I'm 100% in agreement with you, Chris.
It is perhaps the most telling sign of this age of "virtual reality" that millions upon millions of people are completely absorbed in this AI phenomena which, when all is said and done, is about as perfect a definition of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AT ALL as has ever been suggested.
The "talent contest" isn't really about talent at all. The winners don't really win anything at all. I myself have already far more accidental face time on international TV in the course of my work as a production tech than any of them will ever get on purpose as performers. I was paid much better for it, too.
The contestants are nobodys when they first try out, they get nothing whatsoever lasting or tangible from the show (unless they are wise enough to capitalize on the brutally honest advice they receive from "the evil" Simon, who is the only one who ever actually offers them anything that they can use) and they inevitably return to being nobodys when the producers of the show are through exploiting them. They are simply talented (well, some of them anyway) marks for the machine. With the exception of the producers, sponsors, judges and production crew, all of whom are just putting in another day at the office, it's classic "horny-to-be-hip" behavior on the part of all concerned.
Harsh? Maybe, but that's the truth of the matter, plain and simple.
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Dave Grafe - email: dg@pdxaudio.com
Production
Pickin', etc.
1978 ShoBud Pro I E9, Randall Steel Man 500, 1963 Precision Bass, 1954 Gibson LGO, 1897 Washburn Hawaiian Steel Conversion
[This message was edited by Dave Grafe on 05 June 2005 at 08:04 PM.]
