Broadcast Dreaming

Except for his nightly food forage Skook has stayed in the last few nights. It’s been raining. I don’t think the rain has been keeping him in. He doesn’t mind getting wet. He takes a bath every two or three days and that involves a thorough dunking.

Sunday night he stayed up and watched the Golden Globe Awards with Jaydogg. Nizzibet and I only caught some of the preshow interviews and then we went to bed. Jaydogg likes award shows. Someday I’ll have to ask him what the attraction is. I don’t see much point in seeing people I don’t know receive awards for work I usually haven’t seen and then give acceptance speeches thanking more people I don’t know. But that’s me. Most of the entertainment I enjoy doesn’t get mentioned on televised award shows.

Last night and Monday night Skook stayed up watching television. He can handle the remote all right. It’s sturdy enough that I don’t worry about him breaking it and the main buttons are large enough that he can work them without trouble. I’ve shown him how to use the VCR and the DVD player but I’ve never seen him use them.

He doesn’t watch television for the story. At least not for the story that’s being broadcast. He gets lost in commercials and scene cuts, close-ups, slow motion, special effects, music and all the trappings that we human people take for granted. It’s not that he finds it confusing. It all makes perfect sense to him. He’s watching human dreamings.

I occasionally watch one of the foreign language channels. I only have a general idea of what’s going on. This character is mad at that character. These characters are probably doing something that’s supposed to be funny. Based on the costumes these characters are acting in a historical drama. These are commercials. I like it because I don’t get bogged down in whether or not the dialogue is well written or the acting is good or the cinematography is beautiful. The foreignness of the language and culture allows me to people watch, to examine humans from the outside.

When Skook and I talk neither of us is behaving “naturally”. I’m making allowance s for his understanding and expression and limitations and he makes allowances for mine. I don’t know what sasquatch to sasquatch interaction would look like. I’ve never seen it. He gets to watch human interaction by watching television. It doesn’t matter that most of the programs are in English. He doesn’t speak English. He and I speak Sasglish. He hears a familiar word or two come from the television but it comes out of context, unaccompanied by the expression and body language that he’s learned to recognize. So he might as well be watching TV Bangkok.

I’ve tried explaining the entertainment industry and what happens in order to make the programs he’s watching. I’ve explained commercials and their role in American society. Ultimately he doesn’t seem to care. He knows television isn’t reality. It’s a box that emits light and moving pictures. He watches infomercials, talking heads and AMC with the equal fascination. He doesn’t channel surf much. Not much point when everything is the equivalent of the Nature Channel.

Sometimes he falls asleep in front of the TV. I found him this morning slumped in front of the striped couch with the remote still in his hand. Lost in sasquatch dreamings.