Happy 89th Birthday to Jim Noble

Governor Eugene Xavier Gatling

Happy 89th Birthday (5th March) to the actor James Noble who is best known for his portrayal of the slightly daffy Governor Eugene Gatling on the 1980s sitcom Benson. The son of a Dallas wholesale coal dealer, Noble spent much of his youth attending pool halls and movie houses. He retained his expertise with a pool cue throughout his life, while his stronger interest in acting (fueled by movies) manifested itself in local stage productions and drama studies at Southern Methodist University. Following Navy service in World War II, Noble went to New York to study at the Actors Studio, then went on to a stage revival of Pygmalion wherein he met his future wife, actress Carolyn Coates. The actor appeared on such TV soap operas as "As the World Turns" (1956), "A World Apart" (1969) and such Broadway productions as 1776 (a role he took to the movie 1776 (1972)), spending much of his spare time in psychotherapy to handle his ongoing feelings of self-doubt. In films from the mid '70s, Noble principally played small roles as authority figures and politicians (Being There (1979), The Nude Bomb (1980)), with occasional larger roles such as Bo Derek's father in 10 (1979).



In 1979 Noble was cast as the genially absent-minded Governor Gene Gatling on the sitcom "Benson" (1979), a role in which he remained until the series' 1986 cancellation. He is the father of a good buddy who is a remarkable person in her own right. However Jim is in a class of his own and as the video shows even at his advanced years is not craving respectability nor has he lost his subversive sense of humour.

SUBURBAN LEGENDS Ep 15 - "DEAR OLD DAD"

Happy 89th Birthday to Jim Noble

Governor Eugene Xavier Gatling

Happy 89th Birthday (5th March) to the actor James Noble who is best known for his portrayal of the slightly daffy Governor Eugene Gatling on the 1980s sitcom Benson. The son of a Dallas wholesale coal dealer, Noble spent much of his youth attending pool halls and movie houses. He retained his expertise with a pool cue throughout his life, while his stronger interest in acting (fueled by movies) manifested itself in local stage productions and drama studies at Southern Methodist University. Following Navy service in World War II, Noble went to New York to study at the Actors Studio, then went on to a stage revival of Pygmalion wherein he met his future wife, actress Carolyn Coates. The actor appeared on such TV soap operas as "As the World Turns" (1956), "A World Apart" (1969) and such Broadway productions as 1776 (a role he took to the movie 1776 (1972)), spending much of his spare time in psychotherapy to handle his ongoing feelings of self-doubt. In films from the mid '70s, Noble principally played small roles as authority figures and politicians (Being There (1979), The Nude Bomb (1980)), with occasional larger roles such as Bo Derek's father in 10 (1979).



In 1979 Noble was cast as the genially absent-minded Governor Gene Gatling on the sitcom "Benson" (1979), a role in which he remained until the series' 1986 cancellation. He is the father of a good buddy who is a remarkable person in her own right. However Jim is in a class of his own and as the video shows even at his advanced years is not craving respectability nor has he lost his subversive sense of humour.

SUBURBAN LEGENDS Ep 15 - "DEAR OLD DAD"

THE GAME BEHIND THE SUPER BOWL

Television is not about providing entertainment, it's about presenting audiences to advertisers.

Anyone who has studied mass media knows this. You talk to TV people and they don't even try to hide it. That's the hustle. Period.

And that's why I've always had a hard time really getting into the Super Bowl. Super Bowl Sunday is Madison Avenue's big orgy day. Personally, I'd rather just get on with the game than have "mini movies" running the day.

Did you know NFL games are timed to the commercials? It's true. There's a guy on the sideline who signals the officials that the ads are over and that the referee may proceed with the game. If that's not the tail wagging the dog, I don't know what is.

And anyone who says we need advertising to have telecasts or great football or anything else is wrong. Organized sports have been around a hundred years longer than TV. And TV could exist -- good, fun, healthy TV -- without advertising dollars. BUT, the corporations that own TV networks wouldn't make enormous profits. It's the same old story.

We really need to reclaim the airwaves (which we own) but I shan't digress on that today.

I don't begrudge anyone their fun. I really don't. I actually prefer happy people. I say: Get your joy where you can. But it makes me a little sad that so many people look forward to the commercials on Super Bowl day -- and are pumped up to do so by the media. It's like Madison Avenue has pulled off it's greatest trick: make the interruptions the de facto stars of the day. And if you still don't believe me, check the Internet tomorrow and see all the stories of the cleverest/cutest/funniest Super Bowl ads.

