The Great Wall

Korean Adventure (February 21, 2003 Chautauqua)

My trip to see the Great Wall was a full day trip outside the city of Beijing that took in two other sites, the Ming Tombs and Long Qing Gorge.
The road system was fairly up-to-date. The gas stations are something to see. They combine the usual amenities with a circus tent-like appearance, to attract customers, I imagine. One of the things that amused me was seeing a road sign forbidding horse and buggy traffic on certain parts of the highway.

The Ming Tomb

The Ming Tombs lie in a valley where 13 of their emperors are buried. There are also six other tombs for imperial concubines and one for the princes. On the way leading to the tombs is a stone archway, a great red gate, a stele pavilion, a sacred path flanked by stone statues of generals and ministers, and a dragon and phoenix archway. The tomb precincts are covered with ancient pines and cypresses.

The stele at the Ming Tomb

As for the Great Wall, there are three sections within range of the city that are open to tourists. The farthest afield is at a place called Jinshanling, near Gubeikou, where you have the wall more or less all to yourself.
The second site is at Mutianyu, and is rarely visited by tourists, too. It has a cable car and offers spectacular views similar to that of the most popular site, at Badaling (where our tour was scheduled to visit). Badaling has been much built up, and could be termed overly touristy. The highway makes it the most convenient site to visit.

Cable car up to the wall

There are endless pay toilets, souvenir stands, peddlers, tourist buses and a cable car, but the view from the top is striking. The wall and the strategically placed towers climb and swoop along the crests of the mountains that has to be seen to be believed.

The entrance to the stairs up to the top of the wall

It is amazing when you consider the fact that the wall was built more than 2,700 years ago, to protect Chinese territory. These walls had a total length of 50,000 kilometres, which ran across an area as large as 16 of today's provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. You can see it from space.

After getting off the cable car you come down to a rest area where they sell refreshments and souveneirs before climbing up to the top

After being carried to the wall by the cable car, there is a short walk to the entrance. This is a fairly small door leading to the stairs up to the top. It's a little crowded. Once you are up top, there is a variety of places to go to take in the views.

View from the top

Getting from one place to another is the trick, though, as the wall gives new meaning to the word steep. An appreciation for what mountain goats must go through is instilled in everyone.
Care must be taken to avoid becoming part of someone's picture. The wait for the pose to be captured on film makes for a welcome break from climbing. There are towers, as I have said, but these are not accessible to the public, except to go through to the next section. You can walk back down, but there was no time allowed for our group.

One of the dams at Long Qing Gorge

Before we knew it, we were back on the bus, headed for Long Qing Gorge. It was a bit of a ways from the wall, and the group took the opportunity to commandeer the tour guide's microphone for some karaoke. Each singer introduced himself, and sang what I guessed was some traditional Korean song. They were nice enough to invite me up, and I gave them a few verses of the Beatles' "In My Life."

A typical boat - very snug!

Long Qing Gorge is the site of a lake, created by a dam, upon which "dragon boat" tours carry approxiamately 100 or so people up to a recreation facility and back. There are pretty spectacular cliffsides on view. There is also an escalator, that carries you up to the boats, built inside a giant plastic dragon (below).


This was the impression that I brought back from China with me. There was some very ancient, undeniably spectacular scenery, surrounded by the modern day trappings (both good and bad) of garish capitalism.

... that's very steep

Sometimes it was hard to appreciate what I was seeing, the tour moved so fast. But I think my background in history gave me enough insight to put things in their proper context. I hope these stories have been entertaining, informative, and shown just a little bit of what the world has to offer.
----------------------------------
I took this tour in October 2002, just after Korea's amazing performance in the World Cup of soccer. We heard a chant from that time, "Daehan Minguk!" from one of the other boats on the lake. The trippers in my boat were so pleased with this that they yelled it at every other boat we passed. Some of them responded, and some of them just stared back blankly.
Being part of a package tour has its advantages, in that you cram a lot of stuff into a short time. But if you're not pressed, it's better to find your own way to these places.

