Just what any grieving family needs...

Thanks to Big Orange Michael, I now know that the dishonorable Fred Phelps is paying a visit to our lovely Midstate on Saturday to bring his brand of "protest" to the funerals of two 278th soldiers killed in Iraq a weekend ago. If you don't know who Mr. Phelps is (I refuse to call him "Reverend", because there's nothing about him that is worthy of reverence) here's a good place to read about him. I won't link his website, since I also refuse to give him the satisfaction of anymore website hits from me. I hate very few people on this earth, but he comes the closest of anyone else I can think of.

In his infinite lack of wisdom, radio host Steve Gill wants the Southern Baptist Convention to speak out against Phelps and protest against him on Saturday. First off, Phelps' "congregation" (almost solely made up of the families of 9 of his 13 kids) is Primitive Baptist. To associate his church with the SBC is like saying that the Church of Christ and the Mormon Church are the same thing since they both have "Church of Christ" in their religion's names. Secondly, this would not be a protest against Fred Phelps - this would be a protest against anti-war sentiment. And even if these cretins have chosen the absolute worst place to protest at, they have a right to do it, just like they've had the right to protest at Matthew Shephard's funeral and at countless gay events and organizations without Gill batting an eyelash. And if the SBC even gave Phelps the time of day, they'd be getting him the publicity he craves. If anyone shows up for this idiotic display, I'd be in favor of a response much like they got at the Shephard funeral, where "angels" blocked the protesters from the family's view without a word.

What I want to know is - where can I go to protest both ends of this continuing political hot air? I don't like the war at all, but I'm sick to death of the shouting from both sides. Does anyone truly think that Cindy Sheehan's little sit-in in Crawford is going to bring our troops home? At the same time, does anyone believe that digging up as much dirt as possible on her is going to change anyone's mind? I don't know about anyone else, but this crap isn't debate - this is the equivalent of an internet flame war. I don't want to hear anything else about how each side is eviler than the other. I want a solution. And this ain't the way to get one.

Why am I thinking of breaking news at 11 pm?

Obviously, I'm not a cable-company exec, so I don't know how these deals work. And I'm sure that there aren't a lot of people ready to picket the MetroCenter offices of Comcast because they don't have certain obscure channels on their digital package that other area cable companies who are supposedly far inferior carry. But dammit, I want CNN International! If nothing else, I'd just like it so that I could get live coverage of a 6.8 earthquake in Japan instead of a repeat of NASCAR Night on "Larry King Live".

Plus CNN/I actually has continuing coverage during nighttime (for the US) and weekend hours. CNN-US has just recently figured out that people with hangovers on Saturday morning don't want to hear about how much money they're not making with economics shows, so they're gone, but I did not want to hear about Angelina Jolie's love life all weekend on the same rerun of "People in the News". Plus there are other channels I'd like to see again, like Trio (is it still around?) If I can have five versions of VH-1, can't I have these two? Please?

Better Late Than Never

I was planning to liveblog (or something like it) Friday's Titans preseason game vs. the Bucs. But I ended up falling asleep (hey, it was boring) and then wasn't up to it for the rest of the weekend. But here's the highlights:

- Y'know Eddie George wasn't bad at play-by-play. You could tell it was his first game, because he stumbled at places and exclaimed at others, just like he was cheering his teammates down on the field. But he knew what he was talking about, was able to provide decent play analysis, and had pretty good insight. And it was nice to see the fans give him a standing O when he was announced. It doesn't matter where he ends up in the end - Eddie's gonna be a Titan in Nashville's hearts forever.
- Eddie also did a pretty nice tap-dancing job on the Pacman Jones controversy. I wonder if they send all NFL players to a 1-2 day seminar on how to handle media controversies about other players. In a related vein, it was kinda amusing to hear Floyd Reese and some ESPN guy on the radio pregame saying "Boy's done lost it" without actually saying the words. I've heard Reese talk a lot over the years, and I heard a particular tone in his voice that is pretty rare. If Pacman was listening, he would've done well to start driving up from Florida to camp, because he's just about depleted all the patience that the team has for him.
- Defense: looks better than last year, but that's not saying much. Offense: It's gonna take a few weeks for them to figure out Chow's new system, but McNair looked like he had more breathing room than last year (I swear that wasn't an awful sternum pun.)
- John Dwyer and Cory Curtis looked like the Doublemint Twins. Cute!
- Nothing was more priceless than watching Jon Gruden have a hissy fit when the game went into OT.

In other non-Titans related stuff.
- Courtesy of my BIL, imagery of a plane being hit by lightning (no, no one was hurt.)
- It's weird hearing your mid-childhood favorite song (courtesy of Mom's album collection) for the first time in years on a Bounce commercial. It's "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" by Lesley Gore, and I can guarantee that there's not such a thing as a MP3 of it.