Is that really what our entertainment has come to? And do we have to demean our sports like this? For a long time, sports were my life. Now it's all money and BS and I can't get as excited about them.

That's my take on Super Bowl Sunday... and I wish it weren't. I wish I could just watch The Game. I wish it wasn't so lost in the noise of consumerism that hounds us every other day of the year as well.

But Madison Avenue isn't about to allow that.

So give the devil his due... but just remember who he is.

Take care (and, seriously, if you watch the game I hope you have fun!),
Adrian
PS: Go Packers! (Did you know they are the only NFL team owned by their fans and not some billionaire puppet master?)

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might also like to take a look at TV -- PT. 1: GETTING A GRIP ON REALITY

TV -- PT. 3: GET MAD!! (YOU'RE GONNA ENJOY THIS!)

Peter Finch was the first person to win an acting Academy Award posthumously (Best Actor, 1977).

He won it for a landmark role in a film called "Network" -- and if you haven't seen this movie you should.

Finch played Howard Beale, "The Mad Prophet of the Airwaves," in the 1976 film. He gave so much to his role, some people at the time even speculated it killed him. (Well, he was also a hard drinking English-born Australian, so who knows?)

One has to be very careful getting information from a movie. Very careful. (That's why I have little respect for most war movies.) But there are nuggets of wisdom that come from Finch's character in "Network" that you must see... or watch again if you've seen them. They are truly iconic.

See the links below.

But be advised:

-- You'll notice that because Finch's character attacks TV, Hollywood had to make him a madman. Then he is automatically just a freak who can be discredited and the attacks on TV aren't valid.

-- The script focuses more on the problems that pour out of your TV rather than looking at the whole notion that televising "information" is a business owned and operated by a relatively small group of people.

And there are a few other things that aren't quite on the money, but if you keep your critical eye open, you can get a lot from these clips. They're moving. Finch killed in this role!

CLIPS:

"I'M AS MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

"WE'LL TELL YOU ANY SH*T YOU WANT TO HEAR!"

SLIGHTLY LONGER VERSION OF "MAD AS HELL"

Howard Beale was right: If you want anything to change, you do have to get mad. You have to get pissed off enough to get off your butt and reclaim your world, your life, your children's future.

And like the bumper sticker said: "If you aren't outraged, you're not paying attention."

Take care and get mad,
Adrian Zupp

IF THIS POST WAS INTERESTING TO YOU you might want to check out TV -- PT. 1: GETTING A GRIP ON REALITY and TV -- PT. 2: WHY TV MATTERS.

TV -- PT. 2: WHY TV MATTERS

In his classic book "1984", George Orwell wrote: He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.

There is, today, a larger truth that Orwell could not have guessed at in the pre-TV days in which he was writing: Those who control the electronic media, control everything.


OWNERS AND LIARS

And that's why I'm blogging about TV. That's where, sadly, most people get their information from: commercial (and even public) stations with owners/advertisers/donors/CEOs determining their agendas.

Information of any real import, that comes from your TV (or newspaper or radio or commercial Internet site), is very rarely pure and objective. There are too many important people with a lot of money at stake who have an interest in what we-the-people do and don't know.

And these people own the media. Or they are in the same class of power elites. And the last thing they need is the truth about corporate welfare or Afghan babies being blown to pieces or how they (i.e. the elites) craft the news stirring up the masses and upsetting the gravy train.

When you think about it, you don't have to be an atom-splitter to see that this all makes perfect sense.


OPTIONS? WHAT OPTIONS?

And ask yourself this: Why, with so many news "options" (CNN, NBC, CBS, Fox, New York Times, Washington Post etc. etc. etc.), do all these outlets run pretty much the same stories in pretty much the same way?

There are a few answers:

1/ The mass media is owned by a relatively small number of corporations.

2/ Many news services feed off the same sources.

3/ All of these outlets make their big money by selling advertising space (profit motive = self-censorship).

4/ And above all, the status quo, the way things ARE, is what makes the elites the elites. So they aren't going to change anything about what kind of stuff they report or how they report it. Apart from the odd story here and there to give them the look of legitimacy or "balance."

So, really, you don't have much in the way of options -- or alternative points of view -- at all.


