In the workout room of the condo where I am currently staying in the affluent LA neighbourhood of Santa Monica, an executive and his personal trainer ignored the anguished television reports blaring above their heads on Friday evening.

BBC: Downtown New Orleans, near the Superdome

With a blend of documentary and fiction, Ying roots the action firmly in a depressing cultural context: the ubiquitous official loudspeakers blaring police announcements and the television droning patriotic propaganda belie the economic and moral corruption that pervades the system and infects private life.

NEWYORKER: The Other Half

"Right now the future is looking kind of cloudy, " said a sales representative at a San Francisco Bay Area Circuit City when asked about the HD DVD format on President's Day, despite a pitch for the format blaring from a big-screen television on the other side of the store.

FORBES

"Right now the future is looking kind of cloudy, " said a sales representative at a San Francisco Bay Area Circuit City (nyse: CC - news - people ) when asked about the HD DVD format on President's Day, despite a pitch for the format blaring from a big-screen television on the other side of the store.

FORBES: HD DVD: Better Off Dead