Sun TV's SunZen and a Trini Pothound
Pothound by Chris Guiness
Simply Brilliant.
Now why can't our kids tune in to an episode of Pothound and grow up on meaningful, Caribbean content like this every week? Why aren't there spin off books and merchandize of this adorable Chris Guiness character?
Apparently, They say our market is too small yet go on to make and circulate millions in advertising dollars for producing commercial clutter.
After two years, SUN TV, the first local cable channel (1996-1998,) produced over 700 hours of 100% indigenous Caribbean content with primarily volunteer labor. Having created and lived this thesis of possibility myself, I understand first hand and heart to heart, that the air time of broacasters is not a plot of land on which to merely erect billboards of advertising.
I believe there is a palpable shortsighted and greedy resource possession in our market that perpetuates much dysfunction in our nation.
Far better to consciously sow seeds of genuine Creativity.
But Creativity must first be understood and healed of the wounds inflicted by this thriving ignorance.
Every
season could be a win win for all - broadcasters, film makers and
audiences. We will learn more about who we are and what we genuinely do like. Where is our joyful enthusiasm and curiosity about our content? (Hail to the likes of Bruce Paddington, Chris Laird, Tony Hall and all those of us who sit at the feet of our generation of elders!) If advertisers can sell us into a whole lot nothing, surely they are smart enough to get us to buy into meaningful indigenous content. Local content can add up. Can contribute to a quality of life in which we are increasingly safe at home, to be successful and beautiful and to enjoy our creative successes as blessings for All.
I was scolded once for putting 'those kinds of people' on TV when I sought content from the grassroots in my country. Having had a longer than a short list of eye-opening experience and conversations during my decade in local television, I awoke from the illusion that we are living in freedom.
Broadcasting is simply a way of casting the net of an idea broadly with the hope of captivating audiences who will consume. So it inherently wields the seductive power not only of controlling financially, but of managing any group of people ideologically.
Whether this is done consciously or not, the outcomes are the same.
We remain a self-alienated people who buy in to the momentary pleasures we are sold by the importing merchant class. This lack of willingness to see clearly and to endure discomfort for unified longer term goals, is only a trend of immaturity. In my mind both God and Change are inevitable. Good Orderly Direction (Julia Cameron) arises when a level of suffering previously endured is no longer tolerated.
Only, I had hoped to be a part of such creative change in my lifetime. And I still sincerely wish to live long enough to see a generation claim its own before having to import ourselves once we have been produced, packaged and appreciated internationally.
So, fifty years into this Trinbago experiment I can only say, Hip Hip Hooray for the visionary class of wealth that will in fact figure this out: how to fairly monetize Caribbean creativity not for the bottom line benefit of the select few, but to the benefit of us all in ways that can be seen and directly experienced as wholesome.
We don't have to entirely reinvent the wheel. This is why US culture is globally prevalent and dominant (whether or not we 'like' the idea of that, is not my point.)
The Western world's entertainment culture beyond the money-making machine, also reflects the spirit of loving "a good thing" en masse. We watch annually while, ( and now the likes of FB and You Tube peresent evidence of this), millions vote rightfully for the best talent out of an amazing slate of singers, dancers and variety acts. Yet every year our citizens rig rewards for acts that many respected critics say warrant our steupses, not dollars. It is as though we are more colonial still, while our colonizers on both sides of the pond have been evolving and at least in some aspects are taking up the struggle of failing false growth.
We seem so docile here. Is it a false peace? Not even our popular signers creatively give voice to a diverse range of legitimate claims we desire and deserve.
We can already see evidence in cultures where great ideas are rewarded, talent awarded and every I and I and I has at least a fair and fighting chance. Nobody loves a Rags to Riches story more than Americans, and diverse populations flock to the US because of this promise.
I am not playing violins about the Land of Milk and Honey. Any chances may be tainted by a wide range of stereotypical corruptions: nepotism, favoritism, and all the cut back and back handedness. BUT neither does this wider market wholly exclude the manifested Natural Order evidence of hard work, sincerity, audience appeal, legitimate talent and novel ideas that break ranks. Such acts and efforts are included in the circulation of wealth.
All around the world monopoly games are being played that will never appeal to nor benefit fully from truly Creative Souls, not because creatives don't need or understand the value of money, but because there is nothing creative about designing games in which one winner comes first on a field of one.
Where's the fun in that?
New internet tools are changing the way we see each other and interact with each other and even the biggest Titan(ic) is scrambling now to figure out how not to become extinct at rock bottom.
There is a way through.
It has to do with opening up to evolving Self through raising consciousness.
There is a process of authentic
creativity in which no negative consequence of a hurting conscience will be
experienced.
On this track, any rewards that come, do not easily derail the creative fire and authenticity that possesses the individual. Nor is it necessary to give it all away in an act of self crucifixion. The Creative Soul can contain and embrace its fair due without being taken advantage of, nor participate knowingly in taking advantage of others.