CHECK OUT CHOMSKY    

The expert in this field is Noam Chomsky. Take a look at his books on the media. And a classic resource is the documentary about Chomsky and his life of analyzing the media "Manufacturing Consent". (You can watch it online here.

Your TV delivers propaganda. Through news, commercials, and subtle messages and stereotypes in virtually every show you watch. And when it isn't doing that, it is dumbing us down and encouraging us to "veg out" and just not think. Again, that's what the folks in control want: If we think, we might start trying to change things.

Technically speaking, the airwaves belong to us -- public property! -- but they have been stolen by corporations. That's a fact. We should send the bastards a bill.

The Internet is an alternative means of mass communication that has great potential: but the corporations are trying to narrow our access there too. I will be writing on that another time.


WHAT CAN WE DO?

The "big idea" behind "House On Fire" is that if we are to make the world a truly better place for everyone, we need to change the structure of society: how things are owned and run, and by whom. We need to change the institutions, including the mass media. Yes, it's a very big notion, but not impossible. First, we all need to get better educated and better motivated.

-- Watch less TV. You'll feel better for it.

-- Make your voice heard about the censorship of the news and the garbage that you are being served up. (Write to the stations, newspaper editors, politicians.)

-- Don't let your kids get indoctrinated by Ronald McDonald or Coca Cola or the idea that "sex sells," or that cute-n-innocent Katie Courac or, for that matter, Rupert bloody Murdoch. Limit their TV time and monitor what they watch and TEACH THEM what you learn about TV.

-- Look for genuine, objective, non-profit sources of news like the excellent DemocracyNow.org (recorded daily in New York City).

-- Comment on Internet message boards.

-- Surf the Net for sites and organizations such as FAIR that are critical of the mass media .

CONCLUSION

Think of it this way: You wouldn't let a stranger -- someone with a sketchy background and questionable motives -- into your house. Well, every time you turn on your TV, that's exactly what you're doing.

And the TV execs know how to get you to smile while they make themselves at home.

If that's not adding insult to injury I don't know what is.

Take care and kill your TV,
Adrian Zupp

IF YOU LIKED THIS POST you might like to read TV -- PT.1: GETTING A GRIP ON REALITY or THE IDIOT CULTURE.

TV -- PT. 1: GETTING A GRIP ON REALITY

Language is as powerful today as it ever was.

No, scratch that. Language is more powerful today than ever before.

It's a weapon that can be used, in, say, the hands of the propagandist or TV marketing scumbag (same thing), to bludgeon the masses without us even knowing the club had been raised. A weapon of mass seduction.

Case in point: "Reality" shows. Interesting piece of language. Where's the reality? I don't know about you, but my life has nothing to do with being surrounded by spoiled, sub-mental egomaniacs pouting and screaming at each other. I think that was called high school. On its very very worst days.

So, again, where's the reality? The reality is that these programs are a contrivance to appeal to our worst instincts, dumb us down, suck us in, and keep us glued to the couch watching soda commercials where we belong. And the gyp is working like a friggin' charm.

I first studied mass communication in the 80s and I can honestly say that in terms of the "entertainment" arm of that discipline, I have never found anything as reprehensible and plain insulting to my intelligence as these buckets of vomit.

And yes, I have nailed my feet to the floor and sat through different reality shows, so I know what they look like. And by the midway point of any one of them I'm praying to my personal god for a sudden and massive stroke.

Here's my idea.

Don't put these aggravating pinheads in a luxury home and give them prizes. Put 'em in the projects for a winter, shut off the heat and feed them Corn Flakes three times a day. And kick them in the arse every time they whine about something.

Then for the finale, torch the joint to teach them about unsafe living environments and evacuate them right into the waiting arms of the local homies. There's a dose of reality I might actually tune in to watch.

Okay, so this is a rant blog today. I'm sorry. (Well, no I'm not.) I'm just sick and tired of the Idiot Culture. Guilty pleasures here and there? Fine. But a culture pervaded with lowest common denominator dog puke? No bloody thanks. I have a decent brain and I reserve the right to forbid entry.

The really sad thing is that you just know reality shows were born this way:

[TV programming brainstorming session]

Exec. 1: We have to slash the budget but still keep the yokels tuning in. Hmmm. How about this: We take a bunch of strangers -- real pains in the ass -- and dump them on an island or lock them in a house or something, and just roll camera.

