2004 Word of the Year

My first annual "Word of the Year" Award goes to.... (turn on your audio)"douchebag". Although it has been in existence for years, its recurring use in the media has been much to my amusement. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show used this word most effectively e.g. "Robert Novak--the douchebag of liberty." and the show also awarded Novak the Congressional Medal of Douchebaggery. It is with great pleasure that I give "douchebag" my first annual "Word of the Year".

Monet

You know that line from the movie Clueless about people's looks in relationship to the works of artist Monet?

Tai: Do you think she's pretty?
Cher: No, she's a full-on Monet.
Tai: What's a monet?
Cher: It's like a painting, see? From far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess.

The following news story is a living example of the above. In China, they held the Plastic Surgery Pageant where a 22 year old with cheek implants won the big prize. Use the link provided, read the story and then click on the photo---yikes!! Just nasty. Those cheeks will become part of her labia in another 10 years. There was a great article in Entertainment Weekly recently regarding major actresses whose plastic surgery is ruining their ability to get decent parts. The work they've had done distracts too much from the potential role. To make matters worse, a lot of these dopes are queens of denial. Case in point, 41 year old Nicollette Sheridan told EW's sister publication People in the Dec. 20 2004 issue that rumors of lifts to her face, eyes, and brow are "malicous and patently false". Her longtime friend and Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan examined her face and backed up her story by explaining that her more angular look is due to aging. What?! Just own up to it already.

The following has nothing to do with the above but in the spirit of the holidays, here's a gift to you. Someone has put together freely accessible Saturday Night Live transcripts. The site allows you to search for guests and characters. "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood" was always a favorite sketch.

It's beginning to look a lot like Grimace...

I woke up this a.m. and realized that Christmas is only a week away!
Things have been funky at the workstead as of late. I'm a public librarian and our funding was endangered. Long story short, some of it was restored but not all resulting in an 11% staffing reduction. A lot of people at my location were either let go or reduced to part-time with benefits in hopes of retirements creating openings for those on the callback list. I feel very badly for these people. I was fortunate enough to keep my job but next year looks equally glum for library service. The public system has 52 libraries now but I guarantee there will be fewer in 2006. There are a number of people who are against consolidation. I hate to say it but these folks have a mentality that rhymes with light rash. They don't understand that economically, the System as it exists cannot survive. Their position is based on emotion and nostalgia with no research to back themselves up. In these trying economic times, feelings are easily crushed in favor of reality.

Anyway, with the up and down rollercoaster I've been riding, Christmas shopping was done cautiously as I feared the unenjoyment line. I guess now I can get to my regularly scheduled programming.

Much to my dismay, I found out that the ACLU is having privacy issues. The New York Times reports that the organization charged with defending civil liberties plans on using data mining to get a read on its membership's financial wealth. I'm deeply disappointed. Earlier this year, the ACLU registered for a federal charity drive that required it to certify that it would not knowingly employ people whose names were on government terrorism watch lists. Later they withdrew from this effort and joined other non-profits in a suit to contest the watch list agreement.

Pay for access programming is ubiquitous for television and now for radio courtesy of satellite radio but there are still some good freebies online. Check out
Air America for shows from Mike Molloy who is very entertaining. He's living in dangerous times being a southern based liberal who espouses some interesting conspiracy theories.

I miss hockey...

plain and simple. Most Buffalo peeps are down with football, but not me. I tried. Even when da Bills were in the Stupor Bowls. I had little to no interest. Football on TV is too stop and go for me. Hockey is where it's at--fast paced and always a chance for a throwdown. The season has been put on hold since the players and the NHL can't agree on new contract terms. Today marks day 88 of the lockout. However, there may be some movement on Tuesday as the players have submitted a new proposal that includes rollbacks on salaries. In the meantime, I'm seriously jonesing. No Hockey Night in Canada and no brawls. The closest I got was basketbrawl with the Pistons and the Pacers. I started trolling the Internet in search of hockey fight video and came up with some good ones. Here's a classic brawl from this past season. My hockey hero Rob Ray led the way by mixing it up with Philly's Donald Brashear. When all was said and done, the refs handed out 419 minutes in penalties (in one game) to an assortment of players, an NHL record. Check it out here!
This same site,which promotes itself as "tasteless humor for the unemployed", has a fight reel set to some cool music.
Big ups to hockeyfights.com one of my favorite sites. Let's hope Christmas comes early for hockey fans.

