When you watch NBA games on an iPad with League Pass they play the same insipid ads over and over. #

The Amex ad asks us to hear Paul Pierce to tell a story how a semi-pro bowler came to his house (presumably) where he has a private bowling alley. He bowled a 230, and apparently this upset Pierce, because (as he reminds us, again and again) he never invited him back again. Great. I wonder why I ever needed to know this. But I've seen this commercial at least 100 times. Always when I'm on the road, because I watch Knicks games on MSG at home. #

Audio of Paul Pierce's commercial. Enjoy!#

Paul Pierce -- do you know this is what you're saying to the most ardent NBA fans?#

1. Twitter's product is news.#

2. View the current Twitter as the editorial system. .#

3. Don't remove power-user features, for crying out loud -- add more!#

4. Create an entry-level system that just delivers the hot stuff.#

5. Use the checkbox news structure.#

6. Add video. Become the new TV.#

7. Have a revenue model for news orgs and independents.#

8. And create an irrevocably open API. #

I watched the movie Nebraska.#

It wasn't what I thought it would be. The acting -- so superb. Gorgeously filmed in black and white. It starts with a caricature of old age, but then fills in the details that most of us younger people overlook. Behind the cranky facade is a generous man, who always was willing to share what he had with his friends. Who wants some life in the life he has left. Who suffers the tolerance of those around him. And who is lucky to have a son who wants to know him.#

The doddering Bruce Dern who we knew as a young actor in westerns and scifi movies, reminds me of my father in his final years. They both had dreams, neither accomplished them, but they moved the marker a little further along its path. #

Remarkably parallel to another Oscar-nominated movie, Philomena, about an old woman's searching road trip. Very different stories, with different outcomes, but remarkably similar setups, and both were acting and story-telling masterpieces. #

In Seattle today. Rainy and gray. Typical spring weather. Went for a walk yesterday, the same walk I took regularly when I lived here in 2004. This was during the bootstrap of podcasting. Every day I'd take a podcast with me on the walk. Daily Source Code, Dawn & Drew, a few others (my memory is so bad these days, sorry for omissions). They were good days, full of promise. The memories remind that I want to do more of that kind of work.#

I heard from a bunch of people yesterday who said they didn't like the new Cosmos series. I might know what they mean. The writing is not first-rate, and it has continuity problems. But it has the right spirit. When he teaches about evolution, and it's a great story -- my visceral instinct is "That's what I want to do!" And he tells the story of great people who had the creative impulse, and made a valuable contribution. Again -- that's what I want to do! I think we're born with a feeling about evolution, that that itself must be part of evolving. It might be something that makes humans unique. #

Another reason it's an important program is that there isn't much on the airwaves that appeals to the intellect. If for no other reason the show deserves our support, as people who think, and who value thinking. #