TVSquad

It's one of the eternal questions in life: what do you call your remote?

Tim Dowling over at The Guardian has a story about all of the different names that TV viewers have for that little device that saves us from having to walk across the room and has probably contributed to the onslaught of ADD we have. All of the names we've all heard are on the list, such as "clicker" (my mom used to call it that), "flipper" (which was popular with Frank on Everybody Loves Raymond), "wand," and "changer." Of course, The Guardian is a British paper so you're going to get some words that Americans really aren't familiar with, such as "tellychanger," "podger," and "hoofer-doofer." Most people I know just call it "the remote." We should come up with a different name for it. "Binky" is good, but that's already taken for pacifiers. How about "the glooptron?"

I call mine "Jessica."

[via TV Tattle]

I don't know who you are, but your remote control sucks. I mean, seriously, just look at the thing. It's so cold, unfeeling and industrial. Where's the love? Where's the cuddly goodness? Wouldn't you enjoy your clicker a lot more if it looked and felt like a teddy bear? Well, thanks to this site, you can do that. At least, you can if you have a whole lot of time on your hands. I suppose it wouldn't have to be a teddy bear, you could turn any stuffed thing into a remote. And heck, it doesn't even have to be your TV remote. You could use a stuffed walrus to turn your stereo on, if that's what you're into.

[via Boing Boing]

I'd like to think I'm not terribly old, but I do actually remember a time when televisions didn't have remote controls. In fact, my siblings and I were my father's remote control. The advent of the "clicker" changed the way we watch TV, and ultimately, the way television shows and commercials are made and produced. Back in the day, you would pick a channel and more or less stay with that channel for the evening. Now, you can zap through the channels, defying each one to engage you within three seconds or risk being left in the dust. Borrowing (stealing) an idea from Lost Remote, I thought I'd ask TV Squad readers just how many remotes they have in their home. I'll stretch it to include any kind of remote, not just television ones. I myself rock three remotes: one for my crappy little stereo, one for my Tivo (that also changes the channels on my TV), and another one to turn my TV on and control the volume. Why can't the Tivo remote also turn my TV on and control the volume? Well, it's because instead of buying a name brand TV that's compatible with universal remotes, I instead chose to purchase some no-name brand which I believe was put together by Eskimos using discarded pieces from a Zenith set circa 1968. I'm not always as discerning a consumer as I should be.