SBUX provides free Wi-Fi

To be sure, offering free wi-fi is pretty cool. But damn, is it really THAT newsworthy? Seems like all the SBUX PR folks have to do is burp out a press release and it gets picked up everywhere.

Rich Lowry to Sarah Palin: SCHWING!

Just when you think things couldn't get any more ridiculous, we got his from the National Review (emphasis mine):

A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It's one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O'Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it.

Gross.


Photo lifted from here.

John McCain and the Making of a Financial Crisis

This weekend was a pretty disgusting weekend in the McCain campaign, with Sarah Palin accusing Obama of "palling around with terrorists," citing a New York Times article that did not corroborate this part of her argument, oddly enough. Essentially the meme, if you will, is that Obama is being judged by the company that he keeps; that he is guilty by association.

If they want go there, then I suggest you look at this list that Steve Benen (formerly of The Carpetbagger Report and now Political Animal at the Washington Monthly) has compiled of McCain's nefarious relationships, for your information.

Just saying.

And let's not forget that McCain was directly involved in the whole Savings & Loan debacle of the late 80s:

Once upon a time, a politician took campaign contributions and favors from a friendly constituent who happened to run a savings and loan association. The contributions were generous: They came to about $200,000 in today's dollars, and on top of that there were several free vacations for the politician and his family, along with private jet trips and other perks. The politician voted repeatedly against congressional efforts to tighten regulation of S&Ls, and in 1987, when he learned that his constituent's S&L was the target of a federal investigation, he met with regulators in an effort to get them to back off.

That politician was John McCain, and his generous friend was Charles Keating, head of Lincoln Savings & Loan. While he was courting McCain and other senators and urging them to oppose tougher regulation of S&Ls, Keating was also investing his depositors' federally insured savings in risky ventures. When those lost money, Keating tried to hide the losses from regulators by inducing his customers to switch from insured accounts to uninsured (and worthless) bonds issued by Lincoln's near-bankrupt parent company. In 1989, it went belly up -- and more than 20,000 Lincoln customers saw their savings vanish.

Keating went to prison, and McCain's Senate career almost ended. Together with the rest of the so-called Keating Five -- Sens. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), John Glenn (D-Ohio), Don Riegle (D-Mich.) and Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), all of whom had also accepted large donations from Keating and intervened on his behalf -- McCain was investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee and ultimately reprimanded for "poor judgment."

But the savings and loan crisis mushroomed. Eventually, the government spent about $125 billion in taxpayer dollars to bail out hundreds of failed S&Ls that, like Keating's, fell victim to a combination of private-sector greed and the "poor judgment" of politicians like McCain.

The $125 billion seems like small change compared to the $700-billion price tag for the Bush administration's proposed Wall Street bailout. But the root causes of both crises are the same: a lethal mix of deregulation and greed.

As a result of his involvement, McCain was formally reprimanded by the Senate Ethics Committee for being guilty of public misconduct.

The point here, as Steve says, is that we could go all day playing, "Who knows more shitty people," but with the election coming up in less than a month, I'm more interested in knowing what the candidates can do for me. Are you going to make the streets safer? Are you going to fix the economy? If I want to buy a house next year, will it be impossible for me to get a mortgage?

I've had to sit through eight years of fearmongering, idiocy, and intellectual vacuousness. It's time to get down to brass tacks and fix this country.

The Obama campaign launched a short documentary today on John "Keating Five" McCain at KeatingEconomics.com. Take a few minutes to watch it.

History repeats itself

I gotta hand it to the GOP-mouthpiece, FOX "news" and their uncanny ability to stay on message while in attack mode. For YEARS.

I'm not here to make friends

The ever-brilliant Rich at FourFour has compiled a montage of your favorite reality-show cliche (and mine), the ol' "I'm not here to make friends":



What's missing is a montage of clips of these brilliant Masters of the Obvious who feel the need to remind us every so often that what we are watching is, in fact, a competition. I would be as happy as a little girl to see that.

Scott McClellan Tattles on Bush

I always thought that the repugnant look on Scott McClellan's face was an outward manifestation of his disdain for his job, and now I think I was right. By now, you all know that he just came out with a book that basically confirms that he was a a hack to the highest degree.

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" and "downplaying the major reason for going to war."

McClellan includes the charges in a 341-page book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," that delivers a harsh look at the White House and the man he served for close to a decade. He describes Bush as demonstrating a "lack of inquisitiveness," says the White House operated in "permanent campaign" mode, and admits to having been deceived by some in the president's inner circle about the leak of a CIA operative's name.

In true form, the White House responded by dismissing McClellan as a disgruntled employee.