Shopping

Korean Adventure (February 7, 2003 Chautauqua)

My trip to China was an equal measure of sightseeing and shopping. The tour was organized by Koreans for Koreans. I had to shift for myself when it came to information about the various sites. This was no great hardship. I can say, without any false modesty, that I probably could have conducted the tour myself.
The shopping would present no problems for anyone. A salesman looks and talks the same in any language. If you are familiar with Ron Popeil, you can pretty much "fill in the blanks" to discover what they are saying. It all boils down to: "Give me your money."

A float in Tian'anmen Square of The Great Wall.

My first experience of Chinese shopping occurred on the very first day of the trip, when we went through the Forbidden City. There was plenty of space reserved for souvenir shops along the way, with cheesy bric-a-brac everywhere.
On the way in or out of any tourist site, I was besieged by aggressive peddlers of every description. If you wanted to bargain, you could get some fairly good looking stuff cheap. One guy was really mad at me for not haggling, though. He didn't have anything I wanted, and dropping the price didn't make it any more attractive.
The real dangerous sales reps were those we were bussed to. On the second day, we were taken to a Chinese hospital, where a doctor took our pulses, made a diagnosis, and offered to prescribe for what ailed us.

I'm sure it must be catchy, whatever it says.

Chinese doctors have an interesting way of taking the pulse. Three fingers on the wrist, subtly manipulated, offer the skilled doctor a look at the various "levels" inside the body. Supposedly they can figure out what is wrong anywhere.
After that, we were offered a foot massage, which I thought might have been fun. What I didn't know about massage is that a lot of it is real hard. The masseurs really dig into your feet; owowowowowowowOW! I was a little tender after that, I can tell you! Not too good when so much of a tourist's day is spent walking.
Our next stop was a pearl shop, offering high priced jewelry. Not too much hard sell here, as the Koreans were only too willing to fork it over.

Just inside the gate to the Forbidden City.

After that, we were bussed down to Liulichang Street, which offers a variety of traditional Chinese articles: robes, rugs, ivory figurines, cards, jewelry, and many other kinds of items.
There was a combination of shop owners and street dealers that shared an eager desire to part you from your funds. I myself got a "chop," which is a stamp made from ivory. It has Chinese characters carved on the end, and it is used to put the seal on official documents.

The garden inside the Forbidden City. Note the flags held by the tour guides, which tourists are supposed to follow or they will become lost, lost for all time.

On our way to the Great Wall, we stopped at another hospital, which offered an Herbal Sticking Plaster and Balm. There was a touch of the showman in this doctor, who rubbed the balm on his hands before grabbing a metal chain fresh out of a bed of glowing coals.

Lucky symbols on a hillside. Or an ad for Burma Shave.


Our last day in the country did not neglect one more attempt to take whatever monies we might have left. I had to give it up here, as we were shown a variety of teas. There were some interesting flavours, and I settled on some dandelion, which (I am told) is good for the liver.
In some aspects, the trip was disappointing. I was turned off by how well the "Reds" have adapted to capitalism. I could not but be awed, however, by the sights of Old China: the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and Tian'anmen Square. All of this: the good and the bad were evident in the final sight of the tour...the Great Wall.

The touristy part of the Great Wall. The Chinese have the same difficulty with English as Koreans. The sign says, " Issue the certificate of the Great Wall."
What the kimchi...er, Peking Duck?

The Temple Of Heaven

Korean Adventure (January 17, 2003 Chautauqua)

My second day in China started with a big western-style breakfast at the hotel before we boarded the bus and drove through Beijing to the Summer Palace. The city used to be almost exclusively a bicycle town, but flirting with capitalism has greatly increased vehicle traffic. It's still about half and half, but the combustion engine looks to be winning.

