Tag Archives: throwaway society

Modern Movie Consumption 2

When I first started writing this essay it was intended as a personal dig into the home entertainment industry that, through technological progress, rendered my humble DVD collection worthless and made consumers either re-purchase or abandon their home movie collection. As it turns out, that’s not quite the case. Consumers are overwhelmed with options. It’s not a battle between streaming vs. physical. We’ve almost reached a point where it’s possible to casually view a movie via streaming services, pay for it on video-on-demand, borrow it from a library, hunt down copies on physical media (new or used), and, for die hard fans and collectors, pre-order and invest in elaborate box set or steelbook editions by boutique labels. Everyone’s catered for. Continue reading

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The art of German party music

As someone who’s amassed and “processed” several hundred tapes in recent years, I had the opportunity to take a good look at certain visual cues in the design of the products put out by record labels. As for German party and schlager music, well… let’s just say they make no effort to shake off their gaudy stereotypes. Continue reading

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Modern Media Consumption

Now that I’ve finally gotten rid of that horrid analogue video media format named “VHS”, I’ve been thinking about what comes next. I’m referring to an all-digital format — an ethereal one that exists not even as files on your hard drive. Truth be told, I’m not really sure — because definitions of “the Cloud” vary. What I am getting at is much more sinister, and I’m not sure I like what’s coming. Continue reading

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Miniaturisation and consumerism

The other day the DVB-T receiver packed up. After I took a drive to my favourite electronics store to pick up a replacement unit I noticed how small the box it comes in was. But it wasn’t until I got home and started hooking up the new unit that the size difference really became apparent. Continue reading

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