MTV

[Peven]

Makes me idely wonder if there's any way something like MTV could ever simply evaporate, you know? Whether it needs us to sustain and nourish it anymore. Whether it would need anyone watching and listening, for it to simpley go bleeting on and on forever...

hhmmm, fascinating theory, my philosophical robotical friend. do you mean to say that if a Christina Aguilera video plays in the forrest, and there is no one there to hear it, it makes no sound? MTV exists because we THINK it exists, and if the human collective ceased THINKING it existed it would simply blink into nothingness? promising.

[wonkabar]

Lol, my Sweet Sixteen is one of the scariest shows I've ever seen, I think.

As an example of societal bubbles within bubbles, it's surreal to a point beyond the glibbest of fictions...

In all it's glossy, commercial, neon vapour, MTV is redundant culturally by now, it kind of has to be, right?

It fills empty airspace and perpetuates itself as much as anything else it seems. Perhaps aided by the gormless, and the lusty along the way. For people looking to reap teh spoils of the the gifted and the beautific, they looks elsewhere's than MTV, I think...

You know in something like Blade Runner, or any general apoco-vision of the future, where there's holo-billboards filled advertising and hyper-stylized, meaningless background noise and such? It seems to me that MTV fills the same kind of purpose, it doesn't really have content per say, it doesn't really do anything but bleet variously expressed dollar signs into the ether.

Makes me idely wonder if there's any way something like MTV could ever simply evaporate, you know? Whether it needs us to sustain and nourish it anymore. Whether it would need anyone watching and listening, for it to simpley go bleeting on and on forever...

Poetry

[Ribbons]

Has anybody seen the promos for MTV's new season of "The Real World"?

And I quote (the wrote box proves it):

Suddenly I realize: Oh my god I'm having sex

. . .

[AtomicHyperbole]

/initiates incredulity mode

WTF??!!!



/disables incredulity mode

Evidently a virgin.

[Ribbons]

To add to the list of things that bug me about this network, apparently, on the instances when they DO play music videos, they've all but stopped listing the names of the directors, because... well, I don't know why. It's not as if they gain anything in the process. But really, who cares about the directors anymore anyway, right? Music videos are just commercials for cellphone ringtones, after all.

[Fried Gold]

I thought MTV had a separate "niche" channel now that showed actual music videos.

[Ribbons]

They might, they've got like a zillion different channels now. There's MTV2, MTV3, MTVU, The Ocho... for me, though, I still just have the one. The lack of music videos doesn't bother me so much, I'm just honestly shocked that they gave directors the finger by taking their names off the videos.

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

The main reason they gave directors credit in the first place was to make someone responsible for the content of the videos. MTV was getting a lot of flack for the TnA so they figured they would pass the buck.

[Nachokoolaid]

Really? I always thought it was a play to make them seem more credible. Guys like Spike Jonze and McG were sort of breaking into big time film, and MTV could look back and be like "We helped them get there." So when the next McG or Jonze appeared, it was no secret where he got his start.

[geekgrrl]

Sometime between 1995 and 2010 MTV became obsolete in my life. Well maybe obsolete is a bit harsh, not much though. From the ages of 13 and 17 the music channel was my go to choice in the afternoons after school. Sure they may have played a lot of music I didn’t care for, but at least they tried to have a variety of music playing. From Headbanger’s Ball to 120 Minutes to Yo! MTV Raps they had something for everyone and then slowly and deliberately the channel became less about music and more about creating their own version of a star. In the beginning of this shift of focus I held on and even went as a far as to watch The Real World and an occasional episode of Made. But over time my likes shifted and soon I found myself going to live shows instead of watching them on television. Instead of watching people I would never meet going out to clubs I was the one who was going out to the clubs and staying out to all hours of the morning.

Of course as with all other aspects life that too got boring and soon I moved another chapter of my life. Occasionally I would turn it to MTV but as the way of the video went so did my desire to watch. However through all of this I never really felt that I was too old for the channel. I still loved music. I try to go to at least 2 or 3 shows a year, more if I’m lucky. Granted the shows that I go to will never be featured on TRL, but still. Ok so I don’t know what the latest popular song is or who the new “It” person is. And yeah I may not completely understand what the fascination with Robert Pattinson or the fact that if this were real life he would be arrested for stalking yet millions of girls and women everywhere love the Twilight series. But that doesn’t mean I am too old for MTV, does it?

