Archive for March, 2009

check out the sweet email i just got from work. apparently they are going to bomb shit near the key bridge for washington field, a new show. and it bolsters my point that DC is the new coolest place to set tv shows. take that LA.

Subject: Notice on TV filming event

For the filming of a TV pilot, there will be a simulated explosion on Wednesday, March 25 between 9:30 a.m. and noon near Key Bridge in the District. The explosion will produce a 20 to 30′ fireball that will last for approximately 2 minutes.

Please pass along this information to others appropriate. The Department of Homeland Security and D.C. Police and Fire departments have been notified, along with the Washington Airports Authority. The Virginia State Patrol and Arlington Police Department will be contacted. If you have additional questions, contact Kathy Hollinger or Burt Warner with the DC Film Office at 202-727-6608.

The explosion will take place on the Potomac River just north of the Key Bridge and Jack’s Boathouse (K / Water Street, NW under the Whitehurst Freeway). In the scene to be filmed, there will be six (6) sculling boats on the Potomac River and one of them blows up.

CBS Paramount television is filming a pilot titled “Washington Field.” This is a new television series about the elite Washington field office of the FBI and a team of agents with exceptional and diverse skills who are called together for only the most critical cases.

Jeanne Saddler
Director, Office of Public Affairs
Metropolitan Washington

my favorite is the description of the show. b/c we all want to watch a “team of agents with mediocre and similar skills who are called together for everyday interstate theft and low-level racketeering cases.”

also, i’m annoyed it takes 3.5 hours to film a 2 minute bombing sequence. well that’s 3.5 hours i won’t be working …

today is it. the last day of battlestar ever. i could write something elegiac and wonderful, but i don’t think it’d do it justice. i’m just going to mark its passing in time. like a death in the family. i should have taken bereavement leave.

“i twotted all over the place!”

nice find, ritter.

great slideshow: scenes from the recession

this is my fave. at first i wondered why they had a sad pic of a street. then i noticed all home foundations that had been built, but nothing else. pic is of rancho cucamonga, california, about 40 miles inland from LA.

a job fair in china.

departing time inc. dude jim kelly says:

“The idea that the price of advertising would slowly creep up enough on the web that it would be a profitable business is obviously turning out to be not anywhere near the case.”

i’m not saying i know how to fix journalism, but this is something that has bothered me about the conclusion that journalism absolutely cannot survive on online advertising alone. true online ad rates are much lower than print rates right now, and true, they aren’t growing as fast as publications need them to.

BUT did we forget we’re in the worst recession since the dawn of the internet? are people seriously drawing the conclusion that since online ad sales are horrific right now, it means they will be horrific forever? i just think it’s not the best time to make assumptions about the long-term viability of business models. just saying is all.

pretty.

this is my homemade humidifier. it’s a desk lamp pointed at a shallow tray of water. i shut the door and hope evaporation works its magic. maura claims my office does seem more “moist” than hers. WIN.

next to my science experiment is another tool in my arsenal. fancy hand lotion. supplies are running low.

i don’t think i’ve ever worked in temperature-controlled building that has been so damn dry. my eczema has flared up, my lips are chapped (but they’re fine when i go home), my throat is dry, my skin is peeling off, and i drink upwards of 10 cups of water a day.

my first idea was to complain about it. did that, but i have no idea if anything was going to change.

then i decided to look for a humidifier. i found this “Crane Adorable 1 Gallon Cool Mist Humidifier.” who would buy this monstrosity? at least 462 people, since they reviewed it. as maura points out, i would never purchase anything with “adorable” in its name.

now, i’m thinking outside the box. the plan is to take a ton of water and just pour it all over my carpet. then the air will soak it up and it will be humid. right? seems perfectly reasonable.