Monthly Archives: July 2002

Number portability: The craven FCC caves in

Pop along to the Federal Communication Commission’s website, and buried in the "Headlines" you’ll find something saying "Verizon Wireless’ Petition for Partial Forbearance from the Commercial Mobile Radio Services Number Portability Obligation and Telephone Number Portability." Click on one of … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 4 Comments

Tadpole

The first thing we’re told at the beginning of Miramax’s much-hyped new film, Tadpole, is that it’s "a film by" Gary Winick. (He also, of course, gives himself a "directed by" credit a couple of minutes further on.) Later in … Continue reading

Posted in Film | 9 Comments

Why the Department of Homeland Security is a Really Bad Idea

There is no one more boring than the person you get stuck next to at dinner who expounds at length on the subject of his or her treatment at the hand of the Department of Motor Vehicles. We know it’s … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Politics | 2 Comments

Rebuilding Lower Manhattan

No one seems very impressed by the six plans which have been put forward for the redevelopment of theWorld Trade Center site. The pretty much unanimous view seems to be that they’ve been hamstrung by the requirements to include 11 … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | 3 Comments

Built-in obsolescence

Over the past few years, I’ve been slowly developing a theory of what I call built-in obsolescence in art. It’s still far from fully formed, but in a nutshell it says that all art becomes obsolete eventually, and that there’s … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | 7 Comments

MoMA QNS and Minority Report

Yesterday I went to see two much-hyped recent openings, both drawing capacity audiences. Both, I have to say, were disappointing, although only by their own very high standards. Michelle, Stefan and I were not the only ones attracted to a … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Film | Comments Off on MoMA QNS and Minority Report