What I want to write about is Albanian television. It is not good. Of course, it can hardly be blamed on the Albanians themselves. Their still new-found freedom of expression is only in its cocoon stages, still waiting to become something bigger and better. It can easily be blamed on Italy, France, Spain, and of course (as all things in the world today) the USA. Many of the shows that come on are in English and subtitled in Shqip. This allows me to get sucked into mind-numbing made for TV movies that I would never waste a second of my life on at home. I’ve watched a young Mischa Barton in an I-want-to-be-a-baseball-player-but-I’m-a-ballerina movie three times. Though to be fair, it wasn’t complete crap. But three times- it wasn’t that good either. What I end up watching most of the time is the music channel, which plays a variety of music from the 70s all the way through to today. Actually, I just listen to it while doing other things. I don’t have a radio. I’m always very amused by the 80s music. They played Electric Youth the other day and I dropped everything to pay attention. I was a huge Debbie Gibson fan. I had the black hat and everything. And I found that it wasn’t as fantastic as I remember. And why did so many videos in the 80s happen on the beach? Was it a lack of creativity or just the time before we were all scared of skin cancer? Who knows?
Anyway, there is a current video that happens on a beach, and in a city, and in a jungle, and in some trees… it is possibly the worst video ever made in the history of music videos. The song is called “Wash My World” and it’s by a French guy named Laurent Wolfe. He’s trying to encourage the people of the world to clean up the environment. Now, I’ m all for cleaning up the environment. I buy environmentally friendly products and recycle my Coke cans- just not in a bikini like the girls in the video. I don’t wash street signs with sponges or dust trees, I don’t vacuum the beach or put oil-soiled birds in washing machines, which once again are on the beach. Girls in small, small clothes wiggling and giggling while they splash soapy water on palm fronds? Is this really the face of environmentalism? I guess it is if you put it to a techno beat. Still, I’m sorry to all the environmentalists in the world. And to techno music.
So thanks, Laurent Wolfe, for bringing attention to the environmental crisis in our world. But please don’t do it again.
On the bright side, check out Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. A band of young siblings from London, these creative musicians use nothing electronic or digital to create really great music. May their career be long and prolific. And may they never make a video on the beach.
1 comment:
THIS is a hilarious blog. And I can really relate to the TV thing. While I lived in Berlin I watched CNN pretty religiously, along with MTV. Two things I would never watch in the States. In Argentina I watched the Hallmark channel and in China I would hurry home from class to catch the second half of Sesame Street. I was 25 at the time. I don't know- a connection to home? An escape from a foreign culture. In any case, I support it. And enjoyed your critique of the French music video.
Post a Comment