Fish) have spent pretty much all day in bed.
We don't have cable or antenna reception. Until about two weeks ago we didn't even own a TV. Alas, Soulmate likes to watch movies, so we bought a used TV for $20 and a cheapo DVD player. Now he has a little movie den set up in the kids' room. The kids don't actually sleep there, they sleep with us. It's more a room to store their clothes.
Anyway, getting back on topic, we don't watch TV generally. Today I brought the laptop into the bedroom and we spent the morning watching TV online. Hippo has seen more TV today than he has cumulatively his entire life (he's 21 mos). I guess a little "Yo Gabba Gabba" won't hurt too much...
Everytime I watch TV, though, I'm reaffirmed in my decision to excise it from our lives. The shows are mostly dumb and don't hold my attention for more than a few minutes in most cases. What really gets to me are the commercials. This morning we saw commercials for a "machine" that makes aliens, a machine that you use to create pictures made from beads, a toy puppy that "grows" and talks, and a toy lion that will love you just like a realy lion cub would (!). WTF? I guess I've been out of it too long. I wouldn't buy any of these for my children, but the ads sure make them enticing.
The other day I was waxing nostalgic for my old Lite Brite.
I didn't take this - I found it online and, yes, I have a juvenile sense of humor. I also found that there's an updated version of the Lite Brite called the Lite Brite Cube or something. I don't really care. I'd pay $5 for the old-fashioned version if I could find one at Value Village. I suppose Lite Brite was considered hi-tech in its day, but I fondly recall playing with it.
Back to our TV watching today: I also found appalling the amount of ads for sugar/carb-laden/processed-beyond-all-recognition food. Who buys this shit and do they still live under a rock where no one talks about pesticides, the price of gas and the obesity/diabetes epidemic?!?!
W.T.F?
We ain't perfect out here and mama still enjoys her chocolate ice cream (Haagen-Dazs, please), but give me a break. Maybe the people who buy these products are the same people who are enthralled with Sarah Palin ("An Alaska hillbilly with porn-star looks who's on the ticket to sew up the white trash vote" Margaret Wente, Globe and Mail columnist)...but that's another post altogether.
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