Baron Dave Romm
The Dollhouse and The Unusuals
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Joe Romm on 60 Minutes
Yes, that was my brother Joe on 60 Minutes last night. I'm writing this before the show, so I hope it all went well. Joe is a blogger on environmental issues at ClimateProgress.org. He explains why "clean coal" isn't.
Dollhouse Revisited
Friday's Dollhouse finally had a good episode. The major problem with the show is that it hasn't figured out whether to be about the adventures of the Dolls, the adventures of the Dollhouse or some sort of crime show where they Dollhouse is the central mystery. Last night's show had a Doll with the persona of a newly dead person, and she went to her own funeral to try to solve the murder. Meanwhile, the Dollhouse geek had Big Bang Theory fun with a Doll (which didn't make much sense, given the security and controls, but was mildly explained internally and amusing to watch) and the crime show aspect advanced a little.
I'm still not going to recommend Dollhouse until the shows are good with some degree of consistency. Still, I no longer hope for it's swift cancellation.
The Unusuals: A Worthy Replacement
The Unusuals takes the time slot of the late unlamented Life On Mars and also takes much of its predecessor's goofy yet violent charm. Set at a police station, most of the characters are detectives with some sort of odd quirk, which range from being rich to being a murderer. Many familiar faces pop up, notably Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia). Life On Mars had some interesting and intense drama but was clearly not going anywhere and the basic premise petered out very fast. The Unusuals is still feeling its way around, but in the right way: Start off with characters and good writing and let the situations develop.
I'm not going to recommend a series after only four episodes, but I'm enjoying The Unusuals a lot more than Life On Mars, and might be worth watching a few shows just to get up to speed on the characters before longer story arcs come into play.
Better Off Ted
I keep missing Better Off Ted, so haven't seen all the episodes. Still, it's a quirky show with promise. The show is another in the series of humorous takes on corporate structure, with much of the humor deriving from the immorality of the muckety mucks vs. the immaturity of the techies who they need to get the job done. It takes characters as odd as those in 30 Rock combined with the technobabble goofiness of Eureka. I like that geeks are on tv more, and that middle management are the typecast comic relief. it hasn't worked it's way up into full rotation yet, but has sort of filled the niche left by Carpoolers, which I liked a lot but fell victim to the writer's strike.
On the other hand, none of these series is a lock for next year, and you might want to check out a few episodes before they get send to DVD Heaven.
HD can't shut up inane sportscasters
The Vikings didn't have a first round draft pick last year, and the NFL Draft is a intensely boring non-event to begin with, but what the heck. It's so dull that even drinking beer doesn't make it better. Still, it was a lazy Saturday afternoon and I haven't seen a football game in over two months. I had a few of the predictions in hand to see if any of them predicted any of the choices. That's always fun.
The biggest difference this time around: HDTV. Widescreen and clear, all the pictures along the sides and all the stats on the bottom made geeky spectacle.
The biggest non-difference this time around: Ye gods are all those talking heads boring. Even with the draft picks going faster than in times past, minutes would go by between any draft action. I should have been alerted earlier in the day when I flipped past ESPN and they had a countdown: 3:14:56. Yes, they counted down the semi-sports event from hours into the future. Heck, CNN wasn't that shameless counting down the presidential election results.
The biggest difference in the non-difference: Picture in picture. Whee! I could flip over to a channel where someone was finding thousand year old ships in the Black Sea and only check in with the sports guys when something was happening.
I love living in the future. I may have mentioned this on Facebook.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Greg Mitchell: U.S. Soldier Killed Herself -- After Refusing to Take Part in Torture (huffingtonpost.com)
Appalled when ordered to take part in interrogations that, no doubt, involved what we would call torture, [Alyssa Peterson] refused, then killed herself a few days later, in September 2003.
