Author Archives: Steve Mays
Happiness Grid
Are you happy? That’s a reasonable question and I suspect most folks answer in the affirmative. It’s kind of not cool to be unhappy. If pressed for The Meaning of Life, being happy works pretty well for me. I bring this up because I think of myself as a happy person. And getting happier, it seems.
I don’t remember much about the early years but I think I was a happy baby and child. The high school years were good because it came at a good time (1962-1966). Same for college. My 20’s and early 30’s were The Radio Years and good times for sure. The next big uptrend came in the mid-90’s when the Internet blossomed and it’s just gotten better from there.
A superstitious person might warn it’s not a good idea to talk about such good fortune. But if something happened tomorrow, I’d like to have this on the record.
Local newspaper subscription drive
I almost didn’t post this because I don’t want to read anything into the photo. But this young man is soliciting subscribers to the local newspaper. This might be part of an on-going effort. I don’t know and was uncomfortable asking the young man. He did say he had picked up “a few new ones.”
The signs offer a $10 Hy-vee gift card with every new subscription. Or you can just try the paper for free for three weeks.
This reminds me a story old radio “time salesmen” used to tell. They’d give a car dealer a little break on their ad buys if the dealer would tune all the radios on the lot to their station. Sweet!
If I had been given this assignment, I like to think I would have dressed in my best Mickey Rooney outfit, grabbed a HUGE stack of papers, and started shouting (as loudly as store management would allow)… EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT IN THE NEWS TRIBUNE! EXTRA! EXTRA!
When they came over (okay, IF they came over) I’d make my pitch.
PS for the paper webmaster: Dude. This is THE slowest loading page I’ve come across in a while. GOT to get that fixed.
Clay Shirky on what’s happening to newspapers
In a post titled “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable,” Clay Shirky provides some insight –and historical perspective– on what’s happening to newspapers. He starts with the question often asked by those committed to saving newspapers
“If the old model is broken, what will work in its place?” To which the answer is: Nothing. Nothing will work. There is no general model for newspapers to replace the one the internet just broke.”
“With the old economics destroyed, organizational forms perfected for industrial production have to be replaced with structures optimized for digital data. It makes increasingly less sense even to talk about a publishing industry, because the core problem publishing solves — the incredible difficulty, complexity, and expense of making something available to the public — has stopped being a problem.”
“When someone demands to be told how we are going to replace newspapers, they are really demanding to be told that we are not living through a revolution. They are demanding to be told that old systems won’t break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that core institutions will be spared, that new methods of spreading information will improve previous practice rather than upending it. They are demanding to be lied to. There are fewer and fewer people who can convincingly tell such a lie.”
I think this is the first time I’ve fully understood that old models can be broken before new ones are there to take their place.
Watchmen: Great music, great special effects and garter belts
I liked so many things about Watchmen, I’m not sure where to begin. Since it’s sure to be compared to other “super hero” films, I’ll start by saying it made Batman and Spiderman and X-Men and all the rest look like Saturday morning cartoons.
The movie critic for People Magazine called the dialogue stilted. I found it tongue-in-cheek David Mamet. A few of my favorite lines don’t do justice to the writing:
- Hitler was a vegetarian. If you’re squeamish, leave him to me.
- Only what can happen, does happen.
- The existence of life is a highly overrated phenomenon.
- I’m sorry, but you’re in the way of my revenge.
- I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me.
- It’s too late. Always has been, always will be.
- What happened to the American dream? It came true.
And the sex? One steamy scene was the hottest thing I’ve seen since Billy Bob did Halle in Monster’s Ball. And there were more garter belts than a 50’s porn movie. But it all worked.
There was lots of action. I thought the fight scenes were every bit as good as what we saw in The Matrix. And there was no shortage of gore. Very graphic. Like the language. This is the movie your mom didn’t want you to see but all the kids are talking about.
And the soundtrack alone was worth the six bucks. It opened with Nat King Cole’s Unforgettable and slid into Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changing. And before the nearly 3 hour film (2:40) was over, we hear Simon & Garfunkel, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, Leonard Cohen and Jimi Hendrix.
I spotted Matt Frewer (Max Headroom) in a small part but didn’t recognize Bill Crudup (Almost Famous) as Dr. Manhattan.
I really enjoyed this movie.
UPDATE: My friend Bob commented that he’s unfamiliar with David Mamet. Three of my favorites (he wrote the play/screenplay) are: The Verdict (Paul Newman); Glengarry Glen Ross (all-star cast); and House of Games. I just happen to like the way Mr. Mamet writes dialogue.