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Friday, August 09, 2002
Comics and Consumerism Today's Blondie sums up one of the things I like about magazines. 
Thanks to the Washington Post. Workaday World IV With the September issue, Fast Company launches a new design and content architecture. We've developed a Web tour to introduce the new look and feel to people, to explain why we made some of the changes, and to garner feedback. If you're using IE 6.0 and the above link doesn't work, try this one. Thursday, August 08, 2002
Technofetishism XV A couple of friends recently gave me access to their MP3 servers, and I've been snagging songs for the past few days. One even allows me to tinker around with OS X's Terminal, which has been a fun way to return to my early VT100 days. Kinda neat to think along those lines again. Anyway, the purpose of this entry is mostly to geek to several solid Chicago bands that y'all should be aware of -- similar to my Wisconsin band name drops in my July 25 "The Red... Sux!" entry. What are those bands? Seek and enjoy, people! Rules for Fools XI Rule No. 14: All Media Dieticians are encouraged to adhere to the following behavioral guidelines:
The above was written as a disciplinary interlude for a forthcoming Anchormen show, if there be rowdies. Interesting or irritating? You decide. From the In Box: Event-O-Dex VI The New York Times spotlights your friends' play "In The Wire." -- Kathy Biehl Well, what do you know? They do. You might need a New York Times membership to access this article. Pieces, Particles VII The following media-related stories recently spotted in print publications might be worth a look. Heads and decks, only. Heads and decks. Ballbuster, by Art Spiegelman, The New Yorker, July 22, 2002 Bernard Krigstein's life between the panels. Blog, by William Safire, The New York Times Magazine, July 28, 2002 Do a million hits make a word? Burma-Shave, by Ricki Thompson, Highlights for Children, August 2002 Burma-Shave signs did more than sell shaving cream. The Comic Side of Vincente Fox, by Ginger Thompson, The New York Times, July 28, 2002 Consuming Passions, by Dan Bischoff, Ms., December 2000 Can advertisers be activists? When corporations tie their ad campaigns to social causes, their motives are often called into question. The Curse of Kryptonite, by Terrence Rafferty, GQ, August 2002 With the world's villains more fiendish than ever, Hollywood's use of comic-book superheroes seems clumsy and lacking in wit. Where was the Man of Steel on September 11? The Death Beat, by Mark Singer, The New Yorker, July 8, 2002 What happens when a bunch of obituary writers get together. Dysfunction for Dollars, by Pat Jordan, The New York Times Magazine, July 28, 2002 Dave Pelzer has one subject -- himself, as an abused child. He may not have been, but that hasn't stopped his readers from buying millions of his books. The End of the Digital Gold Rush, by Suzan Revah, American Journalism Review, October 2001 In chronicling the dizzying rise and fall of the Bay Area's online journalism economy, a San Francisco writer realizes that she has lived the story. Free at Last, by Leif Utne, Utne Reader, May-June 2002 The burgeoning "copyleft" movement is reshaping the idea of intellectual property Going Local, by John Morton, American Journalism Review, October 2001 A new breed of free papers springs up in cities with already-established dailies. Goodbye to All That, by Tom Carson, Esquire, December 2001 What TV and Hollywood got right and wrong about September 11 -- before, during, and after Heropolis, The Economist, May 18, 2002 Superheroes don't commute The Hidden Life of Your Television, by Matt Weiser, Sierra, July/August 2002 Holden at Fifty, by Louis Menand, The New Yorker, October 1, 2001 "The Catcher in the Rye" and what it spawned Hooked, by Clea Simon, Ms., December 2000 The average person in the U.S. is bombarded with over 3,000 ads a day, says activist Jean Kilbourne. Is it any wonder we're addicted? The Hot or Not Guys, by Adam Green, The New Yorker, July 8, 2002 How Far Down Can You Dumb?, The Economist, July 20, 2002 Neun Live is trying to make cheesy interactive television pay How to Be a Writer, by Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, October 15, 2001 What goes on at America's most competitive literary conference? How to Win Support and Influence Your Community, by Sarah Hutt, Communication Arts, May/June 2002 Huey Freeman, American Hero, by John Nichols, Utne Reader, May-June 2002 Sure, he's a cartoon character, but it still takes guts to speak out Issues with Birds, by Noah Strycker, Birder's World, August 2002 Ever wonder which bird is most likely to be pictured in a birding magazine? Man's Best Friend, by Peter de Jonge, The New York Times Magazine, July 21, 2002 Who cares about the game? How sportscasters evolved from experts to baby sitters for a nation of lonely guys. Monday Evening Quarterback, by Michael Silver, Sports Illustrated, July 29, 2002 John Madden (Bam!) is coming (Boom!) to Monday Night Football (Pow!), and he's got a plan (Ouch!) to save ABC's bacon News Flash! Geek Guys Are Hot, by Stephanie Trong, YM, August 2002 Six reasons to go for a misfit On Politics and Puppetry, Orion Afield, Winter 2000/01 