At the Movies
Today in the Sun-Times (Still 35 cents!), Roger Ebert writes one of the best movie reviews I've read in a long time.
What movie does he review? It doesn't matter. And that's the point. A movie review should be interesting and hold your attention even if you don't know a thing about the film. The lead paragraph in this review is superb.
Input by Scot at 1:17 PM
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
Holy golden nuggets!
Input by Mike at
7:58 PM
Bug me not
A neat way to get around registering for access to online newspapers. Bugmenot.
Input by Mike at
6:52 PM
Air America Radio, The Left AM
So, it appears the much-ado, thankfully-not-named-Indie-Network, politically-left radio network Air America is about to dive into the pool with air-time locked in New York, here in Chicago and a handful of other cities.
I've decided to create a short list of both reasons it could succeed and reasons it could fail; this way, I'll be right regardless of what happens.
Reasons Air America Could Succeed
1. Al Franken - He's funny. The guy is good at sifting through rhetoric and has become the classic antithesis of Rush Limbaugh because of it. Accordingly, he's been able to hold his ground in debate against conservative rhetoricians like Sean Hannity. A name I've seen for his program is the O'Franken Factor. Cute.
2. Jeaneane Garofalo - She's funny! Another talented comedi person and the Hannity killer for the network... Because Sean Hannity is so Rah-Rah-publican and so so unentertaining to listen to if you disagree with him, Garofalo stands an excellent chance of picking up stray listeners (even conservatives) who are tired of that idiotic Hannity theme song.
3. Political Satire - It's funny!! Liberal, conservative, it doesn't matter... Satire is unassuming and coy. Basically, AAR has assembled representatives from every quality poltical satire entity in the past decade. Franken is from Saturday Night Live, Garofalo was involved with Michael Moore's TV projects, Lizz Winstead is somewhere in the mix and a co-creator of the Daily Show. Is that gold or is that platinum? You can decide.
4. There is a Void - Liberals who are tired of repetitive music stations have escaped to talk radio along with their conservative brethren. They listen to conservative programming and end up calling in to complain, at which point they are obliterated by well-trained conservative hosts. Yes, there are liberal talk radio hosts even on otherwise conservative networks, but the conservatives are the ones moving up in ranks (for whatever reason). Somewhere there is a market, and you need only listen to Rush Limbaugh for a few minutes to hear voices from it.
Reasons Air America Could Fail
1. Al Franken - We'll start with the easy points here... Franken comments on commentators. Now that he has his own show, he's going to be unable to listen to and study those commentators (**cough**Rush**cough**) and direct commentary has to be the center of the show. While we've seen Franken push policy, it's generally been in the wings. On a side note, how many weeks before trying to call in to Limbaugh's show becomes a regular staple?
2. Garofalo - Her fame is from generic comedy. Yes, she's been vocal about political issues, and being vocal is the basic prerequisite for radio. But is she going to be able to spit out dates, cases and records like her counterparts whose mainstream identity was born from political debate? Maybe. If she's not at the start, it's going to take her some time to get into the swing of things... Is she going to be interested enough in this program to stick with it that long? As much as she is an asset, she is also a tremendously large question mark.
3. NPR - In the radio world, NPR is like a badge of courage for the liberal educated and political talk is unbearable schlock. Is it going to be necessary for AAR to pull liberal listeners from NPR (where they've found refuge from the likes of Limbaugh)? Is it possible given the social status of NPR? Not saying NPR is liberal, just saying it is something of a haven.
4. What Good's the Radio? - Franken, for one, admits he is in this deal partly as an effort to get Bush not-elected come November. But add a lack of radio experience with talk radio's traditional impotence when it comes to presidential elections, and you could get frustration... especially for investors. Ask yourself. What good did Limbaugh ever do? The AAR website itself places the foundation of conservative talk radio in 1988 when a (R) was in the Oval Office, which boomed through 1992... when Bill Clinton (D) won the presidency. It continued to steadily grow through 1996 when... Bill Clinton (D) won again. After the 2000 election results, certain individuals (including candidate Al Gore) began partly blaming talk radio for Bush's win (robbery, of course, was the major complaint). Thus, the polterzeitgeist was born. But it's never proved to be anything substantial; it's obsessing over gnats while you're getting stung by bees. Here's a column on this issue from a liberal perspective in an effort to prove I'm not being ridiculous with this point.
Anyway, I think I've covered my bases. Back to you.
Input by Mike at
6:32 PM
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Traditions I Don't Understand
Sorry. Feeling a little brain-fried today so no diatribes.
But here's a link to a Mid-East tradition I don't understand yet find fascinating... The aforementioned link.
If anyone's interested, I changed the splash page over at the Nation of Legacy sub-site as part of my ongoing effort to beat the worldly excesses from RF leaving a much purer, better site.
Input by Mike at
11:50 PM
Monday, March 01, 2004
Dispatches from the Commonwealth
Been a fan of Scott Miller since he assembled the Commonwealth and released Thus Always To Tyrants so I was excited to read about a recent whistle-stop tour on the Amtrack Crescent. Jack Neely of Knoxville's MetroPulse stayed along for the ride and crafted "This Train Goes On" a long form piece of rock journalism that blends remnants of the Civil War, public transportation and rock and roll into a portrayal of region-by-region perceptions of Miller on this interesting tour.
Input by Mike at
5:55 PM
Porn on Beta
A couple weeks ago, I was casting out the question, "Was porn ever made on beta?" Not because of a particular desire or need for it, but because of the popular legend that the porn industry's exclusive support for VHS was a major force in the demise of Betamax. You most commonly hear the story in conjunction with a defense of porn's importance in driving new technology particularly the internet. If the accounts are correct, then porn on beta is something of legendary status in the annals of antiquated technology. One band from Vancouver, at least, has acknowledged this (although, their bio avoids it).
Unfortunately, the answer I fished up wasn't nearly as exciting as the mythos of the question.
One respondent attested to owning a fairly large collection of porn on beta.... which ruins my hope that such an item is a monumental rarity. He also claims that the fall of beta mostly had to do with aggressive marketing of VHS by JVC, including some ultra-discounted distribution in the professional market. (This may be where the porn myth arises.) The claims seem backed up by the Urban Legend archive, which outlines the marketing battle and resulting price war.
As much as I hate to abandon this novel story, it appears the facts are forcing me to do so.
Input by Mike at
2:35 PM
Sunday, February 29, 2004
The Funny Thing About Putin
The funny thing about Putin is the way he says, "I had nothing to do with this," with a clear and present wink. The ex-KGB colonel just pounds the opposition with every tactic he's got, but expects (and gets) people to just nod along.
In the last election, he answered the question "What's your policy?" with "I won't tell." Does the fact that he wins with only murmurs from the opposition mean that he's a genius or a bully or maybe just an ex-KGB colonel in politics?
Input by Mike at
10:18 AM
