Cognitive Dissonance

A few questions -- and a harsh realization

So, I've been semi-house-sitting for Misti this past week, and in doing so I have been able to watch cable TV for the first time in quite a while. I have realized something..... It sucks. Cable TV... 135 kabillion channels of pure, unadulterated shiat. I mean, damn! Okay there are a few shows that I like. However, for the most part the shows that I have seen, or have seen advertised, seem like they don't belong in a hospital waiting room. How can people watch this stuff? The so-called 'reality TV', these 'captivating dramas', the re-re-re[e23]-cycled 'comedy', hell even the news was less than satisfactory, the latest celebrity antics taking a much higher position than real world events. It seems like the entire purpose of TV these days is to shut people's brains down and stop them from thinki........ but I'm saving that particular rant for Mass Media: Part II (in revision, coming soon).

I digress... here are a couple specific questions and observations that I have made, since having access to cable for a few days:

1. When did every retail sale become an "event?" A World's Fair is an event. A rock concert is an event. A history-making moment is an event. Saving $5 on the latest shirt-thing at The Gap is not an event. Neither is some extravagant, falsified special on the latest SUV. Quit trying to make things seem more important than they really are. I would like to hope that people don't by that type of elementary mind-farking, but I would probably be wrong.
2. I saw Ringo Starr get interviewed on The Daily Show. He was promoting his new album. Pffftshabuffita-whaa? Why on earth would Ringo Starr be recording an album? He's a drummer! Not a particularly good drummer either. Who allowed him to be a "producer?" Okay, I liked the Beatles, but they are dead! Please, for the love of all things sacred please, all you formerly good and decent artists, please don't ruin it in your later years by making an arse of yourself.
3. The harsh realization: I was watching Who's Line is it Anyway tonight. Unfortunately, not the good version with Clive Anderson, but the sad American revival hosted by that useless piece of flotsam, Drew Carey. What I realized, as I watched this travesty unfold, is that the performers, most of whom were on the show when BBC was doing it with Clive Anderson, cannot stand Drew Carey. It becomes amazingly clear. They make snide comments about him on the air, they cringe when they "win" the episode and have to perform a scene with him., they grimace every time he tries to make a joke. How could anyone in their right mind allow Drew Carey, an unfunny moving prop whose one sucessful show hinged on playing up his pathetic nature for laughs. It is sad really. To Greg Proops, Colin Mocherie, Ryan Stiles, Wayne Brady, I am deeply sorry.