Silver Balls and Joysticks and the Things We Used to Do
NOTE: In searching Wikipedia for some information, I found a link to a site called the Internet Pinball Database with listings of 4909 pinball machines from the begining to today - I have hyperlinked to all of the machines named in this bit of nostalgia - they have images of the games and back glass and bumpers and all - pretty cool if you want to take the time to look at them, maybe whip up some nostalgia of your own. And by the way, the machine on Happy Days [Nip It] was a game made in the 1974, not the 50s when the show was set. EXCELSIOR!
To quote a famous song, Ever since I was a young boy, I've played the silver ball. Which is true, of course. Back in the days before video games, there was pinball. And I loved pinball. I still love pinball. And since I saw in the paper Friday that the semi annual Pinball Expo was going on in Grapevine, a mere five minutes from where I work, I took off for there after work Friday night. And while I didn't get a deal for short time - $15 entry for 2 1/2 hours play time, I feel I got my money's worth. I had sore spots on the bottoms of my palms where I rest my palms against the front of the machine to work the flippers. I didn't feel it while I was playing, but as soon as I was done leaning against the machines, my right hip was aching all the way to the parking lot and walking into the house - I guess I'm not used to standing for 2 1/2 hours anymore. It made me wonder how I used to do this on roller skates... {Cue the flashback sound effect}
The first machine I remember playing was in Virginia Beach on a family vacation there at a miniature golf course there. I think the name of the machine was Apollo or Apollo 11, but it may have been this Space Mission machine. I would have been about 7 or 8.
But what really go me hooked was the Saturday afternoons at the skating rink. During those Shoot the Duck and races and couples skates, you'd find me at the arcade - six machines lined up, usually no waiting. Playing the old Royal Flush and Strikes and Spares machines at Big Wheel, Captain Fantastic at the old Forum Ice Chalet, the Chicago Coin Cinema game at Jackson's on Matlock, all the old machines with only bells and roller counters - true classics!
When they opened the Forum Fair at the old Forum 303 mall in Arlington/ Grand Prairie, they brought in a row of the new machines with LED / electronic counters. After the fire at Big Wheel, they also converted to the newer machines. These new machines also had new features like electronic sounds [the KISS machine played Rock and Roll All Night when you put the quarter in and Shout It Out Loud when your game was over] and a lane advance feature [thank you Wikipedia]. On the Firepower machine, when the ball came down after launch, it would go through one of four gates marked F-I-R-E and when you sent it through all four spelling FIRE it advanced or doubled the bonus or something. But you could also move the lit gates around by using the right flipper button. I don't recall if you could rotate through the letters on the KISS machine... I should be able to since I sank enough quarters into it to buy one! At the FF, they had Flash, Trident, Firepower, Xenon, Space Invaders [yes, there was a pinball machine too, though the creature on the back glass looked like the creature from Alien. I hit up one in Andrews Texas up for 20 games in two nights just running the Special Loop again and again and again] and the original Playboy machine.
For a while there was a good mix of pinballs and video games, but with the release of Defender [a game I originally didn't like but grew to love] and a gaggle of like 12 of them on the floor of the Forum Fair, the pinballs started being moved to the back. As for video games, I was never really good at Space Invaders, Donkey Kong was boring, Pac Man was okay, Ms. Pac Man was better since the screens changed ever couple of rounds but Galaxian, then Galga, Asteroids, Tron [and the sequel Discs of Tron], Defender and the sequel Stargate [which eliminated the instabilty of the hyperspace jump with the wormhole / star gate AND allowed you to go into a short period invivsible mode!] and the sit down games Red Barron, Tail Gunner and F-14. Oh! and the great challenge of a tabletop version of Star Castle at Gina's Pizza! And the hours spent wih my old buddy Morgan at Mama's Pizza sinking quarters into Joust! any half day, like finals we'd go over there after school and wreck the buffet for more food than should be allowed and then make up for the cheap buffet by spending a roll of quarters in the game room!
STILL, there were some cool machines to come out after the video game explasion - they started incorporating more ramps and sound effects and multiball... [Multiball is the ultimate cool - especially on Pinbot; totally ATOMIC!] - cool games like Pinbot [there was a variation I'd never seen at the Expo, but it played the same - a later version with and dot matrix scoring], Comet, The Simpsons, Fun House and Time Machine.
