Friday, October 15, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Fantasy Films Friday
Okay, so, here's the deal. If you have a twitter acct - every Friday you come up w/some awesome films/film names you'd like to make/see made. They can be a clever play-on-words or just an all-around awesome ideer. You tag it with #FantasyFilmsFriday. See my #FantasyFilmsFriday Twitter posts for examples. GO!GO!GO!
Click here to see what I'm sayin'!
NOTE: scroll slightly down the page to see #FantasyFilmsFriday examples
Click here to see what I'm sayin'!
NOTE: scroll slightly down the page to see #FantasyFilmsFriday examples
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Good and Evil Sisters of Journalism
This entry is brought to you by yet another example of Responsible Journalism beset by her ugly step-sister, Unethical Reporting. You might have heard by now about Oklahoma Republican Senator Steve Russell authoring a bill to opt Oklahoma out of the federal law protecting people from hate crimes based on, among other things, their gender and sexual orientations. In other words, he was voting to take hate crime protection away from the GLBT community. That story on that can be found here.
That in and of itself is straight up ridikulus ("ri-dik-uh-luss") but, to take matters from abominable to comical, Senator "Gays are the New Necrophiles" Russell mislabeled the statutes in the bill and actually took hate crimes protection away from people based on their religion, not sexual orientation. The story, broken by Oklahoma Daily reporter Ricky Maranon in late March of this year, can be found here.
There's the most rudimentary version of the background on my rant.
National GLBT newspaper The Advocate published an oddly similar version of Ricky's story just six days later. Ricky received credit for breaking this story from both other local and national news sources that followed up on it. However, The Advocate reporter Michelle Garcia used an unattributed quote Ricky said came directly from his story - "a legislative error". Except for the last paragraph and quote, her entire report reads like a summary of Ricky's original yet nowhere in Garcia's story does she give him one bit of credit, either for breaking it or for the information he said she took from it. You can read the stories and be your own judge but, since this is a blog, I will go on record as saying that it looks to me like some Grand Theft Byline went down on Michelle Garcia's part.
You can read Ricky's Cease and Desist letter to The Advocate for further explanation on the background and exactly why/how he believes Mrs. Garcia done messed up.
That in and of itself is straight up ridikulus ("ri-dik-uh-luss") but, to take matters from abominable to comical, Senator "Gays are the New Necrophiles" Russell mislabeled the statutes in the bill and actually took hate crimes protection away from people based on their religion, not sexual orientation. The story, broken by Oklahoma Daily reporter Ricky Maranon in late March of this year, can be found here.
There's the most rudimentary version of the background on my rant.
National GLBT newspaper The Advocate published an oddly similar version of Ricky's story just six days later. Ricky received credit for breaking this story from both other local and national news sources that followed up on it. However, The Advocate reporter Michelle Garcia used an unattributed quote Ricky said came directly from his story - "a legislative error". Except for the last paragraph and quote, her entire report reads like a summary of Ricky's original yet nowhere in Garcia's story does she give him one bit of credit, either for breaking it or for the information he said she took from it. You can read the stories and be your own judge but, since this is a blog, I will go on record as saying that it looks to me like some Grand Theft Byline went down on Michelle Garcia's part.
You can read Ricky's Cease and Desist letter to The Advocate for further explanation on the background and exactly why/how he believes Mrs. Garcia done messed up.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Dear Ignorants,
America is not, nor has it ever been, a Christian nation. The very idea of this country basing itself on any one religion is so erroneously against the purpose of its founders' original intent that to call it unconstitutional should be a job left solely to Captain Obvious. That said, if you oppose the building of the Islamic community center and mosque in New York, you do so only on the grounds of personal dislike for another religion. There is no standard of patriotism grounding your arguments. Washington, Franklin and Hancock are not only on the other side of the debate from you but thanks to your falsely arguing in the name of nationalism, they're setting world records for the number of consecutive rollovers done in a grave.
That was (mostly) fact. This is opinion backed by fact:
Building an Islamic community center is more than appropriate. It's essential. Although many, including myself, have explained this before, it bears repeating that the extremist attacks on 9-11 are not representative of the majority of moslems in this world and especially not in America. For conservatives, especially Christians, to act as though other religions exist only for the purpose of war-mongering against their God and country is not only ignorant, it's hypocritical. Lest we forget, Christianity has a long, and I do mean loooong history of immoral, ungodly violence acted out in the name of God. See: The Crusades (1096-1270 a.d.), the Catholic church's conquering, I mean, converting of South America's natives. The list goes on but not here.
