“Truth be told, that’s one of the reasons I left. I couldn’t stand covering random assaults and vandalism, stories that had no impact on the average viewers. TV news does violence because it’s fast, easy, requires no frame of reference or special reporting skills.” – Heather McMichael, a former Kansas City Fox 4 Reporter….comments to … Read more
I’m a big fan of Robert Wright. His book, “Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny”, is one of the most sophisticated perspectives on human conflict — including radical religiosity — I’ve ever come across. His various web-sites are now consolidating, including bloggingheads.tv. There are entirely understandable reasons why commercial television stations, (hell, PUBLIC TV), haven’t … Read more
Even though the organizers of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland politely asked the likes of Sharon Stone and Angelina Jolie to stay home this year, the summit of big hitters is making news. This Reuters report on Bill Gates’ statement that the full marriage of television and internet is less than five years … Read more
Got my hands on somethin’ here: —–Original Message—– From: Thomas Lee [tlee@startribune.com] Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 11:28 AM To: Pat Sukhum Subject: Singles party Hi Pat, I received your contact info from Simon Groebner, who mentioned that you threw a singles party last year. I am a Star Tribune reporter who is working on … Read more
Yesterday I had one of those zen moments while doing laundry. What if I judged the passing of time not by weeks and months but instead by laundry loads. How many laundry loads old am I? If I had to hazard guess it would be about 852. That sounds a lot wiser than 29 years … Read more
Kevin and his wife, whose family lives somewhere in Michigan The new City Pages editor, Kevin Hoffman, logged on to the City Pages blogs Wednesday to clear up the geography question regarding the relative proximity of the Twin Cities and Cleveland to Michigan. Some have suggested that he could have made the whole thing go … Read more
Here’s what I’ve been so excited for: tonight I’m going, with my good friend Adam, to the Weinstein Gallery, where my favorite visual artist is opening a new exhibition. And I even got to interview David Rathman for the new February issue. (This hits stands on Monday but is online right now.) Rathman and I … Read more
An Evening With Kenneth Anger. Friday night at 7:30 at the Walker Art Center Cinema. Holy tapdancing cats, there’s a ton of intriguing movie choices opening Friday. Army of Shadows, the crazy Existentialist-Noir-French Resistance picture, is in town for a few days at the Oak Street Cinema (and here’s my review, from an earlier showing … Read more
Dirty Little Secret #62: I am obsessed with the hunt for the Winter Carnival medallion. Yeah, I know. My family doesn’t even really understand the extent. Sure, they’ve seen me on the computer noodling out the clues, looking through maps and aerial shots of Ramsey County parks, I can’t hide that. But I’ve been sneaky … Read more