spanish tv
i have lots of spanish-language channels. before i got cable, the i'm pretty sure the spanish-language outnumbered the english-.
anyway, i'm loathe to watch things in spanish because, unlike english, i actually have to pay attention to understand anything. and who wants to concentrate on one crazy summer?
yeah, for some reason, although the original programming is, well.. focused on over-dramatic telenovelas (i thought they'd be good to watch for language practice, but i can never get through the opening theme - all these people with ridiculous hair looking off into the distance, troubled) and variety shows. the variety shows can be horrible and it's often hard to think that people are watching these things in the days when law & order is available. the other day, alli was over and made me watch some venezuelan show. there was some contest that involved washing plates and another with a dunking game. were i not so fond of alli, i probably would've grabbed the remote and smacked her with it. anyway, back to my original idea.. they always have really good movies on! the kind of movies i'm excited to see are on tv... but then, you know, they start to speak and you realize that you could watch groundhog day if you just felt like thinking.
i did pause on some show named susana gimenez. there was some crazy 'diamonds are a girl's best friend' type opening that captivated me.. some fake blonde surrounded by men in suits dancing around outside a mansion. i watched for a while.. i think she read lotto numbers off. then it was trivia! i was happy because i got a lot of the answers right. once i figured out the show was argentinian (they had a lot of argentina geography questions), i had a new respect for how damn smart those people are, though.. lots of history questions that perplexed me were answered casually. what year this happened, what decade that person died.. lots of american trivia, too, that i should know, but.. you know, they live on another continent.
susana
all this spanish tv has really made me notice the differences in our culture. all the civilian argentinas on the show are intelligent-looking, handsome brunettes. all the celebrity argentinas are fake blondes with an obvious affinity for plastic surgery.
just.. very strange. that some people really do transform themselves into barbie dolls - big boobs, long blonde hair extensions, plastic-like face. (this lady makes pamela anderson look like a granola girl.) and there is a culture out there to celebrate that. weird.