A funny postscript to my post last week about the Sotomayor hearings and how there aren't enough ladies on the court. I think the plight of women on the Supreme Court can best be described by Flight of the Concords: Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor.
Another thing I learned by watching NY1 this morning is that today was the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. Which reminded me of another funny thing - the Onion's Our Dumb Century story on the event: "Holy Shit, Man Lands on Fucking Moon." Sorry, couldn't find the link for that one.
And finally, on decidedly LESS funny news - Frank McCourt died today. You can watch Budd Mishkin's "One on 1" interview with him from several years back here.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Sotomayor
So it turns out that Annika in the anchor chair was a false alarm - Pat is indeed in this week. That said, I have to give props to Annika for her new 'do, which looks great on her.
I caught a few minutes of the Road to City Hall last night. The coverage focused pretty heavily on the Sotomayor confirmation hearings. NY1 has dutifully sent its crack political team to DC to cover the story, which is kind of interesting. I guess the fact that she's a NY native is the local angle they're pegging it to.
Anyway, the questions were, in my book, fairly yawn-inducing, with the Senators adhering faithfully to their party lines. Schumer fawned sycophantically and didn't ask any tough questions, while the Republican senators asked dumb idealogical questions that don't have much to do with whether she's qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. The Alabama Senator asked something like, "What is yer position on farh ahrms" (that would be fire arms, for those who don't speak redneck) and John Conyers of Texas (my home state, which I am lately at a loss to defend) repeatedly asked her about the "wise Latina" comment.
I'm so sick of this discussion. Am I the only one who doesn't think it's that controversial?
At any rate, I hope she sails through. We need some more vaginas on the court. This country is, what, 50% female, if not more? This is the kind of imbalance that is entirely commonplace in the highest levels of government, corporate boardrooms, etc. It's pretty damned ridiculous that in This Day and Age, after all this time, the country is still overwhelmingly run by men. If you ask me, the court could benefit from a wise vagina.
Okay, I promise I won't use that word in this post, or on this blog, again if I can help it.
I caught a few minutes of the Road to City Hall last night. The coverage focused pretty heavily on the Sotomayor confirmation hearings. NY1 has dutifully sent its crack political team to DC to cover the story, which is kind of interesting. I guess the fact that she's a NY native is the local angle they're pegging it to.
Anyway, the questions were, in my book, fairly yawn-inducing, with the Senators adhering faithfully to their party lines. Schumer fawned sycophantically and didn't ask any tough questions, while the Republican senators asked dumb idealogical questions that don't have much to do with whether she's qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. The Alabama Senator asked something like, "What is yer position on farh ahrms" (that would be fire arms, for those who don't speak redneck) and John Conyers of Texas (my home state, which I am lately at a loss to defend) repeatedly asked her about the "wise Latina" comment.
I'm so sick of this discussion. Am I the only one who doesn't think it's that controversial?
At any rate, I hope she sails through. We need some more vaginas on the court. This country is, what, 50% female, if not more? This is the kind of imbalance that is entirely commonplace in the highest levels of government, corporate boardrooms, etc. It's pretty damned ridiculous that in This Day and Age, after all this time, the country is still overwhelmingly run by men. If you ask me, the court could benefit from a wise vagina.
Okay, I promise I won't use that word in this post, or on this blog, again if I can help it.
Monday, July 13, 2009
I'm back, again.
Jesus, do I still have the right to call this a blog? Sorry to my regular readers (hi Mom, Heather, Beth, Alexia) for not posting for so long. I went to London for work for a few days, and then still didn’t have time to get a cable box for days after. I finally got a brand spanking new one, though. After the requisite trip to the Time Warner DMV (which was as much a pain in the ass as I’d expected – some woman was screaming at a poor customer service guy and had to be calmed down by security), I walked out with a shiny new box, several channels I didn’t have before and a $25 a month break on my bill, thanks to the nice lady at the DMV –er, TWC customer service window. Yay!
Anyway, I’m obviously behind, and a LOT has happened in my absence, so I’m going to do this in bullet form. And it’s still going to be overly long.
So let’s get to it:
• The mess in Albany finally got cleaned up! It’s about time, clownz. So apparently Espada has decided to be a Democrat again, and has been rewarded for his assy behavior with a promotion (taking over the Senate leadership position from Malcolm Smith.) What? Whatever. An edition of “In The Papers” noted the New York Post’s “Sleazy Does It” headline, which pretty much sums up the whole affair.
