Commercial television - YUK!!

I have become increasingly irritated..........no, that's not the correct term.....let's use "pissed off".........by commercial, so-called "free to air", TV.

This came to a head last night when I was watching a movie on Prime 2, or Seven 2, or whatever they call it.
The movie - if seen without commercial breaks - is one hour and twenty minutes in length.
Last night it took two hours - TWO HOURS - to see the whole thing.
That's 40 minutes of what (I learned today) is classed as "non-program" time.

I thought to myself that this can't be right - the station must be contravening the rules and regs that govern commercial TV broadcasting.

Uh-uh.
Not according to what I found after Googling "Australian tv content" and discovering a government site which lays down the law (AHHHHHA! HAAAAA!) regarding TV broadcasting.
 
I also learned - to my horror - that Australia has the greatest "non-program to program ratio" in the world.
There is some slight flexibility but essentially it averages at around 15 minutes per hour (lowest) that may be taken up by non-program material.
This material includes not only advertisements for products and services but also community announcements, station promotions and, when elections are on, party-promotions.

I was also pissed off by the fact that the first avenue of complaint takes one straight to the front door of the TV station about which you wish to complain!
To use an old saying, that's like complaining to your mother-in-law about your wife!

I'm fed up.
So fed up that I have decided that, irrespective of how attractive a program may be to my tastes, I am not going to watch it if it is on any channel owned and operated by Prime, TEN or WIN.
They can get stuffed.

Somewhat weird, but oddly fascinating!!

(Don't click on the image up there for a link to YouTube....it's only a screen capture!)

Someone sent me a link to this clip from a Russian TV show of the 1970s, which features a vocalist by the name of Eduard Khil.
The story goes, apparently, that it is a song about an American cowboy who is happy about returning home after some time on the prairie (or wherever). Sounds pretty innocent, doesn't it?

Well, not to the Soviet censors at that time - which was around 1966, when Eduard first performed it live, on stage, in front of an orchestra.
The authorities stripped the lyrics from the tune (even Eduard doesn't know what they were), so when he performed it, he was left with........well, watch it and hear for yourself and you'll understand why this video has become a YouTube cult clip.........
LOLOLOLOL-Eduard Khil

There is a postscript to this story.
Eduard is still alive (he's abut 76 now) and is amazed at the amount of world-wide interest in his old video appearance.
Here's a news report...........
News Report - 2010

I think that, at this time of the year, it is a suitable song to hum or go "lololol" to.
It's a happy song, which knows no political or ideological boundaries.

Sing on, Eduard!!!

"As Slow As A Wet Week....."

That saying has really hit home over the past week; we have had rain for five days in a row - something unheard of here in the Canberra region over the past decade.

The thing is....everything is so green. Grass is growing so fast that it needs to be cut again as soon as the mowing is done!

Shrubs, bushes and trees have more new growth on them than we have seen in years and flowers have gone berserk.

On my way to work each day I pass this garden at the junction of three streets near Ainslie shops. I have never seen it so dense with the rambling roses. In fact, I never realised that it was a rose garden until recently!

(click on image for full-size)