Shark Week
[Roxane Gay / August 5th, 2009 / Shiny ]Poets.org has compiled some shark poems in honor of the best of all weeks, Shark Week!
I am pretty obsessed with this idea of Shark Week. It started as a special on the Discovery Channel in 1987 and now it’s this pop culture phenomenon where other networks and entities are getting in on the shark fun. I read an article that said, “Shark week is back!” as if we had all been waiting, breathlessly for more trivial, yet important information about sharks and their general habits.
Why does something like Shark Week exist? Speculate in the comments.
Vinny Pastorelli, aka Vinny of Vinny and the Sharks, after leaving a lucrative rockabilly career (consisting of 11 number one singles, including the smash, “Shark Summer Sock Hop”) went on to become a Hollywood’s top agent, and later a producer of many of television’s most beloved shows, though many have now faded into the deep recesses of America’s collective memory. Upon his death in 1987 tributes throughout the country were rampant. Including Discovery’s Shark Week which introduced itself using an instrumental piece that had remained previously unreleased from Pastorelli’s wealth of recorded material that had sat for years in his basement. The song was called, “Pastoral Sharks and their Young.”
of course I could be making this all up.
This explains a lot. I appreciate the clarification! (Also, awesome, awesome response.)
i aims to please