Sucking The Joy Out Of Reading, The California Way

Sure, she looks like she's having a good time, but how much is that book worth?

iStockphoto.com

 

This opinion piece in the L.A. Times got me thinking about the way I read as a kid. The basic thesis is that California's system of measuring and scoring every bit of reading that students do is making it impossible for them to explore their own interest in reading. And I have to say, that argument makes a certain amount of sense to me.

When I was in middle school, probably somewhere around 6th or 7th grade, the school librarian gave me a copy of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, the first piece of fiction aimed at adults that I had ever read on my own.

She chose it for me, not because of the length of the sentences or the difficulty of the vocabulary, but because she thought I would like it.

And she was right. I read Gone With The Wind shortly thereafter, as I recall, and big, brick-like romantic paperbacks kept me company through much of my teenage life.

And, okay, my life now, too.

Stephen King, Jackie Collins, and why books don't need points, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Sucking The Joy Out Of Reading, The California Way" »

1:25 PM ET | 09-30-2008 | permalink

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Bob Dylan, Taco Bell And NPR's Big CD-Release Event

Dylan: His latest, here, starting at midnight.

David Gahr

 

You could write a boring book — or a boring blog post, for that matter — about the countless ways the decline of the music industry has affected the way we listen to music. Record stores are disappearing, MP3 downloads are replacing CDs, piracy runs rampant, label mergers have consolidated artists' catalogs into ever fewer hands, and so on.

If that paragraph hasn't caused you to nod off like a herdsman bitten by a tsetse fly, perhaps you'll join me for a moment as I lament the decline of the CD release party, that wonderful byproduct of record stores that allows like-minded fans to gather in person and hear a much-anticipated album for the first time.

What any of this nonsense has to do with Bob Dylan, after the jump ...

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3:40 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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Christian Movie Muscle, Fey-Palin Reprise, Top-20 Simpsons, More

The Simpsons: Picking their Top 20 episodes could definitely cause fistfights.

Fox

• In a development that shows the muscle of both block ticket sales and Christian-themed films marketed through church organizations, a movie many people have never heard of, called Fireproof, starring Kirk Cameron (from Growing Pains!), made $6.5 million this weekend. As Slashfilm notes (in a post that is definitely having some fun at Kirk Cameron's expense, so be warned), that's more than Spike Lee's new Miracle At St. Anna made. Make of this what you will.

• For the second week out of the last three, the big news coming out of Saturday Night Live was a Sarah Palin sketch starring Tina Fey. I've never thought of Tina Fey as a gifted mimic, but politics aside, you've got to admit, she's got the cadences down.

• The New York Times had an interesting piece this weekend about where gay actors stand in Hollywood these days. From the piece:

"The industry is persuaded that being known as gay will undermine your credibility both as romantic lead or an action star," said Larry Gross, director of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and author of a book on media portrayals of gays and lesbians.

"They don't test it," he said. "We're waiting for the Jackie Robinson moment when someone tests that assumption and discovers it's not true."

• The kind of list that's sure to set off arguments among your friends, if your friends are anything like my friends, who literally could make the creation of a similar list the subject of a year-long series of hours-long seminars: Top 20 Episodes Of The Simpsons.

• If you're the kind of nerd who obsesses over mix tapes and associates specific songs with specific moments in your life, and if you are the kind of big-gesture-maker who might hire a favorite musician to serenade your girlfriend, I commend to you most highly this weekend's episode of This American Life, which chronicled just such an effort.

--Linda Holmes

10:03 AM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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New: NPR Community

Hi, everybody --

Trey Graham here. I'm Linda's editor, and an occasional contributor too. Wanted to give you a quick heads-up about a change that's going live ... well, now.

NPR.org is launching a new set of social-media tools designed to let you communicate more directly with us -- and with each other.

You can set up a profile, and tell us (and other users) more about you. You can friend other NPR.org users, Facebook style. (Check out the NPR Community home page for more.)

There's more: You can comment on all our stories now, not just on the blog posts. And your comments will show up instantly; no more waiting for me or another moderator to approve them.

It gets better: Your comments may get above-the-fold treatment sometimes -- they'll appear in the inset column on a story sometimes, and sometimes even on the NPR home page.

And starting now, you can recommend stories you like, so both your NPR.org friends and users at large can see what's really generating interest on the site.

Check out the note about the social-media launch from our editorial director, Dick Meyer, over on the Inside NPR blog.

When you're done there, g'head on over to the community home page and set up your profile. Mine's here.

And then jump right in. We're looking forward to hearing more from you.

-- Trey Graham

11:07 PM ET | 09-28-2008 | permalink

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In the Cultural Olympiad, Can A Puppet Get On A Wheaties Box?

London's Cultural Olympiad: In most cases, visitors won't want to run through the galleries quite this quickly.

