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September 28, 2005
More Blog Navel Gazing
Nick Denton and Gawker Media are still going strong. He even threw a party for Arianna Huffington.
I'm not sure why his company fascinates me so much, other than the obvious jealousy factor. Clearly I no longer have the time to post many times in a day, but still. I've always wondered what causes people to flock to certain sites. I'm not really interested in rivalling gossip columnists, but why are my cultural and political thoughts less noticed than the rest of the blogosphere?
In less personal navel gazing, here's a link to the NY Observer article on Denton by Tom Scocca.
In related news, the Wall Street Journal is now printing lies. Well, not their own lies. Just lies of bloggers. According to Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks, fugly stands for "frightfully ugly." We all know that is not the true f-word in that neologism.
So these chicks write about celebrity fashion blog using the same software I do. Except they're one of the most read blogs on the planet. www.gofugyourself.com.
I gotta admit - I'd get bored writing only snarky celebrity copy. So I do not want to diminish their success (including a show deal on E! and being the official MTV bloggers for the Academy Awards). Please, just admit what fugly stands for.
Posted by cj at 07:36 AM | Comments (1)
September 27, 2005
Dylan The Fabulous Self Promotor...
Bob Dylan is a great musician. I can no longer deny that. And the doc playing on PBS is really interesting, even if it was primarily created by Dylan and his manager.
More interesting to me is this new cd, "Bob Dylan: Live at The Gaslight 1962." Yes, I'm a sell out yuppie-type for buying a cd exclusively available at Starbucks with my grande extra hot soy latte. Bite me.
But seriously, I'm enjoying this more than the soundtrack. Perhaps because this is my first listen to the cd. Perhaps because many of the songs on the soundtrack are available in previous cd's (which are part of mi chavo's collection that I've been borrowing this summer).
Mostly, I don't have access to many other recordings of Dylan singing old folk songs, and I truly enjoy these songs.
He's still stuck on himself, and still refuses to actually let outsiders in no matter how many retrospectives he creates in a variety of mediums. No matter - the music speaks for itself.
And chavo, take note: Baez was a star before Dylan. I'm not trying to argue their relative places in the pantheon of music, but stop crackin at a truly great singer.
Posted by cj at 07:49 AM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2005
Robert Zimmerman on TeeVee, Online, and in Your Head
One of the first things I found out about my boyfriend was that he thought Bob Dylan was the greatest artist of all time. I laughed at him and told him I hated Dylan. A little over a year later, I've accepted that Dylan is a great musician and lyricist. I'm intrigued by Slate's twin articles about the new Dylan movie "premiering" tonight on PBS (unless you've already bought the DVD version).
First, I had no idea he steals lines from other artists without crediting them.
Second, I didn't know most of the interviews and footage was collected by his manager before Scorcese was ever brought onto the project.
and Third, I'm intrigued by David Greenberg's critique of our cultural obsession with all things 60s, including Dylan during that time.
Go read for yourself:
"The '60s Trap: Why critics ignore the rest of Dylan's career." by David Greenberg in Slate
"The Last Temptation of Dylan: Watching the new documentary." by David Yaffe in Slate
The two cd releases related to this doc are available - one exclusively from Starbucks, and the other at all music outlets. I'm listening to the double album, No Direction Home: Bootleg Volume 7, on Rhapsody now. It's a really good cd - combines most of his best music from the 60s. Of course, I'll just wait for mi chavo to buy it to actually touch the cd version...
Posted by cj at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2005
Oprah Brings Back Relevant Reading
Not that I have anything against the classics. Some are great, once you get past the first twenty or hundred pages. But it sure is easier to read a recently published book. Which is what Oprah is realizing. Although she's a bit snippy about one of my favorite authors (Franzen, with whom she had a tiff right before cancelling the first incarnation of her book club), she's coming back to new books and expanding her genre criteria: "Ms. Winfrey said she intended to widen her choices to an array of genres, including history, biography and historical fiction, to give herself more room to follow her instincts about what makes a positive reading experience."
