You Can Never Have Too Many Remotes
MONDAY, JULY 5, 2004 9:28 PM
It's nice to know that the guy who created the first remote control is as disappointed as I am that we all still have to have so many remotes. This is the situation in my house. The left remote is for the digital cable box—only because we have an awesome deal on HBO; the second from the left is the "universal" remote that came with the tuner that controls the sound on all the devices (radio, TV, DVD player, CD player, VCR, cable box, and TV recording and playing computer), but doesn't quite totally replace the functionality of any of the individual device remotes; the middle remote is the DVD remote; the next one is the five device "universal" remote that pretty much only controls the TV and its volume and the input button puts it on whatever non-TV device the tuner is set on; and the last remote is the VCR remote—needed to program the VCR and watch movies, though we don't use that much.

MAYBE THIS IS HOW DIVERSITY TRAINING SHOULD ALWAYS BE
So there was a great story in SFGate.com about the 49ers diversity workshop that apparently wasn't a mockable mess, but rather interesting. The exercises they did and getting to actually learn about the diversity within the team also sounded pretty worthwhile. And "Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes''? Totally saw that in junior high.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING KIND OF RELATED
Friday was the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

FOR THE SAKE OF CONTRAST
So Disney, yes that same Disney that agreed to make Michael Moore's film but then not release it, has put out a film that's apparently an obvious contrast to Fahrenheit 9/11 (but the Mouse never said that so don't go suggesting that). Still haven't seen Fahrenheit thanks to it being very sold out this weekend. America's Heart and Soul, which opened last Friday sounds like an incredibly worthy and valuable project—telling the stories of "ordinary" Americans and celebrating the good things about America. But the people in the SFGate story who were all "I don't want to see Michael Moore's movie because he's so negative" kind of scare me. You don't have to agree with him, but there's a value to a movie that makes you think or at least question the choices made by the guys running the place. You can respect an opinion and disagree with it. (Admittedly, I wonder a bit about Michael Moore on that point, especially with his whole threat to sue anyone who tried to "defame" him.) We don't live in a shiny, happy, perfect America, but it's not all horribly depressing either. But not recognizing or acknowledging that there is good and bad is such a personal disservice.

Completely unfair box office totals comparison (fire of controversy take vs. typical documentary take):

Fahrenheit 9/11: $21 million, $12,174 per screen average, second at the box office behind Spider-Man 2's insane $115 million
America's Heart and Soul: $173,000, $1,765 per screen average

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