Remember the earlier entry about what’s going to happen next after Virginia Tech?
Presto.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003681580_essay26.html
PAD
Remember the earlier entry about what’s going to happen next after Virginia Tech?
Presto.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003681580_essay26.html
PAD
• 
Let the student school the school for some big amount of money. Or write another essay and what freedom is supposed to mean. It’s very scary how some people can react with censorship in the face of fear (as in saying he should have wrote something non-offensive). Of course, without seeing the actual paper, it’s hard to concretely say what might be going on behind the scenes. What we have here is a scary surface story, let’s hope the meat behind it, isn’t as scary as it appears.
In the mid-1970s, I remember dating a quiet, reserved co-worker when I found out she was an artist like me. Now, in those days, my art leaned towards horror and violence because I was a big fan of EC, Warren horror stuff, and underground comix like Captain Guts. And I was actually worried that she would think I was one strange dude, based on my comics work.
That evening, after a movie, we were sitting on her front steps talking when I asked to see some of her work. She went in the house, and a few minutes later came out with a number of paintings. They were so bizarre… so grotesque… so morbid… and so haunting… they scared ME! We chatted some more, and then I excused myself and left. Although we continued to occasionally talk to each other at work, we never dated again, and I have no idea what happened to her after I left that job.
Quality-wise, she was actually a pretty good painter. But was she crazy? Who knows!
People will inevitably draw the “shouting FIRE in a crowded theater” analogy when defending the overreactions to stuff like this, but there’s a difference between shouting it in a crowded theater and shouting it in an empty one….
This article is so disturbing to me and scares me so much I think the newspaper publisher should be arrested.
The actions of the teacher and police also represent a threat to my freedoms and they should also be arrested. In fact, anyone who thinks anything but happy thoughts should be executed.
I hope there is a BIG lawsuit over this crap.
Let the goose-stepping begin.
The Nanny-States of America is upon us.
Problem is, is there anywhere else in the world any better?
R. Maheras, perhaps her paintings were her way of cleansing her mind of bizarre dreams/nightmares and she wasn’t actually crazy at all.
The kid needs to release the story to the public himself. He worte it, it’s his to release to the public. Maybe next time the other students will think twice before obeying a teacher’s instructions. Oh yeah, I see NOTHING BAD that can result from this sort of over-reaction.
And the police department needs some kind of suit filed against them for violation of the kid’s (well, not really a kid at 18) First Amendment RIGHTS.
The thought police are already here and they’re setting up shop.
Better stop wrinting them stories full of violence and combat PAD, or you’ll be arrested next…
Pathetic little world we live in…. is this the 21st Century or the return to the Dark Ages?
They arrested him for disorderly conduct!!??!!??!!
Lets see…
“Told to express emotion for a creative-writing…”
“Lee, 18, a straight-A student…”
“…police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.”
“School officials declined to say whether Lee had any previous disciplinary problems, but said he was an excellent student. Authorities said Lee had never been in trouble with the police.”
“Cary Police Chief Ron Delelio said the charge against Lee was appropriate even though the essay was not published or posted for public viewing.” … “But it can also apply when someone’s writings disturb an individual, Delelio said.”
Ok, a student is asked to write something for creative writing, does and gets arrested for it? And no one can really articulate a good reason for the arrest other then he should have been arrested because his writings “disturbed” his teacher.
Yeah, right. Just what we all need. Creative writing with a touch too much testosterone becomes the new pornography. They can’t really tell you what it is and they can’t really tell you where the line will always be, but they can nail your butt to the wall and screw with you when they see it.
Thank you God that this crap wasn’t this prevalent or this stupidly over the top when I was in middle school and high school. I’d have been jailed for life.
This “teacher” sounds like an embarassment to the profession.
There is no way this can stand.
OH MY GOD!!!!
Sure, take a look at the guy, maybe psychoanalyze him to determine if he’s a threat to himself or others, but slapping handcuffs on him and putting him in jail for thirty days?! What the hëll is that supposed to accomplish?
