Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Good interview with Ira Glass. "Smallville is like a Domino's pizza. While you're eating, you're thinking, "This is good, and it reminds me of pizza, but there's not enough flavor in each bite." That's the feeling you have the entire time with Smallville—that it's just about to be good, but it never is."
I met Glass when he was in town a few years back, and he is just like you'd think he would be (except taller). He spins off observations and analogies constantly, and, unusually, for such a good talker, is also a terrific listener. I watched as he drew out my daughter and her friend, and he hung on every word.
He also has a knack for putting his finger on the problem. Pledge drives are horrible for exactly the reasons he says-- suddenly the people that you listen to all year who are scripted and edited and sound intellegent, and sound like they are having fun on the air are ad libbing, and sound despirate and miserable. It doesn't always have to be like that-- it isn't always at WBFO, the station that I was on the board of a few years back (although WBFO can be painful, believe me). WAMC does a nice job, I think because they have a lot of little set pieces that they do, so there is less ad libbing, and more of a sense of play. WFMU seems to do a lot of live, public events when it is doing pledge week, and that makes it seem like more fun-- I have no idea if it is cost-efficent, but it isn't painful to listen to.
I met Glass when he was in town a few years back, and he is just like you'd think he would be (except taller). He spins off observations and analogies constantly, and, unusually, for such a good talker, is also a terrific listener. I watched as he drew out my daughter and her friend, and he hung on every word.
He also has a knack for putting his finger on the problem. Pledge drives are horrible for exactly the reasons he says-- suddenly the people that you listen to all year who are scripted and edited and sound intellegent, and sound like they are having fun on the air are ad libbing, and sound despirate and miserable. It doesn't always have to be like that-- it isn't always at WBFO, the station that I was on the board of a few years back (although WBFO can be painful, believe me). WAMC does a nice job, I think because they have a lot of little set pieces that they do, so there is less ad libbing, and more of a sense of play. WFMU seems to do a lot of live, public events when it is doing pledge week, and that makes it seem like more fun-- I have no idea if it is cost-efficent, but it isn't painful to listen to.
// posted by Bill @ 11:44 AM 
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