Once, a friend of mine revealed to me an indisputable truth: when you're abroad, you'll watch anything that comes on TV - as long as it's in English. Though I must to concur, allow me to expand a bit. I'm not talking about vacation here. I mean when you're overseas for a period of time - when you're immersed in another language and culture. It seems some internal mechanism increases your tolerance for ridiculousness, so long as it's from a familiar culture or language. A few examples:
I watched way more of this movie than I'd like to admit. Yes, that's Willie Nelson in the background there, playing Uncle Jessie. Oh Willie, you wrote "Crazy." How low you've sunk. Let's continue...
Synopsis: Chris Farley and the effeminate guy from friends are pioneers in the American frontier. Hilarity ensues. I lost 5 IQ points with this one.
Last and indeed least we have Kazaam. "This film misses more than Shaq at the free throw line." The reviewer continues, "Everything about this film is simply horrid, and I can't fathom it would find an audience anywhere." He obviously wasn't thinking about expat Americans flipping around at 2 in the morning.
Two questions arise here. First: Why is this crap on Israeli TV every night? For this I have no guess, though and can tell you it's giving foreigners a warped sense of American culture. The world already thinks we Yanks are a bit dull, and Shaq-Fu over here isn't really helping.
Second is why? Why am I able to watch the stupendously vacuous output of Hollywood where normally I can't tolerate one second of it? Perhaps it's the mind numbing effect. Living in a new language is a real challenge to the brain. All interactions require extra effort. By the time the evening comes around, you're ready to just pull the plug on mental activity. That's where John Goodman dressed as Santa comes in. Oh! and did you know that Kid 'n Play made a movie? Behold Israel - The High Top Fade!
I watched way more of this movie than I'd like to admit. Yes, that's Willie Nelson in the background there, playing Uncle Jessie. Oh Willie, you wrote "Crazy." How low you've sunk. Let's continue...Synopsis: Chris Farley and the effeminate guy from friends are pioneers in the American frontier. Hilarity ensues. I lost 5 IQ points with this one.
Last and indeed least we have Kazaam. "This film misses more than Shaq at the free throw line." The reviewer continues, "Everything about this film is simply horrid, and I can't fathom it would find an audience anywhere." He obviously wasn't thinking about expat Americans flipping around at 2 in the morning.
Two questions arise here. First: Why is this crap on Israeli TV every night? For this I have no guess, though and can tell you it's giving foreigners a warped sense of American culture. The world already thinks we Yanks are a bit dull, and Shaq-Fu over here isn't really helping.
Second is why? Why am I able to watch the stupendously vacuous output of Hollywood where normally I can't tolerate one second of it? Perhaps it's the mind numbing effect. Living in a new language is a real challenge to the brain. All interactions require extra effort. By the time the evening comes around, you're ready to just pull the plug on mental activity. That's where John Goodman dressed as Santa comes in. Oh! and did you know that Kid 'n Play made a movie? Behold Israel - The High Top Fade!
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