Live from the CNN/YouTube Debate Press Room

Great Halloween Costume

Funny comments here.

Directions To Anderson Cooper

In what surely has to be one of the stranger emails I've ever gotten, I clicked-on the directions to the screening party for Planet In Peril I'd never been invited to in the first place (tonight at the Georgia Aquarium at 6pm) and... voila... AC360 himself!

What a total tease this non-invitation was though as even though the bizarre email also included a full alphabetical listing of invitees who had previously RSVP'd in time to get a slot at tonight's premier, AC was not on the list -- proving once again Atlanta has no celebrities worth trying to con your way into anything over.

Green Media and CNN

If you caught JMS on AC360 last night, you may, if you are the hardcore media junkie I am, have wondered how much energy was consumed to get that two-way shot with Stipe in Athens up to AC in NYC. A lot, I can assure you, given the price of gasoline used to transport a full MSM crew around Georgia.

Let's assume that a CNN crew based out of Atlanta was sent for the day to Athens, GA to set-up the shot. That's using XXX gallons of fossil fuel, right? In the kind of oversized vehicle needed to schlep all their gear back and forth. (Let's also assume no plane fuel was involved in the making of those TV minutes though, as that would be just thousands of gallons of fossil fuel burned, as opposed to mere hundreds.) And costs involved for that Athens-to-NYC air time were at least in the medium thousands. At least.

Meanwhile, CNN could have leveraged a terrific Green Media Moment (you read it here first; so yeah, you use it, I'll sue the pants off you) to do that live shot, which BTW was not live, but merely live-to-tape as we say in the biz. Notice the nice natural light on Stipe's shot, who was in the same time zone as a 10pm EDT Cooper; that was cool though because doing the shot outdoors saved plenty by not utilizing those energy-guzzling indoor lights.

Instead of incurring the costs for the (fossil) fuel, the superfluous personnel, and the ludicrously expensive satellite feed/uplinking capability needed to get Stipe onto AC360 last night, whereby he could then assist in the pimping of the upcoming green special, Planet In Peril, CNN could have had Stipe fire-up his laptop, plug a DV camera into it, get a wi-fi signal, jump on some live streaming platform like Ustream.tv, and voila -- live GREEN TV! Albeit via the Internets of course, but live or live-to-tape, and totally cool and totally pimp-able for being greener than the rest. A win-win for all. Even the marketeers!

Now of course there would be some energy resources expended to power the Internets-related tools that Stipe and CNN needed to employ to get the great, now-green media to everyone who was seeking such last night, but energy costs would have been drastically lower overall. And think if that laptop could have been... say... solar powered! Now we're talking Green Media, folks.

All the above said though, R.E.M.'s song put the soul into the CNN pictures we were seeing last night. There's energy and power in that kinda human resource that's immeasurable. Let's hope those kinds of energies are renewable, 'cause that's what we'll be left with when the other kinds are gone.

R.E.M. Fans Take Note!

A previously unreleased R.E.M. song, I take it a new one, will be debuting tonight on the I Dream Of Anderson Cooper show. This song will be used in the Planet in Peril special that commences October 23rd.

CNN's got a winner in this one -- women are going to go bonkers, globally. Anderson Cooper, Sanjay Gupta and Jeff Corwin all in one do-gooder-adventure-ist televised romp! My kid, who's seven, is absolutely mad for Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin, so they can pull from not only the news junkie, eco-minded (read to advertisers: deep pockets) crowd, but the Hannah Montana tween demo too.

Like I'd let her stay up that late, but if I had TeVo, I'd tevo it for her at least.

Call Off The Revolution

OK, Andrew Keen wins a round. Atlanta blogger, The Shelbinator, went live on Internet TV during and after the CNN YouTube debate from the Citadel in Charleston last night. Our intrepid blogger took us afterwards, live of course, to the infamous post-debate spin room where he:

a.) wandered around in search of a water fountain
b.) snagged a few minutes with CNN's John King
c.) failed to shove enough people aside to get to Joe Biden
d.) shut down all production to chase after women

Talk about not quite ready for primetime. But Shelby looked very nice in his suit and tie, and we at home got to yell along at him in the live chatroom that uStream.tv provides for the blogger's homies. Don't know if he ever got laid though.

