The Yin Blog

Tim Russert, RIP

I never watched "Meet the Press," but I've been impressed with Tim Russert's appearances on MSNBC during the primary coverage.  I was heading out to fill the car's gas tank (heh, "only" $3.89/gallon) when I heard about Russert's death by heart attack.  In my view, it's a big loss for political news junkies.  He was a really good interviewer and analyst.

Any relatively young death is unfair, of course, but what's especially unfair here is that Russert won't get to see the end result of the 2008 election.

Iowa trouble

For those of you who've been reading about the massive flooding here in Iowa in general and Iowa City in specific, yes, it is really bad.

The 380 freeway, which connects Iowa City to the airport and Cedar Rapids to the north, has been closed because of flooding where it crosses the Iowa River.  Not that there's much point to going to Cedar Rapids, since something like 400 blocks there are submerged, including the entire downtown.  To give you an idea of how bad it is, if you needed to get from Iowa City to Cedar Rapids (~20 miles), you need to take a detour via Des Moines -- which means, it's a 240 mile trip!

Traffic within Iowa City and Coralville (right next door) is horrible, and discouraged so as to leave roads clear for emergency vehicles.

For those who don't know, Iowa City is bisected by the Iowa River.  The only reliable way to get from the east side to the west side right now is to take the 80 freeway; the local bridges have been closed or are clogged and in danger of being closed at any time.

The law school has been locked shut for  at least a week . . . .

When my wife went to the supermarket earlier today, it was a madhouse.  (There are three Hy-Vees in Iowa City, but apparently two of them have been closed due to the flooding.)  People are wisely stocking up on water and food, in case the floodwater swamps the water treatment facilities.  In Cedar Rapids, for example, there's a call for water rationing.

The worst of it is that the Iowa River isn't projected to crest until Monday, which means between now and then, the water level will only continue to rise.

(For us personally, we live far enough from the river that we're not in danger of being flooded.  I feel extremely fortunate, and I can't imagine the suffering that others are going through.)

"In Plain Sight" -- out of sight for me

In recent years, summer has been a good time for television shows.  CBS's "Survivor" and Fox's "American Idol" actually started as summer offerings and did so well they got moved into the "regular" schedule.  My favorite reality TV show these days is probably "So You Think You Can Dance," which starts in late May and runs through the summer.

USA Network in particular used the summer effectively, with "The 4400" (think "Heroes" before NBC got there) and "Burn Notice," among others.  USA's tagline is "characters welcome," and that well describes the appeal of many of USA's top shows.  They're just quirky enough to be draw you in like a cozy sofa.

So it was with some anticipation that I set my TiVo to record the premeire of "In Plain Sight," about a U.S. Marshal played by Mary McCormack who's part of the federal witness relocation program.  I remember McCormack from the 1990s show "Murder One," thought she did a good job there, and expected that she could do well in a Karen Sisco-like role -- i.e., an engaging, tough woman in a typically male-dominated job.

Apparently, I wasn't alone in giving the show a try, as it delivered very good (by cable standards) viewer numbers.

However, it was so flat, so lifeless, and ultimately, so obviously QUIRKY, that after half an hour, my wife and I gave up on it.  Sad to say, McCormack does not grace the character with any depth, just a series of out-of-place sexual innuendos directed at bad guys.  And worst of all, it was plain boring.

With that, season pass deleted.