The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


A Rainy Night In Portland ….
November 10, 2014, 6:15 am
Filed under: Comment

A few weeks ago, I was in Portland.

It was – as it does 9 months of the year – raining, so having had dinner, I decided to go back to my hotel room and see what American television had to offer me.

I find American television fascinating because there seems to be only 2 states it operates in: awesome and horrific.

For every Damages or Silicon Valley … there’s 10,000 Gracepoint’s – the terrible remake of the UK’s Broadchurch.

Of course, there are occasions when they do a great remake – House Of Cards for example – but they are much better when they just create their own stuff. Or should I say, when HBO creates their own stuff.

Anyway, I was flicking through the 8 million channels when I came across PBS … the Public Broadcast Channel.

I have always loved PBS, their podcasts are legendary, but I’ve never really had a chance to watch their television show.

So I started watching and it was a show about American baby-boomers.

All the people they interviewed had impacted or changed culture in different ways.

Actors … astronauts … designers … it was a real hotchpotch of ‘talenty’, but what was great about the show was that the people weren’t talking about their achievements, but just the issues that either influenced them or shaped them.

From racial and gender prejudice to war, parents and stubborn teachers.

So if you have 10 minutes, check out some of the stories [you can do it here] and you will be reminded how the little decisions we make, often are the ones that can affect our lives in the biggest of ways.


25 Comments so far
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You’re sound like a grandad not even a dad. On the plus side, it wasn’t another of your “real housewives of nottingham” rubbish.

Comment by DH

it couldnt have been on or he would have watched that shit for fucking sure.

Comment by andy@cynic

You know me so well.

Comment by Rob

I kind of hate you like Silicon Valley because that means I like something you like and that is all kinds of bad news.

Comment by DH

That wasn’t a comedy, that was a documentary on the lives of nerd losers.

Comment by Billy Whizz

also known as a day in the life of auntie george.

Comment by andy@cynic

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Excellent.

Comment by Rob

Who knew saying yes to a job would bring me to this blog and fuck my life over forever.

Comment by Billy Whizz

whining fuck. we even paid you. not much but you got something and that was more than you deserved when your days were spent fawning over jemma like a love sick puppy virgin stalker.

Comment by andy@cynic

not a virgin stalker. a virgin and stalker.

Comment by andy@cynic

portland. where the skies are black and the people are white. if it wasnt so fucking proud of its liberals ways id swear it was designed to be a republican racist bastards paradise.

Comment by andy@cynic

The hipster lifestyle is expensive.

Comment by John

What about the decisions others make?

Comment by John

They influence your decisions, they don’t make your decision. Unless you’re in the army.

Comment by Pete

No, but they sure can restrict your decision options.

Comment by John

That’s normal life John. Rarely does anyone get to make a decision without the influence – direct or otherwise – of others.

Comment by Rob

I’ve seen this series, it’s excellent. I was going to tell you about it but forgot. I’m very glad you discovered it.

Comment by Pete

So you thought about telling me, but didn’t. Pah.

By the way, you still owe me an email about meeting up with Mr Niko.

Comment by Rob

That is my evening entertainment dilemma solved.
Thank you Robert.

Comment by Lee Hill

First a daft comment… Did you go to Portland to stock up on fucking Birkenstock’s?
Cheers/George “AdScam” Parker

Comment by adscamgeorge

Now a serious comment… Whenever I get back to Britain, like you, I turn on the hotel telly to see the latest Downtown Abbey or Sherlock… Instead, I get non stop shit, Big Brother etc. We forget, that on PBS in the US, we get the creme de la creme, the unwashed Brit masses are inundated with non stop crap. And why, for fuck’s sake, are all the breakfast show studios painted in day glow colors, and all the cretin presenters desperate to talk in non understandable regional accents… I believe its called “Dumbing Down.” However, if that’s your flavor of the month, join me in the US, where the low percentage of people that bothered to vote, voted in a bunch of politicos who will fuck them up the arse. Time for a “Fourth Reich” vodka. Fuck, you really got me going on this!!!
Cheers/George “AdScam” Parker

Comment by adscamgeorge

Your rant is the first thing that has made me smile today George. It might be the last too. So thanks … even though, if you ask my wife, I am also a bit of an addict of the dumbed down telly, though in my defence, I call it visual prozac, because after watching it – I feel so much better about myself.

Comment by Rob

Delusional.

Comment by John

Rob… I always laugh when Americans tell me how lucky Britain is to have such sophisticated TV. They think the stuff they see on PBS Masterpiece Theater is what we have on all the time. I say no… Just like US TV, it’s 99% shite, and up until recently was run by sex maniacs and child molesters. Never forget, still the most popular Brit programs on PBS are the abysmal “Are You Being Served,” and “Benny Hill”… Fuck me… As we used to say up North… “There’s nowt so queer as folk.”
Cheers/George “AdScam” Parker

Comment by adscamgeorge

This looks ace
I’m at the bbc today I’ll have a word

Comment by Northern




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