So I played these ancient relics Friday night and and had a go at Missle Command and the Joust a couple times for old times sake. It was good and dark in the basement of the Hilton and they had a DJ playing a lot of late 70s/ early 80s stuff, the best music to play pinball and pool to. Which reminded me of how we missed seeing the Cars in 1982 because Mike and Rich got out of line to go get coffee and play pinball - at least that's the story I got... some of the machines were all ready down for the evening and they had a lot of late 90s machines which I did not play - and I've decided that I don't like any of the machines by Gottlieb. But I had a good time being a kid again.
I wondered how Morgan would explain pinball to his 'Child Bride.' How does one explain a silver ball on an inclined board and flippers and bumpers and targets and kick backs to someone who grew up with Nintendo and /or Sega Genesis? How do you explain the skill of nudging and not titliting and catching the ball on the end of the flipper to line up a shot and ramps and jumping the ball and making it smack into the glass? How do you explain weak [read: poory maintained or broken] flippers and dead spots that make the ball slam right back down the drain hole?
And maybe that's it - you don't. It's like trying to explain eight tracks or vinyl albums to the cassette and CD generation. Like trying to explain that once there was TV with only 3 networks, PBS and aa few independent stations and THAT'S ALL THERE WAS ON TV! No VCR/Beta or DVD or video games or then just Pong or the Atari which is like stone knives and flintlock rifles to todays kids. But you and I know and one day we'll regale your grandchildren with stories of the things we used to do...
Sunday, March 18, 2007
20 Years Ago
I read in the paper this morning that this is the 20th anniversary of the release of With or Without You as the first single off U2's Joshua Tree album.
I don't remember exactly WHY we were all so hopped up about this album. For whatever reason, the rock and roll hype machine was cranked up and anointing this as the Next Big Thing from the Next Big Band. Don't get me wrong - I loved War and I loved parts of The Unforgettable Fire [side 1 and and the first part of side 2, but not the studio take of Bad nor Elvis Presley And America] I really loved the Wide Awake EP, but was this going to be a life changing album like 'They' were saying?
Well, I must have bought into some of this because for weeks I avoided hearing anything but snippets of the single. I didn't want to judge the album on the basis of the single [good or ... ahem, Bad]. And I didn't want to hear the album until I could sit down and listen to it. That was going to be hard, because I was working at Sound Warehouse at the time and of course, I was working the day it was released. Well, as luck would have it, instead of getting the UPS shipment at 9 or 10 in the morning, it didn't come in until about 230, so I only had to duck the album once before going home.
Within a couple of days, Marty, going to school in Tennessee called in and we compared notes and argued about what was the best song on the album. I think Marty was holding out for In God's Country or Trip Through Your Wires and he was chiding me about picking Bullet the Blue Sky as the obvious choice. Then the bastard gets to see U2 at the 8000 seat arena there in Murfreesboro at Middle Tennessee where he was going to school. Bastard! [Still jealous after all these years, though I doubt Marty can remember the show.]
Was it a life changing album? For U2 maybe. It still stands up as a great album and I've been through periods where each song on the album has been my favorite song [except Mothers of the Disappeared]. Listening to it right now, I'd say Red Hill Mining Town, One Tree Hill or In God's Country are the best, but that will change with the wind, I'm sure. But other albums from the period have had more long term impact on me personally: Life's Rich Pagent by R.E.M., Pleased to Meet Me by the Replacements, See How We Are by X - these albums opened doors I didn't even know existed at the time.
20 years and so many things have changed. Marty and I argue by email about the music scene or lack of. I miss the days when we'd call and moan about the slow death of interesting radio. For us, the death of AOR [Album Oriented Radio] was the death of our youth. AOR became 'Classic Rock' and began playing more Eric Clapton, Elton John, Styx, Boston and Journey than any man can stand and left a huge gaping hole for Not Top 40 New Music that has never been filled in my mind. Oh, there's college radio and now probably something on the internet which I will eventually be steered to by Mr Thompson now that I have something that can play streaming radio. But that still leaves a huge gap for the hour a day I'm in my car...
