In keeping with the theme of last week's post, here are some more articles worth taking a look at:
First, both James Wolcott and Michael Wolff of Vanity Fair, have blistering pieces in the August edition which are worth the price at the newstand.
Wolcott's piece, ["To Live and Die in Iraq,"] analyzes the lack of media integrity and the tabloidism that surrounds us all at a time when the media should be covering important issues, like what is going on in Iraq. Wolcott takes a particularly harsh view of the annual Washington correspondents dinner, in which Laura Bush lightheartedly mocked her husband. This line gives you the tone of the piece:
[Sidebar: I was able to find it online after all when I goggled it. The link is above].
Wolff's piece, ["How to get away with Murder,"] touches upon some similar issues but more along the lines of, Who are these egomaniacs who get away with corruption over and over and over again and why aren't they in jail?
If you aren't subscribing to VF, you should be. VF is one of the last good monthlies worth your time and it is one of the only magazines I subscribe to because I just don't have the time to read magazines anymore. See previous posts about hot bathes and VF!
However, there are always two to three decent pieces in VF worth reading every month. It is worth the $15 a year. Plus, the ads are always worth a good look - just don't spend too much time wishing you looked like some of those male models or could afford all the latest New York or Italian styles. :) It's never gonna happen!
The importance of local media
During a recent vacation trip to the Cape, I decided our family would stay at an inexpensive motel with the minimum of amenities in order to enjoy the vacation as much as possible at the lowest cost [For example, outdoor and indoor pools are a necessity to keep the family peace; yet wi-fi accessiblity is not so important].
I tend to be a bit on the frugal side when it comes to things like this. Why stay at a $100-plus per night motel when you can get almost the same thing at a $50 per night motel and pocket the difference? Spend it on a nice dinner or wine instead. Plus, you aren't there to be in the motel, are you? You're on the Cape to be out of the motel, doing stuff. Sure, for almost five days I had to live without Internet service. But big deal. I was there to get away from the computer! I was later able to find a low cost kiosk I could use once during the stay just to make sure everything was OK [Later, on the way out of the Cape, I found a local coffee shop with free wi-fi. So, next time, I know where to go].
Having said that, it was shocking to realize just how dependent on the computer and the Web I have become, especially when seeking basic information and communication. With email replacing letters - and many of them of a timely nature - being away from email for any length of time can make things a tad difficult. Also with basic information, such as news, it is getting harder and harder to get it from the usual sources, as noted in the above Wolcott piece.
Having to watch television for real information was a disaster beyond the weather during the period I was on vacation watching Boston and Providence television stations. I was literally starving for information about, well, anything. And this is no surprise: As we all have heard time and time again, five companies control what 80 percent of the public watch on television; another 10 companies control two-thirds of what people hear on the radio. Those big companies don't want you knowing what is going on, whether it is down the street or across the world.
Sure, I know that Jude Law slept with his cute blonde nanny and is now no longer engaged to his hot dirty-blonde B-movie actress fiancee. "Lewd Law" and "Lewd Jude" were just two of the more amusing headlines from the national tabs. But, unfortunately, I don't know much about what is going on in Iraq, which is much more important than anything some stupid actor has done or will do.
Thankfully, there was a local newspaper and radio station which kept me informed during my stay trying to "get away from it all ..."
On the radio side, I was looking forward to checking out WADT 95.9 FM out of Marshfield. The station has won a slew of Associated Press and Edward R. Murrow Awards over the years and was even recently featured in a segment on Channel 2's "Greater Boston." The highlight of the show? The local owner and his news staff. They have three regular news staffers and the owner even goes out into the field to get stories! He was a funny old guy and you could tell his heart was in the right place. And all the awards on the wall signify as much too. In between the news, the station plays pop oldies - anywhere from the Beach Boys, to Blondie, to 1970s AM Gold - which isn't a bad mix. It is a pretty neat setup although the news didn't impress me as much as I hoped it would. There was AP National News at the top of the hour, some good local stories, mostly local government stuff, with some reports from the State House and traffic reports. But there wasn't anything that blew me away in the sense that this station is award-winning. Maybe it was because it was the summertime and news is, as we all know, slow in the summer. Or, maybe it is because there are so few small market radio stations in New England doing what these guys are doing. Plus, awards tend to be the best of the year. Not every broadcast is award-winning, despite the work you put into it.
I loved the live traffic reports during the afternoon drive from listeners. That was really great.
Over on the print side, I really enjoyed reading the Cape Cod Times. A broadsheet, the Times seemed to have just the right amount of content although I noticed on Tuesday and Wednesday that there were few local stories. The Sunday edition was great; just enough stuff to read without starting to get too overwhelming.
Of course, I have been reading columnist Sean Gonsalves for a very long time because his columns are often picked up by Common Dreams. So, it was nice to actually see him in print instead of online.
In the Sunday Forum section, there was this great piece by Jay Lindsay of the AP about the importance of the printing press and a museum in North Andover honoring its history: ["Museum Shows Power of the Printing Press"].
