learn to love me, assemble the ways

now then

there is (or are) any number of sayings, phrases and cliche type things which appear to become ever more relevant with my progression through life. one (of many, look you see) which recurs a fair bit is that one about teaching an old dog new ticks. unsure if it is meant to be that you can or cannot do so, but anyway it would appear i pick up some from time to time. tricks, that is, or knowledge. information. 

such an instance happened recently, rather than at some undetermined point in the future. hence me being able to write of it. well, write in an actual, it happened way, as opposed to some theoretical speculative prose, pondering on how a matter may go. you know what, let me move on. 

off i went, as i am so prone to do, to purchase some tapes. well, not actual tapes (as such), but the modern day equivalent of such, optical digital discs. a dvd and so-called blu ray, to be precise, if an instance of precision is your thing or bag. they, the two of them, featured measures to discourage those who may wish to take the discs but not purchase them as such.

yes, they are, or were (until such time as i purchased and removed them) security protected. my basic understanding is that underneath the labels you can see are a special thing of some description. should one attempt to leave a store (or retailer) with them without this special thing being deactivated, as in not paid for, then an alarm sounds. i imagine the idea or theory is that a security guard or similar then chases down, in a ruthless way, them what tried to steal the tapes (discs). 

many, or at the least a few, do of course wonder why, in this era of "streaming" and "online", it is so that tapes (discs) still exist. well, lots of reasons. for a start many of us (moi) included, like to just put a tape in the machine and get on with watching, rather than worrying if an internet connection is fine, or puzzling over which subscription service one must sign up to in order to get the film (or documentary) they wish to watch. from the other side, which is them in the industry what make films and documentaries, to abandon physical media release is to leave their business model entirely at the mercy of these online services, and that is not going to happen. 

just which tapes (that are discs) did i purchase what are security protected? well, oddly, none (or neither) of the two are directly for me as such, but i have a passing interest in each. 

it's Dad who is quite keen on the Robbo disc you can see there, being as it is the recently made documentary on Bryan Robson. yes, i am interested in seeing it. however, i suspect it shall focus on trivial things, like his time as a player at West Brom and Manchester United, as well as his England career. what i really want to see is a documentary which gives insights into that time he signed Branco to play for Middlesbrough. as for the other tape (disc), that's something called Shang-Chi, which i believe is another of them splendid Marvel super hero things. it's one the boys wished for, as despite the fact that they are of the generation what just "streams" films, they rather like the aesthetic pleasure principle of a complete collection sat on a shelf. nice one. 

back, then, to the subject of the "security protected" stickers. which you could only see a partial level of text from in the initial image, presented in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode. now, earlier on, i suggested a benefit (or indeed pleasure) of just watching a tape (disc) rather than faffing with streaming and that was simply putting it in the machine and watching. it appears the retailer what sold me these (asda, for sake of completeness) have a peculiar idea. 

at no stage whatsoever had i ever considered microwaving an optical, digital disc, in truth. well, no hang on i think at one point my brother and i might or may have microwaved a Bros cd, but let us not go there right now. to microwave a tape (disc) sounds to me an extremely silly idea, and i am confident that no good could come from doing so. what's microwaving it going to do? all the same, i suppose from a liability perspective it is wise for the shop to suggest removing the security sticker before doing so, but i think saying "do not microwave this" would be a much more better guidance to give. 

certainly, perhaps, yes, an undeniable perk of living in a land which offers untold freedom is that one in able to go right ahead and microwave anything that they jolly well wish to, with the constabulary only likely to be called upon to act if some distress is consequentially caused. but, or yet, still, no, i am not able to endorse or approve the idea of microwaving tapes (discs). thanks, though, for the precautionary warning or advice about what to do with the sticker if i did. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!