Memeage

Aloha Friday
Do you have any phobias?
I am very much afraid of rats. I'm also not very fond of snakes, but I'll take those any day over rats.

What’s your favorite summer movie so far this year?
"Batman Begins". No Michael, I'm not ripping off your answer.

Spread the spirit of blog aloha & pick someone off your blogroll for us to visit!
Okay, first I'll recommend Michael at Big Orange Michael. But since he also recommended me, I feel obligated to recommend another person also, so I'll point you toward my author friend Elizabeth Donald's new blog, although she doesn't update it enough. *grump*

Friday's Feast
Appetizer
Did you sleep good last night?
Pretty decently, or as well as I ever do (BTW, Lunestra really does make you want to sleep for 8 hours; however, four of those hours are after you have to get up in the morning, so another sleep aid bites the dust.) I had a dream about my own version of "A Girl in the Cafe'".

Soup
What is your current computer desktop image?
Believe it or not, a very gorgeous picture of the Nashville skyline taken by my ex-husband about two years ago. It's gotten so many compliments and requests for copies from coworkers that I hate to take it down. At home, I have a Green Wing screen, because I am still obsessed.

Salad
When was the last time you planted something, what was it and where did it go?
I planted some petunias last year in a garden box out on my tiny patio. They were very pretty. However, someone knocked the planter off of my ledge over the winter and I haven't been able to pick it up with all the soil inside to redo it this year.

Main Course
What's your favorite condiment?
Mustard. The spicier, the better.

Dessert
Share a quote that you like, for whatever reason..
Okay, here's where I'm going to take this to the next level. Earlier today, I wanted to do a "Lyrics Friday" post but didn't get any response, so I took it down. After an outcry from my public (hah!) I'm putting it back up.

And it starts like this we crave to be kissed
by a moment complete in its happiness
Far away from the things that we wish to escape
that lead us to think we are not awake
We are ourselves despite ourselves
this place gets smaller as the universe swells
We come to terms eventually, eventually, eventually.
I am not the only cowboy in this one horse metaphor
And I am not the only life guard who's
washed up on the shore

Now it's your turn to share lyrics. Funny or thoughtful, doesn't matter. Put them in comments.

For the future

Remind me never to harbor fugitives in my apartment, because I sure would hate for my housekeeping skills to be featured on the front page of CNN.com.

My periodic letter to CNN

Dear CNN,

I would like to personally thank you for devoting 1 1/2 hours of breaking news coverage to the wrapup of the Kingston courthouse shootings. I also appreciate that it was actually breaking when you covered it, and not after the fact (read: the last London incident, where we heard "there's reports of unknown incidents in the London Underground" for at least an hour from Nic Robinson while Fox was smoking your ass on the details.) And I'm glad that Aaron Brown was on the desk, because he's at his best during this situation (idea: trade him to ABC to anchor WNT, which tracks an older demographic, and move Anderson Cooper to the 9 CST slot, when young adults might actually want to watch the news. *awaits flames*)

Oh, and "The Situation Room"? Not so much. Why do you have Wolf anchoring that? That would've been a prime place to have Bill Hemmer in to generate some heat with Kyra. But wait, he jumped ship to Fox because you wanted to make him move to D.C. Sorry. But in any case, it's tinkering time. "American Morning" isn't completely unwatchable anymore, so maybe take some lessons there.

In any case, it was nice to see two local and stellar PIO and director types (Jennifer Johnson and Mark Gwyn) get some national airtime on your network tonight. So thanks for stepping it up on this one. And keep it up, please.

Your fan still (although London2 made me waver a bit),
-D

Punkman needs to go

I have been stewing over a post about the Titans' illustrious first-round pick and current holdout for a few days now. But today Big Orange Michael wrote it for me, almost word-for-word. Thanks, Michael!

Just one addition - a response to Pacman's agent's latest statement about his client:

"Adam cares very much about his teammates, and they care about him."

Yeah, there's nothing like (allegedly) picking a fight with the QB's buddy to show you really care. And why in the heck should they care about him? Because he managed to be on the field during a couple of days of minicamp? If he wants his teammates to give a s&*% about him, he needs to grow up and get his butt into training camp.

For every loss, there is hope

Sunday night, Peter Jennings died following a battle against lung cancer. Today, Dana Reeves announced her own battle against the disease. And those are only two of the thousands of stories that could be told in this country, much less worldwide. Most of them stay silent.

I would daresay that everyone reading this has been affected by cancer on some level. My grandfather had prostate cancer and died two years ago of lymphoma. My great-grandmother died of cervical cancer before I was born. My dad has precancerous lesions that are the precursors of the same lymphoma that killed my grandfather. For many others, their losses and battles are more personal. But for others, there are stories of survival.

