“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday around 7:30 AM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moment’s notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2013-17 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see and hear? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Programs from week of October 1, 2017
This Week’s Podcast
My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Time Wasting!
These are difficult times. Many things seem to divide us all, from the profound to the trivial. So when you find something that everyone can agree on, well, it’s momentous. In the world of the media, I believe I have found just such an idea. Try this on for size.
The Internet can be an enormous waste of time.
Now while you roll that concept around in your head I ask you to note how I put that. Not that it IS, meaning at all times, a waste of time. Rather only that it “can be”. The modern term for this is that it can be a “time suck”, which the Oxford Dictionary defines as “an inefficient or unproductive activity, a waste of time”. Certainly the Internet can be all of that in spades. Or solitaire. Or Minesweeper.
Now at this point, you may expect that I’m going to detail some study on the subject, maybe provide some statistics on the number of hours that are frittered away, or even tell you someway to overcome this pernicious habit.
Don’t be silly. I’m going to introduce you to a new way of doing it.
A while back I stumbled across an interesting sub-genre on online gaming called “officecore”. Officecore is made up of games that allow you to play games while it looks like you’re working. This isn’t a new concept. There have been scattered attempts at this for years now. The difference is that there is a large enough body of these programs to give them their own name. What’s fascinating is that as you begin to slide into this realm the range of unproductive work that can be found. Games that are hidden inside of bar charts, line charts, fake word documents. You can also play games that simulate the frustrations of working in an office. The game titled “It Is As If You Were Doing Work” puts you back into a Windows 95 environment with endless pop-up windows to interrupt you as you try to complete memos and e-mails. Officecore games tend to have a very cubicle farm, “Dilbert” kind of feel to them. The real fun begins when officecore crosses paths with something called “fumblecore”. Fumblecore games are designed with intentionally awkward controls, so it is very difficult to make your character do what you want it to do. Because, why not?
What’s really interesting is that one of the productivity concepts of the last several years is called “gamification”. The idea is that you’re doing work that looks like you’re playing a game. The line will do no doubt continue to blur as we move forward.
So that’s my contribution to your lack of productivity today. Enjoy.
View of Reality
“One of the definitions of sanity, itself, is the ability to tell real from unreal. Shall we need a new definition?”
Those words are from Alvin Toffler’s 1970 international bestseller, “Future Shock”. The question of the real versus the unreal moved to the front burner in the media world. France has passed a law that will require commercial photographs to bear a retouched photograph label or face large fines. The goal is to eliminate photos that show the bodies of models that have been modified, part of an effort to fight against eating disorders among the younger population. Eating disorders are the second leading cause of death for people between the age of 16 and 24 in France.
Photo retouching isn’t a new concept. For those of us who remember film and darkrooms, the subtle arts of dodging and burning among other techniques were the sign that you were a serious photographer. One of the earliest examples of retouching a photo with the intent of “altering” reality goes back to the Civil War when three different photos were merged to create one of the more iconic photos of President Abraham Lincoln. This kind of retouching has been a staple of propagandists pretty much ever since. The advent of new digital technology puts that ability into anybody’s hands, and the extent that changes can be made is stunning.
In fashion photography, it has become common to change not just any supposed “imperfections” of the model, but to change the physical dimensions of their bodies. Legs and necks are lengthened, some body parts are expanded while others are reduced. What remains at the end is an image of a person who simply doesn’t exist. And it creates an image of beauty and the human form that is both unreasonable and unattainable.
It would simple to dismiss this discussion as simple frivolity, but there are plenty of people who disagree. Begin with the American Medical Association who linked altered photographs with body image problems just last year. Getty Photos, the largest supplier of stock photography in the world, has announced that they will no longer accept photos where the models bodies have been altered to make them look thinner or larger. Seventeen Magazine and e-retailer Modcloth have also taken the pledge not to use these kinds of photos.
In a media world where “reality” can be so easily altered, let’s face it I have all the tools I need on my home computer, taking a moment to insist that we know when that reality has been changed. Otherwise the new definition we will need may for sanity itself.
The Honeymooners Return?
I have talked before about my reservations, oh let’s be honest, my outright dislike for the upsurge in re-makes, re-boots and re-launches when it comes to the movies. The lack of creativity in a supposedly creative industry appall me. Which makes me even more appalled when I see it oozing over into other creative communities as well.
A musical version of the classic television show “The Honeymooners” just debuted in New Jersey. It is scheduled to run through the month of October.
I am fairly certain that any one in the listening audience under retirement age knows little to nothing about the original source material. “The Honeymooners” began as a sketch on the “Jackie Gleason Show” in the early 1950’s. The stories centered on Ralph Kramden, a New York bus driver and his wife Alice, plus their best friends Ed Norton, a sewer worker and his wife Trixie. They lived in the same apartment house and worked out various schemes to improve their lot in life. The sketches were so popular that Gleason (who played Ralph) worked it into a half hour hour sitcom. The show soared to the top of the ratings and sank just as quickly. Between October of 1955 and September of 1956 39 episodes aired. The show was cancelled. The characters returned occasionally on future Gleason projects but the “Classic 39” created iconic television.
So it probably seems like a great idea to tap into the seemingly endless supply of nostalgia and create a musical of the shows. The songs, there are 18 of them at this early stage, include titles drawn from the classic dialogue of the show. “To The Moon”, “The Raccoon Hymn” and “Baby, You’re the Greatest” are all in the show. Which is as it should be.
As with all projects of this type, my question is this – is this really a good idea? The years have passed in sufficient quantity that most of the potential audience won’t remember Jackie Gleason or Art Carney in their primes. They are two of the all time greats among TV comedy. So whoever follows in their footsteps has an enormous challenge facing them. On the other hand, the lack of familiarity with the characters or the nostalgia raises the question of why a modern audience would want to come to the show. There is a naivete that goes with the comedy of the ‘50s that doesn’t always translate. And updating it means sacrificing the heart of the show.
Coming up with the idea for a successful musical is hard enough. Setting your work against the backdrop of a classic may be expecting an awful lot.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Copyright Jay Phillippi, 2017
Theme music for “The View From the Phlipside” and “TVFTP – Podcast” is “Hustle”
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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