Monday, December 13, 2004

Greetings and Salutations to "Something Positive" Readers

A few lifetimes ago (that's what it feels like, anyway) I was thigh-high in the Big in 04 hooplah and my brother sent me a webcomic to entertain me. I was so tickled by said web-comic that I posted it on this here blog, and now the web-comictoonist has repaid the favor by linking back to me.

So, HELLO, READERS OF SOMETHING POSITIVE!

Firstly, let us all celebrate this year's inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame:
* U2
* The Pretenders
* Buddy Guy
* The O'Jays
* Percy Sledge

Hooray. Team VH1 is very excited for this year's induction ceremony. Woo woo!

Anyhoo. In response to all of Randal's voracious and vociferous readers who wish that VH1 played more videos and don't care for our talking-head-driven countdown and commentary shows, I'd like to say:
If you'd care to contribute some ad-revenue to the channel, we could play more videos. But here's how it breaks down, and I hope I'm not giving away trade secrets but:
WHEN WE PLAY VIDEOS, NO ONE WATCHES. AND THEN OUR RATINGS PLUMMET. WHICH ADVERSELY AFFECTS OUR REVENUE.
Viewers tend to watch only the videos they like and then flip away, so the shows don't rate. That's why channels moved from away from all-video programming and towards more content-based, host and commentator-driven programming. That type of programming keeps viewers' attention longer. All those "coming up, the one thing you really want to see" teases before commercial breaks are there to keep your attention through the break (to watch the commercials, of course, but also to watch our AWESOME promos) and then keep your t-vision locked on our channel. If you'll notice, we play videos during the morning, during shows like Cardiovideo and Top 20 Countdown, because the morning is work-out time and we have captive eyeballs on stairmasters and treadmills and ellipticals and such. And, I kid you not, when we've shown only-video programming during the day, our ratings have dropped. No shit. Pardon the pun.

If you'd like to watch music videos, I strongly suggest turning to the channels in the digital suites -- MTV2, VH1 Classic, VH1 megahits, etc. And it's rumored that Fuse shows videos, but you didn't hear that from me.

In other news, I saw "What The Bleep Do We Know" yesterday and it thrilled me to the core of my quantum-physics loving core. I had forgotten the neurophysical implications of thought and it was brilliant to be reminded of why one needs to remain cognizant of the "cosmic internet" (as my Tantra professor used to say) (Tantra meaning the more esoteric mental practices of the yogis, not just the sexual practices favored by Sting, silly geese). The film veers into new age-y territories at times, but those moments also made me realize that underneath my cynical core beats the heart of a love-filled hippie.



5 comments:

Toaster said...

*blubbers* There are a lot of instances of Bex all over your personal website. There are lots of them. It is your name but I'd like to place emphasis on the fact that there is *alot* of Bex. A LOT. Do you know how much? Like the amount of turkey stuffing that is horrifcally ruined by cranberry during Thanksgiving. No, no, like how much and how long this comment is. Can I make it any longer? Why yes, yes I can.

Your blog roll is full of smart people. Smart people clump well, like sticky wet things and powdered sugar.

Nice blog.

- The Half Life 2 Love Letter Chick

Anonymous said...

I've been reading "The Elegant Universe," and planning my thesis, recently... It's twisting my brain, in some very interesting ways.

And it's sad that those of us who hate the "reality" television are in the minority... But not at all surprising.

-Damien. Again

Anonymous said...

By the way, have you read "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid," by Douglas Hofstadter?

Yet again,
Damien

Anonymous said...

Kudos on the understanding that a lot of people do just like videos, but I have to admit, I do occasionally enjoy the random "Top 100" countdown, and it distracts my brain away from realizing how much I hate writing papers on the comparative philosophies of Aristotle and Plato.

Also, always glad to hear of another Jew that has Chinese on Christmas. I live in the South and don't get a lot of interaction with other Jews, but the more people I meet, the more I realize that it must be a cultural thing. (I skimmed some of your other blog entries.)

Anyway, just stopped by from Milholland's site to say hello and all that. I'll make a point to watch you on VH1 now that I know there are still a few cool people on an often otherwise inane and pointless network. {Sigh} I do miss when all there was was videos and commercials, I admit. But that was a very long time ago.

Evan

Laura Moncur said...

Just a note to tell you that I came from Randy's site and I totally love you. That latest post about the duck sauce has made me determined to clean the fry sauce and tarter sauce packets out of my fridge.

I wanted to tell everyone that you can tape Cardio Video on your VCR and watch it in the evening or whenever you want to. That's what I do. It works great, except that sometimes Cardio Video is not on and VH1 is showing Making the Reunion... Saw Berlin. Man that guy hates her. You could totally tell by the body language.

Great blog. Glad Something Positive linked to you. I needed something good to read.