21–30 of 88 posts
I actively try to avoid 20/20 and Dateline crime mysteries. There are so many of these and they are so engaging, and often without any resolution beyond a "he said, she said". The only conclusion I can draw from them is that crime is often incredibly random and irrational, and everyone has credibility problems, real victims sometimes lie to exaggerate and the justice system is deeply flawed. But I feel that it's disa…
I grew up not far from Woodlawn High, attended a neighboring school. After hearing about the trees that were planted in Hae Min's memory, particularly the second tree which was planted behind the school where "Lee liked to flop after an exhausting practice session with the lacrosse or field hockey teams" I recalled doing exactly that every summer after baseball practice (summer league was at woodlawn high) and I was curious to know if the tree giving me shade all those years was the one planted in her memory. So I decided to stop by after work and take some photos with my phone while I was around.
Side note I also went to Sunday School with Adnan's brother - or at least saw him around the campus - did not know any of them personally however. My only memory from the trial days is my parents telling me "See what happens when you have a girlfriend!" (grew up in a similarly conservative household, personally very liberal)
FWIW, I have listened to a lot of NPR via podcast for many years, and see a podcast-only version of it as a natural step. At this point, the amateur "three nerds and a microphone" stuff is background noise for when I can't sleep.
[1] http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/10/whats-behind-th...
[2] http://www.marco.org/2014/11/16/why-podcasts-are-suddenly-ba...
I actively try to avoid 20/20 and Dateline crime mysteries. There are so many of these and they are so engaging, and often without any resolution beyond a "he said, she said". The only conclusion I can draw from them is that crime is often incredibly random and irrational, and everyone has credibility problems, real victims sometimes lie to exaggerate and the justice system is deeply flawed. But I feel that it's disa…
To be fair, Serial hasn't really taken a side on the matter, at least not yet. It's really been more about figuring out as much as possible, and doing it in an engaging way. Serial feels very much "about the story" to me. As for just distracting yourself without learning anything, I feel you there, but at the same time most of us do it in numerous other ways such as reading fiction, or watching movies, so I don't fee…
I actively try to avoid 20/20 and Dateline crime mysteries. There are so many of these and they are so engaging, and often without any resolution beyond a "he said, she said". The only conclusion I can draw from them is that crime is often incredibly random and irrational, and everyone has credibility problems, real victims sometimes lie to exaggerate and the justice system is deeply flawed. But I feel that it's disa…
I know this will get me downvoted but I can't understand the fascination with Serial. Overall I found it quite a boring listen. Too many side paths that amount to not much at all, feel like it could have done with a harsh edit. But it's production qualities are high quality and so anything that leads people to create more content at a similar level the better !
Having only read TFA, I'm still unsure as to what the `hook' for this show is.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be fair, Serial hasn't really taken a side on the matter, at least not yet. It's really been more about figuring out as much as possible, and doing it in an engaging way. Serial feels very much "about the story" to me. As for just distracting yourself without learning anything, I feel you there, but at the same time most of us do it in numerous other ways such as reading fiction, or watching movies, so I don't fee…
The point of it is, it's legitimate snuff for the masses. Same reason SVU is on its 14th season. Noted psychologist Albert Ellis wrote a book on it in the 50's or 60's, when society's itch was mostly satisfied through gristly pulp detective novels. The reader (or viewer, or listener) gets to indulge in graphic death and horror, but also gets to maintain their view of themselves through a narrative that allows them to…
Personally I've had a great takeaway from the podcast, not because of the sordid subject that's at the heart of it, but rather the amount of time and care the creators have spent looking at not just the crime, but also at the system and people that surround it.
Pop crime fiction teaches us a lot of things that Serial has gone to pains to refute - that eyewitness testimony is at all reliable, that people can recall mundane details of their lives at will, that a clear sequence of events is even possible to reconstruct, that the wrongly accused believe passionately in their own innocence, so on and so forth.
Serial has taken the popular notion of interviewing persons of interest, constructing a timeline, and catching people in brazen lies, and turned them upside down to expose the much more complicated behavior of humans underneath, and the fallibility of everything that these detective shows are based around.
The picture that Serial paints is markedly different from that of your typical crime drama, and that is an important takeaway. I think characterizing it as simply a gaudy way to "indulge in graphic death and horror" is overly cynical. In any case it certainly doesn't belong in the same sentence as any of the other crime fiction that portrays police work simplistically.
I know this will get me downvoted but I can't understand the fascination with Serial. Overall I found it quite a boring listen. Too many side paths that amount to not much at all, feel like it could have done with a harsh edit. But it's production qualities are high quality and so anything that leads people to create more content at a similar level the better !
Think JFK assassination for the Reddit generation. I know I'm hooked.
This seems to be one of a spate of recent articles, e.g. [1]. For a skeptical take, see Marco Arment [2]. Then again, he could just be expressing sour grapes because people with actual skill, money, and time are invading his turf. FWIW, I have listened to a lot of NPR via podcast for many years, and see a podcast-only version of it as a natural step. At this point, the amateur "three nerds and a microphone" stuff is…
This seems to be one of a spate of recent articles, e.g. [1]. For a skeptical take, see Marco Arment [2]. Then again, he could just be expressing sour grapes because people with actual skill, money, and time are invading his turf. FWIW, I have listened to a lot of NPR via podcast for many years, and see a podcast-only version of it as a natural step. At this point, the amateur "three nerds and a microphone" stuff is…
If you listen to hearstartup.com you'll find Marco investing in Gimlet Media which is all about creating a lot more podcasts like Serial so he's very much in favor of the format.