Manifesting open-ended systems stimulates organic expansion through the security of a fair-rooted system of growth.
Essentially, open-ended systems are mobilized by the human need for and respect of freedom and free expression. So we endure some of the profane to embrace the divine that inevitably bears fruit in a realm of quantity seeking quality. Even the profane, once manifest can be witnessed and addressed culturally.
It's not all good, but creative freedom is a good thing, all round.
That's why globally we can't help but look to the west (North American and Europe) for entertainment and inspiration. Asian film and music moguls now emulate western stars as a matter of popular commercial vindication. The potential in this, is global harmony which celebrates cultural diversity. Bin Laden is said to have loved Whitney Houston and rotated her music on his iPod. Yet his consciousness seeks to annihilate the imperfect, organized chaos that allows talents like her to blossom onto a world stage.
Reality is simply this: The sun shines on everyone, no matter which side you pick.
So I am not pro or anti any individual or system but I endeavor to observe, to learn and to grow. I choose to walk and climb around the 360 degree tree sitting on this branch and that branch to witness a whole perspective of our collective landscapes now laid bare, before formulating my opinions in each moment and situation. From such a vantage point we can look at and respond to what is needed here and now. This includes the wisdom of considering models where the seed of creativity is more fully formed and expressing.
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| SUN TV Sun Zen - (to become fully aware here and now) illustrator: Vanessa Soodeen |
I am not speaking from ideals but from ideas I have formulated through the practical experience of the living thesis of my own half century here. To be honest, I value the simplicity of what I do not yet have materially, not because I denounce or reject wealth or worldly blessings, but because anything that I have L-earned and am L-earning cannot be undone or unknown. It is integrated on the authority of my own direct experience.
There is a posture within the self, of "Service" which bears creative fruit that cannot rot, nor can be stolen or rejected.
There is no need to contort ourselves and abuse ourselves creatively, but until we love ourselves and each other in ACT-U-ality, we will allow ourselves to be colonized and used by and for the sake of the "land owning" few... meanwhile, back on the plantation, we have no chance of emancipation.
Free internet tools should not be taken for granted. The monopolies are changing that too; silently, slowly - you will notice the more frequent advertising tie-ins and geographic relevance of the ads that pop up no matter what you search.
Really, what is "free" about the 'cheap talk' telecommunication providers spend millions
of dollars advertising so they can sell us back our divine
right of free speech that we do not fully exercise otherwise? What is ecstatic and lastingly joyful about the hang over and the disease of our partying and alcohol consumption? What good taste is there in the packaged medicines we need in order to tolerate the junk foods that abuse our body temples? How are the modern technologies increasing the ease in our way of life, do we line up and wait and wait any less? The next government contract will spend millions to buy product and content that will rot, and wear and disintegrate before the next generation is born. Private business will benefit. The rest of us will get the scraps from the top tables.
Milkshake money from any one of these budgets could potentially launch episodic series like Pothound. Creating meaningful content is investing in a kind of enduring enlightenment which cultivates a legacy of enriching wholesomeness in our young and old, rich and poor alike.
Digicel ads here recently tried to reflect a marriage of fiction film in advertising, but when will the advertiser take a back seat and allow the writers/ producers to honor the flow of their own unique creative expression without commercial compromise at the front end?
In 2012 is there any greater commodity than freedom and freedom of speech? Films short or long, home made or professionally produced are a way forward for us all.
If you not selling something it means in the wheels of it all you are simply a consumer - this is what another local filmmaker and author Francis Escayg says about his love for his creative expression. We buy Hollywood and Bollywood, and in time we will by T&T. Thanks to the work of TTFilm Co there is change afoot.
Those picking and peeling oranges and roasting nuts to sell in between the creation of an odd poem into kaiso here and there, may be actualizing more Freedom than most. Those of us in the middle with the real accumulative power, don't bother to figure it all out. We collapse into insipid ideas of, "What on earth can I do anyway?"
We can think. We can feel. We can sing, dance, write, talk. We can express and manifest what is at the unseen heart of our creative souls. And if we can't or won't we can consume the work of those who do. We can support not with a pat on the back, but with our dollar votes.
Massa Day done people - wake up shake up and express yourselves. I and I and I am a national treasure and savior of my people. If not now...WHEN?! Doh put your heart and soul into a political vote for any three letters other than I AM...(you fill in the free blank check of Self).
The Art of Falling
Far better to fall flat on your face than to stand on your feet without ever trying, without ever knowing what your I AM expression may contribute.
We have learned to wear the masks of sly smiles and keep everything real under cover. The healing and risk taking of Creative Souls must endure straddling many Grand Canyons of ideology, not as a personal survival strategy, and dodging bullets, but in the service of building bridges.
