I forgot to mention yesterday that when the BBC commentator said that Canada was currently leading Italy 13-0 in women's hockey, she said, "Canada is leading Italy 13-0 in the third quarter.
It's so bad.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Saturday, February 11, 2006
The sorry state of BBC sports coverage
So I'm a bit of an Olympics junkie. As much as I think the Games are an overly commercial spectacle, and its lofty ideals have been hijacked by corporate greed, doping, bad judging and probably the Russian Mafia, I still love to watch.
But this year I'm in Ireland, and the Irish couldn't give a toss about the Winter Olympics - I'm guessing because there are no horses involved (it's weird how much they love their horses). Though I have to say that I'm really surpirsed that they haven't embraced curling yet. Didn't anyone tell them that the sport involves drinking?
Anyway, since it's far more fascinating to watch Big Bruvva, or whatever the crap reality show of the moment is, RTE, the ever-fabulous Irish Broadcaster, is not showing ANY of the Olympics. Not even a 1/2 hour highlight show. Why would you, when Blackrock are playing Terenure in Rugby? Never heard of Blackrock and Terenure? Well they're suburbs of Dublin - and they're both even on the same side of the Liffey. Yep, high quality international-level sports matches are being played right here in Dublin, preventing the broadcaster from showing a little-known sporting event that is held only once every four years.
Luckily, I get BBC2. Unluckily, they only seem committed to showing about two hours of coverage a day. So far, my verdict is that the BBC coverage is really lacking. You would think that if they're only broadcasting for two hours a day, they would try to cram in as much sports and results as possible. Oh no, instead today I watched an interview with Andre Bochelli, who will be singing in the closing ceremony, an interview with an American skier, and an interview with Herman Meier. They did mention that Germany has two gold medals, Norway - 1, US - 1, and Canada - 1, but didn't mention in which sports these medals were won. They likewise didn't mention any silver or bronze winners. It makes me long for the days of watching American coverage where they would tell you all about an event - as long as an American was involved.
I knew there would be problems during the coverage of the opening ceremony. I started to count how many times they mentioned Torvill & Dean (way too many). That was like, so 1984. It's almost annoying as "Miracle on Ice", except that American Olympic coverage is on 24/7. The commentators glossed over the Canadians coming in because they were still rabbiting on about Sarajevo from when the Bosnia & Herzegovina team came in earlier. They then quickly added, "Canada is great in team sports. The mens & womens team won gold in ice hockey in 2002, made sweeter by beating the Americans, and they have good curling teams - oh and they might play Great Britain, blah blah blah, UK women's curling supremacy, blah blah blah." In the pre-Olympics show, they couldn't say "Canada's gold medal win in hockey" (mens or womens), without adding "made all the sweeter by beating the US" every single time.
Just as an aside, what's up with the lumberjack chic motif of the Canadian uniforms?
Today they covered the women's moguls final, and the short-programme of the pairs figure skating, but they cut away from that to show a bit of luge. They then did a 2-minute highlight montage that showed a German biathelete (I'm guessing one of the medals won today), Jennifer Heil's mogul run, and impressively a couple of clips of the Sweden-Russia women's hockey game. The clips were kind of grainy and far away so I have no idea where they got the coverage from, but they better start buying from the CBC by the time the good games get underway. You could hardly see the players at all because they only had an angle that showed most of the ice surface, which ensures that you can't see any of the action. It looked like they were showing a clip from the 1970's, and for all I know, they were. They then quickly mentioned that currently Canada is beating Italy 13-0 before signing off for the evening.
The BBC should stick with covering cricket and buy coverage from a real sports network.
I checked through the TV guide, and they don't seem to be planning on covering any of the hockey in detail. There is an Australian pub here that shows Hockey Night in Canada games on Sunday afternoons - but only when it doesn't interfere with rugby. Well, as luck would have it, the Six Nations Rugby Tournament is on now - ensuring that the Men's Gold Medal game won't be shown anywhere. Bah. They hold the damn rugby every year and it's just an excuse for the Brits and Irish to drink away the month that is February, so I don't know why they can't postpone it for the Olympics and drink away March instead.