• We have a winner of the NY One music video star contest! It turned out to be the KO Chicks after all. Check out their awesomely low budget video (and irritatingly catchy tune) here:
• I know this is more than a week old by now, but if you haven’t seen it, you must check out the In the Papers from Friday, July 3, in which Pat gets a little risqué! Pat read a newspaper item about that poor teenage girl who heard her mother’s cries from her bedroom and then burst in to “help” her, only to find that the cries were actually sounds of a more, uh, amorous nature (the mom was hanging out with her boyfriend). Pat read from the story, in which the teenage girl claimed she thought her mom was being harmed by a “bad guy”, and then wryly noted,
“But he wasn’t a bad guy – it sounds like he was actually pretty good!”
• This is a true story: Weekend before last, my boyfriend and I decided to take a walk over the Brooklyn bridge back into Manhattan, since it was such a warm and beautiful night. But we decided to make a pit stop before setting out. We happened upon a Marriott Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn and decided to do it there. And that’s when we stumbled into some parallel Alice in Wonderland universe. First, there were the little people. Hundreds of them. Dwarves/little folks in the lobby. At the bar. Hanging around outside. EVERYWHERE. It was clear this was some kind of convention.
But that’s not all. There was also some low-rent beauty pageant going on, so there were also tons of tall, extremely thin women in extremely spangly evening gowns. Everywhere you looked, you either saw a very tall pageant contestant in full regalia or a dwarf/little person. Anyway, I’d have known about this convention if I’d watched “In the Papers,” in which Pat read from a New York Daily news story about how the Little People of America had decided to have their annual convention in New York City.
But in his report, Pat made the mistake of referring to the convention attendees as “midgets.” Obviously he did not watch Tara Lynn Wagner’s report about how one of the convention’s agenda items was a campaign to get the FCC to ban that word. Oops!
• And finally, Friday’s morning edition featured Roger Clark on a skateboard. Just when you think they can’t find new ways to humiliate him, they manage to find some new, ever more embarrassing thing for him to do.
This week is bound to be more tame – Annika Pergament in the anchor’s chair this morning, which means Pat’s on vacation. Boo!
Anyway, I’m obviously behind, and a LOT has happened in my absence, so I’m going to do this in bullet form. And it’s still going to be overly long.
So let’s get to it:
• The mess in Albany finally got cleaned up! It’s about time, clownz. So apparently Espada has decided to be a Democrat again, and has been rewarded for his assy behavior with a promotion (taking over the Senate leadership position from Malcolm Smith.) What? Whatever. An edition of “In The Papers” noted the New York Post’s “Sleazy Does It” headline, which pretty much sums up the whole affair.
• We have a winner of the NY One music video star contest! It turned out to be the KO Chicks after all. Check out their awesomely low budget video (and irritatingly catchy tune) here:
• I know this is more than a week old by now, but if you haven’t seen it, you must check out the In the Papers from Friday, July 3, in which Pat gets a little risqué! Pat read a newspaper item about that poor teenage girl who heard her mother’s cries from her bedroom and then burst in to “help” her, only to find that the cries were actually sounds of a more, uh, amorous nature (the mom was hanging out with her boyfriend). Pat read from the story, in which the teenage girl claimed she thought her mom was being harmed by a “bad guy”, and then wryly noted,
“But he wasn’t a bad guy – it sounds like he was actually pretty good!”
• This is a true story: Weekend before last, my boyfriend and I decided to take a walk over the Brooklyn bridge back into Manhattan, since it was such a warm and beautiful night. But we decided to make a pit stop before setting out. We happened upon a Marriott Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn and decided to do it there. And that’s when we stumbled into some parallel Alice in Wonderland universe. First, there were the little people. Hundreds of them. Dwarves/little folks in the lobby. At the bar. Hanging around outside. EVERYWHERE. It was clear this was some kind of convention.
But that’s not all. There was also some low-rent beauty pageant going on, so there were also tons of tall, extremely thin women in extremely spangly evening gowns. Everywhere you looked, you either saw a very tall pageant contestant in full regalia or a dwarf/little person. Anyway, I’d have known about this convention if I’d watched “In the Papers,” in which Pat read from a New York Daily news story about how the Little People of America had decided to have their annual convention in New York City.
But in his report, Pat made the mistake of referring to the convention attendees as “midgets.” Obviously he did not watch Tara Lynn Wagner’s report about how one of the convention’s agenda items was a campaign to get the FCC to ban that word. Oops!
• And finally, Friday’s morning edition featured Roger Clark on a skateboard. Just when you think they can’t find new ways to humiliate him, they manage to find some new, ever more embarrassing thing for him to do.
