telophase | (no subject)

I have been watching too much Say Yes to the Dress* and River Monsters; last night I dreamed that I worked in a clothing store that included a bridal salon, and I was getting married. As I worked there, I decided I needed a dress from there. At some point, I was aware that the salon was flooded, and my fiancee and I rode a giant marlin around as it leaped through the store.

Also, in non-dream-related news, when it comes to River Monsters I am now going to be forever suspicious of the show's claiming that Jeremy Wade is out in the back of beyond every time: in last night's ep, which talked about the most bizarre creatures he's encountered, one of them was the Amazonian river dolphin. He was filmed standing on a platform in the middle of the Amazon river (and swimming around it, feeding dolphins), and his voiceover says that he's told that "the locals" feed the dolphins from here.

Yeah, well, I've seen the Stephen Fry version of Last Chance to See, where he went to the very same platform on a side-trip during the manatee episode, and it's owned by a luxury eco-hotel, and the "locals" Wade refers to, while they are, indeed, local, are employees of the selfsame hotel who feed the dolphins to ensure that they'll come up to the platform when tourists want to see them.

* My current guilty-pleasure trashy TV show. The dresses appeal to my inner costumer, and I get to be appalled at the wedding marketing machine.

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Stephen Fry version of Last Chance to See?

This DVD set. Fry and Mark Carwardine retraced some of Carwardine's and Douglas Adams' steps when making the original Last Chance to See.

You may have seen this outtake going around the Net a couple of years ago, in which Carwardine's head is romanced by an amorous but not-too-smart kakapo.

Awesome, thanks. I liked the book a lot and the idea of an update is great.

Most of this stuff is, essentially, artificial. There is some real wild animal photography out there, but there are a lot of photographers (and filmmakers) who don't want to spend the time and money it takes, and acquire the expertise in animal behavior needed, to get the amazing shots they want. They go to places like this.

I do think that not revealing it's an eco-hotel is an outright lie on the part of the producers and presenter. They don't tell viewers that not so much as to make themselves look more adventurous than they are, but in service of the American (and general Western) delusion that there are wild and untouched places in the world.

On some of my travels I've met both kinds of photographers. In general, the BBC's getting the best people and the best footage. They've been willing (both parties, BBC and photographer) to work to get real shots. Other networks are more likely to cheap out on both counts, because it does take a lot of effort to, say, get to the place in the ice where the narwhal are for that short period that they are there.

What really annoys me in this particular show is that they haven't been shy about showing it if the area Wade is fishing is in or near a developed area - Kinshasha, for example.

Admittedly, this was a clip show and I haven't seen the original dolphin episode, so maybe they explained a bit more fully there, but it seemed at odds with the way the show is usually done.

* Which are pink, by the way. :D (ETA; Oops, orphaned footnote. It refers to the Amazonian dolphins.)

Edited 2011-05-09 16:58 (UTC)

Jeremy Wade is my favorite person on the teevee.

I love how very proper he is and I would like to go fishing just so I can say "Fish on! Fish on!" in my very best British accent.