Anticipation, it’s making me wait. . .
Ok, now that you've read this post's title, raise your hand if you are humming the Hienz ketchup commercial song from way back in your head right now. I can't help but hear that phrase and that tune is in my head.
The song, originally sung by Carley Simon was used in that commercial way back. Do you remember it? It showed people holding the bottle over their burger, hotdog, fries, whatever---mouth watering while the watched the ketchup slooooooooowly coming down out of the bottle. But by the end they were all digging in, and showing how it was worth every minute they had to wait.
There are saying that go along with this:
Good things come to those who wait.
Patience is a virtue.
Pleasure delayed is pleasure enhanced.
And in my experience it is true. I live kind of a bit of a paradox in that respect, I realize. I've often see people lamenting the drive thru/MTV instant gratification culture we live in today which doesn’t know the meaning of these phrases. They are decried for having abandoned the spirit of these ideals to their own peril. I count myself among the complainers. But I also like some of the instant things in our lives today, as well.
A microwave is essential to me. Sure I could live without it, but it sooo much nicer with it. I love being able to have the convenience of a 24 hour store---especially if I need diapers at 10:00 pm at night. The overnight “will it hold or won’t it” is a gamble I don’t want to take. I love that I have a huge selection of videos I can rent whenever the mood strikes. I’m all over the internet and it’s instant access to information and entertainment and you know about my love affair with iTunes and it’s contantly ready access to all that excellent music.
But I still won’t open my presents till Christmas morning. I wouldn’t even if I could. I like the wait. I love having things to anticipate. Trips, holidays, and special events are fun to look forward to. ButI also find excitement in the little things: movie releases (we're looking forward to Corpse Bride and the Narnia film), CD releases (Switchfoot's new effort comes out on 9-13 and looks to be excelent), concerts (that season starts for us in Oct and looks to be good), and even Apple computer product announcements. I want to find out as far in advance about some impending thing because it seems to charge life up a bit. You get up each day thinking that you’re one day closer to pay off. It makes things exciting.
Here's what I'm anticipating now:
We are right around the corner from the new season of “Lost”.
Yes, I'm following the show now too. I’ve been ambushed by it the same way the my wife was. For her it was because Wednesday nights are the nights that the kids would go to church youth group and so the only night she could catch a little T.V. in peace. And there it was. She got a taste and she was hooked.
It was the same for me. I had to be home early on Wednesdays when she was directing the play this summer so she could get to rehearsal. So it was just me and the boys (who got hooked as well). While we are enjoying the long summer nights together, we caught the re-runs of Lost.
The anticipation is working on multiple levels now for this show.
1. We have to wait each week for the next part of the story. It’s not episodic but serialized---the story doesn’t tie up nicely at the end of the week but carries forward and builds week to week. And there are strange mysterious things happening that we hope to get answers to---but we just keep getting more questions.
2. The end of the season last spring ended on a cliffhanger, so we're anxious to see where things go this season. We have also had the internet to report on rumors about what's going to happen and we're eager to see how things play out. They are going to open up new story vistas this season, it sounds like, and it will make the possibilities larger and more interesting. None of the stuff we read was enough to be considered a spoiler, but just enough to whet out eagerness.
3. The DVDs of season 1 come out in just a couple weeks. We are looking forward to being able to fill in the holes with anything we missed last season, as well as all that fun bonus and behind the scenes material that sure to be included.
In other news, Apple has announced that it will be making some big announcements on 09-09-05. Speculation says that it might be the iTunes phone from Motorola that we've been waiting for since about a year back now. Other say it may be the new Video iPod.
And can I just say a word about the Video iPod concept that everyone seems to be missing. I like the idea and it just seems natural. iTunes is already selling videos with music and a-la-cart. But they'll only play through iTunes on your computer. Not to mention that the podcast ability built into iTunes right now will except video files as well as audio to play in the same way that the music videos do.
But many people still are saying around the internet that video on the iPod's little screen would be so unsatisfying that it would be a flop. They're also saying that there is no material being made to fit on a screen like that and it would be so hard to watch a whole movie on such a small scale.
