linecrosser's Blog

      1976 was the year. The news of the day was very similar to today. The price of oil, terrorist, corrupt business and politics. The reality of the world situation is presented in a very clear and entertaining way. Maybe because it is, entertainment, it may have more of a impact, but don't worry it's only a movie. I recommend it highly. 

      I couldn't bring myself to read anymore than the head line.Paris Hilton's new BFF? I don't text so I'm not great on all the abbreviations but I think BFF stands for best friend forever. If she's getting a new one than that means there was a old one, right? Where does the, forever, come in? Was there a time warp that I missed? Are we in a different forever than we were before? I'm confused. Guess things like this can only be explained by better thinkers than I.

      Just watched a 1983 movie that has or makes some very current observations of how powerful the TV is. The movie uses sicfi to amplify it's point, of how ones mind can be overcome and controlled by the media and make the individual behave in a completely predictably way. 
      I'm not talking about how advertising works to make young men thing they'll be surrounded by attractive young females because their drinking a certain beer or driving a certain car while wearing the right clothes. In the movie the scifi angle takes it to a level of brainwashing that turns a intelligent person into, well I don't want to ruin it for you but the person is now following a path not of his choosing.
      Today it is done in mass, the MSM (main stream media) has fed this country so much bull that the population in general is as easy to move around as a baby in a stroller. They have successfully divided us into opposing groups who dwell on trivial matters because were so polarized on important issues we don't even think there is a middle ground that is worth looking into. It's my way or no way, type of thinking has crippled this country to the point that we think congress has the time to talk about baseball players using steroids instead of how to get this country out of debt and our people back to work. We're so busy with American Idol that we can't hold a intelligent conversation about the problems in education or foreign policy because the news is more concerned with what drugs Britney took, or who has slept with who. Our level of world knowledge is only related to who were at war with this decade. We haven't the courage to hold the leaders accountable for their malfeasance because we don't recognize it. Or believe we would do the same if given the chance because the payoff is so great and the only thing we have to give up is our integrity. We have learned by watching our leaders that there is no real consequence to lying under oath, we're just jealous that we aren't in a position to benefit by it. We have learned that the way to get elected is to make a bunch of promises that we have no intention of keeping and if we tell enough lies about our opponent and then spin it in a completely wrong direction. Whoops , there I go again. Back to the movie.
     When we sit down to be entertained or relax we tend to let our natural defenses down, if for what ever reason we trust the talking head sitting behind the news desk we don't even question what their telling us and more important why their telling us what their telling us.
      When you sit down is the time to turn on all of your filters and then when you think you've protected yourself because your not just soaking everything in is when you really have to be careful. 
      The name of the movie is "VIDEODROME". We all know video, Drome is defined as "something that runs or proceeds in a certain way. The worse thing some one can use against us is, if they know how we feel, they know what buttons to push to get us to behave in a very predictable way.  Don't be predictable, think for yourself and don't become a videodrome. The Bible says, "a wise man seeks the council of many". Check your sources and their motives. Rupert Murdoch openly admits using his position as a media mogul to influence public opinion about the war in Iraq. Do you think he might own some stock in the military industrial complex or does he just owe some politicians a favor or want some favors in the future. I don't think he cares one way or the other about the wounded or dead on either side. He just likes the power he has over his own army of "VIDEODROMES" 

     The way it is now, most stations broadcast in HD already. Subscribers of cable and satellite services pay extra to receive programing in HD. I'm only guessing that when there is no longer analog signals, the increases will still apply, we just won't  have a choice and their not going to reduce the fees because of the lack of choice. Reminds me of when unleaded gas came out, leaded gas was cheaper but unleaded did not decrease when the cheaper fuel was no longer available. The odd thing is that lead was added to gas and unleaded was actually cheaper to produce. Just a reason to increase the price. Digital signals open up the bandwidth to more channels. More services to be available to the consumer. Generally the more choice, the more competition, the better for the consumer. Some how I doubt the consumer is going to see any cost benefit to the quality benefit of the change to HD. 

     Don't get me wrong, I love HD and plasma and the sound and all that comes with progress. I just remember a time when companies took chances and provided a better product or service and then because of reputation made a profit. Oh wait that was before corporate welfare and white collar shameless greed. I'm sorry I get ranting and find it impossible to stay on subject. What I'm getting at is while the quality is a permanent improvement the increases will be permanent also and not an improvement. 

