Saturday Night Fever: It’s a Fake – The movie "Saturday Night Fever" was based on an article published in New York magazine on June 7, 1976, almost exactly 20 years ago. That article, "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night," chronicled the life and times of Vincent, "the very best dancer in Bay Ridge — the Ultimate Face." Hollywood appropriated the name, Tony Manero, from a real Brooklynite, but the character lives only on film. Vincent, however, was supposedly real-life flesh and blood. So what happened to Vincent? He would be 38 this year, a full generation later. He would have grown into manhood; he may have married and had children. That is, if Vincent had ever existed. The places and the scenery were real but, the writer of the article now says Vincent was a figment of his imagination. "He is completely made-up, a total fabrication," Nik Cohn said by telephone from his Long Island home.
David Simon on Wearying ’Wire’ Love – The number of people blogging television online — it’s ridiculous. They don’t know what we’re building. And by the way, that’s true for the people who say we’re great. They don’t know. It doesn’t matter whether they love it or they hate it. It doesn’t mean anything until there’s a beginning, middle and an end. If you want television to be a serious storytelling medium, you’re up against a lot of human dynamic that is arrayed against you. Not the least of which are people who arrived to “The Wire” late, planted their feet, and want to explain to everybody why it’s so cool. Glad to hear it. But you weren’t paying attention. You got led there at the end and generally speaking, you’re asserting for the wrong things.
