never before

Never before have I thought about Ryan Seacrest. I know he hosts American Idol. The only time I’ve ever watched that show was the first night it was ever on, I think I was in eighth grade. My sister Kyle and I sat down to watch it because it was new, it was the talk of the tennis team and well, why not? Since then I have never watched. I know the names and the winners, but I never followed their music. Point in being, never before have I thought about Ryan Seacrest.

It is winter break from school and it is New Year’s Eve. This morning my day started at five am. Radio calls.

That is my explanation for finding this, The Invisible Man. You guessed it, its about Ryan Seacrest. Not only have I never seen Idol, I don’t listen to his syndicated radio show, I’ve discovered that I really do hate entertainment news and I’ve never watched any of the many shows he produces. But since I live in a world of broadcasting and I am curious to the ways of the world, it struck my eye. Even though most of us consider him to only be a host Ryan Seacrest is doing something right. The man is worth millions of dollars and is a household name and face. I never realized that him and Larry King were close. That does not mean I am giving Larry King credit: he is one of the worst interviewers I’ve ever seen. I lost whatever respect I had for Larry King when he called Ringo “George” in a Beatles interview about the cirque du soleil show.

Regardless, the New York Times Style Magazine has an interesting take on things, usually has beautiful photographs and a way with words. I found myself continuing to read about Ryan Seacrest because the way of the words seemed more than right. What do you think?

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stuff to end the year…again.

Alright. OK. It is the end of the year and there is endless press about the ending decade that keeps fueling my fire. How can I not? When I come across something new, I like to add it here. Now, I have a bit more for you.

GOOD magazine: start reading it (if you haven’t already!) Here is a link to their homepage. The topics that they have put together are a listography including: the environment, design, culture (already posted) and of course politics. You may think that they sound boring, but even ‘design’ surprised me in how interesting and important design changes have been in the last decade.

Fellow IC students and, well let’s be honest, superior bloggers from notdrugs have also been sharing their end of the year lists and some Christmas fun. Check it out.

The New York Times will always be it. At least to me, it is the end all be all of a news source. And if you creep around enough on their website you can find some pretty interesting stuff. The online version of the Times is the best example of how (and why) modern papers are better off online: free, easy to use, an endless plethora of information, and did i mention free?  My personal favorite are their interactive features. This summer at the 40th anniversary of Woodstock we couldn’t get enough of them. This hails from the op-ed area, my other NYTimes favorite. Every once and a while they feature art, graphs, charts and visuals in the ‘op-ed’ (opposite opinion) that can simplify information. ‘Picturing the Past 10 Years’ is a chart with doodles and images on a yearly time line. With such a small space there is a lot going on.

click the pic to enter the caption contest for this cartoon...

click the pic to enter the caption contest for this cartoon

And of course there is the New Yorker. An old favorite, I’ve realized that this magazine is like play time for grown ups. It has some of the best movie review writing (the latest) and well, some of the best writing overall. And what other publication can you think of with a national cartoon caption contest for adults (you all know that I love me some adult imagination and cartoons, or as some readers prefer mature instead of adult?) Here we have a ‘What Do You Call It?’ about naming our decade. And ‘2009 The Quiz‘. Also a great contribution from readers, its readers’ photos from the decade.

mmmmmmm vegetables

mmmmm vegetables

These are just some of the things I personally enjoy, like the above And now I’ve realized that I don’t need an excuse to post about food, health and nutrition. So here’s something new: the C.E.O. of Whole Foods John Mackey has something to say. Check it out.

Hope that everyone had a Happy Christmas, etc. Also- Happy New Year!

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Quotes, Volume 2

Some quotes that I heard this holiday season….

“Why do you have so much alcohol in the house?” “I like to drink.” (My dad to my cousin)

“What’s a Hannah Montana?” (My grandfather)

“What is that? E-mail on your cell phone? i just use mine for phone calls. I don’t do that text messaging. Is that what it’s called? The whole thing is too much for me.” (My grandfather again, he will appear a lot in this section)

“Yeah, it’s nice to see everyone again…I definitely need a drink though.” (My brother)

“Should we just order chinese or is that too cliche? Jews ordering Chinese on Christmas?” (My brother)

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Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.  Sorry again for taking so long between posts, but I plan on getting back to my roots of that neon-colored stapled newsletter and bringing some more rants to the masses.

