Faking the Fourth

I watched part of the Boston Pops concert on Monday night, as you may recall, but I turned the TV off long before it was fireworks time: I like fireworks, but they're better in person and I needed my sleep. Not to mention that I haven't forgiven the organizers for changing The Way We Do These Things in order to pander to the national audience. (The order is SUPPOSED TO BE: concert including patriotic singalong, 1812 Overture with cannons, and immediately into the fireworks. World without end amen.) All this is a roundabout way of saying that this morning's Globe story was news to me, and I am fit to be tied.

It turns out that the fireworks were not scenic enough, impressive enough, something enough for CBS, what with their annoying location being so far from Boston's famous landmarks. So they did what any moronic insufferable foolhardy creative network would do, and "dubbed" the shots of the fireworks over footage of Fenway Park, the state house, and other landmarks that were inconveniently far from the river, or facing the wrong way, or the other side of Beacon Hill. Why show reality, when it can be improved upon? (As one of the comments on the story said, then why show real fireworks at all? Go for CGI, it's "better".)

Sputter.

Stop it! People watch the Boston fireworks because of what they are, and where they are is part of what they are, and stop it stopstopstop!

Ohhh, I'm going to bed. What a world.