Ok, that was surreal.
A friend of mine is an actor. He actually starred in a short-lived FOX sitcom (aren't they all?), but that was before I knew him-- I've never seen it, and since it won't ever be rerun I probably never will (I'm pretty sure he burned all the tapes). But he's done other guest shots, and just for the heck of it I decided to make a TiVo wishlist for him.
So I start typing his last name, and after just a couple of letters, BAM! there's his name in the list. I was expecting to enter his full name and then forget about it for months. But TiVo already knew him. When I saw his name pop up, I was actually kinda giddy. I know someone TiVo knows. Tee hee! An entirely new, bizarrely cool TiVo experience.
TiVo knew him because he was appearing on a show that aired tonight, a rerun of Mad About You. Aside from 8 minutes of crappy quality streaming video on AtomFilms, I'd never seen him perform. So I punched it up with relish tonight and cheered wildly when he made his entrance. You know what? It's really fun to watch someone you know on TV. I kept hoping his character would return ("Come back, Shane!"). Screw that Mark loser. Who cares about Paul and Jamie? I'm Mad About Lester!
What's particularly cool about this is that his part was tiny-- a few leering one-liners, then exit stage left. And TiVo knew about him anyway. THAT rocks. I'm sure it'll catch more of his appearances-- I'm just not sure where, or when. He could pop up anywhere. Which, I'm sure, tickles him to no end. And TiVo can't seem to figure out how to sell their product. Amazing.
Posted by Peter at June 10, 2003 01:03 AMTee hee, indeed! And just wait until you see some of the other crap I've done:)
Oh, and it was UPN, not FOX. And I certainly haven't burned any of those tapes - I'm quite proud of that show.
p.s. Since he initially turned you onto it, why not lend Dave your copy of Positively Fifth Street :)
Posted by: Your actor friend on June 10, 2003 10:37 AMJesus - Arnott wrote the Last Action Hero? And Ford Fairlane? That's an impressive feat to get something filmed at a studio with a big budget and big stars - let alone two things. I may have to revisit those movies, because to be honest I never gave their stories much thought before.
Posted by: Nate Beeler on June 10, 2003 11:55 AMWell then, send me the tapes. And your movie, too.
"He's my actor friend."
"Then you are prejudiced."
Based on what they've said, I think I've already read the best part of the book (about the World Series of Poker) in the article. Not sure it's worth bothering for the trial.
I'd much rather see the tapes of Pig Sty, which, sadly, do not seem to be heading to DVD any time soon (although if you sent me them I could transfer them to DVD).
Posted by: Dave S on June 12, 2003 07:18 AMConsidering the buzz Peter (and Dave) got in finding Tivo already knew one of us, I wondered how people felt about being known by our machines--in this instance, seen from above. If you wondered where Peter writes most of these posts, look at: http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=10&x=2749&y=26395&z=10&w=1
See the park on the right? I believe Peter lives in the bright white roof one house from the edge of the park one block down from the upper edge of the park. I do not know whether to be relieved or concerned that the picture of my own location is not in the database because I live relatively close to the largest air force base on the east coast.
Doesn't bother me, especially since these aren't real-time images (or even frequently updated - the one that shows my house is from 1995).
I do occasionally find it disconcerting to see what the Internet "knows" about me - primarily, things I posted to Usenet or whatnot back in the misty depths of time (i.e., 1992 or so, nothing of mine seems to have been archived from when I had my first account back in 1986).
Posted by: Dan Blum on June 13, 2003 11:52 AM