Yesterday, at the end of one of his stories, one of our reporters mentioned his own battle with cancer - something that none of us in the newsroom knew about. Today when I commended him on his remarks, he told us that he has survived both testicular and lung cancer, and has been cancer-free since 2002. He has been at this station for as long as I have, but had never talked about his previous illness before. Before yesterday, when a journalist whom he admired died of the disease that he'd fought, and he knew it was important to stand up and tell his story.

That's a reminder that for as many people who don't win their own battles against cancer, there are survivors. Just like a lot of the people who die, their names aren't known, but they bear the scars just like the survivors of any war. And as researchers continue to look for treatments and vaccines and other methods to end the fight, more and more people can stand up and say that they are cancer-free. They can stand as examples of where money has saved lives, and will save more. Like, hopefully, Dana Reeve's.

I've worn a LiveStrong bracelet for months, but like most ornaments, it had lost its meaning a bit. Now I plan on making another donation to cancer research and support - not only in memory of Peter Jennings and the other people we've lost, but in support of Mike Browning and the other people who are still around. And I hope that everyone takes this opportunity to learn more about what you can do to make cancer history instead of reality.

LiveStrong
American Cancer Society
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Sarah Cannon Cancer Center
Cancer Research UK
Gilda's Club

Good night, Peter

Peter Jennings lost his battle with lung cancer tonight. It apparently wasn't a shock to his colleagues, but it was to me. When I saw his last broadcast around six months ago, when his voice was hoarse and weak but he was in consumate anchor form, I never thought that would be the end for him. I fully expected for him to be back in that anchor chair again,

Goodbye, Peter. Many of us will never forget what we've learned from you. You were truly one of the people in news that was an example of class, of humility, and for putting the value of truth above all else.

(And on a related-yet-unrelated note, finding this out right after watching Nate's funeral on SFU sucked. There's also been a lot of loss this week elsewhere within my family. Today at church, after lighting a candle for a little girl who died way too soon, I found a poem inside of the "Singing the Living Tradition" hymnal by e.e. cummings. I'm fairly sure this is the correct one. )

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
wich is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Dayum

I always expected Jim Carville to do this, but not Bob Novak. Maybe if this had happened a year ago, Jon Stewart wouldn't have had to bitch out Crossfire for being wusses. And wasn't it a shame that happened just before the interviewer was planning to ask him about the CIA leak. *feigns shock*

Blogging elsewhere today

If anyone reads this who doesn't read Nashville Is Talking regularly, I'm filling in for the resident blogger today. Come over there and tell us what you think.

Random thoughts about the CMA Fan Fest special

- Gee, I've gotta get out more. Somehow I've never seen Rascal Flatts playing down on Lower Broad, much less any of those legends they listed. Weird.
- No fair showing us your nice abs now, Big Kenny. You're off the market. Take the guitar and let John Rich show off his stuff (yes, I have a thing for those guys. No one understands it at the station. I don't understand it.)
- It's rare when there's a song you absolutely hate, but another singer sells it to you. Wynonna did that with that "I Could Only Imagine", which was formerly on my list of must-switch-stations songs. But she did it quite nicely. However, I switched over to Rock Star: INXS a short time later and discovered that the same approach doesn't work for Creed songs, which I will always hate, no matter if their lead singer is no longer over-emoting it.
- The whole segment with Alan Jackson and the NYPD firemen was one of the nicest things of the whole night. I've always liked Alan because he's "just folks" and doesn't pretend otherwise, and him meeting the firefighters was just real.
-Who was that blonde chick on after Dierks Bentley? Never seen her and probably never will again.
- Dierks has one of those faces that looks like a dozen guys from your hometown, paired with the curls of a angelic blonde toddler. He's also kinda my neighbor, since he apparently lives on a boat on Percy Priest. Dierks, if you ever run outta sugar or flour and need to borrow some from a neighbor, lemme know...
- The girl who would choose Rodney Carrington over Kenny Chesney needs some new glasses. I didn't even remember who he was till he reminded us he has a show on the network...
- Not sure what I think about Gretchen Wilson's new single yet. But I have that reaction to her in general. She grows on me slowly, like kudzu.
- It's very strange to be watching this show at the same time as "Rock Star: INXS". Kinda like walking from a honky-tonk to a goth club.

Over the river and through the woods, to Ikea we go

This weekend went quite a bit differently than planned. Suddenly around noon Saturday, instead of attending the Preds fan party, I ended up on I-65 headed south, on my way to hook up with my sister K. and her husband J.T. Because they had decided to go visit Ikea.

Because this is a question that I've had to answer more than once today, Ikea is a chain store that's owned by an extremely wealthy Swedish man. They are known for their very cheap, very stylish furniture, but to call it a furniture store is not enough. It's a Swedish Target + Bed, Bath & Beyond on steroids (sorry, Rafe.) And there are only a limited number of them in the U.S. Before the past couple of months, the closest one was in Chicago. The one that me and K. had been before was near D.C. Now there are Ikeas in Atlanta and St. Louis. Road trip!

