Ink Lake

Hey Kids...Want To Learn How To Be A TV News Reporter?

Minority Report

I know lots of people are complaining about NetFlix’s new pricing plan, but it’s actually a better deal for me. I like all the DVD extras, and watch Blu-Ray, so I don’t stream movies – I do the mail-thing.

I can have one disk (including Blu-Ray) out at a time, and last month I paid $13.05. The new deal is $9.99. When I signed up in June, 2008, I paid $9.79.

Even The Outtakes Are Better...

than anything George Lucas has done in thirty years. 

Forest Hills Fashion

The other day, while searching on Google for “Coco Goya Head Images” (more on that later), I unexpectedly came across this picture. I immediately recognized the spot — it’s in Forest Hills, a few blocks from where I grew up.

Since I have no idea about fashion, I have no idea when the picture was taken, though the ‘dot.com’ at the bottom means it wasn’t twenty years ago. As much as it says about my lack of sartorial smarts, it says something too, about the Gardens. It is almost completely unchanged from when I lived there.There are precious few places in New York City you can say that about. (Brooklyn Heights is one of the others — I guess I like stuff like that.)

Back in June, in an article in the Real Estate section of the Times about the Gardens, a resident said,

“If you took the cars off the street, you couldn’t tell what year it was.”

Today I biked out to to see my bro, and I tried the same shot — differences in lens and seasons notwithstanding). The real street names are Summer Street and Seasongood Road. They must have Photoshopped the signs (and there are more people than you would ever see in real-life).

 

Super, Super Cool

Projection on Buildings

If I had the chance to show Ben Franklin around, I’d love to show him this. What you’re seeing isn’t ‘ post-production’ – these images are projected live onto the buildings. If you were there, the effect  would be in 3-D.

If It's Sunday, It's.. Ah, Crap

David Gregory, host of Meet The Press, has a blog.

Whether he actually writes it, or reads the comments, who knows, but I submitted this comment. It wasn’t published, and I haven’t heard from him. (Looking at his blog, I see in fact, there are “zero” comments. This friggin’ blog has 70. Hmm.)

Mr. Gregory,
Do you do anything but record and playback what people say? How about when they say things that are untrue, do you point that out?

Have you ever listened to or seen BBC political correspondents? How about the Daily Show?

Is it any wonder (and isn’t it sad) that people turn to what is ostensibly a comedy show for ‘hard’ news?

I have yet to see how you have differentiated yourself from a Dictaphone.

Hoping for more, truly.
Peter Kaufman
http://inklake.typepad.com

Similarly, the New York Observer (they keep sending me copies even though I didn’t renew - thanks!), this week leads off with something I’ve written about before. “How George Stephanopoulos went from political hottie to morning TV hack”.

Below is an example of actual reporting, from John Oliver of the Daily Show.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Apparent Trap
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis