Todays TV inventory of shows does
NOT have the war stressed returning
Veteran in mind. It doesn't really
matter which age group you are in,
whether you are the 20 something
getting home from Iraq, or the 50
something still taking meds from
Vietnam. Let's face it, TV sucks
today in a large way and almost
everybody is annoyed by it.

Even the news has become more trouble
than it's really worth to sit down
and watch, let alone "reality shows"
where you get to stand by as a
fully ignored third party while
2 other people talk to each other
on your TV screen. Who is the
dumb-ass who came up with THAT?

I had to laugh out loud over a
news video segment posted the other
day by CNN where they were trying
to stage the idea of a radio DJ
appearing as a TV "insider" with
all the news on the up and coming
American Idol anticipated
vote for the week. When it was all
said and done, this radio "insider"
had done nothing more at all than
to watch the same exact performance
night of Idol just like everybody
else. She didn't have a single
interview on board or insider source
to give her the tip that would
put her any farther ahead on the
voting outome of American Idol
than any of the rest of us. But
here was CNN bleeding off my busy
time, misleading me down the road
that somehow they had the "inside
scoop" on the Idol series, when
in fact, they were all wrong and
the voting night was a complete
stunner to everyone who watched
it.

TV advertising is taking up more
and more time out of programs,
and the relentless and never
ending nonsense, buffoonery, noise,
stupidness, and bullshit coming
from this deluge of advertising
is aggravating and annoying to
any fragile emotional soul held
hostage to the other side of the
screens.

Women are annoyed with the relentless
Viagra commercials, and men are
annoyed with the relentless yogurt
commercials. 3 minutes of TV time
then 8 minutes of advertising
commercials.

We've got comedies which aren't funny,
and we've got dramatic series which
aren't interesting at all, and then
we've got reality shows premised
on stupid ideas so we can watch
other stupid people even play the
games that the rest of us would
not.

The same is true of commercial radio
and the internet. The human individual
has now become destination central
for every single business in America
without regard to whether or not
they even have the right audience.

There is not a single political ad
that makes me vote for a certain
candidate, and there is not a single
TV based product that I buy based
on their advertising alone. I am
too poor to own a car, and yet hours
of my time per week is bled off wading
through the nonsense world of trying
to sell a car to me from misplaced
TV commercials.

Veterans unite! There are quieter
and more peaceful alternatives to
the noise and the mess of todays
TV. But first you have to change
your very own habits that you've
had since high school of plunking
down in front of your TV sets at
night and watching whatever the
corporate garbage-heads of the
day have decided they will throw
at you.

Just like smoking and eating, TV
viewing requires a personal
commitment to change so you can
start sending the networks the
right organized message that
you just aren't going to take it
anymore.

First become friends again with
your local public library. You
are disabled after all, and you
have the time now to go there
and get your library card and
to sign out free video rentals
to take home. News flash: DVD's
have uninterrupted commercial
free programming.

If the free DVD rentals are not
at your library, then ask around
in your community for other places,
sometimes a local community center
or non-profit makes available
movie rentals.

Now that you have your FREE source
of viewing lined up, add to that
the cheapest possible membership
signup that you can afford to
NetFlix (www.NetFlix.com). I believe
the lowest 2 signups are $5.39 for
a limit of 2 DVD rentals per month,
or $8.99 for unlimited DVD rentals
per month. Whichever floats your
boat.

At NetFlix, do not just rely on the
picture postings which they list
for rental selections. Use the
SEARCH function and be creative.
I love music concerts so I found
that by typing in my favorite
musical legends name, up comes
the DVD rentals that I can choose
from. Say "Bee Gees" for instance.

The same is true with your favorite
comedy acts, punch them up by name
too. Or select other keywords of
interest which are not exactly
listed such as "PBS" or "documentary"
or "HBO" so you can pull up cable
TV specials that you have not seen
yet. Then there are also cancelled
TV shows by season: I have found
NYPD Blue and Alias just to name
a couple of cancelled shows which
are up for rental.

Then when all else fails, you can
SEARCH on movies by your favorite
actors "Will Smith" for instance.