However, the expedition to Ikea-Atlanta became an adventure of its own before we even hit their city limits. That's because K. and J.T. are househunting for a place near K.'s new job in Huntsville, so they figured that cutting across Huntsville, driving down to Anniston and then hitting the interstate there would be a good shortcut. Maybe it is in theory, but we encountered a lot more of something I'd forgotten about - the Bad Alabama Driver.

If you're reading this and happen to be in or from Alabama, don't be offended. I'm sure that there are plenty of people in the state who are excellent drivers. I also know there are bad drivers everywhere - I've probably driven in at least half of the states in the U.S., and have spent signifigant amounts of time driving in LA, NYC and Chicago. But something about Bad Alabama Drivers make them a special breed. Never in one place have I been stuck behind more motorists who think the left lane is the slow lane. Never have I seen more guys in pickup trucks who refuse to let you pass, even if they're inclined to drive five miles below the speed limit. And never, ever have I seen more people who haven't figured out that nice lever to the left of the steering wheel is a turn signal, and that you should use it before making turns. Not to mention you should slow down at the same time.

After about four hours and a stop for Dramamine, we finally crossed over the state line and soon arrived at our destination, only to find that everyone in three states who said, "That new Ikea's going to be a madhouse when it opens, so I'm going to wait for a couple of weeks to go" decided to go THIS Saturday. And that's when the Ikea Experience began, from the moment we entered the elevator shaft from the parking garage to loading our purchases into the car almost four hours later. As someone I heard inside said, it felt like walking through a theme park. We got herded into the surging crowds, wafted with the scent of cinnamon buns from the Ikea restaurant (I still maintain that it was piped in artificially to induce an aromatherapy shopping experience), and emerged into the first of many galleries. And it's hard to know what was more fun - the "Gee, whiz - look what I can actually buy for $5/$9/$20!" factor, or the amusement of many shoppers gawking at the example galleries, where they showed you what all you could fit into a 400-sq. ft. apartment, or a 900-sq. ft. house. A lot of the people seemed to be able to comprehend living in 400 feet and not dying of claustrophobia. Living in a 500-sq. ft. apartment with three cats, I had a hard time groking the 1,500 sq. ft. space. To each their own.

Unfortunately, my 500-sq. ft. space also comes with big ol' bills, so I couldn't buy much during my Ikea experience (upcoming post - my future vain attempts at keeping my cats from climbing my new net canopy for my bed.) K. and J.T., however, were on a mission - for a table for their new HDTV (a good problem to have) and furniture for their preschooler. And that was the most fun of all - figuring out how nuts my niece would go for her new Swedish-designed desk, trying to design the perfect loft bed, and buying the cutest green plastic chair on Earth (it looked like something from "Bear in the Big Blue House", for all readers with kidlings.) After going into the warehouse to pick out our perfectly-packed-and-flattened purchases, we stood in line with 1/3 of North Georgia and somehow managed to fit it in J.T.'s van.

I had one more fun thing to do before leaving Atlanta - my sister had never been there before, so I had to give her a taste of Midtown traffic as we made our way to the RuSan's in Buckhead (which was not as good as the Nashville RuSan's, sadly.) We finally drove northward on the Atlanta Speedway (read: interstate system) in pouring rain, which is actually a big part of being in Atlanta. Good times.

Yes, I'm a Kevin Smith groupie

This is the most brilliant idea...

Snoogans! What are Jay and Silent Bob doing in Canada? Rewind. what are they doing at DEGRASSI?

One major perk to being a director is that you can live out your fantasies. Kevin Smith's fantasy? To be featured in a three episode arc of Degrassi: The Next Generation!

Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes (Clerks... nuff said) head north to film their next movie in which their alter egos are forced to go back to high school, called "Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?" And what better high school to shoot at than Degrassi Community School? But drama ensues even before the cameras begin to roll!

This director's cut edition is a MUST WATCH for any fan of Kevin Smith or Degrassi. Your library (Smith, Degrassi or otherwise) will not be complete without this DVD.

Oh, and the teaser poster for the Clerks poster really is a tease. It's also not quite family-friendly enough for this blog.

Al and Dubya - the mixed green salad of political posts

I've always been an Al Gore fan, even through the bumbling campaign days, so I've been watching his development of the new network Current. But this was the most interesting quote I saw out of a presser today:

"I consider myself a recovering politician. I'm on step nine."

That's quite the statement from the son of a senator, a kid who grew up mostly in D.C. and was bred for a life in politics. But this is also someone who's had his heart broken by it, is sick and tired of trying to figure out how to properly make every word he says as uncontroversial as possible, and would rather just sit back, watch the spin and work with it in a dispassionate way. Journalism is a great place for former politicos. And I would know.