As for U2, I think they peaked with the very interesting Achtung Baby. Zooropa was about half a good album, Pop utterly disappointing and I haven't heard nor wanted to hear anything since. I've stopped buying the hype and the myth, as I have with R.E.M., who have faded since Monster. And I'm not a fan of Shiny Happy R.E.M. like Out of Time or Automatic for the People, either. In fact, I'll say that they've been going downhill since signing with Warner Brothers, even though I have had Get Up plying in my head since seeing them on the RnR Hall of Lame ceremony the other night. Bit it's fine that they want to keep making records and playing sold out gigs - hell, the Stones have been making mediocre to merely good records for the last 27 years. [I again point out, thanks to Mr Michael Leone, that Tattoo You is a collection of material, not separately recorded album.]
My boss, Mr Mannery, just paid a bunch of bucks to see Bob Seger. The only reason I mention this is to point out that the Police and Genesis [with Phil Collins this time] are coming on a money grabbing, 'build my retirement' tours that will sell a lot of seats because people want to see the mythical bands they're not had a chance to see - at $ 100 a pop. Not me. I have no interest in that crap anymore. Probably the only band reunion I'd pay to see is the Replacements - even if it's just Paul and Tommy. The only peron /band I'd pay that kind of bread to see now is Bruce Springsteen - and ONLY because you're going to get a 2 1/2 to 3 hr show AND because Bruce is a master showman.
Okay, I'm kicking the soapbox back under my desk here...
I read in the paper this morning that this is the 20th anniversary of the release of With or Without You as the first single off U2's Joshua Tree album.
I don't remember exactly WHY we were all so hopped up about this album. For whatever reason, the rock and roll hype machine was cranked up and anointing this as the Next Big Thing from the Next Big Band. Don't get me wrong - I loved War and I loved parts of The Unforgettable Fire [side 1 and and the first part of side 2, but not the studio take of Bad nor Elvis Presley And America] I really loved the Wide Awake EP, but was this going to be a life changing album like 'They' were saying?
Well, I must have bought into some of this because for weeks I avoided hearing anything but snippets of the single. I didn't want to judge the album on the basis of the single [good or ... ahem, Bad]. And I didn't want to hear the album until I could sit down and listen to it. That was going to be hard, because I was working at Sound Warehouse at the time and of course, I was working the day it was released. Well, as luck would have it, instead of getting the UPS shipment at 9 or 10 in the morning, it didn't come in until about 230, so I only had to duck the album once before going home.
Within a couple of days, Marty, going to school in Tennessee called in and we compared notes and argued about what was the best song on the album. I think Marty was holding out for In God's Country or Trip Through Your Wires and he was chiding me about picking Bullet the Blue Sky as the obvious choice. Then the bastard gets to see U2 at the 8000 seat arena there in Murfreesboro at Middle Tennessee where he was going to school. Bastard! [Still jealous after all these years, though I doubt Marty can remember the show.]
Was it a life changing album? For U2 maybe. It still stands up as a great album and I've been through periods where each song on the album has been my favorite song [except Mothers of the Disappeared]. Listening to it right now, I'd say Red Hill Mining Town, One Tree Hill or In God's Country are the best, but that will change with the wind, I'm sure. But other albums from the period have had more long term impact on me personally: Life's Rich Pagent by R.E.M., Pleased to Meet Me by the Replacements, See How We Are by X - these albums opened doors I didn't even know existed at the time.
20 years and so many things have changed. Marty and I argue by email about the music scene or lack of. I miss the days when we'd call and moan about the slow death of interesting radio. For us, the death of AOR [Album Oriented Radio] was the death of our youth. AOR became 'Classic Rock' and began playing more Eric Clapton, Elton John, Styx, Boston and Journey than any man can stand and left a huge gaping hole for Not Top 40 New Music that has never been filled in my mind. Oh, there's college radio and now probably something on the internet which I will eventually be steered to by Mr Thompson now that I have something that can play streaming radio. But that still leaves a huge gap for the hour a day I'm in my car...
