I had a funny conversation via Facebook chat with my old pal Nick yesterday. Nick recently got married in Vegas and sent out a facebook message asking a bunch of people for their addresses, I presume to invite them to some sort of reception. In any case, in the message he sent out, he wrote, "Please do not 'Reply All'" Of course, everyone did.
1:42pmJennifer
Everyone keeps replying all
despite your warning
1:43pmNick
I am going to put them on direct mailing lists as punishment
1:43pmJennifer
hahaha
I'll just give my mom their email addresses
so she can send them warnings that Obama is the antichrist and it's dangerous to wear deoderant and heat water in the microwave
1:45pmNick
hahaha
I've got some awesome ones from my mom too
"This isn't a hotel... it's a house!"
1:46pmJennifer
I haven't gotten that one, but I can imagine
1:46pmNick
look at where your money goes when you fill up the tank! This sheik's house!
1:50pmNick
http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/nahyan.asp
Jennifer
hahahahahaha
awesome
1:53pmNick
I got so many crazy emails from my mom before the election
1:53pmJennifer
that's his home in Afghanistan where he worships Satan and kills puppies
2:05pmNick
what is your email address?
2:05pmJennifer
oh no
you don't really think I'm going to fall for that, do you?
2:06pmNick
I will send you my fake obama thing, then you send it to your mom, then we'll see if it gets back to my mom
2:06pmJennifer
wait
that's actually a good idea
I'm in
We then continued to collaborate on a terrific email hoax. I'm not willing to reveal it yet, because it will ruin the results of the experiment, but I assure you that I will alert you when Nick receives the email from his mom, if all goes as expected. I'm only sending it to one person- my mom. Let's see what happens.
2:22pmJennifer
ha
I gotta go
talk to you later
I'll be looking forward to the girl you're apparently about to send me
2:23pmNick
send me that thing when you're done!
girl?
2:24pmJennifer
hahahaha
gift
2:24pmNick
I'm actually sending you a girl to raise
have fun!
she likes to steal
Friday, November 6, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Fall Fashion
After falling in love with dresses this summer, it's been hard for me to leave that love in the past and move on to fall. Normally, I love the warm roomy sweaters of the season, but this year, they seem so.... I don't know... cumbersome?
I'm in the process of a total image makeover. While my current frumpy and conservative look has served me well, I guess there's a certain sophistication that comes with aging that I've been lacking. Suddenly, I'm caring about designers and actually thinking about what my clothes say about me artistically. Formerly, my checklist went something like this:
- Does it fit?
- Is it comfortable?
- Is it appropriate?
I don't know how I fell into such a rut, but NO MORE! Really, it's been an issue of self-esteem. We've all laughed at those ridiculous people that go out of their way to look terrible. Behold:
I'm in the process of a total image makeover. While my current frumpy and conservative look has served me well, I guess there's a certain sophistication that comes with aging that I've been lacking. Suddenly, I'm caring about designers and actually thinking about what my clothes say about me artistically. Formerly, my checklist went something like this:
- Does it fit?
- Is it comfortable?
- Is it appropriate?
I don't know how I fell into such a rut, but NO MORE! Really, it's been an issue of self-esteem. We've all laughed at those ridiculous people that go out of their way to look terrible. Behold:
It is my fear to be one of these people. The thing is that it's so much worse to put so much effort into looking good and then end up looking ridiculous, than to not put in much effort and look like it. I've been opting for the latter. But, now, I'm ready to take some chances! I mean, don't expect to see me in furry yellow boots anytime soon, but maybe I could do some fishnets. Under a pencil skirt. Not with white Reeboks.
I hope to be posting some pics of me sporting some new looks soon. Goodbye frumpy mom suits! So long careless jeans and t-shirts of my youth! Wouldn't want to be ya, pink velour sweat suit!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Schooled, Biden-Style
"Your dopes just got schooled, Biden-style!"
As you may have heard, three weeks ago, it started raining and it didn't stop for 15 days.
Photos Courtesy AJC.
Thankfully, my home wasn't affected and I didn't work Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday during the major hoopla. But, Thursday morning, I was reminded of what it's like to be in a newsroom during a major local breaking story. It seems, that in order to avoid the appearance of national government neglecting a state during a natural disaster, Vice President Joe Biden decided to come to town and have a look-see. He was in town for maybe 4 house, first taking a helicopter flight with CNN over some of the damage and then poppping down the the Cobb Civic Center, a makeshift shelter for those who have lost their homes, to make a little speech, where he compared our situation to Katrina (?) and then personally reassure about three people, from what I could tell watching it on a live feed, that the federal government would come through for them in their time of need, though not any time soon. Seriously. That's what he told them.
Naturally, he decided to start his speech around 11:30am. That's thirty minutes before noon, for those of you who are bad at math. And what happens at noon? The noon newscast, of course! So, that gave us half an hour to listen to his speech, pick out the highlights, write a little script about it, edit it and get it on-air for the lead story. Chaos ensued, which resulted in a reporter in the field and the anchor talking back and forth stretching while we tried to get something cued up for them to toss to. It didn't happen. There was a "technical error" and we had to come back to it in the next block. Instead, they decided to do an additional hit with another reporter who was in the flood area. Naturally, since water runs downhill, this is a low area and therefore had to be a satellite shot rather than a microwave shot. And the thing about satellite shots is that you have to book a window on the satellite and that's expensive, so you only book for the time that you need for the reporter to do their scheduled hit. So, when they decide to go back to the reporter, to fill time, there is about 30 seconds left in the sat window. EXTEND THE WINDOW!