Greg Mitchell: Part II: Soldier Who Killed Herself -- After Refusing to Take Part in Torture (huffingtonpost.com)
The death of Alyssa Peterson is unspeakably sad, and what was fully in her mind will never be known, especially since her parents apparently knew little about her death until years after it happened. ... But this tragedy also begs the question: Which interrogation techniques drew her ire?
Scott Burns: They Don't Call Them 201(k) s for Nothing (assetbuilder.com)
Only one event could make the market crash of last year worse, and it is happening. Many employers are choosing to eliminate their contributions to 401(k) plans. According to Hewitt Associates, a one-year suspension will cost a young, $50,000-a-year worker $16,000 in future retirement money. It will cost $48,000 if the employee also suspends contributions for that year.
FROMA HARROP: Hounded and Stressed, but Not by Technology (creators.com)
Consider Cary Grant in "North by Northwest." Sinister forces may be chasing him for reasons he can't comprehend, but this is 1959, and neither the BlackBerry nor the Global Positioning System chip that goes inside it has been invented.
SUSAN ESTRICH: I Had a Dream (creators.com)
Her name is Susan Boyle. If you haven't heard of her, you need to listen to her. Consider it my gift to you. Go to YouTube, along with the tens of millions of others who already have, and listen to the voice of an angel - a plump, unemployed, 47-year-old "spinster" (as she was described by more than one British newspaper) who lives with her cat.
Jonathan Jones: What is the point of art criticism? (guardian.co.uk)
It's easy to dismiss as trivial entertainment, but today's culture of gallery obsession and mediocre art being talked up by fools makes art criticism more crucial than ever.
'I was abused for a long time and I retaliated' (guardian.co.uk)
Samantha Morton's new film is based on her experiences as a child in care. She talks for the first time about a showdown when she was 14 and the criminal conviction she now sees as her salvation. Interview by Simon Hattenstone.
"Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo" by Kate Jackson: A review by Doug Brown
When Kate Jackson set out from Toronto to do a survey of amphibians and reptiles in the Republic of Congo, she didn't know what she was in for. Red tape, local guides who knew less about the local snakes than she did, ants, termites, and a local graduate student in herpetology who had a fear of live reptiles and amphibians -- this list goes on.
Imogen Russell Williams: How 'Black Beauty' can teach children about death (guardian.co.uk)
'Charlotte's Web,' 'Black Beauty,' 'Farthing Wood' - such books can teach children far more about life and death than some of the cutesy newer offerings.
Malinda Lo: Interview With Zero Chou (afterellen.com)
The out director talks about her films and Taiwan's lesbian community.
Steven Rea: 'Hunger' director explores Maze Prison hunger strike of '81 (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
When he was 11, living with his mother in a West London flat, Steve McQueen saw the images on the TV news. There was the photograph of Irish Republican Army leader Bobby Sands, and there was the number at the bottom of the screen. And every evening, the number would rise by one.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
What's Wrong With This W Picture?
Why did this photo virtually disappear nearly a decade ago but now has only PARTIALLY resurfaced?
Judge for yourself!
The Weekly Poll
The 'Fantasy Island' Edition
Time out! I'm callin' a 'time out' from reality this week... No politics. No Economics. No wing-nuts. No war... Let's engage in a little reverie, shall we? C'mon! It'll be fun!
Given that you had the time and wherewithal to go anywhere you'd wish for a dream vacation, where would go to and what would you do once there?
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to
Results tomorrow
nailed it with:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Marine layer til mid-day.
Free chicken day at KFC today.
Tomorrow is free chicken day at El Pollo Loco.
Yahoo To Close
GeoCities
AOL took down its Journals and Hometown services, and now Yahoo's following suit with its own GeoCities, the hosting service that once upon a dot-com bubble seemed to include half the personal sites on the Web.
Yahoo isn't currently providing a lot of detail about what users can expect from the shutdown process, other than that it'll happen "later this year," probably in the summer timeframe. As that unknown date nears, says GeoCities Help Page , "We'll provide more details about closing GeoCities and how to save your site data this summer, and we will update the help center with more details at that time."
