“That's why I never appear on television, except when I'm on television.”
Professor Brian O'Blivion, Videodrome
At this week’s departmental Zoom ™ meeting, I paid deliberate tribute to the character of Brian O’Blivion from David Cronenberg’s 1983 cult classic Videodrome, a movie far before its time in terms of existence in media versus real life.
Professor O’Blivion, inspired by Marshall McLuhan, is never seen in public, only in video appearances and on cassette – as above, his only physical presence is as a talking head on a television monitor. It’s eventually revealed during the course of the film that he has been dead for quite some time, but his apparent ongoing existence is maintained through a carefully curated library of pre-recorded video clips – although he may also have a new life inside the television broadcasts themselves, within the videodrome of the title.
In a similar spirit, at today's virtual session I informed my manager that I haven’t actually attended the meetings in weeks, I just record a random description of what I did on the weekend, followed by a five minute loop of nodding and blinking that runs during the entire session.
My announcement was greeted with laughter from the manager and the other members of the department, but to be honest, I’m not completely sure that everyone thought I was joking…
- Sid
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