Pardon the Interruption

Why is this the best sports comment show on TV? I guess it's because Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon are like the two smartest guys in town sitting down together over a couple of beers and openly discussing a subject that is of utmost importance to those of us in the mizzle: sports.

I have always liked how this show has topics listed on the side of the TV screen and Kornheiser and Wilbon just talk about it. I don't know how much of the show is scripted, but when these two are just talking, they sound like friends of mine for whom I'm always willing to buy the beer because they have the most interesting things to say.

Eyewitness Books

So I went to a library sale the other day and picked up 10 of these little gems. They were in the children's section, so I got them for 25 cents a piece!

These may not be authoritative texts one would use in a college course, but I love them! Maybe it's a tendency to A.D.D. that's showing through, but the picture-and-caption format of Eyewitness Books have always appealed to me - even before I started buying them for my own children.

Dorling-Kindersley, the British publishers of Eyewitness Books, used to have a series called Eyewitness Art that I have enjoyed immensely as well. These, like all Eyewitness Books, provide in-depth background in words and pictures, without neglecting the technical details and the stories (yes, you might even say the trivia, but that's not necessarily a bad thing) that bring the subject to life. Unfortunately, DK doesn't have a separate Eyewitness Art series any more, although there are many titles on art in their catalog.

I also love the Eyewitness Travel books, even if I'm not planning a trip to that destination.

24 Hours that Seem to Never End

I'm not sure how "middlebrow" 24 is any more. I think it was the critic's darling in the early days because it did something unique with the weekly drama television format. I think Kiefer Sutherland's biggest draw as an actor is that he's Donald's son, but he worked out well as an all-American version of James Bond.

The last couple of years of 24 have not lived up to the first few. And this season, I find myself getting sick of it. The most irritating part is the sub-plot with Katie Sackhoff from Battlestar Galactica as a "CTU" agent with a fake identity. Granted, if you describe any part of the plots of any of the seasons of 24, it would probably sound preposterous, but this season's Sackhoff sub-plot takes the cake. Willing suspension of disbelief only goes so far.

TV as an art form is an incredibly iffy proposition. I remember reading an interview with David Lynch when he was working on Twin Peaks in which he said he was interested in TV because of the challenge of fitting the story into the 10-or-15-minute tableaux between commercials. The best dramatic TV series treat the entire season - or the entire series - as a novel on a grand scale (not a "novel for television" - that's a different animal). Something with a large cast of characters, all of whom have unique personalities, going through a complex set of circumstances, and reacting in a way we can understand. It's really the universal approach to storytelling, and 24 is losing it.

Fandom of the Popera

I've been a fan all my life. My fandom usually falls into the category of popular culture: Movies, comic books, TV, popular music (in all genres), etc.

I think this blog will end up being about a lot of things, but mostly, I expect, it will be about the things in the arts that I like. Or maybe really don't like.

Kind of an experiment. Let's see what happens.