antimeria

While discussing a (soon-to-be-revealed!) project with a friend, I suggested that she go explore the south side of Chicago by herself for a day. She demurred on grounds of safety, which is entirely reasonable, now that I think about it. It also made me wonder if my perception of danger has recalibrated itself in Baltimore.

Now, because I loved The Wire, I watched Generation Kill, the HBO miniseries based on the book of the same name and produced by Wire creators David Simon and Ed Burns (synopsis: a Rolling Stone reporter embeds with a Marine unit during the Iraq War’s early stages. The original RS articles start here, and are worth a look). In one particular scene, the unit comes under fire. While the reporter huddles next to the side of a Humvee, one of the soldiers next to him says something along the lines of “Most people think Iraq is dangerous, but safety is all about context. If we were to stand up, we might be killed. But to us, behind this Humvee, Iraq is a safe place.”

About a month after we moved to our current house in east Baltimore, my girlfriend read the then-year-old story of Zach Sowers, a young, freshly-married Johns Hopkins financial analyst who lived a few blocks away. He was jumped by a group of teenagers who beat him into a coma, and he eventually died from his injuries. And during the last two weeks of December 2009, there were six seven robberies, eight aggravated assaults, and two stolen vehicles within a half-mile radius of my house.

But to us, on our block, Baltimore is a safe place.

Oh my goodness, it is Friday the 13th. It’s also Caroline’s birthday. Anyway, here are five things that I’ve been watching in the new age of high-definition DVR:

1. Californication. I’ve only watched a few episodes, but it’s growing on me. I get to enjoy Duchovny’s droll insouciance without the X-Files craziness that scares the crap out of me.
2. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I’ve really been meaning to watch this show for a long time, but I kept forgetting. Now I never have to remember when it’s on.
3. Showtime in general. I didn’t expect much from movie channels, but when they have Wall-E on repeat? They got me for these three free months, at least.
4. Mythbusters. Not really new, but high-speed explosion shots in HD are outstanding.
5. Sports. Again, not a new thing, but the switch to HD is stunning. I even watched some of the playoffs, which I hadn’t done regularly in years.

Matthew Weiner, creator of Mad Men, has an interview in today’s Daily Beast which reveals some interesting tidbits:

Betty married Don because he was the whole package. He looked good on paper and that’s what she wanted…. Being put on a pedestal, being worshipped and adored, being accepted, in a way it’s almost more flattering to have a man be that attached to you who doesn’t know you. I think she’s very susceptible to that. … She might not even be able to express it, but what she wants is for all of her needs to be met, with anticipation.
[...]
Whatever Roger’s true feelings are for Joan—and whatever they are, they are deep and we’ve always known that—he sure as hell welcomed the opportunity, not just because of her skills, to have her back in his life in that way. I am not big on giving the audience what they want but I am big on giving Roger and Joan what they want, if they can get close to it.

Can’t wait for season 4.

Apparently a lot of DVR users are willing to put up with ads:

Against almost every expectation, nearly half of all people watching delayed shows are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer. According to Nielsen, 46 percent of viewers 18 to 49 years old for all four networks taken together are watching the commercials during playback, up slightly from last year. Why would people pass on the opportunity to skip through to the next chunk of program content?

The most basic reason, according to Brad Adgate, the senior vice president for research at Horizon Media, a media buying firm, is that the behavior that has underpinned television since its invention still persists to a larger degree than expected.

“It’s still a passive activity,” he said.

Maybe. I know I said I’d put up with longer commercial breaks if everything were available on demand, but it turns out I’m a lying bitch. I skip just about everything.

Also, no one watches commercials when they’re “watching commercials.” It’s time for a bathroom break, or to get another beer, or (for the nerdy among us) to check our RSS feeds. On the other hand, this is

In related news, The Office, Heroes and Fringe are doing well among the DVR set:

“House,” second among all shows in its live program rating (to “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC), became the top show in terms of commercials viewed within three days with a 5.68 rating (about 6.53 million), gaining almost 18 percent. NBC’s comedy “The Office” had one of the single biggest gains — 26 percent from its live program rating — to 3.92 (4.5 million) for its rating including playbacks. The supposedly struggling NBC drama “Heroes” jumped 22 percent, as did another apparently flagging drama, “Fringe” on Fox. And a new ABC drama, the appropriately named “Flash Forward,” looks even more like a hit than it did with its original rating because its rating increased 14 percent with playbacks.

I never watched Fringe, even though Lt. Daniels got a major role. Is it any good?

Tangential to all this, apparently DirecTV doesn’t believe that Christina Hendricks is worth seeing in HD. This is a grave injustice, and [Congress/the free market] should get involved immediately.

I think that Mad Men is the only show whose weekly teasers make me less interested in seeing the next episode.

Incidentally, Mad Men and Top Chef are now available on demand, but there’s still some shadiness: The Office’s awful two-part wedding episode, available for free on Hulu, costs $.99 per part on Comcast’s on demand service.