Chris Hallbeck
It’s weird how before the internet when you had an idle thought like “I wonder how many episodes of Happy Days they made?” you would just carry on with your life instead of getting trapped in a 3 hour deep Wikipedia hole.
Nov 25, 2022 at 11:20pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadChris [list of emoji]Nov 25, 2022

@Chrishallbeck

255. It's right on the sidebar. I don't see what the big deal is.

Also, "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and his Comets was the opening theme song for seasons 1 and 2, after which they switched to an alternate version "Happy Days" by Pratt and McLain. (The earlier version had played over the closing credits.)

The final season had a version by someone named Bobby Arvon, who put out other stuff that's apparently mostly just attempts to cash in on the fame of his version of

Show threadChris HallbeckNov 26, 2022
@suetanvil 😂
Show threadChris [list of emoji]Nov 26, 2022

@Chrishallbeck

The sad part is that this is pretty much exactly how my thought process went.

Show threadGhoma 🐜💜Nov 25, 2022
@Chrishallbeck the willpower on the people back then man I swear
Show threadDominique JuliaNov 26, 2022

@Chrishallbeck
Experienced that with a new book late at night when I had lost my phone: "need more info about this author. Get up & restart computer? Nah... can wait".

Had been years...

Show threadMelanieNov 29, 2022
@Smokescreen @Chrishallbeck just finished ‘The Power of Geography’. It took me so long because I googled after almost every paragraph! ‘Iran is shaped like a naan bread’ -oooh! Let me check google and see if that’s true!
Show threadLCNov 26, 2022
@Chrishallbeck
Those were the days...😂
Show threadDemocracyMatters Nov 26, 2022
@Chrishallbeck Truth!
Show threadLil Crow 🇨🇦 🐦‍⬛🐰Nov 26, 2022
@Chrishallbeck hey man, NEVER dis the wiki (breathes into a brown paper bag til I calm tf down)
Show threadJenny FxNov 26, 2022
@Chrishallbeck my friends had a set of encyclopedia - I used to look stuff up when I went to their house!
Show threadPaul JacobsonNov 26, 2022
@Chrishallbeck Just think about how less informed we were back then!
Show threadTake It EV Podcast 🎙️Nov 26, 2022
@Chrishallbeck some people never bother looking it up even in an era of the internet in their pockets. And even spread the missinformation on the internet . That’s something we never thought is going to be happening !
Show threadR. L. Dane  Nov 26, 2022

@Chrishallbeck

Am I the only one who had a mental internet search backlog for many years?

Up until roughly 5-7 years ago, I'd remember something out of the blue that I wondered about for many, many years with no real way of finding out, and then get satisfaction in around 15 seconds by searching online.

The internet is SO weird!

Show threadKif...............Nov 26, 2022
@Chrishallbeck yes we gained a lot but we lost something too.
Show threadPaul MartinNov 26, 2022
@Chrishallbeck And it's the origin of the phrase "jump the shark" for the defining point when a TV series has a marked decline.
Show threadGrinch-stanApr 4, 2023
@nowster @Chrishallbeck that's it's OWN rabbit hole. A hole into which I fell just the other day. Turns out the show was actually quite successful (number one show on television) for YEARS after the shark-jumping episode!
Show threadSkye B.Nov 26, 2022
@Chrishallbeck So sad and yet so true.😂 🤣
Show threadStephen Cox AuthorNov 26, 2022
@Chrishallbeck But the internet has spoiled life for people who TRULY wanted to argue for two hours about whether it was the same actor as in that other film, when Google shuts it down.
Show threadBike BoiNov 28, 2022
@Chrishallbeck
The comedian Pete Holmes actually had a bit about this: https://youtu.be/PQ4o1N4ksyQ
Pete Holmes - Google (Not Knowing)

YouTube
Show threadMelanieNov 29, 2022
@Chrishallbeck debates about trivial things would go on for ages (stuff like ‘who sang this song??’) Now ones whips the phone out to check the answer and the debate is settled. Kinda sucks.
Show threadWGAvanDijkFeb 12, 2023

@Chrishallbeck
Back then, I had books like "Blockbuster Video Guide to Movies and Videos 1996" (and several other years...) and "Roger Ebert's Video Companion 1998 edition". And so many more. And they all look used. Used a lot. I gave into my idle thoughts and paged through all those movie and tv books.

My wife and I have at least 5 big encyclopedias, including a full edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica. I just picked up a volume and started reading.

Internet did not change much for me...

Show threadChris HallbeckFeb 12, 2023
@WGAvanDijk That’s awesome. (Although in my case the internet predates those specific books!)
Show threadWGAvanDijkFeb 13, 2023

@Chrishallbeck
You are right, in my case the internet predates those specific books too. But in 1996, not that much film info was to be found online and the books were still much better when it came to the details.

I should have mentioned:
Halliwell's Television Companion, 3rd ed, 1986
Halliwell's Film Guide, 4th ed, 1985
Leonard Maltin - TV Movies and Video Guide, 1989
Ephraim Katz, The Film Encyclopedia, 1990

I still have several other of such pre-1990 film and tv books. Weird stuff.

Show thread"Colin"Feb 12, 2023
@Chrishallbeck i used to keep a pen + notepad in my shirt pocket to note down those questions so i could look for answers during my weekly Saturday library visit. not even joking.
Show threadChris HallbeckFeb 12, 2023
@colin 😊😊😊
Show threadAl GorithmApr 4, 2023

@Chrishallbeck

Aaah, good old Internet....