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The lost civic life of movie rental stores

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Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#51

Post by reaperducer »

rdiddly wrote: post #49

I feel like this overstates the point a bit. The video store was always just a means to an end for me, the clerks always sullen, the process of agreeing on a movie always long & difficult. Maybe I missed out on the phenomenon he's talking about.

Maybe I missed out on the phenomenon he's talking about.

You did. It was a fairly widespread thing.

Although "The video store was always just a means to an end for me" indicates that you excluded yourself from this, rather than missing out on it.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#52

Post by criddell »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #25
bix6 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds a lot more fun to me than sitting in front of a computer all day.

Availability and legality of wooly mammoths aside, what's stopping you? Pointy stick hunting sounds like a great weekend activity.

A bunch of families in the town I grew up in bought a fairly large cabin together in northern Ontario they just called "the hunting camp". My family wasn't involved but I got to go up there quite a few times as a guest of my friends.

In theory, the adults were hunting or fishing (although not with pointy sticks). In reality they were smoking, drinking, playing cards, screwing around on the little boat and atvs that were there (three wheelers!), and telling lies around a campfire. Us kids were pretty much on our own the entire time. We too were smoking, drinking, and screwing around on the boat and atvs.

So I agree with you- pointy stick hunting is a great weekend activity.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#53

Post by reaperducer »

tripleee wrote: post #10
golemotron wrote: post #6

I wonder when we'll see articles on the lost civic life of social media? With increasing AI use, it is happening.

that already happened. The early days of Facebook as a user were much different than what they became later on.

The early days of Facebook as a user were much different than what they became later on.

Facebook jumped the shark when it eliminated customization and forced everyone to have the same personal page.

"Pieces of Flair" and a thousand other ways to express yourself were extinguished, along with any actual "social" aspects of Facebook.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#54

Post by autoexec »

triceratops wrote: post #47
autoexec wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Malls have been in decline for decades. Public pools barely exist anymore either. ( https://www.poolmagazine.com/pool-news/america-is-losing-pub... ). If you're in a wealthy city you probably still have a decent community center. Libraries are probably the most common space avilable, but they are also under constant attack by republicans. In wealthy cities you can find all kinds of services there. Smaller libraries w…

> Malls have been in decline for decades People voted with their wallets. > public libraries are under constant attack by republicans Voters get the services they vote for. All of us are to blame.

> Voters get the services they vote for.

It's hard to feel bad about a small backwoods town of idiots who vote to shut down their public libraries (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/book-ban-lgbtq-jamestown-michig...) but there are efforts on the federal level too (https://www.ala.org/faq-executive-order-targeting-imls). Right wing nutjobs all over the country have been threatening library staff and calling in bomb threats and we can't vote them out

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#55

Post by pseingatl »

bix6 wrote: post #18

More housing and fewer spaces for gathering seems to be the trend. Any open space near me became condos or protected habitat space (can’t even walk in because people trash it). There are practically no town squares. Parks are all gated by HOAs. Even the beach is encroached on by housing which means there isn’t enough parking. Where are people supposed to gather now and just enjoy the day? I see libraries, coffee shop…

Libraries are daycare for the homeless. At one city's public library, one of the librarians was mopping up vomit and was heard to comment, "I didn't go to library school for this." Washrooms double as a place to shower, reading rooms a place to sleep.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#56

Post by kstenerud »

> That same time-traveling video renter might find herself startled by the employee offering to recommend a movie, or by the knot of customers hanging out by the counter, shooting the breeze and discussing film.

What universe is this person from? I must have missed it...

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#57

Post by pseingatl »

threetonesun wrote: post #20
panzagl wrote: post #3

Article should be titled 'The Lost Civic Life of Mom and Pop Stores'- no kid making $4.50 an hour is cultivating a third space atmosphere at Blockbuster, whereas any Mom and Pop place can do that, no matter what they sell.

I don't think that's really what we've lost. Blockbuster was a third space not because of its staff, but because it was a place you could say "meet me here" and hang out looking at movies with no (or very little) expected monetary output. Same as arcades in the mall, or cheap matinee movies. A better framing might be where would a teenager, today, say "meet me here" to their friends. I think you'll find there's many…

We are unfair to teenagers today; give them no place to go and then we feign surprise when they act up. According to Harper's, there's a 20% decline in kids playing baseball--their noses are in their iPads. You can't take children to the mall because malls are dying. Too many parks are places where bad things happen. I don't know what the solution is.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#59

Post by calvinmorrison »

pseingatl wrote: post #55
bix6 wrote: post #18

More housing and fewer spaces for gathering seems to be the trend. Any open space near me became condos or protected habitat space (can’t even walk in because people trash it). There are practically no town squares. Parks are all gated by HOAs. Even the beach is encroached on by housing which means there isn’t enough parking. Where are people supposed to gather now and just enjoy the day? I see libraries, coffee shop…

Libraries are daycare for the homeless. At one city's public library, one of the librarians was mopping up vomit and was heard to comment, "I didn't go to library school for this." Washrooms double as a place to shower, reading rooms a place to sleep.

libraries are also just daycares for... kids. My library (which is on my block) is only open a few hours week in which gainfully employed adults would be able to go. The rest is geared to grannies and kids

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#60

Post by pseingatl »

everforward wrote: post #41
threetonesun wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's really what we've lost. Blockbuster was a third space not because of its staff, but because it was a place you could say "meet me here" and hang out looking at movies with no (or very little) expected monetary output. Same as arcades in the mall, or cheap matinee movies. A better framing might be where would a teenager, today, say "meet me here" to their friends. I think you'll find there's many…

That doesn’t match my experience if your bar is really as low as “won’t throw you out for not buying anything”. Obvious anecdata, but within an easy walk or bike radius of me (a couple miles) there are 3 public libraries, something like half a square mile of parks, a few public basketball courts, a few public tennis courts, a public baseball field, a bar over the baseball field that welcomes children (it’s one of the…

Consider yourself very lucky if your public libraries are not daycare for the homeless.
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