There was one time I wrote something that concerned a teacher and she later asked me in private where it came from. She was kind enough to listen to me as I vented about the kinds of problems I was having that inspired it, and to give me advice. In other words, she saw me as a person instead of as a time bomb that couldn’t be reasoned with.
That’s what should’ve been done here, assuming that the kid in question even had any revenge fantasies and wasn’t simply trying to be the next Stephen King or Thomas Harris.
For a great look at censorship in the media, go rent (if anyone has a copy for rental, I bought mine) This Film Is Not Yet Rated. A disturbing look at what goes on behind closed doors of the MPAA. Talk about the dark ages… And think about this, for this being the land of freedom, how many would look at you crossways if you believed in a religion that wasn’t Christian/Catholic based….
In the “Imus in the Mourning” thread, at least one other poster tried to dismiss the idea that Imus’s firing was the first step down a “slippery slope.” I’ve heard people as prominent as Gwen Ifill assert the same thing: that it’s easy to know where to draw the line, and that Imus’s remarks are where the line is drawn.
That’s bull. Just complete bull. And this story about a kid being arrested for a violent essay that threatened no one in particular proves it. One obviously unbalanced kid snaps and commits mass murder, and suddenly we’re examining everything with a microscope to see if we can find the next Cho Seung-Hui. Never mind the fact that the Cho Seung-Hui’s of this world are rarer than rare. Never mind the fact that what drove him over the edge was probably uniquely, idiosyncratically him, an amalgam of his individual experiences filtered through his individual personality and perceptions. Nope, never mind any of that. We’re going to make this world SAFE, dámņ it! And if we have to lobotomize the planet to do it, then so be it.
No, humans don’t go overboard. Talk of a slippery slope is academic.
Bûllšhìŧ. Pure bûllšhìŧ.
THIS is why I agree with Peter’s views on free speech: our commitment to the principle must be total, because if we allow incursions they won’t stop. Give censors an inch, they’ll take EVERYTHING eventually.
Of course, they won’t call it censorship, it’s all about “Public Safety” and protecting “Society” and “The Children” from the mentally unbalanced and disturbed “Terrorists”.
What’s the Vegas Line on how long before they refer to him as a “terrorist”?
I read this story and had to go to the bathroom, although it ended up only dry-heaves and not quite actual vomitting… but it was real close.
“Of course, they won’t call it censorship, it’s all about “Public Safety” and protecting “Society” and “The Children” from the mentally unbalanced and disturbed “Terrorists”.”
Sure they will. Because God knows that a piece of paper represents such a great threat that the author has to be arrested for the safety of others.
Oh, no, wait, that’s actually censorship when that happens.
Disorderly conduct…so, apparantly, doing your homework is the equivilent of running into Borders and yelling your head off.
I wonder how many of this guy’s students will plead the fifth the next time he gives an assignment.
I remember when there used to be free speech in this country…
I wonder if my kids will.
This story just pìššëš me off. Like really really pìššëš me off.
I work in the mental health field, not only is it a slap in the face to our Freedom of Speech, but it is a kick in the groin to the work that I do.
That poor kid. Regardless of the content of the work, that’s clearly a case of the teach and the police freaking out and abusing their power.
“I wonder how many of this guy’s students will plead the fifth the next time he gives an assignment.”
No kidding. I hope the student’s fellow students give the teacher a hëll of a time after this. I’m normally pretty sympathetic towards teachers, but this is way out of line and probably deserving of job loss.
This “teacher” sounds like an embarassment to the profession.
There is no way this can stand.
Actually, it looks like the teacher took the right action. In most schools, teachers are obligated to report this sort of thing to the student’s advisors and the administrators. Usually, nothing becomes of it officially (and obviously, this time the administration made a very wrong call).
These things have to be recorded just in case there is a pattern of abuse, violence, suicidal tendencies, etc. It makes it easier to remove a student from a bad environment or get the student the help he or she needs, if the need comes up in the future.
And trust me, even if the teacher pulled you aside to talk to you about a concern, there’s a good chance she reported you, too, along with the discussion you had. That’s just part of a teacher’s job.