Arise Sir Loin of Beef

Decided to surf the Internet rather than get to a lot of other things that I should. I usually find something interesting or amusing. I wanted to find out if the public library owns vol. 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection. I needed further bibliographic information since I wasn't having any luck in the catalog. I found the second volume and discovered that some of the toons listed were old favorites. For example "Broomstick Bunny", "I Love to Singa"--the latter had me trying to figure out lyrics. A little searching around paid off in the form of Looney Laughs, Lists, and Lyrics. A great site for cartoon trivia buffs. The lyrics page is impressive with words to the basic Looney Tune themes and obscure songs like "Gorilla My Dreams" and "Hillbilly Hare". A favorite link is the celebs appearing for real or as a caricature. Check it out and "Arise Sir Ossis of Liver..."

Ho 4 Ratings

The Sharon Reed story came to my attention about a week ago. Posters on the Howard Stern Bulletin Board were talking about some newsanchor who took part in a Spencer Tunick production and aired it as a new story. Tunick is the artist who uses nude models and interesting locations across the globe for his photographic canvass. As of late, and perhaps all along, he looks for volunteers. He offers them a photo of the final product as their "pay". He did this in Buffalo at the old Central Terminal. Nonetheless, it looks like his artistic endeavors have been exploited by some cheesy news operation in Cleveland, OH. If you look at this Web site, the shots on the right side of the page are in black and white, leading me to believe that an undercover camera was used. If I'm not mistaken, Tunick is very much against media exploitation of his shoots. In my eyes, Ms. Reed and Channel 19 News misused his work for their ratings. Reed is attractive. I wonder if her news director would have sent her out if she were older and 30 pounds overweight? I doubt it.
Long gone is journalistic integrity. It used to be a basic principle of the profession to report a story *not* become part of it. If Ms. Reed would have done this on her own time--just because she really wanted to--I'd have no problem with her participation. They took advantage of a legitimate artistic endeavor so Joe Six Pack can just beat it during November sweeps.
A much older story came to my attention courtesy of the folks at awfulplasticsurgery.com and it ties in with the one above. A Youngstown, Ohio anchorwoman while vacationing in Key West in 2003 participated in wet t-shirt contest. Cameras were rolling and with a few clicks her performance became part of the Internet.
Catherine Bosley ended up resigning 8 months later. She should've kept her clothes on as she's not very attractive and has a lousy boob job. However, she wasn't reporting and theoretically it shouldn't have been anybody's business. Unfortunately, the WWW has made the world smaller and more voyeuristic. Bosley went on to work for a lame classic rock station in Youngstown. What's wrong with anchorwomen in Ohio? Are things a little too boring?
Happy Turkey Day!

Plastic Scurgery

Thanks to "Fry" (who's celebrating her birthday), I just wasted some serious time online by checking out celeb plastic surgery gone wrong. Nasty! They had some skank ho named Tara Reid as today's featured train wreck. I didn't know who she was so I googled. She is an actress who apparently let a bubbie pop at a P.Diddy party. The link provided offers a great photo sequence. My favorite is the shot of some lackey telling her to pull up her dress after a full 10 seconds had gone by. She probably let it hang for so long because she couldn't feel it. Her new bubbies feature a nasty nip scar. What a coked up retard!
This time waster led me to another interesting site. I know it's way past Halloween but check out the scary media.

Throwdown!!

