(no subject)

[kittydesade]

アリス：リーさん、せんしゅうの　しゅまつに　なにをしましたか。
リー：どようびは　アパートの　ぞうじとせんたくをしました。でも、　にちようびには　えいがをみました。
アリス：そうですか。　えいがは　どうでしたか。
リー：あまり　おもしろくありませんでした。
アリス：そうですか。　それは　ざんねんですね。リーさんは　よく　えいがを　みますか。
リー：ええ、　よくみますよ。　アリスさんは。
アリス：ときどき　みますよ。　にじゅうかんに　いちどぐらい　みますね。
リー：そうですか。こんしゅうも　みましたか。
アリス：いいえ。げつようびに　しけんが　ありました。から、じゅうまつは　でかけませんでした。
リー：そうですか。

Alice and Mr. Lee are talking about what they did last weekend.

Alice: Mr. Lee, what did you do last weekend?
Mr. Lee: Saturday I cleaned the apartment and did the laundry. But Sunday I saw a movie.
Alice: I see. What sort of movie?
Mr. Lee: It wasn’t very interesting.
Alice: I see. That’s unfortunate. Mr. Lee, do you often see movies? [lit. see movies, not go to the movies, which is semi-interesting.]
Mr. Lee: Yes, often I see. [lit.] And you? [lit. Miss Alice/Alice-san?]
Alice: Sometimes I see. [lit.] About once every two weeks.
Mr. Lee: I see. Did you see last week?
Alice: No. Monday I had a test, so I didn’t go out [all] weekend.
Mr. Lee: I see.


Oogh. Headache. Headache and sore throat, actually, and if the Flutter got me sick I will kill her. She's shown up to work sick for three days in the past week. Not cool, dude. Very not cool.

... I'm starting to talk more like Guerrero the more I watch this. Which isn't hard, since I used to talk that way, but it is funny.

And I was watching Good Night and Good Luck over the weekend. Partly for apparently only one scene with a new actor I'm looking into, but also because it's just a damn good movie. And David Strathairn is pretty damn attractive. And it made me remember some things. That, years ago, we had journalists and news companies that were interested in reporting the news as it was, and maybe reminding us a little that we were supposed to think about things that were happening in the world today. The news that happened was the news that happened, the political events, the war or what have you, the things shaping our world. Not what celebrity banged who and whether or not they were married to them. Or who was seen stepping out for dinner with whom. We learned about trials, political atmosphere, wars, communism or terrorism or whatever ism was currently the boogeyman, we learned about a lot of things. This weekend, I learned that the Polish President died, and about the event that happened seventy years ago that he was going to commemorate, and a bit about relations between Russia and Poland as they currently stand, as well as a bit about how Polish government is structured. But if I had turned on the TV news I would have learned that there was a crash in Russia and the Polish President died, some local people had been arrested, and Tiger woods is still out of favor.

I don't suppose I mean to slam TV journalism today as hard as it may sound like I am, I just wonder. When did the focus go from telling the news as it is, to telling the entertaining and salacious stories about actors and celebrities who, as far as I can tell, have done nothing but be rich and go to parties to earn their status? When did we go from Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man on television, and Edward R Murrow, who exhorted us to rational debate, and the likes of them, to... Hell, the most famous of the FOX news national division, all of whom are somewhat reviled or admired for being partisan. Even Keith Olbermann, whose show I occasionally catch on the internet and who is, I will admit, more to my tastes, is kind of... what's the phrase I'm looking for. Argumentative, maybe.

It feels like there's no dignity or grace or poise or, well, mostly dignity and self-respect in the bulk of the TV news world today. Restraint, that's another one that seems to be lacking. It's very bright, very noisy, and very flashy. And maybe I'm watching all the wrong news programs, but watching a movie like Good Night and Good Luck, which does contain a fair amount of not only archive footage but speeches recited pretty much verbatim by actors, it makes me wonder. Edward R Murrow made a fairly famous speech about the direction of television, his 'wires and lights in a box' speech. I think maybe I just miss the kind of wisdom I could agree with.

Blah. I don't know. There's my blather for the afternoon. Now I get to finish up my emails, go home, and assemble cheap bookshelves so I have some place to put all my research books that is not the table or the floor. Yay! Wait, no, the other thing.