Sometimes I think half the people I hung out with in high school would have been shipped off to jail for their behavior there. Instead of, you know, the one who WAS shipped off to jail for breaking into the chem lab and turning all the gas jets on. 😉 But the guys with swords in their lockers, half the stuff I got submitted to the literary magazine when I was editing it…sheesh. My friend who got in trouble for organizing a student protest probably would have been jailed rather than just fired from his job (he’d photocopied a protest newsletter without permission on company machines).
Heil, Brave New World.
I cannot tell you my terror reading that. I have been down that road with a family member, to the land of psycho false accusations by Those That Know Not What They Do. It cost $40,000 in lawyer fees and 15 months in living hëll before being settled in our favor, without so much as an apology in return. We had not the energy or finances to sue in return, but rested on the fact it was over and we won. My heart goes out to that kid, and I hope he and his family will someday be able to rebuild their lives.
This kid better get an “A” on the assignment. He obviously passed with flying colors, writing something emotional that generated an emotional response in his reader.
And a clean criminal record.
A kid that is obviously not at all like Cho is being treated far worse.
What I find particularly disturbing is this takes place in the NW burbs of Chicago and it’s Seattle(!) that reports it!
Anyway, this young man just got his college paid for by the Cary School District. To call this an “over reaction” is an extreme understatement. Best part of the article was this though: A civil-rights advocate said the teacher’s reaction to an essay shouldn’t make it a crime. “One of the elements is that some sort of disorder or disruption is created,” said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. “When something is done in private — when a paper is handed in to a teacher — there isn’t a disruption.
Did you hear about the really silly overreaction at Yale? The Dean of Student Affairs banned any realistic looking weaponry from campus theater productions (and unless things have changed from when I was there, Yale has 2-3 different and new student productions just about every week). One play had to substitute fake looking wooden swords for metal ones…and that was after managing to talk Dean Trachtenberg down from her initial desire to just ban weaponry from the stage all together.
After a couple of days, the ban was rescinded (I’m guessing a higher up realized just how stupid this looked). But still, that it was done at all is just silly.
I’m reminded of the movie “Minority Report” where you’re arrested not for a crime you have commited, but for a crime you can eventually commit in a potential future.
This is just so stupid, so crazy… I think it is justified to make it so students with eccentric behaviour and violent writings are examined by a psychologist, but ARREST him for the paper? This is crazy.
R. Maheras, perhaps her paintings were her way of cleansing her mind of bizarre dreams/nightmares and she wasn’t actually crazy at all.
You know, that’s kind of along the lines of something I said in my journal when I posted my reaction to all this insanity.
Have a look. Might as well throw in my two cents.
There needs to be major lawsuits. But I also would hope that there is now a bidding war for this story.
What I find particularly disturbing is this takes place in the NW burbs of Chicago and it’s Seattle(!) that reports it!
Check the byline; it’s a Chicago Tribune story just being reprinted in the Seattle paper.
The Dean of Student Affairs banned any realistic looking weaponry from campus theater productions
“Is this a dagger I see before me?”
“No, that’s a banana.”
It seems to me that the teacher got it all backwards. The first concern should be the student. If she was really concerned about his psychological state of mind, then you talk to him, to his parents, to the guidance counselor, not call the police. It seems as if the main concern was how the story the student wrote affected the teacher. Perhaps she needs to see a psychologist too?
Typical.
This country is so pussywhipped these days, it’s a wonder we can get out bed in the morning without being arrested for offending people who think we should lay in bed all day.
The charge against Lee comes as schools across the country wrestle with how to react in the wake of the massacre that claimed 33 lives at Virginia Tech.
First, I think it’s terrible that the school should wrestle. Such violence on the part of a school sets a bad example for the children.
Second, is this really that difficult to figure out? At least the part that reacting to a creative writing assignment by a straight-A student by arresting them is not the way to go.
Third, does nobody in that town have any common sense? Let’s see. For this to happen: The teacher has to report it. The school administration has to call the cops. The DA has to decide to file charges. So there’s at least three “responsible” adults and quite probably more (if the principal or DA discussed it with anyone else in their offices before deciding on a course of action). The Chief of Police also gets in there defending the charge is appropriate.