There is a lot of road work, and there is a good system of express roads to carry traffic around. One of these took us from the central area where our hotel was, out to the northwest quadrant, to the Summer Palace.

Yi He Yuan is actually more of a garden than a palace, and it was the summer residence of the Qing court from around 1860 to 1908, when the Empress Dowager Cixi died. Built in the 18th century (with slave labour) to resemble another of the emperor's retreats, it was destroyed and rebuilt twice.

From the garden on the south side to the north is the Long Corridor, a 728 meter covered walkway. Each and every beam is decorated with colorful pictures, some 8,000 in all. There are beautiful examples of Chinese gardening styles along the way, with the Tibetan Buddhist temple looming at the top of "Longevity Mountain."

Foxiang Tower of Bhuddist Fragrance (above).


Dragon boats (above) carry tourists around the lake, to the central island, where you can see the 17-Arch Bridge (below).

On the way back to our bus, we were met by a few of Beijing's poor, begging for whatever we could give. There is a lot that is shiny and new in China, but there is also a lot that is still struggling to survive.

From the Summer Palace, our next stop was a hospital, where doctors took our pulse, told us what was wrong with us, and were ready to prescribe the proper medicine (for a modest fee).

After lunch, and a visit to a jewelry shop (specializing in pearls), our next stop was the Temple of Heaven, an impressive group of buildings that was visited by the emperor only three times a year. The Round Altar (below) was for sacrifices at the winter solstice. The story is that if you stand at the centre, your voice can be heard around the world.


The triple-roofed Hall of Prayers for a Good Harvest (which stands on a similar round altar) was where the emperor presided over a sacrificial banquet for the benefit of the agricultural sector.

Qinian Hall Of Prayer For A Good Year.

From one altar to the other is a long walkway, called the Road to Heaven. There are displays outlining the elaborate rituals the emperor had to go through to ensure peace and prosperity for his kingdom. The emperors thought of themselves as divine, so it was natural for them to do great homage.

The gates to the Hall Of Imperial Heavenly Vault.

After dinner, we were taken to a local theatre to enjoy a version of the Beijing circus. There were some very talented gymnasts and performers, doing some juggling, balancing, and feats of physicality. Then it was back to the hotel to rest up for the next day's trip. The Great Wall.

The Forbidden City

Korean Adventure (January 3, 2003 Chautauqua)

On my first day in China, the sightseeing started right away. After clearing customs and gathering the tour group at the bus, we headed into the city of Beijing. The expressway was very similar to a road back home - even the trees were similar. It made me a little homesick for Calgary.

Our first stop was a hotel in the northeast part of the city for a little lunch. We had been fed on the plane, so I didn't have too much - just enough to notice the difference between Korean and Chinese food. It is greasier.

Some of the Koreans had planned ahead, though, and out came little Tupperware containers of kimchi, seaweed, and other assorted "sides." There were even some juice boxes (that did not have juice, but soju). Very clever.

From there, we went into the centre of the city, which is Tian'anmen Square. It is described as Beijing's "heart, soul, and conscience." In its present dimensions, it is a product of the 1950's. In Imperial times it was an alleyway between the ministries and the palace.

The Monument to the People's Heroes in the centre of the square (above, with the Chinese History Museum behind) was the launching pad for the protests that culminated in the events of June 4, 1989. To the south of that is the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (below), where the remains of the "Great Helmsman" lie in state under crystal (unfortunately closed when I was there).



To the east is the Chinese History Museum, and to the west is the Great Hall of the People (above), where the party and government just recently held an historic series of meetings. The old leader, Jiang Zemin, stepped down in favour of the new, Hu Jintao.

We were allowed to meander around a bit before moving on to the northern part of the square. There was a variety of people wandering around. I met a couple of Canadian tourists, and spoke with a few locals eager to try out their English. There were police and military guards liberally placed around the area, as well.

On the northern side of the square is the Tian'anmen Gate (the Gate of Heavenly Peace), the symbol of the People's Republic of China. No doubt everyone has seen it at one time or another, with its huge painting of Mao dominating.

