recent media intake

Last weekend I finished the Jordan Rules. Yes I know the book is almost 20 years old and documents a time when Michael Jordan wasn’t the Michael Jordan he came to be. (Maybe Sam Smith should do a King James Rules?) When I looked at my books, it was the first one that jumped out at me.

It is amazing that team won the NBA Championship with the infighting, attitudes and selfishness within the team. Yet once they won, everything was suppressed yet still right under the surface, until the end when management didn’t bring key players and personnel back and the 6 time World Champions were broken up. A main theme of the book is how each player impacts the team both on and off the playing surface. Grant was constantly hurt physically and verbally, yet he kept the team together due to his toughness. Pippen slowly found a role as he oscillated between supporting Jordan and envying him. Even Cartwright, whose unorthodox style caused havoc for teammates and opponents alike, brought some gravitas to the situation, so that when he spoke, people listened. Of course Jordan led by talent and force of will, dealing with the pressures of being a superstar, while battling the needs of the individual against the needs of the team. Pulling all of the strings was Phil Jackson, who at the time was a risky hire. Had he failed at this chance, a much different history of the NBA would have been written. Instead of being one of the greatest coaches of all time, with enough rings for three hands, he would have been tossed on the scrapheap of history.

I have now started the book Ripped, which tells of the tale of the music industry as it moved from CD’s to the Internet, ie MP3’, Napster, torrents, etc. The book is fascinating as the music conglomerates continued to merge and continued to ignore the customers’ desires. I’m about halfway through and can’t put it down. When the transformation is laid out, it is amazing how obtuse the industry was/is regarding contemporary music. People will find music no matter what you try to do. Get out in front of it, embrace it and allow artists to get the music out. When done, consumers will support in any number of ways—album sales; concert sales; hits on websites, which equal advertising dollars.

On the DVD front, I finished the final season of Six Feet Under. I was told by a reliable source that the series finale is one of the greatest in the history of television. It was emotionally wrenching, that is for sure. I was on the edge of tears the entire episode, mainly because the story thread of Willa brought back memories of Larry’s entrance into the world. The montage at the end was the pay off for the packaging of the final season: Everything Ends. A great song (Breathe Me by Sia) scored what the future of these characters held. I really enjoyed the show from start from finish but won’t be able to watch again for another 10 or 20 years, if at all. Almost every episode, which were so dense in writing, acting and material, left me in a dark place, where I couldn’t stay too long. The show does give a fresh perspective on life, death, and relationships. If you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend it.