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The View from Mudsock Heights: Memories of a Big, National, Overly Covered Trial
By Dennis E. Powell | Jul 27, 2011 at 18:48:17
This month saw the end of another murder trial that was covered by the news media as if it were of vast national importance. I’ve always puzzled over how this case and not that one is chosen for close and continuing scrutiny, and I’ve concluded it is the same phenomenon that causes the goldfish to erupt in a feeding frenzy over this flake of fish food and not that one.
The View from Mudsock Heights: Putting History in Some Small Perspective
By Dennis E. Powell | Jul 14, 2011 at 16:29:6
This time of year, I’m drawn to think of the people who founded this country — no surprise there; it’s what the 4th of July is all about — and the kind of world they occupied while creating the form of government we have today.
The Big Bang: Learning About Selling Fireworks Yields Insights About Entrepreneurship
By Timothy R. Butler | Jun 28, 2011 at 18:42:57
I find myself inside a fireworks tent two days before opening at the beginning of the fireworks selling season. In this particular city, fireworks legally go on sale in temporary locations starting June 20 of each year. Sitting down a bit from me on the still bare table is an enthusiastic Chris Sander, the 28-year-old proprietor of Powder Monkey Fireworks (which, he carefully points out, is styled “powder monkey FIREWORKS”). I found myself here on a quest to learn more about how the fireworks business works, though as I listened to Sander’s insights, it became clear he was dispensing business wisdom applicable far more broadly than just his own market.
The View from Mudsock Heights: Sometimes Movies are Fine the First Time Around
By Dennis E. Powell | Jun 20, 2011 at 14:37:34
Okay, I confess it: I like the Harry Potter movies. No, I’ve never read any of the books, either for my own enjoyment or to children, the usual adult excuse for having read them. My association with the long Potter saga is limited to the movies. Fact is, I was late even to those, having seen the first few on DVD years after they were in theatres.
The Perverse Glory of ‘Glee’
By Jason Kettinger | Jun 17, 2011 at 15:42:38
This television show has already been commented on roundly—praised, lambasted, lamented—so perhaps I am undercutting our goal here at OFB. But in so many ways, it is a microcosm of America today, in both its tragedy and possibility, and as such, it cannot be ignored.
The View From Mudsock Heights: We Have Our Own National Geographic Specials Right Here
By Dennis E. Powell | Jun 8, 2011 at 18:21:57
The day was sunny and warm at the Lake Placid, New York, horse show, the skies clear as can be. The altitude lent a certain dry coolness to the air — it didn’t feel as hot as it was — and made sunburn likely.
The View from Mudsock Heights: Bird Watching Here Involves the Good Robin and the Bad Robin
By Dennis E. Powell | May 23, 2011 at 12:10:56
They say that mules are stubborn, but my money is on robins. Well, at least the robin that has been trying to build a nest on my porch light.
The View from Mudsock Heights: When Men Were Men, Radio was Radio, and Tape Editing was Tape Editing
By Dennis E. Powell | May 4, 2011 at 19:16:14
The email message was a happy surprise. A fellow in California, at something called the “L.A. Theatre Works,” was putting together a project (he did not say what) and wondered if I still have the original tapes (I don’t) from a radio report I did in 1983. His email note to me was above a long series of messages and replies he had sent to and received from others, in pursuit of the missing audio.
The View from Mudsock Heights: It’s a Tortured Path from Figure of Speech to Cliché
By Dennis E. Powell | Apr 8, 2011 at 14:19:31
The hot new word of 2011 is “bespoke.” If you listen, you’ll suddenly hear it everywhere. It used to be a perfectly good word, but by midsummer it will be threadbare and tattered from overuse. The wear is already showing.
The View from Mudsock Heights: In Times of Crisis, Remember and Mourn the Passage of Calm News Coverage
By Dennis E. Powell | Mar 30, 2011 at 23:53:49
Back when the world was young, there were mechanical devices in newspaper, radio, and even television newsrooms called “teletype machines.” The precursor to modern electronic printers, these things were very noisy. They had letter keys inside them, on arms, and in response to electrical impulse they would type the (usually) correct letter in the fashion of a typewriter.
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