An interview with Peter Schumann of Bread and Puppet Theater On the Air, by Adam Green, The New Yorker, July 22, 2002 East End Oldie A Proposal to American Labor, by Richard B. Freeman and Joel Rogers, The Nation, June 24, 2002 Let's create "open-source unions," and welcome millions into the movement. Public Mailboxes on Postcards, by Barry Krause, Postcard Collector, August 2002 Rethinking the Think Tanks, by Curtis Moore, Sierra, July/August 2002 How industry-funded "experts" twist the environmental debate. Riders on the Storm, by John Densmore, The Nation, July 8, 2002 Why The Doors don't open when corporate ads come calling R.I.P. for D.I.Y. by George Musser, Scientific American, May 2002 Science tinkerers continue to take it on the chin The Sailors' Magazine and Seamen's Friend, by Timothy Harrison, Lighthouse Digest, July 2002 The Talent Myth, by Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, July 22, 2002 Are smart people overrated? That's Militainment!, by Ian Frazier, Mother Jones, July/August 2002 What do you get when you mix the war machine and Warner Bros.? A Hollywood ending, of course. The Trees Fight Back, The Economist, July 6, 2002 Should old media embrace blogging? A Truly Outstanding Article, by Ray Nedzel, Utne Reader, May-June 2002 Never before has anything ever been this fantastic, amazing, excellent. Unquestionably. A Vexing Problem, A Definition of a Boating Magazine, and the Jangled Nerve Quotient, by Peter H. Spectre, Maine Boats & Harbors, Autumn 2002 William S. Young's Short Lines and Steam, by John Gruber, Classic Trains, Summer 2002 A master storyteller of the small side of railroading If you work for a magazine and would like to sign me up for a complimentary subscription, please feel free to do so. My address is in the grey bar over on the left. Comics and Commerce Today's edition of the Boston Herald reports that Heritage Comics Auctions will handle the sale of Nicolas Cage's comic-book collection. Comprising all of 400 comics, the collection includes Acton Comics No. 1, as well as the first appearances of Batman, Captain America, and the Green Lantern. The sale, which is scheduled to take place at the Dallas Comic-Con in October, could net seven figures. Guess Nic doesn't need to do any more research for the Hellblazer movie now that Keanu Reeves is expected to star in the John Constantine role. Comics Crackdown III Julian Darius outlines changes made to The Authority #27 in the wake of 911. His essay compares panels as they were published with Arthur Adams' original art, as well as other changes made to the storyline. Thanks to BoingBoing. Television-Impaired II For lack of anything better to do last night, I hosted another solo TV Party. Here's what I watched: 9 p.m., WGBH: A Hot Dog Program An hour-long celebration of America's love affair with the humble hot dog. Rick Sebak, who's also produced a documentary about flea markets, and the filmmakers visit hot dog stands in Connecticut, Georgia, Colorado, Ohio, Alaska, and other states to document the real red hot. The program considers the architecture of hot dog stands, the history of the hot dog (which includes early popularization sparked by a comic strip!), the subculture of counter staff, hot dogs' association with baseball, the World Hot Dog Eating Championship, condiments, how hot dogs are made, and other aspects of the "cuisine." In the end, the show's not at all about hot dogs; it's about people. The closing of the program positions hot dog stands as valuable third places. Bill Griffith would love this program. A Hot Dog Program is available on video cassette. While "Covered Bridges of New England" is not, the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges offers covered bridge-related books and other products. Wednesday, August 07, 2002
From the In Box: Blogging About Blogging XXIX I made an attempt about seven years ago to scan in some of the material with mixed results, since it is almost entirely typewritten on a wide variety of paper stock, a lot of it two sides on onion skin. I will mention to him to start going through for what he might consider the "best of" and see what he can cook up. And, with improvements in scanning/text recognition, it may be less of a task than before. -- Andy McCaskey Comics and Controlled Substances In the United Kingdom, a nonprofit drug-counseling organization publishes comic books that combine drug addiction healthcare information with drug use how-to primers. Even though the books have been in print for 15 years, UK political and legal leaders are just now taking notice -- and hope to cut the organization's funding because of its acceptance of drug use as part of UK society. Principles at the nonprofit, Lifeline, say that they're not undercover how-to guides but are instead realistic, practical approaches to drug abuse. "To preach against drugs is an immoral form of propaganda since you are conning people into thinking you can really cure drug use when you can't," says the comics co-designer. You might need a WSJ.com membership to access this article. Flogging Bloggers III Back to the Web whipping post! A Houston Chronicle reporter was recently fired for his blogging activity. Seems his employers didn't appreciate his commentaries