i realize that last week i was probably unnecessarily harsh on the season premiere of lost, seeing as how everyone else and their grandma regarded it as manna from heaven. and when i watched the repeat tonight, right before the new episode, it definitely seemed better. that said...
for those who didn't already know, courtesy of a link a similarly-obsessed-with-lost classmate, what walt said when shannon saw him in the jungle last week:
"press the button. no button's bad."
(that's what comes out when you play what he actually said on the show in reverse.)
in an hour: the second episode! we finally get to see the fate of the rafters (and a soaking wet sawyer, yay).
yet another thing to consider for the next year or so at medill: should i do the global journalism quarter? it's an optional fifth quarter next fall where you're sent to paris for a couple of weeks for seminars, then sent off to wherever in the world to do 10-12 weeks of reporting for real live newspapers and foreign bureaus (like the AP). there's a rome office...and a london one. not to mention much more exotic locations in south america, asia and africa. but i don't much like exiting my comfort zone, at least not THAT much. i know, i'm a pussy.
cons: it's an extra quarter of tuition.
pros: i'm not paying any tuition for THESE four quarters, so what's a few extra grand?
cons: it'd be that much longer before i'm back on the job market.
pros: but this might be the last time that i can live abroad, again, for the second time. i'm going to be popping out babies before i know it, and they sure as hell won't want to be reporting from prague. unless they are really awesome babies.
cons: it's a program all about enforcing your skills as a regular reporter, and, uh, i know i'm in journalism school, but i really don't want to be a reporter.
pros: paris! rome! london! i can fake it for a while, right?
but seriously, i need help deciding. it's not like i have to know tomorrow, but if you have any input, pass it along.
a brief article about a colloquium headed by my new media advisor. sounds like the stuff he spoke about was more or less the same as what he talked about in a lecture last week entitled "convergence." (i couldn't attend the colloquium today because of classes.)
people always laugh at me when i say shit like we will have electronic handheld newspaper reading devices in a couple of decades and that the print newspaper will be obsolete, BUT IT IS TRUE. give me 20 years and we'll see who's laughing then, print fogey. but first up: most newspapers will transform into tabloid style, a la guardian in england. i speak the bible truth.
i don't know if chicago is really "the vacation city," but i saw that on a vintage-looking poster in a storefront today, so i'm running with it.
anyway: you all are now commanded to come visit me at your earliest convenience. the reason? behold:
THE MIGHTY FUTON!
okay, so that's not really my futon - i stole the image off some web site because i was too lazy to get my camera out and photograph my own - but it looks a lot like it. yeah. i have a futon now! which i put together ALL BY MYSELF. i am exceedingly proud of this fact, because if you know me, you know that it's an effort for me to construct anything more complicated than a 5-years-old-and-under puzzle. but, after letting the enormous delivered futon box sit squarely in the middle of my living room for over a week, i decided last saturday that the beast must be tackled. it was tough, but i did it! even if it did take me three and half episodes of the buffy season two dvd.
so anyway, now my beloved guests have a place to sleep! and catherine did not skimp out on you. when offered a choice of a 6, 8, or 10 inch mattress, which one did i go with? that's right. the luxurious 10. who loves you, baby?
if i were a straight 20-something male, i would be giving myself high fives all over the place.
not only is the ratio of women to men in the program something like 3:1, all the ladies are cute at the least, if not total stunners. and they're from a wide range of places - there are gorgeous women from canada (that exotic foreign land), palestine, india and ireland, just to name a few. the guys? are nice and smart. but to quote james, "the cute ones are usually gay."
another shocking insight: writing newspaper headlines is, like, totally hard. we had a two-hour project on it the other day (though part of it also involved copy editing articles), and my mind was just drawing complete blanks. at first, when i took a glance at a brief article about some chicago building possibly receiving a "chic" makeover, i was like, this is a snap! but then, as i tried to cram the relevant information in a pithy, smart manner within the confines (something like six columns, one line, 48 pt font, 45 counts per line, which is the number of counts alotted to the headline, including letters, punctuation and spaces) i slowly grew more and more despondent. by the end of the entire fucking process i was practically rolling around on the floor tearing my hair out and moaning, "Classic landmark to receive chic update....no, TOO LONG AND MUST MENTION NAME OF BUILDING....Stupid building to receive retarded makeover...sob."
so, yeah. be nice to your local headline writer. their job is harder than it looks. the exception: punny headline writers. i would say you can shoot them on sight.
What's up, Express? I know and like people who work for you, so I'll try to spare you the worst of my righteous internet fury. But you've gotta step your game up.
First: why are there no copies of you at the Mt Vernon Square Metro? All that's in the designated box are a few old copies of El Tiempo Latino. That's not going to do it — I'm already bad enough at the crossword. I emailed you about this, and for a couple of days the problem was fixed. But no longer. I demand free entertainment, dammit!
Second: what's up with the bloglog? This daily ticket to the narcissism lottery (top prize: egomania) is one of the most compelling features you've got. I just think a little more care in selecting the featured excerpts might be good. At the moment we're on a brisk trot toward complete incoherence — I'd estimate about two weeks until an "OMFG!!!" sneaks in. Why not feature some of the big names? They got that way for a reason. It's not like most of your readers will know who, say, Kevin Drum is. Spotlighting the little guy is a nice idea, but not when the little guy is a complete dope.
On the other hand, if this is a subtle tactic by print journalists to defuse the threat they perceive from new media by revealing bloggers to be superficial illiterates... well, good job, then. Carry on.
Finally: the comics. I know the comics in your big brother paper are also terrible. But I truly believe that it doesn't have to be this way. There must be good comics out there. Or maybe you could continue courting your net-savvy twentysomething demo (hi!) and run some webcomics. It's hard to see what the downside would be — today's edition featured a comic that, in addition to having a hilariously unoriginal "he went to a hypnotist and now he thinks he's an animal!" gag, was really badly pixellated. Probably just a print error, I know. Resolving the Quark problems won't make it any funnier, though. It's not your fault, but you can do something about it. Unlike the Post, you can ditch the Garfield and Blondie equivalents in your pages without crotchety geriatrics leaving angry voicemails for Mr. Bradlee. You have the power. Self-actualize! Or something!
the one thing slightly worth reading to come out of my three years of being subscribed to the arts&sciences newsletter at uva. even though it is not original content and is being reproduced from the boston herald, of all places. should i be excited or sad that the newsletter has come to this? next month: a reproduced profile of FAT HEAD LARRY SABATO FROM PEOPLE MAG.
do you know who larry sabato is? did you go to uva? if you answered yes to the first and no to the second, you will never understand my wrath.