But this year I'm in Ireland, and the Irish couldn't give a toss about the Winter Olympics - I'm guessing because there are no horses involved (it's weird how much they love their horses). Though I have to say that I'm really surpirsed that they haven't embraced curling yet. Didn't anyone tell them that the sport involves drinking?
Anyway, since it's far more fascinating to watch Big Bruvva, or whatever the crap reality show of the moment is, RTE, the ever-fabulous Irish Broadcaster, is not showing ANY of the Olympics. Not even a 1/2 hour highlight show. Why would you, when Blackrock are playing Terenure in Rugby? Never heard of Blackrock and Terenure? Well they're suburbs of Dublin - and they're both even on the same side of the Liffey. Yep, high quality international-level sports matches are being played right here in Dublin, preventing the broadcaster from showing a little-known sporting event that is held only once every four years.
Luckily, I get BBC2. Unluckily, they only seem committed to showing about two hours of coverage a day. So far, my verdict is that the BBC coverage is really lacking. You would think that if they're only broadcasting for two hours a day, they would try to cram in as much sports and results as possible. Oh no, instead today I watched an interview with Andre Bochelli, who will be singing in the closing ceremony, an interview with an American skier, and an interview with Herman Meier. They did mention that Germany has two gold medals, Norway - 1, US - 1, and Canada - 1, but didn't mention in which sports these medals were won. They likewise didn't mention any silver or bronze winners. It makes me long for the days of watching American coverage where they would tell you all about an event - as long as an American was involved.
I knew there would be problems during the coverage of the opening ceremony. I started to count how many times they mentioned Torvill & Dean (way too many). That was like, so 1984. It's almost annoying as "Miracle on Ice", except that American Olympic coverage is on 24/7. The commentators glossed over the Canadians coming in because they were still rabbiting on about Sarajevo from when the Bosnia & Herzegovina team came in earlier. They then quickly added, "Canada is great in team sports. The mens & womens team won gold in ice hockey in 2002, made sweeter by beating the Americans, and they have good curling teams - oh and they might play Great Britain, blah blah blah, UK women's curling supremacy, blah blah blah." In the pre-Olympics show, they couldn't say "Canada's gold medal win in hockey" (mens or womens), without adding "made all the sweeter by beating the US" every single time.
Just as an aside, what's up with the lumberjack chic motif of the Canadian uniforms?
Today they covered the women's moguls final, and the short-programme of the pairs figure skating, but they cut away from that to show a bit of luge. They then did a 2-minute highlight montage that showed a German biathelete (I'm guessing one of the medals won today), Jennifer Heil's mogul run, and impressively a couple of clips of the Sweden-Russia women's hockey game. The clips were kind of grainy and far away so I have no idea where they got the coverage from, but they better start buying from the CBC by the time the good games get underway. You could hardly see the players at all because they only had an angle that showed most of the ice surface, which ensures that you can't see any of the action. It looked like they were showing a clip from the 1970's, and for all I know, they were. They then quickly mentioned that currently Canada is beating Italy 13-0 before signing off for the evening.
The BBC should stick with covering cricket and buy coverage from a real sports network.
I checked through the TV guide, and they don't seem to be planning on covering any of the hockey in detail. There is an Australian pub here that shows Hockey Night in Canada games on Sunday afternoons - but only when it doesn't interfere with rugby. Well, as luck would have it, the Six Nations Rugby Tournament is on now - ensuring that the Men's Gold Medal game won't be shown anywhere. Bah. They hold the damn rugby every year and it's just an excuse for the Brits and Irish to drink away the month that is February, so I don't know why they can't postpone it for the Olympics and drink away March instead.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Religion is the Opiate of the Masses
Ok. It's a CARTOON. I just did a search on the Internet and I can't find the actual cartoons anywhere. However, I'm sure they're not that offensive to anyone who is not a religious fanatic.
