Arkansas Blog

"The DVD edges toward
extinction"

Interesting timing. Just Monday I heard a report on NPR that VCR is officially dead. Nobody is putting out any more new video tapes.

The move toward download of EVERYTHING (software and updates, music, movies, etc.) increases the need for broadband access everywhere in the country. Even the city council in little Pocahontas has been talking with a company about getting city-wide WIFI set up.

E-mail has about killed the Post Office. All they have left are letters from the over-80 crowd, junk mail, and NetFlix DVDs. So movie downloads will means the PO heads toward extinction, too.

Wish you could download wine...

So, can I connect my cell phone to my 72 inch plasma big screen soon-to-be-obsolete TV so I can see the latest video?

Souds like more people will be wandering aimleesly down the sidewalk eyes glued to their little screen as they impede those around them.

Spirit- you can't download wine yet, but you can at least visually sample the bouquet and order it by internet from the comfort of your home (I think).

PS- write letters while you still can - nothing provides a nostalgic rush like the appearance in your mailbox of an envelope addressed in handwriting with an honest-to-goodness stamp (not a meter-mark) on it. . .

"Spirit- you can't download
wine yet, but you can at least
visually sample the bouquet
and order it by internet from
the comfort of your home (I
think).
Posted by: Don Keyhotay"

Yes, I've ordered quite a bit of wine via Internet, sent to my dry county with no question of my age. Some sites won't ship to Arkansas, but if you do some looking, plenty will. They're in another state, shipping via private companies like UPS, and it's hard for Arkansas to police it.

That being said, glass bottles are very heavy and take a lot of packing to avoid breakage, so mail-order wine is really expensive and only useful to get some rare vintage you can't find locally. I now stick to the cheap stuff at my nearest wet-county store.

"an envelope addressed in
handwriting with an honest-
to-goodness stamp (not a
meter-mark) on it. . ."

Yes, it's amazing. Not that long ago people were addressing envelopes via computer printer just to show that they had a computer and knew how to use it. Now handwriting is so rare it's a real treat just to see it.

Likewise, I saw recently where old letter presses now command high prices. They became obsolete and worthless due to offset printing and desktop publishing, but now people are wanting their party invitations printed in printer's ink on letter presses because they give a distinctive almost 3D look other techniques can't match.

What goes around comes around. When will piercing, tattoos, and baggy basketball shorts* go out of style? When will double-knit come back in? Stay tuned.

*I realize there is a strategic reason to wear the baggy pants, but they still look ridiculous to me.

I had a friend who once mailed me a letter but didn't know my address. She wrote my name on the envelope and drew a map with the appropriate street and cross-street and noted there was a church on the corner and that I was two houses down from the church. The U.S. Postal Service delivered it. I was impressed. And, by the way, this happened this century.

Until I can get the movies to download directly onto my tv via satellite cheaper then using Netflix, I'll do it. Until then we will keep renting DVDs. I hate watching a movie on my computer and have yet to figure out how folks can see anything on their cell phone screens.

I'm with you, any*mouse. I like watching movies on my TV with the surround sound, and hate doing it on my computer. Once they make it so you can burn to a DVD then watch on the TV, I MIGHT go for downloading them.

In the meantime, Netflix is my friend since I hate using the rental stores where we have to drive and hour to return them, sooner than we want to.