Sity?

A hilarious little addendum to my earlier entry about the misspelled street sign- WXIA, the local NBC affiliate broke this story. Granted, it's not exactly as if someone plowed through historical documents and spied on underground political meetings. Likely, someone finally noticed that the sign was misspelled and called up the assignment desk. Since it was a slow news day, the producer decided to run with it, which is pretty cool. It's a fun story, worthy of note.

The fact that the other stations are following suit is what's funny. But, that's to be expected in this market. But where this story really gets funny is found in WGCL, the CBS affiliate's, morning assignment meeting notes, which for some reason, they publish on their website.

I'm really interested in local news. It's sad but true. Also sad but true, I get most of my information from fellow bloggers Doug Richards of Live Apartment Fire and CB Hackworth of Certain Speculation. That's pretty sad because I have much more time on my hands than either one of them, but they are just better at staying on topic than me. I mean, how am I supposed to find time to read assignment meeting notes when I'm busy looking for pictures of Kristen Stewart where she looks gay? In any case, it was on CB's blog that I saw this excerpt:

"JOHN CATER will follow up on this story. How does the sity misspelled the most prominent figure in Atlanta name incorrectly. How soon will the sign be repaired. We need to ask the city how many misspelled sign there are in Atlanta and how many they have changed for misspelling in the past year. TOUGH QUESTIONS!"

Tough Questions, indeed! Thanks for the, CB!

I know that Doug and CB have both at least visited this blog, but I doubt either of them are faithful readers, but it's really refreshing to finally have a critical eye watching local news. So, if they happen to be reading, good job, guys! I really enjoy your blogs!

Marin Luther King, Jr.

Something else to be proud of in the ATL. Not only are we home to Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but also home to his lesser known brother, Marin.

Typos can happen to anyone, but this makes you wonder how long this sign was up before someone noticed the mistake. Makes you wonder what you can get away with.

The Day the Moon Was Gone

Paul and I do pretty good on agreeing about what to watch on television. Usually, we settle on something about home improvement or cooking, but tonight, he had the remote and landed on a show called "The Universe" on the History channel. Would have been more appropriate on the Science channel, because this is history that goes WAY back. The official topic of this particular episode was "The Day the Moon Was Gone," but it didn't really talk about that a whole lot. Essentially, in this one hour, they covered everything about how the Earth formed and life evolved. Every once in a while, they would throw in some facts about how something might have formed differently if there was no moon. I mean, basically, everything would have been completely different. No mountains (somehow the earth's core would have been cooler, so no plate tectonics). More water. Shorter days. Constant winds. No advanced life forms.

It's those last two that really got me thinking, because at one point, when it was talking about the imaginary animals that could have evolved if there were no moon, it said that they could have evolved to have more arms to shield themselves from the wind. Hum.

Well, naturally, I was thinking that, personally, I could really use another hand. And everyone else probably could too. So, why don't we have one? I mean, if I had an extra hand, I really think that would give me an evolutionary advantage. Ahem.

And while I'm at it, I don't understand why we don't have tails. It seems like I learned in biology or somewhere that the animals that we humans evolved from had tails and then we lost them during the evolutionary process. Well, who were these lazy pre-humans that didn't use their tails? I would love to have a tail, especially a prehensile tail. It would really be a help when I'm trying to navigate the treetops. It would help me balance during a field sobriety test. I could wag it when I was happy...

The ending of this particular episode was almost like a punchline. They kept building up to and teasing with promises of talking about what life would be like if the moon suddenly disappeared. But, then, in the last two minutes, they covered this by simply saying that although in billions of years the distance between the earth and the moon would be so great that they would lose their gravitational attraction and the moon would go spinning off into space, BUT that will never actually happen, because long before then, the sun will explode and the earth and the moon will both burn up and cease to exist.

Cue Credits.

Kristen Stewart

I keep hearing all these rumors about Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson and how they are secretly in love, blah blah blah. I am not a Twilight fan. Sure, I read the book and saw the movie, but only because it was my duty as a member of the media sometimes writing on pop culture (ahem). Basically, Twilight is a sterilized version of Buffy, that lacks character development and witty dialogue.

But, I understand that it is a popular culture phenomenon, and somewhat validating, since my fascination with vampires dates back to 1994's Interview with the Vampire. See?! Vampires are cool! Robert Pattinson is no Brad Pitt. Or James Marsters.

Or even David Boreanez.

But, he's cute and I can understand why chicks dig him. Sure, it would seem natural for the lovely young Ms. Stewart to fall for him. Except for one clear fact that everyone is ignoring. Kristen Stewart is obviously gay.

Now, I'm not Perez Hilton. I'm not trying to out anyone. I have no inside knowledge of her sexuality, but what I do have is a highly refined gaydar and it's going off full alarm on her.

Do you see it? Like a little Jodie Foster, right?

I have no problem with gay people and this is not meant to disparage her in any way, but I'm just saying...

You heard it here first!