This week is bound to be more tame – Annika Pergament in the anchor’s chair this morning, which means Pat’s on vacation. Boo!
Friday, June 26, 2009
ITP - RIP MJ
So it turns out that I am not stupid after all, and my cable box is actually quite dead. This is not a shock as it was four years old, but it does mean I have to make a trip to the Manhattan Time Warner Cable center, which is almost exactly like the DMV. Seriously, they give you a number and you have to wait for hours and then you deal with someone surly - EXACTLY the same. They should just combine the two entities and get it overwith.
Anyway, I HAD to watch today's In the Papers online, given what happened yesterday.
As Pat noted, on today's edition, “I don’t have to tell you what the lead story is on today’s papers," then started with an analysis of the New York Times, which devoted almost its entire front page to the man the New York Post once called "Wacko Jacko."
Pat commented -- as others have, and I agree -- that he feels sorry for Farrah Fawcett– “not in any way to suggest her cultural contribution was euqal to Michael Jackson’s", Pat said, but she did bravely battle cancer and was a pop culture icon in her own right, so it's a bit sad that her death is so overshadowed.
Pat aso mentioned a story about Mark Sanford – who has got to be secretly thanking Jacko for taking some of the media attention off him for a second. Pat didn’t mention it, but today’s Wall Street Journal has an interesting story online about how American voters can now pretty much deal with adultery in all but two circumstances: where the adulterer is a hypocrite (e.g., anyone who ran on a family values platform, like Sanford) or where the adulterer broke the law or abused their office (Spitzer).
There was also a story in the Times about the 35 year anniversary of the bar code. Which reminded me that when I lived on East 6th street, the super ghetto Met Foods supermarket across the street didn’t get scanners until about 2003.
Moving on to the Daily News, Pat noted that the paper's main story said Jackson "died as dramatically and mysteriously as he lived”. The News also had a story about his money problems, calling him a “millionaire who lived like a billionare.” And of course, there were mentions of the accusations of kiddie fiddling. The paper also included a special supplement section that covered both Jackson and Fawcett.
Finally, the Daily News is turning 90 – let’s all hope it goes on for another 90.
Moving on to the Journal, Pat pointed out that the journal front page didn’t give Jackson much coverage – which to me seems appropriate, frankly, given it's mainly a financial paper. I'd have been able to see the Journal's cover myself if the WSJ people bothered to deliver my (expensive) newspaper in a timely and consistent fashion. Grr. Anyway.
The Post cover simply said “Dead” – bit of a disappointment for them, given their famous "Wacko Jacko Backo" cover. I was secretly hoping for "Wacko Jacko Heart Attacko," but they chickened out. Anyway, the article pointed out that his heavy medicine use was blamed as a factor in his death. Another story said Google got so many searches that its security system assumed it was a DNS attack where hackers were tryig to crash google’ servers.
Elsewhere in the Post, the paper gets credit for publishing the first photos of Sanford’s Argentine lover, a news anchor whom the Postt described as a “raven-haired news babe.”
Finally, Pat confessed that he has a soft spot for Letterman before highlighting a Post story about how Letterman's Late Show is edging out Conan's Tonight Show in terms of ratings.
And that's a look at some of what's in today's In the Papers.
Anyway, I HAD to watch today's In the Papers online, given what happened yesterday.
As Pat noted, on today's edition, “I don’t have to tell you what the lead story is on today’s papers," then started with an analysis of the New York Times, which devoted almost its entire front page to the man the New York Post once called "Wacko Jacko."
Pat commented -- as others have, and I agree -- that he feels sorry for Farrah Fawcett– “not in any way to suggest her cultural contribution was euqal to Michael Jackson’s", Pat said, but she did bravely battle cancer and was a pop culture icon in her own right, so it's a bit sad that her death is so overshadowed.
Pat aso mentioned a story about Mark Sanford – who has got to be secretly thanking Jacko for taking some of the media attention off him for a second. Pat didn’t mention it, but today’s Wall Street Journal has an interesting story online about how American voters can now pretty much deal with adultery in all but two circumstances: where the adulterer is a hypocrite (e.g., anyone who ran on a family values platform, like Sanford) or where the adulterer broke the law or abused their office (Spitzer).
There was also a story in the Times about the 35 year anniversary of the bar code. Which reminded me that when I lived on East 6th street, the super ghetto Met Foods supermarket across the street didn’t get scanners until about 2003.
