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Dan Carlson
Houston, Texas

I'm a twentysomething white male with ambitions to be a professional film critic and generally spend my days getting paid to watch movies and write about it. A compulsive reader and stubborn cineaste, I take an often contrary stance to my more fundamentalist peers and upbringing by celebrating the pursuit of the good, and the Good, in life, love, art and film. If you watched enough episodes of certain TV shows — for starters, "The Hungry and the Hunted," "The Cut Man Cometh," "The Body," "The Zeppo," "Waiting in the Wings," "Out of Gas," "April Is the Cruelest Month," "20 Hours in America," "Colonial Day," "An Echolls Family Christmas," "Look Who's Stalking," "The Garage Door," "Charlie Gets Crippled," "Wind Sprints," and "Corner Boys" — you would understand me completely, and you'd also realize that much of my worldview and philosophical insights are heavily influenced by fictional works/programs, and many of the good things I've said in my life are just a regurgitation of someone else's imaginings, or at any rate a heartfelt attempt to interpret them. I guess I was made to be a film critic.

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« Review: Henry Poole Is Here |Main| Oh Brother Of Mine, Please Don't Forget Me If I Go »

August 20, 2008

An Olympic Double-Header

By Dan Carlson

First up, over at the Willamette Week, I take a look at the tribute to bloated pomp that is the Olympics. It's basically 17 days of sports smothered by horribly cloying human-interest stories.

Click here for the piece.

Second, touching on a subject I only glanced upon in the column, I can't get over how much the viewing public is willing to put aside in re: China's wild abuses of human rights in order to pretend to give a shit about Michael Phelps. In the spirit of that, here's an online transcript:

slackeer33: (sends link)
sad
me: lame
plus some of the fireworks were digitally done for home viewers
slackeer33: whaaaaat
me: (sends link)
slackeer33: "this is actually almost animation"
hahaha
me: yeah
lame
slackeer33: china is just ridiculous
me: yeah
fake fireworks, oppression, human rights abuses, trying to make it rain
slackeer33: i liked how they opening ceremonies highlighted environmental responsibility and all that harmony and concern for future generation stuff.
yeah. ok, china.
me: haha
yes
harmony IN FIERCE ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR GOVERNMENT
slackeer33: haha yeah
we kept joking during the gymnastics about how the mistakes would cost them a lot more than just a low score
"i have shamed my family. i will have to throw myself to my death promptly after completion of this rotation."
me: now that i would tune in for

Comments: 2

itsadrian

To be fair, it's pretty much only the American broadcast companies who place such an emphasis on the human interest element. Internationally, the focus is more on the events themselves.

Aug 20, 2008 7:32 PM

WestCoastPat

Never has becoming an expat felt so good than when I was discussing Olympic coverage with family back in CA.

So, how have you been enjoying the beach volleyball?

Aug 21, 2008 5:30 AM

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