This furore over the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed is very interesting. One of the cartoons is of the Prophet wearing a turban that looks like a bomb. Meanwhile, adherents to Islam, the "religion of peace", are bombing embassies in retaliation, and protesters are calling for the death of the cartoonists. How ironic.
Now, I'm not painting a billion odd Muslims with the same brush. There are plenty of moderate Muslims out there who are not calling for cartoonists to be beheaded. However, I find it very interesting that governments in the Middle East are calling for the Danish government to apologise and are not really doing anything about the violence. The Danish government shouldn't apologise, the media is an independent body not controlled by the Danish government. Of course, countries that don't have independent media or freedom of speech wouldn't understand that distinction. Further, why aren't the governments in Syria or Lebanon condemning the voilence? Why haven't the bombers been arrested? Maybe it's because the government tacitly supports the voilence. Just like the Saudi government tacitly supported 9/11 and fundamental Imams in the UK tactitly supported the transit bombings in London.
After the London transit bombings, the British government said that that the Islamic community in the UK had a responsibility to stop the recruitment of Islamic extremist terrorists within its community and to stop the preaching of hate in the name of the Islamic religion. Likewise, in countries that are using religion to control its population, they too have a responsibility to the world community when their fanatical adherents decide to declare jihad on the Western World.
Now before someone responds by saying Catholics would be offended if there was a cartoon depicting the Pope fondling a boy, I should say that I was raised Catholic and I wouldn't be offended by such a cartoon. In fact, the Catholic Church deserves it. The cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church comes from the top down. We all know the Pope knows about it, and by turning a blind eye, is condoning it, and Catholics should be ashamed. In Ireland, one priest has been accused of abusing 70 children. 70. Now, in such a small community in southern Wexford, you really have to say, shame on the parents for not coming forward sooner and allowing this to continue because the priest is such a revered member of the Irish community. As it came out in the inquiry, the bishop knew about it and did nothing. When he consulted a lawyer about whether or not the Church could be held for negligence if they heard about the abuse but didn't investigate the accusations, and was told that he and the Church could be held negligent, he took out insurance. That's right. He was told he could be liable and he took out insurance against negligence lawsuits instead of doing the right thing. What a great example of Christianity. I have since decided that while I might believe in the tenets of Christianity, I no longer believe in or respect the Catholic Church as an institution.
But I digress, the freedom of speech includes ideas that are unpopular or offensive. It is only then that we can discuss and debate the merits of the idea in the open. It is only once the idea has been discussed by the populace that it can be either accepted or rejected. If the idea is not allowed to be published because it might cause offence is censorship. With so much violence and crime being committed in the name of God/Allah/whatever, and being sanctioned by religious leaders, it is crucial that our major religions are held up to open scrutiny, and questioning of the institution of religion is not supressed to appease the governments of nations that have no concept of freedom of speech.
That said, this war of Fundamental Islam versus the rest of the world is far from over. As one of the British protesters stated, "Islam is peace but you see there will only be peace when Islam is implemented across the world." The Western World should be worried, but we shouldn't curtail our freedom of speech. If we do, the fundamentalists win.
This furore over the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed is very interesting. One of the cartoons is of the Prophet wearing a turban that looks like a bomb. Meanwhile, adherents to Islam, the "religion of peace", are bombing embassies in retaliation, and protesters are calling for the death of the cartoonists. How ironic.
Now, I'm not painting a billion odd Muslims with the same brush. There are plenty of moderate Muslims out there who are not calling for cartoonists to be beheaded. However, I find it very interesting that governments in the Middle East are calling for the Danish government to apologise and are not really doing anything about the violence. The Danish government shouldn't apologise, the media is an independent body not controlled by the Danish government. Of course, countries that don't have independent media or freedom of speech wouldn't understand that distinction. Further, why aren't the governments in Syria or Lebanon condemning the voilence? Why haven't the bombers been arrested? Maybe it's because the government tacitly supports the voilence. Just like the Saudi government tacitly supported 9/11 and fundamental Imams in the UK tactitly supported the transit bombings in London.
