Ceremony’s Ross Farrar Reflects On 14 Hours of Watching TV

Ceremony

Photo JIMMY FONTAINE

Here’s what happens when you ask a hardcore singer–in this case, Ceremony’s Ross Farrar–to spend an entire day watching TV and share every mind-numbing minute:

And now that you’ve read the story that ran in our free iPad magazine, this is what Farrar thinks about the aftermath…

I wouldn’t do this again. I’ve become increasingly cynical, and I think most of that has to do with anxiety about the future. I keep thinking of what would happen if I did this all the time, what would happen if I was constantly distracted. My thoughts keep getting interrupted by ‘Family Guy’, ‘Friends’, ‘Futurama’, all these shows, which are extremely witty, fast and very easy to watch. I do this, and eat ice cream simultaneously, and drink a few beers afterwards, and sleep, ‘and wake to hot breakfast.’

There wasn’t much ‘reality’ show watching today, which I thought would have taken up more time. Fifty-percent of it was focused on commercials. Those are always the hardest to swallow. Often, women are portrayed as men’s play things, or unintelligent, or in the case above–bacon. Men can be portrayed as similar, and even more unintelligent, or worse. I don’t know how the people in charge of televising this stuff don’t get reprimanded. I don’t know why we put up with it. It says something about us. That we’re incapable of speaking our mind, that in their eyes we’re easily placed–people about gross food, unnatural death, plastic parts and synthetic energy drinks. I know most of all of us know this, and that writing it down usually repeats the obvious and tires the mind. I know that it’s supposed to be in good humor, that we should be able to put up with bad jokes forever, but it’s really a bore. A poet’s mother told him once, “To be bored means you have no inner resources.” That’s what happened to me today, except I volunteered no inner resources.

Entertainment comes in many forms. People get their kicks in countless ways. Some days I really enjoy watching television. That’s strange. I suppose it’s because of the numbing of the mind. It doesn’t take much, and that is a comfort, which will always be comforting–sad, but very real.

Ceremony’s new album, Zoo, is available now through Matador. Check out some screen grabs from Farrar’s TV party below…