Radio Cure
It started innocently enough. I just wanted to watch a few minutes of the NCAA tournament on Saturday afternoon. I fell asleep on Gonzaga, or something. I hear the voice of Dan Rather: "...and ten soldiers wounded today..." i grope around for the remote and press the power button.
At around 11:00 p.m. i watch Mullholland Drive. What the hell is up with Mullholland Drive? I watch it again. Oh, now i get it. Or at least i invent an explanation that i can understand.
4:00 a.m. So what's the harm now in watching a little CNN?
This was really my first news of the war. I was surprised to see that not all that much had happened up until Sunday, or at least it seemed to me. The civilian infrastructure in Baghdad is still mostly intact and U.S. troops hadn't met much resistance, i guess, until Sunday.
It was nice to know a little something and to be able simply to turn on the tv.
I thought i might watch the Oscars and get some material for the blog. I watched a few minutes, but disinterest overtook me and i turned my attention to other trifles.
I turned on the radio. WBEZ was running the BBC feed. From that moment on the BBC was on in my room all night, even as i slept.
I knew i would become interested in the tactical issues of the war and crave constant information if i allowed the media's light under in under my door, and that is what happened.
One of the events i like to see during the Oscars is when they present past Oscar winners on stage. Don't you look at some of those people and think: "were they selling those things on eBay? How did ___ get an Oscar?" Perhaps it didn't seem strange at the time, but in retrospect: Cuba Gooding Jr.? "Show me the money!"? What sort of mass hysteria created that outcome? What the hell did Geena Davis get an Oscar for? Geena Davis?
My favorite out of context quote from recent war coverage:
"We did not bomb Baghdad."
-Donald Rumsfeld
--he actually said that.
also i found it quite amusing to see Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad, firing machine guns into the river because they thought an American plane might have been downed there.
The Iraqi foreign minister was interviewed by the BBC in Cairo where he's attending the Arab League summit. Blaring in the background as he was being interviewed, was Gloria Gaynor's "I will Survive." I'm not kidding. When he broke off the interview, the reporter said, "No doubt, he's returning to his hotel to plan his diplomatic strategy for the Arab League summit tomorrow."
Or maybe, he was just anxious to get his Cairo groove on.
