Long Form TV Shows - Notes

longform, long-form — TV programming that is longer than an hour in duration; a TV movie or miniseries; “The company specializes in longform production.”


Fargo
Walking Dead
Sopranos
The Wire
Orange is the New Black
Game of Thrones

Pullman - The story of America

The story of Pullman is the story of America. It's a story of vision, success, betrayal, bitter hardship, decline and eventually rebirth.

Vision

George Pullman learned about tight sleeping quarters while working on the Erie canal.Back in America on an painful overnight train ride Pullman envisioned his future. George would go on to build luxury overnight rail cars.His next vision was of a town for his workers.

Success

In 1882, George Pullman built a company town complete with residences, churches,schools,parks, library, shops and hospital. All Pullman homes had indoor toilets,running water & gas. Advantages not found in other working class areas of the city.

Hardship

Pullman's town prospered for fourteen years until the depression of 1894.In an effort to maintain profits, Pullman cut wages, but not rent or prices in his company town. 

Betrayal

His failure to lower workers cost of living while lowering their wages led to the Pullman Strike. To break the strike he called on his friend Grover Cleveland. Federal troops were brought in and killed 40 workers. Upon his death in 1897, George Pullman was so dispised, his body was moved to Graceland cemetary under the cover of darkness. To prevent desecration of his remains, his body buried under 18 inches of reinforced concrete.

Decline

The last rail car rolled off of the Pullman line in 1981. On December 2, 1998 the Pullman factory and clock tower burned.

Rebirth

Since the fire, the clock tower has been rebuilt. A walmart opened. Homes are being rehabed. The clock tower site now a state and city historic site - is becoming a National Park.

So go down to Pullman and take a walking tour. We can learn alot about ourselves by looking at the past

----------------------------------------

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Frank Lloyd Wright - Oakpark Tour

Join Therese, Andre'and myself, as we take a video tour Oak Park. The highlights were: Frank Lloyd Wright's Home and Studio, the Jerusalem Cafe', Unity Church, Frank Lloyd Wright's mistress's house and a half a dozen homes designed by the architect.

I gave Andre' the camera and let him have at it. He did great. Therese was a little befuddled by my lack of direction, but I assured her she would do fine and she did. Great job Therese.

Normally I script the shoot before I shoot it. That way I know what the story is. This time we shot, then I figured out the story. I took most of my cues from Therese's narrative. Working in reverse was harder for me, and took a little longer but, the shooting felt more natural and comfortable.

So it took a week to edit, and now it's going up on Youtube. I hope you like it. Click through on the jpeg above or the tags below to see the video on YouTube.




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E-Man: The Infectious Disease Superhero - Notes for my Halloween costume.

E-Man is the one man Infectious Disease Swat Team. E-Man can Treat the Ill, Calm the Hysterical and Decontaminate the Scene. In a single bound.

E-Man's Secret Lab in Evanston, Il.,  surpasses CDC, World Health, and all Universities labs combined.

Superpowers: Compassion. Cleanliness. Able to Decontaminate with a Wave of his Glove.

Supervacines: Developed in secret, his cape is a Supervacinator, able to inoculate by looking at it. No shot required. Child friendly!

Women, children and dogs like him. Men fear him.

Chicago Public Art

Art is language and public art is public speech.
Jonathan Jones 
The Guardian
Join me as I tour Chicago's Public Art 
from The Daley Plaza to The Adler Planetarium  

First stop, the Daley plaza at Washington and Dearborn.
Unvield in 1967 The Picasso was Chicago's first real piece of modern public art
On that day business as usual changed for Chicago's public spaces
Prior to the Picasso Chicago's outdoor sculptures
were monuments of historical figures from the past 
With the Picasso Chicago now had High Art as Public Art 
Chicago had elevated it's cultural standing 
At that moment, Chicago became world class. 

Two blocks south at Adams and Dearborn 
Federal Plaza features Alexander Calders Flamingo
The Calder is landed on a large plaza 
next to Mies van der Rohe's -Kluczynski Federal Building
Flamingo allows you to roam around, through and underneath of it

On the way to the museum campus at Roosevelt and Columbus
I pass through Agora by Magdelena Abakanowicz   - aba can o vitch
In ancient greece the Agora was the main gathering place in town
The greeks Agora was the center of artistic, spiritual and political life.
Chicago Agora feels primal, primitive and somewhat ancient
The headless, armless figures speak to ones intellectual self 

Chicago's Shedd aquarium beckons vistors
with Stephan Balkenhol's bronze Man with Fish
Welcoming the tourists the fountain informs the viewer of what's to come
It stands watch at the aquarium after all

The Adler Planetarium, last stop, end of the line
Henry Moore's stellar cast bronze sundial 
Man Enters the Cosmos
Conceptualy fits it's location
Like Man with Fish 
Cosmos informs that this is a Planetarium
Cosmos signifies man's knowledge of the Universe. 