It’s like one person has a over reaction and nobody dares say the emperor’s is showing a bit too much ankle.
And trust me, even if the teacher pulled you aside to talk to you about a concern, there’s a good chance she reported you, too, along with the discussion you had. That’s just part of a teacher’s job.
Be that as it may, Valerie, at least my teacher cared enough to listen to how I felt, instead of saying “oh my God, I’m not taking any chances, I want this freak locked up somewhere far away this school and far away from me!” That appears to be what the teacher in this story did.
This teacher didn’t sit down with the kid, didn’t offer a sympathetic ear, didn’t even give two šhìŧš about anything but his or her own safety. “Fûçk my student, fûçk his well-being; only MY well-being matters,” this teacher said. “This guy might not want to shoot me at all, but I can’t afford to risk it, so I’m gonna get him put in jail. Guilty until proven otherwise, a threat until proven otherwise.”
This teacher didn’t bother to ask why the student wrote what he wrote. This teacher didn’t wonder whether it was indicative of mental problems or pure fiction not the least bit reflective of the student’s psychological state. This teacher was too busy dropping a load in her or his pants to do anything but assume the worst and take the most extreme action.
This just shows how little we have learned since 2002. Back then most people were in favor of striking at Iraq before Iraq wiped out the free world with a barrage of nukes. It didn’t matter that there was no evidence of the threat, people just didn’t want to take the chance. Today, people at this school are in favor of throwing a kid in jail because he reminds them in some way of Cho and they’re scared he might go on a killing spree. It doesn’t matter that there’s no evidence of a threat here either. People, just like in 2002, just don’t want to take the chance.
Screw that. If you refuse to give anybody the benefit of the doubt and decide to take preemptive action without proof of a threat, then YOU should be the one behind bars.
“Fûçk my student, fûçk his well-being; only MY well-being matters,” this teacher said. “This guy might not want to shoot me at all, but I can’t afford to risk it, so I’m gonna get him put in jail. Guilty until proven otherwise, a threat until proven otherwise.”
You know this for a fact? You can read the teacher’s mind? I sure didn’t get that from this story.
I’m certainly not happy that police were called in, and I lean towards believing that it was a gross overreaction, but you DON’T know what was in the story, and you DON’T know what was going through the teacher’s mind. Neither do I.
The shrill hyperbole does nothing to address the real concerns here.
All those who wrote stuff in high school and/or college that might getcha arrested right now, step forward.
To quote Rowan Atkinson as Beelzebub, Dear GOD, there are a lot of you.
“But it can also apply when someone’s writings disturb an individual, Delelio said.”
Yeah, okay. In that case, I want Arthur Miller, Charles Pelegrino, Jay Anson, and William Peter Blatty arrested.
Tom, the ban on realistic weaponry in college theater isn’t that new. We did a production of A Knight Of British Comedy and the moron who ran the theater department said Arthur and his Knights couldn’t go out with (sheathed) weapons. Wouldn’t have been a problem except for the Killer Shark-Standing-In-For-The-Rabbit scene. (Incidentally, that’s not why I call him a moron. I do that because when he would direct a show, he’d change his mind four times in five minutes and then NOT TELL anyone of the new stuff and get pissy when we couldn’t read his mind.)
I can’t help but think of the writings that I did in those days. Combat, murder, psychological attacks, rape, terrorism, and bad jokes. My teachers’ reaction?
They wanted to know what happened next and when I was going to submit these things for publication. Judging by some of the other posts, I don’t think that this isn’t a shared experience around here.
WOW. That is unbelievable. I do not see how whatever the student wrote could possibly be as disturbing as the news article itself. The fact that there was no specific threat and he still got arrested is scary as hëll. I really believe that no matter which side of the conservative / liberal fence we normally land on that hopefully we can all agree that this is just ludicrous. With this and all of the Imus political correctness going on, and the new call for censorship of rap artists, it is probably a matter of time until Alice Cooper (OK I admit that I am an OLD rocker) and Rob Zombie are arrested for their music due to violent content. I know that this sounds like a defeatist attitude but what can we do? The people who whine the most get the best press.