Overall: The cult of the amateur is moreorless as it should be: inmates running the asylum. And having a roaring good time doing so.

Smash Your TV

Atlanta blogger The Shelbinator will be broadcasting live on the Internets from the press pit at the CNN YouTube debate tonight. It’ll all go down here around 6:30 or 7pm.

MSM Smackdown

It doesn't matter what you think about Michael Moore. What's delightful is watching him just smack the holy shit outta Wolf Blitzer! Heeheehee!

Could U 2 Be Psychic?

I often have those odd moments where something I'd thought about in passing does come to pass, such as thinking about finding a four-leaf clover, then the next day looking down while walking the dog and viola, a four-leaf clover.

Or more horrifyingly serious, having a strange, ill feeling come over me about a hospital as I passed by one overlooking GA-400, then a couple of hours later rushing my child into that same emergency room. A few days before 9-11, I dreamt of planes swooping into NYC using the bridges into Manhattan as their pathways. I thought not a thing of it until... well, you know when.

Then there's that old devil boy-man, Eason Jordan. Now I admit to a slight obsession with Eason since he was such an Atlanta fixture, starting CNN with Ted and such, and then being one of the first people to be seriously "outed" in the blogosphere. (Over his remarks about journalists being killed in... wherever, Iraq I assume. While Eason was schmoozing it at Davos one year. No lack of ye olde irony there.) Then he runs off with Mariane Pearl (they were perilously close to the alter I hear before someone came to their senses. What was she thinking? Grief will certainly cloud one's good judgement I suppose) and resigns abruptly from CNN -- not necessarily in that order.

So I fell asleep last night thinking of that doofus Eason while reading an article about the making of the badly-titled, A Mighty Heart, into a movie. (Think A Mighty Wind. I often do.) Which is unfortunate as it is a beautifully written, powerful, all-in-one-sitting book. For me, it really was as close as I'll ever get to an inspirational/self-help title as the true love and the deep bond and the friendship shared by Danny Pearl and Mariane just lit-up the entire book.

What a tragic loss for her, yet an intelligent and deeply believable story for all of us who still believe, go figure, in heterosexual, monogamous, romantic love. Or at least cling to the notion of it being possible. It genuinely was so with those two.

I read the book in a wallow of pure bitterness and cynicism over romantic love never ever being sustainable between men and women. Ye olde post-divorce scenario I suppose. Nothing unusual to be in that classically bitter state of mind, having just been divorced then subjected to two subsequent and deeply disappointing relationships. I was in the "Never Again" mindset fer sure, but that book honestly helped drag me back up to a less hardened stance in the romantic love department. Can't say I've forgiven the Islamacist motherfuckers who beheaded precious Danny Pearl yet, but I've made great strides in keeping faith that men and women can co-habitate in harmony.

But I'm diverging from my intended topic... so I fell asleep wondering WTF was up with Eason, and wondering if the Brangelina flick would have a character playing that pumpkin-head (of course not), and low and behold, I wake to the news that Eason has launched... a blog! My my my... the unconscious workings of the mind never cease to amaze me.

For Hardcore AC Fans Only

No real hardcore stuff here. Just a pure AC love letter from some random YouTuber. And yeah, I'd about sell my momma to see just one shot of AC with MS. Or was it the other way around?

TV Left To The Stupid People

So TV's dead. Only stupid people watch it now anyway. More on that here.

I'll miss Larry King at 9pm. I have such a nice little night-time ritual of putting kid to bed, then savoring some Tension Tamer (Ooops. Product placement. Hello Celestial Seasonings???!!) with milk and a little A-listing with Mr. King, despite his flinching ugliness, but the guests are always good. Then a little AC 360 for a bedtime global news romp.

As strong a relationship as I've developed with the Internets, I still enjoy cozying-up with a little TV every now and then, especially since I grew-up without one. But I can easily see how that damn Disney Channel sucks the mindwind right out of the young ones. Only a moron could think otherwise. Thank goodness they don't run commercials, its only saving grace, otherwise it'd all be outta here. Still, we need TV for use as a DVD monitor, don't we? In the den?

Ultimately, lying in bed with the laptop watching something on-demand, whether it's a longer form piece from ABC News, a far-fetched conspiracy theory, a movie (The Breakup last night. Quite good.) or a clip from MetaCafe, is pretty darn compelling. All of the above I've done lately. Can't say I've had quite that intimate a relationship with my TV that's fer sure as I've never invited one into my bedroom.

