Tuesday, June 17, 2008

TN Dems Blame Reps & Fox network over Obama perceptions

Dawn TeoDawn Teo:
Fred Hobbs set off a flurry of sound-bites and interest when he was asked why Representative Lincoln Davis was delaying his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama as the party's nominee for President. Clearly part of the problem is that they just plain haven't gotten to know Senator Obama in Tennessee yet, but the fact is, they handed the extremists among their opponents something to run with in a week when most of the truly bad coverage was about McCain (unless you count the backlash against Megyn and Malkin and the "baby mama" debacle, but they aren't running for office.) Going into the weekend the commentators on the right were anxious for any story to chase the Supreme Court Gitmo decision -- and the crisis of faith it represented -- off the headlines, and Lincoln DavisHobbs played Lincoln Davis right into their hands.

The Tennessee Democratic Party issued a statement on Friday that the Tennessee Democratic Party is united behind Obama. On Monday, they published the statement on the front page of their website. The statement also blamed Republicans for the outrageous comments coming from its own party leaders... This is some great reporting from Dawn Teo that gets beyond the sound-bites from last week.

Vanity Fair's BlogOpticon Shows Unbearable Whiteness Of Vanity Fair's Ad Placement

I just saw a link from Nikke Finke's DeadlineHollywood Daily to Vanity Fair's "BlogOpticon" , which has what it considers to be "relevant" and "well-read" blogs.

They've got a good set of blogs divided into four squares on a kind of scale grid. Some of my favs are there, like Valleywag. But you know what kills me, with the exception of Michelle Malkin, who's an Asian Woman but who writes as if she wishes she was a White conservative spinster, there's no other obvious blogger of color and none who are Black.

Now, it's not because there are not blogs out there who are popular and written by people who happen to be Black, like me. But it points to a kind of blind eye to the fact that if a person's Black, and they're blogging, they don't have to write about "Black matters" to be read.

It reminds me of James Woods' line in Oliver Stones' Nixon, where he says "There's that Negro saying Negro things!" Well I think some people expect "Negros" to say "Negro" things, so they can categorize them. And when they don't then they're a "Black Conservative."

How retarded.

How and why this freaking list.. was formed is beyond me and fairness (read on), but it's here. I feel sorry not for me, but for bloggers like Natasha, the East Cost law student -- as of this writing -- who has the wonderful blog "Young Black and Fabulous" about Black celebs. Oh, so you say that's a "Black Blog", well how the hell do you explain "Stuff White People Like?" It's a blog designed to draw White People to read it by making fun of White People. You know, many people don't even know what that term is. Well, what it is are people who don't consider themselves "of color". And that certainly shows up in this Vanity Fair chart.

Makes me wanna puke.

Vanity Fair writes that it's picked the "most influential blogs" -- gimme a freaking break. Ze Frank lost his steam a long time ago. Rocketboom.com is a has-been vlog. Hey it was the first, but let's face it, it's surrounded by a sea of new vlogs that draw viewers, like Renetto on YouTube.

Rocketboom's seen better traffic days, especially around the time the great Amanda Congdon was there. Joanne Colon's run as "Hottest Woman on The Internet" was replaced by a bevy of women in nude photos, like Lindsay Lohan, to fully-clothed female bodybuilder Kristy Hawkins.

And click on Rocketboom.com -- what do you see? A damn pop-up ad for..Vanity Fair. So let me get this straight -- the "most influential blogs" are really just those that have ads regarding Vanity Fair.

If Vanity is "the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others" then Vanity Fair's playing true to form. But it seems to be saying that it's only attractive to White People.

Maybe I'll think twice before laying down money for a VF in the future.

Emily Gould's "Sex And The City" Quote Points To Bay Area



Emily Gould just offered a quote in her blog Emily Magazine, and from the Sex and The City Movie that made me think of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Here's the quote:

“Why does Odysseus stay so long with Circe? And why, having stayed so long, does he finally leave? Why do we always stay too long in relationships we know aren’t good for us? Sometimes there’s a complicated tango of neediness and unavailability going on. Other times, it’s because those relationships are with witches who have turned us into pigs.”


I can't think of a few people I know who fall into this quote as a model, well couples. It seems here it's a kind of weird divide between single and mated -- married or not -- and not happy in either case. It's the total lack of communication, I say. Too many people who don't know how to take off their iPods when it matters most -- and no, that's not when it's not working,

What? Well, my point is that iPod's keep people from hearing things, like police sirens, or bus horns, or someone elses voice. In all cases the person is plainly disconnected. That means they lose the practice of talking. Just plain banter is lost. That forms the basis for good relationships.

Tiger Woods Amazing U.S. Open Performance Forcing Playoff

This has been a most extraordinary three days, and to prove it, we have Tiger Woods amazing come-from-behind-in-pain performance at the U.S. Open Sunday. I missed this because I was watching Tom Brokaw and friends of Tim Russert talk about Tim's contributions and remember the man. But my Mom kept me posted on the exploits of Tiger. This video says it all:

Stan Winston - A Zeitgeist Signpost - Passes at 62

Wow, both Tim Russert and Stan Winston were signposts of the Zeitgeist. And now both are gone from Earth; Winston passed at the age of 62 on Sunday.

As much of a power in his field was Tim Russert, he was matched by Stan Winston's amazing achievements in special effects. I remember Winston's creatures in Jurrasic Park, as well as the famous video where Winston explained how he adjusted to the then-new technology of computer graphics that Director Steven Spielberg wanted to use.

Winston was responsible for the monsters we saw in movies like Alien, ET, and The Terminator. He also worked with Phil Tippet and invented the film technique of "Go Motion" animation.

The video below features Winston discussing the formation of the creatures in Jurrasic Park:



Winston was one of my favorites, and I will miss him. I may even watch Jurrasic Park in his honor this evening.