You know that storm chasing family from Wife Swap?

[conuly]

And then a little later their kid "disappeared in a balloon", but, um, not so much?

Well, billing themselves as the youngest heavy metal band in the country they are actually performing around the corner from me today.

The observant will note that this is a sharp downgrade in the quality of our celebrity appearances since that time my sister chatted up some guy and found out later he was a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, a group that I actually managed to have heard of. (Popular music is the category that keeps me from applying to quiz-based game shows.)

Still, that's something!

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Haha, I remember the kid supposedly lost in the balloon, and then he accidentally admitted in a live interview that he'd been hiding while his parents played a joke. The parents weren't so young, though, and that was a while ago, so I presume you mean it's the 'lost boy' who's one of this youngest heavy-metal band?

Sounds made of Fail to me, but hey, Kurt Cobain, right? One never knows.

In a quiz show, I would rock it out on science, history, science fiction, classic literature and classical music, but totally die on celebrities, sports, cars, current events, pop music, and non-fantasy/SF modern books and movies. One might say I am somewhat out of touch with the mainstream.

[conuly]

Yeah, it's their kids.

If I could magically skip the "easy" section and skip straight to the end, quiz shows would be a great opportunity for me. Alas.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

You're not exactly in touch with the mainstream yerself, though more than me because you live in the midst of it. It's a pretty good trick, to live in NYC and not be assimilated by 'mass culture'.

[conuly]

It's because I have precious few real life friends and don't watch *that* much TV. The nieces are limited to half an hour a day each (they often share, which they shouldn't, but we often turn a blind eye because they have their screen time while I cook dinner) and when hear that kids today watch hours and hours daily, to tell the truth, I just don't see how they fit it all in!

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

It seems perfectly reasonable to me that your girlies should share their TV time - one picks one half-hour, the other picks another; if they pool their time, they can watch an hour-long show together - especially if it's in that before-supper hour when the cook wants the kitchen to herself.

The kids who watch hours and hours of TV daily don't read, write, play music, make art or crafts, have jobs, or spend much time outdoors. That's how they fit it all in: they chop most of "it all" out - "it all" being the interesting and educational things kids do when they're not enthralled by passive entertainment. Adults who've grown up addicted to the flickering screen are truly pathetic; they have few interests besides the flickering screen, few accomplishments outside of their jobs (if they have jobs,) and no conception that in the Real World, people with real lives don't actually care that much about shows, nor about the 'celebrities' who make them.

I like my movies right well. I like going out to the theatre to see them on the big screen (especially in 3-D) and I also enjoy watching them at home or with friends. They're not that important, though; they're just entertainment, fun but non-essential. There haven't been many TV shows I've followed as an adult, but there have been some, and there are more that I like on DVD. It takes a really good program to hold my interest past the first commercial break, though: if I wander off or pick up a book, that's usually *it* for my attention.

I also lose interest almost immediately if people talk over the dialogue or mill in and out of the room, because once I miss a plot-point, trying to pick it up again is just irritating. I want the subtitles on, or if people would rather converse or do something else besides watch, I'd much rather just turn the thing off than have it yammering away as a distraction. That's probably another factor in kids who watch hours and hours of TV a day: they may not actually be 'watching' it so much as living in its all-pervading presence without paying it continuous conscious attention.

As my mother used to say, "If you're not watching, turn it off."