To the left and right are reviewing stands for when the party shows off its military might. You approach from the square via a pedestrian underpass. The gate and the square are separated by one of the few main roads passing through the area.

The gate itself has been rebuilt many times. It was the main southern gate of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty. When the Ming Emperor Chengzu, Zhu Di, moved his capital to Beijing in 1420, he had the gate rebuilt, and called it Chengtian ( The Gate That Bears Heaven).

A Chimera, with the head of a lion and the body of a dragon.

Passing through this gate, and the ones that follow, leads to the Forbidden City. As a palace, it served as residence and court for the emperors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, their eunuchs, wives, and concubines. When the last emperor, Pu Yi (or Xuantong), vacated the palace in 1924, the imperial collection of paintings, bronzes, jade, ceramics, costumes, gold and silver objects were put on display under the name of the Palace Museum.

Talke Hall Of Supreme Harmony.

Some of these objects are now in the Palace Museum in Taipei, carried there when the Nationalist government fled the mainland after the Communist takeover.

Today there are nearly 20 halls filled with works of art, and visiting them all would take two or three visits. Our guides kept us moving along pretty quickly, but I was able to comprehend that at one time, a very few people must have enjoyed a lot of incredible wealth.

From south to north, you travel from the Outer Palace to the Inner Court. Each gate once meant another layer of security, until you arrived at the Imperial family, ruling in supreme and splendid isolation from the masses beyond their walls.

To the north of the Inner Court is the Imperial Garden, with a dozen or so pavilions located symmetrically from left to right and front to back. Ancient pines and cypresses grow among various flowers and strange stones. These stones, some as big as houses, look like sponges, and they are so fashioned as to become part of the garden.

Once outside the rear (north) gate of the palace, Jingshan Park (above), with its artificial five-peaked mountain offers a fantastic view of the yellow-glazed tile roofs of the Forbidden City on clear days. It was not clear during my time there. There was a thick haze in the air, almost like a fog. It was a great disappointment to have to deal with this haze.



As you can expect, this part of the tour took most of the day, and we did not even see all we could have. I have only touched lightly on what I was able to see.

Our group went from there to the Fengyutang Theatre and Restaurant. After a delicious meal, we watched a display of kung fu, put on by a group of Shaolin monks (just like Caine from the TV show). Then it was off to our hotel, ending our first day in the city.

Going To China II

Korean Adventure (December 20, 2002 Chautauqua)

I ended my last column at the point where my plane was descending into Beijing's international airport. Just where was I going, anyway? I was lucky enough to find a general information story in the "Korea Herald." It comes from the Associated Press, and I quote it liberally here.
The Chinese have just had an important Party Congress, where the future of the country was decided (for the foreseeable future, anyway). The established leader, Jiang Zemin, began edging towards the exit to make way for the new man, Hu Jintao.
Ever since the fall of communism in Russia, the country with the largest population in the world has been slowly trying to adapt to new circumstances. Equal parts of communism and socialism have been mixed with a liberal dash of capitalism. It makes for an interesting combination. There are trendy, neon-soaked taverns catering to foreigners, that double as local chapters of the Chinese Communist Party.
Less than a generation ago, there was not much evidence of this. The Party controlled everything about the country with a planned economy that told the populace where to work, where to live, what to produce, and how much.

Just a car I saw from the bus on the way into Beijing.