Twice upon a time, I got involved with politics on a level where it was pretty much a career (both times I was in college, so it wasn't something I actually got paid for.) All of my friends were basically in the biz along with me. And it was the place I'd dreamed about as a kid when I helped my daddy's friends on their local campaigns. Both times I left because the reality was so different from my idealism, and while I could be realistic and cynical, I couldn't change myself to fit the system. But both times I stayed interested and active on a personal level. Until the past few years, when all that having opposing viewpoints seemed to do is create personal drama with people I disagreed with politically but enjoyed otherwise. I'm a "live and let live" girl in a society where that's just not the status-quo anymore. So I know that I should do more (after all, how has the political party of my birth fallen out of favor so much?) but I'm sick of arguing and hatefulness. I'd rather volunteer for my pet projects, then sit back and play my own personal version of Jon Stewart to my cats, who love me unconditionally.

That said, I have to say that Bush's presser tonight for the Supreme Court nominee kind of bugs me. Not necessarily because of the nomination itself, which I can't bitch about before I know who it is. And not because it's preempted any shows I care about (although the rest of the newsroom is fit to be tied over missing Big Brother.) It's Dubya's recent trend of calling prime time newsers for anything remotely complimentary. Social Security plan? Schedule it for 7. A sorta-cohesive plan to get us out of Iraq? You'll see it at 8. It kind of reminds me of the blogger (we all know one like this, and I swear I'm not thinking of one specifically) who is always wanting attention for the things that make them look good but then delete all negative comments. "See what a great mom I am! Look at how I'm the most understanding friend in the world! My ideas or beliefs on *insert topic* are absolutely right. But if you disagree, you're just starting drama and aren't worth the space in my blog." And now it's that way with Dubya. Karl Rove? Don't even bother asking. But wow, look at this shiny new Supreme Court nominee to divert your attention!

(And for the record, I'm not saying that the Dems are all in the right about the Karl Rove/Plume affair. I think that there's plenty of blame to go around, no matter how slimy I personally find Rove. But free Judith Miller already!)

Okay, there's a zillion people bitching about Pacman Jones, particularly if you're anywhere near talk-radio. I certainly wouldn't disagree. He's not done himself any favors this week after his arrest at the former Trap. Grinning and munching on a toothpick during your Night Court booking isn't cool. Having your agent go on the biggest sports-talk show in town the next day and talk about how the arrest isn't that big of deal is definitely not cool. We all do stupid things and hang out with stupid people in our early 20s, but our actions generally don't have millions of dollars of revenue riding on them. And being "ghetto"might fly in Atlanta, but not here.

Therefore, since the Titans presumably have some big-time negotiating leverage now, I have a proposal for how to possibly straighten this guy out and benefit the team at the same time. Keep in mind that what I know about NFL contracts and the legalities would fit on the head of a pin and still have room for the Lord's Prayer, but there has to be some way to work this out.

- Sign Pacman, but cut at least $750,000 out of his first year's contract in such a way that it frees that much room on the signing cap this year.
- Use that money to sign Eddie George (he's willing to play for his league-minimum, which is $750K.)
- Put some clause in that if Pacman keeps his nose clean legally for a calendar year from July 13, 2005 and spends at least five days a week training with Eddie, starting during training camp, he will get back that $750K, plus some sort of bonus (I'm being generous.)

Yes, I know that Eddie plays offense and Punkman (Joe Williams' nickname for him, not mine) plays D. Yes, I know that Eddie is now looking about as washed-up as the coast of Navarre Beach. But since Eddie left last year, I've learned his main asset to the Titans is not his ability to grind out yardage. He is pretty much the prototype of how to be a successful NFL player, especially in Nashville. His workout regimen is legendary, he's started at least two businesses outside of football, and he's a great family man. Also, he'll be the first to admit that he wasn't an angel in his early years in the league. He's not a perfect person or a perfect player, but his leadership is not only admirable, but necessary for this team. People learn by example, and I can't think of a much better example to show Pacman how to deal with the pressures of sudden fame.

The Titans are beginning to look like either the southern version of the Raiders or like a really bad reality show. So going into fantasy-mode here, the Titans could even capitalize on this whole thing by signing a deal with ESPN, moving Pacman into Eddie's home and packaging it as "Living With Eddie - When the player stops being ghetto and starts getting real." Now that would be interesting TV.

-----------------------------------

My last posted comment about the London bombings, and the ensuing Homeland Security debate:

This is more proof that the majority of terrorism is homegrown, even if the ideology is imported. Yes, Al Quaeda is America's #1 enemy and should be crushed like a grape, but there are a lot of groups who will give you an excuse to hate whatever country you're in and will give you the means to express it. Remember Timothy McVeigh.

Moving on.....

