Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The end of the world??? Pull the other one.

Unless you have been living under a rock recently you would know that there has been a few notable natural disasters of late. The volcano in Chile, the cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China. All indeed are disastrous for the people affected.

I was especially taken aback by the mayor of a little town in China who was being interviewed on telly this morning. His wife, two children, mother and father, everything this man loved, were all killed in the earthquake. And yet, his main focus was ensuring that his villagers were safe and looked after.

However, what I find disturbing are people who believe that suddenly this is Armegeddon, the apocolypse, that it's all over red rover. Quite frankly it's just dumb coincidence. I think I remember a while ago there were like a spate of earthquakes in Russia, a cyclone and a couple of volcanoes all going off at the same time too. Again people thought it was the end of time. Oh, but wait, let's see...WE'RE STILL HERE! These natural disasters have been occurring for millions of years...some at the same time, some not.

The difference this time around is that we're here to see it.

Don't you think there were earthquakes in China back in the 1300's?? Volcanoes erupting in Chile in the 1200s? Cyclones in Burma in the 1500s?? More than likely, but we didn't hear about it so I guess they never happened. If a tree falls in a forest.....

As a scientist yes, I could explain away these events by pointing out that there is likely to be some sort of sudden tectonic shift in the Pacific Plate, but it could just be coincidence. But Apocolpyse? Man, if it were I want the four horseman, the white horses, the locusts, the rivers of blood, bring it on....but until then, I'll rest easy.

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Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Reconnecting with the past....TV Style.

It's fair to say that TV has been around for a good 50 years. Also, I guess, since the 1970s it has really become mainstream and not so much of a luxury. Being a child of the 70s I guess I have numerous memories to do with TV. (Before you go harping on about childhood obesity and lack of moral structure, and I'd like to point out that I have turned out to be a very normal and healthy human being.)

I guess, as kids, many from our generation would remember having a Sunday night bath and then sitting and watching Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights in pajamas and dressing gowns. Or else the Saturday night ritual of dad watching Hey Hey It's Saturday and laughing at jokes you didn't quite understand at the time.

Yes, I was thinking about TV shows that I used to enjoy from the past. Some are still top notch, some are totally dated and aren't re-run for good reason.
1: Astroboy. I used to run home from school in order not to miss this. How good was it huh? The picture quality and storylines have really stood the test of time. Yes, I have a few episodes on DVD. So sue me.
2: China Beach. For some reason, lately, I've been thinking about this show. Dunno why. But thanks to YouTube I can watch old clips. I used to love this show. When it screened I guess I was about 16 years old. The storylines and acting were riveting, and if you watch it now, it hasn't dated one little bit. It wasn't your typical Vietnam shoot-em-up action it had depth in its characters. Just brilliant. I wish you could get this on DVD but apparently there are some legal issues with it. Anyway, I wish they could re-run this show, it would so stand out amongst the cops/doctors drama that has saturated the air-waves.
3: Degrassi Street/Degrassi Junior High/Degrassi High. Now this show has dated terribly. However, it was great to watch as a teenager. These kids seemed to have much more interesting lives than I did. The new generation of Degrassi is just pants...one of the kids from the old series has become a teacher and it's all wrong.
4: Curiosity Show. Once a nerd, always a nerd...or more to the point...Give me a child at 7 and I'll give you the adult at 21. Natch.
5: The Big Gig. A comedy show on Channel 2. This was cutting edge stuff, stand up comedians, bands, the lot. It was awesome and absolutely hilarious. I wish there was more of this kind of telly on now, alas, not to be.
6: Starblazers/Battle of the Planets/Voltron. I put these together because they were screened at about the same period of time, albeit alternating the time slot. These Manga cartoons however, unlike Astroboy, have dated and look quite rubbish. I made the mistake a couple of years ago of hiring the entire Starblazers Series 1 from Blockbuster only to have all my happy childhood memories quashed. Do yourselves a favour, just live with the memories.