Truth Boom:

Cheers to the Toronto Star for this article about the recent crest of interest in documentary filmmaking, thanks to the success of (short list), Fahrenheit 9/11, Supersize Me and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. Way way too many stories about this boom ask the same dumb question of "is it a documentary or is it propaganda?" (which is as tired as "is it a blog or is it journalism?") and "all all documentaries left wing? (Answer? Yes. Now move on.) and avoid an obvious point that needs making. Michael Moore and Morgan Sperlock have tranformed documentary going because they've made it fun. They done for docs what spoken word did for the term "poetry." Ten years ago, no high school kid would have caught dead getting excited by poetry. Now we have the National Teen Poetry Slam. Ten years ago, the average moviegoer thought "documentary" met some ponderous nature program narrated by Lorne Greene. Now it's entertainment, where you learn something too.

The article also lists some indispensable documentaries. See any of these and you're in for a fine night of cinema. Bet yet, see them all (via Arts Journal).

Wanton Curiosity

Because I really really had to find out first thing this morning when Tic Tac Dough went off the air, I stumbled across, this site, which contains the rules to every game show you can possibly imagine and Wink Martindale's Official Site.

I'm going back to bed.

Death of Diners?

This article about the slow death of New York City's diner culture just makes me sad. But the line I absolutely do not understand is this one...

"A guy who’s eating a filet mignon doesn’t want to sit next to a toothless grandmother nibbling on a toasted corn muffin,”

What? First of all, who pays attention to what someone else is the same restaurant as you is eating other than to say to your waiter "Oh, what's that?" Second, if both the filet mignon and the corn muffin are delicious who the hell cares?

In context, this line is supposed to show the ill effects of gentrification on a diner culture, always loveably 40 years passe. But in also illustrates something dumber at work. People try to gain fashionability points based on where they eat out, often going tso far as to patronize a restaurant with C+ food, B+ atmosphere and A+ prices.

I'm as fond of a interesting dining atmosphere as the next person. But 99% of the time I go out to eat, it's to feed craving with a sublime dish. That could be a corn muffin or it culd be filet mignon because is about taste, not packaging and certainly not price. I can't get over that some people are willing to pay good money for bad food just to sit in a nice room while eating it (via megnut).

How much do you think about these things when you go out to eat?

A Letter to your City:

Anil's goodbye letter to New York City reminds me of how much I love my adopted home, San Francisco, and how I feel an obligation to it, the same way he does. It's probably a difficult concept to understand if you are nomadic by nature and never like to stay in one place for too long, or else just see home as bed where you sleep at night and the rest is just work, commuting and the nearest supermarket.

I wonder if there's a name for this, a name for being so in love with where you live that you feel almost married to it. Doesn't mean you're happy there all the time. Like any relationship, sometimes you're estatic with love and others you're barely speaking. But you feel bound to each other in some way that is larger than you both, in some way that says, for better or worse, that this is where you belong.

I don't think you need to live in a huge, expensive metropolis to feel this way about where you live. But you do need to be aware, to appreciate that cities and towns and suburbs and hamlet's are living things, have their own personalities that hopefully meld with yours. And that cities aren't simply the neighborhood where you don't feel to tred but rather the amalgam of all the experiences and lives that dwell there, and despite that swirl of activity, still make you breathe easy and say I'm home.

One Sentence Movie Reviews #13:

The Agronomist (2004): "The truth makes the devil's face blush" --William Shaespeare, as quoted by Jean Dominique, assassinated April 3, 2000.

See this movie.

Hail to the Sky:

Suzan was kind enough to accompnay me to Slim's last night to see The Polyphonic Spree in concert. She thinks they are big and stupid and happy and I can't enough of them. So she spent the better part of the show coming up with ways to describe this 28-member musicial happening, which we both decided is half the fun of the Spree anyway.

1. Music for everyone who misses Fraggle Rock.

2. A Generation X reminder that someone still loves you.

3. The ABBA Tabernacle Choir.

4. Pink Floyd meets The Muppets.

5. The Flaming Lips do Jesus Christ Superstar.

6. Your high school band and choir after 10 years in a commune.

Saturday Morning Shards #3

The Portland edition. Sunday morning actually. I was too pooped to post yesterday.

WebVisions2004. Where I was and had a fabulous time. See ya in '05.

Nick Finck at Digital Web magazine who invited me.

The fine folks at Hot Pepper Studios who took care of me while I was in town.

When in Portland, the staff of Smokler Enterprises recommends staying at the Hotel Lucia, a restored Art Deco treasure downtown walking distance from...

Powells Books, the largest indepedent bookstore in the world and a Portland landmark.

Reading Frenzy, around the corner from Powells, is a locker-sized zine shop dedicated to independent publishing, graphic novels and comix. Just celebrated its 10th anniversary, which in this business makes it a legend.

Le Happy, a spectacular crepe shack where I had dinner in the fine company of Michael Buffington

Spectacular graphic design by Matt Owens at Volume One and DL Byron at Textura Design.

The influence Portland has had on The Simpsons, hometown of the show's creator Matt Groening.

Suzan Speaks:

Suzan on the bizarre appeal of the Bravo reality show "Blowout".

"They think opening a salon is the same as rebuilding a nation."

Getting 'Personal':

Fresh Yarn: The Online Salon for Personal Essays features 6 real-life stories by writers, performers and filmmkaers. My friend Pamela Holm is in this new one. Looks neat.

Gay Marriage Amendment Defeated:

Thank God.