-----------------------------------

Proof that Anderson Cooper has a sense of humor about himself - he reaired John Stewart's hilarous comments on his hurricane coverage, and he pointed out these fabulous eBay auctions.

Potato "found" after Coop's Ramada live shot
A piece of the Ramada sign

Yes, you really can find anything on eBay.

BTW, if any of Paula Zahn's folks happen to read my blog, I would like to point out that the university in Raleigh, NC with the clock tower and the ugly red signs is N.C. State University. The school in Chapel Hill with the pretty Old Well and the classical light-blue signs is the University of North Carolina. They are definitely not the same school. On behalf of UNC alumni everywhere, please get those two straight before your next live shot out of Raleigh. Thanks.

-----------------------------------

A book that I'll be reading while I wait for Harry Potter tonight at the bookstore (but not buying): 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (And Al Franken is #37). I have a feeling it'll piss me off right good, but it still looks interesting.

If you're not already sick of these two topics...

This is a hilarious sendup of the Karl Rove controversy, as well as the Harry Potter hype. And no, the spoilers aren't real. At least, I hope so.

Honestly, it amazes me how unspoiled Harry Potter has stayed, book after book. I know that bookstores have a lot to lose by leaking copies (i.e. getting to sell the next sequel and monetary fines) but now that there's only one book left, the power of that threat is diminishing. Plus there are a ton of people who have nothing to lose by sneaking in, popping a box, reading the last two chapters and then creating an anonymous blog to leak the goodies (note: I would never personally do that, so if this actually happens, don't look at me.) And if there's one thing that I've learned about online fandoms is that nothing is unspoiled. Back in my extreme X-Phile days, I knew what was happening in every episode at least three months ahead of time, usually six. And it's that way with every album, every TV show and movie and even every breaking news event, if you think about it (unless it's a truly breaking event, there's always some prelim activity that can tip you off beforehand.)

Yes, I will be buying the book at midnight, just as I have for the last four books. Right now I'm hatching my plan, because it's not as easy to do that in a big city as you'd think. Back when I lived in Carbondale, IL, I drove to the local B&N at 10:30, saw the line snaking around the building, turned around and ended up first in line at Wal-Mart. Easy as pie. Tonight I actually would like to go to the B&N that's closest to my apartment (Shopry Mills) but they're expecting over 200 people by 8 pm and several media trucks. Sorry, but I spend enough time around news trucks during the day. So I'm considering my options. Media Play at Hickory Hollow? Borders on West End? (EDIT: They're expecting 800+, so no way.) Or the boring way out and Wal-Mart? I bet there won't be a horribly long line in Bucksnort.

In any case, I don't think anyone will have any trouble finding me tomorrow. Between this and A Very Long Engagement's release earlier this week, I have an excuse to be a couch potato. Although it would be cool if anyone would like to go out Sunday. No reason....

The wonderful things you can find online sometimes....

PublicRadioFan.com is fabulous. It's international, and it even lists podcasts!

And if you're into world music, these look like great resources.

If you haven't bought an iPod yet, this $35 plug-in-the-car MP3 player looks like a find.

Oh, and even if I do think that people should just get over the TomKat/Scientology thing, I do admit that Tom Cruise's (fake) blog is very funny.

If you haven't seen it...

Here's this generation's Dan-Rather-hanging-from-a-lightpole - Anderson Cooper almost getting clobbered by a Ramada sign. A lot of people are making fun of him online, so I hear. I personally thought it was cool and realistic (although watching it live was slightly freakish.)

I take back most that I've said about Hummers. I now really want a Hurricane One. Maybe then I could actually cover one of these suckers myself.

EDIT: Digital Spy agrees with me that CNN's hurricane coverage ruled.

I'd also like to mention that Jacqui Jares is the first weather person I've seen who was wearing bright green in front of a WX wall. As probably everyone knows, WX walls are generally green, and meteorologists (plus reporters and anchors who do standups there) have to be careful on what colors they wear, lest the weather keys show through their clothes. I'd be interested in seeing what their setup is.

Hurricane Dennis Coverage

HurricaneNow.com claims that they'll have live streaming coverage as Dennis moves ashore. Unencumbered by the issues of large satellite trucks and stuff, they plan to move up and down the coast to wherever the eye finally comes to shore. I'm kind of interested in how this will work especially when the area loses power (and presumably highspeed Net access.) They also have email alerts and RSS feeds for their updates.

I have to admit to being a bit of a hurricane watcher. Having only been in one (Fran) around 100 miles inland, I've never personally had the full shoreline experience. My main sadness (other than the fact that Dennis is targeting my favorite part of the Panhandle, an area already more than battered from last year) is that Anderson Cooper is probably in London or traveling back, and I'd imagine he won't be doing CNN's coverage tomorrow night. His live hurricane reporting rocks.

