WEIRDLAND: Satellite of Love, Satellite Solutions

Monday, October 03, 2011

Satellite of Love, Satellite Solutions

"Digital electronic technologies atomize and abstractly schematize the analogic quality of the photographic and cinematic into discrete pixels and bits of information that are transmitted serially, via satellite. As well, unlike the cinema system, the electronic is phenomenologically experienced not as a centered, intentional projection but rather as a simultaneous and neural/ “neutral” transmission.


Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg as Em & James in "Adventureland" (2009).

"I believe in love. I mean, I think that love is very transferable, I mean, transformable. I think that love makes things transform together". -James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg in "Adventureland").
"Satellite of Love" is one of Lou Reed's best known songs from his solo career. It is the second single from his 1972 album "Transformer".

"Satellite of Love" is about a man who observes a satellite launch on television and contemplates what Reed describes as feelings of "the worst kind of jealousy" about his unfaithful girlfriend. David Bowie, who produced the album, can be heard providing background vocals. The chorus is: "I watched it for a little while / I love to watch things on tv / Satellite of love / Satellite of love"

Mottola sets his film in 1987, but doesn’t play the period for excessive nostalgia. Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love” is a plot point, but it’s not thrown in simply for credibility, a la the name-dropping soundtrack of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. The film gives us a summer-love romance, but it’s real, consequential and believable – so much so that these characters linger in your heart long after the movie’s over, just like the girl you fell in love with that summer long ago". Source: www.orlandoweekly.com

"Non-cable TV distributors -- satellite and IPTV -- continue to eat into the market share of cable systems.

The Television Bureau of Advertising, through data obtained by Nielsen Media Research, says "alternative delivery systems" now hold just under a 30% market share among all TV homes -- at 29.3%, its highest levels ever.

Satellite distribution continues to comprise the lion's share of all ADS. Satellite distribution is 29% in all TV homes, up from 28.4% a year ago." Source: www.mediapost.com

As far as international and specialized channels go, satellite may be the better option, as the broad range of a satellite dish can often reach channels that local cable companies cannot offer.

Satellite signals are transmitted to the tv terminals. Satellite transmission covers a wider range than cable providers, since Satellite signals contain higher quality digital data. Using DISH Network Channels, switching over basic Cable TV to PC TV online, you can choose from a wide range of channels, news, sports, movies or local channels, with suppleness and easy access, selecting from a variety through a simple DSL broadband connection that allows you receive a neat picture quality of recent movies and news broadcasts, keeping up to date with your favorite shows

"There is a final fight scene between Steven and the Cable guy on top of a huge satellite dish during a thunderstorm. The dish has filled with rain water and the Cable guy tries to drown Steven.Despondent, the Cable guy jumps to his "death" from the satellite dish.
"We see that the Cable Guy is beginning to have a hard time telling the difference between TV and reality."The satellite dish represents everything that the Cable Guy is about in terms of entertainment and information and the future," Stiller notes. "Also it represents the lack of personal contact between people. So, that's where the climax of the movie plays out. It's this very angular steel structure that has a really retro, '50s feel to it, which the Cable Guy mirrors in his own way."
The biggest concern for each location used in the "tower/satellite dish" sequence was that rain was called for in much of the footage.
According to production designer Sharon Seymour: "The dish is the real thing. We were lucky to get them because the large dishes are rapidly going out of style. Only two manufacturers still make them. We modified ours to fit the film's needs. Ours has a small reflector in the middle, plus it had to be able to fill with water and move." Source: www.jimcarreyonline.com

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