One thing about TiVo that I didn't know is that it records stuff for you, without asking for your permission. It bases its choices on programming you already watch, record, and/or rate, so chances are actually pretty good that you'll be interested in what it chooses for you. It's not completely arbitrary.
Not long after I moved in here, TiVo figured out that Mamoo likes good indie films. So now every time I sit down for a little TV action, the TiVo box yarks up a whole mess of IFC blather, hoping that I'll like it. Most of the time I'll skim though a bit, and then delete it, but recently TiVo recorded Longtime Companion, one of the few gay films that I actually really like. (It's certainly better than Love! Valor! Compassion!— a film I can't seem to get through in one sitting.)
I clicked on the little green "thumbs up" button and gave Longtime Companion a good rating. It deserves it. Obviously it's an early gay film, because it doesn't have a gay-bashing scene— something that by law must now be included in all gay entertainment somehow.
Here's the interesting bit. TiVo took that single recommendation, interpreted it as "big homo lives here," and now records EVERY BARBRA STREISAND MOVIE IT CAN FIND.
I can't get it to stop. I've given all of her movies a "Triple Thumbs-Down," but that damned TiVo box continues to hunt for them, quietly despairing that I have not yet embraced my inner-Barbra.
Can TiVo be a bad influence? Can a TiVo box be gay?
Last updated 24 March 2003
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