EDIT: CNN has a Hummer set up as "Hurricane One" with some sort of bubble hydraulic system set up to keep a satellite shot going through the worst of it. I'm seriously in love, even if it does seem to be quite buggy. Satellite shots out of the parking lot of the Pensacola mall aren't cutting it for me.

I'm kinda intrigued that CNN is billing themselves as the "Hurricane HQ" and is doing wall-to-wall coverage of nothing but Dennis. It's smart, in a way, because the other two networks' coverage, frankly, sucks. But you're competing with the Weather Channel, and if you're south of here, other markets are probably simulcasting stations on the coast (when I was in Atlanta during Labor Day, I spent a migrained afternoon in my hotel room watching a simulcast out of a Florida station of Frances.) So I'm interested in how the ratings on this come out.

I would like to point out to the news networks that if we're watching continuous coverage, like you would if you're affected by a hurricane, we can tell when you air one package two or three times.

Anderson Cooper's now in Pensacola! *acts very fangirlish for a moment*

Screw it, it looks like Dennis is going to target my very favorite part of Florida - Navarre Beach. That's where I spent a lovely spring break Way Back Then with my aunt (yeah, my vacations are usually pretty tame) and absoultely loved it. I hope the sand bars survive. This is actually very depressing.

More London Stuff

This will also be a collection post, updated throughout the day. Not so much the news this time but places to react, and to read reactions.

Here's a place where an LJer is collecting random quotes. From people involved in the bombings, to the mundane observations of life afterward (apparently the stores over there are sold out of chocolate cake), to Brits and others speaking out about what the attacks mean to them and their feelings toward the perps. Awesome stuff.

The BBC has one of their excellent reporters logs with an up-to-date look at what's going on. They also have a place for people to post their survivors accounts and how it's affected themselves.

We're Not Afraid. The pictures speak for themselves.

You can apparently send notes of condolence to the Queen through this site, but I'm personally not sure that she's the one who needs the most love given right now. No offense.

If anyone reading this is actually in the London area, there's a place to pledge to join a march of solidarity. You apparently need 100 people to sign to get a permit. 45 have done so as of now.

For the LJers - Today I'm A Londoner.

I'm on the hunt for a really good online condolence book for Americans to sign. If anyone finds one, lemme know.

London Explosions News Sources

Here's a combined feed of all major UK news sources.

Wikinews has a page for it, as well as Wikipedia.

KCRW World News is doing a live streaming feed of live BBC coverage.

Also, if you want to see an interesting combination of 'Net reaction, news and information, a little bit of speculation and people trying to find out news on their loved ones, here's a LiveJournal community devoted to what's happened, and a list of confirmed survivors.

Edit: You can't really call The Sun a reliable news source, but they have excellent pictures. Click here for their bombing story, and scroll down for a link to a slideshow of the devastation. The bus explosion pictures are particularly horrific.

I'm finding this quite interesting - Elonka, who is fairly well known for her expertise in cryptography (and who's a great blog read and a very nice person) is currently at the Manchester airport on her way to London, ultimately heading back to the U.S. tomorrow. She's pretty much liveblogging her experience during this, and it might be an interesting comparison post-9/11 reaction and security. Her blog might be one to watch today.

LBC 1152 AM is London's main talk-radio station. Here's a link to their print coverage of the London bombings. They also have a live-stream link to their station, which is doing live coverage.

If anyone knows enough Arabic to read it, here's the Al Quaeda letter on Der Spiegel. I couldn't read a word of it, but at least I know enough German to navigate the site. Dr. Seifert would be proud. EDIT: Here's the English translation.

Oh God, I spent the whole day looking at sources without turning to possibly the ultimate composite source for global news - Global Voices Online. Here's their London Bombing page, which has links to Flickr and Technorati feeds. DoWire has set up a "London Responds" wiki page, which has a lot of live blog coverage in several areas. And BoingBoing, as always, has a pretty comprehensive look at blogosphere coverage

I've tried to put what I could find different and useful on here since around 5 am this morning, when I woke up to the breaking news. There's no way to even begin to compile all the things I've seen and read today, and how much more I adore Brits (and I was already a wee bit obsessed.) "Stoic" is a word I've heard a lot today to describe the attitudes of Londoners. I prefer "strong". They got through the initial shock, realized that this is something that they've dealt with for thousands of years and will doubtless face again, and are showing that the best revenge is to live without fear. Whomever was truly behind this will find that this was possibly the most counter-productive move they could have made.

The best quote I've heard today was from British MP Simon Hughes at the end of Larry King Live, and it personified exactly how I feel they are dealing with what happened, how many Brits seem to feel about what has happened, and how we as a global society need to look at it to find a solution to the continued terrorism issue, even if it's not always a comfortable or easy thing to examine ourselves at the same time we examine our enemies:

You heard quite rightly that people have been very resilient. There was amazing calm really today. We've been there before. We'll come through. We're grateful for support. And very sincerely -- it actually does unite those of us who have suffered together.

