Personal Note: Inaugural

[nebroadwe]

So, like a lot of other people, I'm watching the U.S. inaugural festivities -- in my case, streamed live over the Internet by C-SPAN, whose point-the-camera-at-the-event-and-let-it-run style I enjoy. You get to see and hear more interesting stuff that way. For instance, I'm not sure whose idea it was to include "The Liberty Bell March" among the Sousa tunes being broadcast over the Mall around 8:30 EST when I tuned in, but it amused me greatly to have my inaugural coverage begin with the theme from Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Right as I started this post, C-SPAN showed the House of Representatives, gathering in their chamber for a bit of business and to congregate before heading out to the inauguration. The man occupying the Speaker's chair this morning, one Jerry Costello (who looks amazingly like Bob Newhart), was explaining how the members of the House would get to their places on the platform. (Just the sitting members -- no former members, no spouses, no children, no friends. It's sitting room only at the West Portico.) He finished by saying, "Members will proceed from the chamber in order of seniority. Let me repeat: members will proceed in order of seniority."

Immediately the chamber erupted in good-natured cat-calling and boo-hissing. One voice rose above the rest: "Mr. Speaker! Mr. Speaker! Point of order! The procession should proceed alphabetically!"

Amid the subsequent laughter, Mr. Costello, with a twinkle, replied, "The gentleman from Hawaii is not recognized."

One assumes the gentleman from Hawaii was Mr. Neil Abercrombie. :-)

ETA: Lost my C-SPAN feed, argh, and am currently watching the only other stream not overloaded to the point of closure, from the senate.gov website. It's groaning under the strain, though, so I'm only seeing every other ten seconds of the events in question. (They are not without features of interest -- as, for instance, when former President George H. W. Bush first returned the salute of the honor guard and then gave the soldier to his right a little "doing-a-great-job-there-son" pat on the hip. Or when the closed captions read "CHEESE AND APPLAUSE" for former President Bill Clinton.) I suspect President Barack Obama's inaguration speech is worth hearing in its entirety, however. Thank goodness for the evening news and YouTube.

ETA 2: And C-SPAN is back, in time for me to watch the new president out himself as a member of an oppressed minority during his first official act: "I'm a lefty. Get used to it."

ETA 3: Eighteenth-century re-enactors round out the military review in front of the Capitol. I am charmed.

ETA 4: Home again, having been catechized for much of the trip by a woman of decided opinions who believes that President Obama is a sockpuppet for the Illuminati. Sigh.

Comments

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I was watching on BBC America, which tends toward less sappy and intrusive commentary than the US networks.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I envy you access to BBC America. I used to be able to count on my local PBS station to get all the good stuff from the UK, but now ... sigh.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I'm a sad, sad satellite TV addict. If I had to do some serious financial budget-cutting, the satellite TV would be the last luxury to go.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I'm still taking over-the-air broadcast, because while it would be nice to have access to satellite or cable, I don't watch enough to justify the expense. Or so I keep telling myself ...