Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 7 Editor's Choice: 1
-
They lost me early on
[Read the article: Will you miss "The West Wing"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The first season was magnificent; in particular I loved the way that these idealists had to give away *some* of what they wanted in order to achieve the rest. That FELT real.
After that first season, I think the writers read their own press clippings: the amount of "walk & talk" increased exponentially and the characters seemed to win every ideological battle. I hung in there for a number of years, but it didn't feel real any more.
Did I read somewhere that West Wing was "Clinton without the sex scandal"? I agree with that assessment: the show had something to prove in the real world. I loved them for that ambition, but I think it corrupted the show's ability to appear true.
I loved the show when it presented a gray world. After they went to black-and-white, they lost me. I stopped watching regularly the season that Bartlett ran for re-election.
-
What do teenage abuse victims wear?
[Read the article: "Georgia Rule"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Something mentioned in this review screams out at me. I'm not a psychologist or sociologist, but I wonder if one of the screenwriter's premises about the Lohan character as a victim of incest comes even close to reality. Is it common for a victimized young woman choose to flaunt her sexiness and wear ultra-revealing clothing? Might she not choose to hide her body? Might she want to deflect male attention? I COULD BE WRONG. But I wonder if this is a case of a writer and director making up what they portray about the psyche of a female victim, and this justifies featuring a peep show for an actress who has a history of innapropriate behavior? This could be a totally false protrait of how a real, traumatized young women might act. Which would make the movie really icky, IMHO.
-
Cold Stone left me cold
[Read the article: What happened to plain old vanilla?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for articulating what I found disturbing about my visit to Cold Stone. I don't like more than two flavors competing for my palate's attention, and chose coffee ice cream with chocolate chips, which should yield a rich mocha effect. It turned out to be the worst served ice cream I've ever tasted, with barely any flavor at all -- way too sweet. I could not finish the huge serving. I should have realized that I already knew size means nothing. And what's more, I don't desire to be "pampered" (hah!) by lunatics. The goony server thought I was some kind of self-depriving kook for not ordering one of their contrived pre-designed "creations" whose names I was too embarrassed to utter while ordering.
-
I was born too early!
[Read the article: Do loose chicks sink dicks?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Women who want to get laid ought to check out the men who are shorter than average and less than gorgeous. Not being a magazine model seemed to be what often sunk me, back in my college days.
Both the original aritcle and Traister's wonderful trashing of it ignored what I think is the obvious reason for ED: all the advertising designed to convince men that they have it and need help. To paraphrase a head comic from the sixties:
"Leave it to Madison Avenue to take your manhood away and then sell you a plastic substitute guaranteed to stay hard..."
--a guy (despite my moniker)
-
For those under 30...
[Read the article: Bill Gates, the greatest hacker of all time]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...it's worth remembering that during the 1980s when IBM was the Giant Evil Empire Monopoly of personal computing, Microsoft and Apple were both the tiny good guys fighting for the rest of kids. Although Gates & company morphed into a giant (and by the definition of some, an evil empire), they did it by inventing their own market: all the little niches that IBM chose to ignore.
I am a huge fan of Apple and the innovation that they represent, but it is also worth remembering that Apple did not invent the mouse-driven GUI interface that they made famous; they "stole" the idea from Xerox PARC and built on it from there.
So: people who accuse Microsoft of stealing ideas need to cool off -- everyone is building on the shoulders of other people's worthy ideas, which is what we have always called Progress. Stop worry about who got rich and just enjoy the benefits.
...and of course, the philanthropy. I am no fan of Windows (which my company forces me to use every day), but I love what Gates doing with all that money. There is no philanthropist in the world more generous.
-
The Subliminals are No Accident
[Read the article: Who's playing the race card?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Joan, please read up on subliminals and stop cutting McCain's commercial makers undeserved breaks. That commercial juxtaposes two white women, Obama, and the hugely phallic Victory Column monument in Berlin. This is no more a coincidence than was that cross floating behind Mike Huckabee's head.
Believe me, Republicans have been laying in wait for any possible excuse to air the racist commercials that they've been designing for months. I'm not paranoid, I'm an observer of history -- and it will be no different than the coded "law and order" ads run by Nixon and the Willie Horton ads run by HW Bush.
Obama is doing it too: if you don't think "Same Old Politics" contains code about McCain's age, then you do not understand advertising.
Doubters can begin with a copy of "Subliminal Seduction," which is 35 years old and still highly relevant. Knowledge is Power.
-
No, *Viewers* run the show
[Read the article: Will advertisers kill the market for online tv?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'll go even farther than Ms. Caruso: viewers will *not* be kicked to the curb, content suppliers will. If advertisers or the TV industry close off the streaming of shows, then file-sharing such as bit torrent, etc., will find a way to distribute those shows for free. And then NO ONE will make any money.
As much as I hate those motion-crazy clickable ads, they appear to work and I'm willing to try and ignore them, to view my show. NBC's streaming (and many others) simply play an ad first, before the content. I'll put up with that. Change or die, folks!