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          D I S K O V E R Y
           by Dave Moorman


    Sheri and I got tired -- tired of
television. Sheri was upset when the
satellite provider jerked us around
once too often, promising everything
but delivering much less. I was tired
of commercial TV: News that teaches us
to "be afraid -- be very afraid," and
commercials that preach the glories of
coveting.

    We pulled the plug. Now we did not
do this without a back-up plan. Sheri
gets all the news she can use via
MSNBC.COM -- both in print and video
clips. And we have a subscription to
Netflix.

    I cannot help but sing the praises
of Netflix. You need internet access,
of course, for that is where you
browse tens of thousands of movies and
create your own queue. Whenever we
send back a DVD, the next available at
the top of our list arrives in our
mailbox in about three days. You can't
get better than that.

    So we are watching about three
movies a week -- plus all the behind-
the-scenes stuff and any other video
material we can find. What is best
about this arrangement is that [we]
are in control. We choose the program.
We choose the time. We can pause for
however long we want or need.

    And we have viewed some remarkable
shows. One of the most powerful was
[Tibet: Land of the Snow Lion] -- a
National Geographic look at the land
at the top of the world and its
suffering under Chinese oppression. We
have also seen [Hotel Rwanda], about
the unbelievable genocide that we
hardly heard about.

    Don Cheadle was the star of
[Hotel], and that lead us to [Crash],
the Best Picture Oscar winner last
year. My GOODNESS! What a great movie!

    Some of our choices are just plain
fun -- comedies or shoot-em-ups. But I
have noticed that we seem to move away
from the melodramatic "single evil
villian" movies, the ones where by the
time the hero gets to the bad guy, so
many of his family and friends have
been killed he has every right in the
world to waste the big meanie.

    That's melodrama for you. Just for
fun. Of course, we come to believe
this comic book justice is real, and
think that knocking out one dictator
or head terrorist will solve all our
problems. Perhaps you have noticed it
never works out that way in the real
world.

    Many of the dramas we are watching
have no overt villian. Biopix, like
[Walk the Line] and [Ray], find
conflict in bringing life back under
control. [What The Lord Has Made] is
about developing heart surgery in the
1940's -- and the racial assumptions
of the time.

    In short, we have at our finger-
tips all the entertainment we can ever
hope to watch, from the 1933 King Kong
to the Peter Jackson's more recent
attempt. We don't need no whiny
reality shows where everyone is
supposed to help each other, then stab
one poor snook in the back each week.
And we certainly do not need to be
told what car we cannot afford or
cosmetic we must use or insurance we
should buy.

    Twas a time when I would fall
asleep in my recliner and dream about
a bunch of people standing around and
talking about how they made a fortune
with "little tiny classified ads," or
buying property with nothing down.
Then I would wake up to the
infomercial, deeply convinced the
possibility was true.

    Now the menu music of the DVD
plays over and over and over -- until
I get up and shut it off.

    At least the music is not telling
me I need to use a miracle sandwich
frier in order to be fulfilled and
happy.

    Speaking of "fulfilled and happy,"
this issue is full, filled with
happiness you can't get even with
Netflix. We have quite a number of
joystick challenges, some mind-
grinding puzzles, GEOS art, and other
bits of flotsam to make you smile. Our
modest little computer can provide a
lot of entertainment for those who
know the real value of glitz. (When
used sparingly in garden soil, glitz
will improve plant growth.)

 DMM