Now there is a great deal of foreign investment, with an accompanying influence on the future of the country. Besides the obvious landmarks such as KFC, Wal-Mart, and Ikea, there is the declaration that entrepreneurs must shepherd China into the 21st century.
In an attempt to control the coming changes, the Party has begun ushering new personalities into the leadership. Hu Jintao, apparently the man selected to sit in the chair once occupied by Mao Zhedong, is still a bit of a mystery. Young, with an undistinguished career, he is described as a colourless technocrat. Collective party decisions will take the place of individual acheivement.
This will, it is hoped, allow the party to remain in control without the need for a repeat of the Tian'anmen Square massacre, when the military crushed pro-democracy protests. Stability - government market, social - is the catchphrase.
And yet, there are signs that all is not well. The reforms that allow some capitalism threaten the livelihoods of the thousands of workers as state-owned industries that offered jobs for life are pared down, restructured, or closed.
Migrant populations are growing, as are the labour protests from those who have been laid off. They demand one thing; return of their jobs - and their benefits.
At the same time, there is a growing class of wealthy young people. Annual growth has topped 7 per cent. Factories and workshops are producing brand-name products for western consumption.

A Beijing street. On the right of any street, taking up half the street, is the bicycle lane.

Narrow streets once crowded with bicycles are becoming even more crowded with new cars. The average monthly salary of 330 yuan ($40) has increased ten times, to 3,300 ($400). The most successful are making millions, and moving into sleek new developments and apartments.
All of this wealth will no doubt put ideas into the heads of some people that the Party would rather not deal with. Staying relevant in a world governed by markets will be their great task.

A gas station.

The language of old - an amalgam of nationalism, ideology, and pep-rally sloganeering feels out of place when you can see women trying on make-up from L'Oreal and men who are wearing Playboy underwear.
How much can the Party's colour change before it is no longer red? When do you take Chairman Mao's body from its display case in Tian'anmen Square? When do you re-evaluate 1989? These are the troubling issues that they must now confront.
As you may becoming aware of, the China I was going to see was going to offer more than just the Great Wall.

Going To China

Korean Adventure (December 6, 2002 Chautauqua)

I went to China as part of a package tour. Just getting to the airport was an adventure in itself. I got off work at 7:30 pm Tuesday night and went home to pack.
I then caught a 10:30 express bus from Daegu to Seoul. The buses in Korea are fairly pleasant as buses go, and I thought I would be able to catch a few Z's on the way. My seatmate, however, had other ideas.
He received many calls on his cell phone during the ride, and for some reason he had to speak to all his callers at the TOP OF HIS VOICE. On one call, he also had to repeat everything he said three times.
There is a surfeit of cell phones in Korea. I know they can be handy sometimes, but it gets a little ridiculous when you see a couple walking down the street, both talking on phones (MAYBE to each other, but I doubt it).
The "text message" feature is another thing that annoys me. It's not uncommon to see people concentrating more on tapping out a note than the world going on around them. You have to watch out for them when they are walking down the street.
The phones also have a variety of tunes that you can select to alert you to a call instead of a ring. I would appreciate it if the users would select "vibrate," especially when I am trying to teach a class.
Anyway, to return to the bus (we have to get to China, don't we?) things finally settled down after a short rest break. There are some interesting rest stops on the highways of Korea. There are restroom facilities, restaurants, and even little roadside stands selling cheap souvenirs, CDs, etc.
As we were getting close to Seoul, I almost had to referee a battle over an open window. My seatmate was a little hot, but the Koreans don't like the cold. He tried to pretend he was asleep, but the others just reached over him to close the window. It was a good thing the trip was over shortly thereafter (China's getting closer now).
I got into Seoul about 2:30 am with three hours to kill before the airport limousine buses started to operate. Next to the express bus terminal is a hotel/shopping mall/ bus depot complex called "Central City." I imagine it's a happening place during the day, but the only people I found awake were night owls like me and the cleaning staff.
None of them seemed excited about their trips. I was too wired to sleep so I read a bit and, before I knew it, the limousines were running. I almost took a cab to the airport, but it would have cost me 60,000 won ($75 Cdn). The limousine bus costs 11,000 won ($15). No contest.
At the airport at 6:00 am, and STILL two hours before my tour group met (Don't fret, China is almost near enough to touch). Coffee and a donut was breakfast, and the paper was a distraction.
The two previous e-mails I had received from my travel agent specified the "Hana Tour (table #5) between B and C check-in counters" as the meeting place. The tour meeting there, however, was going to Japan (!). A helpful agent directed me to the Hana Tour table between K and L check-in counters.
Well, there they were, and I was now part of a group of middle-aged Koreans. Most of the tour was conducted in Korean, and I would pretty much have to shift for myself as to explanations as to what was going on.
There was a very nice man named Michael who spoke English, and he was to be my roommate for the tour. We each had a badge to identify ourselves to the tour guide, who held a flag up for us to follow (Let's get to China already!).
Going through customs was no trouble at all. After 9/11, I had expected an ever-increasing gamut of checks to go through, but they have been decreasing, if anything.
We were all released to hit the duty-free stores, and about an hour later, we were rounded up and herded through the gates towards our stalls... er... seats on the plane. I was very excited, despite the lack of sleep. In only a little over an hour, I would be in China! (At last!)
It will be a little longer before you read about that experience, though. Until next time...
--------------------------------------
I never had a cell phone until my third year in Korea. They are pretty handy when you're getting together with friends, but I did try to resist having one as long as I could. Probably too long.
Korean buses can be a trial if you're not sitting next to the window. The heat can be oppresive, but the average Korean seems to thrive on it. I always tried to get next to a window as much as possible, because some drivers just ignored the A/C button.
Travelling around Korea is usually cheap and fast. Buses, taxis, and the train were all very convenient ways to get around, much more convenient than back here in The World.
I don't recall too many difficulties with Korean Customs. They usually waved me through without any baggage search at all.

