With the fighting in Georgia, the Con Man makes the intellectual journey from the Cold War to what he calls the Carbon Wars beginning with Gulf War I. Also: A visit from Charlie Firestone, head of the Aspen Institute's Communications and Society program.
Click here for the complete Con Games with Michael Conniff July 14, 2008.
Add comment August 20th, 2008
The Con Man welcomes the premier rock 'n' roll photographer Lynn Goldsmith, then segues into a discussion of Thomas Friedman, and a visit by the Cancer Babes from the Pathfinders survivors group.
Click here for the complete "Con Games with Michael Conniff" for Monday July 7, 2008.
Add comment July 7th, 2008
Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist of The New York Times, was officially christened as king of the world over the weekend in Aspen—and why the hell not?
He wore the mantle lightly at the Aspen Ideas Festival, in part because he married into the gazillionaire Buxbaum family, who have so far given tens of millions of dollars to the town, with the latest dollop a $25 million downpayment for a spanky campus at the Aspen Music Festival and School. But Friedman’s wallop at the podium has all but nothing to do with Bucksbaum bucks, and everything to do with his prescient ability to package the zeitgeist with the tidiness of a juice box—the kind that comes with its own self-piercing straw.
Continue Reading 7 comments July 7th, 2008
The Con Man and his callers absorb the news of the death of NBC newsman Tim Russert--and what his career says about the practice of journalism today. Also: an interview with Jonathan Dorfman, who worked with Russert for the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynhihan.
Click here for the complete "Con Games with Michael Conniff" for Monday June 16, 2008.
1 comment June 16th, 2008
Tim Russert's untimely demise has down-shifted every serious journalist in captivity into a 24-7 coverage of their own grief. No doubt Russert's death warrants attention. He was damn good at what he did, no matter what his critics said. But please let us seek some perspective here. If you have a pulpit on a TV network, what compels you to thrust a colleague's tragic death into the news cycle? I've seen too many red-nosed, blood-shot-eyed news types since Russert's unfortunate passing. It's great that Russert lived well, so well that his circle of friendship eclipsed mere acquaintance. I'm certain I'm not the only one who yearns for letting the Russert family grieve in peace...
But, since that's not the way it's going to be, my favorite Russert clip is when he interviewed Christopher Hitchens and Andrew Sullivan. Sullivan lost his train of thought and Hitchens turned to him and said, "Oh, don't be such a lesbian." Or something like that. I can't find the clip on youtube, but I'm fairly certain there's a reason why the camera focused on Hitchens and Sullivan rather than Russert. I believe the gaff occurred in this interview:
Update: Ah, here it is, in segment 4:
Cheers,
2 comments June 14th, 2008
ASPEN, COLORADO—In a great leap across The Pond, the world’s leading classical music magazine Gramophone, based in London , is producing a special edition devoted entirely to the 2008 season of the Aspen Music Festival and School. The 104-page guide was overseen directly by Gramophone editor James Inverne and Gramophone North American section editor Anastasia Tsioulcas and illuminates this premier American music festival’s 2008 season with articles on the festival’s programming, artists and history. The relationship is expected to lead to further editions in 2009 and 2010. The inaugural issue is due out on June 17.
Continue Reading 1 comment June 10th, 2008
In a fit that had nothing to do with fit, my long-suffering fiancée decided I need to retire my stonewashed denim and replace it with a darker hipper Levi called “1969.”
I didn’t think twice (it’s all right) about it. Jeans are jeans to me as long I can get them over a post-prime waistline expanding faster than the economy is contracting. But the Levis named after one of the best years of our my life—Woodstock, the Mets, the Jets, the Knicks—were so big that even I could fit into them…so big, in fact, that I can’t wear them without a belt.
What’s going on here? My “1969” jeans are a least full-size bigger than the retired jeans of the same size I had to fight so hard to get buttoned up the week before. My “1969” jeans, you see, are nothing more a sham, a fraud, a stonewashed Watergate metaphor for the previously stoned.
Continue Reading Add comment June 9th, 2008
The Con Man uses the revelations from Presidential spokesperson to go Orwellian on us in a discussion of the many perversions of language in politics.
Click here for "Con Games with Michael Conniff" for Wednesday May 28, 2008.
4 comments May 28th, 2008
You may take this as a challenge and/or invitation to change the future toward a sustainable civilization! The USA grows by 3.1 million annually on its way to adding 100 million people in 30 years. What drives that population overload? Legal and illegal immigration! Water shortages, energy costs, gridlock, crowding, air pollution and quality of life hang in the balance and can only worsen with added population.
Continue Reading Add comment May 21st, 2008
My novice attempt at video-making and finally joining the YouTube crowd. I still can't seem to insert the actual video, so the link to YouTube is provided if you click on the photo.
Add comment May 4th, 2008