After the London transit bombings, the British government said that that the Islamic community in the UK had a responsibility to stop the recruitment of Islamic extremist terrorists within its community and to stop the preaching of hate in the name of the Islamic religion. Likewise, in countries that are using religion to control its population, they too have a responsibility to the world community when their fanatical adherents decide to declare jihad on the Western World.
Now before someone responds by saying Catholics would be offended if there was a cartoon depicting the Pope fondling a boy, I should say that I was raised Catholic and I wouldn't be offended by such a cartoon. In fact, the Catholic Church deserves it. The cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church comes from the top down. We all know the Pope knows about it, and by turning a blind eye, is condoning it, and Catholics should be ashamed. In Ireland, one priest has been accused of abusing 70 children. 70. Now, in such a small community in southern Wexford, you really have to say, shame on the parents for not coming forward sooner and allowing this to continue because the priest is such a revered member of the Irish community. As it came out in the inquiry, the bishop knew about it and did nothing. When he consulted a lawyer about whether or not the Church could be held for negligence if they heard about the abuse but didn't investigate the accusations, and was told that he and the Church could be held negligent, he took out insurance. That's right. He was told he could be liable and he took out insurance against negligence lawsuits instead of doing the right thing. What a great example of Christianity. I have since decided that while I might believe in the tenets of Christianity, I no longer believe in or respect the Catholic Church as an institution.
But I digress, the freedom of speech includes ideas that are unpopular or offensive. It is only then that we can discuss and debate the merits of the idea in the open. It is only once the idea has been discussed by the populace that it can be either accepted or rejected. If the idea is not allowed to be published because it might cause offence is censorship. With so much violence and crime being committed in the name of God/Allah/whatever, and being sanctioned by religious leaders, it is crucial that our major religions are held up to open scrutiny, and questioning of the institution of religion is not supressed to appease the governments of nations that have no concept of freedom of speech.
That said, this war of Fundamental Islam versus the rest of the world is far from over. As one of the British protesters stated, "Islam is peace but you see there will only be peace when Islam is implemented across the world." The Western World should be worried, but we shouldn't curtail our freedom of speech. If we do, the fundamentalists win.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Indecision 2006
So today is election day in Canada. I confess, I'm an election junkie. I watch the results on TV all night long. I know exactly where I was when the "NON" vote won by 1% in 1995 (parents basement in front of the television), and I know where I was when Florida switched from "blue" state to "red" state in 2000 (I left a friend's place when it was Blue, and by the time I arrived home, it was Red).
This year I didn't vote. It wasn't out of apathy or laziness, but because I didn't receive a ballot. Right after the election was called, I received my "overseas voters package" in the mail. There was no ballot inside. I called Elections Canada and they said they would send another one to me, and it never arrived. By the time I realised that it might not be coming, it was too late to call again. Considering that I had to rely on both Canada Post and Ireland's An Post, I'm not suspecting that Elections Canada knew that I voted NDP last time around.
Speaking of who to vote for, I can't wait to see what this election will bring. It seems as though everyone is finally sick of the Martin Liberals, but there isn't much of an alternative. I think many Canadians east of Winnipeg would feel better about voting Conservative if Peter MacKay was leader. Personally, I think the Conservatives are a scary choice. At the end of the day, if Harper wins, he's going to thank those who helped him all those years, not the people who he had to convince in six weeks that he really is a moderate. Those people that he will thank are the whack job Alberta Conservatives who really believe that what Canada needs is to emulate US social conservatism - because it's not really politics unless it's based on God, guns and gays.
I think the best outcome will be if it turns out that everyone voted Green as a protest vote. They really do have the best ideas, they just don't have the money and a catchier name - they can just ask the Conservative party, formerly known as CRAP, about the wonders of a name change.
