Si on lui donnait le premier tome d’un ouvrage, il ne demandait pas ensuite le second; si on le lui apportait, alors il le lisait, lentement.
Plus tard, il ne parvint même plus à terminer les premiers volumes ; il passait la majeure partie de son temps un coude appuyé sur la table et la tête posée sur le coude. Parfois aussi, au lieu du coude, il se servait du livre que Stolz prétendait lui faire connaître.
ORTB calls itself “votre partenaire pour les grands évènements”, but the consumers call it rather “votre partenaire pour les grands énervements” – you got the idea.
Of course, if I seem to remain glued to the screen, it is only in order to report to my estimated readers.
Take last Friday evening, they filled what in any other country is the best TV time entirely with a 3 (three) hours interview about the raising cost for electricity, frequently interrupted by some studio technique problem, which, the interviewer underlined, this time were not due to electricity disturbance (for some inexplicable reason, evening blackouts occur only during football matches. Of the match Benin-Togo we saw exactly the first 52 seconds, when the Togolese scored a goal and some seconds of the keeper’s tantrum, and electricity was only back for the termination of the match, still 1-0 in favor of Togo.)
The program is basically a platform for local politicians. Apart from this, it resembles an over-dimensioned advertisement – emission time must be cheap, as some ads go on for several minutes; once we even had 15 minutes filled with the ORTB jingle.
Watch the enthusiastic public during an end-of-school-party, broadcasted in real time.
Emissions have to be cheap or free, and this is why, now and again, the public is treated to several unbelievable Mexican soaps. They are usually about love and jealousy amongst the super-rich, but apart from that I have not yet been able to figure out the story lines, nor what exactly the problem of a given personage at a given moment is. Understanding is even more inhibited by the fact that all the actresses are blond and the same actors and actresses appear in several soaps at the same time. But I’m not sure that this is very important, they find an enthusiastic public (including me) and represent without doubt the most creative thing on can see on ORTB.
What is left of emission time is filled with videos of rightfully unknown music bands.
My absolute favorite is called “Necrologie”, announcing funerals and commemorative celebrations for people like you and me, with different music for Christians and Muslims.
There is a good hour of Necrologie emission every evening – remember that here death is attended to more enthusiastically than birthdays.
Plus tard, il ne parvint même plus à terminer les premiers volumes ; il passait la majeure partie de son temps un coude appuyé sur la table et la tête posée sur le coude. Parfois aussi, au lieu du coude, il se servait du livre que Stolz prétendait lui faire connaître.
One of the dark sides of life in Benin is the television program. All those who don’t have a satellite dish depend entirely the state television ORTB, which is the case in our house, as the satellite decoder here has been destroyed during one of the frequent blackouts.
ORTB calls itself “votre partenaire pour les grands évènements”, but the consumers call it rather “votre partenaire pour les grands énervements” – you got the idea.
Oh those days spent in the library, when putting my elbow on a book and putting my head on my elbow sent me off to blissful forgetting!
Of course, if I seem to remain glued to the screen, it is only in order to report to my estimated readers.
Take last Friday evening, they filled what in any other country is the best TV time entirely with a 3 (three) hours interview about the raising cost for electricity, frequently interrupted by some studio technique problem, which, the interviewer underlined, this time were not due to electricity disturbance (for some inexplicable reason, evening blackouts occur only during football matches. Of the match Benin-Togo we saw exactly the first 52 seconds, when the Togolese scored a goal and some seconds of the keeper’s tantrum, and electricity was only back for the termination of the match, still 1-0 in favor of Togo.)
The program is basically a platform for local politicians. Apart from this, it resembles an over-dimensioned advertisement – emission time must be cheap, as some ads go on for several minutes; once we even had 15 minutes filled with the ORTB jingle.
Watch the enthusiastic public during an end-of-school-party, broadcasted in real time.Emissions have to be cheap or free, and this is why, now and again, the public is treated to several unbelievable Mexican soaps. They are usually about love and jealousy amongst the super-rich, but apart from that I have not yet been able to figure out the story lines, nor what exactly the problem of a given personage at a given moment is. Understanding is even more inhibited by the fact that all the actresses are blond and the same actors and actresses appear in several soaps at the same time. But I’m not sure that this is very important, they find an enthusiastic public (including me) and represent without doubt the most creative thing on can see on ORTB.
What is left of emission time is filled with videos of rightfully unknown music bands.
My absolute favorite is called “Necrologie”, announcing funerals and commemorative celebrations for people like you and me, with different music for Christians and Muslims.
There is a good hour of Necrologie emission every evening – remember that here death is attended to more enthusiastically than birthdays.Time and again, there is a real little gem, like this musical intro to the weekly puppet show: groovy and good to look at.
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