A few media observations
After having made a few "buys" in the equity market this morning at 9:31, I am somewhat shaky. I've been on the sidelines watching the damage accumulate. I certainly don't want to now feel foolish. What to do now? The following media observations will distract me.
--- I have not read the Da Vinci Code or seen the Da Vinci Code, and for some reason have no interest in doing either. I have, however, enjoyed reading the reviews of the movie in the last week. My favorite is Anthony Lane's review in the current "New Yorker". The review begins as follows, "The story of the Da Vinci Code goes like this. A dead Frenchman is found laid out on the floor of the Louvre. His final act was to carve a number of bloody markings into his own flesh, indicating, to the expert eye, that he was preparing to roll in fresh herbs and sear himself in olive oil for three minutes on each side. This, however, is not the conclusion reached by Robert Langdon(Tom Hanks)..."
--- Thomas Friedman's column today in "The New York Times" discusses American competitiveness in the 21st century when faced with the rise of China, India and others. I liked the following paragraph, quoted as follows, "Now it's true that America's two major political parties are lost, and Washington is brain-dead. But precisely because we have this incredibly flexible, open, unrestricted, competitive economy-where we don't censor anything-what you find when visting U.S. innovation hubs is that no one is waiting for Washington to declare the next big Manhattan Project for, say, energy independence. American innovators are growing on their own."
--- Referencing my post of May 21 and its comments on Fed Chairman's Bernanke's loose lips, I point out that the NYTimes business section today has an article entitled "Fed Chief Swears Off Improvising". Yesterday Mr. Bernanke admitted to a "lapse of judgement". The writer of the article, Edmund Andrews, notes that "Mr. Bernanke might want to take lessons from his cryptic predecessor...". I've wanted to say this---you heard it here first.
---Did anyone see "Baghdad ER" Sunday night on HBO? I was scrolling through the program selections to see what was on before my usual 9pm Sopranos fix and saw this listed at 8pm. ER on HBO? I thought that was network. But this was not close to a television drama. Baghdad ER, a documentary filmed primarily in an ER in the Green Zone in Baghdad,was startling television. I don't think that I have ever averted my eyes from the screen while watching television but now I have. The horror of a war zone ER is right there on the tube. Perhaps some of the emotion shown is related to the cameras being present, but the amputations, the wounds, and the immediate choices demanded by the situations presented are real. The horribly wounded American soldiers are flown to Germany and, if they live, back to the U.S. But we also see Iraqi policeman with devastating wounds, and I wonder what happens to those that survive. This documentary will be shown again later this week.
--- Finally, I recently reread a piece from the March 27 New Yorker by Calvin Trillin. It's entitled "Alice, Off the Page" and is a memoir about his wife who died in 2001. I've made a copy for my files.
--- I have not read the Da Vinci Code or seen the Da Vinci Code, and for some reason have no interest in doing either. I have, however, enjoyed reading the reviews of the movie in the last week. My favorite is Anthony Lane's review in the current "New Yorker". The review begins as follows, "The story of the Da Vinci Code goes like this. A dead Frenchman is found laid out on the floor of the Louvre. His final act was to carve a number of bloody markings into his own flesh, indicating, to the expert eye, that he was preparing to roll in fresh herbs and sear himself in olive oil for three minutes on each side. This, however, is not the conclusion reached by Robert Langdon(Tom Hanks)..."
--- Thomas Friedman's column today in "The New York Times" discusses American competitiveness in the 21st century when faced with the rise of China, India and others. I liked the following paragraph, quoted as follows, "Now it's true that America's two major political parties are lost, and Washington is brain-dead. But precisely because we have this incredibly flexible, open, unrestricted, competitive economy-where we don't censor anything-what you find when visting U.S. innovation hubs is that no one is waiting for Washington to declare the next big Manhattan Project for, say, energy independence. American innovators are growing on their own."
--- Referencing my post of May 21 and its comments on Fed Chairman's Bernanke's loose lips, I point out that the NYTimes business section today has an article entitled "Fed Chief Swears Off Improvising". Yesterday Mr. Bernanke admitted to a "lapse of judgement". The writer of the article, Edmund Andrews, notes that "Mr. Bernanke might want to take lessons from his cryptic predecessor...". I've wanted to say this---you heard it here first.
---Did anyone see "Baghdad ER" Sunday night on HBO? I was scrolling through the program selections to see what was on before my usual 9pm Sopranos fix and saw this listed at 8pm. ER on HBO? I thought that was network. But this was not close to a television drama. Baghdad ER, a documentary filmed primarily in an ER in the Green Zone in Baghdad,was startling television. I don't think that I have ever averted my eyes from the screen while watching television but now I have. The horror of a war zone ER is right there on the tube. Perhaps some of the emotion shown is related to the cameras being present, but the amputations, the wounds, and the immediate choices demanded by the situations presented are real. The horribly wounded American soldiers are flown to Germany and, if they live, back to the U.S. But we also see Iraqi policeman with devastating wounds, and I wonder what happens to those that survive. This documentary will be shown again later this week.
--- Finally, I recently reread a piece from the March 27 New Yorker by Calvin Trillin. It's entitled "Alice, Off the Page" and is a memoir about his wife who died in 2001. I've made a copy for my files.
posted by John Borden at 10:15 AM
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