First up: "A Million Little Pieces," by James Frey, a memoir about addiction treatment. Interesting - I was attracted to that book at Barnes & Noble by its intriguing cover art, but ultimately decided that with all the unread books on my shelf, I wasn't going to give my time to another addict recovery story.
More info: "Oprah's Book Club Reopening to Writers Who'll Sit and Chat,"by Edward Wyatt
Posted by cj at 07:59 AM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2005
That Dumb Award Show
Ok, so I missed the best parts - Ellen's monologue, most of the musical performances, and a bunch of award presentations b/c people kept calling me last night.
But let's just review the tried and true realities of the Emmy's:
1. Men continue to be "more important" than women; their best categories are always announced after their female counterparts.
2. Emmy voters have no clue what makes good drama or comedy. Any group of people who consecutively award William Shatner and James Spader for the pile of dung they call drama need to have their heads examined. Was Everybody Loves Raymond really that good? Eh. It's not my cup of tea. But I'll give you that over that frickin Tony Shalhoub. His brand of "comedy" appeals only to some strange rarefied form of Hollywood elite who still think Spader's sexist lawyer is a great character.
3. Even though she was nominated in the wrong category, thank goodness Felicity Huffman won. Too bad she's still got hang-ups about her weight in her 20s. You were chunky with a bad perm? Honey, you're drop dead gorgeous and I'm sure William H. Macy has seen that since the day you met.
4. Why were Hugh Jackman and Jon Stewart in the same category? How lame is it that the powers that be put award show ceremonies in the same category as a 4-day-a-week political satire? Looks like I shoulda seen the Tony's this year...
5. Was it me, or was it boring?
6. Star Jones. Why? Why is she the chatter for the E! preview show? Who the hell let her go to the ceremony as a drag queen?
7. Why did a few stars feel the need to show up in their underwear? Eva, I could see your nipples. Alex Kingston (of ER), dresses are better than slips. Marcia Cross, the front of your dress was ugly. Heidi Klum, ya looked like you were wearing a drape. Kim Raver, buy more fabric next time you go dress shopping. "Etheral" does not mean half naked. Geena Davis, color goes better with your complexion and hair color. Sarah Chalke (of Srubs), ya looked good. Patricia Arquette, you had the worst hair and the worst dress and you still one an Emmy for your treacly character. Congrats.
More info:
The NY Times. When I went to that page there were pop-ups of the Fashion and the Winners / Presenters from the Emmys.
Posted by cj at 10:20 PM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2005
Desires of a Woman with a Hangover
1. Neighbors who don't steal your Sunday New York Times when you're too sick to pick it up before 2:30pm.
2. The ability to puke before going to sleep, to avoid the disturbing scenes in the bathroom the day after.
3. Knowing how to get piss drunk without getting damn sick.
4. Peanut butter and toast in the house on demand.
5. A good Thai restaurant nearby to deliver carb-rich Pad Thai.
6. More to drink in the house besides water, tea, and coffee. (More than two sips of O.J. or soda would be good.)
The saddest thing is I can't even do my laundry (my big plan for the day) since I can barely walk, much less trek a huge load of laundry down three flights of stairs. Hopefully, spaghetti will help...
Posted by cj at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)
The Terrible State of Film
This entry should've been on Friday. So I went to the movies after getting my car fixed (b/c some jerk broke my rear view mirror). And I thought I was going to see one movie, but it turns out I was viewing the wrong AMC listing on my phone. So I ended up at Hustle & Flow.
Now I hadn't planned on spending $9 (plus $2 for parking) to see a movie about a "good" pimp. But forgetting about the movie, I am so frickin sick of going to movie theaters.
I am sick of people opening their cell phones and distracting me with the light. I am appalled that children can run amok in a theater - answering their cell phones, running up and down the aisles, and waving their hands in front of the screen. I didn't get up during the movie to complain b/c that would have ruined the movie entirely for me - I can pretend to ignore people but I cannot get back the time lost complaining to the theater staff while the movie is running.