Donald W. MacKinnon's classic studies of highly creative architects pointed to personal characteristics associated with creativity. He emphasized balance. Creative response must be both novel and adaptive to reality. (i.e helpful). He identified creative people were typically inventive, individual, independent, enthusiastic, industrious and determined. In addition they are willing and able to address both their strengths and weaknesses openly and honestly; can deal with and accept ambiguity and lack of closure.
My ultimate purpose here, is not to pit Creative Souls against Business Souls, but to blow the whistle and call out the bullies on the playing field. (And I've met a few).
It's time to work and play together.
Chris Guiness working with the TTSPCA and TTFILM CO does this perfectly in his short film Pothound - So click like and share and send the creator feedback comments.
Business has a duty to build up the careers of independent creatives and must include creative freedom and free artistic expression (i.e. not merely advertising careers).
Our civilization rests in our capacity to honor that which is free in others. This idea is most often employed locally in order to defend against our collective dysfunctions. Even publicly we speak out unashamedly to preserve drunk driving as a cultural institution and as an individual's right to assess his or her own alcohol limit while carnage on the roads hunts another generation.
On the other end of that raw stick we are really protecting the pocket of an historical mess we need to untangle. Most First World markets have banned and regulated certain kinds of advertising as a bid to protect not just the "Market" but our children and brothers and sisters. What if we simply and quietly put down our end of the stick en masse? Would we need a national policy and another NGO to pretend at solving our problems?
What if we became aware of every raw stick we are supporting at our end, and over which we each have absolute power, providing we employ our will in that direction?
It is the role of the artists: writers, producers, actors, musicians, composers, dancers and so on to inspire, reflect and talk back to us through their art forms and there is no better medium for this than television.
And now we have the internet. But some online gurus say it is just a matter of time before those who operate higher up the pyramid of our economies will dominate that too. To what end? Will they be satisfied with more of the same? Will their grandchildren?
The day-to-day blessing of working creatives surpasses the lump sum glory of awards and grants bestowed like scraps from our patrons' tables. We need consumer/ market support to really grow creatively.
It is the everyday working freedom which constructs irrigation channels into the circulatory system and rewards cultural creatives with "Belonging". To build up the careers of creatives is to share in the real estate of their intellectual properties. Advances, stipends and royalties are legitimate and traditional methods of profit sharing. The publishers and executive producers who invest the cash usually get the lion's share anyway but the Creatives' value of time, effort and ineffable raw material also seeks and deserves a generous return on investment.
Creative players in fact, usually have more to lose in terms of sense of self, credibility and life goals.
Of those of us inflicted by the gods who cannot walk a walk of authenticity, Three Canal poignantly says in Talk yuh Talk, "Who ent dead, badly wounded."
Promoting competition is the way Business Souls can understand creativity and profit from it. But Creativity in its essence is communal more than competitive.
It is time for Creative Souls to appreciate the needs of profit and business making too and help bridge the gaps. We have work to do that can only be done when we move past a sense of entitlement.
There is no corruption worse perhaps than dysfunctional loyalty: loyalty that buys local without discerning quality, loyalty that preserves status quo, and supports systems of thought and ego consciousness that are essentially working against the natural law.
This is not opinion. Take time to observe the way gravity metaphorically and miraculously does not work in for some big businesses. Is there no falling for these guys, no matter what they perpetrate against the All?
Unless we put skin on the values we claim to worship and uphold once a week, there is no embodiment of heaven on earth. We join ranks with those who only wait for another world and another time when the world of Good Orderly Direction, here and now, awaits undone. In my direct experience our authentic transformation is not a far off utopia. It is as practical as doing or not doing the dishes; as accumulative an effect as not putting out the garbage. One situation, one wash load at a time, we simply attend to the domestic need at hand.
Films can help us with all that needs to be done, but rather than engaging directly by a controlled force of sponsored editorializing we must be able to speak freely through our art forms on a wide range of themes and topics. There is no one film about World War II for example. Many voices, many creatives have added their chapter to that story and many more will continue to do so.
Practicing anything brings improvement if not prowess. Thickening the emotional skin of Creative Souls comes not from compromising the integrity of our dreams but through the process of enduring the kind of paradoxical healthy humiliation, which comes to us when we care wholeheartedly for who we are and what we feel called to do in the world. Such a seed soon flowers into a the precious guarantee of humility that willingly endures for a necessary time an 8 to 4, clock-in-clock-out environment, or waits tables at a friend's restaurant and cleans up behind husbands, or children of another.
In this context the true self feels the juxtaposition of enormous contrast. The manure only serves then to fertilize the conception of a way through. As the pop songstress Jo Dee sings "I'm thirsty anyway, so bring on the rain" and the very soil that seems to weight down the Creative Soul does not snuff it out, but secures its emergence towards the sun.
It is inevitable.
