Once again*, somebody has independently supported my position as a "culture snob."**
Virginia Heffernan's review of Sarah Vowell's new book (click to title of this post if you'd like to read it) has reassured me that I'm not the only one who finds Ms. Vowell and her ilk to be annoying. Allow me to illustrate "her ilk" by taking a look at one of her stomping grounds- NPR.
First off, I don't mind their news coverage. Really. "All Things Considered" and "Weekend Edition" are better than 99% of the other news programs on the radio. That being said...
"It's Only A Game": A "not bad" sports show. It could be a "good" sports show if they never, ever had Charlie Pierce on again. His faux indignation/surprise/anger are truly exasperating.
"Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me": The world's easiest and least funny quiz show. The host (I'm too disinterested to look up his name) is just not funny and his quasi-psuedo-famous panel of the has-been, never-was, who's-that-agains? are no better. The announcer will record my voice mail message if I win?! Shoot me.
"A Prarie Home Companion": Well, well, aren't you all very droll. At his VERY best, Garrison Kellior can be mildly amusing. And yet, his 45 and over audience reacts to his each and every utterance as though they have just seen Han Moleman's Man Getting Hit by Football for the very first time. I just happen to work with two Minnesotans, and you know what? Not only do they both have actual personalities (the jury is out on Mr. Kellior in this regard), but they are funny people- laugh out loud, unselfconscious, funny.
"This American Life": Egad. I'm going to skip the obvious "When do we think Ira Glass is going to hit vocal puberty?" question and move right on to wondering how one can take stories about people who are generally very interesting and suck the life out of them? It's a hell of an accomplishment. Here's a tip though: if the story is interesting/compelling/emotional, the voiceover doesn't need to be precious/ironic/quirky. I'm looking directly at you Sarah Vowell.
And, on a non-NPR related note, Husker Du will always be better than Nirvana, always.
*see previous post about "hipsters."
**not the kind that is an elitist about things like opera and classical music, but rather, the kind that knows that most fiction since 1950 has been self-indulgent crap or that, in many ways, the movies lost something when they started to use color.
