March 2004 Archives

Alistair Cooke, host of Masterpiece Theatre has died. As the obituary on PBS' site notes:

C is for cookie

Cooke hosted Masterpiece Theatre for 22 seasons, beginning with the show's premiere in 1971 and continuing until he retired in 1992. Along the way, he wrote and delivered erudite commentary on many classic Masterpiece Theatre titles, from I, Claudius to Upstairs, Downstairs to The Jewel in the Crown. His debonair presence became synonymous with the popular series, and his social and historical commentary gave public television audiences a unique perspective on what they were about to see. Cooke often equated his role with that of a headwaiter "in the sense that I'm there to explain for interested customers what's on the menu and how the dishes were composed."

This, of course, begs the question: is Alistair Cookie, the learned host of Monsterpiece Theater who had a penchant for baked goods, also deceased?

Woohoo! My personal favorite, Yoanna House, won the title of America's Next Top Model. Yes, yes, this means that I'm officially declaring my love for this totally cheesy show...but I'm not the only one. One of my friends continually suggests that it's the best reality series on right now - as it actually judges the contestants based on real modeling activities like beauty shots, runway shows, etc. I have to agree.

However, I did just check out Yoanna's final portfolio over at the UPN site. While two of the photos of Y are beautiful, the one with Tyra looking like a drag queen freaks me out.

I love Frontline on PBS, but I often miss it. Fortunately, I've just discovered that a bunch of episodes are available online, including some of my personal favorites - Merchants of Cool and Dot Con.

In other news, I'm reading Eric Schlosser's Reefer Madness, which is finally out in paperback. It's a great piece of journalism, and it makes me want to write stuff like it...or just write, period.

Oh, speaking of journalism, there was also an interesting interview in this week's The Stranger with Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass. I still haven't seen Shattered Glass, but it's on my list.

And here's a random link that's too good not to share - a bunch of Flash art pieces (I especially like the black ribbon one) by Yugo Nakamura.

While wandering around the city today, I noticed that a surprising number of gratings have the words "Urban Accessories" printed on them. Lo and behold, there is a company that makes custom city accessories. It's like an Urban Outfitters for tree grates, drain covers, and trenches. Maybe I should mount some bollards to the walls in my apartment.

In other urban planning-ish news, check out this collection of hand drawn maps. (via xBlog)

...that the new FOX show Cracking Up is quite good. Go Mike White!

Why can't my favorite coffeeshops install Web cams? That way, I could visit their Web sites to determine how crowded they are before heading out. Today is the second time in three days when I've had to run around town, looking for some place that's not totally jammed packed with people, so I can sit down and get some work done on my communication policy paper. Victrola was so insanely busy that I just looked in the front door and determined that I had a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting a table.

Now, you may ask, why am I updating my weblog if I'm "working" so hard? I don't know. I've found that I have a limited number of great good even remotely intelligent mediocre ideas these days. I'd better strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.

Cameron Marlow, creator of Blogdex and a doctoral student at the MIT Media Lab, has created a very compelling art project that translates blog postings into streaming audio using text to speech technology. It's like listening to a bunch of Stephen Hawkings chatting about relationships, technology, politics, sports, weblogging, etc., and it's insanely compelling. I could listen for hours.

Try it yourself: radio vox populi: live from the commons.

Damn those MIT Media Lab people. They're always building something cool - unlike the rest of us doctoral punks who just sit around and pontificate about "hegemony" and "discourse" and "democracy."

(Weird meta comment - I wonder if after I post this to my blog, I can saunter on over to Radio Vox Populi and listen to it being read.)