Thursday, June 28, 2007

Beatbox...talent? skill? exercise? disorder?

This summer I have been watching a rash of "talent search" variety shows that are all the rage. Singing, dancing, magic, juggling...two nights ago a contortionist was so good it was painful to watch what he was doing. Actually I haven't been tempted to sit and watch entire programs. Most of what is being presented it really terrible, but well-timed rewards (as in the case of Paul Potts) keep the ratings up. I have to credit the producers with having developed an impressive unnoticed talent: keeping millions of viewers glued to their screens with practically nothing in the way of meaningful content. It's amazing what animals can be inspired to do by a handful of M&M's. Same principle with humans.

I suppose we all have an inner voyeur that needs to be fed. To that end, here is a YouTube version of a performer on a French show that was good enough to merit posting at 3Quarks, illustrating that even the most intelligent people among us are sometimes enjoy a well-done sideshow.

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