As a regular contributor to Perspectives, I’ve developed a new perspective, pun intended, for the skills of radio hosts and the high level of performance they bring to their craft.
One of my favorite movies is “V for Vendetta,” the brilliant 2005 dystopian drama starring Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman. I watch the movie regularly and am particularly mesmerized by what’s known as “V’s Opening Monologue,” where Weaving’s character, V, first meets the character played by Portman.
Reading aloud these 126 words helps me untie my own tongue when I’m struggling to string together my latest 90-second piece. And, it gives me a new appreciation for radio pros who seem never to miss a beat, given the fact they’re doing it live, often talking off the cuff or reading complicated scripts, and without the benefit of multiple takes.
The monologue goes like this:
“Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.”
You may call me Wester Wuori, and that’s my Perspective.