Why am I not surprised?

Man, I hate when former Dubya employees keep their mouths shut until after they leave the White House, then write a tell-all book about how screwed up things really are under this administration.

Rachel Ray, Terrorist Supporter

Look. I make no secret about my disdain for Rachel "EVOO" Ray. But COME THE FUCK ON, people:

Does Dunkin' Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men. Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin' Donuts boycott.

"The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad," Malkin yowls in her syndicated column. "Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant and not-so-ignorant fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons."

The company at first pooh-poohed the complaints, claiming the black-and-white wrap was not a keffiyeh. But the right-wing drumbeat on the blogosphere continued and by yesterday, Dunkin' Donuts decided it'd be easier just to yank the ad. Said the suits in a statement:

"In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial."

So what was the fashion faux pas that sent Michelle Malkin and those of her ilk in a tizzy? Behold:



I grow weary of all this hysterical, over-the-top jingoism. Next thing you know, these people will be clamoring for flag-pin-wearing checkpoints set up all over the nation.

(Photo credit: Boston.com)

Sunday Morning WTF

Heidi Montag was invited to the White House Correspondents gala. What?

Cavemen

We truly live in interesting times, my friends.

A TV show inspired by a series of commercials?

Apparently the folks at ABC love the Geico "It's so easy a caveman can do it" series of ads that they built a "high-profile sitcom" around it.

Geico says they have no control over the show's content, but I don't see them complaining about what is essentially a 30-minute ad for their insurance. Nor do other insurers like Aflac, State Farm, et al, who aren't exactly rushing to buy ad time.

Aaah, the power of the brand.

My expectation about "Cavemen" is that, like everything else, the network will manage to screw it up somehow and rob the cavemen of all of the existential irony that makes those ads so funny.

It's nice to be noticed.

Like many bloggers, I check my blog stats religiously. Sometimes a few times a day.

One reader stopped by today from a link from this site.

Apparently Figure magazine is looking to feature a female blogger who:
* [Has] a sense of humor
* Love[s] fashion and have an eye for makeup
* Love[s] celebrities
* [Is] pro-full figure
* [Is] all about real life

That's totally me, y'all.

I don't know who nominated me, but it's pretty flattering to know that someone enjoyed my blog enough to include me for consideration.

I don't know if there's a voting process, but if you enjoy my humble corner of the blogosphere, won't you drop these kind people a line and tell them so?

NYT to Bush: End This War

In an editorial this morning:

It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.

[...]

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have used demagoguery and fear to quell Americans’ demands for an end to this war. They say withdrawing will create bloodshed and chaos and encourage terrorists. Actually, all of that has already happened — the result of this unnecessary invasion and the incompetent management of this war.

This country faces a choice. We can go on allowing Mr. Bush to drag out this war without end or purpose. Or we can insist that American troops are withdrawn as quickly and safely as we can manage — with as much effort as possible to stop the chaos from spreading.

Click here to read it in its entirety.

Attention, Kwik-E-Mart Shoppers

From a blogger's perspective, I'm kicking myself for not writing about this earlier, because I found out about this marketing/advertising tactic for The Simpsons movie a week or so before news broke. Oh well. Redemption comes in the form of color digital photos, so here they go. Keep in mind that the Kwik-E-Mart, by nature, is a small store, so if you've done some Googling about this subject already, you're not going to see anything new here. But, indulge me, why don't you:

As you go north on Shoreline Blvd., you can see the exterior of the
Kwik-E-Mart from the street. Yes, I got excited.

Apu --- or, I should say, a life-size cutout of Apu --- greets you as you walk in the door. Please believe I took a picture of me and Apu, but I'm not posting that here! Instead, look at these empty shelves where the Buzz cola and Krusty O's are supposed to be; an indicator of how crazy the buzz has been about these stores (a fresh supply arrives tomorrow, y'all):

The sign apologizing for the lack of merchandise reads, "Please forgive!"

Heh heh. Comic Book Guy's posted up near the men's magazines.

This is why I love fans of The Simpsons: As I was standing in front of the donut case taking photos (and trying to resist the urge of eating them), this guy behind me sniffed and said, "It's not even the right shade of pink." Heh heh. Nerd.

I would have taken more pictures, had I not felt like a complete tool taking pictures inside a 7-Eleven. It was bad enough that I posed for a picture with the Apu cutout. Although, the fact that there were about eight other people doing the same thing made it slightly less painful. But still. I own my nerdiness, but it's not always easy being me, people.

