This is just about one of the coolest things I have ever seen on the internet. My thanks to Mary for finding this and passing it on. Click here for the video, The Poetry of Reality, or any of the other ones (I especially also like We Are All Connected). Watch and listen. I promise you will enjoy.
http://www.symphonyofscience.com/
A short time ago I happened to see this on TV and found it quite amusing. Before you watch, you might like to know that once upon a time Robert Downey Jr. portrayed Charlie Chaplin in a movie. The rest speaks for itself.
Click and enjoy.
Let me start be saying that this is going to be somewhat of a rant. Read at your own risk.
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A few weeks ago I wrote here about a new show I’ve been watching called My Life as Liz. At the time I noted that there was a sort of “disingenuous feel about the whole thing” because the “nerdy” Liz was not actually a nerd, she is actually kind of cool and stylish. But at the time I was somewhat able to look past this in the name of entertainment.
Since I wrote all that, I have learned some more things about the show that make me less inclined to “look past” this discrepency. I have learned recently that apparently this show is supposed to be a “mockumentary” and that to some degree we are supposed to believe that what we are seeing is REAL.
When I first heard this, I sort of laughed, because I can’t actually imagine anyone seriously believing that anything that happens on this show could possibly be real. Yes, it’s filmed in a sort of semi-documentary style…but so what? Lots of things are filmed that way these days. I thought the show was stylized this way to give it more of an “immediate” feel. But now I’m hearing that viewers are expected to believe that what’s happening is ACTUALLY real. At least to some degree.
I’m flabbergasted that anyone could possibly believe any of this is real. Before I go any further, though, a disclaimer: I realize, of course, that I am NOT the intended audience for this show. This is obviously a show geared towards teenagers and pre-teens. So, without sounding condescending, I’ve got to say that I think it’s totally within the realm of possibility to say that MTV does not expect the intended audience for this show to be quite so…shall we say…DISCERNING? I’m not saying that MTV thinks they can “pull the wool” over the eyes of their intended audience…well, wait. Maybe that is exactly what I’m trying to say.
But apparently not everybody is buying in. There seems to be a big internet debate on whether or not the show is “real,” so I’ve done some research the last couple of days, trying to get to the bottom of all this, and here is the best I’ve been able to come up with (and even then, this may not be the truth at all):
Apparently MTV searched high and low and found this girl, Liz Lee, and decided to make a show about how she is such a non-conformist nerd in the super-conservative hick town of Burleson, Texas. Supposedly all the events that happen in the show actually happened in her life. The show is shot with actual people from the actual town of Burleson, Texas, and what we are seeing is a re-enactment by the actual people that were involved. That’s my understanding, anyway.
Having said all this, Liz does warn us, at the beginning of each episode, that the “events and people are real…at least the way I see it.” So it’s supposed to be real…but reality as seen through HER eyes.
Are you with me so far?
Now, here’s where I start to have a REAL problem with this show. If you read enough online comments from what appears to be actual people who live in Burleson, Texas, the show and everything about it is almost entirely incorrect, fake and fabricated. Mostly, the people making these comments take exception to Liz’s portrayal of Burleson as “po-dunk backwards one-horse town.” Of course, to this I reply that we have to remember that the portrayal of the town is through Liz’s eyes. And as a disenchanted teenager, she is disenchanted with her town.
I can live with that.
However, I can’t live with some of the other comments about Liz herself. Of course, first of all, we have to keep in mind that anybody can say anything online and that doesn’t necessarily make it true. One girl says Liz was pregnant. A guy claims Liz would perform sexual acts on him in the boys’ bathroom between classes. I repeat: just because someone says something, especially behind the cloak of anonymity conveniently offered by the internet, does necessarily make it true.
But…
On the other hand, there are enough comments by enough different people saying “I’m from Burleson, and I know Liz, and she is nothing at all like the character on the show.” People online are saying that she is NOT a nerd, she’s actually one of the “cool kids.” She is actually friends with the people on the show who are portrayed as her enemies. And the people on the show who are portrayed as being her very closest friends…well, in real life she hardly ever spoke to them at all.
So basically, the whole thing is fake.
And “fake” is okay, as long as there is the understanding that what you are watching is a fiction created for the purpose of entertainment. But when MTV comes in and claims that this is a “mockumentary” and that what you are seeing has some basis in truth, when (if) in fact there is NO truth in it whatsoever…well, I’m just…OFFENDED.
