When It Comes to Debate Format, Compromise Hurts Everyone

This is an aside titled 'When It Comes to Debate Format, Compromise Hurts Everyone' dated 10/8/08

Why was the debate last night instantly forgettable? Why did neither candidate stray far from his respective stump speech? Because both candidates gain from a format designed to minimize gaffes and specifics. More from Lindsay Beyerstein: “If the debates are to add value, they must push the candidates out of their comfort zones and force them to engage answer questions that their handlers won’t let them tackle on the campaign trail. The best way to do that is to have debates on relatively narrow topics…This time around, we should have had debates exclusively devoted to energy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the economic crisis.”

Posted by Joanne on Oct. 8, 2008

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- Living in Boston, I've seen a number of extraordinary people give talks and presentations, but last year at the Harvard Film Archive, Kathryn Bigelow struck me as particularly brilliant. Bigelow was a painter before she was a film maker. A downtown artist, a fellow at the Whitney Museum, a student of Vito Acconci and Susan Sontag. Her first film, made in grad school, featured Sylvère Lotringer and Marshall Blonsky. But her action films aren't a rejection of her background, rather, they expand on it. She has made a deliberate decision to speak to as wide an audience as possible, and in doing so never sacrificed her vision. Her favorite word to describer her work is "experiential." In an excellent post, the best thing I've read about her work yet, Steven Shaviro, further explains this quality of "sensory immersion." Of course her win is a milestone. Especially since it means the issue of women in film longer a question of capability. More women than men are in the Whitney Biennial this year, and they had the strongest work. Kathryn Bigelow won because she made the best film. Here she is with Charlie Rose. Near Dark is the perfect movie to watch at 5 am. Such an inspiration.
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- Marina Abramovic (in conversation with Laurie Anderson) explaining how she prepared the artists performing her work at the MoMA "I took them to the countryside — no eating, period, swimming in the cold river, all sleeping in the barn — in the beginning of September to create the community, to see what the strengths are, what I can do and what I cannot do. It’s OK to change your mind. But I’m talking about 36 people changing [their] minds, so they really have to have the stamina and dedication and mental health to stay there for three months. Anything can happen. This is unknown territory that we have to explore." An unforgettable show. More on the connection between performance art and economic crises. And her star-shaped home. Tino Sehgal show at the Guggenheim, another highlight of my week. A parent of two of the performers writes in WSJ Speakeasy. His son says, “People don’t understand the piece, dad... I ask them if they want to follow me and they say no and walk up the rotunda without me. Only five people said yes. I got like 20 nos.” Big travel plans. Any readers in Detroit especially want to get in touch? James Parker goes on “the wisdom of jet lag.” Mundane Tokyo. Pink Noise at the Movies. 5 Great Works Of Internet-related Art. Art Fag City on the Whitney Biennial ("Its good.") And also a review on the non-art show art show The Independent. Collaborating on the Computer with William S. Burroughs (A followup to Charles Bukowski, William Burroughs, and the Computer.) Dr. Seuss used precisely 236 different words to write The Cat in the Hat. An Elvis impersonator with an Elvis picture in his passport, made it through security in Amsterdam Schiphol airport.
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- Recently I read a story with the Hilobrow gang for the 2nd episode of “Parallel Universe: Pazzo.” Here's the podcast.
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- "[There] are futurists and there are fictioneers, and we excel at different things." - Elizabeth Bear (While you are there, check out Charles Stross' series of posts on "Common Misconceptions About Publishing.") And their novels, of course, are very much recommended.
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- I don't know why I keep doing these. But here's another podcast in defense of anonymity.
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- Not this Justin Wolfe. What is it like to share a name with someone (possibly) wrongly accused of murder? The other Justin Wolfe is a very talented writer and creator of two delightful websites, who can do better than the suburban wasteland that is Northern Virginia.
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- I'm in New York next week starting Tuesday for the Armory Show. Please email if you'd like to meetup: joanneDOTmcneilGMAIL. I'm also moderating a panel Saturday, March 6, at the Winkleman Gallery with An Xiao, part of #class Here's more on #class on WSJ Speakeasy.
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