of all the headlines i’ve seen so far, my favorite is this: “the bastards!” from yesterday’s village voice. (link via peter.)
in film & media this afternoon, my prof did the best possible thing. she turned the 3-hour lesson — which was supposed to focus on citizen kane, only last nite’s showing was canceled — into an in-depth examination of the footage and the coverage. we incorporated things we’d learned so far and actually used it as a tool to learn more. the tone was just right: respectful, reasonable and intellectual. she didn’t try to get us to feel anything, tho it was all right if people did, which i found a relief.
classfolk pointed out that the media, following george II’s and powell’s leads, are trying to incite us to rage. be angry! they cry. want to strike back! let emotions blind you then lead you stumbling after us.
i’m not angry, i pointed out to the girl next to me, who replied that she was (she’s from new york). even so, retaliation is the last thing on her mind.
one of the most fascinating repercussions i’ve seen has been in the blogging world. people are writing and sharing their personal impressions/reactions as this drama unfolds.
that’s nearly unprecedented. it’s like a book is being written in serial form and you can read it page by page as it develops, get different perspectives (nori was in austria when she heard; tinman was in manhattan,) see how everyone makes sense of it in their own way. someday these will all be primary source documents. the future will want to know what we were thinking.
rebecca’s mom was on cbs news this morning — i saw her interviewed briefly in a clip our film prof showed us. today’s coverage has become much more polished and accordingly colder; i’m less interested in watching news at all. as ross says, what more can they tell us? they can just show off their kitchy computerized graphics and replay the footage one more time.
meanwhile, in matters not related to this, becca called me Brechtian b/c i interrupt life’s scenes sometimes to call attention to certain choices people make or specific words they say. having not read brecht, i can’t have much of a reaction. my impression was that he was a cold guy; she says no. *shrug* ross and i squabbled over bananas this morning. who knew they would be such a controversial issue. marc is back from the hospital — he had a cyst removed. i guess that’s about it, news-wise.