Cable and the Geek

This morning Makal and I were discussing music, namely, that he was a moody child and listened to the most angst-inducing stuff. He points out that he was watching MTV when he was 5-13, in its early, actually-music-focused days. Definite grunge era, as he said. I find this contrast to our upbringing amusing; I didn't have any exposure to cable TV until I was 13, and once we got it the only channel that was put on lock-down was MTV (something about my mom not liking all the sex and violence in rap music videos). The sole reason we got cable was to watch Stargate SG-1. Seriously, I was a huge SG-1 fan, and followed the plotline religiously until it started to lull four or five seasons in. I'll pick it up again someday though, and Atlantis too.

Of course, the introduction of cable television with movie channels like Showtime, HBO, and "Skinemax" led directly to me watching softcore porn, even though it was really crappy (I mostly watched it to laugh at the absurd presentation of sex). It also introduced a few other things into my youthful mind: sex + the occult, via The Hunger*, sex + money, via Beverly Hills Bordello, and sex + modern entrepreneurialism, via Real Sex. I also saw how a great number of "mainstream" actors and actresses got their start, via the David Duchovny-hosted Red Shoe Diaries. Those were my favourite shows of that portion of my life, outside SG-1 or Buffy and the like.

*So, The Hunger. I didn't link to its Wikipedia article in the last paragraph because I wanted to give it a moment of attention: go, now, and read about The Hunger. This was a spectacular series, lasting about two seasons. The weird little intros/outros by the series' hosts, Terrence Stamp and later, David Bowie, are just as entertaining as the story itself (sometimes moreso, in that very WTF way). But then you get into the show and it's just like, what the hell is this all about? Vampires, demons, curses... you name it they've got it, plus some sex on the side to make sure you're paying attention. Okay, that's a lie, you don't need to pay attention to the plot of any episode because they're usually not worth it. Just sit back and bask in the late '90s display of glorious X-Files-meets-people doing sexy stuff. With David Bowie. ^_^Luckily, I can do just that any time I want, because Makal's been buying the series on DVD for me (four discs and counting...)

Just consider this more proof that weird sex and geekery go hand-in-hand. ;)