MISCmedia for 8/14/00
Conventional Thinking

SOME SHORT STUFF TODAY, starting with a defense of a long-maligned political institution.

BRING ON THE SOUSA MARCHES: No, I don't think major-party political conventions are a relic needing abolition. Those who so loudly proclaim the conventions' obsolescence appear largely to be media people, frustrated that the Presidential nomination process is no longer a dragged-out drama leading to a climactic point of decision in a big arena with live TV cameras.

Yet these same critics use, as their main argument, the claim that the conventions have devolved into "a made-for-TV event."

There have been many, many conventions, before and during the TV era (and will be in any post-TV era) in which the party's ticket was known weeks in advance. The conventions all went on anyway. They gave the party faithful a, well, a party to reward their hard work and a big pep rally to inspire further efforts.

Today, conventions serve these purposes and a couple more.

They give the party, and by extension its candidate, an opportunity to prove its organizational skills. (George McGovern once told C-SPAN he knew his candidacy was doomed when he couldn't get his acceptance speech started before 1 a.m. Eastern.)

And they provide a "long-form" forum for a candidate's platform.

Yeah, call it an "informercial" if you like. But also call it a tool for unmediated communication with the populace.

The Presidential nomination process is broken, but it's broken in its foresection--the primaries and the ultra-big-money fundraising. The conventions, largely, aren't broken (though an equivalent mechanism for independent candidates still needs to be thought up).

GRAFFITO OF THE WEEK (in the Six Arms men's room): "This town is a youth culture retirement home."

THROWAWAY GAG OF THE WEEK: Was passing the Paramount Theater when a woman walking toward the theater's touring production of Fosse told a friend she'd last been to the place "to see Lord of the Rings,--I mean Lord of the Dance." Of course, I had to barge in; "It's amazing how high Frodo can kick."

DROPPING THE POKEBALL: Apparently, the Pokemon phenomenon has passed its peak, at least in North America. Apparently, kids turning 10 are, like kids turning 10 oft do, renouncing the recreational fads associated with those immature 9-year-olds. Merchandising products with the 151 superpowered cute cartoon animals and their human pals are stagnating. The second theatrical movie faced disappointing box-office results. Sales of Pokemon gaming cards have reportedly plummeted. (If the latter's the case, then Wizards of the Coast, the local outfit that made the U.S. version of the gaming cards, sold out to Hasbro just in time.)

TOMORROW: Monorail madness and its meaning.

ELSEWHERE:

• When bad things happen to good webcam women (found by Robot Wisdom)....

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