Dark Shadows

One of the TV shows I watch regularly is Dark Shadows, which was an American soap opera popular in the late 60's and early 70's. It was released on Demonoid in 33 torrents: six dealing with the early shows, one of the revival from 1991, and the remainder dealing with the height of its fame. There're also a couple of movies based on the show included.
The show was created by Dan Curtis, and started off as a kind of gothic romance. A young girl is hired as a governess by the Collins family, in a fairly remote seaport in Maine. About six months into its run, the writers introduced a ghost, but it wasn't until a year after its premiere that the show introduced its most famous character, played by Jonathan Frid, the vampire Barnabas Collins.


After Barnabas' arrival, the show's poularity took off and the floodgates opened. There were witches, warlocks, werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, time travel and even a parallel universe.
Many of the actors on the show played several roles, and appeared and reappeared throughout its run, sometimes as a perfectly ordinary person and sometimes as say, a werewolf or a zombie. It was a variation on what Stephen King called, 'the kid trick.' He wrote about it in his book about modern American horror, Danse Macabre.
'The kid trick' is used by soap operas whenever they change actors for a particular part. For instance, a little boy or girl is sent off to summer camp and returns as a teenager. Or a businessman goes to South America, his plane crashes, and later on he's found. That's when it was revealed that a new actor is playing the part.
Nowadays, soap operas no longer do this. Once an actor becomes identified with a role, it's his until death. Could you imagine J.R. Ewing being played by any other actor than Larry Hagman? I didn't think so.
Dark Shadows was a half-hour in length, and there were over 1200 episodes filmed before the ratings sank out of sight and the show was cancelled. I watch one episode each weekday, just as if the show was really on the air. I never saw it during its original run, but it was shown briefly on a Spokane station as part of its afternoon lineup of shows in 1981 or '82.
Two movies based on storylines from the show were made during its run, using the same actors, and featured gore that regular TV wouldn't allow. There was a revival of the show in 1991 that lasted twelve episodes, starring Ben Cross as Barnabas. And now Tim Burton is remaking it as a film starring Johnny Depp as the vampire.
The show is dated by today's standards. The romantic aspects are extremely underplayed, when you consider the average soap opera of today features uninhibited and unlimited sexual activity.
Women were played very differently back then. One of the characters is Angelique, a witch of almost incomparable power. And what does she do with it? Torture Barnabas so that he will say he loves her and they can be married. That's it.
Women characters on the show want nothing more out of life than to be married and raise a family for their man.
Different times.