As for U2, I think they peaked with the very interesting Achtung Baby. Zooropa was about half a good album, Pop utterly disappointing and I haven't heard nor wanted to hear anything since. I've stopped buying the hype and the myth, as I have with R.E.M., who have faded since Monster. And I'm not a fan of Shiny Happy R.E.M. like Out of Time or Automatic for the People, either. In fact, I'll say that they've been going downhill since signing with Warner Brothers, even though I have had Get Up plying in my head since seeing them on the RnR Hall of Lame ceremony the other night. Bit it's fine that they want to keep making records and playing sold out gigs - hell, the Stones have been making mediocre to merely good records for the last 27 years. [I again point out, thanks to Mr Michael Leone, that Tattoo You is a collection of material, not separately recorded album.]
My boss, Mr Mannery, just paid a bunch of bucks to see Bob Seger. The only reason I mention this is to point out that the Police and Genesis [with Phil Collins this time] are coming on a money grabbing, 'build my retirement' tours that will sell a lot of seats because people want to see the mythical bands they're not had a chance to see - at $ 100 a pop. Not me. I have no interest in that crap anymore. Probably the only band reunion I'd pay to see is the Replacements - even if it's just Paul and Tommy. The only peron /band I'd pay that kind of bread to see now is Bruce Springsteen - and ONLY because you're going to get a 2 1/2 to 3 hr show AND because Bruce is a master showman.
Okay, I'm kicking the soapbox back under my desk here...
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Mike
My neighbor, Mike Crowley died yesterday afternoon.
Since I only moved in here in August, I only really knew Mike for a few months. Mike was one of the most easygoing and unassuming people I ever met. His funeral won't be covered on E! or MSNBC, but there will be a lot of sad people and this neighborhood will be a little worse without him here. Mike lived on this corner for 26 years and he grew up in this neighborhood. He knew the ins and outs and whos and whens and wheres and whys around Meadowbrook. We get a flier called The Meadowbrook News every week, but if you really wanted to know the pulse of the neighborhood, you'd ask Mike. Mike's patio and TV room was always a flurry of activity people stopping by to chew the fat or have a beer or watch some racing or pick up his roommate Danny.
Mike used to race motorbikes a long time ago. I don't know how much to beilieve of what Mike said, but he said he's played some semi-pro ball and even hockey around Fort Worth. And he still loved racing - the Speed Channel was always on at Mike's.
Unfortunately Mike was an alcoholic with preference for gin. About four weeks ago they took him to the hospital as his body began its slow decline to the end. He spent three weeks or so there, coming home this weekend. I realize now that they sent him home to be comfortable because there was nothing else the doctors could do for him. All the years of gin and God knows what else caused cirrhosis of the liver. I guess I am still a little naive - when I spoke to his roommate Danny and his brother Monday they said the prognosis was not good, but I don't think anybody expected Mike to go that fast.
I can't speak for Mike nor even those who knew him a whole lot better than I did. Maybe he was just tired from living the hard life and being home in his bed gave him the peace to let go. I do know Mike was too young to pass, only 50 or 51. Even for all the drinking and not taking care of himself.
That's two friends in just over a year who've passed away because they didn't listen to their bodies. Renae ignored her diabetes right into a double transplant that got her ten more years... Is this a wake up call? Have I ignored my body for too long, abused it to the point of breakdown? How long before one of my knees starts giving up the ghost? How long before one of those arteries closes off and the heart attack I don't want comes calling? I used to think I was heavy at 240 pushing 500 pound barrels around at Albar - a decade of indoor jobs in front of computer monitors have ballooned that up...
There will be a wake for Mike soon, probably one hell of a wake. People will say that 'it's what Mike would have wanted,' but I'll tell you, I think he'd rather have everyone together for one wild assed birthday party than for his wake.
Mike loved my Dad, often telling me about times my Dad helped he and Danny out when their fortunes were running low. My Dad was "A Good Guy," which was as high a praise as you could get. That makes me proud. I'm sorry I'll not have the opportunity to prove the nut doesn't fall far from the tree on that one.
So long baby and amen.
What A Surprise!!!
PITTSBURGH [AP]-- With a new arena deal finally in place, Mario Lemieux and his partners no longer plan to sell the Pittsburgh Penguins.
You held up the city, state and county and got your deal, now you want to sit back and collect that deferred money and maybe get your name on the Stanley Cup again as an owner. Yeah, you're going to contribute to building the arena, but you put a gun to the heads of the taxpayers [even the ones who aren't fans].
I still say this holding up cities for new buildings is bullshit. It takes 30 years to pay it off, then you're back in the same boat.