Ray Bradbury's story of the future is timeless, well in the since that it's happened before, it is to an extent happening now and will in some variation happen completely in the future. To recommend the movie when the story is about the importance of books seems contradictory. I do it only because it was 1966 when I saw it in a theater as a 9 yr old. It made quite an impression on me and have always remembered it, the impression, not the movie. Well I finally watched it again, rented it thru Netflix. 
The title refers to the temperature  that paper reaches it's flash point and burns. But the story is so much more than that. It's a softer or takes place before the harder, 1984, It uses book burning to so how repressed citizens are by their government. Basically the more laws, the more repression. In this society the government control is so pervasive that people barley know how to communicate with each other, they've become starved for interaction but don't know how unless in controlled situations, at work or at home in front of the TV. 
There is an exchange between a fire chief and his subordinate to test the subordinate's will to follow the system and it's laws. The chief asks how the fireman spends his time off and he answers "Oh not much, mow the lawn" then He is asked if that was outlawed? his response is "Watch it grow". Now the fire chief knows that he is promotable because he is so compliant. 
There are so many other exchanges that are so true today that it's scary.  The governments efforts or methods of controlling the population is by keeping them busy and the use of sports is giving as an example, but its obvious that the use of drugs, media control and education control are all powerful tools used to completely numb the minds of individuals and create a sheep like population.  Yes all this is happening today, and if you can put up with special effects of a movie from the sixties, this film could actually get you to read something beside a blog.

I'm not sure when it's going to happen, but soon regular broadcast of television will end. I don't mean to sound insensitive but I'm ready. I've got my HD television, and it's worth the investment. This upgrade is being forced upon the public for reasons I don't know. I'm only guessing but right now the stations are broadcasting both regular signals and HD signals. It only makes sense that it would require twice the power at twice the cost. Now, because I don't have satellite or cable I receive HD signal with just some old, small outdoor antenna, so my observations are limited. The picture is really amazing and the sound is great to.
However, this grace period that we are currently in where the stations are putting out more than one signal appear to me to have a second purpose. I believe the HD systems are in their beta testing phase. Most of us are familiar with beta testing thru the internet. Upgrades are common, and testing is done by allowing the public to use programs to work out all the bugs or give input as to what would be needed to release the product.

Well, where I'm going with all this is, I don't know how to give my feed back. Years ago the public complained about the commercials being at a higher volume the the show. The FCC must have listened and for the most part, if the advertising was louder it was at such a small difference that it was tolerable. Now this issue has to be addressed again. I'm just glad that we have remote controls and don't have to jump up to turn it down and then back up when the show comes back on.

Please somebody who knows who, to tell about this, tell. There is one local channel that has it so out of balance that I won't even watch a entire show it's so bad. And it seems that the problem is getting worse instead of better on several channels. Station engineers know how to do this, if it's a technical problem then they need to fix it, if it's to increase advertising revenue to offset the temporary extra cost of broadcasting more than one signal then we need to tell them were switching channels. Just my opinion, could be wrong.

I wasn't paying close enough attention to get my facts right, but with all the media saturation it was hard to miss.
Britney Spears shaved her head right around the same time Anna N. Smith died. I don't think the two seemingly unrelated events were if fact unrelated. Anna Had been in the news(?) for quite some time before her death, and then when she died you couldn't get away from her story unless you literally cut yourself off from all media. Britney had to do something to get just a little bit of that light shinning back her way. She shaved her head and that worked. It's all a contest to see who can get the most attention.
Now after her appearance on the mva the other night we she her again. And there is some guy(?) crying all over the internet about the reporting of the bad performance.
Is this what Andy Warhol was talking about? Fifteen minutes.
What I want to say is, all this stuff is ridiculous. If you are NOT SERIOUS about getting into the entertainment industry, why care, about their personal life's. If you like what they do great, buy a cd or dvd listen to or watch it then turn it off and live your life. To obsess about any star is a complete waste of your limited time.
Entertainment is meant to be a temporary diversion, a sort of "stop and smell the roses".
It's a funny thing about smell, It's one of our strongest senses, however if you continue to smell the same scent for to long, your brain stops recognizing it. Smokers don't realize they or other smokers stink. People who live close to any processing plant,paper, pickles,ect get so used to the smell that they have to leave for a long period of time to have the smell register in their mind. Smell has the strongest link to memory of any of our senses. When I smell wild musk oil from Coty I still remember Sue from more than thirty years ago, good or bad smells evoke strong memories.
If we truly want to be entertained, it has to be in limited,short doses.
Roger Waters' cd AMUSED TO DEATH says it well. When alien anthropologist reach earth and try to figure out what happen to the human species they eliminate all of the other possibilities and conclude that the species "amused itself to death"
The government loves this type of behavior because that allows them to do what ever they want(stat) sorry that's another topic.
Anyway just watch how much entertainment you consume, it can be more addictive than any drug, and rob you of really living you life. Hope this isn't all there is to my fifteen minutes. Just my opinion, could be wrong.