It’s such an effort for me to turn off my thinking mind. Try, try and fail again. What ever I do ends up being for a purpose.
I don’t have a TV. That might come across as righteous, but really it’s because I’m cheap. And also I fear its effect. When I watch too much television, I feel like a failure, because I’m not performing, striving. I’m just watching, vegetating.
Vegetate is what my Marc recommended I do when he told me to Netflix something dumb. So I started Desperate Housewives, and now I must finish. At least season 1. I’ll be done by tonight, which means I’ll have watched some 24 hours of TV in 4 days.
I was sucked in when in the first minutes of the pilot episode, a prototype character shoots herself in the head. This signifies – it’s the conclusion, really - that life as you are about to see it is enough to make you want to kill yourself. I’m often unclear about what cynical actually means (distrustful of other people’s integrity or sincerity; doubtful that an endeavor is worthwhile), but this series-start is cynical by definition. Satire is something else. So is irony.
My immediate hunch is that artmaking can’t really be cynical. Because why do it if it’s not worthwhile. Or maybe cynical would be the motive: making pretty pictures for checks. Is it cynical to make art for anything other than for art's sake? I think that would just be naive. Is that thought cynical?
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6 comments:
Oh stop! Here's what I do: I watch telenovelas on channel 41 (strictly antenna, no cable service), ostensibly to learn Spanish. And it's working to a degree. One hour a night. They are ridiculous & sleazy, but addictive & entertaining, and since it's in a foreign language I have no grounds for self-castigation. It's also nicely self-limiting because I couldn't tolerate more than one at a time. Do yourself a favor and save the Housewives for a long plane ride.
But, Lady Xoc, Gabrielle doesn't know who's the father of her baby, and Bree decided to make her bed right at the moment when her husband needed to be taken to the emergency room because she's mad at him for ostensibly revealing that they partake in S and M!
Haha! Sorry if I came off as sanctimonious. I've been know to watch an entire season of The Wire in one sitting. Somebody, take these disks away! And I also saw an entire season of Real Housewives during a flight to Cali. My grandma couldn't let a day go by without her "programs" so I come by it honestly. Oh wait, it's almost time for El Triunfo del Amor. They spent the first few episodes filling us in on the paternity of the protagonistas and now it will be 18 months before said protagonistas figure it out for themselves.Then there will be a big wedding. And the villains will meet a gruesome demise.
Can I tempt you with a Brady Bunch Box set. Just one hit, you can't get hooked if you take just one hit, for kicks, try it...
I was thinking of switching to Mad Men. Just season 1.
Great idea. Don't kid yourself, though. If you watch Season One, you're gonna be in for allfour seasons, I think...
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