WATCHING:
The Dish
Rob Sitch, director

This is not a great movie, this is not a classic – it’s just a really well made, beautifully filmed story about that time in our history when we raced for the moon.

The story is set in Australia, which was (and still is) home to the radio dish that handles spacecraft communications when North American dishes can’t see the object.

Quirky characters, a strong cast – mainly of unknowns – help elevate this tale of how Parkes Radio Telescope participated in the Apollo 11 program from a pretty boring premise to one that is a compelling watch. This is not The Right Stuff or Apollo 13 – it’s closer to October Sky.

All movies

Sometime in June I did something I never thought I’d do: I cancelled my newspaper subscription. I was going to write about it then, but I thought I’d wait a few months to get some perspective – who knows, at this point, I could well have decided to re-up my subscription.

Now, I’ve been reading at least one newspaper a day since I began reading. And I would subscribe to the paper during my lengthy period of poordom, when a newspaper (and magazines) was a very expensive luxury.

My tastes have changed – now I’ll hit the op-ed pages and business sections before reading the cartoons – but I still liked the variety a newspaper gave you, and all the news packed in there.

So why did I bail on newspapers?:

• It’s not a money issue: I make enough now to justify a subscription without much of an issue.
• Newspapers suck: In an effort to offset rising paper and gas prices (delivery), newspapers have been cutting back on the extras that made them special, and trying to target the audience that’ll get them the best bang for their buck. It’s understandable, but it’s a shame that newpapers have put business ahead of journalism to such a craven degree. (Don’t take just my word for it, read this Dan Gillmor entry; Gillmor was a newspaper journalist for over two decades.)
• Not even the comics are funny: I always read the comics; from 6-46 years old. But each year, the pool of cartoons that are worth reading gets a little smaller. I miss The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbs, Bloom County. Doonesbury is still doing some interesting things, but – for the most part – the cartoon page(s) are no longer “must read.”
• I get my news on the Internet: Any questions?
• I get my job listings at Monster, my classifieds at Craiglist or eBay: Any other questions?

This is a sad state of affairs to me, as I’m a big reader and long-time lover of newspapers. I still get the Sunday paper, but I find myself reading less and less of it, for the same reasons outlined above.

While sad, it is reality – sure, you missed having that horse you had for years pulling your cart, but isn’t a car really more practical??