1/23/05, to Simon Winchester, author of Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: Aug. 27 1883 and an upcoming book of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906: "One problem I have with geology is that it reduces existence to rocks. Do you believe in God?"

Comment: Yes, geology has a tendency to come down to rocks, and mathematics usually comes down to numbers, physics comes down to particles and forces, and chemistry comes down to, well, chemicals. Similarly, theatre tends to come down to various theatrical arts, dancing comes down to movement, music comes down to organized sounds, and garbage collecting comes down to the collection of unwanted materials. None of these fields of endeavor, geology including, would lay a claim to be all-encompassing, especially to the point where they would have something of interest of say about God. (Well, maybe theatre might.)

"And what about nature, do you find it benign or evil?"

Comment: You mean, geologically speaking?


1/30/05, to avant garde performance artist Laurie Anderson: "At 57, do you worry about aging and wrinkles?"

Comment: Anderson wasn't, but perhaps she began to worry about what kind of idiot had been assigned to interview here.


2/6/05, to Dan Glickman, former Congressman, former Secretary of Agriculture, now the new head of the MPAA, the motion picture industry lobbying group: "Do you find any parallels between the agriculture industry and the movie industry?"

Comments Aside from the amount of manure generated and used, of course.


2/13/05, to Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog (a puppet): "Some people say dogs are what Democrats profess to be, because they are so inclusive and welcoming of people regardless of social class. What do you think?"

Comment: I think we have to be concerned about the damned slippery slope. Once you allow Deomcrats to have sex with each other, the moral failure of this country is complete.

Is this the kind of stuff they learn in J-school these days? When Jack Cafferty, former local anchor and long-time curmudgeon, makea s passing remark on CNN, as he is supposed to be moderating a pro & con debate about drug safety, that he doesn't see the need for a government agency to insure the purity and efficacy of drugs, since the government is large enough already, I assume he's simply let his act go too far, and the PTB at CNN are too wussy (or too much inagreement with Cafferty) to call him on it; and when I hear my local all-news weekend radio anchor unecessarily (and inorrectly) disparaging Nancy Pelosi's response to the election of Dean, I assume it's because the bosses aren't paying much attention to what goes on on the weekend, but Solomon writes this same kind of tripe over and over again, unecessarily taking up a page of the Magazine and providing little, if any, interesting information or analysis of the disparate people she interviews.

My advice: shitcan Solomon and retire her column for a while, o Grey Lady! You can definitely do better. (And, while you're at it, give your reporters a general refresher course in what news is, and how it differs from analysis, commentary or punditry and personal opinions. A lot of the people operating in the Fifth Estate seem to no longer understand those distinctions. (Or they do, and just don't care abut them.)

Correction: Sorry, lost count -- the press is the fourth estate, not the fifth.