Matt Cardy, Getty Images (right)

 

This is the big opening weekend for the Cultural Olympiad, London's four-year (!) culture showcase leading up to the 2012 Summer Games. Interested in puppets? Writing? Acoustic jazz? Are you in need of an accent workshop? The Cultural Olympiad has you covered.

While much of the content of the Cultural Olympiad will undoubtedly be impressive, I find myself most charmed by Martin Creed's Work No. 850, performed by a collection of Olympic athletes as part of the opening. The idea of Work No. 850, as it's explained in the gallery sign, is for someone to run through the gallery as fast as possible every thirty seconds.

I like the idea of the Cultural Olympiad, and choose to believe that the person who makes the best puppet will have his national anthem played over the loudspeakers while the announcers describe the struggles of his youth and the bidding war begins over which brand of soft drink he -- and, of course his puppet -- will endorse.

11:52 AM ET | 09-26-2008 | permalink

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Letterman vs. McCain: What's Driving All That YouTube Traffic?

Right now, the day's No. 1 most-viewed YouTube video is David Letterman's 9-minute John McCain call-out from last night's show.

Backstory, in case you hadn't heard: McCain canceled a scheduled Letterman appearance because (to paraphrase Letterman quoting McCain) he had to rush back to Washington to work out the financial crisis.

In the video, Letterman expresses his admiration for McCain ... and then rips into him over and over and over, continuing even as he brings in guest Keith Olbermann and cuts to McCain, who turns out to be not on a plane to D.C., but in a studio with Letterman's CBS colleague Katie Couric.

This video was on more than half of the blogs in my RSS feed today. Did you watch it on TV last night? Or was there a link in your inbox this morning? What's so compelling about it?

-- Sara Sarasohn

6:26 PM ET | 09-25-2008 | permalink

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It's Kind Of A Big TV Night —
And Here's One Way to Prepare

Tonight is probably my most anticipated night of the fall season. Ugly Betty, The Office, and Survivor all return, and those are all good shows.

Grey's Anatomy is back, too, and that's at least an interesting phenomenon. And while My Name Is Earl isn't something I watch consistently, Seth Green is dropping by for that show's return, so that can't be too bad.

Survivor doesn't require any catching up, since it starts fresh with every season, but if you need to catch up on anything else, Hulu can offer you the last few episodes of The Office and My Name Is Earl, while ABC has the last few Ugly Bettys streaming on its site. (That's a clip from the season finale of The Office at the top of the post.)

It's as good a time as any, I suppose, to mention that if you've never poked around at Hulu -- a News Corp.-NBC Universal streaming-video joint venture -- it's worth a look. In addition to clips and full episodes from lots of current shows (largely, but not entirely, from NBC and Fox), it offers movies, vintage TV shows and specials too. (It's the one place you can still see Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog free -- though supported by a few ads).

Buffy, David E. Kelley, football, and five great clips, after the jump...

Continue reading "It's Kind Of A Big TV Night —
And Here's One Way to Prepare" »

10:38 AM ET | 09-25-2008 | permalink

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Never Trust the Kid Who
Always Wanted to be Thor

Whenever a small child bravely imagines himself a hero to the world, his future in the workaday world of dull adulthood becomes ever more tightly constrained. Have fun, little guy!

iStockphoto.com

Do kids even have favorite superheroes anymore? Although the li'l ones of my acquaintance seem happy enough to pass an idle summer afternoon at the latest superhero flick, the exploits of costumed crime-fighters just don't fill them with the kind of manic fervor that long ago seized an 8-year-old me. (And never fully let go.)

If, as I suspect, kids no longer tear across each other's backyards with beach towels around their necks, the world is an emptier place for it. I once asked my nephew, then 8 years old himself, to name his favorite superhero. I still remember the way he looked up slowly from his game of Madden, his small round face a mask of confusion and -- I really don't think I imagined this -- pity.

Might as well have asked him to tell me which Katzenjammer Kid he preferred.

But back when I was a lad, a kid's favorite superhero told you a lot about him. It was a kind of playground shorthand that conveyed to other kids exactly what you thought you were about -- and helped you size them up at the same time. It's what we used before adolescence set in, when taste in music took over the job.

The seven most popular playground choices, and what they really said about the chooser, after the jump ...

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Always Wanted to be Thor" »

2:08 PM ET | 09-24-2008 | permalink

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Midweek Roundup: Villains, Pub Signs, Cloris Leachman And More

Pub signs: This gentleman likes them, but are they here to stay?

Reg Speller, Getty Images

It's Wednesday, so let's take a quick look around at what's flying by this week that we haven't talked about. (Other than the explosion of creativity that took place in the comments following yesterday's song-product-placement entry, that is. To the suggestions "Making Love Out Of Nut'n Honey At All" and my personal favorite, "House Of Verizon Sun," I tip my hat.)

• The Guardian notes the disappearance of painted pub signs as the hospitality industry goes corporate. My favorite tidbit: "In 1393 King Richard II passed a law making it compulsory for inns to have a sign in order to identify them to the official Ale Taster." I know a couple of people who would totally apply for the job of official Ale Taster.