From a professional perspective, whoever came up with this idea should get a fat raise. As you walk through the store, looking for all the Simpsons tie-ins, you can't help but marvel at the attention to detail: Even the screen at the register says "Welcome to the Kwik-E-Mart." I hope this campaign generates the kind of buzz they're looking for, because this is a pretty brilliant idea. My only criticism is that they should have had at least one more in northern California. Like, say, the one down the street from me.

If any of you check it out tomorrow, get me a box of Krusty O's, wouldja?


Oh, and the folks at work should get a kick out of this:



Oh, by the way, there's a blog about the Kwik-E-Marts. My hunch it was started by the folks behind this entire marketing/advertising scheme.

Do you have love for New York?

New York (Tiffany Pollard, above) dumped Tango (Patrick Hunter) to make way for another season of our favorite train wreck, "I Love New York" on VH1.

Look. They even put out a casting call on Craigslist. Keep it real, yo!

UPDATE 5/1: Word around the campfire is that New York and Crazy Mofo Sister Patterson aren't even related. Is nothing sacred out there in reality TV land?

Don't answer that.

(Props to A Socialite's Life for the info.)

If it bleeds, it leads

Take a look at this picture. Do you find it offensive?

Some may argue that the reportage element to this photo is offensive.

Others might be offended at the amount of blood is in this photo.

Still others might be offended at the sight of the gunshot wound.

And then there are some who are offended because they say that they see the wounded man’s penis in the photo.

This photo was published in the Roanoke Times on April 17.

Almost immediately, newspaper readers began to debate the image. A message board devoted to the Detroit Free Press sparked a debate the next morning over whether the picture actually showed genitalia. The Hartford Courant was bombarded with complaints, many of which reader representative Karen Hunter posted online.

"You are showing his penis right on the front page," one Courant reader complained to Hunter. "I think that's disgusting.... I think you should have blocked it out or something."

Over at the New York Post, editors anticipated that exact response. The Post ran the picture big and in color, but cloned out the flesh-colored shape protruding from the student's lap. Across town, the archrival Daily News ran the picture unedited.

People edited the photo, while its sister magazine Time ran the picture unedited.

You’ve got to be kidding me. More than thirty people were killed, and you’re worried that this dude’s dong is showing? Why are you looking so closely at the photo anyway?

Look. Humankind, in all its glory, is as much bloody, gory, dirty, smelly, pus filled, and evil as it is beautiful, loving, flowery and brilliant. But to get up in arms about whether or not you see his penis in the photo (I'm still not even convinced that's what it is), to focus on it and then call it "disgusting," is missing the point altogether.

And it's not like the newspaper published this photo out of some prurient motivation. "If it bleeds, it leads," as they say. Get your heads out of the gutter.

(Photo credit: Alan Kim/The Roanoake Times)

For crying out loud.

I knew there was a reason why I rarely, if ever, watched anything on CBS. It's run by a bunch of morons. Check out this latest example:

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel obtained a letter from "Saturday Early Show" senior producer Michael Rosen to Broward Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin, who presided over the Anna Nicole Smith case. In the letter, Rosen expresses interest in having Seidlin join the "Saturday Early Show."

"I have been extremely impressed by your compassion in the Anna Nicole case and I would love to discuss with you the idea of being our judge on a new segment, `Morning Justice,'" wrote Rosen. "It would be a semi-regular segment in which you would resolve the ethical and legal questions of our viewers who send in the issues troubling them."

What the hell?

I love Erykah Badu

Erykah and daughter Puma (whose father is Outkast's Andre 3000), in the February/March issue of Heart & Soul.


(Photo by Bode Helm, link courtesy of Crunk + Disorderly.)

The real meaning behind Michelle Malkin

I don’t really write much about Michelle Malkin because I never get to see her on TV, but I’ve read a bit on some of the outrageous comments she’s made in the past. I could never get how this woman has gotten so famous. She’s like the Filipino Ann Coulter.



But now, it all makes sense to me.

malkin (MO-kin, MAL-kin) noun
1. An untidy woman; a slattern.
2. A scarecrow or a grotesque effigy.
3. A mop made of a bundle or rags fastened to a stick.
4. A cat.
5. A hare.
[From Middle English Malkyn (little Molly), diminutive of the name Maud or Molly/Mary.]
A related word is grimalkin, referring to an old female cat or an ill-tempered old woman.
-Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org)

Let the Photoshop fun begin.



(Courtesy of Wordsmith’s A Word a Day.)

Mirror, mirror, on the blog ...

The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications (my alma mater - ugh, don't even get me started) seeks to honor excellence in media industry reporting with the "Mirror Awards."