My neighbor, Mike Crowley died yesterday afternoon.
Since I only moved in here in August, I only really knew Mike for a few months. Mike was one of the most easygoing and unassuming people I ever met. His funeral won't be covered on E! or MSNBC, but there will be a lot of sad people and this neighborhood will be a little worse without him here. Mike lived on this corner for 26 years and he grew up in this neighborhood. He knew the ins and outs and whos and whens and wheres and whys around Meadowbrook. We get a flier called The Meadowbrook News every week, but if you really wanted to know the pulse of the neighborhood, you'd ask Mike. Mike's patio and TV room was always a flurry of activity people stopping by to chew the fat or have a beer or watch some racing or pick up his roommate Danny.
Mike used to race motorbikes a long time ago. I don't know how much to beilieve of what Mike said, but he said he's played some semi-pro ball and even hockey around Fort Worth. And he still loved racing - the Speed Channel was always on at Mike's.
Unfortunately Mike was an alcoholic with preference for gin. About four weeks ago they took him to the hospital as his body began its slow decline to the end. He spent three weeks or so there, coming home this weekend. I realize now that they sent him home to be comfortable because there was nothing else the doctors could do for him. All the years of gin and God knows what else caused cirrhosis of the liver. I guess I am still a little naive - when I spoke to his roommate Danny and his brother Monday they said the prognosis was not good, but I don't think anybody expected Mike to go that fast.
I can't speak for Mike nor even those who knew him a whole lot better than I did. Maybe he was just tired from living the hard life and being home in his bed gave him the peace to let go. I do know Mike was too young to pass, only 50 or 51. Even for all the drinking and not taking care of himself.
That's two friends in just over a year who've passed away because they didn't listen to their bodies. Renae ignored her diabetes right into a double transplant that got her ten more years... Is this a wake up call? Have I ignored my body for too long, abused it to the point of breakdown? How long before one of my knees starts giving up the ghost? How long before one of those arteries closes off and the heart attack I don't want comes calling? I used to think I was heavy at 240 pushing 500 pound barrels around at Albar - a decade of indoor jobs in front of computer monitors have ballooned that up...
There will be a wake for Mike soon, probably one hell of a wake. People will say that 'it's what Mike would have wanted,' but I'll tell you, I think he'd rather have everyone together for one wild assed birthday party than for his wake.
Mike loved my Dad, often telling me about times my Dad helped he and Danny out when their fortunes were running low. My Dad was "A Good Guy," which was as high a praise as you could get. That makes me proud. I'm sorry I'll not have the opportunity to prove the nut doesn't fall far from the tree on that one.
So long baby and amen.
What A Surprise!!!
PITTSBURGH [AP]-- With a new arena deal finally in place, Mario Lemieux and his partners no longer plan to sell the Pittsburgh Penguins.
You held up the city, state and county and got your deal, now you want to sit back and collect that deferred money and maybe get your name on the Stanley Cup again as an owner. Yeah, you're going to contribute to building the arena, but you put a gun to the heads of the taxpayers [even the ones who aren't fans].
I still say this holding up cities for new buildings is bullshit. It takes 30 years to pay it off, then you're back in the same boat.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Say What???
Someone's going to have to explain this to me... shareholders who are investing in a company [not executives] and have a definate interest in keeping costs down to keep profits up CAN'T have a say in executive compensation? I know it makes me sound like a Demo... Demo... the guys that are on the left of the aisle... but this sounds a lot like The Haves trying to protect their own.
I've said it about sports players and I'll say it about executives in major multinational corporations, too. What's the difference between 10 million and 15 million or 15 and 20 million - unless you're living in California, you'll never spend it all and all your and your generations to comes needs will pretty much be taken care of. It's not like they're going to put the cash in your casket for you to take with you...
"Well, there's a lot of pressure running a Major Multinational corporation..." I'm sure. But look at the recent example of a Large Multinational Home Improvement Retailer where the stock went DOWN and the boss man was forced out... with a $ 20 million cash parachute and "accelerated unvested defered stock awards valued at roughly $ 77 million." That sure makes it a job to want! Hell I can go in and make the stock go down and get pushed out for that kind of scratch!
Other examples have come out of the airline industry where the workers agree to cuts in pay to keep jobs and keep the industry "solvent," but executives received large bonus packages. Should the workers be outraged? Damn right! I say DAMN RIGHT!