Forgot to post my real name. James. Although it may be harder to find and arrest shadowquest should I ever scare someone with my post. I can always blame it on someone else using my computer.
I’m certainly not happy that police were called in, and I lean towards believing that it was a gross overreaction, but you DON’T know what was in the story, and you DON’T know what was going through the teacher’s mind. Neither do I.
It really doesn’t matter what was in the story. Even the most hideously grotesque story in the whole world does not deserve jail time. Psychological counseling, sure. Jail? Never. You can’t be hurt by a story, particularly when they say there was no direct threat in the story.
“… but you DON’T know what was in the story, and you DON’T know what was going through the teacher’s mind. Neither do I.”
Well, we don’t really need to know. The story quotes the police as saying that nothing in the story was in any way making a threat to anyone or anything. The story contained no threats.
Once this fact is established, I don’t really care about what was going through the teacher’s mind. I also don’t care what was in the story. The student could very well have written a story that was one part Battle Royal, one part Zombi 2 and one part Debbie Does Dallas with absolutely no redeeming social qualities whatsoever and it would make absolutely zero difference.
By the accounts we’re going on, all he did was write a really freaky story that “disturbed” his teacher.
So
freaking
what.
There are no threats. This is massive overreaction by a teacher who will hopefully get disciplined heavily for this. I’m ticked at the Chief as well. They may have had to act on this once it was started by the teacher, but they’re adding credibility to this with any statement other then a terse no comment. By saying that the charge against Lee was appropriate and explaining why it is so, he’s coming across, whether he wants to or not, as saying that this is a good or right thing.
He’s either very bad at dealing with the press or he agrees that it’s the right thing to do. And with the information on hand, it certainly doesn’t appear to be the right thing to do.
Say, what ever finally happened with the kid who got jammed up for the Zombie story a year or so back? News on that just kinda dried up and I never did find out. Anybody else know?
These have a bit more in them and some new news.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-070425essay,0,5733419.story
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2007/04/25/news/local/doc462f202c94fa2608338443.txt
…you DON’T know what was going through the teacher’s mind. Neither do I…The shrill hyperbole does nothing to address the real concerns here.
I’m sorry, Eric, as you can see I’m among the people who are upset by this. I’ll try to calm down.
It seems pretty clear to me that when you press charges against somebody or report them to authorities, you have to be pretty ignorant if you think they’re only going to get a stern talking to. Somebody here really overreacted and this kid is suffering because of it. They should be ashamed of themselves.
As for my final statement, I don’t think it’s as over the top as you do. I think it’d be karma; if you’re the kind of person who’s willing to get people arrested for the most trivial of things, then IMHO you deserve to experience the same kind of suffering you put those others through.
I’m pretty sure that if a student demonstrates a strong suicidal urge, the school is obliged to inform tha police. Disorderly conduct is one of the broadest of statutes, and for all anyone knows may be cited to justify bringing someone in to be evaluated.
Heh, it gets even better close to home. I was talking to one of my co-workers about this tonight and he threw out something equally stupid.
His daughter just got suspended from elementary school. One of her fellow second graders was teasing her, so she drew a picture of this kid standing in lava. The kid went to the teacher and my friend’s daughter got suspended for a week for “violent tendencies.”
For a silly drawing of another kid standing in lava, she gets booted from school for a week under the pretext of showing violent tendencies. What the hëll is wrong with the schools right now?
The idea of home schooling just keeps looking better and better.
” Jerry Chandler at April 27, 2007 01:31 AM “
Was the other child punished for the bullying behaviour as well, (which is what “teasing” is), or did the bully get away with it?
Disorderly conduct is one of the broadest of statutes, and for all anyone knows may be cited to justify bringing someone in to be evaluated.
I have no problem with people being evaluated, but what really freaks me out is the mention about a 30 day prison sentence being an option. That’s completely the wrong way to deal with this. Maybe it won’t happen to Lee, but just the possibility that it might creates a strong reaction in me, as you can see.
