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Saturday, September 07, 2002
It's so wrong, it's right
Well it looks like Salon had the same idea I had, given I had and still have some strange reactions and feelings about 9/11. And a First Person account in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution does reflect more people's views about this than you might believe. Hopefully this will be one of very few posts on the subject as the anniversary approaches.
First, the "proper" reactions: I was stunned by the whole thing, and knew it would be absolutely crazy at the office, if not for us, but for the rest of the company. There was lots of confusion whether we should've been there at work or gone home. I was worried for friends and relatives in New York and Washington that day but got word reasonably quickly that everyone was OK, and that I was fine as well. I ate up the CNN coverage, and being very impressed with new superstar hires Aaron Brown and Paula Zahn stepping up big time in their first considerable time on air for the network. I was very curious to see what non-news cable networks were doing that day (switching to other news feeds, altering schedules, going off the air or status quo). I was doing a lot of thinking about how the media was covering the day -- although from the perspective of covering a true disaster, as opposed to all the causes, etc. that would come up later (and is/was good or bad, depending on your point of view. The book of newspaper front pages from 9/11 and 9/12 by the Poynter Institute is an amazing collection.
Now the "improper" reactions: I was thinking of all those people who hate New York who might've rejoiced in seeing the towers attacked and seeing something bad happen to the city. (That attitude probably comes from dealing with anti-New York fans, especially those against the Yankees.)
-- Thinking how many people not living in New York would've cared less about the attacks (and having that indignant "Nooo York City???" bit from the Pace Picante ads swirling in my head). The fact that three of the planes originated in places other than New York probably debunked some of that.
-- All of those people screaming about a New York bias in the media (tangentially related to the anti-New York sports stuff): The instant images generated by local news helicopters, plus the dispatching of tons of reporters trying to get the many facets of the events that day doesn't happen in most places. Obviously everyone felt the impact of the events in some way or another, but the depth and urgency was felt a lot more because, oh yeah, it happened in the main base of the media. (Compare that to Oklahoma City, for instance.) Somewhat related to the New York media bias -- How come New York is getting all of this attention? What about the folks at the Pentagon or those who died in central Pennsylvania? Damn New York bias again.
I guess a lot of my reaction comes down to this: Many people despise New York in some way because of the power it wields over the rest of the country in different ways. And yet everyone seemed to run to its aid and give its sympathy (and continue to do so today) after the attacks. Hmm, this could be a lot like unhappy employees rallying around a tyranical boss after he suffers a heart attack or some other major illness/injury and then still kissing up to him when he returns, even though he's pretty much the same SOB he's always been.
posted at 3:00 AM
I'm always finding new and different things with my cable that actually please me (although if I had my way, I'd probably have done satellite by now). In this case, it's the expansion of the digital music channels at the end of the dial. They've actually spun off the '80s channel into a separate New Wave channel, which really rocks (although I guess it depends on how much you really want to hear The Smiths, Depeche Mode, etc.). They've also got the Party Favorites channel, which I suppose is just more mainstream dance-pop/hip-hop songs.
I'll admit I'm a product of commercial radio, although I'll also agree most of it today does stink, so it's fun to find other outlets that are still somewhat mainstream yet slightly off the beaten path. That my explain why one of my favorite radio programs is Organic X, which airs Sunday mornings on the local alt-rock station here. It's definitely softer than what normal alt-rock stations usually play, although they'll pluck out some of the "lighter" current hits, but has enough of an eclectic edge to it to make it something out of the ordinary, even for an "alternative" station.
posted at 1:10 AM
I wonder if Charles Oakley would be proud of this setup job in California, especially when you consider the most important parts of this story are buried at the bottom -- almost like a surprise ending in a movie.
posted at 12:53 AM
Thursday, September 05, 2002
I won't pass too much judgment on Brits who can't spell because us Americans have problems doing so as well. When you read enough stuff, especially online, you come across some things that are down right annoying. So here are a few things that I come across a lot which are WRONG WRONG WRONG:
-- That championship game in the NFL is the Super Bowl. It says so on the ticket, program, etc. Not Superbowl. It ain't the game of steel, although there could be Steelers if you're lucky. The game got its name partly because of those other football bowl games like the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, etc.
-- Those things that Barry Bonds hits a lot of are home runs (two words). When contracted, they become homers (one word). Sure it's hard to figure out with the abbreviations and all.
-- When you don't win, you lose a game. You might play loose in losing the game. You can't loose anything, you can loosen something, though.
-- There is no such word as definately. You definitely need to check your spelling if you use definately in your writing. Think of it this way, have you heard of a defination of a word?
posted at 11:38 PM
How a nondescript night becomes ridiculous
As a bunch of us returned to work from our annual office fantasy football draft, we get smacked in the face with a couple of big-time games that no one would've expected to draw much attention months ago. First off, the U.S. basketball team showed it is vulnerable after losing to Argentina. Baron Davis even admitted not taking them seriously. You have to wonder if USA Basketball will rethink its use of NBA stars, especially when many of the true superstars weren't there. Of course, the Americans could bounce back in the knockout round and absolutely clobber everyone now that they're mad (or should be).
As for that A's streak, it was impressive seeing them pile up the runs early, and just as astonishing seeing the Royals bounce back to come back from an 11-run lead. But to quote Alyson, an unabashed Royals fan, "They'll find a way to lose it." And they did it most dramatic fashion, although it was very spooky to see everyone pretty much expect Oakland pull it out in the bottom of the ninth after letting Kansas City tie it. You've got to wonder, though, if Billy Koch will blow up in the postseason with some of those blown saves and late-inning flare-ups that would eventually lead to the late dramatics. As much as it would be neat to see the A's set the major-league record (and there's a long way to go), you've got to think it ends during one of those games in Minnesota. Besides, despite this huge streak, Oakland still has a brutal schedule down the stretch.This only serves to keep them in the pennant race.
posted at 2:08 AM
Baaaa...
When it comes to all of this blog and blog accessory stuff -- like the new guestmap on the left nav -- we're all just sheep. I saw the idea on Craig's site, then didn't follow up until Kristin did the copycat thing. And among all of the quizbowl folk, you could trace a family tree (or maybe it's a chronology) of blogs -- who started it when and who inspired others to start their own. It's fascinating and yet somewhat demented and sad.
posted at 1:26 AM
Monday, September 02, 2002
A co-worker brought this up when talking about Distant Replays and the number of rap artists wearing vintage jerseys, hats featuring old logos, etc. How many of these guys actually know and/or appreciate what they're wearing or do they have them because they look cool? Hopefully there are some old-school basketball or baseball fans among them that can at least appreciate the kitschiness of some of these uniforms/logos or at least are familiar with the uniform of the player they're wearing. Honestly, do you think Bow Wow really knows about the SuperSonics and the hat he was wearing on Leno the other day?
I suppose all of this old-school stuff is much like all the rockers and rappers wearing hockey jerseys back in the day, which then spawned such abysmal products as hockey jerseys with the Yankees and Lakers logos. I guess in a few years, we'll see some artists wearing XFL stuff without any irony.
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