• Tonight on Turner Classic Movies, the theme is American politics, and the films are All The King's Men, The Great McGinty, The Glass Key, The Boss, and Flamingo Road. Of course, if you use entertainment to escape what you hear about on a daily basis, this may be a slight misfire, given that you may have seen something in the news recently regarding an upcoming election.

• Are these the 50 Greatest Villains In Literature? The Telegraph thinks so. Where else can you find The Joker and Mrs. Danvers on the same list? Other than a hypothetical list of people not to invite to your wedding, that is.

Dancing and other diversions, after the jump...

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10:15 AM ET | 09-24-2008 | permalink

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Happiness Is Just A Thing Called [Your Product's Name Here]

The Pussycat Dolls: If their "brand-dropping" agency is to be believed, they'll sing your product's praises — for a fee, of course. So: What songs would you rewrite? Illustration, Alice Kreit. Photo: Getty Images

 

If you thought yesterday's post about product placement in television was impressive, wait until you hear about the emerging practice of this Wired product placement in song lyrics.

With this outstanding trend in mind, I present to you: Twenty Existing Songs That Would Be Much Better If They Were Rewritten To Be About Products.

1. "I Left My Heart In San Francisco's Finest Five-Star Hotel"

2. "Dr. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

3. "You Light Up My Life-Savers"

4. "Shake Your Google"

5. "The Star-Bedazzled Banner"

The rest of the list, after the jump...

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2:05 PM ET | 09-23-2008 | permalink

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The Mainline And The Drip

The Wire: Jimmy (Dominic West) and Bunk (Wendell Pierce) help make it a perfect show for The Mainline.

HBO

 

For me, there are two ways to watch TV shows: The Mainline and The Drip.

I mainlined The Wire. I waited for it to be done on HBO and then I watched all 60 episodes over the course of a couple of weeks. Immersing myself in the world of Baltimore's cops and drug dealers was even more intense because I watched the whole thing so quickly. I felt like Omar and Bunk and all the other great characters were living in my head for those few weeks of mainlining.

I'm watching Mad Men on The Drip: one episode at a time, as it airs, every Sunday. I'm waiting with anticipation all week for a new show. My wife and I take six days to dissect every important moment of the last episode -- the sexual politics, the historical details, the mysterious backstories -- as we wait for a new show.

Continue reading "The Mainline And The Drip" »

10:55 AM ET | 09-23-2008 | permalink

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New In Advertising: Pay For Play, Then Pat Yourself On The Back

Cultural icon? Or just log-roller? A new Macy's ad cites the brand's pop-culture currency -- some of which was bought and paid for.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

 

Last night during the Emmy broadcast, I think I witnessed the next step in TV commercials. Product placement has already mutated into "product integration" in TV dramas. But I don't know what you call this new thing.

Neda Ulaby had a story about product integration on today's Morning Edition. It was pegged to the Emmys, and the first example we used was how Emmy winner Mad Men integrated Heineken beer into a major storyline in its latest episode.

But get this: During the Emmy broadcast -- which was terrible, a point Linda has already made today, but I'd like to second it -- Macy's (or should I say Macy*s?) ran a commercial based on clips of TV shows and movies that have mentioned or showed the department store.

The thrust of the ad was to communicate how much we love Macy's, how it's part of our lives and our beloved pop-culture institutions. There were clips from Seinfeld, and from Friends, and from old movies with their yellowish saturated color.

And then there was a clip of the Macy's Challenge on Project Runway.

To borrow an observation from Neda: All of us who are fans of Project Runway are used to watching, say, contestants make dresses out of Saturn auto parts. (Saturn is a sponsor, and the brand of car in the winner's prize package). That's product integration, and we're getting used to it.

But for Macy's to take the product-integration appearances it's paying for on a reality-TV competion and use them in a commercial to argue for its place as a beloved cultural icon? That, as they say, is taking things to another level.

-- Sara Sarasohn

12:45 PM ET | 09-22-2008 | permalink

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At the Emmys: The Winners We're OK With. The Show? Not So Much

The five hosts: Heidi Klum, Tom Bergeron, Howie Mandel, Ryan Seacrest, and Jeff Probst. Probst lost his tie in a fight with a bear, apparently.

Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

 

The Emmy ceremony on Sunday night was a stupefyingly bad show, even though it managed to get a lot of the awards right. Boring except when it was eye-poppingly terrible, the show still honored good work from Mad Men, 30 Rock, and the HBO miniseries John Adams. It was kind of like throwing a birthday party for someone you really like -- and serving tainted food.

Having five hosts was a bad idea; using the five nominated reality-show hosts turned out to be a much worse idea than it initially seemed.

For all that this will lead to a lot of smug commentary about the stupidity of reality shows, that wasn't the problem at all: With the exception of Heidi Klum, those hosts have demonstrated an ability to riff comfortably without help.

