You learn something new every day...
Last night I stayed up too late watching a PBS show, Independentlens or something like that. This one was about Sesame Street, and how they have co-productions in over 120 countries. And it's so cool - because it's not the US version of Sesame Street just dubbed into another language, which is what I always thought. Instead they work with each country, gathering a local group to run it to come up with their own version, their own muppets, their own culturally significant programming. And it's just amazing to watch these countries and the people involved in getting these programs off the ground, working hard for children's programming and early childhood education. I was blown away, watching the programs for Kosovo and Bangladesh try to get started. It was tense, and the political situations were, well, you all know how tense those political situations are. But I guess I don't usually think of it affecting children's programming. And I should, because children's programming is a direct reflection of what people want their children to learn. And isn't that a frightening thought? But although it was especially tense in Kosovo, where the Serbians and Albanians don't even allow their children to speak to one another, much less go to school together, and they even had to have two separate shows, because of the strife and the differing languages, they all, all said that they wanted their children to grow up not hating one another. It's enough to give you a sliver of hope.
The other thing I've learned is that apparently there aren't any people who edit modern lyricists and tell them when they're making stupid grammatical mistakes. I'm trying not to be a snob about it. We all make mistakes. But usually, someone (hopefully) lets us know before the book or song or what have you gets nationally published. And the song "Chasing Cars" should be this gorgeous sweep of a song, and it *almost * is. But his big line, "If I lay here, if I just lay here," always makes me picture a giant chicken. The lyric then goes to "would you lie with me," so apparently he knows that the word exists. Did no one tell him about lay versus lie? Did he not care? I should really just let it go, but it bugs me almost as much as the Ironic song. In which the only irony lies, as I'm sure you already know, in how it contains no actual irony.
So I gain some hope for humanity, but then get irritated with the little stuff. I guess there's just no pleasing me.
The other thing I've learned is that apparently there aren't any people who edit modern lyricists and tell them when they're making stupid grammatical mistakes. I'm trying not to be a snob about it. We all make mistakes. But usually, someone (hopefully) lets us know before the book or song or what have you gets nationally published. And the song "Chasing Cars" should be this gorgeous sweep of a song, and it *almost * is. But his big line, "If I lay here, if I just lay here," always makes me picture a giant chicken. The lyric then goes to "would you lie with me," so apparently he knows that the word exists. Did no one tell him about lay versus lie? Did he not care? I should really just let it go, but it bugs me almost as much as the Ironic song. In which the only irony lies, as I'm sure you already know, in how it contains no actual irony.
So I gain some hope for humanity, but then get irritated with the little stuff. I guess there's just no pleasing me.