TV News goes Hollywood

The title refers to the news media coverage of the Fukushima nuclear crisis after tsunami hit Japan. You gotta admit that TV nowadays tend to picture the crisis like a Hollywood disaster movie. I think it's more likely than not that it is exaggerated, even though I'm no nuclear expert and have my own share of fear about how bad it could get. I like this quote from this article:

Not so long ago, the professionals showed all the deferential, forelock-tugging paternalism of the dept of "Keep Calm And Carry On". That era lasted into the 1960s. Now the driving force is the notion that "We're all DOOMED – and it's ALL OUR FAULT" that marks almost every news bulletin.

Sports highlights: auto racing

It's all about auto racing this weekend (yeah, I know "The tournament" is going on but who cares about VCU and Butler :P) Both Formula 1 and IndyCar's new season started on Sunday. I didn't watch the former but judging by the result I haven't missed much (The 2 cars started 1st and 2nd finished 1st and 2nd. How exciting!) IndyCar's race at St. Petersburg was slightly less predictable: the 2 cars started 2nd and 1st finished 1st and 2nd. What was predictable was that the broadcast focused way too much on Danica Patrick (that's an objective assessment. As a fan of her, I really didn't mind the focus. After all, I want to know where she was during the race most of the time and what happened to her car) The unpredictables were that Tony Kanaan (the former champ who just joined a new team this season) and Simona De Silvestro (the 2nd year "another female" driver) both did so well, finishing 3rd and 4th. In fact, the only battle worth watching was between these 2 at the end of the race. On the other hand, NASCAR delivered yet another exciting finish this season, with 3 drivers fighting for 1st during the last lap at the Southern California race. And we almost have the 3 series champion (Vettel, Franchitti, Johnson) winning all 3 races on Sunday if not for Kevin Harvick spoiling the party at the last seconds. For a moment I thought Kyle Busch was gonna win again (At the races I watched in the past 2 years, he was hard to beat when he had a lead near the end of the race) but he was passed by yet another Hendrick Motorsports driver (Jeff Gordon passed him in the 2nd race this season to win and Jimmie Johnson passed him this time) Just when we thought JJ was gonna have his 1st victory this season, Harvick took advantage and passed both of them. What a finish!