Blog: 2011-12

Journalism and Colleges

The field of journalism attracts all kinds. Sometimes it gets you some of the most fiercely principled, shrewd, and scrappy people. Sometimes it gets you the bottom of the intellectual barrel, who can't regurgitate a press release without adding "alleged" everywhere except where it belongs. Sometimes it gets you disingenuous, manipulative whores for their employers' commercial or ideological agendas.

Other times, it gets you college frosh who grew up on Facebook social inanity, trying to write about some delicate frosh dorm drama in a student newspaper -- seemingly without the benefit of a Journalism class, a faculty advisor, or a clear head.

I think that one of the roles of a college is to provide a safe environment for experimenting and transitioning to adulthood. Better that the so-called future leaders of tomorrow get some of their mistakes out of the way before they're in a position to do much lasting damage to themselves and others.

How are are aspiring journalists supposed to get that safe learning experience in the 21st century, when ill-conceived pieces in the student newspaper are broadcast, quoted, and cross-referenced in perpetuity, far beyond the padded ivy walls of the college?

5 Best Toys of All Time

Jonathan Liu, "The 5 Best Toys of All Time," Wired.com, 2011-01-31

Pretty much.

Looks like Christmas is going to be easy on the credit card this year.

Dumb Idea of the Day

You know how some Web sites do that thing in which they display the Web page and they immediately gray-out the page and superimpose a box that's relevant to the site but not to the content -- such as subscribing to some corporate newsletter? And sometimes it's hard to get rid of the box?

Who thought that this would be a good idea to do on a site of first aid information?

Crimes Against Audiences

So, I am three days into an apparent common cold. The headache and other symptoms are bothersome enough that I have mostly been camping out with Netflix Instant to kill time.

Not feeling up to a documentary or anything otherwise challenging. Carl Sagan's Cosmos series must be a big hit (no pun) with marijuana smokers, but all I was using was an ineffectual ibuprofen, so the show was unwatchable to me. So I think to myself, "As long as I have a headache and am not up to watching anything worthwhile, I'll try that old Thirtysomething show, which I've never seen."

So, five minutes into the pilot of Thirtysomething is this scene with a screaming baby in a fancy restaurant. The entire premise of the scene is that the baby won't stop screaming, til actors and audience alike are in tears of frustration. This scene is unconscionable.

Remember that part about me going into this with a headache already?

Not only would I not have greenlighted this Thirtysomething series, but after screening the first 6 minutes of the pilot, I would have vowed that the creators, producers, writers, actors, directors, DPs, MUAs, PAs, grips, best boys, fluffers, and everyone else involved with Thirtysomething would never work in this town again.

The Dream of the '50s is Alive in Tokyo

This new Toyota concept car video, "TOYOTA Fun-Vii - 42nd Tokyo Motor Show 2011," presents a gleaming futuristic metropolis, where cars dominate, and the genetically-enhanced one-percenters, dressed in white, play leisurely about the surface, each day culminating in the privileged joining in a drive-in stadium communal display -- an ode to just how frickin' great life is.

Meanwhile, unseen and forgotten, the proletariat slave in the dark and filthy subterranean works of the city. Many of these Dirty Ones have accepted their lot as lesser, just as generations of their ancestors before them. Others of the underground class still cling to the myth that, through hard work and merit, they might ascend to become a White One. Then, one day, from the filthiest corner of the Below, to the Reproductive Duty coupling of a Sewager and a Filter Scrubber, a hero is born: a boy, with a magical energy sword and a mischievous faerie companion, who will end the oppression of his people, leading them in an epic battle, up, to the surface!

Toyota really should get their genres straight.

Uninstallable Android Apps

I really didn't want the Adobe Flash Player or YouTube apps on my Android phone, but Google wouldn't let me uninstall them. Thank goodness for root access.

While I was at it, I deleted some other apps I didn't want. Google is pining for us to get back together. I won't be surprised if Google drunk-dials me at 4am some Saturday night.