Long before MySpace, GeoCities was responsible for a great number of sites put up by ordinary folk, often operating with more enthusiasm than design sense. ("Eye-searing" is a word that comes to mind.) The firm was one of the big buys of 1999, as Yahoo picked up the company, which was founded in 1994 as "Beverly Hills Internet," later "Geopages," for $2.87 billion. (Which even at the time we thought was a lot to have one's eyeballs seared.)
As of today, GeoCities is accepting no new users. The Help page suggests that current users consider switching to the (paid) Yahoo Web Hosting service.
GeoCities
Cree Opera
Tomson Highway
In October 1990, celebrated Cree playwright Tomson Highway lay on a Toronto hospital bed beside his dying brother Rene and held him in his arms. As he fell asleep, he dreamed they were in a boat floating toward an island on a misty waterway.
"On that island, only one of us was allowed to get off and it was him," the writer, who was born near Maria Lake, Man., recalled recently during a telephone interview from his home in the south of France. "I had no choice but to go back to the mainland in that boat by myself."
The dream, which came a few days before his brother's death of meningitis (he also had AIDS), helped inspire Highway's libretto for the Cree opera "Pimooteewin: The Journey" that starts touring northern Ontario on Monday.
Directed and choreographed by Toronto-based performer Michael Greyeyes to the haunting music of Montreal-based composer Melissa Hui, the opera follows two characters traditional to aboriginal mythology - the comical Trickster and the Eagle - as they cross a river on a boat to a magical island inhabited by spirits.
Tomson Highway
Maui Concert
Aerosmith
Free tickets to see Aerosmith in Hawaii? Dream on, unless you happen to be one of 8,300 people left in the cold when the band canceled a sold-out concert in 2007.
Aerosmith has agreed to perform on Maui to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by fans who alleged the band pulled out of the show in favor of a larger concert in Chicago and a more lucrative private performance for Toyota dealers on Oahu.
The suit claimed the cancellation cost Maui ticket buyers between $500,000 and $3 million in travel costs, handling fees and other expenses.
"Everyone who bought a ticket to the original concert will receive a free ticket, and all out-of-pocket expenses will be reimbursed regardless of the amount," said Brandee Faria, an attorney representing the would-be concertgoers.
Aerosmith
Weekend Services
Sherwood Elementary
A church giving sermons about sex may have to find a new home. Brevard Public School District's risk-management department has threatened to boot New Hope Church out of Sherwood Elementary because of a worship series titled "Great Sex for You."
Church leaders mailed 25,000 fliers, asking residents "Is Your Sex Life A Bore?" The three-week program kicked off inside the school auditorium. Pastor Bruce Cadle had said the Christian church has been "shamefully silent" on the taboo topic.
Mark Langdorf, the director of risk management, says the mailers generated complaints, were not appropriate for elementary school children and shouldn't be used to advertise the sermon in the school.
Langdorf says the church's lease contract is under review.
Sherwood Elementary
No More Naked Hiking
Appenzell Inner Rhodes
Voters in the heart of the Swiss Alps on Sunday passed legislation banning naked hiking after dozens of mostly German nudists started rambling through their picturesque region.
By a show of hands citizens of the tiny canton (state) of Appenzell Inner Rhodes voted overwhelmingly at their traditional open-air annual assembly to impose a 200 Swiss franc ($176) fine on violators.
Only a scattering of people on Sunday opposed the ban on the back-to-nature activity that took off last autumn when naked hikers - primarily Germans - started showing up in eastern Switzerland.
A similar legal move is expected in neighboring Appenzell Outer Rhodes with legislation being prepared against "this shameless behavior."
Appenzell Inner Rhodes
H8-Monger | Sarah Palin, V 2.0
Miss California
Miss California Carrie Prejean, who became the bombshell of the Miss USA pageant by saying gay couples should not be allowed to marry, said Sunday that her state sponsors urged her to apologize afterward but she rejected the advice.
