David Remnick in the New Yorker pays tribute to The Sopranos, "the richest achievement in the history of television." I wonder about the extent to which Remnick has canvassed this history. Has he watched all nineteen eps of My So-Called Life? Would he so confidently assert the equivalent for any other form, for a film or a play or a novel or a concerto? Or is it that television is so generally devalued that any outstanding work seems like it could be, unproblematically, best evs?

Battlestar is calling it quits after one more season. Another welcome blow at the infinity model. I really want to like the show again, so I'm looking forward to the final season, the "third act," and not giving up yet despite my strong negative reaction to the ending of the season just past.

Movie Midpoints is a screen capture quiz using the middle frame of each film. I do badly at these things, so I'm glad that it comes with answers. I think I might do better with larger images, but it's still fun.

Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen are interviewed on Fresh Air about Freaks and Geeks and Knocked Up. See also this bunch of interviews etc. in Wired.

TechCrunch sez Facebook is the It website, the new Google: "Much of what we know as 'Web 2.0' will eventually be rebuilt on top of Facebook." The story here is the launch of Facebook Platform, which integrates all kinds of other functionality--Twitter, Last.fm, etc.--into one's Facebook page. Read all about it at the Facebook blog. It seems now that the age barrier is crumbling as old folks flock to the site (e.g., see Jeff Jarvis's gushy thoughts). It's certainly not too late for you, old-timer latecomers.

Jimmy Wales is interviewed by Charlie Rose (beginning around 19:45) about the future of Wikipedia and the way money is made online. He compares Facebook and MySpace around 24-25 min., praising the former. He talks about open source around 27-28, praising Firefox in particular.

And there will soon be 300,000 books published in the USA each year, reports Publishers Weekly. One of these days, among these will be mine. I just signed a contract with Columbia UP for my volume on indie cinema, loosely based on my dissertation. Keep your eyes peeled.

NYT: "Not all is well with the Weinstein Company."

Slate is a-Twitter.

Jimmy Kimmel 1, Gawker 0.

Recently on Fresh Air: Jake Kasdan, Mike White, Peter Berg.

Ken Levine reports from the studio audience of Tuesday nite's Idol. Snarky but appreciative. Lisa de Moraes's WaPo blog is lively reading, too, if you're into this stuff.

And if it's in your power, please make these things go away asap: Imus, O'Reilly, the blogger code of conduct, Daniellyn, and Justin.tv.

Ira Glass on Charlie Rose (begins around 32:00). I'm still not used to seeing Glass's face when I hear him speak.

The Criterion Contraption is like The Julie/Julia Project but with movies and longer than a year.



Ashley, the crying Idol fan, on people who think Sanjaya's not so good (pity Meredith V. for having to ask): "I just like say they're wrong or just ignore them." You go, Ashley!



This American Life parody by Kaspar Hauser is pretty spot on. (via Lindsayism)



Graphpaper, a design blog, opines about one of the things that irritates me beyond all reason: 16x9 televisions showing 4x3 frames with horizontal distortion. The blogger seems to think some people are just visually dull and can't see the way sophisticates like him can. I would say it's more a matter of what you are in the habit of paying attention to. Designers, like media scholars, pay attention to different things from ordinary folks, and that's a point we can sometimes forget.

NPRgasm: Terri Gross interviews Ira Glass about adapting This American Life from radio to TV. And Glass is interviewed and photographed in Good. There are trailers for the new show at the This American Life website.

Sacha Baron Cohen interviewed on Fresh Air talks about the origins of his "undercover" comedy style, the importance of his personae seeming foreign and stupid, the inspiration for Borat...