> Hell, Pennsylvania is never considered to be
> part of the Midwest
Depends on who you ask. Western Pennsylvania is basically the Midwest, and definitely has more in common with the Midwest than with eastern Pennsylvania. It's a big state. If you don't believe me, look at a map, or worse, try driving across it. Pittsburgh is the quintessential "Rust Belt" city, and for that reason shares a lot in common with Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinatti, et. al.
> You mean like Z Magazine, which doesn't
> care about design or editing as its editor
> has admitted?
Yes -- this is a perfect analogy. "Democracy Now" on TV is like Z Magazine in print.
> Heather Williams makes a bunch of solid
> arguments about why she thinks the film
> isn't radical enough.
Precisely the problem. It was carping, like Robert Jensen whining about Fahrenheit 9/11. Admit it: Spurlock's film was a hoot.
> Have you ever watched the Howard Stern
> show on E!
No, I don't have cable. (Nor do I like Stern, but that's another matter). But let me guess: Stern has lots of hot chicks taking off their clothes on his show. By no means am I saying that that's what Democracy Now should do. But it just MIGHT be part of the explanation for why Stern's radio-format TV show does better than the TV version of DN, and that if DN is not going to go for trash entertainment, they're going to have to come up with something else exciting to make it on TV as opposed to radio. Just a thought.
> Michael Moore has millions of dollars at his
> disposal.
He didn't when he made Roger & Me, which is far and away his best movie and one of the greatest films ever made, period. My point is that you can make good stuff even with a low budget, and that agitprop that takes its medium seriously is the best. To do something in a different medium, you can't just do the same thing you do in another. This is why plays on film often turn out badly unless they're rewritten as effective screenplays. Or why the Internet is a different and challenging new medium altogether different from print, radio, film, or TV. I've listened to and appreciated DN on radio, no matter what Doug thinks of it. It's just not a good TV show.
- - - - - John Lacny http://www.johnlacny.com
People of the US, unite and defeat the Bush regime and all its running dogs!