What every one seems to be forgetting the web video silent partner. Cell phones. Already major studio's have efforts for playing on an iPod sized screen. Most prominently is Fox with thier series of 1 minute episodes of 24 delivered to phone by subscription. There are also many independent companies selling subscriptions to small, short video offerings just for playing on phones supporting video. And the full sized iPod screen seems maxi compared to the little cell phone screens.
It is my belief that there will be a video iPod. And that Apple will do it brilliantly, as they always do. And it will changed everything, just like the original iPod did to music. Be prepared, the culture is about to shift again.
Also, you may no be aware, but there is a new emerging trend. First there were blogs (which has now grown into the millions on all kinds of topics, altering the way print media views the broadcasting of news), then you had podcasting (which is currently clawing angrily at the door of conventional radio and has them a bit nervous--like not even satalite radio was able to do), and now what's the next wave? Video. Some call it video blogging (or Vlogging), others have refered to it as video podcasting (or Vodcasting).
I'm not sure I like either of those names, but the point is that there is a growning movment of people using the internet to publish and distribute short form video. Sure, some of it is goofy and amaturish (some is down right awful and boring), but some of it is quite good. We discovered hidden writers of excellent quality through the blog world, podcasting is giving exposure to a lot of talented home brew radio show producers and musicians, and now we are on the brink of discovering the hidden T.V. production people and brilliant indi film makers in a way like never before.
As you can tell, this all kind of excites me. It may or may not begin on September 9th. Apple's press release was very vauge, but very charged. In the annoucement they say, "In 2001 a thousand songs in your pocket changed everything. Here we go again." But even if the video iPod doesn't launch a week from Friday, it will happen ---of that you can be sure.
Just wait for it.
The song, originally sung by Carley Simon was used in that commercial way back. Do you remember it? It showed people holding the bottle over their burger, hotdog, fries, whatever---mouth watering while the watched the ketchup slooooooooowly coming down out of the bottle. But by the end they were all digging in, and showing how it was worth every minute they had to wait.
There are saying that go along with this:
Good things come to those who wait.
Patience is a virtue.
Pleasure delayed is pleasure enhanced.
And in my experience it is true. I live kind of a bit of a paradox in that respect, I realize. I've often see people lamenting the drive thru/MTV instant gratification culture we live in today which doesn’t know the meaning of these phrases. They are decried for having abandoned the spirit of these ideals to their own peril. I count myself among the complainers. But I also like some of the instant things in our lives today, as well.
A microwave is essential to me. Sure I could live without it, but it sooo much nicer with it. I love being able to have the convenience of a 24 hour store---especially if I need diapers at 10:00 pm at night. The overnight “will it hold or won’t it” is a gamble I don’t want to take. I love that I have a huge selection of videos I can rent whenever the mood strikes. I’m all over the internet and it’s instant access to information and entertainment and you know about my love affair with iTunes and it’s contantly ready access to all that excellent music.
But I still won’t open my presents till Christmas morning. I wouldn’t even if I could. I like the wait. I love having things to anticipate. Trips, holidays, and special events are fun to look forward to. ButI also find excitement in the little things: movie releases (we're looking forward to Corpse Bride and the Narnia film), CD releases (Switchfoot's new effort comes out on 9-13 and looks to be excelent), concerts (that season starts for us in Oct and looks to be good), and even Apple computer product announcements. I want to find out as far in advance about some impending thing because it seems to charge life up a bit. You get up each day thinking that you’re one day closer to pay off. It makes things exciting.
Here's what I'm anticipating now:
We are right around the corner from the new season of “Lost”.
Yes, I'm following the show now too. I’ve been ambushed by it the same way the my wife was. For her it was because Wednesday nights are the nights that the kids would go to church youth group and so the only night she could catch a little T.V. in peace. And there it was. She got a taste and she was hooked.
It was the same for me. I had to be home early on Wednesdays when she was directing the play this summer so she could get to rehearsal. So it was just me and the boys (who got hooked as well). While we are enjoying the long summer nights together, we caught the re-runs of Lost.
The anticipation is working on multiple levels now for this show.
