Well produced man-on-the-street montage piece with many different collectors. You never hear Overton in the piece itself; it's focused solely on the collectors, their collections, and their interactions and thoughts about the hobby. Snippets of jazz give the piece a nice ambiance and break the piece up very well. The pacing is also very well done: first sub-part introduces the collectors in quick succession, second part revists each for a little bit. Fast moving without being too fast, keeps your attention very easily.
There are more than a couple small yet poignant comments by the collectors interviewed which speak to the question of "why collect these things?", as well as the American culture of disposability, of objects as sentimental anchors of memory, and the like.
Quirky yet fascinating slice of life piece with real people. Top notch human interest segment. Deserves to be aired.
Extremely intimate and engaging piece told mostly in flashback. I get a very strong TAL-style vibe off this piece, which I think is wonderful (indeed, I think this would be spectacular as part of a TAL episode). Length is good too, at just under seven and a half minutes. Would go great with other pieces on communities or groups that, despite their efforts, people cannot join or become a part of. Religious separation is the topic of this particular piece, so it could work as part of a larger montage of similar parts, but it's self-contained and has good core structure that would make it go well with pieces describing other types of group separation and longing for acceptance.
Audio production is well done, my only complaints are on pacing; sometimes Thorsen's words are run together and somewhat indistinct, and on breaking up the three distinct parts of the story (the girls' arrival, Thorsen's flashback of his family and Mormon groups he interacted with, returning to the girls at the door), with slightly longer interludes and possibly additional interstitial music to break these parts up a bit.
This should be aired far and wide. Fantastic story and a fantastic telling.
A good piece which gives a very personal take on Morris's documentary film. Standout points include the small segue into a specific role McNamara played in South Vietnamese military affairs, and Lam's reflection and interpretation of both McNamara's apology, argument, and Morris's take. Although this could serve as a review of the documentary itself, it seems like it would be better suited in amongst other material on Vietnam, perhaps in the context of reevaluating Vietnam, especially vis a vis the invasion of Iraq. Would go well with other material from Daniel Ellsberg's memoir "Secrets" as a counterpart, perhaps read by a voice actor. Also, it's worth noting "Fog of War" is based on interviews with McNamara, but much is also covered in McNamara's earlier book "In Retrospect".
From an audio standpoint, Lam's voice may be hard for some listeners to parse, but shouldn't pose too much of a problem as his pacing is done very well. Another reviewer mentioned that Lam's status as the son of a South Vietnamese general added some authority; Lam himself does not mention this in the piece, so this would need to be addressed in introduction or closing commentary if that angle is to be a component of the piece.
Very well engineered and very personal. Well done all around.
Comments by Daniel Moniz
Comment for "Naked Barbies and Deflated Basketballs: A look inside the world of collectors"
Daniel Moniz
Posted on April 19, 2004 at 05:08 AM | Permalink
Review of Naked Barbies and Deflated Basketballs: A look inside the wo
There are more than a couple small yet poignant comments by the collectors interviewed which speak to the question of "why collect these things?", as well as the American culture of disposability, of objects as sentimental anchors of memory, and the like.
Quirky yet fascinating slice of life piece with real people. Top notch human interest segment. Deserves to be aired.
Comment for "Unexpected Visitors"
Daniel Moniz
Posted on April 19, 2004 at 04:48 AM | Permalink
Review of Unexpected Visitors
Audio production is well done, my only complaints are on pacing; sometimes Thorsen's words are run together and somewhat indistinct, and on breaking up the three distinct parts of the story (the girls' arrival, Thorsen's flashback of his family and Mormon groups he interacted with, returning to the girls at the door), with slightly longer interludes and possibly additional interstitial music to break these parts up a bit.
This should be aired far and wide. Fantastic story and a fantastic telling.
Comment for "Fog of War review"
Daniel Moniz
Posted on April 19, 2004 at 04:24 AM | Permalink
Review of Fog of War review
From an audio standpoint, Lam's voice may be hard for some listeners to parse, but shouldn't pose too much of a problem as his pacing is done very well. Another reviewer mentioned that Lam's status as the son of a South Vietnamese general added some authority; Lam himself does not mention this in the piece, so this would need to be addressed in introduction or closing commentary if that angle is to be a component of the piece.
Very well engineered and very personal. Well done all around.