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Chicago Bridges

The indian proverb says:
Life is a bridge, cross over it but build no house on it
Well that's india
This is chicago
and these are my favorite bridges 

The canal street bridge is a railroad bridge
That crosses the south branch of the chicago river
And it's got a house on it
Always thought they should use that house as a movie location
Like some secret agent crib
Tiny on the outside
Deceptively large and techy on the inside
Brilliant

18th Street Bridge
If you cross the tracks by the Canal Street bridge
and head north
You come upon a pair of mammoth railroad bridges
The St Charles Air line bridge which is down
And the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal bridge 
which is permanetly up
Notice the huge counterweights
These are bascule bridges
Bascule bridges are drawbridges with a counter weight

Another historic bridge is the Cherry Street bridge
It connects North Avenue to Goose Island
Because of the large counter weight
It could be mistaken for a Bascule Bridge
But it's actually a Swing Bridge
It used to open for river traffic 
like a big door rotating to the east
If look underneath you can see the old turntable

The Lincoln Park Pedestrian Overpass
Allows pedestrians in Lincoln Park to cross over 
Lake Shore Drive to North Ave Beach
and the best ever blizzard photo
was shot from the Overpass

The Damen Ave Bridge 
Is an Arch Suspension bridge
with no latteral braces between the arches
which makes for a very clean & modern design
when it was first built it was red
Now it's gray
I guess gray doesn't fade like the red

The Nichols Bridgeway Connects Millenium park 
to the Modern Wing of the Art Institute
Designed by Architect Renzo Piano
The design is clean and elegant
And it's got some killer views

Architect Frank Gehry's sepentine BP Bridge 
Connects Millenium park to Maggie Daley Park
Now under construction the rehabed park is gonna include
an meandering ice skating ribbon
a children's play area 
climbing walls 
And a great lawn
I can't wait to see it

By visiting Chicago's bridges
We look back at a great city's past
and we look forward to it's future

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Chicago Tribune Tower: Fragments of History

The Chicago Tribune has a rock collection
no, not that kind of rock collection
Robert R. McCormick was the Chicago Tribune's 
editor, publisher and owner
In Belgium 1914 world war one
while working as a war correspondent
McCormick grabbed a stone 
from a bombed Ypres Cathedral
This was the start of 
The Chicago Tribune's rock collection
Fragments from around the world 
are embedded in the facade of tribune building

Petra - Arabia
The ancient city of Petra is now a World Heritage site

Omaha Beach - Normandy
The spearhead of World War Two's Normandy invasion.

Pearl Harbor - Hawaii
December 7th 1941  - A date that will live in infamy.

Washington - Mount Rainier
54 Miles from Seattle - 
Mount Rainier is considered one of the worlds most dangerous volcanoes.

Arizona - Petrified Forest
Home of the Petrified Forest National Park

Colorado  - Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings
Dating back to 400 AD
The Pueblo People's home.
Mesa Verde is the largest archaeological preserve in the united states.

Reims Cathedral - France
If you were king of France 
Reims or Nortre Dame was where you were coronated

World Trade Center
911 - 2001

Roman Ruins - 455 BC
All great empires fall.

The Berlin Wall
And some walls come down

The Great Wall of China
And some walls never fall

Union Stock Yards Gate
The world has a past
And Chicago has a past
as seen in the Chicago Tribune's Rock Collection

You can learn allot about a city
and the world
by looking at it's past


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Chicago's Brewery Tied Saloons

In 1884 chicago's saloon licence fees were steeply raised
rather than close saloon owners went to the brewiers for financial help
The only catch for the owners was they were Tied to the Brewer's beer.
Hence the name
Tied house

Our first tied house
Is now a coffee house
at Belmont and Leavitt
It's a Starbucks in a Schlitz House
Schlitz bucks
Or at least it will be 
When they finish the inside 
and move out of the trailer

We're down on the southside in morgan park
at the Carribean Lounge
Another Schlitz house
Like much of the Southside
This one has seen better days

In it's hey day
Chicago had 166 breweries
prohibition Killed Edward R. Stege in 1923

Three Stege Tied houses still exist 
Our first Stege house is at 24th & Western
Notice the Stege Sun Emblem
The building appears to now be apartments

Our second Stege house is at 24th & Washtenaw
It was hard to tell if this was in fact the Stege house
until Therese spotted the Stege Sun Emblem 
Up top on the side of the house

Still on the south side
Our third Stege house was at 23rd & California
Therese was excited to see the tile work on the stoop
Sorry Terese
The sun emblem up top is missing too 

Back on the northside
We have another Schlitz house at Divison and Wood
The Schlitz Globe was easily identifieable

We're saving the best for last
Schubas is a working bar
With a bar in the front
A stage and ballroom in the back
And a private room up stairs
Many fine original fixtures
are all in working order

We're at Southport & Henderson
at the Southport lanes
This is a nice place
Bar in the front
Billiards in the back
And a bowling alley
Who knew?

