The evolution of music formats in my generation

On the recent WTF podcast Marc Maron spoke with Tom Scharpling, and the guest remarked on how those of us in our 40's have seen multiple major shifts in music format. It's true. Prior to our time vinyl had ruled for decades, and remained king through our youth. We got to see audio cassettes come and go, compact discs come and (let's face it) decline, and the rise of the digital era. (8-track tapes didn't survive long enough to be in there. Sorry.)

Between you and I: The fallibility of the Bard

On Lexicon Valley's third episode they take on the phrase "between you and I" and the objection to it. They talked about a student who wrote to the New York Times many years ago and cited Shakespeare as one who used "between you and I." To which their columnist cited the clear grammatical rule about the form of pronoun to use when it's the object of a preposition, and it should be "me"; Shakespeare was wrong, according to the prescribed rules.

Of course, people had been saying "between you and I" since before there were rules, but let's not digress there.

Freakonomics reveals media bias... duh

On a recent Freakonomics episode they addressed the question of media bias. They cited a study that attempted to empirically determine a political leaning on the part of 20 major media outlets, and in the end that study concluded that relative to the public (which tends to be more conservative) the papers were closer to being liberal; that is, they were somewhat to the (using the common mode of directional reference) left of the middle. They weren't all the way over, but certainly more liberal than would be representative of the public. However, relative to the way of judging Democratic politicians in the same way, the media was less liberal than those elected with a "(D)" next to their name. The man behind the study concluded that the media tends to pull some of the public more to the center, and thus the reason the public tends to vote more down the middle.

Of course, the man behind this study was one who considers himself to the right of the public, so make of that what you will.

However, as to why the media outlets were generally leaning more liberally in their content, in the end the conclusion was that it wasn't so much that the slant stemmed from an agenda by those in the newsroom or by those owning the outlets but from the leanings of the people who consumed the content of the outlet. In short, the media outlets are in the business of selling papers and drawing viewers, and give those people what they want. It is a business after all.

Happy What-Is-Still-Technically-Washington's-Birthday

Today is a national holiday in the U.S. in observation of our first president (whose actual birthday is in two days), but because the our sixteenth president (whose actual birthday was eight days ago) also used to have a holiday observation in his honor and eventually having two consecutive Mondays off was more than could be allowed this day's celebration came to honor both men and drew the moniker "Presidents Day."

Remaking our outrage over remakes

On last week's Pop Culture Happy Hour they touched on "sacred cows" in pop culture, such as the coming prequel comics to Watchmen. Why is it forbidden to go back to that well, but Batman and Spider-Man can be re-imagined over and over?

Because it was so beloved by the geeks who idolize Alan Moore's creation?

While I understand—because I was one of those who had tremendous reverence for Watchmen (I worked in the comic shop back when it came out, and not only bought the serialized issues but the limited edition hardcover and a bunch of other merchandise; I then went on to write a paper about it in college)—I do see that those who have the rights to the characters can choose to do whatever they want with them. What's important is whether these new works are actually good. The assumption clearly is that they won't, but it does seem worth at least giving them a chance before declaring them unworthy.

Proposing the prevention of propositions

On Fridays on the grounds outside the office there's a farmers market (or at least a bunch of booths set up with vendors selling items, amongst them some selling produce). I don't tend to buy anything there but I do walk past it on my way to lunch, typically at some restaurant across the street.

Last Friday there were a pair of women with clipboards on either side of the crosswalk. It was obvious they sought signatures for some potential ballot initiative.

As I crossed the street I veered off away from the woman on that side but she stepped over to intercept my path.

And as I describe our interaction it will become clear why I more or less tried to avoid her.

VD Obsession

I love my wife more than words can express, and one of the many reasons that is the case:

Last week, amid the flurry of commercials for flowers and jewelry and all the typical stuff for the days prior to February 14, my wife turned to me and said, "Thank you for not proposing on Valentine's Day."

Honey, you are very welcome.

Guys, remember: There's 364 other days a year (actually, 365 this year) on which you can pop the question that will seem more special than today, when it probably comes across as lacking in imagination.