May 6, 2008 11:19

My Paradise Is a Cow's Hell

My grand tour of the new channels in my expanded HD lineup continued last night with the Travel Channel HD, which was airing something called Steak Paradise. (If there were a religion that named its afterlife Steak Paradise, I would join that religion.) You wouldn't think that meat is something that benefits from high definition, but you would be wrong. From the Philly cheesesteak (the Cheez Whiz is so yellow!) to the steakhouses of Texas (the char is so black!) to Brooklyn's own temple of meat, Peter Luger (the blood is so red!), I realized that I had not really seen a steak on TV until I saw a steak in HD. Who can pick up the marbling in a wagyu filet in standard definition? Indeed, the more basic-cable HD I watch, the more I realize that food porn may be the genre that benefits most from HDTV.

Apologies to the vegetarians in the crowd, by the way. I'm sure that Salad Paradise is very pretty too.

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May 6, 2008 10:05

The Media's Generation-Gap Gap

A question to consider as the Indiana and North Carolina returns come in today: What's the biggest determining demographic factor in the Democratic primary? It's gender, right? God knows you can't open a newspaper politics section, or even a style section, without reading about the great war between the boys and the girls in the Democratic party. Or, wait—it's got to be race. That, and religion. I mean, look at how much Jeremiah Wright dominated the news! Or, oh yeah, I forgot—class. It's about the latte liberals versus the Dunkin Donuts Dems! It's the lunchpails versus the bento boxes! Right?

Wrong. Across the electorate as a whole, the single most significant factor in determining whether a Democratic-primary voter goes for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama is age. Take the number 45 and draw a line through the middle of it: if you're over 45, you're more likely to go Clinton, if you're under, you're more likely to go Obama. Period. (The one exception, as this New York Times article points out, is race, but only for African American voters. The white vote splits much more evenly.) For all the attention paid in Pennsylvania, for instance, to the number of blue-collar white voters and how best to reach them, in the end the state that has the second highest percentage of senior citizens in the nation went for Hillary.

If that's the case, why doesn't age get more attention in the political coverage and the analysis of election returns? Why aren't there anguished analyses of why Clinton can't reach young people or why Obama can't win over seniors? I'm not saying the media never covers it, of course—given how much airtime the election gets, the political media is bound to cover everything eventually. (Update: And to be fair, the reason I know about the age gap at all is, duh, media reports). But proportionally it doesn't get nearly the play and headline coverage as race, gender and class have.

What gives? A few theories, if not actual answers, after the jump:

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May 6, 2008 9:24

Top Terror Leader Dishes in Web Chat!

OK, this is not exactly TV-related, but it is fascinating nonetheless. Al Qaida's number 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has posted answers to questions solicited on jihadist websites early this year and last year. Bin Laden's deputy responded to often-hostile questions on subjects ranging from the killing of Muslim innocents to Al Qaida's action (or lack thereof) against Israel and Shia Islam. (The Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair photos controversy did not come up, perhaps owing to the time-delay in questioning.)

It's beyond me to infer what the questions, the answers and the mere fact of the Q&A says about the status of Al Qaida. But it's remarkable, just from a media-technology standpoint, to see a leader of a secretive, not exactly democratic terror organization—better known for issuing top-down pronouncements—taking questions and being challenged online as if he were doing an AOL web chat.

In related news, you still have time to submit your questions for Denis Leary! I wouldn't bother asking him his position on the doctrine of Al-Tatarrus, however.

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May 6, 2008 8:38

The Morning After: Goodbye, Geraldine Ferrar-bro

If How I Met Your Mother is the Lost of sitcoms, and it is, then there must sometimes be storylines in which the main characters are separated by circumstances. If How I Met Your Mother is the Lost of sitcoms, and it is, then there must sometimes be episodes that mainly serve to set the table plotwise for future episodes. "Rebound Bro" was one of those, so I have less than usual to say about it—though I did enjoy Will Forte's stint as Barney's awkward substitute wingman. ("What's your favorite thing about koala bears?" "Their... meat is delicious.") I hope Barney is reunited with the gang soon, though, as the whole isolated B-story robbed us of one of the best aspects of his character—seeing the rest of the group react to him.

Oh, and why is Ted angry at Barney and not at Robin? Is it strictly a bro thing?

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