Idiot Box and random wildness

Three times this week, I have seen it written that Black households average 70 hours of television per week. Seventy hours. That's two full-time (35 hrs) jobs. That's literally inconceivable to me. That's 10 hours a day. In those households, the television must never go off. Or nobody goes to work or something. When is somebody gonna talk about that? Don't protest that Black folks are underrepresented inside the box, protest that we're overrepresented on the outside. Underrepresented in the library. Underrepresented in the book store. Underrepresented on the internet. Holla! ... I've been privately ranting about this ever since the throwback craze started. (Well actually before, because I was shopping at Mitchell & Ness before 93% of these fools knew there was such a place. I used to get minor league ballcaps from there. My best cops were the Kissimmee Cobras and the Santa Fe Canaries. This was back around 95. Back then, I used to be on first-name basis with the proprietor.) How you gon' wear a throwback Isaiah Thomas Indiana jersey with the name across the back? Indiana has never printed the players' names across the back. That's just disgusting and wrong. For $300+, accuracy should be paramount. And while I'm at it, why was I seein' people in the projects with throwbacks? What? That jawn cost over 3 bills; you live on the dole and got one but I can't afford one? I got a problem with that. That's why I could never be a politician. First day out I'd write a bill killing cable for anybody on welfare or getting government subsidized housing. I'd give library cards all day, but no cable. Shoot, two throwbacks and that's an entry-level Dell. Holla! ... I watched Car Wash for the Nth time today (150th? 200th?) Because I haven't seen Soul Plane, I really can't comment on it, but I'd be willing to bet that it was nowhere as smart as Car Wash. But this is exactly what I'm talking about when I say that it's a matter of taste. It would be very easy to write off Car Wash as a bunch of shuckin' and jivin', but I think there's more to it than just that. To be sure, it's mostly shuckin and jivin', and it's a precursor to some of these urban movies that are just really long music videos, but there are some very interesting characters in there; a couple of very interesting themes running through the goofines. One pet peeve of mine is that the DVD is not complete. If I didn't know the movie as well as I do, I wouldn't know this, but I've been watching Car Wash all my life. It's the first movie I remember going to the movie to see. I was 2 when it came out. We went to the Mode theater in Joliet, IL. I will never forget that. (The other movie I saw at the Mode was the 1976 King Kong remake. I don't really remember that too much, but my mom says that when Kong's eyes peeked through the bushes, I let her know that it was time for me to go.) Anyway, the cashier chick, Marsha, meets this suave dude who says he's gonna pick her up at the end of her shift. She's all excited and whatnot, but when she comes out at the end, Mr. GQ Smooth has his woman in the front seat. Marsha's date, sitting behind GQ Smooth, is a plug. They cut that scene out. It's probably only 30 seconds, but it stands out to me like missing eye teeth. One more note on Car Wash: the band, Rose Royce, that did the soundtrack for the movie, was put together by Norman Whitfield specifically to do the soundtrack. Before Car Wash, there was no Rose Royce. Considering the fact that they were able to come up with some moderate hits like "Wishing On A Star" and "Oooh Boy" later on, I think that was some pretty good band-making by Mr. Whitfield.