CBC Barbados

“Wha kinda Chinee foolishness this is CBC showing tonight? Ya cann even undastan wha duh saying. Chupse!”

This has been bugging me for a while.

Having been away from living in Barbados for so long, for me it’s always difficult to judge various bajan institutions without the added bias of my years living abroad somehow working its way into my analysis.

I can sometimes find myself criticizing stuff because its not like what I have grown accustomed to, living in a so-called first world country, which really isn’t fair to Barbados. So given that I know that I have a bias I usually keep most of my thoughts to myself and grit and bear it through terrible customer service or try not to comment on some of the convoluted bureaucratic situations I have found myself in in Barbados and just chalk it up to well this is how it is in Barbados.

However coming home at least once or so every year or two over the past 20 years (and recently I think I’ve made about 7 trips in 3 ½ years now) and watching a certain institution deteriorate I believe in all honesty and without bias I can say that the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) TV 8 station is absolutely terrible.

This n That

I really dont have any coherent thoughts. Sleep deficiency and allergy season will do that to ya. So anyways

1) Tv's back. yipee! Think I'm going to like the new series Fringe!

2) The Conservatives are going to kick series ass this election in Canada. I'm calling it as they finally get their majority. The Liberals are dithering.

3) It was like something from out of a movie in my opinion. Woman shoots man and throws body from moving car on a crowded highway. Oh and of course there was the obligatory police chase afterwards. Damn T-Dot is getting real.

4) Doesn't it make you wonder about our leaders when election campaigns become contests between childish individuals with feigned reactions to comments taken out of context. Like Obama called folks bitter a few months back and we're still on that and he made this pig comment yesterday and thats going to be news forever. Just grow up and deal with the issues. Damn!

5) Kardi's new album is pretty nice. However I find he rhymes like a toned down version of dancehall's Dr. Evil (as opposed to Austin Powers Dr Evil) on that Dangerous track with Akon.

6) Speaking of Austin Power's Dr Evil. Why'd that dude have to wear a nehru jacket? I've got conspiracy theories about that. I will be starting a campaign to bring back the Shirt Jac! Folks are going whats a shirt jac? If you're from north america you probably wouldnt get it. and i'm too tired to explain.

7) I've got a 10 reason's Obama will not win the election idea rattling around in my head. #10 because non-Americans love him to death. #9 because this election isnt about the issues, #8 because he's muslim (or at least some american still think he is), #7 because he will be mauled to death by a pack of rabid hockey moms, #6 because Michelle is a black revolutionary (power to the people), #5 because he's elitist, ... well i'll leave the rest for now but you get the drift.

Olympic coverage

OK in general I'm not feeling these Olympics. So here are three of my gripes:

1) Olympic coverage sucks. First off the US coverage is all or mostly tape delayed. I saw a sticker on NBC saying live swimming and its the same race I saw on CBC 12 hours earlier. What gives. Then the CBC (Canada) coverage royally pissed me off today.

100m second round: They show the first two heats then switch to Women's soccer. I figured ok heat 3 doesn't really have in anyone of note in it but they'll switch back for 4 and 5 when Bolt and Powell are running. Plus there is a Canadian in Bolt's heat anyways: Anson Henry of Toronto.

Do they switch back? Nope. They continue showing the first half of a preliminary women's soccer game and I was left to scramble finally finding coverage of the sprints on the French CBC station.

Now I am upset cause (1) Bolt and Powell are the favorites and the sprints are way more interesting than soccer (2) You're telling me you couldn't switch away from the first half of a soccer game for two minutes to view a sprint that takes about 10 seconds to complete. (3) If you want to make the argument that you are covering Canadian athletes and don't give a hoot about Jamaican Bolt and Powell fine but Anson Henry a Canadian was in one of those races. You'll show every moron swimmer and diver who cant get within throwing distance of the medal podium but you cant show a Canadian sprinter. Why the second class treatment of Henry? That not right! shame, shame, shame.

That said Bolt just ran the easiest 9.92 I've ever seen. The dude wasn't even focused, his head was looking to the side half way through the race. Crazy!

2) These Chinese people aint easy at all. Ya mean the girl thats actually singing wasnt pretty enough to be shown on tv? Cuhdear! Scarred for life!

Forget Ashlee Simpson and them so this is the most infamous lip-synch since Rob & Fab dropped. Thats Milli Vanilli in case you dont know. Yes you know its true oooh oooh oooh!

Man is that messed up. You know that couldn't happen in North America. Parents would sue and people would get on real bad. But ya cant have pins wid China. They do what they do and you cant stop them.

3) These foolish Spanish Basketball players. All I can ask is if you are going to China why would you take a team photo like that? Of course I'm judging by North American and Caribbean standards here.

Spain seems to be known for its racism and its downplaying of its racism. Remember Tierry Henry and that soccer coach? and more recently Hamilton Lewis at the F1.

Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton was subjected to abuse at a Barcelona circuit in February, while former Spain coach Luis Aragones also used a racist remark about France striker Thierry Henry to motivate one of his players. Monkey chants rained down on England's black players during an international friendly against Spain in a match played in Madrid in 2004, soon after Aragones' outburst.

Hmmm! I'm a say it first bring back TJ get rid of Jose! What! You know y'all Toronto people was thinking it too.

Signs

They say signs that the end is near
I wonder can I walk a righteous path holding a beer
Resurrection - Common

Is just reality.....

Yesterday while channel surfing I caught a glimpse of one of the newest reality shows entitled Shot at Love. In case you haven't seen it (and I really couldn't recommend that you go out of your way to watch) its sort of like the Bachelorette but with a twist. See the bachelorette seeking love in this case is one Tila Tequlia, apparently a pretty popular personality on myspace, who is bisexual. So instead of this being a straight case of Tila looking for a man, she is looking for either a man or a woman.

Lawd come fa ya world!

Reality TV! Sigh! Now I wont get on my high horse and play like I don't watch it every now and then. I did watch Tyra's Top Model and the Amazing Race and I'll even admit that I watched last season's College Hill once I realized it was set in the Caribbean but I mean seriously I just don't get this whole Reality TV thing sometimes.

Has anything ever been so aptly misnamed before? I mean just call it shows without SAG actors and be done with it but there is very little reality in reality TV.

Ya know what too? Its going to be sad if those Hollywood writers go on strike cause the networks will beat us till we're silly with new reality shows. All I know is that if the writers go on strike my DVD will be getting a serious workout cause I not looking to watch all this reality sillyness. I can watch one episode or so every few months cause is preferable to watching grass grow but not me and that on a regular basis.

Still back to this shot at Love thing. Every time I see them push the boundaries with the slackness of these reality shows I keep going back to Arnold and that 1987 Running Man movie.
How far fetched is it now that we've seen Dog the Bounty Hunter and Scare Factor and Cops and shows like that for us to see the day when we'll be seeing them execute folks on TV. Yea I'm making a bit of a leap but that leap isn't as big as it was once upon a time.