Monday, April 12, 2004
Freedom from drivel trend alert
We are about ready to disconnect DirecTV and sink the money into Netflix or something similar. There is just so much drivel on that it is not worth the monthly fees.
I wonder how this would change the equation for documentary film makers? Could this be an alternate distribution channel? I find some similarities to what is going on at the Public Radio Exchange. Their goal is to produce a bridge between independent producers and public radio stations.
Heavier weather
Going to D.C. today and the weather sucks.
Not like home.
Consider the resource
Om's tour of India is some of the best mo'porting I've read lately. Dig this stuff about the outsourcing market.
Politically incorrect dining
Had dinner at Zorba's in Baltimore's Greek district last night. As it says here, the grilled meat (we had pork and lamb) was outstanding.
The downstairs dining area is between the bar and the kitchen, and the service was good. The waitress visited between cigarettes (near as I could tell, we were the only nonsmokers in the place), while we enjoyed watching two silent TVs tuned to different shows while loud Greek music played over conversation that included more Greek than English.
Highly recommended.
Legalize free speech
It's a shame that we're busy fighting for freedom and liberty abroad while continuing to stifle it at home. In The New Puritanism Spreads, Jeff Jarvis reports that Victoria's Secret has cancelled its TV show, no doubt terrorized, literally, by the prospect of Xtreme punishment for the showing of breasts and other forms of "indecency" as redefined by America's Taliban. Sez Jeff, America is undergoing a mass mastectomy.
Bonus link: Creative Community Lobbies to Delay Indecency Vote, linked to by Britt.
Debate vs. the alternative
Micah Sifry wonders why Americans want to "finish the job" in Iraq. Better, he thinks, to call for early elections, internationally supervised, designed to allow Iraqis to represent themselves.
But representation is one part of democracy. Governance is another. Are these people(s) ready to govern themselves? Does interim government we've installed even begin to have the legitimacy it needs? Can the international community be trusted to bring democracy (and, even more importantly peace) to Iraq when (Roger Simon tells us) it mostly supports neither in Iran?
I believe the answer is that, deep down, they agree with Tony Blair, and his reasoning, even though all they get from George W. Bush is what Andrew Sullivan kindly labels "silence and inarticulacy."
This is complicated stuff. There are no easy answers.
My heart never wanted us in Iraq, and wants us out as soon as possible. But my gut tells me otherwise, mostly because, American that I am, I feel a sense of obligation to a people we set out to rescue and cannot abandon.
The two argue. They read Omar and Zeyad and Salaam and Josh and River, and reach no conclusion. Kind of like the war itself.
[Later...] A response I tend to agree with from Scott Reynen.
Conversation conservation
C-SPAN has a radio station in Washington: WCSP/90.1fm. Strange that what I find so boring on television — people talking, debating, reporting, trying to sell an idea or get to the bottom of a complex issue — becomes so compelling on radio. Last night I listened for a few minutes to some guy, I don't know who it was, clearly an insider friendly to the Administration and highly informed about everything that's going on, give thoughtful, informative and reasoned answers to deep questions that clearly vexed him as much as they did the questioner. I don't know the context (an interview? a congressional hearing?), but the content was compelling for anyone who thought the subjects at hand mattered deeply.
Made me wish it was on everywhere. So I found out by looking at the Web site this morning that it's on both XM and Sirius satellite radio. Made me wonder... why is NPR only on Sirius? Why not XM too?