h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've just read this article and benefitted from M's post to take a look at the original. It was easier 'at the time' because there was still a lot of VHS around. This reworked version has to take account of DVDs and what have you. As the title is Exercise Videos, I'd be tempted to stick with 'video' throughout (the DVD etc. aspect is covered in 'technology'). It's a minor point but I think that 'video media' sounds stilted. As for the title, I'm not keen on 'Buns of.... buns'. I can understand that you don't want to change too much because still appears as the auther, in that case I suggest you revert to the original title.

In the part "...they can be about selling you exercise equipment as well. An unwary shopper, with a telephone, could easily find themselves completely..." maybe you should add 'and credit card' after telephone.

I got the tongue in cheek aspect of "The history of exercise may go back to the cave man days. Perhaps some of the scenes depicted on cave walls were as much to teach exercise as well as hunting techniques and recording conquests. Scrolls and books did what they could, but live exercise ruled for thousands of years." but I'm less keen on "Videos would not be possible until the invention of the television set." (and TV is dealt with in the next paragraph)



"It was 1926 (January 26) that the first working television was invented which could transmit moving images, and not until 1951 that the first exercise show was produced." For me the 'moving images' stuff doesn't flow too well with the rest. i'd be tempted to go for something snappier along the lines of 'TV was invented in 1926 and a quarter of a century later, the first excerise show was being shown.'

I read this entry carefully and it kind of grows on you. I hope I haven't come across as too picky.

Feel free to disregard

Thanks, Mal!

I'll attend to all of this. I've just been a bit busy with Julzes, although I'm not certain why.

No problem - I know the feeling

You'd mentioned you had some Entries languishing in PR that weren't being picked, so I took a look - and thought being honest about why I'd not pick it (yet) would be most helpful.

Good luck with this!

Entry: Exercise Videos: Buns of... buns - A45575319
Author: FordsTowel - U227087


Hi Fords Towel

It's a shame to see this languishing in Peer Review for so long, and for what it's worth I thought I should add my opinion.

Firstly, the original piece was written way back in 2000, when videos were the norm. Now, of course, they are obsolete, so the title kind of puts readers off. Also, I the rest of the title 'buns of buns' has put me off reading this ever since I joined hootoo.

I don't really know the way forward with this, unless you update to DVDs all through. Fitness DVDs seems to be the new descriptor for this excercise regime. The problem with sticking to 'videos' just makes this so out of date. Of course, the situation you are writing about remains the same

I suppose you could write a paragraph detailing the history of home excercise? Didn't women use to do excercise to the radio?

I do think this could make it eventually, with a little more revision.

And Languish It Has! And opinions are Always appreciated.

I've not come back to it in awhile, so I especially appreciate that you brought it back to my attention.

I've revisited the previous comments, and I realized that I had not completely worked through them as I had though.

True enough about the year 2000 being the ancient days; but even on DVDs, they are still videos (just not video tapes), aren't they? Digital Video Disks?

I tried sticking with the generic term because there's no telling what the next technology might be called. For example, maybe we'll be all about Blue-Ray, and then something called video cubes comes out with a USB connector that holds a terrabyte of video.

A history of home exercise could be a great subject for an entry! But this was just a rewrite to get the previous version polished up enough to make it into the EG. This is more about the hyped up sales aspect of the videos than the exercise part.

Give it another go, if you have the time, and see if you like it any better; even though I cheated on the title re-write.

Hi,
I just took another look and I enjoyed it far more this time. Your new title is a vast improvement IMO.

Nitpick! I noted that Rubin is still in there. As mentioned earlier by another researcher, I think Rubens is the guy you intend.

Good luck with the entry

OOoops! You're right, of course!

I must've been thinking about Joseph's brother?

I agree that "video" is just fine. What we watch on youtube are also videos, even though they're not on video tapes.

I've only found this now, and the PR thread is a little long, so excuse me if I repeat something that has already been said.

I was nearly completely put off going on to read it after the third repetition of 'exciting' within two sentences. And then there were even more.

