How Bloomie annoyed me today

I just got back from a week in sunny—make that oven-like—Florida. I did miss NY1.

My vacation coincided with one of the biggest New York stories of the year, the horrific child murder in Brooklyn. NY1 reported this morning that Mayor Bloomberg sat shiva with the boy’s grieving family. It was a nice gesture, but something he said to the media about it really irritated me.

I can’t remember the full quote, but it was something along the lines of, sometimes God does things that are not so great, blah blah blah, and then he punctuated it with “It is what it is.”

I would like to call a global moratorium on that hackneyed, meaningless, UTTERLY idiotic phrase. I know it’s not how he meant to sound, but it just struck me as an extremely thoughtless and trivial thing to say about a child’s murder. Also, I just hate that turn of phrase.

I also enjoyed In the Papers this morning. Kudos to Pat for ribbing the Journal about its under-coverage of the News Corp. scandal. I also enjoyed ITP yesterday, when he pointed out that a new film that’s being adapted from a crime novel featuring a 6’5” hero will star—Tom Cruise, at 5 ‘7”. Hilar.

Hope y’all are having a good summer. Stay cool (and classy) New York!

One last Weiner joke

I am 14 years old, because I just overheard Errol Louis say on Inside City Hall, "Let's talk about Weiner's withdrawal" and I laughed out loud. That is all.

Trivia Fun at the Bell House

So last night I attended the VH1 Trivia Night with Pat at the Bell House, hosted by none other than Pat Kiernan. It was a blast. The Bell House is a great place to have a party (which is why I got married there last summer!), and the event raised money for VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, a cause I also have a personal attachment to as a musician myself (I, like NY1’s own Roger Clark, play the drums). To that end, the evening kicked off with an excellent performance by a group of cute and talented kids.

And the event also confirmed something I already knew: Pat has a deeply rabid fan base! Lots of people lined up to get their pictures taken with the congenial Canadian—myself included. I did not introduce myself as New York Two, because it was already getting pretty late at that point and I’m pretty sure he wanted to get out of there so he could get some sleep before doing the news that morning.

While my team, the High Falutin’ Hussies, did not win (other names we considered: Phat Kiernan and New York Won), we still had fun. However, I learned a couple of disturbing facts: First, the team that did end up winning actually won the World Series of Pop Culture TV show in 2007. Pat graciously included the runner-up team in the grand prize because of this; he’s taking everyone out for beers and poutine. I’m so jealous!

The other disturbing thing I learned? Pat has Daughtry in his iPod. Why, Pat, why?

Anyway, if they do it again, you should go. It was a blast and in support of a great cause.

Pat + Trivia =fun

So tonight I'll be attending this event. Maybe I'll even meet Pat! I doubt it, though. While I am obviously a big fan, I'll probably be too shy to approach him. A few years ago, he stood just a few feet away from me at the annual Financial Follies event, and I didn't approach him then, either. But in any case, I'm looking forward to a fun event that will be raising money for a worthy cause (VH1's Save the Music foundation).

I have been too busy to post this week, but I have been enjoying In the Papers this week. I got a big kick out of two things yesterday, neither of which were Weiner-related. One was Pat's amusement at one Tony award-winning actress's acceptance speech; I'm paraphrasing his paraphrasing, but it had something to do with how nobody told bees they couldn't fly...it sounded like incoherent gobbledeygook, which Pat captured well. The other was how he picked on the Times for running such a tiny photo of Gabrielle Giffords. He notes that the Post ran with a nice, large front-page photo, whereas the Times ran a teeny thumbnail. I guess you had to have seen it to understand why it was funny, but the mockery was pretty entertaining.

I realize my last several posts have been about In the Papers. That's because I've rarely been home long enough in the last few weeks to watch NY1 in the evenings. I hope this changes soon!

The gift that keeps on giving

Obviously I was away most of last week, otherwise I would have been ALL OVER the Anthony Weiner story.

Seriously? Seriously?! What person RUNS FOR OFFICE and then WINS and then lets someone take a PHOTO of them that emphasizes their JUNK when their name is WEINER?

I think we all know the answer. Also, this is the best story ever. What a welcome home gift to get upon my return from vacation.

And my love for Pat Kiernan has, ahem, swelled to new highs given his coverage of this saga on "In the Papers." Last week he noted that one local paper had "grabbed hold of this story and will not let go"; this morning he told viewers to take note of the preponderance of Weiner jokes.

Elsewhere in this morning's ITP, he laid on the sarcasm, pointing out a story on how the “normally shy Donald trump to give us a glimpse of how rich and successful he is." (I forget the point of the story; I think he's offering tours of his private jet or something.)

Anyway, I am happy to be home. I missed you, Pat and NY1!

Bloomberg gets pissy with journos again

Oh, Bloomberg.

So I follow many NY1 reporters on Twitter, including the excellent Josh Robin. He tweeted this today:

"Glad DN picked up @mikebloomberg slapdown of my question on s'way cellfones yesterday. Hizzoner disputed presence of panhandlers."

I'm guessing this means he was the reporter referred to in this New York Daily News story about how Bloomie responded to a question about panhandling on subways. He rather unbelievably claimed that there are not many panhandlers on subways anymore. Even worse, Azi Paybarah, who covers politics for the New York Observer, tweeted the following: "Bloomie told a journo "Asked about panhandling comment, @mikebloomberg tells journo "I've been riding sunways longer than you've been [alive]."

Now, this is not a comment on Bloomberg's mayorial skills (I made that word up). It's about how he appears to treat reporters, which is in an extremely condescending fashion, as far as I can tell. He's done this sort of thing before. This from a guy who founded a media company. Come on, Bloomie!

I'm back!

Apologies, dear reader, for being off the grid. I was in Paris for work last week, followed by a weekend in London for fun. And while I had a blast, let me tell you, I REALLY missed not being able to watch NY1’s coverage of the Bin Laden takedown. I had to make do with the BBC, which was actually quite balanced and did not make me want to yell at the TV for its portrayal of Americans (as I frequently did when I lived in the UK).

ANYHOO. I’m back, and delighted as ever to have NY1 back in my life. The highlight this morning was Pat’s imitation of Mariah Carey’s unfortunately named child, Moroccan (that’s right, Moroccan. Not even Morocco, for god’s sake!) during “In the Papers”. He was reading the speech bubble of a cartoon that suggested the child wanted to stay in utero rather than deal with that ridiculous appellation.

Mariah is far from alone in her desire to give her kid a moronic moniker. The list of celebrity baby names is littered with such gems as “Moxie Crimefighter,” “Audio Science,” “Bronx Mowgli” and “Jor El.”

Which makes me think. My flight back from Paris happened to connect in Reyjavik, where I picked up an English language Icelandic newspaper. That’s where I learned that parents in Iceland have to submit their proposed baby names to some kind of government board for approval (that’s a bit of a simplification of the process, but that’s the gist of it). Yes, that sounds a bit Draconian and nanny state-ish, but judging by the names above, it just may not be the worst idea in the world.

Also this morning: Did anyone else CRINGE at Dean Meminger’s recitation of the testimony of the cop on trial from allegedly raping a woman? He was just reading it verbatim, but when he said the words “buttock area” and “freaky”, I just about died.

That is all for now. Go out and enjoy the spring! And don’t name your baby Moroccan!