Last week, David Simon was invited to testify in front of the Senate Commerce Committee and had some good stuff to say, along with some ridiculous. (Ridiculous stuff, thoroughly explored in this Gawker post.)

Simon's testimony touches on what he sees as the reasons for the downfall of newspapers. He's mostly right on why newspaper's aren't good anymore, but the lack of quality reporting (which Simon says is due to cuts by management) isn't what keeps me from buying the paper. I doubt that's why you don't buy it, either. Simon has a little Buzz Bissinger in him, dismissing the idea and quality of news-gathering bloggers, but not hating on them in the same Buzzy way. I've heard Simon use snippets of this before in other places, but still worth skimming all the way.

Good:

What I say will likely conflict with what representatives of the newspaper industry will claim for themselves. And I can imagine little agreement with those who speak for new media. From the captains of the newspaper industry, you will hear a certain martyrology – a claim that they were heroically serving democracy to their utmost only to be undone by a cataclysmic shift in technology and the arrival of all things web-based. From those speaking on behalf of new media, weblogs and that which goes twitter, you will be treated to assurances that American journalism has a perfectly fine future online, and that a great democratization in newsgathering is taking place.

Better:

But when that same newspaper executive then goes on to claim that this predicament has occurred through no fault on the industry's part, that they have merely been undone by new technologies, feel free to kick out his teeth. At that point, he's as fraudulent as the most self-aggrandized blogger.

Best:

Similarly, there can be no serious consideration of public funding for newspapers. High-end journalism can and should bite any hand that tries to feed it, and it should bite a government hand most viciously. Moreover, it is the right of every American to despise his local newspaper – for being too liberal or too conservative, for covering X and not covering Y, for spelling your name wrong when you do something notable and spelling it correctly when you are seen as dishonorable. And it is the birthright of every healthy newspaper to hold itself indifferent to such constant disdain and be nonetheless read by all. Because in the end, despite all flaws, there is no better model for a comprehensive and independent review of society than a modern newspaper. As love-hate relationships go, this is a pretty intricate one. An exchange of public money would pull both sides from their comfort zone and prove unacceptable to all.

Be sure to read the whole thing so you can giggle aloud when Simon suggest (teehee!) collusion! (Thanks, Matt)

Malcolm Gladwell's article on underdogs from last week's New Yorker was interesting and full of anecdotes, though the fawning over Rick Pitino gave me great pause because Rick Pitino did a little destruction of the Celtics that lasted until the middle of this decade. Along with Pitino, you'll read about David and Goliath, Lawrence of Arabia, a girls basketball team from CA, and wargames. The single paragraph that attempts to explain antisemitism was weird and unnecessary in the scheme of the article, but there's a couple nuggets like the one below that belong on a motivation poster.

We tell ourselves that skill is the precious resource and effort is the commodity. It’s the other way around. Effort can trump ability—legs, in Saxe’s formulation, can overpower arms—because relentless effort is in fact something rarer than the ability to engage in some finely tuned act of motor coordination.

Update: Gladwell has posted a response to some criticisms of his description of the press and calling Rick Pitino's 1996 Kentucky team an underdog.

From Keith Loutit, the guy who brought you the Metal Heart demolition derby tilt-shift that went around last year, here's Mardi Gras. Awesome.

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I have a theory that about half of the things we saw last week in the "Scenes from next week" montage are not going to happen this week. We'll see.

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I love this picture of ticketed Smart Cars parked on Newbury St perpendicular to the street instead of parallel. Since I first saw Smart Cars in Berlin, I had been wondering how parking authorities would address the innovative parking possibilities offered by tiny cars. So far, Boston isn't reacting too well.



I guess it comes down to the question of whether, when parking at a meter, you are paying for a right to park, or for the use of the space. If it's for the use of space, then you should be able to fit as many cars as you can into the space. If it's for the right to park on the street, well, then you're just going to keep getting tickets if you try to double up.

Via URwingman.

Found Magazine events are a perfect illustration of our culture's short attention span and collective varied interests. Equal parts art show, poetry reading, concert, and stand up comedy routine, The Denim and Diamonds Tour has something for everyone. On the road promoting the release of his new book, Davy Rothbart, and his brother Peter, gamely overcame a less than ideal performance space at Precinct to entertain a packed house of around 150 people.

