It’s so hard sometimes, watching great fiction that presents us with boundless opportunity and freedom, but then having to come right back to real life. Like how in superhero comics, if you’re being mugged you just scream a bit and some low-key crimefighter will come to help you. Or if you’re hiking in the woods and your tablet runs out of power, the Power Rangers will come along and charge it for you. All that stuff.
I even heard about a guy who was doing antenna installation in Melbourne and he fell off the roof and gained antenna powers, but I think that’s just an urban legend. Antenna specialists are trained to perfection, like acrobats. They wouldn’t fall off in the first place.
Personally, I blame digital television. Australian TV is all just drama, soaps and documentaries about people who do cattle farming. Don’t get me wrong; I love the fact that people do cattle farming, because beef is wonderful. Sometimes they even show a documentary about people who do DAIRY farming, and that’s when you know you’re in for a night of exciting broadcast entertainment. I suppose in a way, we were happy in our small world where the news occasionally reported something bad happening in another country, but then it went back to a fuzzy news story about a cockatoo being taught to say incredibly naughty words. For a time, all was well.
And then came the digital antennas, and suddenly life was about more than cattle farming. Other countries started lending us their arts, and maybe we gave back to them in the form of our mad dramas and farming documentaries. Suddenly our screens were flooded with strange Japanese animation, American live-action superhero shows and British comedies. The world exploded in scale, as did the Melbourne digital antenna industry. And there’s no going back! We just have to live with this new and exciting global village. But still, I do sometimes miss the simpler times…
-Vaughn