Whatever the outcome, the real fun starts tomorrow when all the muzzles come off. Win or lose, all of Harper's Alberta cronies will finally be allowed to say whatever they want.
Pass the popcorn and beer please.
This year I didn't vote. It wasn't out of apathy or laziness, but because I didn't receive a ballot. Right after the election was called, I received my "overseas voters package" in the mail. There was no ballot inside. I called Elections Canada and they said they would send another one to me, and it never arrived. By the time I realised that it might not be coming, it was too late to call again. Considering that I had to rely on both Canada Post and Ireland's An Post, I'm not suspecting that Elections Canada knew that I voted NDP last time around.
Speaking of who to vote for, I can't wait to see what this election will bring. It seems as though everyone is finally sick of the Martin Liberals, but there isn't much of an alternative. I think many Canadians east of Winnipeg would feel better about voting Conservative if Peter MacKay was leader. Personally, I think the Conservatives are a scary choice. At the end of the day, if Harper wins, he's going to thank those who helped him all those years, not the people who he had to convince in six weeks that he really is a moderate. Those people that he will thank are the whack job Alberta Conservatives who really believe that what Canada needs is to emulate US social conservatism - because it's not really politics unless it's based on God, guns and gays.
I think the best outcome will be if it turns out that everyone voted Green as a protest vote. They really do have the best ideas, they just don't have the money and a catchier name - they can just ask the Conservative party, formerly known as CRAP, about the wonders of a name change.
Whatever the outcome, the real fun starts tomorrow when all the muzzles come off. Win or lose, all of Harper's Alberta cronies will finally be allowed to say whatever they want.
Pass the popcorn and beer please.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
57 Channels
Well not quite. We get 14 channels, but there is still nothing on. Just to illustrate just HOW BAD Irish television is, I've typed out the TV schedule for the main channels for tonight from 7-11. I'm not including the news or sports networks, though I might add that sports=football only, and not always even Premiership level.
7pm
Ear to the Ground - religious show
The Cafe - "fast paced show" with two people I've never heard of
Something Gaelic
Emmerdale - REALLY crappy British soap
Lobby Lives - behind the scenes look at the Belfast Europa Hotel
Seaon Ticket - guide to the weekend soccer, rugby and Gaelic football action
Emmerdale - on another channel!
Channel 4 News
The Simpsons
Hollyoaks - really cheesy "teen" British soap
7.30pm
EastEnders - crappy British soap
Two Wild: Massive Nature
Irish Paint Magic - seriously
10 Years Younger - reality show. Cosmetic experts make haggard people look 10 years younger
EastEnders - on another channel!
Hearts and Minds - gets to the heart of the debate on the future of the Province (I don't know which province)
After They Were Famous - this week: Gary Coleman
The Simpsons
Celebrity (Z-listers) Big Brother Live - crappiest reality show on TV. Everytime you watch it, the baby Jesus cries, and three angels lose their wings.
8pm
Fair City - incredibly crappy Irish soap - it's on EVERY NIGHT at 8pm. What a waste of a prime time slot
Two Wild: Nick's Quest - Nick travels to the North Pole to find out the effect global warming has had on the polar bear population
Something Gaelic
Las Vegas
Seaside Rescue - documentary series on the work of coastal rescue teams
Pay Off Your Mortgage in Two Years - and eat only Ramen noodles in order to do it
The Bill - Steve and Laura are stunned to find a room full of cannabis plants in a student residence. Stunned? Really?
10 Years Younger - Different time, different channel, same reality show crap
Project Catwalk - hosted by Elizabeth Hurley. Search for Britain's next fashion designer. A rip-off of The Apprentice. Oh how the mighty have fallen since the end of the Austin Powers franchise.
Friends - again
8.30pm
Something in Gaelic
Super Vets
Friends - AGAIN. Just in case you haven't seen one of the episodes the first 50 times
9pm
News
The Liffey Laugh - Irish stand-up comedy series
Invasion - series. Town under quarantine. It's the end of the world as we know it.
