Questions and Answers

Okay, boys and girls, as the year is now half-over, I know some of you have been dying to ask me about the topics I choose to cover (or not to cover) on this blog, but you just haven't gotten around to it yet.  Titter ye not, as the late, great Frankie Howerd once said;  I have already anticipated your questions in advance, whether you actually intended to ask them or not, whether you actually had them or not,  and I'm here now, believe it or else, to answer them! Aren't you lucky!  (Note italics and exclamation point.)  So here we go!

Why do you keep writing about high-speed rail in America when you know advocating such a thing is a colossal waste of time?

Because, even though I know I live in the wrong country when it comes to quality passenger rail, I am ticked off enough to keep ranting and raving about it until either high-speed rail in America finally happens or I'm blue in the face.  I expect my face to turn blue first.  But I think it's healthier to rant about something you don't like and let it all out than to hold it in. 

Why don't you write more about growing phenomenon of adult Americans living at home with one or both of their parents?

Because I'm not here to discuss my personal life.

Why don't you write anything about Edward Snowden?

I've been meaning to, but so much else has happened of late . . .

Why do you keep complaining about the dearth of rock and roll stations in New York City, near which you live? Why don't the suburban rock stations in the Greater New York area or WFUV-FM suffice? 

Because WDHA-FM in Morris Plains, New Jersey is mostly metal, WXPK-FM in White Plains, New York is hard to pick up driving around the area, and public station WFUV-FM insists on playing lame bands like Dawes and lame solo artists like Kate Earl.  Not to mention Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians under an assumed name).  Oh, well, I'm glad they play Arcade Fire, but please, haven't we had enough of Citizen Cope? Anyway, a station like WXPK is and like WRXP was has to be based in New York City because only a station in the city has the power to reach the entire area.

Do you seriously blame rappers and non-rock pop acts for the reason New York City doesn't have a real rock station any more?  

If I do, it's just hyperbole fueled by frustration.  The real culprits are the corporate clowns who own these radio conglomerates and decided that straight rock in New York doesn't sell, New York is a "rhythm town," and so, even though there are enough hip-hop/R&B and pop stations there, it still makes more sense for another New York FM station to simulcast an AM talk station than for that same station to play rock and roll, because playing rock and roll on an FM station in the Big Apple doesn't make enough money for shareholders.  Today's pop stars aren't responsible for the decline of rock and roll.  Kanye West isn't.  Taylor Swift isn't.  None of them are responsible, and none of them are bad people. Except Justin Bieber.

Don't you know that criticizing Justin Bieber is a good way to get hate mail from teenage girls?

Watch me not care.

By the way, are you ever going to forgive Chris Matthews for his comment about Hurricane Sandy on Election Night?

You mean this comment, of course: "I'm so glad we had that storm last week because I think the storm was one of those things - no, politically I should say. Not in terms of hurting people. The storm brought in possibilities for good politics." Uh, no. 

You write about the TV shows "How I Met Your Mother" and "Parenthood" a lot.  Don't you think you're wasting your time writing about these shows when it's obvious that "Mad Men" is the only show whose individual episodes have entire articles devoted to them?

You're suggesting that no one cares about these shows.  Well, "How I Met Your Mother" has been on for eight years and is about to enter its final season this fall on its own terms, so a lot of people love it.  And "Parenthood," despite being on NBC, has an audience.  It may be small, but it's still bigger than than the audience for my blog. And even though I love "Mad Men," why write about it on my blog when everyone else is already doing it?

Do you think Sarah Chalke is doomed to Lifetime purgatory, now that she's had two failed sitcoms in a row?

Not yet, but one more flop might do it.

She seems irrelevant.

Just like me.