Wow, I'm Really Annoyed at VH1/MTV

HOLY CRAP. I was just watching Pink Floyd--reunited with Roger Waters for the first time in like 2 decades. They were performing LIVE at Live 8 in the UK--I watch two songs (thanks be to Jen for calling me to let me know they were on, though I was already recording it) and then Comfortably Numb comes on--one of my favorites and then these two dipshit "reporter" types cut in and talk about how great it is seeing the original Pink Floyd reunited.

Mind you, the band they're talking about is still playing in the background.

"You know, I know this is a big deal," the skinny British woman begins, "because before the show today, boy it seems like such a long time ago after all we've seen today, and I found some people who had obviously just come over from Europe--they had made their own custom T-shirts that read on the front 'Pink Floyd is Back.'"

The American dork jumps in with "Oh, wow! Never have more truer words have been put on a T-shirt!"

They then proceed to tell us that they'll be right back with a LOT more surprises so we should stick around. They dissolve back to the band for about 30 more seconds and then...

cut to commercial.

YEP, during a massive, 8-hour, round-the-world concert, meant to help raise awareness about poverty-stricken countries, they're running commercials.

To add insult to injury, they're also doing a rotten job of shooting this damn concert. Just while watching Floyd perform I was treated to shots of David Gilmour's mic stand, Roger Water's jaw bone and a completely white frame, which faded after about 5 seconds to a shot so wide I couldn't tell that I was looking at the Live 8 concert at all. This is just a taste of the crap-fest that is the broadcast of Live 8.

Who ever was technical directing this thing was doing a colossally shitty job. I used to TD in high school and I remember that the first rule was don't cut to a camera before the shot is set up. Any idiot knows not to cut to a close up of some dude's jaw bone. Any idiot knows not to cut to a shot of a whip-pan from one side of the stadium to the other.

The one shot I did like was when they started on a shot of the factory that was the cover of their album Animals and then panned to the band. Of course, they weren't playing anything from that album, but still, it was a nice try.

Over all, the broadcast seemed like a joke. I'm glad I haven't been sitting in front of the TV trying to enjoy it since I'd have been too frustrated with how truly lousy the technical aspects of it have been.

So, they let Floyd get in two-and-a-half songs and then cut to commercial only to return to Steve Wonder halfway through one of his songs. Jen told me that they only let the Who get through all of one-and-a-half songs. THE WHO--wtF??

And this was historical for Floyd, too. I mean, they put 20 years of bitterness behind them to perform and MTV & VH1 don't have the friggin decency to broadcast their whole set??

Man, our media is a joke.

Aliens could come visit the United Nations and they'd want to run a commercial for War of the Worlds.

At this point, I'm really starting to wonder just who the hell is running this culture, anyway...