Unfortunately although none of the reasons mentioned above unequivocally make me too old for MTV the fact that “The Situation” and the rest of the Jersey Shore are merely really tan people who I have never heard of before and truthfully could care less about probably does. Don’t get me wrong I don’t have anything against these people I just don’t care about the going on’s of their lives. In fact the only thing I know about the Jersey Shore is that once when I was really young my family went their on vacation or for a family reunion or something. I can’t remember why we there I just that we went and I had fun at the beach. Another selling point would probably be Lady Gaga. I don’t get her. At all. I am not even going to pretend that I do. I have nothing against her but if I want to listen to a strong female singer I will turn my Ipod on and choose The Donna’s or Red Aunts. But maybe I am just ebing biased because she doesn’t fit with the type of music I usually listen too. Who knows and honestly after thinking about it for awhile I can’t really say I mind if I am too old for MTV. Hell I always have VH1′s 80′s marathon countdowns and if we have learned one thing in life it is that you are never too old for the 80′s.

http://mendie22.wordpress.com/2010/05/29/has-it-happened-am-i-too-old-for-mtv/

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

Nope, MTV just has shitty programming.

[DerLanghaarige]

The craziest thing about MTV these days is that I don't know ANYBODY who seems to like their current programming* and doesn't want the music videos back, but it seems like the ratings are good enough anyway to ignore these requests. (Which is weird. I can imagine showing music videos that the record labels send them is WAY cheaper than producing and licensing reality content).
The argument that comes up the most about watching music videos these days is that TV channels that do this became unnecessary because of YouTube, but I don't buy that. Ever tried to search a specific video on YouTube? First you get a few hundred videos of kids who play the song at home on their guitars, then another few hundred "videos" that consist of a still photo with the song playing in the background, then another few hundred uploads of the video in shitty picture and/or sound quality. And when you live in Germany, you probably can't even play the OFFICIAL uplaod of it, because of a bizarre fight between Youtube, record labels and GEMA.

*Apart from the cartoons they show here in Germany in the evening (South Park, MacFarlane's shows, Drawn Together) and Game One, a magazine about video games, that mixes informative content with complete insanity.

[Al Shut]

Haha, I like Game One but the advertising has to be the boldest lie in the history of advertising. 'Kein Firlefanz' my ass.

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

If you're going to watch videos online just go to vevo.com.

[DerLanghaarige]

Good advice, but...



And using a proxy for video sites usually results in waiting 30 minutes till it has loaded and another 30 minutes till you were able to wre able to watch the full video.

[Hermanator X]

The PS3 has an ace FREE music video channel. Called "Vidzone" it streams music videos, and you make the playlists (or if you cant be bothered, there are some other playlists available for you).
Admittedly, it doesnt have everything, but at the moment there is lots of content (13,000), and its always growing.
A similar format to youtube, but with official videos only, so none of the fan crap mentioned earlier, and no ads.

Good quality vids, and great quality sound. It takes a while to set up, the first time you use it, and the navigation takes a little getting used to (infact its just been improved, from when I first started using it) but overall a good solution for those looking for a music channel.

A fun artist playlist I watched it the other day was by Scroobius Pip. As well as a few of his tunes, there were some great tunes he had chosen then Patrick Swayze's Shes like the wind started playing, which caught me off guard a bit.

Of course, it requires you having a PS3, but just thought I would mention it if some of you PS3 owners are unaware of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VidZone (Seems it isnt available in the US as yet)

[TheBaxter]

what i find interesting is that there are A LOT of cable channels which started out as something tailored to a specific interest or topic or genre, and now a lot of them have morphed into something completely different, filling up their schedules with reality shows or dramas, or movies, or watering down the programming to the point where their original brand is meaningless. MTV is one of the most obvious examples. but look at some of the others. i remember when AMC was American Movie Classics and really was a channel that just showed classic old movies with no commercials. now they have series, and the movies they show, well hardly anyone would call most of these "classics". Sci-Fi is now SyFy and when they're not showing shitty made-for-SyFy movies about giant snakes or lizards or spiders, they've got ghost hunters and one of it's 139 or so knockoffs, or wrestling. WRESTLING! anyone care to explain to me what's "sci-fi" about that? half the shows on the history channel are about UFOs and bigfoot. The Nashville Network became Spike TV and... well, ok, they got a lot better. but look at the others. Country Music Television became CMT, Arts & Entertainment became A&E, the Learning Channel became TLC (and taught us all about Jon & Kate, oh joy)... pretty much any channel that ever changed from a name to just initials got watered down in the process and lost its identity. the only ones that have maintained some semblance of their identity is where the subject was broad enough (like Comedy Central) or attracted enough viewers on its own (like the Food Channel or HGTV) or was a news channel.

the problem is that every channel now wants to have the next "hit" show, whether its a reality show like jon & kate, or a drama like breaking bad, or whatever. they don't care, they just want something that gives them prestige and ratings and in the process, they all begin to look like each other, and instead of having a lot of diverse channels, each with its own niche, we end up with a bunch of mini-networks that all pretty much play the same stuff.

