device to change the position of the antenna, so why pay for it? Of course, there wasn't much, if anything, more to watch than ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS.

Things come to different places at different times. I have it on authority that I trust that there are still places in this country where the only internet access is via dial-up. A friend who works in the business says the company he works for has clients in the West who still only have dial-up, and I know somebody as close to the East Coast as rural Virginia who still has only dial-up. You hear all this talk about 5G networks for cell phones, and some people in the U.S. still have to use dial-up for internet access.