Prejean, 21, said officials from the Miss California USA pageant were worried that her comments would cost their contest financial backing and tried to prepare her for a string of post-pageant media interviews by discouraging her from discussing her religious beliefs.
"`You need to apologize to the gay community. You need to not talk about your faith. This has everything to do with you representing California and saving the brand,'" Prejean recalled being told. "I was representing California. I was representing the majority of people in California."
She offered her version of the tense hours following the April 19 Miss USA pageant while appearing at the San Diego megachurch that has helped shape her views. The Rock Church, founded by former San Diego Chargers defensive back Miles McPherson, was active in the campaign to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriages in California last year.
The San Diego Christian College junior, model and member of the San Diego Padres "Pad Squad" received a heroine's welcome from fellow members of the Rock, where she was the guest of honor at morning services. Seated onstage across from McPherson, she recalled resisting multiple opportunities - from her appearance on NBC's "Today" show to a performance with Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump - to edit, explain or expound upon her remarks.
Miss California
What Global Warming?
Aquitaine Coast
France's Aquitaine coast stretches north from the Spanish border to the Gironde river estuary, encompassing rocky bluffs, giant lagoons, deltas, beaches and Europe's largest dune.
Now climate change has laid siege to this natural oasis, dramatically speeding up the erosion of the 270 kilometre-long (168 miles) Atlantic coastline and threatening local communities.
Climate change means rising sea levels, more violent storms and increasing rainfall in a region already suffering from its location on the Bay of Biscay, where ocean waves carry 500,000 cubic metres (17.6 million cubic feet) -- about 200 Olympic swimming pools -- of sand southward every year.
Cliffs are sliding into the sea, beaches are disappearing, dunes that protect forests, towns and roads are in danger, and the tourism trade is in jeopardy, local experts said.
Aquitaine Coast
Cache Unearthed
Mummies
Archaeologists have unearthed a cache of pharaonic-era mummies in brightly painted wooden coffins near Egypt's little-known Lahun pyramid, the site head said on Sunday.
The mummies were the first to be found in the sand-covered desert rock surrounding the mud-brick Lahun pyramid, believed to be built by the 12th dynasty pharaoh Senusret II, who ruled 4,000 years ago. The team expects to announce more finds soon.
"The tombs were cut on the rock itself, and they vary in architectural designs," said archaeologist Abdul Rahman Al-Ayedi, head of excavations at the site. "Most of the mummies we discovered were with these bright and beautiful colors."
At the site, bare skulls from some of the mummies sit on a hillside while workers gently brush away sand from coffins below the earth that bear images of their occupants, some painted in striking hues of green, red and white.
Mummies
Weekend Box Office
`Obsessed'
Beyonce Knowles and Idris Elba's "Obsessed" debuted as the top weekend movie with $28.5 million in ticket sales. The Sony Screen Gems thriller stars Knowles and Elba as a couple whose ideal marriage lands on the rocks after a psychotic temp played by Ali Larter begins stalking the husband.
The strong opening for "Obsessed" helped maintain Hollywood's hot streak, with overall revenues at about $112 million, up 23.5 percent from the same weekend last year, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
Zac Efron's "17 Again" and Channing Tatum's "Fighting" were neck-and-neck for the No. 2 spot. With Sunday estimates of $11.7 million, the Warner Bros. comedy "17 Again" had the edge. After debuting in first-place a week earlier, "17 Again" raised its 10-day total to $40 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Obsessed," $28.5 million.
2. "17 Again," $11.7 million.
3. "Fighting," $11.4 million.
4. "The Soloist," $9.7 million.
5. "Earth," $8.6 million.
6. "Monsters vs. Aliens," $8.5 million.
7. "State of Play," $6.9 million.
8. "Hannah Montana: The Movie," $6.4 million.
9. "Fast & Furious," $6.1 million.
10. "Crank: High Voltage," $2.4 million.
`Obsessed'
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