I've just skimmed the PR thread, and it doesn't look as if you've got around to correct all the things that were pointed out to you - but mabye you've forgotten about this entry?

Over all, I agree with the sentiment in the entry, but somehow, your style seems to be just as fake as the videos you criticise. But then this could only ne me, and I can't really put my finger on it.

Hi, B'Elana:

Yes, the 'excitings' do get a little tedious, but that was just to reflect the kind of hyperbole that is found in the adverts.

Some of style problems you recognized probably has to do with the fact that this is a resurrected entry, and not an original of mine. I was hoping to just change it enough to satisfy the last round of PR it went through and get it in the EG.

If I have neglected something that was pointed out, please feel free to remind me. I haven't forgotten this, but it was somewhat a tiring effort.

I just hope that it isn't quite as off-putting as the adverts themselves!

Gallant effort, FordsTowel! And well done for rescuing it. Now, is there anything at all that can be added to this, to finesse it a tad more before being picked? What do you reckon?

I'm not sure about the procedure for a flea market rescue, but I still think that all the 'exciting(s)' grate.

There's a "Their are plenty of creative options that don't cost anything" when it should be 'there' in the last paragraph.

I don't think you can just say "But it was that way in the original entry!" - there's a reason that one ended up in Flea Market...

Hi Mal!

You and B'Elana are both right, but the entry was pretty well received in the previous peer review, if memory serves. It was just never polished.

I'll be glad to change the 'there', and perhaps move a couple of '!', but are those things that a sub-editor would do in any case?

I'll get on it, but I have to wonder if that is all that is holding it up. Perhaps there is something more troublesome that I haven't been able to find?!

Hello Ford's Towel.

First off, congrats on your Flea Market rescue.

I'm commenting partly because I exercise regularly, and partly because I ran across this entry by chance. I found this entry a bit off-putting and not helpful.

My main complaints are:
Exercise does not equal torture.
Flabby is not synonymous with being Rubenesque. (I myself am active, strong, and not thin.)
Thinness doesn't imply fitness. Fitness does not imply thinness.
Exercise programs are not necessarily doomed to failure.
We who exercise do not necessarily have the personal fitness goals of being perky, tan, energetic, thin, muscular, beautiful, and beloved. (Here I am laughing at the thought of anyone accusing me of perkiness.)

There are well-documented benefits to exercise, for example, these:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ01676

Regarding:
Walk to stores more often, bicycle to work if you can, play some sports, park further from your door and carry your groceries, climb the stairs more than you use the lift.

That's good advise, but what if a person wishes to play some sports? Shouldn't that person do some cross-training? And wouldn't some fitness dvd help with that cross-training? Is there any study that shows walking to stores or even carrying groceries is as effective as weight-training for proofing a person up against osteoporosis?

Regarding:
There are plenty of creative options that don't cost anything, and give you more human interaction than sweating in front of the telly.

I'm not sure what is meant here. Is the comparison between the cost of a used exercise dvd and a pair of walking shoes? What's wrong with sweating while working out? Why after a hard day of dealing with people should I want to ruin a perfectly lovely stress-relieving exercise program with interacting with more people?

There are lots of different types of exercise programs, and many can be found on fitness dvds. Yoga, stretching, dancing, kick-boxing. It's not all bad disco music and lycra body suits. Honest.



Happy Nerd

Thanks for the comments, HN:

If you found the entry off-putting, and not helpful, you got the main points. The entry is not about fitness, thinness, or perkiness; it's about the sale of motivational fitness videos (regardless of the media format).

I don't have any statistics about the purchasers, whether they are flabby but active, fat and inactive, or thin and perky. My gut (pun intended) tells me that most feel that they need to lose a few pounds at least, and try multiple diets and/or exercise programs before they find one that works for them, if they're lucky enough to find what works for them.

The advice, while sketchy, was just to point out that there are alternatives to buying often smarmy and contrived videos made by people who have already reached a level of fitness without the quick-fix, fad program, no-pain program they tout.

