Ah, so this is what TV's come to now- I see in the lower righthand corner- "25 Most Memorable Infomercials Ever." I can't miss that one. The channels are broken up into decimals- 88.9, 83.100 down to 83.22, down to 53 suddenly with 1 down click of the button, 1 click down to 16- there's 5 billion channels for each person on the earth, or aren't there 7 billion now? A billion more while I said that just then. 16 down to 15.1. I find the feeling of this remote control familiar yet a bit estranged. I walk into these home box office mega entertainment centers with a muddle of boxes hooked up with tangled snake cables and don't even bother. It's a chore to find the one remote out of 7 that will turn the damn boob tube on- it's an exercise to change the channels, adjust the volume. TV's supposed to be for the lazy, a dumbing down.
I'm just messing around now because that can't be a universal truth. TV can be good sometimes and even educational. All these channels, though. People used to see the same thing on TV with the only 3 channels they had and they'd talk about it the next day. Vonnegut addressed this situation to an effect. Now, so many haven't seen the same thing, which isn't necessarily bad, it means there's more options, more individualization, but the culture loses some unification, some shared knowledge. You gain something, you lose something. It hasn't gone so far, though, there's millions of people who still experience the same. It's just that no one's famous anymore, they just think they are. OK, there's still fame, but maybe not like it used to be, of course, not much is ever like it used to be.
And how many genres of music are there now? I, like a lot of musicians, can't help but cringe a little every time I'm asked the question, "What kind of music do you play?" or "who are your influences? I sometimes play silent music, the type you can't hear, at least not out in the open. You have to plug in your telepathic headphones.
I'm just messing around now because that can't be a universal truth. TV can be good sometimes and even educational. All these channels, though. People used to see the same thing on TV with the only 3 channels they had and they'd talk about it the next day. Vonnegut addressed this situation to an effect. Now, so many haven't seen the same thing, which isn't necessarily bad, it means there's more options, more individualization, but the culture loses some unification, some shared knowledge. You gain something, you lose something. It hasn't gone so far, though, there's millions of people who still experience the same. It's just that no one's famous anymore, they just think they are. OK, there's still fame, but maybe not like it used to be, of course, not much is ever like it used to be.
And how many genres of music are there now? I, like a lot of musicians, can't help but cringe a little every time I'm asked the question, "What kind of music do you play?" or "who are your influences? I sometimes play silent music, the type you can't hear, at least not out in the open. You have to plug in your telepathic headphones.
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