Despite its blood-muddled history, many still think of Christianity as the peaceful standard by which our government should make its every move. This causes Christians to act as though any other faith is not just a direct threat to their religion but to their country. John Locke called for the separation of church and state with good reason. It was to keep jingoists like Sarah Palin from associating their personal, unconstitutional beliefs and bigotries with the rest of this country. If you feel moslems should not enjoy the same freedoms you do, fine. That's your opinion. It's a terrible one but it's yours all the same. Running around screaming it at the top of your lungs while waving an American flag doesn't make it patriotic. Just idiotic.
::edit::
8-5-2010
Despite Eric Rothwell's implications to the contrary, Michael Moore did not write this blog entry. Also, yes, it is extremely opinionated and is not riddled with facts. It's based around one central fact and the rest is just me ranting sharing my thoughts and yes, feelings on the subject. Also, Kristin Frosco says I'm right.
That was (mostly) fact. This is opinion backed by fact:
Building an Islamic community center is more than appropriate. It's essential. Although many, including myself, have explained this before, it bears repeating that the extremist attacks on 9-11 are not representative of the majority of moslems in this world and especially not in America. For conservatives, especially Christians, to act as though other religions exist only for the purpose of war-mongering against their God and country is not only ignorant, it's hypocritical. Lest we forget, Christianity has a long, and I do mean loooong history of immoral, ungodly violence acted out in the name of God. See: The Crusades (1096-1270 a.d.), the Catholic church's conquering, I mean, converting of South America's natives. The list goes on but not here.
Despite its blood-muddled history, many still think of Christianity as the peaceful standard by which our government should make its every move. This causes Christians to act as though any other faith is not just a direct threat to their religion but to their country. John Locke called for the separation of church and state with good reason. It was to keep jingoists like Sarah Palin from associating their personal, unconstitutional beliefs and bigotries with the rest of this country. If you feel moslems should not enjoy the same freedoms you do, fine. That's your opinion. It's a terrible one but it's yours all the same. Running around screaming it at the top of your lungs while waving an American flag doesn't make it patriotic. Just idiotic.
::edit::
8-5-2010
Despite Eric Rothwell's implications to the contrary, Michael Moore did not write this blog entry. Also, yes, it is extremely opinionated and is not riddled with facts. It's based around one central fact and the rest is just me ranting sharing my thoughts and yes, feelings on the subject. Also, Kristin Frosco says I'm right.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
When Asthma Attacks, Metaphorically Speaking
[originally written for The Vista]
“Cash rules everything around me. C.R.E.AM. – get the money. Dolla dolla bill, ya’ll.”
- Wu-Tang Clan
The rain has finally died down from a throaty roar to a lethargic, haphazard drizzle. The wind has picked up a little but not enough sweep away the wet, week-old grass clippings still sprawled in clumps across my yard. It’s hard to remain mad or even cynical on a beautifully overcast day like this. But somehow I manage to press on in the face of such adversity to find another gripe I’d like to bring to your attention.
This week’s ramble concerns a subject that has nagged at me for a while now. “Nagged” is really too subtle a word. Poked, pricked, hen-pecked and incessantly rat-a-tat-tatted at the soft spot in the back of my head – where the skull curves down to meet the spine – is more like it.
We college students are born and bred to focus on one thing more than any other in this entire universe – our future. At the beginning of the Fall 2009 semester I was convinced I had an early leg up on mine. A friend and I had started a company in an up-and-coming field and we knew we were destined for success. Despite my best intentions, at almost exactly 12 a.m. April 6, 2010 – my 23rd birthday – I found myself telling my friend-and-business-partner that he could take the company name, equipment, debt and every last bit of the its future and do with it what he pleased.
There are many reasons why I left but they pale more than an albino with a hangover in comparison to the causa de facto. I had become so tautly wrapped up in this company so that I could achieve my dictionary definition of success that I had completely lost sight of the world around me. The whole idea behind this company was that my friend and I were creative people and we would combine our collective creativities to make one heaping helping of success.