So that was a nice little tour
You can tell a lot about a city
by looking at it's past

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Chicago's Post Office Murals

During the great depression
Many post offices built 
as part of Roosevelt's New Deal 
were decorated with murals
of the "American scene." 
Several survive in Chicago

The Morgan Park Post Office
is far south 
at 1805 W MONTEREY AVE 
in chicago's Morgan park neighborhood
It's a red brick building 
on a stone base 
with stone entryway & cornice
Inside there is a mural titled: 
Father Marquette – 1674
The painting by artist J. Theodore Johnson
depicts father Jacques Marquette 
with native chicagoans 
smoking a peace pipe
Marquette was a french jesuit 
and the first european to winter in Chicago

The Forest Park Post Office
is just west of Chicago 
near the DesPlaines river
at 417 Desplaines Ave 
Its a lackluster brick and stone building
But inside is a wonderful painting 
Titled: The White Fawn
Painted in 1940 by artist Miriam McKinnie 
it depicts a local 1880s excursion boat 
called the White Fawn 
that took sightseers 
up and down the Des Plaines River

The Uptown Station Post office 
is in Chicago's uptown neighborhood 
at 4850 N Broadway
between Foster and Lawrence
It's a beautiful grey brick and stone building
With eagles flanking 
soaring bronze doors
Inside are two ceramic tile murals 
depicting poet Carl Sandburg 
and architech Louis Sullivan
by artist Henry Varnum Poor 

The Lakeview post office 
in Chicago's Lakeview Neighborhood
at 1343 W Irving Park 
is a brick building 
with rounded corners 
and double high stainless windows
Inside is the classic New Deal mural
titled Chicago: Epoch of a great city
and it's a great mural
with scenes from the stockyards
from industry 
from science
The Great Chicago Fire 
and the phoenix rising from the ashes.
Oh, and that's the artist throwing the switch
Harry Sternberg painted himself into this 
must see mural

Pioneers like Marquette 
Boats on the Des Plaines
the poet Carl Sandburg 
the architech Louis Sullivan
and the rise of the great city of chicago
are all depicted in Chicago's Post Office Murals

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Richard Sherman - LOB - Legion of Boom - Rant

So who is Richard Sherman?
If you saw the Niners Seahawk game
He's the Seahawk cornerback 
who went off on Micheal Crabtree
in front of a stunned Erin Andrews

Richard Sherman said:
When you try me with a sorry reciever like Crabtree
that's what you are going to get
Don't you ever talk about me
Don't you open your mouth about the best
Or I'm gonna shut it for you real quick

I was like 
What is this?
Professional wrestling
Then I was like, LOB?
What the what?
Well sometimes in football 
part of a team is so good 
they get a name
Like back in the day
Pittsburg had the Steel Curtain
Now Seattle has the Legion of Boom
And they have a spokesman
Richard Sherman

Richard Sherman Niners Seahawks Micheal Crabtree Erin Andrews Professional wrestling Football Pittsburg Steel Curtain Legion of Boom Pittsburg Steelers Seattle Seahawks

All Time Rivalries

On the radio this morning 
Mike and Mike were talking about rivalries
Kind of ironic cause Greeney and Golic 
are kind of rivals themselves
Kind of like a David & Goliath
Cept in this case 
Goliath is more likeable than David
they were talking about
the big game this week
New England vs Denver
More on that in a bit
People love a great rivalry
How about Ali vs Frasier
Back when I was a kid 
those were three must see fights
ending with the thriller in manilla
Then there's Coke vs Pepsi
I'm ok with either
as long as it's a pepsi
I'm just saying
iPhone vs Android
I love my ZTE Android
my hands are too big for an iPhone
I'm just saying
Ok so who's the better quarterback
Brady or Manning
We'll see this weekend 
When New England goes to Denver
for the AFC Championship 
I'm going with Denver in Denver
Doesn't mean that Brady's better than Manning
I'm just saying

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Wagers, Breakfast & Superbowl Prediction

Every year I get in a football pool 
It's a confidence pool
Each week, I pick winners of every game
and assign points 
based on my confidence of the pick
Pretty sure the team will win
High points
Not so sure a team will win
Low points
So at the beginning of the season 
I made a side bet with this fella winny 
I took the lead in week one 
and had him all season
after 16 weeks 
with 14 to 16 games a week
thousands of points
on the last week
he catches me 
and beats me by three points
three points
so breakfast at sparky's was on me
sparky's is up in Skokie
It's a breakfast and lunch kind of place
I had been eyeballing the place for years
I'd drive past and say to myself
I've gotta try that place sometime
I had the breakfast special
So did Winny
For this year's outdoor superbowl 
I'm picking Denver and San Francisco
with San Francisco winning in the cold.
Manning sucks outdoors
and did you see Kapernick in Greenbay?

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