I've been jonesing in a big way for some hockey brawls. Looks like I'll have to start watching basketbrawl instead. Last night's Pacers/Pistons game turned into a melee after someone was fouled. A fight started on the floor but fans became involved by pelting players with garbage. Players went into the stands and if you really need to know what happened...click here You can also find it on ESPN but those Disney owned douches want you to download some viewing device so they can spy on your computer. Anyway, there will be plenty of lawsuits to go around after this incident. First off, security wasn't in the house. In this age of wear-your-Depends-because-the-terrorists-are-coming-to-get-you and a rent-a-cop couldn't be found! And what's the deal with the fat ass fans thinking they're going to out brawl a big ass pro basketball dude?! You know they'll be suing because they need a bling hook-up. Whatever.
This is kind of old news but it makes me laugh. If you want to see Jack Mehoffer of Bill O'Reilly prank fame, here's your chance. You gotta love ebaum's world!

illin'

I'm about to call in sick, I must look hypocritical as I'm at the computer but put it this way, I shouldn't be too far from the bathroom.

I can't believe this country voted for Bush. While on vacation, I had the opportunity to read The Corporation : the Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan. This is the book that formed the basis for the documentary by the same name. It's a great read, it reinforces the points in the movie. The bottom line, with no pun intended, is that coporations exist solely to make money. That's fine but my big problem is these corporations act like they have a social conscience. Meanwhile, they're scamming consumers and the workers from the third world big time. Corporate Watch is an excellent site for tracking the public relations bullshit of major businesses. I also read what turned out to be an excellent "companion" book, The New Media Monopoly,7th edition by Ben H. Bagdikian. This title lays out the corporate ties found in American media. Appalling. I find it incredible that the majority of U.S. citizens are so sheep-like. As long as they can get their Crackdonald's and their SUV's, it's all good.

humor

I'm back afte a long absence and an equally long vacation. More on the latter, later as it is late, I'm tired, and I have to return to the j-o-b early tomorrow morning.

Anyway, I haven't been online for awhile. I've been catching up and found some funny stuff in blogland. For example, a complete trashing of cheesy New York Times wedding announcements. Veiled Conceit offers a sarcastic look at pretentious New York peeps who seem well suited for life in the burbs with their SUV and lots of strip mall shopping.

Scorched Earth

I've been away from this blog due to a business related trip. Unfortunately, I didn't have Internet access while I was gone. Upon my return, I learned that 3/4ths of the public library's budget could be cut due to a $130 million dollar deficit at the County level. If you live in the Buffalo/Erie County area, and you care about library service contact your lawmakers and ask them to maintain funding. Without this money, all branches will close by January 1, 2005 and service will be extremely reduced. This area cannot afford to be without libraries. They are the cornerstone of a community. By providing free access to information they are part of the foundation of democracy.

Earlier this evening, attorneys for Bill O'Reilly and Andrea Mackris, his accuser in the sexual harassment lawsuit, met but a settlement is not likely to happen any time soon.

My search for news on this front lead me to fellow blogger Bill O'Falafel of The Falafel Factor who made up a hilarious graphic that
uses references made in the complaint filed against him.

Finally check out The O'Sexxxy Factor a 5 minute movie courtesy of Jim Gilliam who co-produced Outfoxed and Uncovered: the War on Iraq. Gilliam splices together various references to sex used by Bill O'Reilly on The Factor. God, I hate the name of that show. Howard Stern aptly changed it to The O'Reilly Fear Factor in light of the allegations that clown is facing.

Shut Up!

Check out this new parody song that uses the infamous Bill O'Reilly "shut up". Very clever! Look on the left side under "Listen to the Politinix" and click on "Shut up".

"Fry", a good friend of mine, happened to catch an excellent show about Dick Cheney on the CBC. Unbeknownst to me, Cheney had his own DWI issues.

