Friday, July 30, 2004
Coinage
Last weekend, I found myself wondering who coined the phrase "born on third base and thinks he hit a triple." Thank you Dahlia Lithwick of Slate for letting me know. It was Jim Hightower former Texas Agriculture Commissioner. I found this a bit anti-climatic, I imagined it would be someone I had heard of. Dan, who is far more knowledgeable of obscure political types, tells me he is lefty who writes, but isn't really sure what. Well, if you coin one good line in your life, if you had more than your share.
TV Critics are mad at the Networks
Tom Shales is pissed as all hell at the Networks for not showing more of the convention. Read all about it, as well as his comments on the speeches, and mockery of the cable channels, here, here and here. The one channel to avoid Shales' venom is PBS. I have to say whatever I feel about the Networks decision, I am glad that Jim Lehrer and friends are getting such good ratings.
Since you will probably never go and read all Shales will say (although you should!), here is my favorite line from Thursday's article.
Katie Couric told viewers of yesterday's "Today" show on NBC that Illinois legislator Barack Obama had "electrified" the crowd with his stunningly eloquent speech Tuesday night. Too bad NBC refused to show it. Too bad profit-mad NBC-Universal was determined to air its lame reality shows and sitcom reruns instead.
And then Couric tells us we really should've been there. The networks are just plain nuts.
Robert Bianco of USA Today is also really mad.
Since you will probably never go and read all Shales will say (although you should!), here is my favorite line from Thursday's article.
Katie Couric told viewers of yesterday's "Today" show on NBC that Illinois legislator Barack Obama had "electrified" the crowd with his stunningly eloquent speech Tuesday night. Too bad NBC refused to show it. Too bad profit-mad NBC-Universal was determined to air its lame reality shows and sitcom reruns instead.
And then Couric tells us we really should've been there. The networks are just plain nuts.
Robert Bianco of USA Today is also really mad.
Friday, July 23, 2004
I read too, I promise.
By now, I am sure everyone has heard about the fact that Americans have stopped reading literature, or are at least fewer of them are reading literature. Daniel Henninger had a column about this in last week's Wall Street Journal. My favorite part of his column was this:
Contrary to all instinct, you can't blame this mess on TV. Literary readers average 2.7 hours of TV daily, compared with 3.1 hours for the numbskulls reading either "Diana" or nothing at all.
So there. See us TV watchers are no worse about reading than anyone else. Yay. My theory on the matter is this, if you are engaged with the world you are engaged in all areas, and if you are not, then you are often not engaged in anything. For me, TV isn't entirely a passive, mindless activity. I care about the plotlines, the characters, I get really mad if they are stupid and pleased if they are smart. I feel the same way about things I read. Fiction excites me through all mediums. Thus, television doesn't entirely replace reading, but is simply another manner by which I get my fiction fix. I would like to think that there are plenty of tv watchers with the same attitude.
Contrary to all instinct, you can't blame this mess on TV. Literary readers average 2.7 hours of TV daily, compared with 3.1 hours for the numbskulls reading either "Diana" or nothing at all.
So there. See us TV watchers are no worse about reading than anyone else. Yay. My theory on the matter is this, if you are engaged with the world you are engaged in all areas, and if you are not, then you are often not engaged in anything. For me, TV isn't entirely a passive, mindless activity. I care about the plotlines, the characters, I get really mad if they are stupid and pleased if they are smart. I feel the same way about things I read. Fiction excites me through all mediums. Thus, television doesn't entirely replace reading, but is simply another manner by which I get my fiction fix. I would like to think that there are plenty of tv watchers with the same attitude.