Yesterday I came across a documentary called “Don’t You Forget About Me.”  This was a documentary made about the impact of John Huhges teen movies in the 80s by four canadian “filmmakers” (and I use that term loosely) who set out to find and speak to the great John Hughes and fail miserably.  While I watched this documentary and enjoyed most of it, I found myself noticing how the four producers must have been film kids in college.  Certain traits just pop out.  As a TV kid (a television-radio major) often times we get lumped in with film kids, and often times we take exception to it.  It’s not that I have anything against film kids, I have some good friends who are film kids, it’s just that film kids and tv kids are quite different. (How many times did I say kid in that sentence? I was aiming for five)  In my opinion (again, this is probably a tad biased, and all film kids please do not take offense), film majors seem to be more pretentious, more “filmy” (if that makes sense) and with an unwarranted sense of superiority.  For some reason film kids seem to look down on the tv kids as not as serious and think the work they produce is better.  In some cases sure, but I know that this semester, tv kids produced some great work (Check out Almost College, seriously, you will not regret it…ictv.org/Almostcollege)….This leads me back to my thesis that film kids are just a little more out there, and a little pretentious in the way they carry themselves and approach their work. Often times over my years in Park I have turned to a fellow TV student and said “I’m so glad I’m not a film kid.”  And I am.  I think that TV and FIlm kids are inherently different.  We are more understated in our creativity and love of entertainment.  We are more down to earth, we approach things differently, and maybe, just maybe, do not take it AS seriously.  You can walk through park and see a film kid and KNOW he or she is a film kid.  They just have that way about them.  It’s just the way it is.  Maybe I have just been around Park too much this semester.  Who knows.  Either way, Happy new year to all TV kids, all film kids, and everyone in general.

 

Quotes, Volume 1

Back in the days of the Ithacan’t, “Quotes” was one of the most popular segments of the stapled neon newsletter. After an exciting holiday season, I’m here to bring you the quotes of the holidays…

“This truly is amazing.” – My uncle to my father, over Skype.

America is the land of opportunity! Not Germany.” – My grandmother, in reaction to the news that my sister would be moving to Germany so her husband can get his Ph. D.

“Gram can go get it.” – Myself, after patiently helping Gram down the stairs on the way out to the car, when my father realized she had forgotten something upstairs.

“You’re still playing Bejewled?!” – My sister, several times during the break.

“Don’t mind if I do!” – My brother-in-law, in response to whether he wants another beer or not.

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Californiacker

Californiacker

Looks like Southern California put on a few pounds over the Holidays…

Not a Goldfish

Not a Goldfish

Come to the surface, ya little fishy!

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Volvo Hits 240,000 Miles

I’ve done some pretty extraordinary things in my twenty-two years on this fine earth: climbed mountains, killed birds, and invented words…

But this afternoon, after a long drive back from Ithaca and a few trips to friends’ and families’ houses, I reached a long-standing goal of mine: I’ve taken my 1989 Volvo 740GL Station Wagon, a vehicle handed down to me by my parents when I was a mere junior in high school, to 240,000 miles. This leaves me 10,000 miles to get to my ultimate goal – a quarter million miles.

239,999

239,999

To note, my odometer and my speed gauge didn’t work for a few months during my senior year of high school. That’s right, I drove around not knowing how fast I was going – simply keeping up with the traffic, and not knowing how many miles were going on the car. Now, I’m not making excuses here, I’m not trying to prove that I have more miles than my odometer says I do, I’m just making it known…

240,000

240,000

It’s about 250 miles from my house to Ithaca. I’ll drive back after this break, maybe home and back for Spring Break, and then home after *tear* graduation. That’s another thousand miles. Only another 9,000 miles after that. I don’t have a time frame set quite yet, but I’ll get there.
How ’bout you, Turks? How many miles your Volv got? More than me? Anybody else got a high-mileage car?

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adult imagination–use it!

This is one of those things too. When we became adults (not sure when that happened, but I’m pretty sure it did) its hard for fantasy-land to cross into the real world. But once something is recognized by a legitimate credible source it usually becomes all the more real. A lot of people don’t like Tim Burton: he freaks them out, not really considered an art form, whatever it may be- a lot of people consider it just down right weird (which it can be.) Preference is preference. I happen to love me some Tim Burton.

Now, I won’t lie to you. Even blogging relationships involve truth at all times. When I was a child I was pretty much afraid of EVERYTHING. Halloween, rubber masks, and Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas. I mean come on. I watched that movie years later after having gotten over my fears and seeing it through a new mind…..that shit is SCARY. No wonder I was afraid of it. There is a lot of twisted life going on in that movie……..But now A Nightmare… is beautiful to look at. The movie has groundbreaking technology and imagination, and changed animation ideas and possibilities. For those of you who have overlooked Tim Burton (if you have?), maybe you shouldn’t.

32222When something like this comes around I cannot ignore it even if my childhood nightmares linger. The MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, has a Tim Burton exhibit. And its running until April! This gives us all enough time to get ourselves there. The last time I was at the MoMA I stumbled upon the Dali exhibit, which was really amazing, and a whole bunch of modern architecture and interior design. It was strange seeing it in a museum but it definitely drew a crowd. Here’s the information- do whatchu gotta do. There is nothing quite like a demented imagination.

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OK- so maybe I am reading a little bit too much about the end of the year. And posting a bit too much about it. But what is better than cultural reviews of whats been going on here and around the world? Nothing!

designCulture

What this means is, I’ve found another. This one hails from GOOD magazine. If you have not heard of, or do not read GOOD- you should be. Its one of those things.

Also, go here and subscribe to some free podcasts to listen to on your (long?) trip(s?) to wherever you may be going. There is nothing better than human stories, I promise.

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y’all need to read this.

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click the pic

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