Plus the film stock was crappy and had weird colors run through it every once in awhile. But the music was catchy. And for a brief moment, even I was hooked, despite my political desire to hate the film.
I complained afterwards, but didn't wait around for a manager - I don't want to go back there and at this point, I do not want to go out to see a movie unless / until silence and a distraction-free experience can be gauranteed.
Posted by cj at 03:34 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2005
Online and T.V. Media News
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that MSN is talking to AOL about merging some of their internet biz, specifically putting MSN's new search enging onto AOL webpages and sharing the ad revenue. MSN would replace Google, which has supplied the search engine and ads for AOL since 2002.
Yahoo! is launching a solo journalist multimedia site reporting from active conflict zones. Why are the vast majority of war reporters white males? What can another white male tell us about the world? Why the hell are women not more involved in conflict resolution? We need more women involved in decision-making around the world and here in the U.S., not another Great White Hope For The World's Conflicts.
On Wednesday, Bush wrote a note to Condi asking permission to use the bathroom while at the UN. A Reuters photographer caught him writing the note on film. It's been around the world in newspapers and was on The Daily Show last night (which I missed because I was sick of their week-long Evolution theme).
NBC is desperately seeking viewers in Christian-heavy red states. "Three Wishes" and "My Name is Earl," represents their current pandering efforts. One thing is true - hicks aren't the only people who have stopped watching NBC religiously. Only things I make time for from their schedule is "West Wing" and "ER." And really, I should just give up on the ridiculous plot line of ER.
Posted by cj at 08:18 AM | Comments (0)
Blogging Buzz and Magazine Rejuvenation
Whether or not your words are noticed by the public is largely dependent on how you publish those words.
Blogging as a writing form has gotten a lot of notice from the mainstream media in the past year - mostly because of its direct, immediate connection to readers which can be turned into advertising profits and tons of cash for political candidates.
I do not know how to crack into that upper echelon of the blogging elite. Perhaps it would help if I kept updating my blogs daily instead of allowing other things to consume my time (work, teevee, WILPF, etc).
According to a commentary by Jon Friedman at MarketWatch, blogs stoll the buzz thunder from magazines. And now magazines are trying to steal back their lost thunder by reminding us of the tactile importance of the medium. The American Society of Magazine Editors is holding a contest to find the best 40 covers of the last 40 years, something blogs will never be able to do. Despite jumping head first into the blogospher back in 2001, I firmly continue to believe in the importance, relevance, and staying power of print - especially magazines, books, and Sunday editions of newspapers. (I like the magazine quality of Sunday newspaper articles - how they wrap up a week of news and offer more analysis and back history than daily newspaper articles.)
In related news, the Magazine Publishers of America are trying to convince advertisers that it doesn't matter how much a person pays for the magazine she reads; that even a free magazine offers a point of connection with a consumer. I'm still trying to figure out what everyone means by Return On Investment (ROI). How do you accurately measure that? What makes any advertising good from an ROI perspective? Perhaps I should learn more about how experts are answering those questions. All I know is that monthly magazines really do hold a special place in the lives of their subscribers; and a fleeting place in the mind of their newsstand readers.
Posted by cj at 07:46 AM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2005
New TeeVee Season
I skimmed through the fall preview version of Entertainment Weekly to figure out what shows are on each night.
Highlights of my profound reading and black box watching:
- Prison Break is my new guilty pleasure (on Fox on Mondays). The premise is so ridiculous it's laughable. But it's great eye candy.
- Gilmore Girls is as unrealistic as ever. It's still fabulous female fare. (on WB on Tuesdays)
- Finally saw the last two hours of Lost, season one. Still doesn't make much sense, but it is amusing to see the masses grapple with twists as detailed as the first season of Alias.
- West Wing moved to Sundays! Finally, a major reason to not watch Extreme Makover: Home Edition. Mmmm...Jimmy Smits....
- Commander in Chief is on ABC on Tuesdays. One big chick fest again on Tuesday nights. Reminds me of the good ol' days of watchin Buffy on Tuesdays...
- I have to choose between Alias and the Chris Rock show. Damnit. Granted, I missed most of last season of Alias because of another time conflict. It's still annoying.
