Red, Green and Golden: Steve Smith Offers Some Handyman Humor
03.02.10
The show was sometimes compared with the Tim Allen sitcom “Home Improvement. (Smith says that compared with his show, watching the other comedy is like “drinking lite beer.”)
Set in rural Canada, the Red Green Show started small and went on to be a cult favorite. Now, thanks to a Facebook page, Smith’s meet-and-greets in local hardware stores and DVDs, including the recent release of the first three seasons, dubbed “The Infantile Years,” the Red Green Show is still going strong 19 years after it first aired. Smith spoke with Speakeasy about what it was like to be Red Green, the longevity of the show, and the magic of duct tape.
The Wall Street Journal: What was the inspiration behind the Red Green Show?
Steve Smith: It’s loosely based on a Canadian fishing show called the Red Fisher Show. The guy had the attitude that nothing would bore you. Some people do a TV show assuming that no one is watching and I think that’s compelling. We expanded from fishing to men’s stuff.
Source: Wall Street Journal (blog)
Steve Jobs and the esthetic of electronic elegance
02.02.10
I'm a Mac guy. In some circles, saying that is akin to declaring you're a Jew in Fallujah or a Red Sox fan in Yankee Stadium.
But I'm not trying to start a fight. I just want to sing the praises of Steve Jobs because he has made my life better.
A few days ago, Jobs unveiled his latest inspiration, the iPad . It's a thin rectangle of plastic and circuitry with a bright, big screen. You can watch movies on it, surf the 'net, read newspapers and books, play games, listen to music or use it as a computer. And I can't think of why I would need it. I already have an iPhone and a MacBook Pro and I can do all that stuff on either of those plus, one of them is a telephone.
But, unlike some of the critics who were underwhelmed by the iPad and made fun of its name for sounding like a feminine hygiene product, I'm willing to bet Steve Jobs has done it again. At some point, I, and millions of other people, will discover we really want one. I think this is likely, because Jobs is right almost all the time.
Source: Seattle Post Intelligencer (blog)