Chrisotpher Walken Will Never Subscribe to My Newsletter
There's a reason he keeps his inbox free of emails and his feed void of distracting messages.
It may be from a recent interview about Christopher Walken, or it may be old news at this point. But I’ve just learned the truth about the actor who puts the icy stare in any villain and delivers his dialogue in the most emotion-filled of monotones.
He can’t subscribe to my newsletter- or anyone else’s- because he doesn’t use email. Or own a mobile phone. Nor is he connected to the internet for any streaming services.
I guess he never saw what the Oprah Daily Instagram account said about him yesterday.
“I don’t have technology. I only have a satellite dish on my house.” Walken is quoted as saying in the post. “I’ve seen Severance (the AppleTV series where he plays a character named Burt) on DVDs that they’re good enough to send me.”
When I read this, instead of thinking that Walken was an out-of-touch old guy (he’s 81) that can’t keep up with necessary technology, I thought how lucky he is to be able to live life on his terms without the constant connection to non-stop information.
I guess I felt envious of his unplugged life.
Now, being successful for many decades and therefore probably financially comfortable, Walken could have an assistant that manages his email correspondence and important information that’s delivered only electronically.
Not to mention he’s likely got people calling him on his landline or running into him poolside at The Beverly Hilton to offer him acting roles. He’s earned the ability to not have to keep up with the information super-highway because he needs to keep hustling.
Would I prefer to live like Walken with no email, text messages, social media feed (that also needs to be fed), or 24/7 availability of streaming entertainment from any number of devices?
Many days, the answer is yes. I appreciate and use modern technology to feel connected and more in touch, but at the same time I feel refreshed and sort of energized when I’m not able to be “plugged in.”
Would you like to return to the “good old days,” before we had the ability to connect to everything and everyone every waking hour? Or would your life feel empty without the ability to access people and information at any time?
Take The Time Capsule to September 5
Several days before reading about Walken’s non-technical way of living, I saw the film September 5, which details the tragedy of the 1972 Olympics terrorist attacks on Israeli athletes and coaches.
The factual account of the events over less than a 24-hour period is told from the perspective of the ABC Sports broadcast team that is suddenly thrust into the middle of being the only source for live reporting of a major “hard news” story involving politics, terrorism, violence, and, ultimately, the deaths of 17 people.
The team of technicians, producers, and on-air reporters go from covering a barely watched volleyball game to sharing with 90 million viewers worldwide the horrific and shocking events right as they were happening.
The drama of decisions needing to be made and rules broken in order to broadcast the story live is compelling, but what’s interesting to see is the technology those in the story relied on to make this happen.
Imagine reporting on the scene with no mobile phone, no texting, and no electronic feed of photos and video. It was ground-breaking for the ABC Sports team to be able to push a mammoth camera like those shown above (still attached by electric cord to an outlet in the building) out a door to capture a long-range shot of the dormitories where the hostage-taking drama began.
The scenes of the crew using the receiver of a regular telephone (the kind with the round dial!) and taping it to a microphone which then broadcast the voice of a young, rebellious reporter named Peter Jennings as an audio feed to describe what he was seeing from his vantage point near the Israeli athletes’ dorm room make the operation look so amateur.
Yet, they made it work with what they had. Every rule that was broken and hack that was used to broadcast the story happened due to quick decisions, not availability of technology.
Technology has advanced so far in the decades since those Munich Olympics that we now expect live video of news stories as they happen as well as the comments of analysts from a dozen sources to help us process what we’re seeing.
In September 1972, we had just Jim McKay in his bright yellow ABC sport coat, looking us squarely in the eyes and telling us, “They’re all gone.”
Maybe Christopher Walken wants to live in that kind of world where work gets done, art is created, and conversations happen because of smart decisions and people willing to push the envelope and break some rules.
After all, it’s people and bold ideas that make history.
I have been thinking about the very same topic especially after seeing the movie A Complete Unknown a few weeks back. I loved the movie but what really stayed with me was a scene where it showed the table top where Bob Dylan created and wrote music. No smart phone or fancy tech gadget in site. Just a pad of paper and a pen. I was envious and nostalgic for the time period because he seemed to have the freedom to create. No technology distractions and I thought this isn't a man checking his emails or his social media. Thanks for sharing.
Love this! I am so entrenched in technology I feel like I don't know what I'd do without it. And yet it sounds so dang refreshing to just drop it all.