I very much doubt that spending time in jail or prison has ever made anybody saner, by the way.
For a silly drawing of another kid standing in lava, she gets booted from school for a week under the pretext of showing violent tendencies. What the hëll is wrong with the schools right now?
Aw man Jerry, that’s awful. I agree with Megan that if the school insists on suspending your friend’s daughter, they should take action against the kid who was harassing her as well. He (if it was a boy) wasn’t hurt at all by what she drew, but she was hurt emotionally by his behaviour. So who did the most harm here?
It surprises me that a teacher could hand out an assigment like this to a room full of teenagers and get only one disturbing paper, and even more that he/she would be surprised that it happened.
At the very least, this has to be the most blatant example of moving the fûçkìņg goalposts I’ve seen in a long time. If the teacher didn’t want to read anything but flowers and puppies and happiness, especially so soon after the VT shootings, that should have been the assignment.
I truly fear for the state of public education when my daughter is old enough to go to school…
-Rex Hondo-
He should have just written about people smiling, dogs running, rainbows. They don’t have meetings about rainbows.
Re: she drew a picture of this kid standing in lava. The kid went to the teacher and my friend’s daughter got suspended for a week for “violent tendencies.”
She got off easy. In our New-Age police state, the other month police TASERED a FIVE year old, who got upset and was throwing chairs.
Now, I’ve worked with psycho children for more than 20 years – the kind that can’t live at home, and literally rip off their and your body parts when they get ‘upset’. Believe me, there is NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING a normal five-year old mainstreamed child can do, short of wielding a flame thrower, that would require the use of a taser. When can we click our heels, open our eyes, and hear the words “Wake up, Dorothy…”? It’s time to move to Montana.
As for my final statement, I don’t think it’s as over the top as you do. I think it’d be karma; if you’re the kind of person who’s willing to get people arrested for the most trivial of things, then IMHO you deserve to experience the same kind of suffering you put those others through.
I didn’t say the reaction was over the top. I believe it was as well. But attributing it to the teacher may well be a mistake. He or she may have simply reported the story to the office (as is mandated by law), and the office over-reacted. Once the administration has it in their hands, the teacher generally has little to no say in how it’s handled.
I’ve had to report disturbing things my students have put in their notebooks before because to not do so a)would haunt me if something did happen to the kid or his classmates, and b) I could lose my job if I didn’t. Fortunately, in all cases I’ve been involved with, the principals pulled the kids aside nondescriptly and got the details without embarrassing the kids or downplaying their creativity. In one case in my school that I know of, however, the result was that the student needed some help, and the school was able to set it up for him precisely because warning signs were heeded.
Calling the cops in, however, is ridiculous.
The last time I tried to post this, last night, it got caught in the filters. Not sure why. Since it has not yet appeared, I’ll try again now. Apologies if it ends up posting twice.
Bill Mulligan asked, “PAD, is it possible that we are beginning to see a kind of parallel to the infamous “I’ll wait for the trades”, only now for TV?”
Wouldn’t surprise me, Bill. I wrote a column earlier this year entitled “Are DVDs Changing the Way We Watch TV?”, in which I noted changes in viewing habits, especially my own.
One of the people I interviewed was a university marketing professor who said living patterns have changed, and one pattern that’s become the norm is that of people preferring to watch DVDs over first run shows.
I also interviewed a co-worker who doesn’t watch much TV (mainly because he has young kids), but when he does, more often than not, it’s on DVD. His theory: With the hectic pace of many people’s lives, sitting down at a specific hour to watch a specific show is no longer an option.
In recent years, I also tended to watch more DVDs than first-run shows. In the 2003-2004 TV season, I only watched three first-run shows, but still spent a lot of time in front of my TV. Most of that time I watched DVDs from my home library.
Most of the DVDs I own are of shows I originally watched first-run, like Buffy, Angel and Babylon 5, but not all. I never saw a single frame of Firefly on TV. I bought the DVD set of that series based mostly on the fact that I’d liked Buffy and Angel. Once I saw Serenity, that pretty much clinched the deal, but even before that, I knew I’d buy the Firefly DVD set one day.