Exec. 2: It wouldn't cost much to do that. Do you really think the plebs would go for anything that inane?

Exec. 1: What do you think?

Exec. 2: How soon can we get started?

I could say more, and maybe some other time I will. But for now I STRONGLY urge you to read this excellent Vanity Fair article by James Walcott on "reality" shows. [see link below] I felt it only slightly flawed in a couple of places where I would have been much more cutting. That aside, it is extremely insightful and superbly written.

And I defy ANYBODY to make a cogent argument that undercuts Walcott's position.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/12/wolcott-200912

Take care...and stop watching!
Adrian Zupp
IF YOU FOUND THIS POST INTERESTING you might want to check out TV -- PT. 2: WHY TV MATTERS.

REMEMBERING SIMPLER TIMES

I don't have television, but I like to do a little "time traveling" on YouTube. (All things in moderation.)

Sometimes I'll sit for an hour and look up clips of bands from the 70s, including those I grew up with in Australia. Or old rugby league games. Or the great comedians of my lifetime. It always leaves me feeling good, if not a little wistful.

I'm not one to say that the good old days were always so good. But what I do miss is the simplicity that's lacking in today's world. Everything now is so fast, flashy, extreme-high-tech, replaceable, impersonal. Life has never been easier, nor harder.

I need to use computers and cell phones to some extent but I wouldn't be heartbroken if they all disappeared tomorrow. I preferred typing my work onto paper and having the luxury of being unreachable.

I miss the old ways. And my deceased heroes: Marc Bolan, Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, George Best... it's a long list. They had character, creativity. There are still such people today but they are not as valued. The trash floats to the top: it's cheaper to churn out, after all.

I miss substance. Ball games over video games. Talking over texting. Great rock bands over phony computer-programmed pop. I liked holding an album cover in my hands (I refuse to get an iPod). And now with these damn Kindle things they're trying to do the same thing with books. Books! Look, let's just get those data chips implanted in our brains now and get the whole rancid process of reductionism over with.

What of art? What of interpersonal interaction? What of doing things in "real time"?

Even TV, which has become the monster mindf*** of our age, used to have some innocence. It used to be, well, fun.

Not only has virtually everything in life become a commodity, we have become a commodity. We are not so much individual human beings anymore. We're mass audiences being sold to advertisers. We're demographics for the latest idiot TV vomit. We're test groups for the new hot product that nobody really actually needs. We're lemmings lining up to buy the same stuff everyone else is buying so we won't feel left out or "different." Sure, we still pay lip service to individualism but very few have the courage to live it.

I remember childhood summers of cricket in the nearby cul-de-sac, riding my bike all over creation, and "hunting" lizards. I remember mighty football fantasies in the backyard where I was the hero of the big game. Teenagers walking around with transistor radios held up near their ear. Riding the old "red rattler" trains into the heart of Sydney to see the latest movie starring Burt Reynolds or Clint Eastwood or Paul Newman. Or taking the train just a few suburbs over to the pool hall to shoot a few games.

There were no marathon cyber escapes or hours of video games. No "reality" TV obsessions or endless "celebrity" scandals filling the news shows and magazine racks.

There was just the world, and my mates and I couldn't wait to be out in it every day. It wasn't a world of air-conditioned everything and disposable this and that. It was a precious, flesh and blood thing.

So what's the moral here? Well, I truly believe that, despite what the technology gurus and corporate ratbags would tell us, we've lost more than we've gained. And that is especially sad for our kids -- which means we have to work harder to bring real substance and humanity to their daily lives.

The Who once sang "I hope I die before I get old." Well, I value life, but I hope I die before this whole anti-culture, mass acceleration thing goes much further. I have seen better days and they live in my memory.

Here are some clips I love that you might also enjoy:

Famous rugby league rivalry of the 70s;

The greatest rock band Australia has produced (in my opinion, the best anyone has produced);

Long before Borat or the stooge reporters of The Daily Show, there was Norman Gunston;

You've heard of AC/DC, well these blokes were just as good. But scarier.

The boys who run the show can keep their uber technology and their digital leisure. Their consumption addictions and gotta-have-it products. Their computerized cars and junk food and personalized plates and plastic surgeries and irrational fears and obsessive-compulsive lives.

I'll just keep my memories.

Take care and be careful what you value,
Adrian Zupp