I mean, if you feed me a fiction where you tell me that the trendy “hipster” is actually a nerd, I just kind of roll my eyes and say “Hollywood is at it again.” I mean, the whole idea of the “cute nerd” has recently become such a staple in entertainment that we tend to accept it, despite the extreme unlikelihood. But to call this show “MY LIFE as Liz,” and call it a “mockumentary,” and then create a “life” for this character that is a COMPLETE FABRICATION is just plain…WRONG.
It’s wrong. That’s all I have to say.
It’s also wrong on another level. Let’s forget for a moment that the whole thing is probably a lie. The SPIRIT of the show, as I originally understood it, is that Liz is supposed to be a nerd, an outcast. She is supposed to be a free spirit that doesn’t “run with the herd.” She hears the beat of a different drummer. No one appreciates or understands her…except her few other friends, who are also nerds.
So then…why is it that in last night’s episode, Liz wants to go to Prom? It’s all about prom! If she really was a nerd, she wouldn’t even be thinking about prom! She would barely even know that prom was happening! But here she is, asking a boy to prom. If she really was the social outcast the show originally portrayed her to be, she would disdain the whole idea of prom, AND she would in no way have enough self-confidence to ask the boy she likes to go out on any kind of date with her, let alone to the PROM.
If Liz really was a nerd, she wouldn’t wear red lipstick and perfectly applied eye makeup, and she wouldn’t listen to such cool music, and she wouldn’t know or care a single whit about Prom. She would be unattractive and/or fat and/or have braces and/or acne, and she would read Lord of the Rings and/or play video games and/or study excessively.
Because Liz is none of those things, and does none of those things, and in fact, she is interested in going to Prom, and has now been befriended by one of the “cool” kids, the message that MTV is sending is contradictory to the message they CLAIM to be sending. They CLAIM to be saying “It’s cool to be yourself, to be an individual, to march to the beat of a different drummer.” That’s the lip service. But what they’re actually saying to their young impressionable audience is “It’s okay to ‘be a nerd,’ as long as you are a cool/cute nerd and go to Prom.”
Of course the problem here is that if anyone ever really DID make a show about a real nerd, nobody would ever want to watch it. So we end up with this odd mixture of the socially acceptable and socially unacceptable. And we end up with something entirely FALSE and disingenuous.
That’s my problem with the show.
It bothered me that when I posted last time about the inaccuracies on our local newscast, I could not remember more specific examples. So yesterday, amidst watching the Olympics, I stopped to look at the news for about twenty minutes. And within those twenty minutes, I found FOUR—count ’em FOUR!—solid examples of inaccuracy.
1. Since this was the weekend news, it was a different anchor, not the “I should say” guy, yet this anchor had opportunity to say: “Auburn University is considering a raise in tuition, even though the University has MORE MONEY THAN EVER BEFORE….more money than LAST YEAR…I should say…”
2. The same anchor, when reporting on Olympic medals, noted that “so-and-so from Poland won the Silver.” Only she didn’t say “Poland,” she pronounced it “Po-LAND.” Because of course Poland is such an exotic country which nobody here in the United States has ever heard of, so it’s entirely reasonable to think that a newscaster might mispronounce it as “Po-LAND.” Right? She quickly corrected her pronunciation to “Poland.” To her credit, though, at least this time she did not add, “…I should say…”
3. The weatherman put up a graphic showing the upcoming weather predictions. For Sunday night, the words read “Rain chaning to snow.” He looked at it, chuckled a little and said, “Heh! I forgot the “g”…”
4. Going back to the anchor. I guess because it was the weekend there was no sportscaster, so the job fell to her. Apparently there is some kind of car racing going on right now, which I don’t know much about…and apparently, neither does she. She reported that a driver named “Bush,” “Boosh” and/or “Borsch” did something in the race. Now, there might be three separate drivers with all three of those names, or it might have been only one driver whose name is pronounced ONE of those ways, or something similar to one of those ways. I don’t know. But after watching her report on the race, I am no closer to knowing.
So much for “Accuracy Matters…”
One final note: in view of all this, and in view of the Olympic broadcasts, I really have to give credit to the national sports reporters for being able to pronounce some of these long and crazy names of athletes and countries as easily as if they were saying “John Smith of New York City.” They must practice their pronunciations long before they ever hit the airwaves. It’s very impressive.
