Thursday, October 01, 2009
The New Noblemen (and Women)
I've been watching Ken Burns' National Park's: American's Best Idea on PBS this week, and as per usual am truly enjoying the experience. However, a line spoken in the third episode just jumped out at me and I had to briefly address it.
"In other parts of the world there are certain areas that are preserved because some rich nobleman, out of the goodness of his heart decided to decree it. But in the US you don't have to be dependent on some rich guy being generous to you. To me that's what national parks mean. It's a symbol of democracy. Democracy that works well, at its best." - Juanita Greene, Journalist.
Just for fun, I did a quick Google search and found a chart that lays out the average personal wealth of members of the US Senate and Congress. Go have a look and tell me more about the difference between democracy and these high-minded noblemen, especially considering how many of these wealthy representatives would do damage to those precious, public jewels.
"In other parts of the world there are certain areas that are preserved because some rich nobleman, out of the goodness of his heart decided to decree it. But in the US you don't have to be dependent on some rich guy being generous to you. To me that's what national parks mean. It's a symbol of democracy. Democracy that works well, at its best." - Juanita Greene, Journalist.
Just for fun, I did a quick Google search and found a chart that lays out the average personal wealth of members of the US Senate and Congress. Go have a look and tell me more about the difference between democracy and these high-minded noblemen, especially considering how many of these wealthy representatives would do damage to those precious, public jewels.
Labels: national parks, TV
Monday, November 17, 2008
A Matter of Loaf and Death
This is great news, and I can't wait until it comes to our side of the Atlantic.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Why the People at Global BC Television are Buttheads Part Two
I never used to watch Survivor, but the boys got me hooked. So tonight we're watching the big finale, which is a CBS show but, according to the rules set by the CRTC, since Global also has the show, they're allowed to simulcast it. Which means that once again we're at the mercy of people who apparently don't know or don't care what they're doing.
You know where this is going. Just before the vote to establish the final three, and only a minute or so after the last commercial, they cut to commercial again. And then they stayed in commercial for several long minutes. When we came back, it was to see the last three walking back from tribal council and talking about the big surprise that had been pulled.
I know it's only a TV show, but this is nonsense. It drives me nuts already that we are prisoners of this CRTC rule, and worse, prisoners of a company that doesn't give a damn about their viewers. And since nobody returned my call of complaint over the Heroes debacle, I would guess that not giving a damn is standard.
Contact info for Global BC is here. CRTC is here. I'll contact both, but I anticipate nothing from either.
I never used to watch Survivor, but the boys got me hooked. So tonight we're watching the big finale, which is a CBS show but, according to the rules set by the CRTC, since Global also has the show, they're allowed to simulcast it. Which means that once again we're at the mercy of people who apparently don't know or don't care what they're doing.
You know where this is going. Just before the vote to establish the final three, and only a minute or so after the last commercial, they cut to commercial again. And then they stayed in commercial for several long minutes. When we came back, it was to see the last three walking back from tribal council and talking about the big surprise that had been pulled.
I know it's only a TV show, but this is nonsense. It drives me nuts already that we are prisoners of this CRTC rule, and worse, prisoners of a company that doesn't give a damn about their viewers. And since nobody returned my call of complaint over the Heroes debacle, I would guess that not giving a damn is standard.
Contact info for Global BC is here. CRTC is here. I'll contact both, but I anticipate nothing from either.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Why the People at Global BC Television Are Buttheads
I don't ask for a lot in my life, but one of my pleasures as of late has been the series Heroes. It has been a remarkable run this season, certainly with some bumps along the way, but the show has me hooked but good. The same goes for Jo. And last night, with about ten minutes left in the episode (and three eps left in the season after that), Jo turned to me and said, "I want this to end right now!" She said that because she's so worked up about things, and wants to know everything that's happening, and wants to know right away.
For those of you who watch the show, last night took place in the year 2012, where the heroes are either being hunted by Homeland Security or else working for them. As things worked to a head, with heroes fighting each other left and right, two of them killed right there (and others killed earlier in the show), and all of a sudden we were down to an awesome duel about to take place between Sylar and Peter. Sylar flicked his wrists and both arms turned a fiery orange, Peter did the same and his hands turned a screaming blue/white, and I put my hands on my head and shouted "This has so much coolness my head is going to explode!"
All of this was during the 9pm showing on NBC. At that very moment, the asshats at Global down in Vancouver decided this was a good time to switch over to their simulcast feed since they air The Real Wedding Crashers alongside NBC, and we peons up here have to of course watch the Canadian commercials. And so, instead of seeing the culmination of this amazing battle, and seeing what Hiro Nakamura manages to do in trying to get back to his own time, I'm seeing frickin' ads for some bogus Global programming. Hell, the next show didn't even come on for another couple of minutes.
At first I blamed this on Shaw, but after some talking with a gal there today I learned that Global gets to do that themselves. When I phoned them today, I got transferred to the complaints line, which (surprise, surprise) was a voice mail. I'll update if I ever hear back, but unless plenty of other people are equally pissed (and the smart ones probably watched the 8pm showing on CTV; me, I missed that because of the boys), I suspect they'll right me off as just another crank.
I don't ask for a lot in my life, but one of my pleasures as of late has been the series Heroes. It has been a remarkable run this season, certainly with some bumps along the way, but the show has me hooked but good. The same goes for Jo. And last night, with about ten minutes left in the episode (and three eps left in the season after that), Jo turned to me and said, "I want this to end right now!" She said that because she's so worked up about things, and wants to know everything that's happening, and wants to know right away.
For those of you who watch the show, last night took place in the year 2012, where the heroes are either being hunted by Homeland Security or else working for them. As things worked to a head, with heroes fighting each other left and right, two of them killed right there (and others killed earlier in the show), and all of a sudden we were down to an awesome duel about to take place between Sylar and Peter. Sylar flicked his wrists and both arms turned a fiery orange, Peter did the same and his hands turned a screaming blue/white, and I put my hands on my head and shouted "This has so much coolness my head is going to explode!"
All of this was during the 9pm showing on NBC. At that very moment, the asshats at Global down in Vancouver decided this was a good time to switch over to their simulcast feed since they air The Real Wedding Crashers alongside NBC, and we peons up here have to of course watch the Canadian commercials. And so, instead of seeing the culmination of this amazing battle, and seeing what Hiro Nakamura manages to do in trying to get back to his own time, I'm seeing frickin' ads for some bogus Global programming. Hell, the next show didn't even come on for another couple of minutes.
At first I blamed this on Shaw, but after some talking with a gal there today I learned that Global gets to do that themselves. When I phoned them today, I got transferred to the complaints line, which (surprise, surprise) was a voice mail. I'll update if I ever hear back, but unless plenty of other people are equally pissed (and the smart ones probably watched the 8pm showing on CTV; me, I missed that because of the boys), I suspect they'll right me off as just another crank.
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