WTF... bring on the broadband. What a party. Smash your TV, but put yourself doing it on YouTube, of course.

CNN Layoffs

Here's the poop on the CNN layoffs, as I hear it: At least five senior, longtime staff were hit. They seem to be aiming for the "high salary" profile this go-'round. Severance packages will likely be excellent for all. More details when they arrive... stay-tuned to the SGR.

Is it too soon to welcome such leftbehinds to the blogosphere? Oh, if they only knew of the fun and games to be trolled here they'd have come running long ago, even without a severance package! But they'll need a good one to navigate, as independents, out here until they hit, uh, warmer waters.

Klassic Kyra

For all you on the Raging Bimbo Vomit Spotting beat, let me direct your attention to Wonkette's latest entry regarding Kyra Phillips of CNN, a woman still set loose for a cookie-toss on our TV screens every day. Be sure to click-on the Wonkette "Kyra Phillips" tag to scroll a treasure trove of Ms. Phillips' media droppings.

I suppose Ana Marie Cox isn't contributing at all to Wonkette these days. Sigh... since she signed some biggie contract -- with AOL, right? I can only aspire to write one entry as snarky-delicious as that gal, my hero, Ms. Cox.

Then again, I've always got yet another homegrown dipshit, Caren West from the soooo not link-worthy Sunday Paper, to kick around, as I had a mind to do just last week. I might just get there yet with such material to work with. Keep it coming, ladies.

Feminists Line Up To Blow Ted

Awww shucks. And I just wanted to be a damn good blogger. But now, we might get to rule the world! Sure, I'd do Ted -- for this priceless gem alone:

Men should be barred from public office for 100 years in every part of the world. ... It would be a much kinder, gentler, more intelligently run world. The men have had millions of years where we've been running things. We've screwed it up hopelessly. Let's give it to the women.

Full mouthiness here.

Acting Politically

Is Sean Penn the worst actor in America because of his face? Or is he the worst actor because of that contrived explosive-emoting thing he does over and over?

Is Sean Penn the worst lefty-spokesperson because of his face? Or is he the worst lefty-spokesperson because of the contrived explosive-emoting thing he does over and over?

Not only does Penn look like a greasy angry troll, he behaves like one too, reminding the world that his last moment of genuine expressiveness came in 1982 while acting the part of a stoner.

I tried to watch Sean Penn on Larry King last night as he snorted and snarled and grunted his way through a litany of personal efforts and alleged global compassions on the part of oppressed people everywhere, but by the time he got to pushing his unattractive way through Iran, I had to shut the whole painful process down.

There was simply never a flicker, not one moment, of humanity in the dude's face. Penn’s contorted, Rumpelstiltskin-like visage betrayed not a moment of genuine compassion or concern for whatever he was spitting and snapping about. He seemed an ugly, affected bundle of scorn and contempt for not only the current administration, but for life in general.

The face is where human beings wear their humanity, should we be inclined to have some. Thank goodness then that Ugly Penn was followed by George Clooney's quietly urgent and considerate comments to the U.N. and to John Roberts of CNN (no longer CBS) on behalf of the crisis in Darfur.

Now there’s a face that can radiate the beauty and depth of a man's convictions and concerns. There is a genuine quality of honesty in Clooney's eyes. No doubt there is a small chance that I am dulled and dazzled by Clooney’s sheer physical beauty, by that classic timelessness he radiates with the rugged tan, glossy black hair and proper suit, but it's pretty damn hard to fake genuine compassion. Then again, he gets paid the ludicrous bucks to do just that - to act. (All this remind you of anyone? Hint hint. As in a former White House res/pres???)

The problem with celebrity causes is that they're so extreme they give the impression that one must have Hollywood-levels of resources to even get on the helpful-radar. Do you need Gulfstreams full of cash and influence to do anything about Darfur? The horror in Sudan seems oblivious to money and influence. Indeed, it seems oblivious to George Clooney. Who are the people who can really "do something," and does the average American even factor into the assistance equation?