Essentially, it was a half hour of total chaos. I had expected myself to completely spazz out the first time I was in a situation like this, not having worked in news for a couple of years, but, thankfully, I found that I still have nerves of steel.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Oops.
The look on the female anchor's face is priceless.
Come check out clips like this at The Atlanta Press Club's Gorilla Ball Saturday night! (Well, maybe not exactly like this)
Jackasses
Man, working is really interfering with my blogging. Silly job!
So, I'm sure everyone has heard all they want to hear about Kanye West and Taylor Swift, but of course, I have to throw my two cents in.
I flip-flopped about doing this post because... well, because of what I'm about to talk about. I don't want to be part of the problem, but like any skilled journalist, I'm going to avoid responsibility for what I write by using the "attribution" technique.
For those of you not in the know, "attribution" as the name implies, is where you report on something someone else said and basically put all the responsibility of the content onto someone else. It's the journalistic equivalent of gossip. Often, it's legit, such as, "Police said that so-and-so killed someone." Because a journalist couldn't possibly have that information independently and certainly shouldn't be making accusations like that, right? But often, it's abused. I intend to abuse it in such a fashion right now.
In the wake of the VMA's, President Obama sat down for an interview with CNBC. According to TMZ, before the interview began, Obama was asked how he felt about the Kanye incident. The audio of his response can be heard here on TMZ.com.
If you listen to that clip, it is apparent that Obama meant for his comments to be off the record. There are ethical guidelines that dictate that when a person requests to be off the record, a journalist should honor that. It is critical in getting sources to trust you. Typically, if you are given information off the record, then you have to go out and find another source to collaborate the information. Sure, it's inconvenient, but it's the honest and decent thing to do. See the Valarie Plame incident for more on this.
Well, the audio and eventually the video of the Obama incident was leaked, presumably by someone working for CNBC or someone else in the Presidential press pool. The person that leaked it is clearly some jackass with no journalistic ethics, but the larger problem here is the TMZ published it. While not exactly known for their ethical conduct, there was seemingly little to no backlash about this and it's worrisome that in this age of new media, the tried and true code of conduct is slipping away.
Yes, I realize that I'm blogging about it right now and I see the irony.
Since the vast majority of people seem to agree with Obama's assessment of Kanye, he's not really getting any backlash over this, but the point is that it was off the record and no one should have ever heard it. There are those that might say that the President should never be off the record. That every aspect of his life should be available for public scrutiny, but I disagree. I actually found this particular clip quite endearing, but I should never have heard it.
There is certainly a mistrust of media and having worked in PR, I understand this even more. I am all too aware of watching what I say when I have a mic on and Obama should certainly be experienced enough to do the same, but when it all comes down to it, we are all just people and when, as a spokesperson, I ask to rephrase something I just said or ask not to be quoted and they agree, I expect them to respect that agreement. It's common. Very common and frequently done. When someone breaches that agreement like that, it gives us all reason to worry.
So, I'm sure everyone has heard all they want to hear about Kanye West and Taylor Swift, but of course, I have to throw my two cents in.
I flip-flopped about doing this post because... well, because of what I'm about to talk about. I don't want to be part of the problem, but like any skilled journalist, I'm going to avoid responsibility for what I write by using the "attribution" technique.
For those of you not in the know, "attribution" as the name implies, is where you report on something someone else said and basically put all the responsibility of the content onto someone else. It's the journalistic equivalent of gossip. Often, it's legit, such as, "Police said that so-and-so killed someone." Because a journalist couldn't possibly have that information independently and certainly shouldn't be making accusations like that, right? But often, it's abused. I intend to abuse it in such a fashion right now.
In the wake of the VMA's, President Obama sat down for an interview with CNBC. According to TMZ, before the interview began, Obama was asked how he felt about the Kanye incident. The audio of his response can be heard here on TMZ.com.
If you listen to that clip, it is apparent that Obama meant for his comments to be off the record. There are ethical guidelines that dictate that when a person requests to be off the record, a journalist should honor that. It is critical in getting sources to trust you. Typically, if you are given information off the record, then you have to go out and find another source to collaborate the information. Sure, it's inconvenient, but it's the honest and decent thing to do. See the Valarie Plame incident for more on this.
Well, the audio and eventually the video of the Obama incident was leaked, presumably by someone working for CNBC or someone else in the Presidential press pool. The person that leaked it is clearly some jackass with no journalistic ethics, but the larger problem here is the TMZ published it. While not exactly known for their ethical conduct, there was seemingly little to no backlash about this and it's worrisome that in this age of new media, the tried and true code of conduct is slipping away.
Yes, I realize that I'm blogging about it right now and I see the irony.
Since the vast majority of people seem to agree with Obama's assessment of Kanye, he's not really getting any backlash over this, but the point is that it was off the record and no one should have ever heard it. There are those that might say that the President should never be off the record. That every aspect of his life should be available for public scrutiny, but I disagree. I actually found this particular clip quite endearing, but I should never have heard it.
There is certainly a mistrust of media and having worked in PR, I understand this even more. I am all too aware of watching what I say when I have a mic on and Obama should certainly be experienced enough to do the same, but when it all comes down to it, we are all just people and when, as a spokesperson, I ask to rephrase something I just said or ask not to be quoted and they agree, I expect them to respect that agreement. It's common. Very common and frequently done. When someone breaches that agreement like that, it gives us all reason to worry.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
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!
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.
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