Cake!

I've long since loved to bake and have served up quite a few delicious treats in my time, but now that I no longer eat such delicacies, I've developed a strange fascination with looking at them. I'm scared to actually bake something, fearing that it will send me into a fit of grief for my old friend Baked Goods.

I saw a link to Cake Spy on a weight loss support forum, of all places, and have been enjoying scrolling through the pages, appreciating the artistry. There, you will not only see the beautifully photographed desserts, but also the cutest little illustrations you ever did see.

It's also well-written and a good read, if you're into that kind of thing. Not to mention, the attire available at the online shop.

"Might as well burn all of your other tee shirts, because from now on, this is the only one you'll ever need.Yes, it's time to acquaint yourself with the newest CakeSpy t-shirt! It has basically the most magical scene ever: cupcakes, rainbows, unicorns, hearts and shooting stars!"

How could it get any better than that?

And while we're on the topic, but with a completly opposite sort of appeal, Cake Wrecks is another can't-miss Web site dedicated to confections.

Dedicated to cake-disasters created by "professional" cake decorators, this site will make you LOL, even if you're not into baking.

Back in the WAGA again!

Well, it's been a while. Apologies for my absence, but I've been having some health issues taken care of and I'm all better now. Tip top shape. Ready to resume my blogging responsibilities.

So, first things first. I'm working again. Returned to work at the local Fox affiliate on Wednesday. As jobs tend to do, it has been sucking up an enormous amount of time! 35 hours this week. I'm freelancing there, so the work is irregular and the schedule is unpredictable. Not ideal circumstances, but I am thankful for the work.

Times sure have changed at the old tv station. They've gone digital, of course, but it's surprising how much this affects day-to-day activity. "Searching" for video no longer entails running around like a mad woman trying to find a tape, but instead simply conducting a query on a computer. Welcome to the 90s!

Of course, all this new technology means that I can't simply breeze in and resume my duties. I have to be retrained, so that's what I've been doing this week.

Other than that, during my convalescence, I have been making the most of my blockbuster membership (this is why I don't have netflix) and blazing through some excellent television shows- mostly Six Feet Under, Weeds, Mad Men and Big Love.

Big Love has been interesting. Paul and I agreed that we would not want additional spouses, but I think Paul may have been lying. Even in the show though, it seems like Barb is his "real" wife and the other two are like children that they have adopted that he also has sex with, which um... is surprisingly undisturbing. Although Barb has the most power of the women, it still seems like it would be easier to either be Margene or Nicki. Barb had a normal marriage with Bill, until whatever made her decide to be a polygamist happened (haven't gotten that far) and now she shares him. It would be easier to have never had a monogamous marriage than to have had one and then lost it.

Also, as discussed in the show, there are interesting implications for multiple marriage legislation, if gay marriage were to become legal. Who would ever have thought that traditional Mormons and liberal homosexuals would strange allies on an issue? Unlikely pairing (I almost said "bedfellows." Haha.). Also, it's hard to believe that there wouldn't be more affairs between the wives, especially in marriages with more than 10 wives. I mean, they barely get to spend the night with their husband, they share bedrooms, they are "married." Seems like it would work kind of like in prison, where there are no men, but plenty of women from which to choose.

Not sure how I feel about polygamy. It's not for me, that's for sure, but I suppose I don't mind if other people do it. Only, if it ever becomes legal, I would certainly hope that the law wouldn't mandate that men could marry multiple women, but that a woman could only marry one man. That would probably send everyone into a tizzy.

Mad Men

We've been watching the first season of AMC's Mad Men on DVD this week. The show is completely absorbing, not in the compounding mystery way of a show like Lost or in the action-packed cliffhanger way of a show like 24, but in that it creates such an atmosphere that it's hard to return back to modern times. It's no secret that I'm slightly obsessed with all things mid-century modern, and this show delivers that in a big way. The set design is unbelievable. That alone would keep me watching this show, not to mention the fabulous clothes. I mean, seriously, the simple glamour of the late 50's and early 60s is perfectly represented. It makes me want to live in that time period, although, the female characters on the show... well, let's just say that they are largely oppressed.

All the men are essentially lying cheats and all the women are victims. Well, not ALL, but an independent woman is the exception here, certainly not the rule. I remarked the my husband, "I certainly hope that all men aren't really like that." And he asked me how I perceived those men and I told him and he seemed to think that I was missing a lot of the depth of character that he relates with. I guess because there is such a hard line separating the gender roles in this show, it's difficult for me to develop empathy for the male characters.

Interestingly, one of the main characters is played by Vincent Kartheiser (far left). It took me a while (and google) to place him, but he was last seen as Conner, Angel's son on Angel. I pretty much hated him on that show, but he's really matured, both as an actor and physically, and he's a great fit for this particular role. Not so much for Conner.

The show also offers interesting insight into the origins of modern advertising strategy and the smoking hot Christina Hendricks as secretary, Joan.