I find it fascinating that Barack’s campaign staff are mostly in their 20s…including both of his speechwriters. The oldest guy around is his Deputy Press Director, who’s 32. Wow! I also found this video fascinating in terms of watching editing trends…can you count how many times they transition cuts via the “blur effect”? So many times! Couric’s broadcast also does the freeze-to-Photoshopped-still-frame effect, which reflects the theme of young hipness. I will try to dig around Clinton’s site to see if I can find anything similar, and then we can contrast!
Have you been to Ill doctrine before? I can’t believe I didn’t discover it until now. Much like Josh Leo, MC Jay Smooth hosts his own short video segments, but commentary on Ill Doctrine is largely political, even though it’s technically a hip hop blog. I listened to most of the Clinton-Obama debates rebroadcast on NPR last night, and was equally horrified by the facilitators’ near heckling of both candidates and complete disregard of addressing actual campaign issues. Apparently, Soulja Boy agrees…
Man, have you seen this? Apparently, while I’ve been working 50+ hours a week, this Korean 3-year-old has been charming the internet with his rendition of 41 Beatles songs. Did I mention he does not speak English? I’m almost more intrigued by what his parents must be like than what he must be like…I mean, if my toddler could sing 41 Beatles songs before he was out of diapers, would I stick him all over cyberspace? Well. Probably.
Last night I had a dream about an ex, BP. I can’t go into any details, other than the fact that he had become a powerful yet sketchy business owner and also film actor, and I was forced to deal with him in some professional capacity, which resulted in sort of getting back together with him, despite the fact that he was married to an exotic dancer.
In other news, I had an “Overheard in Beantown” moment this afternoon, at the corner of Boylston and Exeter Streets: two tough-looking men were walking past me, and one of them said to the other, “I know it sounds kind of corny, but I really believe that–” and then they were out of earshot. I wish I could go back in time to hear the rest of that conversation. Sigh.
My landlords’ daughter is five years old and lives in the apartment upstairs. She’s taken to leaving us “letters” recently, folded in fourths with a fake stamp and scribbles for the address panel. We got one of these “letters” last week, and this one yesterday. It’s a pretty awesome thing to find in your mailbox, next to Comcast bills and notes from the IRS.
DD thinks the large female character with the bunny ears is me, and the smaller female character is the artist in question. Pretty flattering depictions.
BBC News reported a story today about Burmese migrants dying in the back of an airtight truck bound for Thailand. This stuff never usually makes the news, although it happens so frequently. What also doesn’t make the news are all the accounts of rapes, assaults and murders of Burmese migrants in Thailand by both Thais and Burmese. These are the little gems of horrifying information I get by editing pages and pages of human rights reports from the Thai/Burma border. Thought I’d share it with you.
From both my trips to Phang Nga, I saw the isolation of those communities and the virtual lawlessness which exists, where crimes are committed by the Thai mafia, the Thai police, and where there are also cases of domestic abuse within the Burmese migrant community.
I did the unthinkable tonight: I went back to T-mobile, and switched from a Treo to a Blackberry Curve.
Why? Loyal readers might recall my 2004 drama with T-mobile when moving to Manchester, UK, and my solemn vow to never use them again as my wireless provider. Well, things change, people change, and companies change even more. Now their data + voice prices are significantly lower than Verizon or AT&T, and I was able to sign up for a one-year contract over the phone, with what must have been the world’s nicest customer service agent.
Autumn, aforementioned agent, checked my records and exclaimed, “Wow! You have the highest credit score possible! I mean it’s not possible to get a higher score than yours! Congratulations!” I must say, that made me feel good. If I wanted to, I could blow $80k in credit on a trip around the world right now…one wonders why I don’t just do it. But there are bigger fish to fry, like a promising graduate career at MIT, for example. Can’t wait to fry that one.
Anyway, back to mobile technology. I am oh so sad to be leaving the world of the touch-screen Palm Treo, but their internet is too slow, phone’s memory is too small (to add on any applications), and the Blackberry’s integration of multiple accounts and IM capabilities with a $60/mo service plan sounds pretty good to me. That, and the wi-fi. I’ll write a full update on my wireless switch in 2-4 business days.
Ry and I gave “One Fine Color” a second shot tonight. It’s still not perfect, but it’s not bad. Nice cameo by his ghost. This is potentially the last time we will be holding the Living Room Sessions in this particular living room, since he’s being forced to move out of his place within days. Pity. I was just getting started.
