11:50 pm

What a strange thing! Hearing the National Anthem after the basketball game instead of before. "El Dream Team" won the Olympic gold. Everyone wants to be part of the excitement. Take pictures. The coverage on NBC must be incredible! If the rest of the world is so thrilled by this team, what is the American reaction? It's probably like a national holiday there. Then again, maybe it's bigger here because of the Olympics being here and the novelty of the quality of the basketball played by these magicians. And Magic is the big story over here, too. But now the victory ceremonies are over and we're back to the studios of TVE2 with an interview of the Spanish gold-medalist in the 1500m. I doubt NBC has that! They're probably spending another hour on post-game stuff. Kinda like the NBA finals. And it is live there -- only 5:50 pm. Perfect timing. NBC must have arranged the finals time. I must admit that TVE2 must have more complete coverage than NBC. It's been 24 hours a day of Olympic coverage for 15 days. That's pretty darn amazing! I came home at 4:30 am, turned on the TV and watched a replay of the table tennis finals. Betcha NBC didn't have that, either! It's been a great media experience watching the Olympics from a Spanish point of view. "The Home Team." In two senses: the host country and the local country. Like L.A. in '84. But it's funny that I wasn't in the U.S. for those Olympics. I was in London! What an incredible spectacle it has been. God, I'm so glad I bought this TV! I've really watched a lot of these games. I'm going to miss it! (I can't believe they're still interviewing this runner -- too long!) I like the way they cut from whatever event is happening to coverage of the victory ceremonies of the Spanish medalists. And they have been pretty amazing with their gold medals. When I felt it was getting too Iberian, I flipped over to the Moroccan channel to watch their coverage. It was mostly the same feed without the Spanish bent. And they didn't talk so much. But when they did, it sounded funny! It's a strange station. Right now, they have an orchestra of white-robed fez-heads playing Arabic music. I mean, you don't see this in the U.S. Not even on public access. Okay, you'd see similar stuff on channel 62 sometimes! Arab Voice of Detroit. That's what it's like! Surreal. Anyway, they usually speak in Arabic, but occasionally it's French. One commercial will be one language, the next will be the other. And, Oh-My-God!, the production quality! I've caught a couple of soap operas. The lighting, the sets, the acting! Horrible! There's a job for me! Improving production quality of Third World television programming! Can you believe I'm still watching this Arabic music program? I have the headphones on, so I can hear it very well and I can walk around the room. No! It can't be! It's a Moroccan youth chorus singing, in English, or something vaguely similar, "The Answer is Blowing in the Wind." With full orchestra -- okay, strings. But this band is fez-less. Okay, now they're singing some French song. I don't think I can stand much more of this. So now I've turned back to the late-night re-cap of today's Olympic events. Watching the Americans' World Record 4 x 400 meters. And the javelin and Women's High Jump finals. Now it's an interview with the mayor of Barcelona. Bien. I can watch a bit of the Malagueñas '92 festival on Canal Málaga. Basically, a public access-type local channel. They often have interview shows -- with those same public access plastic plants! -- and badly-lit terrible acoustical local music presentations. She's really getting into this song. I do like the emotion of Spanish traditional music. This reminds me of the journal we had to keep on British media when I was in London for Mass Media study. I should've gotten high and written it. Would've been more insightful, I'm sure. I could write a lot about Spanish media. But it's so tiring to write so much. I wish I had a computer. I'm thinking about how much I'd like to write about. I haven't even written about last night yet! But it's time to take a break. I do need to write more. But I need to get high to do that. No wonder so many writers are drunks! Okay, I can't stop yet. I'm watching a lesbian sex scene on Canal Sur. I mean, totally naked and graphic. I must say I even find it a bit erotic. But what the hell is this doing here? And are they going to give equal time to the men? Oh, here's a hetero scene. And the guy's not even very attractive. Now, Canal Sur, Andalucía's regional station, usually shows more cultural programs. Lots of music. From 7 - 10 every morning, they have "Tele-Expo." a tri-lingual Expo infomercial giving info on the day's events. Interviews, entertainment, weather from Expo. During the evenings, there are occasional bullfights or Sevillanas. But no, tonight it's a goofy 70s sex movie! Now there's a black woman in a gold lamé bikini rubbing her crotch as she watches the hetero couple roll around and have sex on the lawn. STOP!

// 125,000 people were at Camp Nou for the Olympic soccer final tonight. An incredible game. And won by the home team with a final seconds goal. Amazing. I'm watching another Olympic highlights show on another station. A privatized national channel -- Antennae 3. There's a recap of The Dream Team's presence here in Spain. Incredible publicity. Magic did some appearance "for the kids" at a Barcelona Toys R Us. Weird. But it was a top story on the evening news. Wow. Spain has 13 gold medals. Great. Here's a replay of the archer (from Málaga) who shot the Olympic fire up to the torch at the Opening Ceremonies. And wasn't Prince Felipe so cute carrying the flag? Okay, back to "Playboy Tonight" on Tele-Cinco -- another privatized station. It's a nude beach photo session, This playmate is the daughter of a playmate from 1960. I think they're showing "Cruising" now. I don't think I'll like this. But I'll watch it.