Picking up a topic and running with it
October 29th 2007 21:04
I was writing to someone today about Alfred Hitchcock and how, in his early years, he directed films to order. It was only later in his career that he made films for himself rather than for a studio or a producer. Some of his made-to-order movies from the thirties aren’t top quality, have little of the Hitchcock innovation and have long stretches lacking in audience interest. But when a story grabs him, Hitchcock’s imagination brightens up and all sorts of innovations are seen.
Writing to order is a bit the same. When a topic grabs you, you can write a decent and interesting post. When the topic isn’t something you have much interest in, it’s a bit hard to rouse up the imaginative muse.
Thus when the topic is Bears tickets, about which I know nothing, then I can’t sit down and write what you’d call a post of interest. To be honest, I didn’t even know if the Bears were a baseball team or a football team (they’re the latter).
However, once I get down to doing a bit of digging about the Bears I find that there’s an aspect of the topic that does interest me: the renovation in 2002/3 of the Bears’ home stadium, Soldier Field. Soldier Field, a name that meant nothing to me until a half an hour ago, is a large stadium in Chicago that’s been home to games, concerts and other entertainments for some eighty years. The Bears have called it home for forty.
Like all old stadiums, there came a time when big choices had to made. Should it be demolished or should it be modernised. Modernisation was the choice, and the architects and engineers sought to retain the historical significance and architectural beauties of the stadium while bringing it into the 21st century as a workable building.
There are 65,000 seats, 133 suites, and two jumbo-trons. Okay, what the heck are they? As far as I can make out, they’re the large screens that play advertisements during a game - they may even show the game as well. As Will Heath of the Daily Home Online writes, the jumbo-tron is the scourge of big-time football, in both the collegiate and professional ranks. I’ve never understood who decided fans want to come to a game, listen to piped-in noise (instead of making their own) and watch Osmose commercials during timeouts instead of the marching band.’
Heath admits he may be in the minority on this!
I don’t go to football (it’s rugby in my country) much, but I do go to basketball, and the loud music played in the intervals there is over the top. But at least when you go to basketball you watch the game - there are no televised versions of it distracting you.
Writing to order is a bit the same. When a topic grabs you, you can write a decent and interesting post. When the topic isn’t something you have much interest in, it’s a bit hard to rouse up the imaginative muse.
Thus when the topic is Bears tickets, about which I know nothing, then I can’t sit down and write what you’d call a post of interest. To be honest, I didn’t even know if the Bears were a baseball team or a football team (they’re the latter).
However, once I get down to doing a bit of digging about the Bears I find that there’s an aspect of the topic that does interest me: the renovation in 2002/3 of the Bears’ home stadium, Soldier Field. Soldier Field, a name that meant nothing to me until a half an hour ago, is a large stadium in Chicago that’s been home to games, concerts and other entertainments for some eighty years. The Bears have called it home for forty.
Like all old stadiums, there came a time when big choices had to made. Should it be demolished or should it be modernised. Modernisation was the choice, and the architects and engineers sought to retain the historical significance and architectural beauties of the stadium while bringing it into the 21st century as a workable building.
There are 65,000 seats, 133 suites, and two jumbo-trons. Okay, what the heck are they? As far as I can make out, they’re the large screens that play advertisements during a game - they may even show the game as well. As Will Heath of the Daily Home Online writes, the jumbo-tron is the scourge of big-time football, in both the collegiate and professional ranks. I’ve never understood who decided fans want to come to a game, listen to piped-in noise (instead of making their own) and watch Osmose commercials during timeouts instead of the marching band.’
Heath admits he may be in the minority on this!
I don’t go to football (it’s rugby in my country) much, but I do go to basketball, and the loud music played in the intervals there is over the top. But at least when you go to basketball you watch the game - there are no televised versions of it distracting you.
| 44 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
