Olympics

Before the Beijing Olympics started, I was on record as predicting they would be the worst Olympics since the ’72 Munich games. While I hate to root for bad things to happen, I would still rather be right than wrong. Unfortunately, it looks like I’ll be way off on this one. The Chinese are doing a bang up job and NBC, despite their overtly feminine broadcast, is doing a good job too. Damn!

I know an American was killed but that was just a friendly reminder that crazy people live everywhere. It was very sad and a tragedy. The judging has been horrible in gymnastic, but they’re always bad.

I thought the time difference would screw things up but I don’t think it has. We are pretty good at avoiding media and avoiding results. There is always so much to watch that I haven’t a clue when things actually occurred. I just turn on the television or log onto the website and the events are there. I just wish NBC would tell us more about this Michael Phelps guy? I think he's a swimmer?

oldTV

All this week I’ll be looking at “oldTV.” That’s not television that’s old, but television that old people watch. This kind of television is generally marked by the following: lack of relevance, void of loud music, reaffirms the world has gone to hell and Walter Cronkite voice-overs.

The network evening news cast used to be where America got their news. Now there probably not even in the top ten. The anchors were American stalwarts; our moral compasses. Now they are the butt of jokes; more fodder for the tabloids than anything else. It is a refuse for those still caught in the outdated notion that network newsrooms own the patent on gathering information, are objective and unbiased, and news is only important from 6pm to 6:30p.

The ABC’s World News Tonight or ABC World News Tonight started in 1953 as a 15 minute newscast.

The CBS Evening News has been on since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963.

The NBC Nightly News broadcasts from the GE Building in New York City. It has been known by that name since 1970 (1956 to 1970). Before that it was the Huntley-Brinkley Report and before that the Camel New Caravan (1949 to 1956).

All these shows are over 50 years old and oddly enough, besides technology, not much has changed.

Take Your Job...

I was looking through job listing when I came across this line: “we're looking for a writer who knows more about the Silver Jews than the latest American Idol round.” Do people really think like that? Especially people who hire other people? No offense to the Silver Jews, but American Idol has, and is having, and will have, more of an impact on popular music in America than the Silver Jews will ever have. Of course, information on American Idol can be found anywhere whereas other types of music is not as heavily covered—maybe their intention was to communicate that they focus on “non-mainstream” music. Even so, I do not want to work for anyone who makes the aforementioned comment. I want to work for someone who wants a writer who knows as much about the Silver Jews as they do about American Idol.

We Are The World

Tonight on American Idol the contestants are performing inspirational songs. Not looking forward to that. The only thing American Idol inspires me to do is to listen to better music once the show is over. I don’t need happy handsome kids singing spiritually uplifting tunes. I need them butchering legitimate pop songs so I can ridicule the little brats and feel better about myself. Either way, I hope David sings a ballad—he’s so dreamy!