Representitive Franks is just following up on his word. He said on Jan 3 "It's a sign of being totally out of touch. They don't understand the extent to which they make the American public angry."
Of course I'm still mad that the utility companies used a price spike around hurricanes Katrina and Rita to jack up rates [AND that the PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISION LET THEM!!!!]. They haven't offered to lower rates since their costs went back down, they're posting record profits [and Atmos Natural Gas is asking for ANOTHER raise - how did the RAILROAD COMMISION get to regulate the natural gas pricing in Texas?] and turning that into 45 BILLION dollar buyout offers that will make - who? - executives with large stock holdings more wealthy.
I know Greenspan and Friedman fans - this is not a zero sum game. But hell's bells, who's looking out for the guy on the streets anymore? I can't be the only one "Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!"
Stay tuned to watch my crackup...
SPEAKING OF CRACK UPS -
Hunter Thompson begat this, too with the coverage of the Roxanne Pulitzer trials in the 80s... but I think if Hunter had seen this shit, he would have been reaching for the .45...
The SCARY part is that I think that Carl's RIGHT!!!!
Christopher S. Rubarger - Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- A representative for large U.S. companies objected Thursday to proposed legislation that would give shareholders the opportunity to vote on executive-compensation packages.
John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, told the House Financial Services Committee, "Corporations were never designed to be democracies. ... While shareholders own a corporation, they don't run it."
An advisory vote by shareholders "could seriously erode critical board responsibilities," he said.
Castellani testified at a hearing focused on legislation introduced March 1 by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the committee, that would give shareholders a chance to express approval or disapproval of executive pay plans in a nonbinding vote.
The disparity between executive pay and the pay received by average workers has grown significantly in recent years. Executives earned approximately 140 times an average worker in 1991, a disparity that grew to roughly 500 to 1 in 2003, the committee said.
Shareholder votes are the practice in the Britain, Australia and Sweden. Advocates say pay packages are rarely voted down, but the knowledge that they must be voted on has helped keep executive compensation in check overseas.
Investor advocates, union pension funds and shareholder groups back "say on pay" votes.
AT&T sought to prevent shareholders from voting on a proposal this spring that would allow annual votes on executive pay. The Securities and Exchange Commission rejected the company's request to keep that proposal off its proxy statement.
Supplemental life and health insurer Aflac, meanwhile, last month became the first U.S. company to give investors a chance to participate in a nonbinding vote on executive compensation, just as the AT&T motion would allow. Several members of the committee praised Aflac.
Although all 27 co-sponsors of Frank's bill are Democrats, members of both parties expressed concern about outsized executive pay packages during the hearing.
"Lavish executive-compensation packages for CEOs have contributed to the growing public perception -- justified or not -- that the rules in corporate America are rigged in favor of well-insulated insiders," said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala. "In fact, some recent examples seem to show outrageous rewards for rank incompetence."
Someone's going to have to explain this to me... shareholders who are investing in a company [not executives] and have a definate interest in keeping costs down to keep profits up CAN'T have a say in executive compensation? I know it makes me sound like a Demo... Demo... the guys that are on the left of the aisle... but this sounds a lot like The Haves trying to protect their own.
I've said it about sports players and I'll say it about executives in major multinational corporations, too. What's the difference between 10 million and 15 million or 15 and 20 million - unless you're living in California, you'll never spend it all and all your and your generations to comes needs will pretty much be taken care of. It's not like they're going to put the cash in your casket for you to take with you...
"Well, there's a lot of pressure running a Major Multinational corporation..." I'm sure. But look at the recent example of a Large Multinational Home Improvement Retailer where the stock went DOWN and the boss man was forced out... with a $ 20 million cash parachute and "accelerated unvested defered stock awards valued at roughly $ 77 million." That sure makes it a job to want! Hell I can go in and make the stock go down and get pushed out for that kind of scratch!
Other examples have come out of the airline industry where the workers agree to cuts in pay to keep jobs and keep the industry "solvent," but executives received large bonus packages. Should the workers be outraged? Damn right! I say DAMN RIGHT!
Representitive Franks is just following up on his word. He said on Jan 3 "It's a sign of being totally out of touch. They don't understand the extent to which they make the American public angry."