Supernatural - Sci-fi drama series
Hotel Babylon - drama series set in the world of the luxury 5-star hotel
Horizon - documentary about women who have miscarriages trying to have babies
Eleventh Hour - brand-new thriller series starring Patrick Stewart of Star Trek fame
Celebrity Big Brother - another time, another channel, in case you haven't lost enough brain cells already today
Cold Case
ER
9.30pm
Prime Time - current affairs
Movie: The Core - heard of it? Me neither
10pm
Hanging with Hector - Hector visits Bruff in Co. Limerick where he catches up with comedian Jon Kenny
Something in Gaelic
Will and Grace - this is still on the air?
BBC News
Pets are People - I'm not making this up
Tony Blair Rock Star - documentary about Blair's attempt to become a rock star while at uni
Bones
Celebrity Big Brother's Big Mouth - a panel of experts discuss the latest happenings in the house. Just in case you really are that stupid.
10.30pm
Something in Gaelic
Hot Properties - the girls are horrified when they learned that they all drink dialled. The horror
Let's Talk - audience discussion programme that tackles the big issues in Northern Ireland
News
News
My Name is Earl
10.45pm
The West Wing - because with all the other worthy shows on earlier in the evening, this one isn't worthy of a prime time slot
This is a representation of what's on TV on a nightly basis - or rather, what's NOT on TV. Soapstar Superstar might be over, because that's been on almost every night for the past few weeks. Third-rate soapstars on a Pop Idol-esque reality show is way, way worse than the regular Pop Idol. Obviously the Irish don't know what real TV is, because they lap it up. The first few episodes of "Weeds" were on TV in December, but it's now off the air. I guess the acting and writing wasn't up to snuff.
What does an Irish programmer have for qualifications? Zero knowledge of popular culture and really bad taste? Hell, a monkey can do a better job. Before someone comments that the Irish broadcasters probably don't have the funds to buy half decent programmes, and by the way, Hollywood Squares is better than most of these, and is probably not as expensive, half of the channels I get are British. Not only that, but anyone who owns a TV - even if it's a non-working set, have to pay a TV license of EUR150 a year. So, we paid EUR150 just to turn the TV on. This tax is ostensibly so that the Irish public television station can bring quality programming to the Irish market.
I shouldn't complain, I don't pay anything for cable. We plugged in the TV and we magically received a bunch of channels. They were just there. However, the TV license inspector did pay us a visit and remind us of our obligations as privileged TV owners. I bet his mother is proud of him. So, we did cough up EUR150 so that we won't miss a single episode of "Pets are People" and "Celebrity Big Brother."
I've been Googling "online TV on demand" in the hopes of finding a reliable site where I can download TV programmes. I'll even pay a small fee. No luck so far, but I can't wait for it to catch on.
7pm
Ear to the Ground - religious show
The Cafe - "fast paced show" with two people I've never heard of
Something Gaelic
Emmerdale - REALLY crappy British soap
Lobby Lives - behind the scenes look at the Belfast Europa Hotel
Seaon Ticket - guide to the weekend soccer, rugby and Gaelic football action
Emmerdale - on another channel!
Channel 4 News
The Simpsons
Hollyoaks - really cheesy "teen" British soap
7.30pm
EastEnders - crappy British soap
Two Wild: Massive Nature
Irish Paint Magic - seriously
10 Years Younger - reality show. Cosmetic experts make haggard people look 10 years younger
EastEnders - on another channel!
Hearts and Minds - gets to the heart of the debate on the future of the Province (I don't know which province)
After They Were Famous - this week: Gary Coleman
The Simpsons
Celebrity (Z-listers) Big Brother Live - crappiest reality show on TV. Everytime you watch it, the baby Jesus cries, and three angels lose their wings.
