Television. Television is what made me wake up each morning and wait for the first face to appear on the black and white screen. I would wait with the sound on, sometimes for more than 10 minutes, just staring at the test picture, waiting for the programming to go on. There would be Russian movies about the war. Forget american superheroes, the things Russian soldiers could do in these glorifications of a won war were just beyond that. I would watch television even when it really hurt me. I would not be able to take the excitement sometimes. I would then just jump up and down on the green chair by the kitchen. There were two channels on Polish television when I was growing up in the 70's.
My favorite shows now are probably on PBS and even C-Span, (for our non American readers, these are "commercial free" Public Broadcast Stations.) Especially C-Span has this grace I remember from my childhood. Issues were there to discuss them, not to tease with them. "Find out more, when we come back..." (We never really find out more...)
I loved the Chopin festivals. These were real National Multimedia Events. The TV-picture would be black and white, but the simultano-cast radio trasmission was in Stereo. Our radio was called RIGA, it was a Russian product, yet quite good in picking up those "Radio Free Europe" and "Voice of America" transmissions. Somehow those were not peppered with information procrastinations. I guess what we were supposed to buy was the information itself.
(applauding)
I soooooooo had that green chair 'cept it was reruns of Giligan's Island and episodes of Brave Starr for me.
Chopin festival, i never heard that on Saturday mornings...But 90% of the time (otherwise known as NON saturday mornings, which were reserved for the annoyance of cartoon "noise") I would wake up to my mom playing Beethoven on our Piano.
I have really taken to C-SPAN recently, too. When I was unemployed last year, my wife and I cut back to barebones cable and even though I've found a new job, we haven't returned to the full slate of channels. Without CNN and its ilk, C-SPAN is really the only source of 24-hour news-type info for a crisis junkie like me. And it better, because you get to see the news events unfold in their entirety (press conferences, Congressional hearings) without "expert" opinions to muck things up. On numerous occasions I've watched a hearing on C-SPAN, then saw the summary on NBC or what have you and been amazed at what details were left out. One of my favorites is the Prime Minister's Questions in the UK Parliament. The way they hop up and down shooting rapid-fire accusations at Tony Blair and the way he (usually) masterfully fires back knowledgeable and succinct answers is quite entertaining. My admiration for Blair is immeasurable. The UK public doesn’t know how lucky they are.
Posted by: Todd on March 17, 2003 11:07 AMdoes anyone else think wolf blitzer is the devil?
Posted by: em!ly on March 17, 2003 12:16 PMHmm, this is really a great point, Emily. What if the devil had a TV station. Do you think it would be called "the evil station"? or would he hire somebody to maybe sprinkle some pretty words and call it... hmm... "Moments of Truth" or something in this direction. It is a major problem that we are now educated to expect evil to look evil. Evil outside of movies does not come with its own sound-track. It does not come with its own color palette. Evil in real life will sell itself to us always as the one carrying the banner of truth. I am very afraid.
If the devil had a TV station, I am sure the graphics and animations there would be the prettiest and the commentators would appear the smartest, and the moderators would be the prettiest. And the inforamtion flow would be the fastest. Hmm...
feeling not so well today... ill a bit...
no worries about 'evil'... a matter of perception....and good heart, good intentions...all will be okay... no matter what madness lies around you...
so i like to try to think : |
Posted by: k on March 17, 2003 12:44 PM