Likewise, I bought Neverwhere without having seen an episode. Since I don’t have cable, I never had an opportunity to do so (assuming it was ever on a cable channel in my area). I bought it on the strength of Neil Gaiman’s reputation as a writer.
I’m probably not alone in that respect, either. I’m sure people have bought DVD sets based on either the premise or involvement of particular people (whether behind or in front of the camera), or some other factor(s).
Is this a “wait for the trades” mentality? Obviously not with regard to shows I’d previously watched first-run, but with some current shows, I may be leaning in that direction. I’ve seen perhaps five episodes of 24 this year. Maybe seven. I’m more interested in Heroes, and I know 24 will be out on DVD by what, September? I can rent the series then, and watch several in a row, if I’ve a mind to do so.
True, I could, in theory, tape it and watch it later; but my VCR’s no longer very reliable when it comes to tuning in stations. I found that out awhile back when I tried taping Smallville and Supernatural because I had to be some place that particular Thursday.
On the other hand, I have no urgent need to go out and buy the current season of 24 on DVD. Renting is fine. So, if I’m waiting for the trade with regard to 24, I’m waiting for it to come to the library, not my local comics shop.
I concluded my column with this statement: “The question remains, will it become commonplace for people to buy a DVD set of a season (or entire series) of a show they never saw, based just on the description and/or word of mouth?
Time will tell.”
And so it will. It’ll be interesting to see what people’s viewing habits are like a decade from now. Will there be more direct-to-DVD TV shows? We already have direct-to-DVD movies? Granted, some are probably very bad and never had a prayer of making it to theaters; but others, like the new Babylon 5 project, The Lost Tales, are marketed for direct DVD release from the get-go. Perhaps a decade from now a show like Drive will go direct to DVD.
If so, expect to see a lot more product placement, if not actual advertisements, included with the series.
Rick
P.S. I never saw a frame of Firefly when it was on the air because I deliberately didn’t watch it. Not because I was waiting for the DVD (I didn’t yet own a DVD player, and didn’t have any thoughts along those lines.) I didn’t watch it because I felt sure I’d like it, and I wanted to cut back on my TV viewing. Which was easier when I didn’t have a DVD library.
I also didn’t watch Drive. The premise didn’t interest me (and doesn’t), but I agree with PAD that FOX seems to cancel shows too quickly. I might still have never watched it, but “TheJohnWilson” has a point. A show about a race is obviously structured to have an end. The network should have agreed to approve the series as a whole, with the caveat that whether it’s a six, 13 or 22-episode series would depend on how well it did in the ratings. If it does well, it goes a whole season. If it does poorly, it becomes a mini-series.
Of course the writers would have had to structure the show in such a way that it could both logically wrap up in six episodes and logically continue for 13 or 22. But I’m sure they could’ve done that.
P.P.S. Amy Acker was in Drive? If I’d known, I might’ve tuned in at least once.
Dammit Jerry, you beat me to the homeschooling comment…
Look for public scholl enrollment to drop in the new year or two if this story really “gets out”.
(I say that because I haven’t heard about it on local news radio, talk radio, or the nightly news, only here and in the links listed)
As far as they are using a law on the books that has an upper limit of 30 days incarceration, reporting that is simply a fact of the story.
My understanding is that all states have the right to institutionalize anyone they deem unfit for independence. They don’t issue tickets — they send the cops to pick you up.
They don’t go to judges to sign warrants on this — because judges aren’t mental health professionals. The teachers are also unqualified to evaluate students, and as far as police aren’t mental health workers, the only justification for establishing a record to evaluate a kid seems to be arresting him for disorderly conduct. What are they going to do, give the kid a wide berth to climb to a high ledge?
In our New-Age police state, the other month police TASERED a FIVE year old, who got upset and was throwing chairs.
Oh. My. God. Now that is just insane. You mean there was no other way a group of adults could restrain a five year old? WTF is wrong with these people?
Maybe somebody can explain the justification for the specific charge: How does writing an essay qualify as “disorderly coduct”? How words on a piece of paper cause disorder?