But the sheer number of people involved often made the stage look hopelessly cluttered, and it seemed to make them all edgy.

That's not to mention the true horror that was their "We've got nothing planned" opening, which fell on its face so spectacularly that it is probably, even now, having its fractured nose set by a surgeon.

The marginally successful visual gag of having all five of them -- including tall, glamorous Heidi Klum -- wearing dark suits was spoiled by Survivor host Jeff Probst's insistence on going without a tie and leaving his collar open. (Non-fans of Survivor have no way of knowing this, but Probst's need to look rugged and more-manly-than-thou plagues him everywhere, and this was no exception.)

More about the ceremony and the winners, after the jump...

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9:55 AM ET | 09-22-2008 | permalink

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'Colma' Director Lands A Gig With Wayne Wang — And Their Movie Lands On YouTube

Richard Wong's indie debut earned him a collaboration with a Hollywood veteran.

Colma, Calif., a fog-enshrouded city where the dead outnumber the living, is not a likely place to start a film career. But that didn't daunt Richard Wong.

He turned the sleepy town into the backdrop for his vibrant 2006 self-financed debut, Colma: The Musical. The film's brash spirit appealed to veteran filmmaker Wayne Wang, who was looking for a young director to partner with on an upcoming film project.

Generational differences, after the jump ...

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2:03 PM ET | 09-20-2008 | permalink

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Sunday's Emmy Ceremony: Hosts, Heartbreaks, Fashions and More

Ryan Seacrest is one of five hosts who will handle this weekend's Emmy ceremony.

Vince Bucci, Getty Images

It's almost time for the ceremony after the big week of buildup, so let's go over a few of the things to look for this weekend.

• The hosts. The ceremony will be co-hosted by the five (count them: five) nominees for best reality-show host. So on the one hand, you get people who are trained hosts, and on the other hand, you get people who are, in one case, Howie Mandel. Also on the docket: Survivor's self-important but weirdly endearing Jeff Probst, Dancing With The Stars' secret weapon Tom Bergeron, the inescapable Ryan Seacrest of American Idol, and Project Runway's Heidi Klum. (I will now pause while you do your impression of Heidi Klum saying, "I'm sorry, Two and a Half Men, you are out." Go ahead. Are you finished? Good.)

More things to look out for, after the jump ...

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12:04 PM ET | 09-19-2008 | permalink

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Emmys: Drama Is Glamorous, But Reality Is Where The Action Is

Judge for yourself: Can Top Chef's taste-arbiters take home an Emmy at last?

Bravo

 

Love it or hate it, this is the category that's home to the two highest-rated shows on television. You'll hear more about the actors and the directors, and they'll hand out this award before the drum roll that leads up to Outstanding Drama Series, but this is where the most popular shows go to have it out.

Since this category was introduced in 2003, only one show has won: CBS's highly regarded The Amazing Race. It's not quite as highly regarded as it once was -- and it's not as reliable about not casting people with personality disorders as it once was, either.

But it's still a good show, and it faces an interesting combination of very successful shows -- those two highest-rated of all (ABC's Dancing With The Stars and Fox's American Idol) -- and smaller but critically successful shows (Bravo's Top Chef and Project Runway).

Why food might beat clothes, after the jump ...

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2:44 PM ET | 09-18-2008 | permalink

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Because Some Facebook Photos Merit Their Very Own Blog Posts

Frighteningly alike: Nanna Ingvarsson and her Invasion double.
Photo: Mara Majorowicz/Courtesy Nanna Ingvarsson

When you write about theater, which I do sometimes, you occasionally find yourself taken aback when you head out to the movies: An actor you know from his distinguished work in, say, the August Wilson plays will turn up playing a character named 'Strange' Sex Addict in a John Waters film.

This happens a lot, actually, here in D.C., where there's a thriving theater scene -- and plenty of big-budget movies shooting on location and looking for bit players.

But not every moonlighting actor gets to have a life-size, screaming body-double doll. And not everyone who does get a life-size, screaming body-double doll has the presence of mind to get pictures of it to put on her Facebook page.

Life-size, screaming doll explained, after the jump ...

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6:05 AM ET | 09-18-2008 | permalink

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Emmys: Down To the 'Wire' In Battle for Writing Award

Battlestar Galactica is up against the The Wire--in its final season--for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. Neither show has won an Emmy. NBC Universal

 

A curious thing has happened with this year's nominations for Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series. Two widely respected but overlooked shows have their only major nominations in this category. Both Battlestar Galactica and The Wire have regularly spent time on critical best-show lists, but both will put all their eggs in the writing basket on Sunday night.

The Emmy history of The Wire is long and largely empty. Despite being considered by not a few critics to be among the best dramas in the history of television, it's managed a towering one nomination prior to this year: another writing nomination, in 2005. (It lost to a very fine episode of House.)

What should win and what will win, after the jump...

