My brother told me about this PBS documentary which airs tomorrow (Wednesday) night.
If you are interested here is a link which describes the program.
Also, here is an interview by Doug Fabrizio of Radio West with the documentary producer, David Grubin.
Here’s a wonderful segment that encapsulates in general terms scholar Nina Baym’s prescient critique of male writers’ and literary critics’ anxiety over their loss of control over the definition and boundaries of the American literary canon, especially as the loss relates to increasing influence and visibility of women. (Of course, the obvious limitation of the piece is the primary representation of white men and women.) From The Daily Show two nights ago, the wonderful Samantha Bee. (Next to Tina Fey, one of my favorite women comedic performers.)
[flowplayer src=Samantha_Bee.flv]
Last night I didn’t sleep well, for whatever reason I’m not sure. But after working on my web site for ninety minutes after the late news and watching The Daily Show with John Stewart, I retired to bed with Baldo taking up half the bed. (He’s a large, handsome Siamese seal point that I took in as a stray six years ago this November, the story of which I will tell at some point.)
Three hours after going to sleep I awoke. I lay in bed for another hour, my brain working overtime thinking about things I needed and want to do. I eventually resolved to just get up and DO something.
So I’ve been tired all day and have napped off and on between going to the dentist to have one of the temporary crowns reseated after it came off for the second time (only to have it break a couple of hours later while eating), going to the grocery store twice, and doing assorted computer stuff. Continue reading
I’ve watched some of the first two episodes of Ken Burns’ most recent attempt to capture the “authentic” American historical, cultural, and political experience for viewers of public television. (Those bourgeois consumers who pony up with contributions to view something more civilized like British sitcoms or Masterpiece Theatre since the federal government gave up any notion of a general public good except as it serves and is defined by the pursuit of commercial, private profit.)
I’ve never been much of a fan, frankly, of Mr. Burns. (Here I go without even summarizing what I’ve seen because I assume, perhaps incorrectly, anyone who reads this might be familiar with his corpus of documentary beguilement.)
I was reminded why I become intellectually queasy with him and his work with my brief, unplanned, and impatient viewings of parts of the first two episodes (of six): 1) “The Scripture of Nature” and 2) “The Last Refuge.” Continue reading
I watched “The Office” tonight.
I continue to be amazed by how incredibly accurate the representations of different kinds of privilege are represented in the character of Michael Scott, the manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin paper company.
A certain kind of cluelessness is at the center of the gender, sexual, racial, and class/corporate privilege that he enjoys and which serves his interest in exploiting, demeaning, and controlling his underlings.
His heterosexual privilege was evident in the opening scene tonight as he called in Oscar Martinez, the queer Latino employee, into his office to ask him, unbeknownst to Oscar at the moment he entered Michael’s office, how he should approach his upcoming colonoscopy. He specifically asked Oscar what he should do to make the procedure more pleasurable and whether he should address his concern with the doctor performing the procedure so they could make it as pleasurable for both of them as possible. Continue reading