Of course I'm still mad that the utility companies used a price spike around hurricanes Katrina and Rita to jack up rates [AND that the PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISION LET THEM!!!!]. They haven't offered to lower rates since their costs went back down, they're posting record profits [and Atmos Natural Gas is asking for ANOTHER raise - how did the RAILROAD COMMISION get to regulate the natural gas pricing in Texas?] and turning that into 45 BILLION dollar buyout offers that will make - who? - executives with large stock holdings more wealthy.
I know Greenspan and Friedman fans - this is not a zero sum game. But hell's bells, who's looking out for the guy on the streets anymore? I can't be the only one "Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!"
Stay tuned to watch my crackup...
SPEAKING OF CRACK UPS -
Hunter Thompson begat this, too with the coverage of the Roxanne Pulitzer trials in the 80s... but I think if Hunter had seen this shit, he would have been reaching for the .45...
The SCARY part is that I think that Carl's RIGHT!!!!
The patron saint of media tackiness
McClatchy Newspapers
Now that Anna Nicole Smith is at long last departed from Florida, it's time to confront a simmering disgust over the media's salivating treatment of this dreary event.
Was the press coverage excessive? You bet.
Mindless? Inevitably.
Tasteless? Rapturously so.
But this is the new New Journalism, which is steered by a core belief that people would rather be smothered by seedy gossip about dead ex-Playmate junkies than be bothered with the details of North Korea's nuclear program.
If you Googled Anna Nicole's name last week, you got 28.8 million hits -- 10 times more than that of Condoleezza Rice, who is only the U.S. secretary of state.
Debate all you wish about whether the public's interest is fueling the overkill, or the overkill is inflating the public's interest. The fact is, lots of people are hungry for the story -- and not because they care one bit about this poor woman, or her child.
It's necro-tainment, that's all. The five-car pileup on the interstate. The stunt plane crashing at the air show. The train derailment caught on tape.
As soon as Smith's death became known, a small army of print and broadcast reporters swarmed to Fort Lauderdale, grabbed spots in the shade outside the courthouse and began tracking the day's legal proceedings, which they dutifully regurgitated to their readers and audiences.
Not since the O.J. Simpson murder trial have so much staff time and so many resources been thrown at a story of so little ultimate consequence to society.
Scoff, if you will, at the hyperventilating TV coverage of the Smith case. You think it's easy trying to make Anna Nicole sound important enough to justify three minutes and 20 seconds of air time? That's a tough job, folks.
Here you've got this deceased person who had no discernible talent whatsoever, a pitiable and often incoherent soul who perished in a shabby and unoriginal way. Yet, day after day, you must with all seriousness face the cameras and present Smith's demise (and its messy, freak-filled aftermath) as a matter of pressing significance.
How does such a forlorn cliché become elevated to major breaking news? Many journalism students probably are pondering the same riddle.
The answer isn't pretty. In a nutshell: Former Playboy centerfold turned rich widow turned reality-TV star suddenly dies, leaving an infant of uncertain paternity and a potential fortune up for grabs.
Storywise, the angles are beauty, sex, money and greed -- classic tabloid ingredients and, now, a premium formula for mainstream media.
For a competitive industry that's fighting to maintain profit levels and market shares, covering Anna Nicole is relatively cheap and easy, a quick hit: modest investment, maximum return.
Another factor heightened the frenzy: She expired in South Florida, which in February is a dream destination for any journeyman reporter. Had Smith passed away at a Holiday Inn in Buffalo, the throng of invading media would have been much smaller -- and far more eager to leave.
The smelly stuff that was once left to the capable vultures at the Star and the Enquirer is now front-page fodder in your hometown paper, and the lead story on the 6 o'clock news.
Dead or alive, celebrities rule. And it's never been easier to become a celebrity.
Although the Anna Nicole blitz hasn't much illuminated or informed, neither has it been a total waste of time. For example, attentive readers and viewers picked up some helpful information about how quickly the human body decomposes, both before and after embalming.
Don't make the mistake of dismissing the Smith story as an anomaly; it's a media watershed. If the death of a hapless, doped-up ex-model can knock two wars out of the headlines, there's no end to the squalid possibilities.
We have seen the future, and it's in the gutter.