fact checking

Major party Vice Presidential candidates Dick Cheney and John Edwards went toe-to-toe the other night in what was a fairly medicore debate. Edwards was much more camera friendly and had the cojones to bring up Halliburton . Cheney tried to show his Web savvy by pointing viewers/listeners to a fact checking Web site that would prove Edwards' accusations against him incorrect. Fackcheck.com pointed users to anti Bush financier George Soros. I learned yesterday that Soros was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Insert evil laugh here. I was familiar with the Web site that he was talking about but could've sworn it was a .org site. Here's the correct site. Regrettably, that site didn't have good things to say about either one of them. However, it wasn't as harsh on Edwards as it was on Cheney.
On a fairly unrelated note, Howard Stern is going to Sirius satellite radio in 2006. No real surprise considering his Bulletin Board has Sirius advertising on it. Terrestrial radio is the pits and has been for quite some time. This will be a good move for Howard if he can keep Congress from regulating pay services such as satellite TV and products like HBO. He might be just what Sirius needs to gain subscribers. Will I subscribe? The jury is still out on that. Local radio is so bad that I might have to. I just hate the thought of adding onto my satellite, broadband, and cell phone bills. It's not that much money but still...
While searching for the above Howard Stern related links, I found a great "soundboard". If only I were a teen again...the celebrity prank phone calls page is a riot! You can listen to calls composed of soundbites or go to a celebrity's "soundboard" so you can construct your own prank. Love it! The only drawback is that Howard Stern wannabees from all over use this in an effort to be "creative". Maybe I will cough up for satellite radio...

Documentary

I've been a fan of documentary films for a long time. In the last couple of years the genre has been receiving the notice that it deserves. In large part, fans have Michael Moore to thank whether or not they agree with how he accomplishes his goals. Nonetheless, before I dozed off last night I had a chance to watch Persons of Interest, a documentary which is airing on the Sundance Channel. They're airing a lot of other interesting documentaries this month, check it out! Persons addresses people who were arrested in the days following 9/11. More than 5000 were deemed "persons of interest" by the U.S. Department of Justice. 12 detainees and some of their family members talk to the filmmakers about mistreatment, denial of legal counsel, and deportation. This was a consequence of a skittish U.S. population that was willing to assist authorities in profiling efforts. The first person they spoke to was Salem Jaffar who apparently was turned in on 9/13/01 by Burger King employees in Depew, NY which is a suburb about 15 miles outside of Buffalo, NY. I live in the Buffalo area and didn't recall hearing about this case. Maybe because the local media doesn't do its job? The Lackawanna Six case was broken by the New York Times if I'm not mistaken. It's sad that I have to watch a documentary to find out what happened in my own backyard *3 years ago*!

Why?

I forgot to mention this in my last post but there seems to be a new "media disease". Case in point, Jon Stewart of the Daily Show spoke to Rudy Giuliani and Wesley Clark following the first Presidential Debate. It was a live shot from Coral Gables, Florida. Behind Giuliani and Clark you could see young people milling about and dialing their cell phones. If they reached someone, they'd look at the camera and either wave or make "born to hand jive" motions at the camera. I realize that live TV is just that and a lot of things can happen. However, are people such media whores that they have to phone home when they're near a camera? Reality TV has done us in. Anything for airtime!

Indecision 2004

The Daily Show did a post wrap-up on the first Presidential debate. It was hilarious. It's too bad the real news people couldn't do some truly insightful analysis. The ratings success of Fox News has inspired the big 3 networks to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Remember when Bill O'Reilly was on the tabloid entertainment news program Inside Edition? Didn't Deborah Norville appear on that show, too?
Thank God Kerry came out swinging on last night's debate. I'm not a big fan of his but at least he has a brain and is articulate. I watched the debate on CSPAN. It is the true fair and balanced choice because they just show things the way they are. Without any spin or glossy reporters to interrupt the message. Watching Bush was like watching the Fox News Channel. Right winged and repetitious.

I'm baaack!

Not that anyone missed me. Long story short, I joined the 21st century with a new computer purchase and a DSL line. My old computer was 6 years old and dial-up was entirely too frustrating.
I just returned from NY city. Queens actually which is a lot like the city of Buffalo. Think of the opening and closing footage on All in the Family and you get the idea. My friend Mike is trying to return to the Buffalo area so I thought we'd have one last hurrah before he packed it in. We took the Staten Island Ferry and actually saw NYS Attorney General Elliot Spitzer on board. I was impressed because I didn't think the politicos traveled amongst the little people. Maybe he wouldn't be such a bad gubernatorial candidate . We headed to one of Manhattan's best known liberal areas Union Square and checked out the big Barnes and Noble bookstore. We were fortunate enough to catch Pulitizer Prize winning author Art Spiegelman speak about his latest book In the Shadow of No Towers. I just started reading this title which is sort of like a board book for adults. It deals with the author's experience in the days following 911. He lives near the WTC and his kids attended schools nearby. He intermingled recent history with characters from old school comics. It was an interesting presentation--he has a great sense of humor. I also had a chance to check out the Queensborough Public Library's Central location. They had an exhibition of Zelda Fitzgerald's art work. Much of it done while she was institutionalized. Queensborough does so much with not a lot. I hope all who live there know how fortunate they are to have the Library.
On a parting note, The Daily Show refuted claims that its viewers are nothing but stoner slackers. These tongue and cheek remarks were made by Fox News nazi Bill O'Reily. An AP story says that Daily Show viewers are more educated than O'Reilly viewers. Yes, I used a Canadian source but what can I say? Where I'm from we're practically Canadian. Is anybody else as bummed as I am about the lack of a hockey season?

