My Dad bought an antenna for our TV, alright. The thing is, Dad and I are such bookwhores we don’t even watch the TV anymore. A friend went here last week and Dad was all over Khalid Husseini’s Kite Runner; he was completely involved in the book that he gave a quick review of the book. Dad was telling her that he “almost cried while doing his biking rounds” and that “you could feel every emotion” while reading the book.
I couldn’t exactly picture him with a teary-eyed look while biking, his sweat mingling with his tears, his eyes narrowed, his countenance sad as he pedalled. I guffawed at the scene.
She said we were really geeks that way, considering book-reading as a vice. It’s a very good vice, not to mention that “vice” is completely unapt to be used to describe it.
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Anyway, I was against his buying of the antenna. For one, he’s not even watching anything from the local channels (however, I don’t just prefer not to watch the local channels: I detest them). Our maid is the sole beneficiary of this latest improvement–the fact that she can watch that Koreanovela Boys Over Flowers (which I thought was a rock band hailing from Tennessee or some place) in her attic room or in the living room is unbearable.
Why Dad bought the antenna, I didn’t know. “At least it has Channels 23 and 9,” he said. He’s a recently discovered fan of UFC, which was surprising since he’s the type of Dad who didn’t own a gun or something. “Why have you chosen to buy an antenna rather than a cable subscription!” I pointed out that it doesn’t have Anthony Bourdain in it, or Mythbusters in it, or Matt Damon movies in it, or even the global weather in it (he loves it as much as I love it; don’t ask us, we don’t know why)!
Also, the antenna receives nothing but choppy reception (or maybe it’s in the network’s fault). I was watching a cooking show last night with Janice de Belen in it, at Net 25, and they were squeezing kamias and chopping cilantro, and the next thing I heard was a-o-a-la-ka-ba-na-si and all that weird-sounding choppy syllables. I couldn’t understand why Dad would buy some loser antenna.
I turned off the television. Until now, I’m finding reasons.
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A while ago my friends and I were watching TV (!!!) and I was stunned by the commercials. “That’s funny!” I would say, and their eyes would cast a very demeaning glance, analyzing if it was sarcastic or not. “Seriously, that was long ago,” one of them said in a very gloomy mood. “Well, I don’t watch TV” would be my brief answer and it all explains everything. I don’t know much about celebrities, gameshows (there’s this new–well, for me it is–gameshow where you’d–correct me if I’m wrong; I only caught a glimpse of it–take a bet on percentage and estimates) or even the commercials (I was one of the last people who knew about the pa-Cheeseburger trend of McDonalds and I felt terrible).
They talked about this Santino guy/kid from some soap opera and I asked who he is. One said he’s from this commercial I didn’t know, then he mentioned another I stiill didn’t know, and he finally concluded my knowledge of him is a hopeless case. They also talk of a certain Pond’s endorser, a Bench model, among others.
So maybe I’m ignorant but I really don’t give a damn about models and artists and the like. It’s my choice not to be updated. It’s my choice that I’m dumb about commercials and gameshows, but reality-wise, these information can’t be very much helpful (except if I’m in a gameshow and they gave “local television shows” or “celebrities” as a category, but why would I be in a gameshow anyway?) in life at large.