TV

I like watching TV. Perhaps I watch too much, but what else have I got to do? The job search is not going too well, and school doesn't start for another month or so.
So I kill time by watching Flint tease John, writing this blog, and watching TV. There's a lot of good video being offered out there, if you know where to look. The problem is, when you are in a country like Korea, you miss a lot of the really good programs (unless you know how to download), and you're very much behind people who've had access to it all along.
I sort of learned how to download in my third year in Korea, and then I started having problems with my 'puter, so I left off until Flint taught me how to do it properly. After that, I returned my TV to the hagwon and started getting caught up.
I'm still way behind, even after a coupla years of plugging away.
While I was in Korea, I started to get into shows like Dexter, The Shield, Battlestar: Galactica, and Californication. I've only just started the first season of The Wire, Damages, and Life On Mars (UK version).
I've been staying with my folks since I got back from Korea, and they had a pretty good cable package with Shaw. Then they changed it to Telus, and added the PVR function.
Hello!
I am in love with the PVR, which frees the viewer of the networks' tyranny like never before. No longer do you have to sit through boring commercial breaks or (badly) edited-for-TV versions of my favourite movies. With a PVR, you really can watch what you want, when you want it. It's brilliant.
Then, after my mom's accident, we had to stay at a hotel to be near her, and I was shocked, shocked when I saw the kind of TV being offered by the hotel, as well as to patients in the hospital.
Basic cable. (dramatic chord)
50 channels max.
Ew.
I guess hotel guests and hospital patients, being fairly transient in nature, don't need a full-on package of every single channel as well as all the technical add-ons. They just need something to look at for a night or two.
But if you're in for a long haul, the inadequacies of basic cable become more and more apparent as time goes by. Especially if you're looking for quality television, and not the drek offered up by networks and local stations.
Networks are in it for the money, and the commercial break is all important. They gotta get that ad revenue. A good show is just something to attract viewers that can be trapped into watching ads, not an end in itself.
Networks have something they call "standards and practices," which they say they use to censor offensive content like vulgar language (shit, fuck, cunt, piss, cocksucker, mothefucker, tits), excessive violence and gore, as well as sexy things like naked bodies and people making love.
Well, if you're an adult, being told by some faceless corporation that you can't watch something is like being told you can't vote or drink or stay up past eight o'clock. It's just not on.
So I go to a channel like HBO and watch a program like Deadwood, which has more nudity, violence, and people saying "fuck" per square inch than a whorehouse, but is also one of the finest programs ever filmed.
Local stations are even worse. They're always interrupting shows with "news breaks," which don't have any news, just promos for the local news teams. I've mentioned before how my folks are fans of Global Calgary, which I loathe and despise with the white-hot passion of a thousand suns.
Fucking mooks.
Even if they do run a good program, you have a tough time seeing it through all the supers on the screen. The station logo is there (as well as the network logo sometimes), and the station adds on supers that describe what's coming on next and what'll be on Thursday at nine. Talk about distraction.
It shows a fundamental disrespect of the show, as well as the viewer. I decided a long time ago that I would not tolerate it. That's why downloading shows and using the PVR is so important to me.

The Drifters

I'm reading "The Drifters" by James Michener. It was first published in 1971, and tells the story of six young people from diverse backgrounds whose paths meet in Europe. They travel together through Spain, Portugal, Mozambique, and Morocco. It's narrated by an older man who has known most of them before they all meet up. They all open up to him and give him insight into what they are thinking as they experience life.
It's not a bad story. "The Sixties" is a pretty big subject, and this book only scratches the surface, but it does give a good overview. Whether it tells the truth about what happened is up to the reader, or someone who was there, to decide. Robin Williams once said, "If can you remember the Sixties, you weren't there."

