05 Sep
Irwin
Wow, day later, and still the news can’t let go of Steve Irwin’s death.
I don’t seem to recall this much hoopla when Marlin Perkin’s died in 1986.
I really never liked Irwin. I think his careless antics reminded me a bit to much like the MTV series “Jackass”.
What really pisses me is the word “Crikey”, you never hear that word in Australia except in relation to Irwin.
The baby dangling à la Michael Jackson, while feeding a crocodile took the carelessness to a whole new level.
I really am a bit disappointed with most nature shows, they dumb down everything and speak very little about their subject, except of a general nature. Every animal is relegated to a two or three fact tag-line which is stretched over a 30 min or 60min block of time.
I have warring opinions of Steve. On the one hand, I agree with you that animal programs seem to be very Evil Keneevilish. It seems like they keep trying to outdo each other. But on the other hand- I really got the impression that he cared and was honestly enthusiastic about the animals and conservation. To me, for his show anyway, that outweighed his silly stunts. As for the baby, while it was wrong and a serious lapse in judgement on his part, I think he probably thought it was perfectly safe. I personally have done a few things with Jareth where I thought afterwards… hmmm, not too bright Jen. Of course none of those things involved a live crocodile. As for Crikey- I guess it was a catch phrase of his and being Americans that don’t know any better, we assumed it was a popular phrase in Australia, I did anyway.
I also agree with your take on nature shows. However, working in zoos I’ve come to realize how little the general public knows about nature and animals. Seriously. Even basic things I take for granted surprise or confuse many of the people I’ve encountered in the past.
I would like to apologize for my verb tenses not matching and for any typos. Man, I am too tired to be commenting on my fiend’s entries.
September 6th, 2006 at 1:34 amYep when you see people doing silly things like jumping into cages with polar bears at zoos, it becomes clear some are clueless about animals.
I didn’t notice any v.tense disagreement 🙂
September 6th, 2006 at 3:58 pm