On Wednesday, the Times put the John Roberts Jr. nomination on the front page, like other papers around the country. The local reporter, Jessica Alaimo, was able to put together a quick story with some press releases from both Kerry and Kennedy.
Interestingly, Kennedy, the supposed great "liberal lion" of the Senate, went off on Roberts, saying that some of the questions the Senate must ask of Roberts included, Will he protect average Americans when their rights are abused by powerful corporations?; and, Will he separate his personal ideology from the rule of law and protect the rights and freedoms of all Americans and not just the powerful or the wealthy? The same could be asked of the senior senator from Massachusetts, the same senator who voted for NAFTA, GATT/WTO, and PMFN trade status for China. The same senator who has voted for hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate welfare and bloated military budgets. Sigh.
Other stuff
Primary movers: Adam Reilly over at the Boston Phoenix has an update on the Democrat's primary situation: ["Primary movers"]. I doubt New Hampshire or Iowa would lose their status but it would be fun to set up an interesting and invigorating process in states after Iowa and New Hampshire.
Borking history: Speaking of the SCOTUS, check out this overview by FAIR of revisionist history concerning the Robert Bork nomination: ["Borking" History]. I especially love the way the FAIR folks just dive into LexusNexus and find out all this stuff. That would be a very cool job!
Oil rich starvation: ["3.6 million face starvation in Niger if the world does not respond"] Millions are starving in Niger yet Chevron and Shell continue to pump oil and make millions. Why aren't the people being taken care of there?
A wake up call for Mitchell: Well, don't like the way you're being treated, eh? Maybe you shouldn't be where you are. Or, maybe our government shouldn't be where it is. Or, maybe, just maybe, you are getting a wake up call about what the rest of the world is going through when the butt of a gun is smacking you in the head for doing nothing more than existing or wanting your freedom. Eh, Mitchell, wife of Alan Greenspan, controller of the world's financial markets? ["NBC's Mitchell Angry After Sudan Incident"].
First, both James Wolcott and Michael Wolff of Vanity Fair, have blistering pieces in the August edition which are worth the price at the newstand.
Wolcott's piece, ["To Live and Die in Iraq,"] analyzes the lack of media integrity and the tabloidism that surrounds us all at a time when the media should be covering important issues, like what is going on in Iraq. Wolcott takes a particularly harsh view of the annual Washington correspondents dinner, in which Laura Bush lightheartedly mocked her husband. This line gives you the tone of the piece:
It's hard for cable-news networks to amp up the umpteenth American soldier killed by a roadside explosive or another bushel of Iraqi recruits blown to scatteration when it's so much juicier chasing the lastest "Amber Alert" for an abducted white girl, choppering over a tense hostage standoff, or swarming the hot celebrity trial that's inciting Nancy Grace to spit tacks at any defense lawyer who dares defend his or her client (you know, just on the quaint off chance that the bozo might be innocent).Wow, what prose. It brilliantly goes on and on from there. You can't read it online but Wolcott has a blog here: [James Wolcott].
[Sidebar: I was able to find it online after all when I goggled it. The link is above].
Wolff's piece, ["How to get away with Murder,"] touches upon some similar issues but more along the lines of, Who are these egomaniacs who get away with corruption over and over and over again and why aren't they in jail?
Yup, the planet is going to hell in a handbasket.DeLay, Trump, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, and Sharpton (each, in his way, a gargoyle, grotesque, troglodyte) are surely unlikely heroes - they just did what came naturally (you may doubt their sincerity, but you don't doubt that their shtick is real), and perhaps it's as great a surprise to them as it is to so many reasonable people that they found an audience.
This is a pop-culture phenomenon (the legacy of rock 'n' roll and cable culminating in reality television): lots of people paying you to be as distasteful as you are, with so much money involved that you're raised from freak-show standing—so even Michael Jackson gets away with it.
Indeed, with a mass of outspoken loyalists and a substantial enough cash flow to keep happy the people who would otherwise abandon you in a second, you don't have to pretend to be something other than what you are. You're branded.
If you aren't subscribing to VF, you should be. VF is one of the last good monthlies worth your time and it is one of the only magazines I subscribe to because I just don't have the time to read magazines anymore. See previous posts about hot bathes and VF!
However, there are always two to three decent pieces in VF worth reading every month. It is worth the $15 a year. Plus, the ads are always worth a good look - just don't spend too much time wishing you looked like some of those male models or could afford all the latest New York or Italian styles. :) It's never gonna happen!
The importance of local media
During a recent vacation trip to the Cape, I decided our family would stay at an inexpensive motel with the minimum of amenities in order to enjoy the vacation as much as possible at the lowest cost [For example, outdoor and indoor pools are a necessity to keep the family peace; yet wi-fi accessiblity is not so important].
I tend to be a bit on the frugal side when it comes to things like this. Why stay at a $100-plus per night motel when you can get almost the same thing at a $50 per night motel and pocket the difference? Spend it on a nice dinner or wine instead. Plus, you aren't there to be in the motel, are you? You're on the Cape to be out of the motel, doing stuff. Sure, for almost five days I had to live without Internet service. But big deal. I was there to get away from the computer! I was later able to find a low cost kiosk I could use once during the stay just to make sure everything was OK [Later, on the way out of the Cape, I found a local coffee shop with free wi-fi. So, next time, I know where to go].
