An unexpected problem arises for people "living off the grid" in the early 70s... lightning strikes again and again, and it keeps ruining their stuff! There are two stories here. One is the story of the people whose energy-consumption decisions create scarcely imagined hassles -- like the need to buy several answering machines at once. The other story, and possibly even the better story, is the story of the interviewer finding out about the bizarre scenarios that went along with his parents' unconventional lifestyle. The sound of the interviewer (son) and interviewees (parents) laughing together in disbelief captures something incredible. Anyone with a slightly offbeat family can relate to this kind of moment. We'll call it the "you did WHAT?" moment, where the kids have some sort of insight into the parents' world, and the parents, looking back at the kids, see their behavior from the outside and just crack up.
My only criticism is that the piece lacks structure. That didn't particularly bother me, listening to it on its own through this site, but it's hard to imagine how it could be integrated into a larger program. If the producer would be willing to go back in and arrange the piece so that the structure was a little more deliberate, I think it could be brilliant... really! I'd suggest weaving the narrative into the parents' descriptions a little more consistently, and adding a really bang-up ending.
Review of Lightning Proof Telephone
Gina Kaufmann
Posted on April 27, 2006 at 06:46 AM
An unexpected problem arises for people "living off the grid" in the early 70s... lightning strikes again and again, and it keeps ruining their stuff! There are two stories here. One is the story of the people whose energy-consumption decisions create scarcely imagined hassles -- like the need to buy several answering machines at once. The other story, and possibly even the better story, is the story of the interviewer finding out about the bizarre scenarios that went along with his parents' unconventional lifestyle. The sound of the interviewer (son) and interviewees (parents) laughing together in disbelief captures something incredible. Anyone with a slightly offbeat family can relate to this kind of moment. We'll call it the "you did WHAT?" moment, where the kids have some sort of insight into the parents' world, and the parents, looking back at the kids, see their behavior from the outside and just crack up.
My only criticism is that the piece lacks structure. That didn't particularly bother me, listening to it on its own through this site, but it's hard to imagine how it could be integrated into a larger program. If the producer would be willing to go back in and arrange the piece so that the structure was a little more deliberate, I think it could be brilliant... really! I'd suggest weaving the narrative into the parents' descriptions a little more consistently, and adding a really bang-up ending.