Archive for March, 2009

this is what happens when you celebrate around the kitchen sink. worse than a bottle cap b/c when retrieving bottle caps from down the drain, you don’t cut up your fingers on broken glass. and the disposal is still broken.

but at least we got this photo out of it:

and this one too:

answer: a bike seat, which was stolen in the 15 minutes i was inside my apartment changing for volleyball.

luckily, things have generally been going my way of late, so i’m not totally pissed about this whole thing. a friend is bringing me a new seat, my team conquered intermediate-B volleyball (CHAMPIONS!!!!), and i ate a delicious volleyball-shaped sugar cookie.

nothing can bring me down.

sweet freedom.

yup, it’s where john brown did some raidin.

this is me with a walking stick at the top of the mount looking over the historic downtown.

there was both granola and dried fruit on this trip, despite my best efforts in stalling my descent into utter cliche.

went to a panel discussion featuring presidents/chairs/ceos of npr, cnn, ap, and the knight foundation. summary: we are f’d and we really have no clue how to fix it.

so no one exactly came out and said that last part, but here are my longer-winded takeaways.

1. kids these days: i hate this notion that old people have that young people care less or consume less news. i can absolutely prove this is probably false because a) we get news from nontraditional places that old people don’t count in their estimations and b) we care about stupid stuff at equal rates as older generations, it’s just easier to track and quantify that now. just because everyone used to get the newspaper didn’t mean they read it, and if they did, it doesn’t mean they read the important parts.

the only intelligent thing that was said (by the npr lady) about the youth audience is that we consume news in different media. podcasts instead of live radio, blogs instead of oped pages, etc. just don’t insult us and imply we somehow are dumber and less engaged than you guys were at 25. we are just as vapid and insincere as generations past.

2. we have the audience, we just don’t have revenue streams: yeah ok thanks. so what are you going to do about revenue streams? ::uncomfortable silence::

3. we need to get over nostalgia, and fast: newsprint will never be the same, and stop getting all misty-eyed over the broad coverage of a daily newspaper. sure i kind of like newspapers, too, but broadness does not ensure democracy. separate what we like from what we need, then we can spend more time on that minor revenue problem.

the fella from the knight foundation was the biggest culprit of this thinking, as well as the incoherent audience members from the QA. without going into details, I HATE QUESTION ANSWER SESSIONS. this is entirely related to my views on populism, and by “views on” i mean “disdain for.”

4. we are so over natalee halloway: the cnn guy said that since he started, they don’t do major “cute blonde girl gets killed what a tragedy” coverage anymore. is this true? i don’t watch cnn because it’s the least efficient way to gain good information. it is, however, very good at showing you pictures of wildfires, flooding, and hurricanes. OOOH pretty pictures.

lastly, DID YOU KNOW THAT ALIENS HAVE RETURNED TO EARTH?

meet alf jr:

this is what i sat behind during the entire presentation. this is possibly a ferret growing out a teenager’s head. i wanted to trap it, but there’s a decent chance i’d be arrested for assault or child touching.

if this girl’s hair is the future of journalism, god help us all.

did some research on this new show that has the budget to blow up a boat in the potomac: the creator is ed bernero from criminal minds fame, and he also was heavily involved in third watch. both of these shows are pretty mediocre, so i won’t expect much more.

the cast is as follows (how diverse!), from left to right:

cole hauser — i have no idea who this person is and nothing in imdb really jumps out at me.
teri polo — she’s been on EVERYTHING it seems, including the cover of playboy. for this reason it was very difficult to find a pic of her.
michael yang king — asian!
gina torres — a joss whedon favorite on both firefly and angel. she was also a female on 24, filling that archetype nicely.
eddie cibrian — he is very familiar to me, probably from third watch. sorry about the gratuitous shirtless pic, but whatever. my blog.

washington field looks pretty crappy when compared to body politic, granted they are nothing alike except that they are both based in dc.

UPDATE 1:51pm: more on the showrunners, from we love dc:

IMDB lists the series’ director as Jon Cassar, who has directed more episodes of 24 than any other director, so if we’re very lucky, the main characters won’t know where the Washington Field Office is either.

since my bracket is as good/bad as obama’s:

i predict a precipitous decline in my rank, however. there goes 5 bucks.

in addition to minka kelly and jason dohring, body politic will also feature brian austin green and gabrielle union. this basically guarantees my unwavering loyalty, no matter how godawful it is. i’ve been a big gabrielle union fan since the underappreciated classic bring it on (i’m also enjoying her turn on life), and brian austin green is so dreamy in terminator. if only this show can reach the heights of gossip girl, but i’m sure they’ll mangle government type stuff so badly it will be nearly unwatchable. nearly.

from tv guide:

The CW’s Body Politic is shaping up very nicely, with the addition of Brian Austin Green, Gabrielle Union and others to the Washington, D.C.-centric pilot’s growing ensemble.

Should Body Politic get ordered to series and Fox’s Terminator is unplugged, Green will play the “boy wonder” adviser to the president of the United States, says the Hollywood Reporter.

Union, in turn, will bring it on as BAG’s girlfriend, a legislative director.

Also feeling the CW’s Body are Jay Hernandez (Six Degrees), playing a naval officer, and Reaper’s Jenny Wade, as an idealistic D.C. up-and-comer.

so is brian austin green supposed to be like jon favreau? will there be hillary clinton cutouts on this show? as fake favreau’s gf, has gabrielle union ever appeared in maxim? oh wait, she has.