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11:35 AM ET | 09-17-2008 | permalink

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'Local' Girl Makes Good. Eventually.

Local zero? Not for a minute.
Brian Wood & Ryan Kelly/Oni Press

Megan McKeenan, the young woman at the center of Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly's comic series Local, is a tough character to like. Which is probably why I ended up liking her so damn much.

Simply put, she screws up. Like, a lot. For most of Local's 12-issue run, she screws up both royally and serially, propelled from bad choice to bad choice by a high-octane blend of impulse, selfishness and emotional need.

Or to put that another way: She's in her early 20s.

Addicts, relocations and growing the *#@! up, after the jump ...

Continue reading "'Local' Girl Makes Good. Eventually." »

11:30 AM ET | 09-17-2008 | permalink

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Kat DeLuna Sings National Anthem; Patriotism Says 'Uncle'

Look, the national anthem is a hard song. It has a notoriously huge range, it's not particularly rhythmic, and right at the end, it does that la-and of the freeeee" thing to you that will just really cause pain to the unprepared.

Nevertheless, most people called upon to sing the national anthem on a public stage as prominent as the one Monday Night Football provides can be counted on to rehearse it enough that the experience doesn't wind up being ... too painful.

This is not always the case, however.

On Monday night, the anthem was performed by pop singer Kat DeLuna, who managed to hit enough sour notes that she was lustily booed by the crowd when the performance was over.

Granted, she made some choices about changing the mood of the song that not everyone would agree with. (A friend of mine commented, "I've always thought our national anthem needed more 'Unbreak My Heart.'")

But that really wasn't the problem.

The problem was the bad notes -- including the very last note, which is very, very bad indeed.

The good news? She's not lip-synching, anyway.

--Linda Holmes

10:10 AM ET | 09-17-2008 | permalink

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Emmy Preview: Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy

Tina Fey: One of five good choices.
NBC

What makes Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy such an interesting category this year? How strong the field is -- given the slim pickings.

There aren't even all that many comedies on TV right now, to start with. And if you remove the ones that don't have lead actresses at all (Two And A Half Men, for one), you're left with a relatively small collection of shows. Mathematically, it wouldn't be that hard for a less-than-stellar performance to sneak through.

Nevertheless, the nominees are all genuinely outstanding. Christina Applegate of Samantha Who?, America Ferrera of Ugly Betty, Tina Fey of 30 Rock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus of The New Adventures Of Old Christine, and Mary-Louise Parker of Weeds -- all of them do very good work on very different shows.

How many good performances? After the jump ...

Continue reading "Emmy Preview: Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy" »

10:53 AM ET | 09-16-2008 | permalink

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Emmy Preview: Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama

Jon Hamm: If he doesn't win for Mad Men, the Emmys are officially upside-down.
AMC

 

With the Emmy ceremony coming up on Sunday, we'll be taking a look this week at some of the more interesting categories to watch and making a few predictions.

We will try not to spend too much time fretting over classic injustices — including the snubbing of The Wire and Friday Night Lights, the endless nominations handed out to Boston Legal and Two And A Half Men, and the failure to recognize the marvelous Phil Keoghan of The Amazing Race in the Reality-Competition Host category. (Shake your fist at Jeff Probst here.)

Why James Spader shouldn't win and Bryan Cranston won't win, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Emmy Preview: Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama" »

12:00 PM ET | 09-15-2008 | permalink

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Billboard's All-Time Hot 100 Proves That We Are All Guilty

Billboard magazine has offered us all reason to despair: It has calculated the All-Time Hot 100, which is the magazine's attempt to explain what songs are the absolute hottest, the most hot, the tip-top hot songs of all time. (Well, "all time" since the Hot 100 started in 1958, which you'll notice mostly because a good chunk of the career of Elvis Presley is missing.)

This just in: I need to lie down, and so will you after you read this list.

No. 1 is "The Twist." Which...okay. It's "The Twist." I'm not offended. I don't know about putting it atop any all-time lists of hot songs, but if I were to get too wound up about it, it would sap some of the energy I will need to be outraged over the second-hottest song of all time, which is "Smooth."

Yes, "Smooth," that deathless collaboration between Santana and Mr. Matchbox Twenty himself, Rob Thomas.

Also among the Top 10: "How Do I Live," by LeAnn Rimes; Olivia Newton-John's "Physical," Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life," and -- yes, really -- "Macarena."

More bad news, after the jump ...

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12:10 PM ET | 09-12-2008 | permalink

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Early Ratings: America Says 'Eh' to TV's First Fall Offerings

Fox's Fringe: Will earnest brooding be enough to keep Joshua Jackson gainfully employed?
Fox

 

The first few significant ratings numbers for the fall season have rolled in, and it's safe to say nothing is looking hit-like yet. Not a surprise, given the thoroughly unexciting offerings. A few highlights:

• The new 90210 (the terrible, terrible new 90210) had a decent premiere a week ago with 4.7 million viewers, which -- especially on the CW -- was good news. But this week's sophomore episode dropped off considerably to only 3.3 million viewers.

