6.30.2007

lines



this week, there's been a lot of hype about people, lines, and the iphone and all manner of news has been peppered with images that look like this one - an AP wire photo had the following caption on cnn.com:

Martin Perez, left, and Erika Puquirre, right, are at the head of a line in front of an Apple Store in Santa Monica, Calif.





here are some other human lines...



to the right is a photograph of people waiting to vote in Sierra Leone








to
the left is one that depicts people waiting in line for coal in Amsterdam in 1956









the soup kitchen line during the great depression







waiting for a wiggles concert at disney land, in california









malawians waiting in line for food rations


6.17.2007

hot dog fingers and learning to question

when adults today are skeptical of adolescents' ability to "learn from tv," i can't help but think back to my own experiences as a gawky adolescent who learned with and from the characters, plots, dilemmas, and dialogue on tv. perhaps that's exactly what the fear is about. of course i relished the evenings spent watching hunter and murder she wrote with my grandmother, and was confounded by my immigrant parents' disdain for the precociousness of the cosby kids and the offspring of elyse and steve keaton on family ties. but i most remember the lessons i learned while watching afternoon tv programming, lying on the carpet in the front of the glowing box. i was reminded of one particular lesson this past week when i read the numerous eulogizing accounts of don herbert, the mr. wizard of mr. wizard's world.

picture this: mr. wizard wearing goggles the overtook the top half of his nearly-completely-bald head, dressed in trademark collared shirt under a v-neck sweater, and wearing thick rubber gloves. in front of him a large bucket with smoke emerging from the top.

the lesson: direct contact with liquid nitrogen can cause frostbite and potential amputation of affected body part.

the demonstration: mr. wizard holds up a hot dog and asks us, his viewers, to imagine that the hot dog is a human finger. (we do) mr. wizard gingerly picks up the naked frank with long metal tongs and drops it into the bucket of liquid nitrogen. after several seconds (maybe 10? 15? 30? the details are a bit fuzzy - it was over twenty years ago...) mr. wizard retrieves the hot dog with the tongs. he reminds us that the hot dog is meant to simulate a human finger. (we remember) with his goggles still on he taps the dog on the edge of the counter top (or with a hammer or some other tool - again, time has passed...) and the hot dog shatters in two. (not sure if something can shatter in two, but that's what i see in my mind's eye).

the impact: i have never gone near liquid nitrogen without taking the proper precautionary measures.

but beyond that, thanks to the optimistic hokeyness of this show (and other shows that i watched in secret), i can't go very long without asking why or how. that's tv worth watching.

6.13.2007




sometimes, moving pictures and sound just do a better job of saying what i'm thinking... (minus the commercial endorsement at the end)