on and coverage of local politicans and media organizations -- including the Chron -- in his blog, Brazosport News. Current entries only date to late July, and one entry says, "The news of our demise has been greatly exaggerated," so I'm guessing that Banjo Jones had to relocate his blog -- it's not possible to scan the archives to find what might have offended his former employers. Thanks to Jim Romenesko's Media News. These Links Were Made for Breaking? IV Don't Link to Us! tracks "stupid linking policies." Entries from July take companies such as Easy Booking Service, Manpower, DKSystems, and BreakTV to task. The Most Famous Magazine in America? An interesting development for the Atlantic Monthly. After a years-long plateau and a relatively recent redesign that's re-energized the periodical, the current issue is now so rare and in demand that people are selling it on eBay. Two people, in fact. The September 2002 issue is selling out on newsstands, people are signing up for waiting lists where they buy magazines, and the Atlantic is hustling to issue a second printing of the current edition in order to meet demand. The reason? William Langewiesche's three-part feature on "unbuilding the World Trade Center." As the anniversary of 911 approaches, the ongoing events since the initial tragedies loom large in the collective consciousness, and people scurry to learn as much as they can. Langewiesche will close the series in the October issue of the Atlantic, which will be released in conjunction with the publication of his North Point Press book American Ground. I just stopped by the Atlantic offices to snag my copies of the July/August and September issues because that might be the only way to secure these on-fire magazines. Don't look for mine on eBay, though. I'm going to read them. Good to know the Atlantic is no longer a sad second to the New Yorker and Harper's. Blogging About Blogging XXIX Upon my return from Chicago, I received an email from a Company of Friends member who also occasionally reads Media Diet. This is what he said: My father (Andy McCaskey, Sr.) is 86 years old. My dad worked in broadcasting for many years and before that was a newspaperman and writer. As a personal and professional discipline, he has written a column article of about 500 words each day without missing a day since he was 16 years old, including four years of service in World War II. Some have been published, some read on the air, many ending up in the filing cabinet. Since the end of May, Andy McCaskey, Sr., 86, has been blogging in Topic: Commentary and Essays on Life and Events. Occasionally with awkward line breaks (perhaps given his 28.8 modem), McCaskey comments on topics such as Johnny Appleseed's legacy, the national dream, political ethics, shamanism, and the force of sneezes and coughs. The items are all relatively short -- 450-650 words -- and read as though they could be presented on the radio a la Garrison Keillor or Paul Harvey. That's a large part of their charm -- their cadence and rhythm, like you're sitting on someone's porch listening to a story. I was intrigued by McCaskey's riffs on people who still believe the Earth is flat and the role jaguars play in shamanism -- pretty far-out themes for an 80-year-old to be expanding on! And I enjoyed McCaskey's occasional use of the call back. Two separate items mention the flat Earth. Interesting. Here's to you, Andy McCaskey, Sr. I'll add you to my daily reads -- and maybe you can get your son to help you add some of your archival material dating back to 1932. Then, Topic will truly be the longest-running blog. The Movie I Watched Last Night XXX Pee-wee's Big Adventure The other day, Jamie from the Picnic and the guy who works at the copy shop across the hall were discussing the rise and fall of one Paul Reubens, Pee-wee Herman. Other than his TV series Pee-wee's Playhouse, this movie might be his magnum opus. Originally released in 1985, the movie holds up well, and several scenes will remain in my memory forever, perhaps -- especially his dance to "Tequila" in the biker bar. To some extent, this is a juvenile -- as in for children -- version of The Jerk, with Pee Wee embarking on misadventures parallel to those of Steve Martin's title character. Danny Elfman's soundtrack is delightful (much better than what he scored for the remake of Planet of the Apes, for sure), and the cast includes some real surprises: Milton Berle, Dee Snider, and Morgan Fairchild. The Twisted Sister video shoot scene was probably thrown in just because they happened to be filming on the same day. The DVD includes some deleted scenes, too, but they're mostly throwaways. The film quality is bad, and it's pretty clear why they were cut. Tuesday, August 06, 2002