1. We have to wait each week for the next part of the story. It’s not episodic but serialized---the story doesn’t tie up nicely at the end of the week but carries forward and builds week to week. And there are strange mysterious things happening that we hope to get answers to---but we just keep getting more questions.
2. The end of the season last spring ended on a cliffhanger, so we're anxious to see where things go this season. We have also had the internet to report on rumors about what's going to happen and we're eager to see how things play out. They are going to open up new story vistas this season, it sounds like, and it will make the possibilities larger and more interesting. None of the stuff we read was enough to be considered a spoiler, but just enough to whet out eagerness.
3. The DVDs of season 1 come out in just a couple weeks. We are looking forward to being able to fill in the holes with anything we missed last season, as well as all that fun bonus and behind the scenes material that sure to be included.
In other news, Apple has announced that it will be making some big announcements on 09-09-05. Speculation says that it might be the iTunes phone from Motorola that we've been waiting for since about a year back now. Other say it may be the new Video iPod.
And can I just say a word about the Video iPod concept that everyone seems to be missing. I like the idea and it just seems natural. iTunes is already selling videos with music and a-la-cart. But they'll only play through iTunes on your computer. Not to mention that the podcast ability built into iTunes right now will except video files as well as audio to play in the same way that the music videos do.
But many people still are saying around the internet that video on the iPod's little screen would be so unsatisfying that it would be a flop. They're also saying that there is no material being made to fit on a screen like that and it would be so hard to watch a whole movie on such a small scale.
What every one seems to be forgetting the web video silent partner. Cell phones. Already major studio's have efforts for playing on an iPod sized screen. Most prominently is Fox with thier series of 1 minute episodes of 24 delivered to phone by subscription. There are also many independent companies selling subscriptions to small, short video offerings just for playing on phones supporting video. And the full sized iPod screen seems maxi compared to the little cell phone screens.
It is my belief that there will be a video iPod. And that Apple will do it brilliantly, as they always do. And it will changed everything, just like the original iPod did to music. Be prepared, the culture is about to shift again.
Also, you may no be aware, but there is a new emerging trend. First there were blogs (which has now grown into the millions on all kinds of topics, altering the way print media views the broadcasting of news), then you had podcasting (which is currently clawing angrily at the door of conventional radio and has them a bit nervous--like not even satalite radio was able to do), and now what's the next wave? Video. Some call it video blogging (or Vlogging), others have refered to it as video podcasting (or Vodcasting).
I'm not sure I like either of those names, but the point is that there is a growning movment of people using the internet to publish and distribute short form video. Sure, some of it is goofy and amaturish (some is down right awful and boring), but some of it is quite good. We discovered hidden writers of excellent quality through the blog world, podcasting is giving exposure to a lot of talented home brew radio show producers and musicians, and now we are on the brink of discovering the hidden T.V. production people and brilliant indi film makers in a way like never before.
As you can tell, this all kind of excites me. It may or may not begin on September 9th. Apple's press release was very vauge, but very charged. In the annoucement they say, "In 2001 a thousand songs in your pocket changed everything. Here we go again." But even if the video iPod doesn't launch a week from Friday, it will happen ---of that you can be sure.
Just wait for it.
posted by Will at 3:54 PM
3 Comments:
I don't know about the song, but as I check your blog daily to see if you have written, I had the anticipation down, except it's harder when there is no specific date! Since a good chunk of my shows have been cancelled, my anticpation for the fall season isn't that high. I think House is about all I am waiting to see. 7th heaven is getting a little old and 24 doesn't start til January. Take care!
I must say the only thing I'm anticipating this month is seeing Dave Chappelle on the 23rd. I could use a good hard laugh.
As for "Anticipation," I'd completely forgotten about the commercial. What comes to mind for me is sitting in my friend Liz's bedroom during high school and playing that Carly Simon album to DEATH. :)
I don't know who's so vain that they prob'ly think this song is about them, but I DO know that 'Anticipation' was written while Carly was waiting for her first date with ... Cat Stevens! (oh, the trivia that i keep in this head!)
I too got hooked on 'Lost' while in summer reruns. I almost don't care about what the "answers" are - I just love seeing how the mystery unfolds. (wow...'lost' as a metaphor for life?) ;)
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