That is the point of the entry. It's not about the people, or the exercise, it's about the videos.

Please feel free to comment further. It's possible that I missed what I feel was intended by the original piece that I rescued from the Flea Market.

But it's not about the videos. It's a rant *against* the videos. That's what's off-putting about it.

A "gut feeling" doesn't really count as research, does it? You simply assume that they're ineffective and not worth anyone's time. Do you have data to back that up?

Thank you Fords, for explaining what you mean to communicate in your entry. I think I get what you are saying in your post; unfortunately that isn't what comes across in your entry.

What seems to come across in your entry is that we, the poor, lonely sad-sacks who exercise, have purchased the false hope of being thin - and therefore desirable - along with a workout DVD with cheesy music. Then perhaps we sit on our couches, watch the DVD, may even try to exercise before we collapse in an agonized heap. As we slowly realize we'll never be thin or beloved, we drown our lonely sorrows in , only leaving the couch to buy more fitness DVDs and a fresh serving of false hope.

What you seem to convey in your post is the much more reasonable view that there is a genre of "fad fitness" DVDs out there that sell motivation, quick fixes, and perhaps even expensive equipment, and have really bad sound-tracks. We, the people who exercise, might accidentally rent or even buy one of this dogs, and be hugely disappointed.

I don't have any statistics for you either, . There probably are statistics out there somewhere, and the entry might be improved by incorporating them.

I can only offer you anecdotal, first-person accounts of my motivations, the improvements I have experienced through exercise, and why I like to incorporate exercise DVDs in my workouts. I own a few, and rent before I buy.

Incidentally, the entry's title does suggest Buns of Steel is a typical example of the aforementioned cheesy motivational fitness DVD/video/whatever media. I haven't had first-hand or -bun experience with this DVD, so I can neither confirm nor deny. Have you tried the workout on this DVD?


HN

Mal:

Happy Nerd's response speaks to my lack of statistics, but creates another data point among those of use who would say "well, I could have told you that", as we all seem to do from time to time when science statistically proves something that we all felt we knew all along.

I believe the best actual statistics come from the adverts themselves. Each seems to claim that all one's previous failures at getting fit are due to the fact that we weren't following their program. The statistics, then, are really theirs.

Almost all admit that yo-yo dieting and failed excercise programs are common, and that they are providing the best, safest, most effective solution.

The first part of that seems corroborated by a generally increasing number of overweight, or at least unfit, much of the Western world (at least where the videos are sold); that last part, not so much.

I agree that it has always come off as something of a rant. My attempts at tempering that from the original entry may well have failed. If there's no room for cautionary rants in the E.G., or if the consensus is that this entry would not be likely to meet the requirements, I can certainly pull it and leave the original for somebody else to play with.

I'm not so personally invested that I need to see this through to the end.

Happy Nerd:

You are more than welcome, and I can see your points pretty clearly. Perhaps what the entry should attempt is to assuage the guilt of those who are addicted to glossy video after glossy video, when many of the more notable pushers have personal trainers and dieticians to help them stay in shape; or those who are trainers and have all day to work on themselves because it is part of their job, and they don't have 40 hours of work to go to each week.

I, too, recognized the reference to Buns of Steel. The original researcher titled the piece Buns of Flab. I chose a play on the multiple meaning of buns and called it Buns of Buns. That was seen as too... hmm, can't remember; but I changed it to Buns of ... so as to leave it to the reader's imagination.

Thanks again for following up.

I'll wait for any additional votes on pulling the entry, but it does not seem destined for the E.G. No loss, really, but it would leave room for a more thoughtful and better researched entry on the subject.

You seem to have more experience with the videos. Would you like to take on the task of writing a completely original and more thoughtfully constructed entry on exercise videos?

I would gladly pull Buns of ... for that. Just say the word!

Hi FordsTowel,

Okay, I've just submitted
Video Exercising: Choosing and Using Fitness DVDs - A57478909


HN