Books Worth a Look VII These are the books I read in July 2002. Gangster Holidays: The Lore and Legends of the Bad Guys by Tom Hollatz (1989) Written by a resident of Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, this book details the adventures and misadventures of several Chicago-area mobsters who vacationed in northern Wisconsin during the '20s and '30s. Providing adequate context for the local stories, the book concentrates on John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson, who were involved in a shootout at Little Bohemia near Manitowish Waters, and Al Capone, who owned a cabin on Cranberry Lake near Couderay, Wisconsin. While the vignettes and descriptions of how the mobsters helped and harmed area communities were interesting, I was particularly intrigued by the details of what old bar or brothel became the site of what modern-day business. Days to read: 2. Rating: Good. Hellblazer Book 1: Original Sins by Jamie Delano, John Ridgway, and Alfredo Alcala (1992) After working my way through the run of Preacher trade paperbacks, and with the coming of the Hellblazer movie, I thought it was high time to check out this classic Vertigo comic. I'm not the biggest fan of the Charlton-esque comic art, and I don't find the protagonist or basic premise very interesting. What we have here is an exorcist of sorts who sees ghosts of former friends and lovers and combats denizens of the underworld. He's particularly good at it because he has some demon blood coursing through his veins. I did enjoy the Mnemoth and Vietnam vet storylines, though. What's up with the Swamp Thing crossover at the end? I'll give this another chance, but it's no great shake. Days to read: 2. Rating: Fair. In the Shadow of the Silent Majorities, by Jean Baudrillard (1983) Subtitled the End of the Social and Other Essays, this Semiotext(e) text collects four pieces. Baudrillard suggests that the mass isn't a good conductor of the political, social, or meaningful. He considers how the aggregate discourages valid analysis -- and how information doesn't mobilize the masses; instead it sedates them. While I'm not totally convinced by his pessimistic analysis of media, I do appreciate his critique of marketing and advertising -- and his coverage of microgroups and the role of capital. Baudrillard also addresses the media's role in terrorism, which is particularly timely given the approaching anniversary of 911. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good. A Look at Historic Green Lake: Honoring Our Sesquicentennial 1847-1997 by the City of Green Lake (1996) This 24-page booklet is a terse yet wide-ranging look at the development of Green Lake, Wisconsin, long a summer resort town. The pamphlet touches on the area's industrial beginnings, boom with the advent of rail service, emergence as a vacation hot spot, retail activity, and civic organizations such as community bands. It's a cursory history that's heavy on archival photos and light on text, but it's a good warm up for better books such as Bob and Emma Heiple's A History of Beautiful Green Lake. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good. Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock (1984) I borrowed this British fantasy novel from Chris years ago and am just now getting around to it. Mythago Wood is a near-epic fantasy in which an adventurous family explores a preternatural forest that gives rise to physical manifestations of mythical figures created by the collective consciousness -- think Robin Hood. Combining shades of Tolkien and Lovecraft, Holdstock carries the concept well, even though the mental construction of the creatures didn't quite wash with me. It's a heroic adventure, a mythological reconception, and a love story. Worth digging up. Days to read: 7. Rating: Excellent. Nothing in This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are by Bob Frissell (1994) Kook science, conspiracy theory, and New Age theorizing combine in this hot and cold expose of a walk-in, the ascended masters, life on other planets, interdimensional travel, sacred geometry, and the shadow government. While I disagree with Jay Kinney that this could be the next Cosmic Trigger, I do think half of the book is excellent. I had to push through Frissell's description of sacred geometry and meditative construction of the merkaba, but I enjoyed his unified theory of most things esoteric and occult. Days to read: 11. Rating: Good. Revolt, She Said by Julia Kristeva (2002) The Bulgarian psychoanalyst who participated in the May 1968 revolt in France weighs in on the meaning of that political and philosophical uprising. She addresses the causes of psychic isolation, how the French movement was different than the American counterculture, its ties to the revolution of 1789, people's diminishing capacity for revolution, and the role of the media. I didn't find the heavy focus on psychology very interesting, but Kristeva's experience and introspection provides an important look at the roles of revolution, rebellion, and representation. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution by Howard Rheingold (2002) Subtitled Transforming Cultures and Communities in the Age of Instant Access, this might very well be Howard's most important and prescient book. Building on his previous writings on online communities, Howard considers how developments in cell phones, short message services, open source, collaborative Web filtering, file sharing, and blogging go beyond connecting people in communication networks -- they mobilize them to act collectively. The book bogs down a little in the historical outline of Moore's Law, Metcalfe's Law, etc., but Howard impresses with his healthy and insightful look at the potential impact of these technologies -- as well as the social, political, and legal challenges they may spark. Days to read: 3. Rating: Excellent. Toodles and Her Friends by Harry Whittier Frees (1991) Opening with the disclaimer that "these unusual photographs of real kittens, puppies, and bunnies were made possible only by patient unfailing kindness on the part of the photographer at all times," this well-designed vintage children's book features occasionally disconcerting photos of animals wearing gingham dresses, drinking tea, reading books, washing clothes, cooking, and jumping rope. The story's not much to sneeze at -- Toodles raises funds to purchase a jump rope -- but the photos are a little known example of innovative animal photography. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good. The War of Souls Vol. II: Dragons of a Lost Star by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (2002) Truly, I am a sucker for Weis and Hickman's Dragonlance novels -- have been since junior high. It's a good thing their collaborations -- and characters -- hold up so well. Some of the classic heroes are here, including Tasslehoff and an aging Goldmoon, but it's the new characters and impending return of the gods that held my attention. Gilthas' elven fop turned ostracized king works quite well, and Medan's dark knight marshall lost in love with the elven queen mother is a sensitive study in forbidden affection. It's this interplay of characters that will keep me coming back to these two authors. Days to read: 11. Rating: Good. The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog by Rebecca Blood (2002) A companion volume of sorts to Perseus Books' We've Got Blog, Blood's book steps away from reprinting some of the best of the Web and toward an understanding of what makes blogs work well, as well as the effect they can have on a blogger's life. She addresses blogs' common characteristics, bloggers' motivations, how to find your personal writing voice, and how to interact with other bloggers. Her pointers on link etiquette and how to balance the Web and "real" worlds are useful, although I disagree with her on a couple of key points. (Don't blog at work? Please.) Much more than a Blogging for Dummies how to. Days to read: 2. Rating: Good. Why do some books get a link while other books do not? If a publishing company or author sends me review copies for consideration -- and if I review the book in Media Diet -- they get a link as well as a review. I don't review every review copy or galley I receive, and I don't always have time to track down author, publisher, and other book-related links in general. Most of the books I review should be relatively easy to find via the Harvard Book Store and Powell's Books online ordering services. If something's out of print, check the Advanced Book Exchange first. And if you'd like to send me a book to consider for review, Media Diet's address is P.O. Box 390205, Cambridge, MA 02139. Thank you very much. Weather Report VI Today has been absolutely beautiful. Waking this morning, it was almost too cool and breezy sleep with just a sheet. The air has been crisp and cool for most of the day, and temps have been in the mid-70s. I could live quite well if the weather were like this all the time. Crisp, clean, cool, breezy, and sunny. Yay, nature. Among the Literati XII David Eggers' forthcoming novel is excerpted in the current issue of the New Yorker. You can pre-order a copy of the yet-to-be-titled book online. The first edition will consist of 10,000 copies -- and will be limited to sale online. Later editions will be available in places like, oh, I don't know, bookstores, I suppose. Monday, August 05, 2002
The Movie I Watched Last Night XXIX Saturday: Snowboard Academy Corey Haim plays a rebellious snowboarder whose uptight brother is general manager of a ski resort. Jim Varney plays a suggested but not proven pothead entertainer who gets more than he bargains for when he's also hired as the resort's head of safety. It turns into the classic snowboarder-versus-skiier rivalry as the resort owner tries to forgo foreclosure by introducing a snowboarding school to the resort's services. There's the stereotypical stoic Native American, the accidentally adventurous Asian American, and the Sharon Stone-inspired mail-order Russian. Cliches abound, but it's a fun, throw-away movie. Sunday: The Endless Summer A summer classic, this movie is especially interesting when compared to surfing, skateboarding, and other extreme sport videos and movies made today. Case in point: Blue Crush, anyone? The cinematography is beautiful, and the film captures the purity and pristine nature of surfing's earliest days as a subculture. Imagine if all surfers were so clean cut today! (Not that they aren't, but you know.) Some of the scenes get a bit long, and the soundtrack isn't very interesting (another difference from surf films of today), but it's an interesting chronicle of an around-the-world search for the perfect wave. Robert August and Mike Hynson hit some virgin territory as they surf several places in Africa, India, and New Zealand that nobody had ever surfed before. Summer fun. Pulling the Plug V The Ritz Camera I used to go to to get film developed was closed when I walked to it this noon with four rolls of film. It'd been closed since March 15. Mid-March! Has it been that long since I got film developed? Guess I'll have to find a new camera shop. Television-Impaired For the last three years, I have had next to no TV reception. Didn't even have my television at Magazine Street hooked up to the antenna until just a couple of weeks ago. I don't watch a lot of television, mostly video tapes and DVD's. But two weeks ago, I ordered cable. It was to be installed -- and was, eventually -- Saturday. I signed up for AT&T Digital Cable on the InterWeb, scheduling the installation appointment, etc. Saturday, I woke promptly at 7 a.m. so I could tidy up my apartment -- especially the space right in front of the television. 