Cable Dilemma

Cable television needs your money. In order to continue providing their subscribers with all the quality news, weather, sporting events, educational programs, and blockbuster movies, they must increase their rates.

In the early days of cable television, one of the key selling points was commercial-free programming. HBO and Cinemax showed back to back blockbuster movies without any commercial interruptions during the movies or between movies. As more and more consumers subscribed, cable responded by adding more channels. In turn the cable companies also raised rates, citing the increased cost of providing these extra channels. Cable companies started including local broadcast stations in their channel lineups. These regular broadcast stations still had commercials to cover their operation costs. No longer was it necessary to have large directional antennas on top of your home to bring in broadcast signals. Cable’s popularity and subscriber base continued to grow and cable companies saw that they could make even more money by running advertising on even the cable-only channels. The movie channels even began to run commercials between programs.

Flash forward to current day. It is fairly rare to find a home in the United States that does not have cable. Cable viewers have more viewing choices than ever before. Channels that began as commercial-free informational channels, such as the Weather Channel and Cable News Network (CNN) have also begun to run commercials. In essence the cable subscribers of today are expected to pay to watch commercials. The next time you pay your cable bill, just think of all the quality advertising that you would be missing out on if it were not for cable television.

Angels & Demons

Recently I viewed the movie Angels & Demons. It is a 2009 release directed by Ron Howard and stars Tom Hanks as Dr. Robert Langdon, a fictional professor of religious symbology. The movie is a sequel to the 2006 film The DaVinci Code.

The action begins almost immediately in the movie with the murder of a leading scientist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the theft of a vial containing antimatter which has the potential to be used as a weapon of mass destruction. The scientist’s daughter is also employed at CERN and becomes another primary character in the film.

The movie skips to Rome where the Pope dies of an apparent stroke, and shortly thereafter four of the most likely successors to the pope, known as the preferiti, are kidnapped. The kidnappers release a video showing the kidnapped cardinals and the vial of antimatter. In the video, the kidnappers claim to be part of a 400 year old antichristian secret society known as the Illuminati. The kidnappers state that they plan to kill the cardinals and then destroy Vatican City in a great ball of light.

Dr. Langdon is called in due to his expertise in Catholic Church symbology and is teamed up the murdered CERN scientist’s daughter to hopefully foil the plans of the kidnappers. I found the movie mildly entertaining. I found the timeline to be very implausible as it portrays the main characters racing all over Rome chasing clues and trying to beat the four hour timeline given by the kidnappers. In my opinion, the star of the film was actually all the beautiful architecture, sculptures and artwork in the film. This is definitely not a film I would watch more than once.

Coltrane

John Coltrane was born September 23,1926 in Hamlet, NC. His father played several instruments, thus sparking John’s early interest in music. John continued his studies of music in Philadelphia and at Ornstein School of Music. He later served in the Navy during WWII and performed with the US Navy Band in Hawaii. He began playing tenor sax after the war with the Eddie Vinson Band. He also played with the Dizzy Gillespie Band, but it was his work with Miles Davis that lead to his own musical sound.

John later formed his own quartet. The John Coltrane Quartet had several hit albums including, “My Favorite Things,” “African Brass,” “Impressions,” “Giant Steps,” and his most well known album “A Love Supreme.” Coltrane referred to his work as a religious experience. In 1967 Coltrane died from liver disease. His work however continues to live on.

In 1997 Coltrane posthumously received the RIAA’s highest honor of the lifetime achievement award. His music has been used in numerous movies including: “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” “The General’s Daughter,” Malcom X,” “Mo Better Blues,” and “Jerry McGuire.” His work has also been used in television shows such as: “NYPD Blue,” “The Cosby Show,” “Days Of Our Lives,” “Crime Stories,” and “ER.”

"John Coltrane.com". The John and Alice Coltrane Foundation. 1/31/2010 .