Moving on to the Daily News, Pat noted that the paper's main story said Jackson "died as dramatically and mysteriously as he lived”. The News also had a story about his money problems, calling him a “millionaire who lived like a billionare.” And of course, there were mentions of the accusations of kiddie fiddling. The paper also included a special supplement section that covered both Jackson and Fawcett.
Finally, the Daily News is turning 90 – let’s all hope it goes on for another 90.
Moving on to the Journal, Pat pointed out that the journal front page didn’t give Jackson much coverage – which to me seems appropriate, frankly, given it's mainly a financial paper. I'd have been able to see the Journal's cover myself if the WSJ people bothered to deliver my (expensive) newspaper in a timely and consistent fashion. Grr. Anyway.
The Post cover simply said “Dead” – bit of a disappointment for them, given their famous "Wacko Jacko Backo" cover. I was secretly hoping for "Wacko Jacko Heart Attacko," but they chickened out. Anyway, the article pointed out that his heavy medicine use was blamed as a factor in his death. Another story said Google got so many searches that its security system assumed it was a DNS attack where hackers were tryig to crash google’ servers.
Elsewhere in the Post, the paper gets credit for publishing the first photos of Sanford’s Argentine lover, a news anchor whom the Postt described as a “raven-haired news babe.”
Finally, Pat confessed that he has a soft spot for Letterman before highlighting a Post story about how Letterman's Late Show is edging out Conan's Tonight Show in terms of ratings.
And that's a look at some of what's in today's In the Papers.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
NY1 Video Star
So Monday, in the process of moving around some furniture, I somehow managed to completely dislodge the cables connecting my TV and cable box and have yet to figure out how to restore the connection. I have never felt quite so dumb. Needless to say, until I have time to actually deal with this, I will not have access to NY1. Thus, the rest of this week's blog posts will deal with the station's Web site, NY1.com.
As you all know, NY1 has been running a contest, "NY1 Video Star", the winner of which will be featured in a new station ID ad. What you may not know is that every submission they have received so far is online. And people, there is a wealth of entertainment there.
Many of the entries are charmingly low-budget, like the station itself. The majority appear to have been filmed in the contestants' apartment buildings, and for most of them, the phrase "production values" does not seem to apply.
Among the best low-budget entries so far is a submission by a girl group called ko chicks lares, who did as much as possible with a budget of what appears to be about $5. They even have costume changes and a backup dancer! (Plus they can actually sing, which helps).
I also LOVE the entry by Judy Berman - they've actually shown this one on TV; she's the batty old loon who's standing in the stairwell of her apartment building, strumming a ukelele and warbling off key. Not only can she not sing to save her life, she's wearing clothing that looks like she pulled it from a dumpster and has not even bothered to memorize the lyrics, instead referring repeatedly to sheets she's taped to the wall. In other words, it's delightful.
There's also one by a gentleman named Huck Demilo, who performs while wearing a bizarre butterfly mask. He looks like a psychopath, but his lyrics are fairly amusing.
These are the only ones I've had time to watch so far, but I'm sure there's lots of (comedy) gold in these vaults. Go check it out.
As you all know, NY1 has been running a contest, "NY1 Video Star", the winner of which will be featured in a new station ID ad. What you may not know is that every submission they have received so far is online. And people, there is a wealth of entertainment there.
Many of the entries are charmingly low-budget, like the station itself. The majority appear to have been filmed in the contestants' apartment buildings, and for most of them, the phrase "production values" does not seem to apply.
Among the best low-budget entries so far is a submission by a girl group called ko chicks lares, who did as much as possible with a budget of what appears to be about $5. They even have costume changes and a backup dancer! (Plus they can actually sing, which helps).
I also LOVE the entry by Judy Berman - they've actually shown this one on TV; she's the batty old loon who's standing in the stairwell of her apartment building, strumming a ukelele and warbling off key. Not only can she not sing to save her life, she's wearing clothing that looks like she pulled it from a dumpster and has not even bothered to memorize the lyrics, instead referring repeatedly to sheets she's taped to the wall. In other words, it's delightful.
There's also one by a gentleman named Huck Demilo, who performs while wearing a bizarre butterfly mask. He looks like a psychopath, but his lyrics are fairly amusing.
These are the only ones I've had time to watch so far, but I'm sure there's lots of (comedy) gold in these vaults. Go check it out.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Pat's back
I'm back!
I was actually in New York all last week, but the magazine I work for was going to press. Plus, Pat was on vacation, and NY1 is way less fun on Pat-free weeks.