9 rolled around. Then 11. Then 12. And still no cable guy. No phone calls, no doorbell. I read magazines. I wrote letters. I read the newspaper. I did dishes. I talked to my grandmother. Because AT&T had left the reminder messages on my work voicemail, I figured I should check it to see if they'd called me there. They had. "Looks like you're not home," the cable guy said. "I guess you'll have to reschedule." I was home. And no one had come by. So I called AT&T to reconfirm and see what the deal was. They only had my work number on file, and the guy was running late. He could still come by Saturday afternoon. So I waited a little longer. Eventually, the guy showed up. He was sweating -- said he usually did 20 installations a day between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. -- and seemed slightly irritated that I didn't know whether the cable was already turned on, that I hadn't preprogrammed my television, and that I didn't know where the cable lock box was in the building (It's down in the basement behind the stairs, I now know.). No one told me I had to prepare for the cable guy, so I was a little miffed that he was miffed. But that didn't last long. In any event, it didn't take long for him to hook the cable up, either. Then he used the phone to check on his other appointments -- he'd lost his cell phone that morning but wasn't worried because AT&T would replace it for free. Before long, he was on his way. I turned on the TV. And the first thing that was on was Little Shop of Horrors. Not a bad welcome to the new world of cable television! But it wasn't until later in the afternoon -- after a trip to the comic shop and Charlie's for a belated lunch -- that my TV Party on the Big Blue Couch began. Here's what I watched: 4 p.m., Discovery: Mystery of the Persian Mummy In the 10 minutes I saw, researchers discovered that the mummy's makers hadn't punched holes up through the mummy's nose but instead drilled up through the chin and palette to reach the skull. Then they liquefied the brain to drain it. That was my Saturday night. What did I learn? One, that, despite my intentions to use the television for productive things like CNN, the Weather Channel, nature documentaries, etc., it'll also be easy for me to get sucked into crap TV. Two, that I don't like the lack of control provided by TV. Unless I get Tivo or something, I'll need to sit through programs at their own pace. Can't pause. Can't take a walk. If you want to watch something, you have to watch it. And three, that I'll be as much of a multitasker while watching TV as I am on the Web and at work. I'll flip between multiple shows on multiple channels. I'll read while watching. Oh, add four, that I might become an extremely boring person. When a friend called late last night, all I could talk about was TV. Getting cable, what I'd watched, what excited or concerned me about television. Um, kind of like this Media Diet entry. I apologize. Nevertheless, I did watch the evening news before going to bed last night. And this morning, I ate my oatmeal and banana while watching CNN. That's OK, isn't it? North End Moment XXV Walking back to my office just now from the mail room, I spotted a little mouse on the hardwood floor in front of the elevator. I stepped on its tail to trap it and quickly realized that I had in fact trapped myself. If I moved, it'd escape. I didn't want to pick it up by its tail -- I'm not squeamish, but I'm not that brave, either -- so all I could do was wait for someone to get off the elevator or walk through the part of the office I was trapped in. Luckily, Tim quickly came along. "Could you tell someone that I caught a mouse? I'm not quite sure what to do." "Sounds like a job for Cynthia or Sylvia." Soon, several people gathered by the elevators to watch me and the mouse. Sylvia soon came with a sticky trap: the Waltham Watchman. We put it on top of the mouse, who promptly died, perhaps from shock. It was pretty shocked when I stepped on it. Then we folded it over to cover the whole mouse and put it in a plastic bag for disposal. Here is the dilemma. I don't like the idea of killing mice. They're living things. Kinda cute, too, when you look at them. But they shouldn't live in our office -- or our office building, really. As Sylvia said, "They're pests," and pests spread pestilence. So we kill them. How would you have handled this? Catch and release on the back alley? Some other method? |
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