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

The evidence against MTV keeps piling up.

A teenage boy with something extra in MTV's comedy
By FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer - June 1, 2010

NEW YORK – From those to whom much is given, much is expected.

That even applies to the seemingly shortchanged 15-year-old RJ Berger, who sizes himself up for the audience as "scrawny and weird-looking, awkward and pale."

The hero of the new MTV scripted comedy "The Hard Times of RJ Berger," he follows in a rich TV tradition of winsome misfit adolescents — kids with smarts, creativity and spunk lurking just beneath the surface of their systematic victimhood.

But RJ comes with a bonus tucked away in his boxer shorts: He's extremely well-endowed.

Thus does "Hard Times" raise issues that consume males from their early adolescence onward: How much is big enough? Why don't I have more? Why is life so unfair? A show aimed at teen and twentysomething guys (plus girls with their own interest in the subject), "Hard Times" portrays the ultimate wish fulfillment of its primary audience, while reminding the viewer that no blessing comes without a cost.

Here is a young man whose gift (never witnessed by viewers, of course, and thus enhanced even more in the mind's eye) is plenty big enough, and then some.

And yet, doggonit, RJ's life isn't perfect. For RJ, a large penis is as much a curse as a blessing, as much a burden as an object of pride.

As what could be described as "The Wonder Years" meets "Boogie Nights," the 12-episode series premieres Sunday at 11 p.m. EDT following "The MTV Movie Awards." It focuses on RJ's relatable misadventures in high school, as well as his relatable ambivalence about his manhood, however much the physical evidence might scream "case closed!"

"Hard Times" bears a passing resemblance to HBO's "Hung." In that drama series, which returns for its second season June 27, a financially struggling family man and high school teacher becomes a male prostitute.

But RJ, who is played with understated forbearance by Paul Iacono, isn't nearly so desperate. His struggles are more those of self-acceptance and gaining acceptance of his fellow teens.

RJ is free to stew over such dilemmas in private until, in the premiere, the cat (so to speak) is out of the bag. In a wardrobe malfunction during a basketball game, his secret is exposed to the whole student body.

RJ's nerdy, marginal presence is instantly revised among all who behold him. From now on, it seems, he will be identified on campus with a blend of envy, jeering and a bit of the yuck factor. What might very well serve as an advantage is also likely to further stigmatize him.

The long and the short of it: What is expected of RJ is how to deal with his package deal.

RJ's best friend, the sex-obsessed and sex-deprived Miles (Jareb Dauplaise) is thrilled to learn of RJ's previously undisclosed bounty. Miles bets he will seem desirable to girls by mere association.

"It's our golden ticket!" Miles rejoices.

After the revelation, RJ's stalker-ish hanger-on Lily (Kara Taitz) is all the more interested in RJ.

But his sole, unrequited love interest remains the beautiful Jenny (Amber Lancaster), whose boyfriend is Max (Jayson Blair), the meanest jock in school.

Now Max gives RJ more grief than before, mocking him (jealously?) as a freak.

Meanwhile, a friendship blossoms between RJ and sweet Jenny, who by chance are paired as study buddies. It's a friendship challenged in the third episode when, playing the romantic leads in the school musical, they share a kiss. RJ's sudden onstage tumescence literally stops the show.

But "Hard Times" isn't totally fixated on RJ's phallus. This condition is barely mentioned in the second episode (airing Monday, June 14, at 10 p.m., in the series' regular slot), when RJ summons newfound confidence to run for student president against Max, the clear favorite.

"OK, maybe we're losers," says RJ in a bold campaign speech. "But why are we losers? Is it because we suck at sports? Is it because our parents are our only friends on Facebook? No, what makes us losers is that we BELIEVE we are losers!"

At heart, "Hard Times" tells the familiar story of a little guy against the world. The message, delivered in provocative style: Size is what you make of it.