There's always a bit of a tension that government wants to overreact in terms of legislative proposals. We're debating identity cards at them moment. People like me have always argued against them. We don't believe they're fundamentally what's needed. So there may be some arguments as to clamping down on the restrictions of the citizen.

But...the citizens could be anybody. And I hope that we remember the big battle is the battle against fundamentalism. And we have got to fight that on all continents. And get to the seeds and the roots of that. And it's the next generation who we have to wean away from fundamentalism in any faith and in every faith.

Live 8 goodness

For anyone's who's interested, here's a link to download the London Live 8 sets. I hope that these pop up for all the countries, because I HAVE to have the Pet Shop Boys' live version of "You Were On My Mind" from Tokyo NOW.

I have a lot to say on this, but I hurt my back earlier, so no computer. But for now, all I have to say is that the performances were incredible, and I take back what I said a few weeks back. It is possible to remake Live Aid and it not suck. I just hope they make a difference this time.

www.one.org

Can we have "Supreme Court Idol"?

Unlike most of the liberals I've seen around the blogosphere, I'm not going to go Chicken Little on y'all. You have to look at history to see how Supreme Court nominations go, and any smart president (or at least his smart advisors) would have to know that you don't always get what you want when you try for the extremes. So I'm going to hope for sanity, not stubborness. However, if the words "Supreme Court nominee John Ashcroft" appear anywhere in the next few weeks, I reserve the right to freak.

Someone elsewhere posted this really interesting excerpt of Orrin Hatch's autobiography:

[It] was not a surprise when the President called to talk about the appointment and what he was thinking of doing.

President Clinton indicated he was leaning toward nominating Bruce Babbitt, his Secretary of the Interior, a name that had been bouncing around in the press. Bruce, a well-known western Democrat, had been the governor of Arizona and a candidate for president in 1988. Although he had been a state attorney general back during the 1970s, he was known far more for his activities as a politician than as a jurist. Clinton asked for my reaction.

I told him that confirmation would not be easy. At least one Democrat would probably vote against Bruce, and there would be a great deal of resistance from the Republican side. I explained to the President that although he might prevail in the end, he should consider whether he wanted a tough, political battle over his first appointment to the Court.

Our conversation moved to other potential candidates. I asked whether he had considered Judge Stephen Breyer of the First Circuit Court of Appeals or Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. President Clinton indicated he had heard Breyer’s name but had not thought about Judge Ginsberg.

I indicated I thought they would be confirmed easily. I knew them both and believed that, while liberal, they were highly honest and capable jurists and their confirmation would not embarrass the President. From my perspective, they were far better than the other likely candidates from a liberal Democrat administration.

In the end, the President did not select Secretary Babbitt. Instead, he nominated Judge Ginsburg and Judge Breyer a year later, when Harry Blackmun retired from the Court. Both were confirmed with relative ease.

I can only hope that Bush makes his choice with so much forethought.

My periodic movie rant

Here are the reasons why I still plan to see War of the Worlds, despite all the negative hype.

- I love Steven Spielberg films almost universally. Sure, not all of them are "fine film", but they're all sensational and emotional and pretty fun. Even if the world's population is being exterminated.
- I love movies with aliens. After all, my X-Files obsession started with the movie, which I saw five times in theatres (yes, it's really not that good.) I can get over my fear of horror films for Alien. And I still watch Independence Day every time it shows up on FX. Hey, I'm not saying that I'm watching good movies with aliens, but something about seeing this weird unhuman creature wreaking havoc on humans just because we're not as smart as they are or because they need our stuff is just fun for me.
- I've never been a big Tom Cruise fan, but I did love Minority Report, which seems to be very similar to this one. I thought that was one of his more believable roles, and that says a lot about my opinion of his true talent. (However, his best role ever was in Magnolia, where he really probably just played himself.)
- The Church of Scientology didn't make this film, and it's pretty unfair to blame it for one star's kooky beliefs and behavior. Besides, people are now just going nuts to find out one more thing to make fun of on this guy. Yes, his views on psychiatry are archaic, but the alien thing is just silly. And if we're in the business of boycotting people because of religious beliefs that defy your own brand of logic, there are lots of stones to throw at glass houses. Ever read The Book of Mormon? Some of those core beliefs are pretty darn entertaining for a non-believer. But who's to say that they're wrong? By the same token, let Tom and Katie work on getting "clear" in peace.
- Dakota Fanning is a cutie, and a really good actress. Just hope she doesn't grow up too fast like certain other actresses who had young careers.
- Finally, it's the Fourth of July weekend. What else am I supposed to do but go watch crap blow up onscreen? My only sadness is that Will Smith didn't somehow get a bit part in this.