I’m back from vacation. Over the break I took an advance look at a few upcoming books and tv programs, and I’ll blog about a few of them in the weeks to come. The one you should know about first is Documenting the Face of America, a film about Roy Stryker and the F.S.A. …
Tuned InMusic
It’s August, and I’m on vacation. Let’s try something a little different this week. We have the other 51 weeks a year to talk about TV: let’s spend this one talking about things that are not TV.
I was inspired to do this post, and all of Not-TV Week, by this article in Blender that asked Barack Obama and John McCain to submit a …
Tuned InUncategorized
While Flesh-James is on vacation, Robo-James has generated this free-for-all thread to discuss anything that’s caught your eye in the worlds of TV, media, or other matters Tuned Inland-y. Think of it as do-it-yourself guest blogging.
Tuned InTuned In
I’m on vacation even as I write this. The things I do for you people! I got episode 4 of Mad Men before leaving but didn’t have time to write a full-fledged Watch, so think of these as starting points, then fledge them yourselves:
* So after all the discussion of That Scene last week, we have Don shoving Betty in mid-argument. Does …
Tuned InUncategorized
Can you hear it? The cheerful whirring of servo motors… the friendly clank of metal limbs… the jolly hiss of a nozzle dispersing a paralyzing nerve agent to neutralize possible biological adversaries—why, it’s our friend Robo-James, here to lay down the binary code at Tuned In while my lazy, carbon-based …
Tuned InUncategorized
After the phony fireworks and the phony singing, how could Chinese Olympic organizers possibly top themselves? With phony Chinese!
OK, that’s a slight distortion. But a slighter one than, we’re learning in dribs and drabs, pervaded the production of the ceremonies. According to Reuters, a segment of the festivities that the ceremony’s …
Tuned In
Sunday brings the (much?) anticipated American debut of British teen show Skins on BBC America. I’ll just reproduce my brief TIME review in full:
Skins BBC America; Sundays; 9 p.m. E.T. This British teen dramedy comes touted as “daringly realistic.” Translation: lots of drugs and naughty bits! The realism doesn’t extend to the exaggerated
…
Tuned InUncategorized
My current column in Time looks at the cultural battle in the Presidential campaign—over who is a “celebrity”—and asks:
Why, after all, is celebrity an insult? Personal magnetism, the ability to galvanize attention and rally masses: this is a bad quality in a Chief Executive? J.F.K. and Ronald Reagan managed to soldier on with this
…
Tuned In
I sort of, um, forgot to post LDG earlier in the day, so I’ll keep this brief. This will probably be the last Lost Discussion Group of the summer (at least, the last one not hosted by Robo-James), after which I think we’ll give LDG a rest for a while, so we may as well return to our tradition for one whole entire year and solicit …
Tuned InUncategorized
So that’s what the hell that sport is called. I think I’m going to keep calling it “basketsoccer,” though.
Tuned InUncategorized
I promise (kinda) that this will be my last post about the McCain “Hot chicks dig Obama” ad, but in the comments section earlier, someone had asked why the original video had disappeared from YouTube. Turns out the McCain camp never got permission to use the ending “We’re not worthy!” clip from Wayne’s World, and Mike Myers (or his …
Tuned InUncategorized
In retrospect the amazing thing is that they didn’t do this sooner, but the next “cycle” of America’s Next Top Model will include Isis, a 22-year-old transgender model who describes herself to Us Weekly as “a woman born physically male.”
Good for them, I guess, and maybe this will entice me to check out what used to be one of my …
Tuned InUncategorized
SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers for Project Runway coming up after the jump.