8pm
Fair City - incredibly crappy Irish soap - it's on EVERY NIGHT at 8pm. What a waste of a prime time slot
Two Wild: Nick's Quest - Nick travels to the North Pole to find out the effect global warming has had on the polar bear population
Something Gaelic
Las Vegas
Seaside Rescue - documentary series on the work of coastal rescue teams
Pay Off Your Mortgage in Two Years - and eat only Ramen noodles in order to do it
The Bill - Steve and Laura are stunned to find a room full of cannabis plants in a student residence. Stunned? Really?
10 Years Younger - Different time, different channel, same reality show crap
Project Catwalk - hosted by Elizabeth Hurley. Search for Britain's next fashion designer. A rip-off of The Apprentice. Oh how the mighty have fallen since the end of the Austin Powers franchise.
Friends - again
8.30pm
Something in Gaelic
Super Vets
Friends - AGAIN. Just in case you haven't seen one of the episodes the first 50 times
9pm
News
The Liffey Laugh - Irish stand-up comedy series
Invasion - series. Town under quarantine. It's the end of the world as we know it.
Supernatural - Sci-fi drama series
Hotel Babylon - drama series set in the world of the luxury 5-star hotel
Horizon - documentary about women who have miscarriages trying to have babies
Eleventh Hour - brand-new thriller series starring Patrick Stewart of Star Trek fame
Celebrity Big Brother - another time, another channel, in case you haven't lost enough brain cells already today
Cold Case
ER
9.30pm
Prime Time - current affairs
Movie: The Core - heard of it? Me neither
10pm
Hanging with Hector - Hector visits Bruff in Co. Limerick where he catches up with comedian Jon Kenny
Something in Gaelic
Will and Grace - this is still on the air?
BBC News
Pets are People - I'm not making this up
Tony Blair Rock Star - documentary about Blair's attempt to become a rock star while at uni
Bones
Celebrity Big Brother's Big Mouth - a panel of experts discuss the latest happenings in the house. Just in case you really are that stupid.
10.30pm
Something in Gaelic
Hot Properties - the girls are horrified when they learned that they all drink dialled. The horror
Let's Talk - audience discussion programme that tackles the big issues in Northern Ireland
News
News
My Name is Earl
10.45pm
The West Wing - because with all the other worthy shows on earlier in the evening, this one isn't worthy of a prime time slot
This is a representation of what's on TV on a nightly basis - or rather, what's NOT on TV. Soapstar Superstar might be over, because that's been on almost every night for the past few weeks. Third-rate soapstars on a Pop Idol-esque reality show is way, way worse than the regular Pop Idol. Obviously the Irish don't know what real TV is, because they lap it up. The first few episodes of "Weeds" were on TV in December, but it's now off the air. I guess the acting and writing wasn't up to snuff.
What does an Irish programmer have for qualifications? Zero knowledge of popular culture and really bad taste? Hell, a monkey can do a better job. Before someone comments that the Irish broadcasters probably don't have the funds to buy half decent programmes, and by the way, Hollywood Squares is better than most of these, and is probably not as expensive, half of the channels I get are British. Not only that, but anyone who owns a TV - even if it's a non-working set, have to pay a TV license of EUR150 a year. So, we paid EUR150 just to turn the TV on. This tax is ostensibly so that the Irish public television station can bring quality programming to the Irish market.
I shouldn't complain, I don't pay anything for cable. We plugged in the TV and we magically received a bunch of channels. They were just there. However, the TV license inspector did pay us a visit and remind us of our obligations as privileged TV owners. I bet his mother is proud of him. So, we did cough up EUR150 so that we won't miss a single episode of "Pets are People" and "Celebrity Big Brother."
I've been Googling "online TV on demand" in the hopes of finding a reliable site where I can download TV programmes. I'll even pay a small fee. No luck so far, but I can't wait for it to catch on.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Easter is Just Around the Corner
It's barely New Year's Eve, and already the Creme Eggs are in the grocery stores.
I haven't even finished my Christmas box of After Eights.
I haven't even finished my Christmas box of After Eights.
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