I think of myself as something of a film buff. At present, I’m (very slowly) pursuing a master’s degree in film studies. My first official job was at the local video store, back in ye olde days when you had to take an empty VHS box to the counter and wait for the clerk to swap it with an actual tape. I love going to the cinema and waiting for the lights to dim, and that surge of anticipation you feel as the opening credits roll – it’s a moment when anything is liable to happen; when the movie you’re about to see ends up being spectacular and memorable, it later becomes the moment, a line of demarcation that separates the you who never knew this great movie existed from the you whose life has been changed, ever-so-slightly, by the power of cinema. And I follow the Oscar race, year after year, with excessive fervour – in fact, last March I took a day of annual leave just so I could watch the ceremony in real time from the comfort of a $75 loveseat in Gold Class.
So where am I going with this? Over the holiday break, I finally snapped. My beautiful apartment building is not properly wired for Foxtel, and for some unknown reason, our TV stopped receiving free-to-air signals months ago. My only solace has been either a.) renting a DVD, or b.) connecting my laptop, via a complicated tangle of cords, plug-ins and patience, to my TV to watch whatever series or movie I’ve downloaded from my iTunes account. It was all too much.
I finally caved and bought an Apple TV, which – for the ridiculously low price of $129 - has transformed my television into what it was always meant to be: a proper, hi-definition home entertainment centre on which I can watch movies or TV, or listen to one of the 13,000+ songs in my iTunes library. (No, I don’t know how I amassed so many songs, either.)
Now my film fetish is, to say the least, being fed more beautifully than ever. And because I tend to be something of a culture-consuming multi-tasker, Apple TV is a true saviour. Case in point: I’m currently reading
a fantastic biography of the late, iconic New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael, widely considered the most influential movie reviewer of her generation. The film references come fast and furious on each page, forcing list lovers like myself to read with a notepad nearby so I can jot down the titles that sound like they’re worth seeking out.
Once I write them down, I head over to Apple TV’s nifty Search page, punch a few buttons, and watch a preview. If the movie looks good enough, I plop down a few dollars, wait for it to download and settle in with some popcorn. I hate to be hyperbolic, but you know what? It’s changing my life.
My first discovery was a 1961 film called
The Children’s Hour, a melodrama about two unmarried female teachers accused of being secret lovers by a spiteful student at the girls’ school where they work. The actresses playing those teachers: Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn. I’d never heard of it. Neither, I’m guessing, have you. Nor had a single
madison staffer – and trust me, pretty much every woman in our office moonlights as afull-time Audreyphile.
And that’s the genius of a creation like Apple TV. You fall into crevices on your way to the
Sex and the City Season 5 homepage, and suddenly you’ve unearthed a great, unheralded TV comedy like The Big C. You highlight an actor’s name, explore their filmography and realize you never actually saw their breakout role in that vapid teen comedy you never got around to watching. You scroll through the ‘80s Classics’ page and realise it’s been too long since you perved the volleyball scene in
Top Gun – and bam! There you are, slobbering over Maverick within minutes.
How did I ever live without this thing?
Nicholas Fonseca is madison’s features and news editor. You can follow him on Twitter at @NFonseca78
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