i found this video on youtube and discovered a really awesome musician/comedian. the guy's name is Tim Minchin and you should check out some of his other performances on the net. they're not to be missed.
i love this video because it's such a great way to talk about an important but really boring issue- using canvas bags instead of plastic. at itsyournature.org, we're always trying to make people aware, but it's hard to get folks to remember the basics and make being green a part of their day to day lives. maybe we just need to write more pop songs. this track is so damn catchy that anyone who hears it will find themselves humming "take your canvas bags to the supermarket" over and over again.
and that's gotta count for something. watch and laugh. (give it a good minute... wait for it.)
2.02.2008
taking heads
There was an odd exchange on CNN the other day.
CNN "Open House" host Gerri Willis was discussing the economy and joked with anchor Kyra Phillips that if she could predict the stock market, she and Phillips could run off to an island, prompting Phillips' co-anchor, Don Lemon, to ask not to be left out of the girls' getaway. This resulted in the following exchange:
Gerri: Alright Don, you come too.
Kyra: We could bring him along with the girls.
Gerri: Come on!
Kyra: He's paying! Thanks, Gerri.
Don: A little sandwich!
Kyra: Ooh!
Gerri: Whoa, I have to go now!
Kyra: Yeah, good time. You don't want to talk about the reverse oreo!
Willis was obviously embarrassed by Phillips' joke, though Lemon seemed to enjoy it, laughing out loud and announcing, "Oh, she said it! I'm glad she said it."
No one seemed particularly angered by the joke. Actually, everyone involved quite enjoyed it. Now, I hate to come off like some kind of Puritan, but my question is: Was it appropriate? This is the news (yeah... "news") and I can't help but feel like the people delivering it should have some sense of decorum when it comes to interacting with each other.
I remember in the early nineties watching CNN and feeling like I was really watching journalists at work. Even the anchors seemed somewhat invested in what they were saying, occasionally reviewing their notes and spontaneously changing up the way they imparted information (This could be seen most obviously by anchors on Headline News who had to recite the same loop every ten minutes.) Now, they just stare at that damn TelePrompTer and say the exact same thing over and over again. Watching Headline News for too long is like a bad acid trip. It's just impossible that these people aren't robots. I think "How can they be reading this text and saying these words yet again with such precision blandness?"
Watch CNN midmorning and you'll experience the saccharine coma of Christi Paul- a bobbing blonde head styled to within an inch of her life. Whether it's a fatal car crash or a feel-good story about found puppies, her tone never really changes. If you watch her for long enough, you begin to go numb. And just when you start to take her seriously, she'll say something like "Welcome back friends. I am so happy y'all are spending the morning with me." AAAAHHHHH. Shut up and tell me about Obama and Britney already. She does to me Mary Hart did to Kramer on that hilarious episode of Seinfeld.
Here she is in a silk blouse that has apparently been glued to the undersides of her breasts.
Watch CNN in the evening and prepare yourself for the fresh hell of Glenn Beck. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a man who's own opinion of his sense of humor is at such odds with the reality of how genuinely boring he is. The only compelling thing about him is shady sense of humor. He occasionally makes jokes that get you thinking he might have a naked girl trapped in a well beneath his basement. This guy is like your best friend from high school's creepy new stepdad who just can't stop trying so hard to be accepted.
What has happened to the televised news industry? Is it just me or does every anchor seem like a failed actress or male model from a J.C. Penney catalog? Who are these castrated automatons? How can so many bloated egos lack any distinguishing character definition? Where do these people come from? Do they have broadcasting backgrounds? And...
Why do any of them think it's okay to refer a fellow black coanchor as part of an Oreo?
CNN "Open House" host Gerri Willis was discussing the economy and joked with anchor Kyra Phillips that if she could predict the stock market, she and Phillips could run off to an island, prompting Phillips' co-anchor, Don Lemon, to ask not to be left out of the girls' getaway. This resulted in the following exchange:
Gerri: Alright Don, you come too.
Kyra: We could bring him along with the girls.
Gerri: Come on!
Kyra: He's paying! Thanks, Gerri.
Don: A little sandwich!
Kyra: Ooh!
Gerri: Whoa, I have to go now!
Kyra: Yeah, good time. You don't want to talk about the reverse oreo!
Willis was obviously embarrassed by Phillips' joke, though Lemon seemed to enjoy it, laughing out loud and announcing, "Oh, she said it! I'm glad she said it."
No one seemed particularly angered by the joke. Actually, everyone involved quite enjoyed it. Now, I hate to come off like some kind of Puritan, but my question is: Was it appropriate? This is the news (yeah... "news") and I can't help but feel like the people delivering it should have some sense of decorum when it comes to interacting with each other.
I remember in the early nineties watching CNN and feeling like I was really watching journalists at work. Even the anchors seemed somewhat invested in what they were saying, occasionally reviewing their notes and spontaneously changing up the way they imparted information (This could be seen most obviously by anchors on Headline News who had to recite the same loop every ten minutes.) Now, they just stare at that damn TelePrompTer and say the exact same thing over and over again. Watching Headline News for too long is like a bad acid trip. It's just impossible that these people aren't robots. I think "How can they be reading this text and saying these words yet again with such precision blandness?"
Watch CNN midmorning and you'll experience the saccharine coma of Christi Paul- a bobbing blonde head styled to within an inch of her life. Whether it's a fatal car crash or a feel-good story about found puppies, her tone never really changes. If you watch her for long enough, you begin to go numb. And just when you start to take her seriously, she'll say something like "Welcome back friends. I am so happy y'all are spending the morning with me." AAAAHHHHH. Shut up and tell me about Obama and Britney already. She does to me Mary Hart did to Kramer on that hilarious episode of Seinfeld.
Here she is in a silk blouse that has apparently been glued to the undersides of her breasts.
Watch CNN in the evening and prepare yourself for the fresh hell of Glenn Beck. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a man who's own opinion of his sense of humor is at such odds with the reality of how genuinely boring he is. The only compelling thing about him is shady sense of humor. He occasionally makes jokes that get you thinking he might have a naked girl trapped in a well beneath his basement. This guy is like your best friend from high school's creepy new stepdad who just can't stop trying so hard to be accepted.
What has happened to the televised news industry? Is it just me or does every anchor seem like a failed actress or male model from a J.C. Penney catalog? Who are these castrated automatons? How can so many bloated egos lack any distinguishing character definition? Where do these people come from? Do they have broadcasting backgrounds? And...
Why do any of them think it's okay to refer a fellow black coanchor as part of an Oreo?
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