What I remember most about the Sixties is the music, especially The Beatles. They're my favourite. I think I saw them when they first appeared on Ed Sullivan, but my memory may be faulty. I do remember walking into the living room in my pajamas, having been awoken by the excited screams of my sisters.

One sister is five years older than me, and the other is ten years older. So they were exactly the right age to contract Beatlemania. They passed it along to me without a second thought. They always had to have each new Beatle record, and they always had to play it ten thousand times a day, so the music became a part of my physical being. A lot of my memories are associated with whatever Beatle song was popular at the time.
Later, when I was reading Vincent Bugliosi's "Helter Skelter," about how Charles Manson used "The White Album" to convince his followers to commit mass murder, I had to get the album to listen for myself.
And then when I read Nicholas Schaffner's "The Beatles Forever," I read about how The Beatles changed music as well as influencing other areas of popular culture such as dress, hairstyles, and drug use, to name a few.
Schaffner also talked about Beatles collectibles. For example, there was a German release of "Magical Mystery Tour" that had the only true stereo versions of that collection of songs. He also discussed how the American releases differed from the British releases. The US release of "Revolver" was missing three songs, giving people a distorted version of that magnificent album's set list.
That book inspired the collector in me, and I was off, hunting for this or that record in the bins of record stores all over the city. I remember that time fondly. When music was being released on 33and 1/3 LPs, shopping for music for me was very enjoyable. The cover art was more accessible than nowadays, when an old man like me has to hold up a CD practically in front of his nose to see it properly.
I always turn to The Beatles' music, especially in times of trouble. It soothes me like nothing else. When I was going through the terrible changes wrought by adolescence, The Beatles were always there for me in the way nobody else was. I think the reason I am still alive today is because I had The Beatles.

At one point in "The Drifters," the narrator becomes enchanted by "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," especially the song "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds." When another character maliciously informs him about the way the song's initials spell out LSD, and he reflects how badly one of the girls reacted to the drug, he becomes so upset that he breaks the record over his knee.
John Lennon denied that the song was inspired by the drug. He says that a drawing his son Julian brought home from school gave him the idea. Paul McCartney still repeats the claim today. But there is no doubt that the imagery of the song is meant to evoke for the listener what it must be like to "take a trip."
Paul McCartney, when talking about writing "A Day In The Life," talks about the line "I'd love to turn you on," an obvious reference to drug taking. He looked John in the eyes and knew he was thinking the same thing. "We're really going to do this."
After reading about "Sgt. Pepper," I had to listen to it again, and I got to thinking about "The Beatles Anthology," their autobiography. The book is just quote after quote, with The Beatles describing their history from the time they were born until their breakup in 1970.
The TV series includes filmed interviews with the surviving members, and the difference between Paul's interviews and George's and Ringo's is striking. George and Ringo are filmed sitting down at their various residences, while Paul is filmed piloting a boat, at concert preparations, sitting in front of a campfire, and on and on. He always has to be... "interesting."

I was reading the autobiography of the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus at the same time. Their book is set up to look almost exactly like The Beatles'. It's not a mistake, or an attempted rip off, as the groups were very close.
When George Harrison saw the first episode of Python, he sent the BBC a congratulatory telegram for finally getting TV right. Paul always stopped any recording session when Python was on, and didn't resume making music until it was over.
George was especially close to the Python's, especially Eric Idle. When Python was doing a series of live shows in New York, George dropped by and suited up to sing in the RCMP chorus for "The Lumberjack Song." When Python lost their financing for "Life Of Brian," George stepped into the breach simply because he wanted to see the film.

My sisters are responsible for my interest in The Pythons, as well. My older sister showed me an episode once when I was about ten, and that was it. My tiny little mind was warped forever.
The Drifters, set in The Sixties, is almost like a piece of that time preserved in print. It is an attempt to describe and define those times, even though they weren't over. As I said, it's a pretty good story, and has at least succeeded in bringing many memories.