The meaning of The Great White Hope

It's been one of those days when the mind doesn't exactly come together. I've had too many thoughts that aren't worthy of this page, at least not the page as I want it to be: generally free of personal crises. My personal crises just don't do anything to help you—my beloved four or five readers—lift up your lives to neverending happiness and intellectual clarity. This, clearly, is what my site is here to do, especially when I talk about Duran Duran.

What I will tell you really quickly so you have something to take away for your future life enrichment is a hearty recommendation of the Ken Burns documentary called "Unforgiveable Blackness": the life and historical meaning of boxer Jack Johnson. If you're thinking that you're not into boxing or even sports, that doesn't matter. This story, one that I never knew, is much more about racism in the early 20th century, racism that is so horrifying that it ends up feeling almost comforting to think that such acts are so difficult to fathom in this day and age. Racial issues turn up in sports all the time, but however much controversy race continues to stir up, it still is amazing to think of a time in this country when sports events were held up as mini race wars, where the hopes of an entire race were openly and passionately put on a single athlete, and riots and murders between black and white broke out because of the result.

On a less serious note, I was told by a friend of mine who's big into everything Mac that Apple's new slideshow software has a "Ken Burns effect", where you can slowly zoom in on one part of a still picture, and it's great to see his genius being recognized beyond his documentaries. As much as people enjoy making fun of Ken Burns, he does an amazing job with everything he touches. In another 20 years, you'll have a full and nearly complete history of the United States from 1860 on made up of nothing but fascinating, moving Ken Burns documentaries.