Thursday, May 12, 2005

Now that Jon Stewart has given people permission to talk about the early failings of efforts to wed blogs with TV news, the subject is getting some attention. That's good -- some of us have been discussing the problem for a while. Blogs promise depth, breadth, and personality. Somebody on TV -- or some blogger -- is going to figure out how to harnass some of that power. Meanwhile, Chris Nolan says part of the problem is money, or lack thereof: "When Big Media TV guys get roundups of what's going on on-line for free – in other words work without pay – they're really cheapening the work we're doing here. That's a trend that ought to be stopped now." She's right. 8:14:18 PM   permalink   comment []

"I now know why many good people will not run for office in Guilford County." Sue on the latest fiasco engineered by the Guilford County commissioners: "I had expected the commissioners to apologize for trying Jenks Crayton in public and in the press when they learned of the complete exoneration of malfeasance from the NC Department of Revenue report. After all, that'd be the right thing to do, don't you think? Like I said, this was my political deflowering. 'The right thing' doesn't happen to often in GC politics, I'm learning." Inside Scoop has audio of a heated discussion between Crayton's lawyer, Seth Cohen, and commissioner Bruce Davis, later joined by Linda Shaw and Billy Yow. Doug Clark has more: "Maybe Crayton's the one who should get the trip to Hawaii instead of his accusers." 7:54:46 PM   permalink   comment []

USA Today reports on military bloggers. 3:01:39 PM   permalink   comment []

I feel a little sorry for George Lucas, who can't seem to help making joyless boring movies and has to know that the LOTR cycle flushed him from the pantheon by demonstrating the superiority of Tolkien as a fantasy writer and Jackson as a fantasy filmmaker. While I wouldn't go as far as Dale Peck in saying "There has not, in fact, been a good Star Wars movie since the first one," (I would not go as far as Peck in saying a lot of things) it seems safe to assume that this final movie will be pretty awful. Peck's nukage of The Revenge of the Sith in the NY Observer (via Gerry Canavan) follows John Podhoretz calling it "unbelievably bad," although Podhoretz had more to say about movie critics than the movie itself. Glenn Reynolds has linked to some more positive comments. I'll probably have to go see it. 2:48:13 PM   permalink   comment []

Reuters: "A suicide car bomb exploded near a market in Baghdad on Thursday, killing 12 people in the latest in a frenzy of guerrilla attacks that that have killed 400 since a new government promising stability was named two weeks ago." John Tierney: move along folks, nothing to see here. It's just a "photo opportunity," a "media strategy." Suggestion for Tierney's next column: "I missed the story of a concerted effort to destabilize the new goverment by means of a massive terror campaign, and I am very, very sorry." 8:51:05 AM   permalink   comment []

We can debate the ethics of picking on so easy a target as Michael Medved...but this is just funny. 8:38:44 AM   permalink   comment []

He's kidding, right? 8:37:01 AM   permalink   comment []

Last night's ALS fundraiser looks to have been a big success. Several hundred people packed a ballroom at the Koury Center. John Feinstein seemed happy to be in ACC country, where everyone would get his jokes about Dean Smith, Coach K, and Valvano, and his story about Bruce Edwards hit home with a lot of people in that room. Plus the food was good, which always helps. A nice moment for Greensboro and a good cause served. 8:36:05 AM   permalink   comment []

Allen Johnson posts his house rules for blog comments. Same rules apply here, except you can cuss. I think the software requires you to leave a name and an email address, that's not my choice, you can fake those if you please. Allen doesn't say what happens at his place if you fail to get your facts straight, but here you will usually get: correction/discussion, then, if that doesn't work, derision, and finally you will just be ignored. And you don't have to stay on topic, as long as you are interesting. Short version: there are no rules. 8:23:49 AM   permalink   comment []