- Arrested Development moved to Mondays. woohoo! Unfortunately, The War at Home, which replaced it, blows huge chunks.
- How I Met Your Mother also on Mondays.
I'm trying hard to limit myself as much as possible....I'm choosing Alias or that Chris Rock's life-based show over The O.C....stopped watching Reunion after the first ep...and not bothering with most of the new dramas and comedies. Perhaps my conference call schedule will stop me from being as addicted as I anticipate being. For now, my favorite shows continue to be Chicago Tonight on PBS and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central.
Posted by cj at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2005
Happiness is a Pair of Cute Glasses
I've gone through a variety of feelings in the past week - mostly despair and distress related to watching too much CNN coverage of the disaster in the Gulf region.
Somehow, I made time to find an optometrist and a new pair of glasses. I first went shopping last Friday wearing my current glasses, which is always a terrible way to shop since I can't see without glasses and therefore couldn't really tell how I looked in any of the glasses I was trying on.
So I went back today and had an exam (prescription basically the same, astigmatism getting worse b/c I'm online too much) and tried on some frames with contacts on. What a difference! Thank goodness I got the contacts b/c the frames I chose on Friday were ugly and too big whereas the ones I chose today are cute and little. I'm very excited.
Plus, Dr. Gregory Artim was really nice and incredibly helpful in making sure he got my prescription just right. And his assistant put up with me for at least an hour on Friday trying on all sorts of glasses.
Its worth the pact I had to make to get the glasses. Even though I have "vision coverage" through my health plan, it still blows and doesn't cover enough, so I couldn't really afford the glasses on my own. Instead, I agreed to pay for my ticket home for Thanksgiving and my fabulous Pops paid for the glasses and exam. (Which means I get no Cuban food on Turkey Day from mi chavo's father, a fabulous cook. Sigh. The choices we must make.)
If you're in Chicago, go see Dr. Artim.
Posted by cj at 01:02 AM | Comments (0)
September 03, 2005
Movie Reviews from a Netflix Queue
I've spent most of my time in the last few days at work or watching CNN. When I get fed up watching the criminal negligence of the American government, I've turned to dvd's courtesy of mi chavo's Netflix account. Here are some thoughts on those films.
"The Fog of War a documentary conversation with Robert McNamara by Errol Morris
McNamara is a fascinating man. He was the youngest Harvard prof before being recruiting to be a pencil neck war criminal during World War II. He figured out the way to maximize civilian casualties via fire bombing of Japanese cities. Then he went into the corporate world and worked his way to the presidency of the Ford Motor Company. Five weeks into that post, he was selected to be Secretary of Defense by Kennedy. As SecDef under Kennedy and Johnson, he led the escalation of US involvement in Vietnam. According to McNamara, his desire to get the US troops out of Vietnam led to Johnson firing him and giving him the presidency of the World Bank.
It is a haunting film - well worth watching. To me, it is an important resource for history.
"Dear Frankie"
Mi chavo recommended this film, which he saw recently in South America. I forgot that I've seen a lot of previews for it on teevee, along with reviews on Ebert & Roepert (they did a second recap to remind people to catch it on dvd if they had missed it on the big screen). It's a great little film, that would've been even better if I hadn't seen those damn t.v. commercials. I am so damn sick of every plot point being spelled out it commercials! For goodness sake, I saw a scene from the end of the movie! What's up? Do the ad men really think we Americans are too dumb to see a movie we haven't seen in miniature? Can they think of no other way to advertise a movie besides giving it all away?
Plus, I watched it today in the midst of my obsessive CNN watching, so I wasn't completely emotionally attached to the film. But I was grateful for the break.
Entre Las Piernas (aka Between Your Legs)
This sexual thriller was amazing and disturbing. Nothing wrong with watching Javier Bardem have sex. Nothing at all. But thank goodness mi chavo called when it was over, because it's the kind of movie I don't like watching alone. I'm not going to say more - just watch it.
Posted by cj at 08:27 PM | Comments (0)