tvod

yes, me and the t.v. have been close personal friends for most of our lives.

and that's t.v. as in telly, idiot box, boob tube...not that i have any problems with other tvs...

i could go on for hours about how many potential years of my life were spent in front of that contraption memorizing everything from 'star trek' dialog to monty python routines to first discovering my manliness watching julie newmar in tights (there is no other 'catwoman').

also, too many hours watching dreaded family shows like 'the waltons'-nothing sexy there-or 'little house on the prairie' (weird, weird, weird...especially the insane charles finds/loses a son, goes berserk, builds a religious monument after growing a beard) that my mother approved of. i suspect that her requiring us to watch this dreck was to make up for all the dreck her kids watched at other times.

a lot of my views were probably shaped by 'kung-fu' or 'the prisoner' of 'land of the lost' or the other 50,000 hours of eye-drying zombietood experienced in my youth.

t.v. viewing came in spurts as an adult, though time was usually made for any 'star trek' spin-offs or guilty pleasures such as 'thirtysomething', which the punk in me could only sneer and laugh at.

all this before basic cable...imagine if i was a kid now....wait, i don't have to imagine...i do have one...

and she loves the telly.

so we decided that cable might be too much and that a wee bit of control would ensue, but still:

insane japanese anime, 'smallville', saturday morning cartoons, NATURE SHOWS! (at abuela's-cable there).

so with no basic cable for years, little mavis has had to do with videos and box sets of dvds.

and there the gorgon has risen.

she owns more dvds than i had books at her age (and she IS a voracious reader, like her folks) so it only strikes me as odd once in a while when she requests that we watch an episode of 'kung-fu' or neil gaiman's dr. who-esque 'neverwhere', or a few 'superman' cartoons or the latest superhero complete season box set...and no commercials!

she cried when #6 dropped off the village survivors and went hand in hand with the butler.

we constantly discuss product placement and proper story-telling and whether or not kwai chang-caine really had to resort to violence.

she drew me a picture of the stargate for goodness sakes!

part of me relishes the little nerd i am steering along...part of me worries, so i do spend an equal amount of time walking and talking, or visiting friends, or reading.

plus, notice how with mr. carradine i am indoctrinating her into the subtleties of buddhism?

and no charles ingalls wilder, prophet, in my house.

except as kitch, of course.