Now, when you lose a third of the people who watched in the first week -- despite the fact that your competition remains much, much weaker than it will be in a few weeks -- that's a problem. It's true that 3.3 million is still a bigger audience than buzz magnet Gossip Girl gets, but 90210 is much, much less cool than Gossip Girl already. Not good news for people who have been enjoying the return of Brenda and Kelly.

More about ratings, NBC's easily forgotten stalking horse, and more, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Early Ratings: America Says 'Eh' to TV's First Fall Offerings" »

9:35 AM ET | 09-11-2008 | permalink

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9/11 Remembered At Snagfilms (Snagfilms?)

It's not easy being a documentary filmmaker. Getting the pictures made is hard; finding distribution can be even harder.

Enter Snagfilms.com. It's a Web site that offers hundreds of documentaries for free viewing. You can also "snag" the movies, embedding them in your blog, social-media page or Web site.

This is not YouTube material. These are full-length films from PBS, National Geographic, independent filmmakers and others. (For those of you interested in such things, each movie contains 90 seconds per hour of advertising. The filmmakers get a cut.)

This week, to honor the 9/11 anniversary, Snagfilms is offering a slate of six 9/11-themed feature films (with no advertising).

The most prominent: 7 Days in September, which recreates the experience of New Yorkers in the week following the attacks. It's a moving portrait, especially for anyone who lived through the events.

-- Joe Matazzoni

7:00 AM ET | 09-11-2008 | permalink

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Early-Onset Schizophrenia Has Never Been More Adorable

Spelling B.: I Kill Giants protagonist Barbara Thorson sees dark magic where her classmates don't.
Image Comics

The second issue of I Kill Giants, a seven-issue mini-series written by Joe Kelly and illustrated by JM Ken Niimura, hits stores today.

Why I'm telling you this: Issue #1 off-handedly accomplished something that, I assert, comics can do better than any other form of entertainment: It set up an intriguing tension between its narrative content and its visual style, and it really lived inside that tension.

Erm. Let's see if I can put that another way, without waxing quite so grad-school insufferable.

More direct language, plus a sneak-peek page, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Early-Onset Schizophrenia Has Never Been More Adorable" »

2:00 PM ET | 09-10-2008 | permalink

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How Great A Victory For J.K. Rowling?

J.K. Rowling: Winning the battle, but not the way she hoped.
Daniel Barry, Getty Images

You may have heard that on Monday, a federal judge stopped publication of a Harry Potter fan's reference guide to the series. J.K. Rowling herself appeared to testify — rather dramatically — about the agony she would suffer if the unofficial guide were to be published. There was a fine discussion of the case on Talk Of The Nation yesterday, which lays out the basics.

What's interesting about the case, and you can read the judge's decision for yourself, is how Rowling won the case while losing the basic argument she was making.

The author's argument throughout the case, at least in her public statements, was that she was entitled to control the use of her characters and books, and that it was unfair to allow anyone else to capitalize on it.

She explained that she wanted to write a reference guide for charity and said, "I cannot, therefore, approve of 'companion books' or 'encyclopedias' that seek to pre-empt my definitive Potter reference book for their authors' own personal gain."

This kind of sweeping "my books; my reference guides" theory was not embraced by the judge, whose decision was far narrower.

Two things got Steve Vander Ark, the writer of the lexicon at issue here, in the most trouble: he quoted and paraphrased too much of the books directly in writing his encyclopedia entries, and he not only created a reference guide to the information in the novels; he created a reference guide to two companion books — really encyclopedias themselves — that Rowling had created to further explain aspects of the novels.

What would make a reference book less dangerous? After the jump...

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10:14 AM ET | 09-10-2008 | permalink

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YouTube Auteurs Mourn
Tom Brady's Short Season

When superstar New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady suffered a knee injury on Sunday, his season was lost, but many YouTube videos were born.

In the above, Brady is hit over and over again ("Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!") as the screen mournfully declares, "Tom Brady has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee."

More tribute videos, in which creative amateurs show off their Tom Brady-loving skills at a professional level, after the jump ...

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Tom Brady's Short Season" »

9:30 AM ET | 09- 9-2008 | permalink

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Open Questions: Are Indie Movies Dead? Does It Matter?

Cut! Studios such as Paramount and Warner Brothers are slashing funds for "independent" films.
iStockphoto.com

The pre-Oscar countdown has officially begun, with the Venice Film Festival just concluded and the Toronto festival in full swing. It turns out we're still arguing over whether indie film is dead. In The New York Times, critic A.O. Scott raises the question and concludes that...well, it's not clear what exactly he concludes. That there were too many good movies last year, so it was hard for them to make money, so it's not necessarily bad that there are fewer this year? He also seems to conflate the question of the future of independent film with a growing feeling that 2008 is a ho-hum year for quality movies.

