Tag: Entertainment

  • ODDS and ENDS: Goodbye VICE, WONKA Disaster Documentary, and Disc Golf

    (Locks clipped nightly)

    I never trusted VICE. I remember watching an interview of Shane Smith, the co-founder, on Charlie Rose of all places. The two things I took away from his word salad answers was that HE was the only person who could save media, and HE was the coolest person on the earth. (You know, “He’s hip! He’s cool! He’s 45!”) Turns out VICE was never profitable, though it was valued in the billions, and all Smith was good at was convincing VC’s to give him millions over and over again. As for the media, they did what everyone else does; the C-Suite got paid millions while the staff was paid virtually nothing, and they put out tons of content- quality be damned – to drive up traffic. I do feel for all the people who lost their jobs, just like everyone over at BUZZFEED, and all the other writers at all the media companies. In the end, Shane Smith got what he really wanted; he’s rich.

    I’m not here to dog pile on that Scottish “WONKA Experience.” There are tons of great takes out there, so I won’t embarrass myself in trying. But I have started to wonder; How long until someone produces a WONKA Disaster documentary? I think it took two years for the Fyre Fest to get the treatment, so my guess is that in nine months we’re gun’na hear from the Oompa-Loompa bartender lady about what really happened. (UPDATE: The Fyre-ing of this has started)

    For me, it’s almost disc golf season. I have no idea if there is an official disc golf season, my guess is there is, but I view March as the start. I’m looking to make par this year, as I have never done that, it seems like a reasonable goal.

  • Were We Not Entertained?

    I know that I am not the first person who thought about Hunter S. Thompson yesterday while watching the Super Bowl being played in Las Vegas. I’ll let those better-informed people speak on how American has descended into what Thompson envisioned. Me, I was just a viewer showing up to a “happening” to see what would happen.

    And things happened. It started slow, and then it picked up. The thing that everyone thought would happen happened; KC winning that is. (Not the Swift/CIA Psy-operation.) I can admit that I am cynical about everything outside of the game that was played. As football games go, I was entertained, and I felt like both teams were evenly matched.

    As for everything else…

    At some point this bubble of sports and entertainment excess has to burst, right? The extravagance and glutenous abandonment can’t continuously one up itself, year after year? Doesn’t everything have a tipping point? When what was good and fun, shifts and starts to be evil and detrimental?

    I am old enough to know that some people will try to push their cynical and contrarian views as innovative and creative thinking. I full well know that I have nothing new, innovative or creative to say about the events in Las Vegas and the Super Bowl. But it all did feel like a WWE spectacular, which one of my friends told me he was fine with.

    What I am reminded of is a statement an even more cynical friend of mine said about Super Bowls in general; “I don’t understand what is fun about cheering on millionaire players, and billionaire team owners who are fighting over a glorified piece of silver. No matter the outcome of the game, they’re still going home rich, and all we get is three and a half hours to forget about how we don’t have affordable healthcare, or whatever your big issue is. Our time makes them richer, and we get nothing for it other than a collective reality amnesia. Doesn’t feel like a fair exchange.”

    But Usher was cool.