Yet, the more I focused on the business and making it profitable, the less I found myself able to create anything worthwhile. Trying to conjure up even the smallest amount of inspiration was like trying to pull a tooth from Great White Shark with my bare hands. The harder I pulled, the more bloody and painful it became till I had severed every last muscle and tendon and no longer had the strength to even grip the damned thing.
From an outsider’s perspective, I am now where so many college students end up after graduation – waiting tables and selling bone marrow on the black market to pay bills, with no definite job prospects and no guaranteed track to success. Then again, if the past few years and this hellride of an economy taught us anything, it’s that there’s no such thing as guaranteed success.
Why then do we wrap achievement like a chain around our necks and anchor it to this Everest-sized mountain we call our future? The more you struggle to pull that massive mount along, the tighter your chain will squeeze till it suffocates the very life out of you.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t strive to attain our goals. I mean, that’s why we’re in college, right? Study hard and work hard but for chrissakes, don’t enslave yourself to some terrible standard of accomplishment that keeps you from everything else in your life.
As for me, I have ambitious, perhaps even lofty plans for the future. For now, I’m as content as a restless mind can be waiting tables and writing verbose ramblings for your student newspaper. Most importantly, I’ve taken that chain of achievement from around my neck and hold it firmly in my hands. I haven’t breathed this easy in months.
“Cash rules everything around me. C.R.E.AM. – get the money. Dolla dolla bill, ya’ll.”
- Wu-Tang Clan
The rain has finally died down from a throaty roar to a lethargic, haphazard drizzle. The wind has picked up a little but not enough sweep away the wet, week-old grass clippings still sprawled in clumps across my yard. It’s hard to remain mad or even cynical on a beautifully overcast day like this. But somehow I manage to press on in the face of such adversity to find another gripe I’d like to bring to your attention.
This week’s ramble concerns a subject that has nagged at me for a while now. “Nagged” is really too subtle a word. Poked, pricked, hen-pecked and incessantly rat-a-tat-tatted at the soft spot in the back of my head – where the skull curves down to meet the spine – is more like it.
We college students are born and bred to focus on one thing more than any other in this entire universe – our future. At the beginning of the Fall 2009 semester I was convinced I had an early leg up on mine. A friend and I had started a company in an up-and-coming field and we knew we were destined for success. Despite my best intentions, at almost exactly 12 a.m. April 6, 2010 – my 23rd birthday – I found myself telling my friend-and-business-partner that he could take the company name, equipment, debt and every last bit of the its future and do with it what he pleased.
There are many reasons why I left but they pale more than an albino with a hangover in comparison to the causa de facto. I had become so tautly wrapped up in this company so that I could achieve my dictionary definition of success that I had completely lost sight of the world around me. The whole idea behind this company was that my friend and I were creative people and we would combine our collective creativities to make one heaping helping of success.
Yet, the more I focused on the business and making it profitable, the less I found myself able to create anything worthwhile. Trying to conjure up even the smallest amount of inspiration was like trying to pull a tooth from Great White Shark with my bare hands. The harder I pulled, the more bloody and painful it became till I had severed every last muscle and tendon and no longer had the strength to even grip the damned thing.
From an outsider’s perspective, I am now where so many college students end up after graduation – waiting tables and selling bone marrow on the black market to pay bills, with no definite job prospects and no guaranteed track to success. Then again, if the past few years and this hellride of an economy taught us anything, it’s that there’s no such thing as guaranteed success.
Why then do we wrap achievement like a chain around our necks and anchor it to this Everest-sized mountain we call our future? The more you struggle to pull that massive mount along, the tighter your chain will squeeze till it suffocates the very life out of you.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t strive to attain our goals. I mean, that’s why we’re in college, right? Study hard and work hard but for chrissakes, don’t enslave yourself to some terrible standard of accomplishment that keeps you from everything else in your life.
As for me, I have ambitious, perhaps even lofty plans for the future. For now, I’m as content as a restless mind can be waiting tables and writing verbose ramblings for your student newspaper. Most importantly, I’ve taken that chain of achievement from around my neck and hold it firmly in my hands. I haven’t breathed this easy in months.
Friday, May 7, 2010
An open letter to my King Kongressman
You told me
To follow my dreams
But in my sleep
All I can see
Your teeth
Grinning like knives
Back at me
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
