01 April, 2009

The Sundance Channel has some cool stuff

So, I don't have a TV. Not at all. I got out of the habit of watching TV while in grad school partly because I didn't have any time for it and partly because I moved out and didn't own a TV any more. Now, whenever I go places, the ugly black box most rooms are organised around just doesn't interest me. Or, well, not nearly as much as it used to. I am not compelled to watch television any more.

Which makes me miss out on some really interesting stuff, like horrendously bad hockey, or the Olympics, or television news, or CBC TV's Being Erica (which I watch online from time to time, it's too good to actually miss out on!) or things that we don't get in Canada anyway like the Sundance Channel.

I only just discovered the Sundance Channel today, via BITCH magazine. I realise that this connection may seem strange, and, well, maybe it is. But I have discovered so much new media, new knowledge in general, really, from feminist media like BITCH and BUST magazines. ... including relearning how to knit, actually.

... which ties back into the whole television business, since not having a TV actually makes it more difficult for me to knit because I need SOMETHING to distract me enough that I feel like my idle hands are a problem. And, well, that doesn't really happen when I'm watching a movie with my boyfriend (I think he'd be insulted)... and my bus rides are too short to do much more than a few knits or purls, maybe a full row if I'm lucky... so I've run out of knitting time. ... which makes me miss television ever so slightly, and I need to find a way to fill that void other than reading blogs on the internet (because, despite the great enjoyment I get out of reading all sorts of blogs (food, knitting, crafting, satire etc.), none of that perusal allows me to knit while I'm passing time).

Anyway, the point of this blog post: the Sundance Channel. I need to explore this website more! Not only did it give me this:





a, uh, "useful description" of my seduction style, but it has the most fantastic video collection ever: GREEN PORNO short films by Isabelle Rossellini. ... her fantastic accent adds so much joy and titillation to these enormous paper sculptures and human-interactive films about copulation. That's right, they're all about sex. ... if you're a whale or a barnacle, or a bee, or the most erotic-seeming of all: a snail. They're hilarious short films! And so fantastically made. After watching the Science of Sleep, I'm enamoured with the paper sculpture idea, and the dream-like quality of these shorts (I wasn't so enamoured of the Science of Sleep... like Waking Life, I think it's a movie that requires on to be half-asleep in order to accurately understand it). Anyway, they're fantastic little films, and supremely educational... like how awfully non-aerodynamic whale penises are, or why hermaphroditism is such a good thing for earthworms!

Surprisingly enough, televsion sometimes has gems hidden amongst the awful advertisements, loud, obnoxious sportscasters and "reality" shows.