Somewhat baffled by Scott's approach and conclusions, I throw the following three questions to you:

1. What do you consider an independent film for the purposes of a discussion of whether they're dead?

2. Given your own definition, are independent movies superior to mainstream releases?

3. What films remain on this year's calendar, either independent or not, that you're most excited to see this year?

8:26 AM ET | 09- 8-2008 | permalink

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Friday: Dogs In Wigs

Today in "Dogs In Wigs": Cats On a Treadmill.

-- Linda Holmes

2:00 PM ET | 09- 5-2008 | permalink

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So: What's So New
About New Fall TV?

Hole In The Wall: Is this the best new offering of Fall 2008?
Fox

 

The fall season's new TV shows are starting to make their debuts: this week brought 90210 (unfortunately), and there are more premieres to come. This weekend, Alan Ball (of Six Feet Under and American Beauty) brings his vampire drama, True Blood, to HBO's traditional Sunday-night "good show" slot. (For more about that, check out David Bianculli's review, or hear from Alan Ball himself, about both this project and his upcoming film, Towelhead.)

But if you stick with the networks, there aren't as many new shows as you might expect. While it was easy to focus on the immediate effects of last year's writers' strike — the seasons interrupted at midpoint; the seasons not completed at all — there are perhaps even more pronounced effects just showing up now.

There are only four new network comedies this fall — two on CBS, one on Fox, and one on NBC. That's consistent with the general disappearance of half-hour prime-time comedies, of course.

But there were more than 50 such comedies on the fall schedule five years ago, on what were then six prime-time broadcast networks (before the WB and UPN merged to form the CW). The five surviving networks will air fewer than 20 this fall.

There are maybe 10 new dramas (numbers depend somewhat on how you count, and somewhat on how far into the season you consider "fall"). And there's basically nothing new happening in reality programming (though there are a couple of game shows coming down the pike) — so America's symphony orchestras and major museums had better buckle up for the coming flood of patrons who stayed home only because The Mole was on.

With so few new shows, it gets easier to look closely at the approach each individual network is taking to rounding out its fall lineup. So let's take the quick tour, and then as things premiere in coming weeks, we'll take a few closer looks. (We'll also get to cable, don't worry.)

Networks at a glance, plus what that incredibly awesome guy is doing in that picture, after the jump ...

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About New Fall TV?" »

1:45 PM ET | 09- 5-2008 | permalink

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Hollywood Looking For Machismo In All The Wrong Places

Youthful indiscretions: Could this Bogie ever have been Bogie?
Photo illustration by Trey Graham, NPR.

An arresting headline in Variety -- "U.S. short on tough-guy actors" -- caught my eye recently. Anne Thompson cites a bunch of producers lamenting the "boy-men" and "imps" who pass for movie stars these days. Apparently the suits are pining for the tough guys -- the McQueens, Bogies, Bronsons and Waynes -- of yesteryear.

Those guys could carry a movie, say the studio guys. These days, once you get past Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford and a couple of others, the real men -- Mel Gibson, Christian Bale, Javier Bardem, Russell Crowe, and Jason Statham are among those cited -- mostly hail from foreign shores.

Now granted, I don't have to scrounge financing for gazillion-dollar action flicks, but I'm not sure I agree with the premise. Vin Diesel has carried his share of action movies, and he's certainly not a boyish man. Mark Wahlberg, now well past his Calvins-model days, may not always be a great judge of material, but credit a guy who can open drivel like The Happening ($30 million in its first weekend) with some box-office clout.

Tim Robbins, Wesley Snipes, Robert Downey Jr. and Edward Norton seem macho enough to me (I mean, they have senses of humor, which arguably the Waynes and Bronsons didn't, but does that disqualify them?)

And the Waynes and Bronsons weren't considered tough guys when they were in their 30s, anyway. So isn't it really about seasoning?

Steve McQueen was a kid when he battled The Blob; he only grew into the grizzled macho stuff later. Matt Damon and Will Smith are about the age now that McQueen was when he did films like Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair. George Clooney is the age McQueen was when he did Papillon and The Towering Inferno.

And in previous generations, stars tended to establish themselves first in theater. Humphrey Bogart didn't get into movies until he was in his mid-30s -- which means he didn't have a cinematic youth to live down when he was pushing 50. (And starring, masculinely, in Key Largo and The Big Sleep).

Might not have been the same if he'd been modeling underwear in his 20s.

-- Bob Mondello

12:28 PM ET | 09- 5-2008 | permalink

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Cartooning On The Radio: You Too Can Join Our Strange Enterprise

He knows it's a confounding oxymoron, but Mo Willems is trying to become a radio cartoonist.

He's tried it before.

And legendary New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia tried it way before, when he read comics on WNYC during a 1940s newspaper strike.

