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So, shortly after my friend leaves I begin to *seethe*. (1 Viewer)

Jack Briggs

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My buddy Dave and I go back a bit. He is a photographer and we used to go on assignment together when we were working for a number of area music-related publications.

Dave lives up to his streetwise New York roots, with lots of bluster and loudmouthedness. He's proud to be a walking stereotype. (You should go to Dodger game with him.)

Along with his generally good musical knowledge and superb photographer's eye, Dave is, somewhere in there, a good guy. I think. And, as far as humans go, he has been a best buddy. (Though my true best friend is a cat.)

Dave is also a Luddite. When it comes to any object that must be plugged into an AC outlet and/or connected to other such objects, his IQ plummets lower than that of a tomato's. If it's a box and it has an "On" switch somewhere on the front panel, Dave wilts in fear.

(In 2000, Dave even still had doubts DVD was as popular as I was telling him. Why? Because I was the only person he knew who owned a DVD player.)

Don't bother trying to explain any of the current display technologies to him, either. When he's ready to spring for something new, he'll turn to me as usual. He longs for a simple plug-and-play world with no interconnects, speaker wires, or settop boxes.

Which brings us to last Friday.

He wanted to enjoy this home-theater experience he is now hearing about from others besides me.

"Jack, do you have The Lord of the Rings on DVD?" he asked eagerly earlier in the week.

"No, Dave, I don't get into fantasy. You know that," I said.

The voice on the other end grew silent. "But it's a great movie, Jack. I'd love to come over and see what it's like on your system," he continued. I then told him I have hundreds and hundreds of other titles from which to choose.

He then offered to rent the disc and bring it over.

"I don't play scratched-up rental discs in any of my players," I insisted.

After much blathering on his part, I told him I know someone who might own a copy and that, despite my strictly enforced policy of neither lending nor borrowing DVDs, I'd ask her if I could borrow her copy.

Sure enough, my other friend owns the disc and brought it over. She also said to me, "Jack, I can assure you you're not going to like this movie."

"It's for Dave, Erin," I replied forlornly.

So Friday evening arrives. I order a killer pizza from what may be the finest pizzeria in Los Angeles. As we sit down in my kitchen, Dave blurts out that he feels like he's "on display."

"I don't like using window shades in the kitchen, Dave. Shall I turn off the lights?"

I'm beginning to grow uneasy. Dave often misdirects his complaints and usually does so at inappropriate moments.

And then the film rolled. I let Dave sit in the Captain's Chair, as I wanted him to experience Dolby Digital 5.1 in the sweetspot. As the movie unspooled, I even left the room when I wanted a smoke (out of consideration for him).

Dave was clearly getting into it all. Three or four times he yammered about how great the sound was.

And I suffered through the movie.

When the final credit rolled, I excitedly hit Stop and removed the disc. I was expecting more praise for the Bijou Briggs experience.

Instead, Dave says ...

"Jack, the sound is just great and three-dimensional. But you know what my only criticism is?"

Bristling, I said, "No, Dave. What might you have not liked?"

"You need a bigger screen."

"Thank you, Dave," I said, maintaining my composure and the smile on my face with aplomb.

He soon left. And then the anger set in. Here is this twit who owns a seventeen-year-old, 19-inch Sylvania with coax inputs only and an old VCR to keep it company, and he has the audacity to criticize a Sony WEGA? My Sony WEGA? After showing him a movie I did not like, which came after a pizza I paid for?

My anger went into cascade mode during the weekend. Only a few bottles of Pacifico Clara were able to hold my contempt and rage in check.

But I am still pissed. I don't even want to talk to the guy.

Dear Ann Landers, am I wrong to feel this way?
 

Scott Dautel

Second Unit
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471
Take a deep breath big fella .....

now tell me oh omnicient one, the answer I yearn to hear ....
Where exactly IS the finest pizzeria in Los Angeles???

Seriously ... I have a very close friend who fits your description of Dave almost perfectly. You will not likely ever change him or his opinions. Take comfort in the knowledge that hundreds of those who know better would happily sit & soak up the visual glory that is Wega.

Now remember the many reasons why Dave has been your good friend for so many years. laugh off the differences and don't fret about those things you both will never share in common ... they obviously don't carry much importance in Dave's mind ... and that's OK.

Scott
 

Scott Bourden

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You should have had the common courtesy to have gotten a larger television before he showed up.

I thought that was a given?



:b :D
 

Tommy G

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Wow Jack. That's quite a story. Please don't think that all New Yorkers are that way. I come from suburban NYC. Anyway, you live and learn. Now you know NEVER to be Mr. Nice Guy again. You are definitely not wrong to be teed off.
 

BrianW

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But, Jack, it's such a great movie!

Sorry.


I can tell you're a nice guy. Nice guys tend to maintain friendships with people who aren't entitled to have nice guys as friends.

I quit being a nice guy years ago. One day I simply decided that every friend I ever had who lived by the philosophy that "It's easier to get forgiveness than it is to get permission" would no longer be my friend.

