In 1961, 34-year-old Newton Minow gave his very first speech as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. In it he called network television a "vast wasteland." Minow's candor earned him national scorn, ridicule and everlasting infamy when Gilligan's Island producer Sherwood Schwartz named the castaway's wrecked boat the Minnow in his honor. I was reminded … Continue reading Surveying the ‘television landscape’
Category: blog
The numbers are in
I love ProPublica, a website entirely devoted to investigative news. Today they posted a fantastic new rundown of statistics on what exactly the Bush Administration has accomplished. Some stats show real progress over the last eight years (AIDS funding is up!) while others show some real decline in society (deportations are way up, too!). With … Continue reading The numbers are in
Correction!
How quaint and immodest that title looks to me, considering I have, what, three actual readers? I'm kidding, of course. I have four. Anyway, it's come to my attention (thanks Ellen!) that Cornel Bonca's outstanding piece on David Foster Wallace that's running in this week's LA City Beat and that I wrote about here actually … Continue reading Correction!
RIP DFW
David Foster Wallace has long been one of my inspirations. A master of the English language, DFW could string together impossibly long sentences, replete with colorful descriptions, conservational prose and, every now and then, completely made up mathematical formulae. It made no difference what he was writing; Infinite Jest is a delightful monster of a novel; … Continue reading RIP DFW
How to sell a dead actor
Going to run with the idea of commodifying human beings (especially dead ones) a bit more. Today's Los Angeles Times has a fascinating article on the "tough balancing act" Warner Brothers is trying to maintain as it markets the movie The Dark Knight to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Reporter Rachel Abramowitz … Continue reading How to sell a dead actor
Ask for Obama by name
Nice to read today that Barack Obama has officially reached that uniquely American achievement of becoming a brand. "While many local tour companies now are offering visits to the old stomping grounds of President-elect Barack Obama, at least a dozen companies are using the Oahu-born politician's name in their trademark or trade name," reports today's … Continue reading Ask for Obama by name
Watching The Great American Giveaway
Anyone not getting enough misery and disgust in their lives really ought to turn on C-SPAN right now and watch the Senate Banking Committee hearings on whether to bail-out the Big Three automakers. A month ago Ford CEO Alan Mulally, GM CEO Rick Wagoner and Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli flew to Washington in private jets … Continue reading Watching The Great American Giveaway
Lies, news and Afghanistan
Thanks to the always-uplifting Center for Media and Democracy, I just learned that at a time when President-elect Barack Obama is apparently planning all sorts of new and wild things for our relatively small but intensifying war in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, the commander of NATO forces there, is merging the military office in charge … Continue reading Lies, news and Afghanistan
Linda Lingle’s the one!
Somehow, 49 governors and governors-elect managed to attend President-elect Barack Obama's big meeting in Philadelphia today. Guess who didn't show? That's right, our own lovely and talented Linda Lingle, governor of the Great State of Hawaii. During the election, Lingle repeatedly made herself look a lot dumber than she is by publicly denigrating Obama's Hawaii roots. Now … Continue reading Linda Lingle’s the one!
Bankruptcy: It’s Fantastic!
Seems that a lot of us, at least in Hawaii, are following old Hawaiian Telcom into Chapter 7, 11 and 13 lands. "A review of U.S. Bankruptcy Court filings shows there were 215 filings in November, the most in any month this year," says this Honolulu Advertiser story. "That was a 72 percent increase from … Continue reading Bankruptcy: It’s Fantastic!
Anthony Pignataro 