This being the 21st century and all, we're giving you the chance to out-caption the six-time Emmy winner. Below are a couple of caption-less cartoons just begging for, well, captions; leave your suggestions in the comments section, and we might use your submissions for future on-air pieces.

-- Eyder Peralta

Cartoon #1

Your Caption Here

 

One more cartoon after the jump...

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4:15 PM ET | 09- 4-2008 | permalink

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TiVos & Love, New Film Glut, Letterman Speaks, More...

Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading: Will star power — and/or that great shot of him running on the treadmill — help the film cut through the glut?
Focus Features

 

The fall TV season is finally getting underway, and while it may not bring greatness, it will bring an end to the worst of the summer fare. (Fare thee well, Greatest American Dog!) We're climbing out of the August blues at the movies, too. So it's as good a time as any to pause for a roundup of interesting happenings:

• The Wall Street Journal posits today that the real problem at the movies is that too much is being produced, leaving no room for anything to succeed. Isn't the market for film destined to splinter just like the market for television, once distribution channels catch up? Is this a glut, or is the market just getting more niche-oriented? Isn't this partly a result of the insistence on packing everything potentially award-winning into the late part of the year, packing everything blockbuster-ish into the summer, and leaving the rest of the calendar to rot?

More culture bites, including Stevie Wonder, David Letterman, and challenging All Songs Considered to a duel, after the jump ...

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2:20 PM ET | 09- 4-2008 | permalink

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Marvel's Simian Super-Heroes
And Other Monkeyshines

We feel an odd kinship: Monkey See is beside itself over Marvel Apes.
Illustration: Lindsay Mangum, NPR/Marvel Comics

Apes. They are to comic books what guest-appearances by Charo are to television: A once-pervasive element of the form, now fallen into sad disuse. Cheesy? Yep. Nonsensical? Sure. Yet possessed of an essential grooviness that is self-evident.

Back in a more whimsical era, comic pages teemed with gorillas, chimps, monkeys and the bad puns that inevitably follow in their musky wake. The reason was decidedly unwhimsical: Putting a primate on the cover boosted sales.

But this gorilla glut didn't last forever, and today it's a fondly remembered period in the history of comics publishing that continues to inspire scholarship -- well, musing, anyway.

Tomorrow, however, Marvel Apes # 1 arrives in comic shops.

The Strange Allure of Apes in Capes, after the jump ...

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And Other Monkeyshines " »

9:35 AM ET | 09- 4-2008 | permalink

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On How The New '90210'
Has Sapped My Will To Live

Like dementors, only better dressed: The only defense against the new 90210 is happy thoughts. And maybe chocolate.
The CW

 

You may have heard that an update to Ye Olde High School Drama Beverly Hills 90210 premiered last night on the CW. But you probably hadn't heard much in the way of critical preview -- because the network chose not to send out any advance screeners of the premiere.

Not to generalize or be cynical, but most critics will tell you that when networks hold back preview copies of shows or movies, it's not because they're trying to keep a cork in their greatness so they can release it upon the universe all at once.

No, they hold them back to avoid pronouncements like this, which I mean with all my heart:

The two-hour (!) premiere of 90210 sapped my will to live.

Let me tell you why.

1. It made the original Beverly Hills, 90210 look good. It's like attending Weekend At Bernie's 2 Part 2 and thinking, "You know, Weekend At Bernie's 2 wasn't that bad." It makes you feel vaguely dirty.

Nine more reasons, after the jump ...

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Has Sapped My Will To Live" »

12:20 PM ET | 09- 3-2008 | permalink

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Parsing the Bechdel Rule, and Writing a Few of Our Own

Alison Bechdel introduced her readers to 'The Rule' in 1985. Read on for more; click here to see the whole strip and hear the All Things Considered story.
Alison Bechdel/Courtesy Firebrand Books

Americans watch an average of five hours of TV a day — but how much of it is actually good? Twenty-three years ago, cartoonist Alison Bechdel had one of her female characters cite a simple rule: She'd only go to see a movie if it had:

1. At least two female characters, who ...
2. talk to each other about...
3. something besides a man.

It became known as The Bechdel Rule. It seemed like such a simple idea -- and it still resonates, because it articulates something often missing in popular culture.

More Bechdel, more rules — yours included — after the jump...

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5:12 PM ET | 09- 2-2008 | permalink

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Date Me! I Read!

"Yeah, I used to read mysteries, but I found the plots a little fishy." "Speaking of a little fishy, want to grab a bite to eat?"
iStockphoto.com

Ever since The New York Times ran a piece in March about dumping prospective suitors because of what they read (or don't read), there's been more talk than usual about the way literary tastes may influence our choice of romantic partners.

Now, inevitably, a publisher has started a dating site where you can search for people to date who read the same books you do.

Discouraged by love? Saddened beyond anyone's ability to console you? PenguinDating is there to help you find that Proust-reading person of your dreams.

The pleasures and perils of PenguinDating, after the jump ...

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9:50 AM ET | 09- 2-2008 | permalink

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