Now that you have your NetFlix
membership locked up, you then
use NetFlix to offset the FREE
source that you located at your
library. Now you are really cooking
for DVD viewing with no advertising
commercial interruptions.

Somebody also suggested to me
getting a TiVO machine which
apparently can record programs
and skip over TV commercials
on playback.

On the radio, every radio broadcasting
region has a Public Radio station
from NPR (national public radio).
Most of the time, these are classical
music stations or radio variety
shows of different and rotating
kinds of music including Memphis
Blues for example. These stations
are much much more quieter in format.
Even the talking is soft and slow
so as to not rattle your brain
into high gear at the peak of your
day when you are doing things
around the house.

Try it a few times and get used
to it and see if it doesn't have
a calming effect on you. Yes
some of it is symphony music,
but then some of it is classical
guitar too or how about harps
or piano concerto's? It's slower
and quiter so after that, who
cares?

On the internet you can go
to www.YouTube.com and punch
up TV show excerpts also in the
same categories that I mentioned
about in NetFlix. Comedy, music,
even American Idol performance
playbacks, etc. it's all in how
you punch in the SEARCH terms
to pull up the posted video releases.
These excerpts also do NOT contain
commercial advertising. I found
a good category under "nature scenes"
that had some good video music
and photo montages which are
great viewing for the homebound.

Animals, puppies, kitties, you
name it, use the SEARCH function
wisely and you can pull up just
about anything at YouTube.

At www.HOS.com, there is a radio
and downloadable music collection
for Hearts Of Space which
is the newest up and coming
relaxation music known as "space
jazz". This music is often done
by electronic synthesizers and
is laced with recognizable sound
effects among other things and
is one of the most relaxing and
enjoyable escape type music entries
you would ever want to hear.
www.HOS.com is also a syndicated
radio broadcast show through most
of the Public Radio stations.

Start training yourself to take
your news from your TV stations
website and from your local newspapers
website. As it is, each video that
you see will club you over the
head with an advertisement but
it will be only one advertisement
per video. If you mostly read your
news stories anyway, then this
too cuts down your exposure to
advertising while at the same
time, staying on top of your
local news and weather and scoreboards.

www.CNN.com carries much of
the national news feeds which
trickles down to your local stations.
What will become apparent to you
over time after you make this
change, is just how short the
minutes are that you spend getting
the same amount of news that you
are required to sit through nearly
an hour of by regular TV viewing.

All of a sudden it will occur
to you that you have all of your
local news in a few minutes flat,
plus the weather too, and now
you have nearly a whole hour to
kill that you didn't have before.
You will start noticing the
gainback of time and minutes
as you start cutting out all of
the advertising and switching
methods in how you obtain your
viewing.

Veterans, don't become creatures
of habit and get sucked into watching
a bunch of uninteresting crap
that brings nothing to your life
but noise, stupidness, and aggravation.
Take charge of your viewing time and
start setting yourselves up differently.
By having alternative plans in
place for "other" viewing to
cut down your exposure to the
relentless deluge of advertising,
then you can rationally pick
and choose those TV programs
which you really DO like and tune
in for those and "endure" the
advertising in small controlled
doses.

DVD rentals only requires you to
wait for a slight delay in availability.
Any TV program or movie playing in
the theaters TODAY, will be out on
DVD in about 3 weeks and flooding
the rental stores so you merely
have to get used to delaying your
gratification and waiting the process
out so that you can see the movies,
concerts, and shows that you want
and have them all be commercial free
from advertising and interruptions.

Don't let the box drive you into
an aggravation place that leaves
you fuming at the end of the night.
Learn to turn it off and just say
NO to the whole thing, and promise
yourself you will be hitting the
library or NetFlix stores tomorrow.

There are friends of mine who are
so aggravated by this TV situation
that they are cancelling their
cable TV subscriptions and switching
over to video-only so this is becomming
a trend with a lot of other people
too.

Start taking control and put yourself
into a quieter and calmer place
for entertainment viewing and listening
and cut out all the noise and the
clutter that bleeds off your time.
Learn to relax by the choices you
make and learn to avoid and walk
away if it doesn't meet your needs
right then. You are, after all,
a human and not a yellow pages
directory or a billboard in downtown
Manhatten.

............