Life has been good ever since.

Dave may have redeeming qualities, but so did all of my former friends. (For that matter, so did Captain Ahab.) But I'm still glad to be rid of them, and I have no regrets. In fact, the longer I go without having to constantly "forgive" such people, the more I wish I'd written them off sooner.

Life is too short to spend seething.
 

Travis Olson

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It's a comment coming from a J6P. Big deal. If you value him as a friend, which it sounds like you do to a degree, live with it or call his TV shit next time your over to his place, jokingly of course. :D
 

Joe Szott

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I second that thought: What is the finest Pizzeria in LA?

Hehe... sometimes friends can drive you up a wall.
 

Rain

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This Dave fellow seems to be the type of person who knows how to speak his mind.

Personally, I find that to be a good quality in a friend.

Look at it this way: If Dave ever had a real beef with you, he'd probably come right up to you and talk about it, rather than badmouthing you behind your back or something truly despicable like that.

In the meantime, so he's a bit of a character. Nobody's perfect, right?

I have a few friends who do certain things which annoy me from time to time (and I'm sure I do a few things which annoy them on occasion), but I prefer to look at the bigger picture: When the chips are truly down, is this person going to be there for me? If the answer is "yes," then the little trivial things don't amount to much.
 

Patrick Sun

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Maybe it's just me, but if you substitute Jack's voice in the story with the Hal9000, you finally understand what made Hal go nuts in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
 

Rob Willey

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Lighten up, Jack, you do need a larger screen. :p)

Seriously, this guy is your friend why? It just goes to show, there's no pleasin' some people, so stop seethin'. :)

Rob
 

Ike

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How did he say it? Was it sort of a joke?

To him, since he isn't a videophile, he may not know the pride and size-envy ( :laugh: ) that goes with TV's. As you said, he's not into technology. To him, it was probably just another comment, one he didn't think about before saying. And breathe....
 

Holadem

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This is absolutely outrageous. Heck, I am sitting here and I am pissed. "And I suffered through the movie" ?!! WTF?!! :angry:

Oh, and your friend was rude too...

--
Holadem
 

MickeS

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Jack, I can't believe you have some weird policy against playing rental discs! What's up with that? Seriously, it's not like they'll ruin your player.

And your friend DID ask about "do you know what my only criticism is". You should have said "No, and I don't want to hear it" if you didn't want to har it. :) I do agree though that it was probably not the right thing for him to say at that time, but it didn't seem like he was intentionally trying to belittle your setup.

If you're OK with your screensize, it doesn't matter what he thinks. Or maybe there's this nagging feeling inside you that he might be right after all... maybe you deep down inside you agree that you DO need a bigger screen, but you're refusing to admit it to yourself. :laugh:
 

Keith Mickunas

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OK, I'm with Micke here, what do you have against rental discs? Tapes are one thing, if they'd been abused there's potential they could jam, but discs can't do squat to your player.

I can't say I'd take kindly to someone's criticisms. I spend a lot of time and money on my system, and I know only a few others that do too. So I know for the most part anyone coming to my house to see a movie is seeing it far better than they've ever seen it aside from at the theaters.
 

Francois Caron

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Even my own mother says I need a bigger screen! :) But I never felt she said that just to be critical of something in my home theater. Just like your friend, she was so engrossed in the experience that she quickly felt something did not go well with the rest of the system. Sure enough, the weakest link in my Dolby Digital only system is the size of the screen. Way too small for what you hear in the room. At the very least I need a front projection system to get the full theater experience.

Jack, what kind of a display device do you have. You mentioned it's a Wega, but what is it exactly? A CRT? An RPTV? Also, what's the size and aspect ratio?
 

Ted Lee

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hmm...

times like this make you wish you lived in a cave, all by yourself, with no one to ever talk to or share experiences with, or socialize, or hang out with, etc.

or does it....

insert picture of jack scratching his chin here....

seriously though, the thing about friends is that they can drive you crazy. i mean, absolutely bonkers. but...they're still your friends. it's what makes them who they are and what makes you like them.

if your friend is still a "stand-up" kinda guy, and he doesn't do things to piss you off too often, then you just gotta roll with the punches, shrug your shoulders, and say "let's go hang out..."
 

Charles J P

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I have similar friends. It can be frustrating. One of my friends came over and made a comment about the PQ of my projector (then only two weeks old) when we were watching a sports even (I cant remember what). I'm like WTF, its a NTSC cable broadcast coming through my VCR and blown up to 70 some inches. What do you expect. Of course after I cooled down I simply took a small amount of joy in the fact that he will never be able to afford larger than a 27" TV in his whole life. There, so now we're both dicks right? So two wrongs can make a right. :D
 

Rain

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One of my friends brought over Chicken Run one time....on VHS.

It was pretty painful, but what can you do?

After all, sometimes she brings wine instead of VHS tapes. :D
 

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