popular thinking

LIVING IN A MULTI-NEWSPAPER TOWN

Talk about burying the lede. Reading the Globe's Ed Siegel rip apart Charles Ross' One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, you'd think that Siegel doesn't even know or like the original movies on which the show is based. Which is exactly true, only you find that out more than halfway through Siegel's review. Only in his final paragraph does he recognize that Ross' show has a specific target demographic. Still, I find it highly amusing that the Globe chose to send a non-Star Wars person to an all-Star Wars show. Here was my take on last night's Boston debut...(more info on the show's run here)

Ross fights ‘Star Wars Trilogy’ all by himself (Boston Herald)
The Force is strong with Charles Ross.
It has to be. Ross’ hourlong tour through the “Star Wars” trilogy captures our culture’s hold on the movies in a whirling dervish of amazing execution.
The 31-year-old Canadian said he has seen 1977’s “Episode IV: A New Hope” more than 400 times.
Audience members need not equal Ross’ feat to appreciate how he manages to condense “Star Wars: A New Hope,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” without losing any of its magic.
The crowd, which last night included families, couples, college students, “Star Wars” buffs and even costumed members of the 501st New England Garrison, a local fan society, cheered Ross loudly and often.
The movie score plays beforehand, setting the mood. But when the curtain rises, it’s Ross and only Ross for the next hour: He provides all of the dialogue, sound effects and musical cues himself, without props or costume changes and only minimal lighting.
From the opening drums and horns of 20th Century Fox, through the “big yellow words” all the way to the victory dance with the Ewoks, Ross takes just enough time between episodes to grab a drink of water.
Ross does slow down the action at times. That’s as necessary for his own pacing as it is for the audience to keep up. Fans may quibble about missing out on their favorite scene or line – last night, for instance, Ross skipped over Yoda’s signature “Do or do not, there is no try” line.
But finding holes in the performance overlooks just how extraordinary Ross’ achievement is. Vocal impersonations aren’t spot-on, but Ross’ tone, delivery and wording all are pitch-perfect.
And his small nuances and asides all hit home, whether you live in Boston or on Tatooine.

But the Globe buried the lede yesterday, too, in its story on the latest newspaper circulation reports. Its story focuses so much on Herald bulk sales that 1) it tries to downplay its own circulation declines, and 2) it fuzzes the whole math on bulk sales. In my math class, percentages only mean something in the context of what the figure is a percentage of...in this instance, 19 percent of Herald circulation (230,543) and 7 percent of Globe circulation (414,225) aren't as far off as the Globe would have you believe. In fact, the bulk-sale averages are 43,803 and 28,995 - a difference of some 15,000 copies. Of course, my paper struck back today with a story on how other metro dailies, including Globe's owners at The New York Times, rely on bulk.

Such is life in a multi-newspaper town. Gotta love it. Because that means others, such as Dan Kennedy, can weigh in on the matter, along with the Phoenix's Mark Jurkowitz.