For the uninitiated, Found Magazine, is a zine started by Davy and some friends several years ago to document interesting items found 'blowing down the street'. Over the years, Found has put out 6 issues and a couple books, to boot. Found is a collective art project in the vein of PostSecret, and relies on submissions from people all over the world. The latest book, Requiem for a Paper Bag: Celebrities and Civilians Tell Stories of the Best Lost, Tossed, and Found Items from Around the World is a collection of stories of things found by actors, authors, musicians, etc, and came out last week. While most book tours feature afternoon signing/reading events in big city bookstores, each of the Found books has been promoted with a tour schedule closer to that of a band. The Denim and Diamonds tour is going to hit 57 cities in 62 days. Take that, Grisham.

I had been curious how the night would start, and then it just did with Davy introducing himself and reading a series of found items relating to love and relationships. This intro in honor of a close friend in attendance who had just gotten engaged. Found love notes are a good medium for the sincere Rothbart, whose heart is worn clearly on his sleeve (even if he tries to hide it by wearing a sleeveless throwback George Gervin basketball jersey). Favorite lines from this part include, "I don't want any other girl to remember my number. Not even Iesha" and "PS I want to build a life together."

After a stack of Davy's "favorite notes" (a common refrain used to describe each stack), he introduced his brother, Peter, to play a couple songs inspired by found items. The last, a cover version of a found demo tape called 'The Booty Don't Stop', had the crowd signing along by the first chorus. Peter's bare-bone singing style fits the feeling of the show and compliments well Davy's earnest effusiveness. I would have liked to see more than the 3 songs he played.

Davy then came back to read a story from his book by filmmaker Jim Carrol about an unlucky soldier who, after spending 20 years in the most uncomfortable and disgusting conditions imaginable, was freed from his bondage by an afternoon colonic. More found items followed this, along with an uncensored reading of a story, an edited version of which had appeared on This American Life. Favorites from this section were, "Help us bring the darkness" and, "It's not kinky, it's gross."

For the most part, my experience with Found has been seeing the items online or looking at the books or magazines, so I enjoyed hearing them read, and almost acted, by Davy. It's fascinating how words on a found note can grab you, even without any contextual details. Hearing them read out loud heightens that experience. The sappy missives of lovesick teenagers are moving, the mundane to-do lists of strangers are hilarious.

I did an interview with Davy in advance of the show where he explained his approach:

"...When you read these notes, you find yourself tearing up or laughing out loud. I think ultimately when I'm reading them during and an event it's the same kind of thing. I try to be really present with that item, that note, and the person that wrote it."

This presence with the notes and compassion for the writers touches the audience and makes Davy an engaging performer. You could have left last night without making a connection to one of the found items, but if you did, you're probably missing a soul.

Precinct's small elbow shaped show room was made smaller by a dozen patrons who had dragged bar stools into the front of the stage (and 3 who were oddly sitting on the stage) taking up twice as much room as someone standing, but the crowd remained rapt for the entire hour and fifteen minute performance and left happy. A Found Event would be better enjoyed in a theater setting, but it's not clear Davy and Peter want to leave the dank club rooms behind.

This short story from David Foster Wallace is perfect for those of you who'd like to read more of DFW's work, but never will because it's too long. It clocks in at just around 1100 words, half of which seem to be, but aren't, in the last sentence.

And here's a bonus Stephen King story called Rest Stop that I haven't gotten to yet.

Watching a movie like this makes me realize I watch a lot of crappy movies. I didn't even think it was a good 'good' movie and it blows away most of the dreck I give 3 stars. Watch out for that first scene, it's a doozy.

I am on record supporting music kiosks, so I welcome the news that Apple is going to dip their toe in the kiosk waters with wireless towers in airports, etc. Somewhere, Mark Cuban is smiling.

So says this report from the UK:

The reasons for this inverse correlation are many, according to Peck, and include the likelihood of better cycling infrastructure in areas where more people ride, the fact that if car drivers also occasionally cycle they are likely to be more careful with bikes, and the statistical quirk that a higher proportion of riders in low-cycling areas tend to be young men with a higher than average threshold for risk.

I love the "statistical quirk". It's good to put a scientific survey behind something that seems intuitively obvious. I would have also thought that drivers who are more used to cyclists on the road would drive more carefully, but that didn't seem to make the cut. Boston/Cambridge is just going to keep getting safer and safer the more people ride.

Via Twitter.