New Post on Infrastructure
I have a new post up at PBS’s Blueprint America blog (I’m reporting for the project) on the best of infrastructure posts online from the past couple of weeks.
Sat, 081115
Wed, 081112
T’giving
It’s always been my favorite holiday. My dear old friend Zim has the perfect explanation why.
Mon, 081110
“[I]f we promised not to be entertaining” i.e. Top Gear returns to the U.S.
What?
The State Department has decided that TG’s last visit to the states demonstrates that it’s not a “factual documentary”, but rather a “entertainment”? And this changes Jezza’s visa status? And generates a slew of jokes on fact versus jokes? Have they never heard of Peter Watkins?
And then Chrysler won’t lend them a car because they’re “horrid” about their cars?
This is why Top Gear will never work on commercial television in the US. PBS must step up.
I’ll shut up now.
Life on Mars: Getting Better All the Time
It really is getting better. Or at least different. O’Mara’s modulating his performances. But best of all, though, there’s a slow, satisfying divergence from the BBC version that’s unfolding.
My friend Joy Gregory’s comments still obtain — the scripts are still are still punctuated with sickening obviousness. But all of the characters are diverging nicely from the BBC archetypes, as are the stories. Which means they’re no longer haunted by the ghosts of Glenister, et al.
That said, memo to ABC: Half the time the ads in your online streams don’t work. At all. As in, black screen, or just static text.