The local newscast we watch each morning has as its slogan: “Where Accuracy Matters.” Well, I don’t think anyone would argue that we would all like our news reports to be accurate, but don’t you think that if you make a point of promising accuracy, you should be EXTRA careful to deliver on that point?
Maybe it’s just BECAUSE they promise accuracy, but we seem to notice a LOT of inaccuracies in this TV station’s reporting. For instance, there was once a story about a woman who had “quintuplets.” At least that was in the graphic on the bottom of the screen The voice-over reporter, however, was saying, “the six babies…”
Also, one of the anchors is constantly apoligizing with “I should say…” after he speaks, because he flubs his words, and then uses “I should say” as a way of correcting himself. Sometimes two or three times within a single story.
And don’t even get me started on the weatherlady!
There are other examples, I just can’t remember them at this moment. But this latest one from yesterday morning, I thought, really takes the cake: now, I might be wrong, because I was just passing through the room at the time, but I could have sworn I heard one of the anchors (not the “I should say” guy, the OTHER one) sayng that on this station they promised to keep everyone “up to date on all the latest RUMORS.”
Huh???
Now, it must have been rumors about some particular issue where not much is actually known at the moment. But this newcast doesn’t care. If they can’t bring you the NEWS, well then…sure! Let’s accurately report the latest rumors.
Honestly now…
On the News this morning we heard that they are opening a Dunkin Donuts in Pelham, which is about an hour’s drive from here. Yippee! Not that I NEED Dunkin Donuts, but I do miss having it around. (This is only the second one in Alabama, apparently. The first opened last year in Dothan, which is much further away.)
I don’t think Russ and I would ever take an hour’s drive JUST to get donuts, but when we are in that neighborhood (we go to Birmingham once a month, and Pelham is on the outskirts) I sure would love to stop in and have a little treat. They used to have the best pea soup. I wonder if this DD will do soup…
A good portion of my life has been spent searching for The Perfect Purse. Every time I think I find it, I come to the conclusion that there might be something better. Of course, sometimes what is “perfect” for one time in my life no longer serves the needs of a new time in my life. But at the moment, I have found something that works extremely well for me: the quilted knapsack.
I have one. The problem is, I’ve had it so long and used it so much, that it’s starting to fall apart. It’s time to upgrade, get a new one. Of course, at this moment, quilted knapsacks are not fashionable, not the latest style, not something that can easily be found in the stores. Believe me, I’ve looked everywhere. They are just not out there.
So I went to ebay, and I found just what I was looking for, and put in a bid…and I won! Here is a picture of what it will look like. It’s just like the one I have now, only a different color. It’s got a ton of pockets on every side, and even an additional small pocket inside, great for keeping everything organized. The straps are cloth, and not big and bulky, so it’s really comfortable to sling over your back. I thought the pink and orange tones would be very festive for Spring and Summer.
So in a little while my new quilted knapsack will be arriving…from China. Yep. I’m having something shipped to me, directly from China.
I love the internet.
I’ve discovered a new show on TV that I’ve been enjoying the last few days, on MTV (of all places!). The show is called “My Life as Liz” and it’s about a supposedly nerdy outcast teenage girl who has to put up with all the drama of high school. I say “supposedly” because of course she is not ACTUALLY nerdy, she actually looks kind of cool and stylish (I think). She has really vibrantly red hair, in this kind of emo hairstyle that looks really cool. She might be an outcast, in comparison to the “popular kids,” but I in no way would call her a “nerd.” Cos, of course, you know if they ever made a show about a nerdy kid and used an actual nerdy kid, nobody would want to watch it. So there’s this kind of disingenuous spirit to the whole thing, but hey—that’s what you always get on TV and in movies, so I’m used to it.
I made myself a promise to come here every day and write something, even if it is just one sentence. I’m not keeping up with that very well, am I? Well, today, I have just written a few sentences, and now here are a few more:
Did you ever have one of those dreams where you are trying to move, maybe even run away from something, but somehow no matter how much you exert yourself, you can barely make any progress at all? There is a tremendous amount of effort, and hardly any results.
That’s how life has felt for me these last several weeks. I’m so tired of January.
First of all, thanks for all the well-wishes for getting better. I still don’t feel up to par, but slowly getting better. I had a nice day off today, and tomorrow is back to work.
In the meantime, finally got the Olan Mills pics. Enjoy!
