I’ve been doing some totally unscientific research on streaming service ad loads lately, and honestly, the results are both fascinating and infuriating.
As someone who’s had to go ad-supported on pretty much every service to save money, I’ve become intimately familiar with just how wildly different the advertising experience can be from platform to platform. What started as casual observation during my recent Buffy rewatch has turned into a full-blown comparison project.
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Every song is a breadcrumb on the tangled path back to who I’ve been. In this series, I let shuffle decide which memories resurface, giving each musical phase its turn in the spotlight—and seeing what stories wake up with the sound.
I lack the ability to actively recall memories, for the most part. I have no clue why, and I’ve never really had the kind of consistent insurance coverage that would’ve let me explore that area—or any of the similar weirdness, like how I just drop into a black void when I fall asleep and wake up with zero recollection of dreams, if there were any at all.
Context drags memories out of me whether I want it to or not, though. And nothing has a more powerful ability to do this than music.
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I say as my blood pressure rises.
my week-ending 17 August #BB27 rankings
(based solely on how much I like seeing them on my little screen)
Keanu continues to be messy, but in an entertaining way. Whenever I think I’m gonna drop Ava down a few notches, she pops up to spit straight facts. More solo Katherine time on feeds always endears me to her. Kelley not having a filter continues to be amazing. Will needs to wake the fuck up and play. Ashley needs to shut the fuck up and play less. The bump Vince had for wearing an egg suit last week has also faded and in his desperation, his pressure campaign on Lauren to use the veto has been Gross.
I’m getting over COVID.
It’s been quite the fucking journey, I’ll tell you what.
And the timing? Truly could not have been worse—and I still have a nagging sore throat that just won’t quit combined with absolutely no energy. I keep having to spend money I don’t have thanks to being forced into taking out a predatory loan a few weeks ago when my alternator failed in my car.
My stress level has been high and my bank account is constantly overdrawn. I don’t really see a way out for at least the next six months–I’ll just have to keep juggling cash advances and overdraft fees. Even my pending raise at work was delayed once again. Yay.
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I would never sleep again.
During my WFH for COVID this last week, I’ve been rewatching Season 1 of Buffy in the background. I used to rewatch Buffy every year, along with Angel and 30 Rock, but it’s been several years since I’ve actually pulled it off. On top of that, I usually skip Season 1 and jump to Season 2 most times.
But I’ve been pretty hype about the new reboot going into production at Hulu, so watching the origins again seems like the right call. So far, I’m actually loving that it’s been a while. I’m finding myself drawn in to the story all over again.
The one thing that I’ve found most weird: I’m watching it on Tubi because I’ve finally had to go ad-supported on all my services to save money. So, why Tubi when I have Hulu? Because Hulu has been consistently the worst SVOD service when it comes to ad load. So much so that I only really watch it through Disney+ because then at least the Hulu Originals use the < 6 minutes of ads per hour mark that the rest of Disney+ uses–no dice for the acquired/library content like Buffy, though.
I was getting 2 minute ad blocks every 10 minutes no matter what while trying to watch Buffy. Meanwhile, on Tubi, it’s been about 3 ad blocks under a minute each plus a pre-roll 30 second block per hour. And that’s for no monies.
It makes me want to make up a chart comparing ad-load so I have a quick reference for where to watch something when it’s available multiple places.
I’m really struggling with COVID. My symptoms started last Tuesday after I went to an Of Montreal show that weekend.
My main complaint is definitely the exhaustion now that I’m physically feeling better. That and the brain fog that just won’t seem to lift.
🙃
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(he/any) We want our film to be beautiful, not realistic. (circa 1989)