Having said that, it was shocking to realize just how dependent on the computer and the Web I have become, especially when seeking basic information and communication. With email replacing letters - and many of them of a timely nature - being away from email for any length of time can make things a tad difficult. Also with basic information, such as news, it is getting harder and harder to get it from the usual sources, as noted in the above Wolcott piece.
Having to watch television for real information was a disaster beyond the weather during the period I was on vacation watching Boston and Providence television stations. I was literally starving for information about, well, anything. And this is no surprise: As we all have heard time and time again, five companies control what 80 percent of the public watch on television; another 10 companies control two-thirds of what people hear on the radio. Those big companies don't want you knowing what is going on, whether it is down the street or across the world.
Sure, I know that Jude Law slept with his cute blonde nanny and is now no longer engaged to his hot dirty-blonde B-movie actress fiancee. "Lewd Law" and "Lewd Jude" were just two of the more amusing headlines from the national tabs. But, unfortunately, I don't know much about what is going on in Iraq, which is much more important than anything some stupid actor has done or will do.
Thankfully, there was a local newspaper and radio station which kept me informed during my stay trying to "get away from it all ..."
On the radio side, I was looking forward to checking out WADT 95.9 FM out of Marshfield. The station has won a slew of Associated Press and Edward R. Murrow Awards over the years and was even recently featured in a segment on Channel 2's "Greater Boston." The highlight of the show? The local owner and his news staff. They have three regular news staffers and the owner even goes out into the field to get stories! He was a funny old guy and you could tell his heart was in the right place. And all the awards on the wall signify as much too. In between the news, the station plays pop oldies - anywhere from the Beach Boys, to Blondie, to 1970s AM Gold - which isn't a bad mix. It is a pretty neat setup although the news didn't impress me as much as I hoped it would. There was AP National News at the top of the hour, some good local stories, mostly local government stuff, with some reports from the State House and traffic reports. But there wasn't anything that blew me away in the sense that this station is award-winning. Maybe it was because it was the summertime and news is, as we all know, slow in the summer. Or, maybe it is because there are so few small market radio stations in New England doing what these guys are doing. Plus, awards tend to be the best of the year. Not every broadcast is award-winning, despite the work you put into it.
I loved the live traffic reports during the afternoon drive from listeners. That was really great.
Over on the print side, I really enjoyed reading the Cape Cod Times. A broadsheet, the Times seemed to have just the right amount of content although I noticed on Tuesday and Wednesday that there were few local stories. The Sunday edition was great; just enough stuff to read without starting to get too overwhelming.
Of course, I have been reading columnist Sean Gonsalves for a very long time because his columns are often picked up by Common Dreams. So, it was nice to actually see him in print instead of online.
In the Sunday Forum section, there was this great piece by Jay Lindsay of the AP about the importance of the printing press and a museum in North Andover honoring its history: ["Museum Shows Power of the Printing Press"].
On Wednesday, the Times put the John Roberts Jr. nomination on the front page, like other papers around the country. The local reporter, Jessica Alaimo, was able to put together a quick story with some press releases from both Kerry and Kennedy.
Interestingly, Kennedy, the supposed great "liberal lion" of the Senate, went off on Roberts, saying that some of the questions the Senate must ask of Roberts included, Will he protect average Americans when their rights are abused by powerful corporations?; and, Will he separate his personal ideology from the rule of law and protect the rights and freedoms of all Americans and not just the powerful or the wealthy? The same could be asked of the senior senator from Massachusetts, the same senator who voted for NAFTA, GATT/WTO, and PMFN trade status for China. The same senator who has voted for hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate welfare and bloated military budgets. Sigh.
Other stuff
Primary movers: Adam Reilly over at the Boston Phoenix has an update on the Democrat's primary situation: ["Primary movers"]. I doubt New Hampshire or Iowa would lose their status but it would be fun to set up an interesting and invigorating process in states after Iowa and New Hampshire.
Borking history: Speaking of the SCOTUS, check out this overview by FAIR of revisionist history concerning the Robert Bork nomination: ["Borking" History]. I especially love the way the FAIR folks just dive into LexusNexus and find out all this stuff. That would be a very cool job!
Oil rich starvation: ["3.6 million face starvation in Niger if the world does not respond"] Millions are starving in Niger yet Chevron and Shell continue to pump oil and make millions. Why aren't the people being taken care of there?
A wake up call for Mitchell: Well, don't like the way you're being treated, eh? Maybe you shouldn't be where you are. Or, maybe our government shouldn't be where it is. Or, maybe, just maybe, you are getting a wake up call about what the rest of the world is going through when the butt of a gun is smacking you in the head for doing nothing more than existing or wanting your freedom. Eh, Mitchell, wife of Alan Greenspan, controller of the world's financial markets? ["NBC's Mitchell Angry After Sudan Incident"].
No comments:
Post a Comment