This morning, he's back, and we've already been treated to an enormously entertaining segment featuring Roger Clark - who is, I'm guessing, one of the tallest reporters at the station - in what Ripley's Believe it or Not has deemed the world's smallest car. It weighs 150 pounds - less than Roger and probably less than the other passenger in the car with him as well. It reminded me of that Simpsons (I believe it was "32 Stories About Springfield") when Nelson is making fun of the huge guy in the tiny car and the guy says, "This was the largest automobile I could afford", before publicly shaming Nelson and forcing him to march down the street with his pants around his ankles while the other residents of Springfield pointed and laughed.
One of the Entertainment Weekly guys also did a segment on the 20th anniversary of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, which is surely one of the best films ever made about New York and almost certainly one of the best films ever made about race. If you haven't seen it yet, go out and rent it right away.
And speaking of anniversaries, there have also been reports this morning about the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, widely considered to be the birth of the gay rights movement. Nearly 50 years later, and still no marriage equality. Let's hope we're getting there...
Finally, as Pat pointed out, it's been a week since he was last in the anchor's chair, and there's still no resolution in Albany. Whatta mess.
I was actually in New York all last week, but the magazine I work for was going to press. Plus, Pat was on vacation, and NY1 is way less fun on Pat-free weeks.
This morning, he's back, and we've already been treated to an enormously entertaining segment featuring Roger Clark - who is, I'm guessing, one of the tallest reporters at the station - in what Ripley's Believe it or Not has deemed the world's smallest car. It weighs 150 pounds - less than Roger and probably less than the other passenger in the car with him as well. It reminded me of that Simpsons (I believe it was "32 Stories About Springfield") when Nelson is making fun of the huge guy in the tiny car and the guy says, "This was the largest automobile I could afford", before publicly shaming Nelson and forcing him to march down the street with his pants around his ankles while the other residents of Springfield pointed and laughed.
One of the Entertainment Weekly guys also did a segment on the 20th anniversary of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, which is surely one of the best films ever made about New York and almost certainly one of the best films ever made about race. If you haven't seen it yet, go out and rent it right away.
And speaking of anniversaries, there have also been reports this morning about the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, widely considered to be the birth of the gay rights movement. Nearly 50 years later, and still no marriage equality. Let's hope we're getting there...
Finally, as Pat pointed out, it's been a week since he was last in the anchor's chair, and there's still no resolution in Albany. Whatta mess.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Sanity, reason adjourn for the season in Albany
I only caught the last 15 minutes of last night's Road to City Hall, which is too bad - the Albany mess is probably one of the biggest things they've ever covered. But the tiny bit I did see was fairly illuminating.
Dominic Carter did a good job (as usual) grilling Democratic turncoat and alleged girlfriend-stabber Hiram Monserrate, getting him to pretty much admit that the coup was planned in secret and that he made no mention of it to the Democratic majority leader, Malcom Smith. (PS - I didn't know his name either before all this broke.)
Normally I would have said that the Republicans could have Monserrate, except that this now tips state balance in their power. Ugh. The whole thing is such a farce, and so clearly a power grab. Whatta buncha dopes.
Anyway, this was followed by the NY1 Wiseguys, who actually discussed it in a rational manner. The Republican wiseguys said they understood the frustration of Senate Republicans but stopped short of endorsing their methods. And Josh Robin filed a report that revealed that the coup was plotted right across the street from the Governor's mansion.
Speaking of DP, virtually everyone on the program, Republican and Democrat alike, expressed the view that his prospects for a successful gubernatorial run are looking worse than ever. Poor ol' DP. He's about as unpopular now as Gordon Brown is in the UK.
Stay tuned; this story has miles to go.
Dominic Carter did a good job (as usual) grilling Democratic turncoat and alleged girlfriend-stabber Hiram Monserrate, getting him to pretty much admit that the coup was planned in secret and that he made no mention of it to the Democratic majority leader, Malcom Smith. (PS - I didn't know his name either before all this broke.)
Normally I would have said that the Republicans could have Monserrate, except that this now tips state balance in their power. Ugh. The whole thing is such a farce, and so clearly a power grab. Whatta buncha dopes.
Anyway, this was followed by the NY1 Wiseguys, who actually discussed it in a rational manner. The Republican wiseguys said they understood the frustration of Senate Republicans but stopped short of endorsing their methods. And Josh Robin filed a report that revealed that the coup was plotted right across the street from the Governor's mansion.
Speaking of DP, virtually everyone on the program, Republican and Democrat alike, expressed the view that his prospects for a successful gubernatorial run are looking worse than ever. Poor ol' DP. He's about as unpopular now as Gordon Brown is in the UK.
Stay tuned; this story has miles to go.
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