Tuned InUncategorized
Anyone who follows the media business (or, ahem, works in it) knows well how hard that sector has it in a general economic downturn. But in an intriguing Boston Globe article imagining what an actual 21st-century Great Depression would look like, Drake Bennett raises an interesting point about the prospects for an entertainment medium …
Tuned InUncategorized
I wasn’t moved by True Blood when it debuted this fall, but I’ve been quietly keeping up with it after the first five episodes HBO sent out. It’s still not a Sunday night date for me, but I find myself sort of not hating it. I can’t imagine ever being involved in the show on a character level the way I am with, say, Big …
Tuned InUncategorized
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd8f9Zqap6U]
Barack Obama posts what will be the first in a series of Presidential (or for now, President-Elect-ial) weekly addresses on YouTube. The sounds you hear in the background from about :35 to 1:05, while he talks about the economic crisis? Sirens! Because we weren’t quite alarmed enough …
Let’s continue that talk with MASS MoCA Director Joe Thompson about how the giant Sol LeWitt installation was accomplished. Yesterday we talked about how LeWitt had come up to MASS MoCA in 2004 and picked out an empty building on the museum campus that he thought would be suitable for the show, which is going to remain on the walls for …
Tuned InUncategorized
Before watching Ricky Gervais: Out of England—the Stand-Up Special, I hadn’t really thought of Gervais as a stand-up comedian. After watching it, I still don’t. Which is not to say that the special is not entertaining; it’s uneven but sometimes gaspingly funny. But as he did in The Office, Extras and (to a lesser extent) on his …
Tuned InUncategorized
Interesting piece by Brian Stelter about a side effect of the cancellation of My Own Worst Enemy: it also means the end of a high-profile product placement for General Motors, which wasn’t really in the market for yet more bad news.
Is Hank Paulson empowered to bail out Christian Slater action thrillers?
Tuned InUncategorized
Not one of my favorite episodes of 30 Rock last night, though like all of them it had its moments. The Night Court closure storyline was over the top of the top but I was willing to suspend disbelief more than usual for Harry and Markie’s sake. (“Court? At night? I’m laughing already!”) Jennifer Aniston’s Crazy-Putty character …
Tuned InUncategorized
In this week’s issue of TIME, a look back at The Shield and very-spoiler-light look ahead to its final two episodes, including some themes I’ve been writing about here:
The show’s themes and Chiklis’ brooding, minotaur-like physicality invite comparison with that Urtext of male antiheroes, The Sopranos. But our relationship with Mackey
…
In his last two films—Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale—James Bond has drifted away from his gizmo-filled days of yore. TIME looks at four decades of 007’s best doohickies.
Tuned InUncategorized
Spoilers for The Office coming up after the jump:
When I was up at MASS MoCA a few weeks ago to see their new installation of 105 Sol LeWitt wall drawings, I had a talk with MASS MoCA’s director Joe Thompson about how the project took shape. Thompson and his museum were brought into it by Jock Reynolds, the director of the Yale University Art Gallery. It was Reynolds who first …
Tuned InUncategorized
When I first reviewed Chocolate News I said that the show suffered from some iffy taped segments, but that David Alan Grier’s commentaries showed potential if they could keep the humor more current. (At least I think I wrote that. Until the Internet coughs up the Tuned In blog archives I have to rely on memory, and/or making stuff up. …
Tuned InUncategorized
Spoilers for the season premiere of Top Chef coming up after the jump:
