I take it back

My last blog, look, I was tired. New job. New responsibilities. etc.
The last thing I need is sympathy or whatever for doing my job.
And the really last thing I need is pity.

Moving on.

Sadgrrl 13

She's been missing for more than two weeks now. I was so sure she'd be found after a week. That we would know one way or another. But...

I'm losing sleep over this story, I don't know why. So I'm netflixing like mad. Hence the Asian horror movie fascination. I think I'm averaging about four hours of sleep a night.

I've tried to explain it to my colleagues at work, but the only thing people really believe in is ratings. Ratings are quantifiable so I talk about ratings. And ratings are up.

But Sadgrrl isn't quantifiable. I think about myself at that age, how badly I wanted my life to start. How vulnerable that made me. How easy it was, how easy it would've been for someone to take advantage of that hope.

I was one of the lucky ones.

Anyway, I'm getting too personal. Again, no sleep.

I don't think anyone reads these things anyway.

I hope she knows how hard we're looking for her.

A hit on the NY stage

I was watching Lifetime (ok, shoot me now!) and this movie was playing. I certainly never saw it in the movie theaters and I guess it was some theater hit in NY in the 80s. (What they get away with in theater is beyond me!) I only caught the end, but maybe I'll have to netflix it. You've GOTTA watch to the end of the clip- it's the best part.

It's Time

I'm not sure how anyone can really combat the kind of attack that happened in Tokyo. A man posted warnings on the internet saying that he would ram a truck into people at the Akihabara shopping center and then start in on them with a knife. After posting, "It's time," he promptly followed through, killing 7 people.

It does seem like we're damned if we do, damned if we don't. If we police the internet and crack down on people who post violent ideas, then we're censoring thought. If we don't, people die.

Also, in the New York Times article, there's some interesting chit-chat trying to "understand" the perpetrator. (Although I guess it's a Reuters reporter empathizing.) I say, stop empathizing, start locking up violent, crazy people. Maybe the culture in Japan is what's influencing people to do these things.

Then again, I watch all those Japanese horror movies myself and *I'm* not a violent person.

A happy ending

Now that Hillary's conceded I can get back to business at hand- abducted teens. Now, there's some people at this office who think that amber alerts are a "waste of time." I think this story proves otherwise.

The system works. Get over it.

Yahoo!

Not because I seek out their articles, but because I'm sucked into them whenever I try to get email from account #x. So here's more insightful Hillaranalysis from the AP.
The gist? If Hillary had defined herself more as a woman and less as a presidential candidate - more an anomaly and less a contender - she would have won the democratic nomination. Oh, really? Because the demographic she missed was feminist women? Because those women weren't aware of the historical impact of this vote? Because they weren't aware that she is, in fact, female? If we're that stupid, we probably don't deserve to be in office. This also assumes that women vote based on gender and opportunity, rather than issues. I don't remember NOW sending spring bouquets to Phyllis Schlafly.

I apologize, I'm obsessed

But here's an article saying that Hillary did not lose because she's a woman. No, she lost because she ran on "toughness" rather than on "change."

Huh, why do you think she had to run on "toughness"? Why would anyone run on "toughness"?

Oh, that's right, because they're a WOMAN?

Look, Obama ran on "change" not because he has particulary revolutionary ideas, but, yes, at least partially because he will be the first African American presidential nominee. Good for him. But yes, his race had something to do with his message. Obviously, her gender had something to do with hers.

Battle Royale

I don't know what is wrong with me lately but I just want to watch violent Japanese movies lately.

This is a scene from Battle Royale, about a futuristic law that sends high school students to an island to battle to the death. I should warn you, it's pretty bloody.



I don't know about you but that looks like a typical day at high school to me.

Idiot in the family?

So this guy climbed the New York Times building, causing the over-worked police to manage crowds, put up barricades and in general, waste their day on this idiot.

Is it just me or does her look like Iggy Pop's unattractive older brother?

The Assassination of Hillary

This artist's "performance art piece" was just closed down in NY.

Of course, if you look at the websites, the Hillary one is extensive and multi-faceted. The Barak one is just offensive and one-note but not actually about how the press has assassinated him.

Why, you ask?

Oh, that's right. Because the press didn't.
It's not that people in this country don't regularly practice the kind of racism that made Jesse Helms ... well, that made him one of the longest serving senators in our history, but in the press racism is frowned upon (sorry, Don Imus), unless, of course it brings in the big bucks (welcome back, Don Imus). Sexism, however, is alive and well and largely perpetuated by women themselves. The idea that women are genetically programmed to shop, fail at math, cling desperately to men, and "play nice" is continually reinforced on talk shows, in sitcoms, and in insipid book clubs across the country.

Don't know much about history...

I was a little bored at work- one of my underlings was yapping about journalistic ethics and the death of journalism...blah, blah, blah...(joke!) so I thought I'd venture to the back of the stacks and look at this whole blogging thing, old school.

This is a Wired article about blogging from 2002 by Andrew "What Am I Today?" Sullivan.

It's interesting how hopeful he is- the new democracy etc.
Marxist, even.

Isn't he a libertarian/conservative?
Are libertarians usually pro-Marxist?

Ah, so contradictory, Andy is.

I did it...I'm not proud.

I went to Sex in the City: The Movie.

55.7 million the first weekend.

Not bad.

don't get me wrong...

I have no trouble believing in a man who can only woo women in absentia. Pathetic.

Instant messaging

See, this is what I do on Sundays. Read the New York Times and blog about it....

So what's interesting about this article about an internet lothario is that I don't believe a word of it. Basically, he says that he seduced all these women online even though he was a geek. And then he gets texted "I love you" and he realizes that he's a big liar and dumps them all. There's something about the generic geeky references that I don't buy- Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings- and this guy is supposed to be in college now? Wouldn't he be playing Magic Cards and watching Battlestar Gallactica?

I think the persona who wrote the article is not the man himself, that's all I'm saying.

Who is Emily Gould?

For some reason, I feel like I know this blogger who wrote this article in the NYT. But maybe I just went to high school WITH an Emily Gould. This oversharing Emily Gould is probably 10 years younger than me.

I can't imagine blogging several times a day. I mean, don't these people have JOBS? (Although I guess it was her job. Strange, n'est ce pas?)

I did love her term "the will to blog," tho.

I have a friend of a friend (or an ex-girlfriend of a friend, whatever) who wrote her thesis on "cam-girls," the young women who train their webcams on their entire lives. The ex-girlfriend decided, as part of her research, to do it herself and spend a month with her webcam on, documenting her life. I believe after a week, she turned it off because the instant and grotesque attention freaked her out so completely.

Some people like it (i.e. Madonna, Emily Gould) and some people don't (ex-girlfriend PhD student, me.)

where have all the women gone?

What with the initial chaos of moving and taking control of the new office and cleaning house there, so to speak, I've just gotten around to unpacking my things. I stumbled across an article on the devolution of women on sitcoms. Much as I love the shoes and my hero Samantha on Sex in the City, the women on 21st century television are dependent, man-centric, half-people. Rachel, Monica, Carrie, Charlotte, Roz & Daphne ... the single women on television are all looking for men, all rate their success in life according to whether they've found "the one." What pathetic bullshit. Give me Mary Tyler Moore. She may not have been running the station, but she wasn't continually running to men to validate her existence. Maybe the only independent women left are in the newsroom. No surprise to me ;)

How do we beat the bitch?

I've been reading all weekend about whether gender helped or hurt Hillary.

I thought this was a balanced view.

George Will, surprisingly enough, wrote a view that was not.

Bringing up Frank Robinson as a example - who was fired from the Cleveland Indians not for being black but just for being...um, not great? is an interesting one. The subsequent manager, Jeff Torberg, actually made the Indians suck more, bring them in at 5th and 6th in the league whereas Robinson had them end 4th in the league all three years. A little more than ten years after being fired by the Indians, Robinson was named Manager of the Year in 1989 for his work bringing the Baltimore Orioles back from the dead.

So perhaps Hillary has some hope for the 2016 general election.

:)

I Got IT!!!!

I haven't been able to post recently because I just got this GREAT promotion so it's been a whirlwind! Not only am I reporting but I'm producing, which when you consider that I only got here six months ago is pretty exceptional. My dad didn't raise no losers, as he used to say to me (or yell at me, whatever!) I wasn't allowed to say anything for awhile because there were some internal candidates that they had to let down easy.

But it's been announced so Yay!

Audition

How much do I loved that Barbara Walter's new memoir is named "Audition"? Perhaps after my favorite Asian horror flick "Audition"?

I mean, Barbara really is on the cutting edge.

Cute Overload

Since everyone thinks I don't know how to have fun- how's about this?

The ponies?
And the cat sleeping with the hamster?
And more kittens?

This does calm me down when life gets rough.

Missing girl probably raped

I guess this is supposed to be funny but I'm missing the punchline. An entire fake news program joking about a girl being raped. That's hysterical.

But I guess that makes me a humorless bitch.

I wonder how many women are on The Onion's writing staff?

p.s. I usually think The Onion is very funny but maybe they haven't figured out this whole "new" media also known as the television.

Is anyone else freaking out-

About the Austrian father who kept his daughter captive for 24 years and fathered 7 children with her?

And he even looks CRAZY. Certainly not one of the people that you'd think, "Oh, he always seemed so normal."

But maybe after you're caught for enslaving your daughter and raping her over a lifetime, maybe that brings the crazy out.

 I've been told that I'm not "supportive" of my "co-workers"-

this was in a very positive performance review, I might add-

so here's one of my co-workers blogs.

Ch-ch-check it, oooout!

I second that emotion.

McCain unfortunately may be old enough to have a bucket list but I gotta say, I agree with this completely.

Recently, I watch When the Levees Broke and I was blown away by the misfeasance of the state and federal government. (And no, I'm not sure I'm using that word correctly either. Hmmm... I looked it up: a lawful action performed in an illegal or improper way. Not quite right...Aha! Malfeasance! That's the word I mean!)

Anyway, the old codger has a point.

Joe Scarborough is a big baby!

Apparently, Joe Scarborough can't take the heat as seen in this clip.

 

His excuse is that he's a political analyst, so his services weren't being used properly.

This is the man who does "Scarborough Country," yes? What does it take to be a political analyst anyway?

One small step for Indy car racing

As you might have figured by now, I'm a little bit of a third-wave-post-feminist which basically means I don't think feminism is dead but I wear lipstick and short skirts. (Is that the fourth wave? I've lost count.)

But I was excited to see this-

Yep, a woman finally won an Indy car race. 

And she's hot to boot.

In other news, I got a little flack for mentioning Ron Paul in the last post- that he was never taken seriously as a candidate. But I think my point was, he's still in Pennsylvania campaigning away. 

Sometimes, candidates stay in the race because, I dunno, they want their ideas to be heard? Also, perhaps Hillary thinks she owes it to history to stay in. I know I feel like in a room of men, I have to speak for my entire gender. Obviously, I like speaking for my gender. And when you've experienced sexism firsthand, you feel it's your duty.

Like the time I foiled a would be rapist by making a cell-phone call. Actually happened. A woman in plain daylight was jogging down a path in Minneapolis, a guy grabbed her and told police later that he was planning to take her under the bridge and have sex with her. (Never mind what she wanted to do that Sunday morning.)

Or less dramatic but no less scary, when I was applying for colleges, I had an interview where the interviewer actually lied to me about what the college offered (because the class I asked about was a main component of my extra-curriculars) and then said I didn't belong at his college. He then proceeded to ask me strangely personal questions (especially since he had made the executive decision I wouldn't be going to his ivy league institution.) He asked me whether my mother worked when I was young (she did) and how did I feel about it. Then he smiled and said he was doing a private survey.

This was at Columbia University, an institution that only started accepting women in 1983. I was applying in 1988.

I applied to Barnard College, got in early decision.  That way, I could go to a women's college where I wouldn't have to deal with that crap and still get a Columbia education. How do you like them apples?

My only regret is that I never reported that asshole. 

OK, OK, Hillary...

Not that I'm voting for her or anything, but a couple of days ago, I heard a co-worker refer to Hillary as a "multi-headed hydra." Would a man refer to another man using that strange mythic/evoking Medusa/serpentine language?

Also, there's this sense that she's somehow an awful human being for staying in the race so long, that this points up her flaws.

A)Ron Paul is still in the Republican race (which is hysterical!).
Hillary's down 200 delegates or so. Ron is down 1,146.

B) Oh, I don't know, endurance, stamina, strength- these are bad things? In a woman, apparently so.

Nothing's shocking....

To quote Jane's Addiction.

And yet.

This still threw me for a loop, especially the list of things he was bringing for his liaison with a FIVE YEAR OLD.

A Dora Explorer doll and petroleum jelly.

Also, that he said, to soothe the oh-so-concerned mother, that he "had done this a lot."

People like this should be castrated.
Or that's the fantasy- but is it enough? Is that hitting them where it hurts? People like this, maybe it's what they want?

What will stop things like this from happening? An end to the internet? School counseling? A big hug?

Since I have no idea what would make a grown man want to rape a FIVE YEAR OLD, I have no ideas on how to stop this. Any thoughts?

so true so true

Truth be told, I don't really know what they're talking about-

24/7?

OK, this is actually a mea culpa- been out of touch, working very hard at the station. (I might be up for a promotion!)

More later.

The unsexiest woman in the world

Everything's been said that needs to be said about the Sarah Jessica Parker/Maxim feud but I can't help but think, as soon as a woman becomes too powerful, producing her own TV show and now movie and telling women that they don't need to be surgically enhanced to be sexy, a magazine like Maxim has to bring her down.

But I thought this was a good response.

Now, I've been watching The Sopranos and as far as I can tell, any woman who comes in contact with James Gandolfini is knocked out of her high-heeled calf-skin boots. In six seasons, he sleeps with so many women who are out of league, it's unbelievable! Annabella Sciorra was pushing it but I thought, ok, she's supposed to be a little crazy and self-destructive. Plus, she seems to be a girl from the neighborhood who's made good. But Julianna Margulies put me over the edge. Watching the episode, I thought, "Oh, she's flirting with him for him to sign the papers." Then, not only is she inexplicably hot for him, HE rejects HER.

Now Maxim is the same magazine who said that Sandra Oh was not sexy either, right?

What do they have against powerful women?

I wanna be a Luce Lady!

What a bargain!

http://www.cblpi.org/freestuff/

You've got to be kidding!

Just when you think it's hard enough to be a journalist, you see something like this.

Ok, it's not journalism per se but why is Veronica Webb, an ex-model, even trying to comment on current affairs? 

Of course, her mangling of the Beowulf reference is especially delicious.

To Catch a Peepator

So I'm obsessed with Peeps-

But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE check out the third diorama.

It's too good.

I've got my geeky side...

So this caught my eye- a vigilante robot.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/atlantan-builds.html

And since Atlanta, I believe, was named one of the most dangerous cities in the US a couple of days ago, this makes sense to me.

Robocop, anyone?

Slow news day...

US Stock market volatile, what else is new?
There was the crane crash in New York City but that's old news.
Cheney visiting Iraq, blah, blah, blah.

I'm very excited for the release of the "Sex in the City" movie, um, does that count as news?

The highpoint for me over the weekend was that they found Shannon Matthews, the very cute (well, in a British way) 9 year old girl who's been missing for a month. The police found her IN A DRAWER (but alive, don't worry) in her uncle's house. As usual, the police took their own sweet time in finding her. I guess it didn't occur to them to research FAMILY MEMBERS. (Fact: three out of four abductions are by family members.) Apparently, in England, there's now a movement to copy our Amber Alert.

All I can say is, it's about time!

More on Spitzer

People are saying we're obsessed with Spitzer because it's about sex.

They're wrong.

We're obsessed with it because it's about MONEY.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3559410.ece

I don't agree with the New York Times...AGAIN!

It occurs to me I'm overusing ellipses but this topic is something I feel really strongly about. Whatever we as the media can do, we should.

But because I believe in being fair and balanced-

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/opinion/10mon4.html?scp=1&sq=catch+a+predator&st=nyt

Spitzer gone...finally!

I think it's very auspicious that I begin my blog after the Eliot Spitzer case has blown up. As you probably know, my station was in the lead in terms of covering the scandal so I've barely had time to breathe lately. (We broke the identity of the call girl, Ashley Dupre. Yeah, that was us!) But now with Paterson in charge, I think I'll have a lot more time on my hands.

:) 

My question about his resignation is this: Why did it take him SO LONG?