update

I've been on vacation and I'm suffering from a back problem so between the two I haven't had much time to post. Vacation took me to Toronto, Canada. It was nice to be away.

Upon my return, I learned that my satellite provider is carrying "Democracy Now" via Link TV. I'm really happy about this because I can only hear this show on a local a.m. radio station. It airs at 8 a.m. and I'm usually on my way to work. This wouldn't be a problem if I had a working car radio. Anyway, host Amy Goodman talked to the creator of a new documentary that exposes Fox News for the evil that it is. Outfoxed sounds like a much needed look at lousy mainstream media.

On a related note, Michael Moore is answering critics of his film Farenheit 911 by providing factual back up. This is a good move because he makes a lot of charges but it's impossible to provide footnotes in a movie. Thank God for the Internet.

p.s.

I forgot to mention I actually had a little sunburn on my shoulders. Egad! Bahflo (as the natives say) actually had a nice sunny day. I would've added that earlier but I was (still am) caffeine challenge. Seacrest out!

Recap

Yesterday turned out to be a great day. My friend Paul and I went to the Albright Knox and saw the Rodin exhibit. It wasn't too crowded much to our surprise. It's the last week-end for the show and big crowds can be a problem. However, this wasn't a more pedestrian show (e.g. Monet)which tends to bring everyone and their brother at the last minute. The exhibit was good--I didn't know too much about Rodin but I managed to pick up a few tidbits. I don't care for the Gallery's new arrangement. It seems like things were moved to mark the presence of a new director. The Gallery owns several Rodin pieces but relegated them away from the Rodin exhibit which made no sense. They should have used them as an opportunity to capitalize on the permanent collection. Don't I sound like an art fag?
Paul and I hit the Elmwood strip and visited 20th Century Modern which had a few fun pieces of furniture. Nothing really struck Paul's fancy. I dragged him into Mondo Video which is a few doors down. A friend's boyfriend owns this store which carries obscure and hard to find films along with a healthy porn collection. Clerk Wheaze told us that the female wrestler videos are a hot selling item--yikes. I thought about borrowing "Deep Throat" because I've never seen it but settled on a documentary about the Plaster Caster group. Close enough I guess.
Paul and I met our friend Dexter in Allentown which is always a fun place to hang out. We had food and drinks at the Allentown Hardware Company or something like that, can't remember its exact name. It's like a small slice of Brooklyn in Buffalo. Allen St. itself has really picked up in the last year or so. Anyway, had an amazing watermelon and feta salad--it sounds gross but it was delish. Watermelon is in season and the balsamic vinaigrette took it over the top.
Today promises to be busy much to my surprise. I usually don't do much on holiday week-ends...

Good Morning Bahflo

I took a personal day from work so I can kick it with one of best friends. We're going to the Albright Knox Art Gallery for the Rodin exhibit.
I'm listening to Howard Stern as I finish my bagel and orange juice. I can't believe Richard Christy won Stuttering John's job. Of all the contestants he seemed rather dull. I realize that Yucko the Clown while amusing had some serious b.o. problems. I'll give Richard a chance, I suppose. Now if the HS show would just get rid of that gay "Restless,Restless" song. They're having a contest for the best version (country, r&b, etc.).The lyrics are lame and co-writer Vinnie can't sing. The worst part is it sticks in your head. UGH!