And despite the fact that work published on blogs can be included for consideration, Dean Rubin doesn't even read them.

mediabistro.com: How do you think blogs have affected journalism at-large, and the Syracuse program specifically?

Rubin: The question isn't 'What are we teaching students about blogging?' It's 'What are students teaching us?' We discuss blogging in the very first freshman class, the first day. Many of our students come in with blogging experience, if they're not bloggers themselves. We discuss particularly how you have a chance to be noticed because you blog — it doesn't mean you will be noticed. But if you have style, or write well, or have something unique to say, you have a chance.

mediabistro.com: What types of media do you consume daily?

Rubin: The New York Times, in print, The Wall Street Journal, in print and online, Syracuse Post Standard, NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. If I get home in time I'll watch the CBS evening news — I'm warming up for Katie. Then later I watch MSNBC's Keith Olbermann — he's the best writer in broadcasting, very, very entertaining.

mediabistro.com: What about blogs?

Rubin: No. People will send me things and point me to them, but I just don't have enough time.

Whatevs, man.

A top-ranked j-school would be remiss to ignore blogging and the effect it's had on traditional media, so I'm glad that at least Newhouse is including them for consideration. But c'mon, Rubin. Get with the program, yo.

Anyhoo. My friend E over at Soft Pretzel Love has an intersting take that's worth a read.

Help this girl get laid, so we can go on with our lives

Jane Magazine is on a mission to get Sarah laid. This 29-year-old blonde Manhattanite hopes to lose her virginity by the time she turns 30.



Why does this bother me? Where to begin?

Sure, statistically speaking Sarah may be an outlier when it comes to losing her virginity, but the fact that Jane Magazine is hyping up this campaign just sends the wrong message --- that staying a virgin in your late 20's is weird. Or that something's wrong with you if you haven't had sex yet, like you're some cringing violet or something:

When Sarah first e-mailed me, I thought she'd be the type of girl whose voice is so hesitant, you have to read her lips to figure out what she's saying. What I didn't expect was a tall blond with a nice rack who performs stand-up comedy at open-mic nights. Still, some people have a hard time believing there could be a Jane reader who hasn't found someone to do it with.

And while the magazine's target audience is young women with an average age of 28, to be honest, I thought this was a competitor to Teen Vogue. And if I had that impression, I'm sure there are others who thought the same. And you just know that they'll splash headlines like "Oddities: The 29-Year-Old Virgin!" on the cover to boost spur-of-the-moment sales at the checkstand. So, while shopping with mom, Barely Legal-Teens Ashley and Buffy might glance up from their Sidekicks just long enough to see this headline - and if they're virgins too, well, then, the damage is done.

I realize that this Sarah person is an adult, and she may feel like she's ready to take the plunge, so to speak. So then why have a contest that basically leaves your potential First One in the hands of some random magazine readers?

That's just dumb.

At first, I questioned the motives of this young, attractive woman, putting herself out like this, like some crazy skank, but now I'm wondering if this could be a stunt to help promote her blog, The Virgin Chronicles, which is pretty much a blog on Jane Magazine's website, which also leads me to believe that this is a stunt created by Jane Magazine to increase readership. After all, isn't that where it's at in the magazine biz?

And if Sarah - a stand-up comic - approached Jane, is this a stunt concocted to a) self promote and/or b) get material for her stage act?

Either way, forget this chick. Yours Truly is the one who needs to be hooked up, alright?

But what can it do for blogs on the G-list?

I'm looking for a way to increase my humble blog's readership, so I decided to give the Washington Post's sponsored blogroll a try.

According to [the Post's head of interactive sales Jeff] Burkett’s blog, “The idea came to me while reading 'Blogs to Riches' in New York Magazine back in February of this year. The article discussed the fact that it is very hard for bloggers to get noticed. Basically, all of the B-list and C-list bloggers (who may well be very talented) link to the A-list blogs in hope of getting noticed. All this accomplishes is making the A-listers more powerful, while the B’s and C’s stay where they are. It is very hard to break through the clutter.”

The Blogroll process goes like this: A blogger signs their blog up as a candidate for the program. Once a blog has been accepted, a link to it is featured in the Washingtonpost.com’s Sponsored Blogroll index, and a box featuring regularly updated Sponsored Blogroll links appears on the Washingtonpost.com front page. Washington Post sales reps will also contact the blogger and try to connect them with the right Washingtonpost.com advertisers. Both the blogger and the Post split any ad revenue.

They say that they're primarily interested in technology, business, automotive and travel blogs (yawn!), but here's hoping there's someone at the WP who is partial to the occasional political rant, celebrity fluff pieces, intermittent emotional vulnerabilities, and Project Runway recaps.

Ahem.