I think Clooney, by appearing before the U.N., is telling us that the U.N. can do something. In fact, he said, "If not the U.N., then who?" But what about the audience watching at home? What about the celebrity spokesperson's fans, the people who might want to actually do something to help? What is it that these celebrities are trying to tell them when they appear on TV?

Honestly, I don't have a clue. Once you rally the troops, what do you do then? A few email addresses or wwws could be a start. Or maybe they left that part on the edit room floor.

Little Black Cloud In A Dress

Diana had to have it all -- she desired our facilities and institutions, and pined, to her butler, to be our First Lady, chiefly just to give the finger to her ex-in-law QE2 on returning state visits to Buckingham Palace.

Whew... could that gal work herself into a vengeful, wacko frenzy or what?! Still, Di as First Lady could have been dazzling, and buying her way in with a wealthy husband was one of her more reasonable ideas, given our pay-to-play system of government.

Diana as First Lady would sure have beat having the First Zombie we do now. What an utter dud Laura Bush has turned out to be. I guess I'd have to be drugged-up on anti-depressants, as she often appears to be, if I was married to this Chief Dim-Wit, too.

With her fixation on Pakistan and that handsome Pakistani doc, Diana could have been their sovereign; then she might have helped patrol the ludicrously porous border with Afghanistan. Now there's a job for a good, psycho princess.

Of course when one ponders the shitheap that is Afghanistan, one can't help but draw the obvious parallel to the ellusive adventures of that other cute terrorist, Eric Rudolf, running loose through the tangle of our wild, southern mountain ranges for five freakin' years. Rudolf wasn't toting a new media production facility along with him, though. Traveled solo, traveled light. Still, the Feds caught his sorry ass in the long, millions and millions later, run.

I am a little concerned for Anderson Cooper's safety over there chasing Osama. He sure likes to stand real close to those howitzers. One of those military menz is gonna get real pissed with the cutie pie in the fake fatigues getting too close to his biz and fire that thing right into AC's adorable ass.

This post put together by The Shins' Chutes Too Narrow.

We're Not Afraid

No, I was not afraid during the terrorist attacks of 9/11. I was angry -- angry with a white hot fury I'd never felt inside of me, and I haven't felt since. I wanted to seek immediate revenge. I wanted bombs and guns and lawyers and lots of money to go and get the people who were killing us. I wished at the time I was a member of the military, with a license to kill our enemy - whoever the f that was at the time. I wanted to DO something. Anything. I wanted an F-16 in particular.

Instead, I sat in my Home Depot headquarters cubicle here in Atlanta, on the phone with my brother, Chris, who had walked past the twin towers just minutes before the attacks, as he did every workday morning on his way to his Wall Street office. I stayed on the phone with him as the North Tower collapsed. I could hear Chris' building shaking and rumbling over the phone. And then the line went dead.

I had no idea what was going on at the time, other than what was on CNN, which I'm watching the replay of now, no clue about what had happened to Chris. I wouldn't know for another two hours or so.

After the phone connection failed, Chris fled with the crowds and the smoke thru Lower Manhattan and made his way, slowly, up towards Midtown where his wife Jane's office was located. Jane and I emailed back and forth, frantically, until Chris was able to place a cell phone call letting her know he was alive and headed her way on foot. I thought periodically of how Chris had loved to photograph the twin towers from all sorts of intriquing angles.

I was wiped-out with relief at that point, and moreorless in a state of stunned disbelief for what seemed like weeks afterwards. I vaguely remember picking Ava up at daycare by early afternoon on 9/11, but I have no recall of the hours afterwards. I assume I just sat in front of ABC and CNN for hours on end. I remember Peter Jennings and his cool, calm smoothness throughout it all. I remember Mayor Giuliani emerging through the media as a strong, intelligent, reassuring, competent leader. I have no memory or sense of George Bush assuming any kind of credible leadership role - ever.

I've visited NYC several times since. The first time after 9/11, I looked back across the Hudson River on my way out of town over to New Jersey to absorb the Manhattan skyline. The sensation of the newly-transformed skyline was strange and sobering and disconcerting without the WTCs rising up at the end. A few trips later, through the passing years, and I no longer expect to see the towers when I gaze the powerful skyline.

My anger flares momentarily from time to time, but ultimately I am not afraid of terrorism or these goddamn terrorists. After all, we are Americans, and we will fight them to the end.