The Virtual Record of My Opinionated Rantings

Rahm Emanuel. Captain F-Bomb. Possibly the current politician with the least self-censorship.

He is our new Chief of Staff.

Emanuel brings more to the Obama staff than colorful language. In fact, he brings something very important: a pro-Israel mindset. While I'm no guru when it comes to economic and foreign affairs, even I know that this is a good thing. Israel is a great ally, and many of us who are further right and less brainwashed than, let's say, your average Daily Kos reader, were worried about the President Elect's anti-Israeli contacts getting the best of his easily-influenced young mind.

But enough about the silly, meaningful things I like about Emanuel. Let's get to the good stuff:

• Rahm Emanuel once mailed a dead fish to a pollster who annoyed him.
• At a post-Lewinski appearance with Former President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Emanuel told Blair, “This is important. Don’t f*** it up.”
• As Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, Emanuel once told Democrats not to make appearances on the Colbert Report to "avoid embarrassing themselves."
  

Warning: The following video implies dirty, dirty words. You have been warned.

According to the Franken campaign, this is not a valid vote for Norm Coleman. You see, there are extraneous marks outside of the oval, and that may very well be an 'X' through the bubble.



"The Franken campaign challenged this Hennepin County ballot, saying the voter intended to vote for Franken, but mistakenly wrote the candidate's name in for Soil and Water Conservation District 5." More from Minnesota Public Radio.

As of last Wednesday, about 92% of the ballots cast in the race had been manually recounted, and despite attempts such as these from the former SNL Comedian, Norm Coleman was leading by a few hundred votes. There is still no clear winner, and seeing as ballots keep showing up in the funniest places... (*insert expletive that properly expresses my frustration*).

Honestly, though I may be a bad person for saying so, if it takes nearly a month to find your vote, it shouldn't count. If you can't follow directions that require you only to fill in the bubble next to the person you want in office and to get a new ballot if you make a mistake, your vote shouldn't count. Honestly, I'm against early voting in its entirety, and absentee voting should be limited to the elderly and those serving our country overseas. You can register to vote in your temporary residence with just a smidgen of forethought. Any program that is so blatantly ill-protected against fraud is not one that I want decided who makes my decisions for me.

If you're anything like me, you never really paid attention to who wrote the latest episode of your favorite show. You love (or hate) the plot, but you credit (or blame) the actors, or the directors, or maybe even the producer. I figured the writer didn't mean anything.

Then I had the pleasure of meeting Rift Fournier, who's written for shows like Charlie's Angels and NYPD Blue, and I learned that the writer is possibly the most interesting person involved in production.

I say that based solely on Mr. Fournier's personality. I could be dead wrong about the rest of them, so just in case I vow at this moment in time to never meet another one. I think it would be difficult to be a boring individual with a lifetime that began with an artist and a Frenchman, was changed by Polio, and included writing for Sid Caesar and working with Norwegians ("Scandinavia is seriously white. Not a diverse place.").

Of course, our class did not feature Rift for the sake of our amusement (though he is a thoroughly amusing man); we received some great advice.

"There are no original ideas in the world. None."

"Unless you're a reader, you will not make it."

"If you really want a job...bug the Hell out of them."

I gained new confidence in my spastic part-time career history when he told us how he put himself through law school as Deputy Sheriff and Deputy Coroner. At one point he wrote jokes for the prime price of $5 each while selling aluminum siding over the phone.

Advice is all well and good, but I honestly could not portray him through a few wise words and a brief life overview. Then again, I can't think of a way to really put the sense of entertainment that was abundant in that room into words. I mean, honestly, I don't believe there is a person in that class who was expecting a discussion of Grey's Anatomy ("She wasn't a dynamite dyke," he told us, reflecting on the firing of Brooke Smith.).


My notes are incomplete, because I was honestly absorbed in the stories he told. I've earned a new respect for people behind the scenes, and a different fascination entirely with Rift Fournier. Did I mention that his name was changed when he was young? The church wouldn't baptize him as Rift, because there weren't any "St. Rift"s, and as he himself said, there are "none in the near future."


P.S. Here is Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, in case you were curious. Check out www.drhorrible.com to buy the videos on iTunes.

Two questions:

1) What career path are you exploring? Specifically, I'm curious about legal and broadcasting/media fields.

2) Who did you cast your vote for on Nov. 4th?


I am curious. Your answers can help me figure something out, and I'd really appreciate it.

I can also promise not to attack anyone for who their ballot was cast for. You all know where I stand, and the election is over and I am going to be living under the same administration as everyone else.

There's this little show I like to watch, called House. This show is about a cynical jerk wad of a doctor who is sort of a super genius. Dr. Gregory House, the title character, is played by the brilliant and oddly attractive Hugh Laurie (see image at right). The only problem I've found with House is that it airs on Tuesday nights. Tuesday nights I spend sitting in an ugly chair next to the door of my dorm building playing Solitaire and listening to music.

Did I say this was a problem? I meant this is awesomeness in physical form.

Why? Well, you see, Fox decided to put full, current episodes of House online.

This is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Even though I don't get to watch it as it airs, I have the privilege of being paid to play mindless computer games and I don't have to miss out on my favorite show.

Fox knows that in this electronic age, the way to succeed is through the brilliant and deliberate merging of communication mediums. They know that people like me have a busy schedule, and would often rather watch their favorite shows at 2AM as opposed to 8PM.

The best part of House, aside from the British eye candy, is the dialogue. Dr. House says some positively snarky and hysterical things throughout each episode, and Fox knows it. Fox took the liberty of giving me a directory of the best quotes from each episode!

"Dying people lie too. Wish they'd worked less, been nicer, opened orphanages for kittens. If you really want to do something, you do it. You don't save it for a sound bite."

...because who needs support from the government when you can get donations from citizens with such amazing credentials!

Name: JarackBoe BOamabiden
Address: 2345 Fak Addrss Lane
Phone: 555-555-5555
Email: barackjoe@obama.com

Name: John Galt
Address: 1957 Ayn Rand Lane
City: Galts Gulch
State: CO
Zip: 99999

Oddly enough, the individuals attempting these donations also tried the same information through McCain's site and were rejected to to a disagreement between identity information and credit card information.

This is a standard safeguard on any online commerce tool.

The usual reason for disabling it is to allow for overseas donations.

There's the information. Check out Ace of Spades for a more in depth appraisal of The One's financial doings.

How come people who've registered with unverifiable information get to vote,
but men and women serving our country overseas can't?

It seems more than a little unfair to me.

This election...

...Joe the Plumber!

By far the most interesting of the debates was the third and final presidential debate on Wednesday night. It was obvious to any observer that not only is Obama now confident in his lead, but also that McCain is sick of him.

But let me tell you the story of Joe the Plumber. Joe the Plumber was hoping to buy the small business he has worked for for years. One day he approached Senator Obama and brought up the fact that, under Obama's plan, he couldn't afford to. Senator Obama responded by saying that he didn't want to punish Joe's success, he only wanted to make sure that those behind him could succeed as well. Obama believes that when you "spread the wealth" everyone benefits.

John McCain spent a good deal of the debate talking about economic policy directly to Joe the Plumber. Political gold, let me tell you. When someone on national television is speaking to a blue-collar worker with a name and a face, they're really talking to a good chunk of America.

On some questions, like the one about how suited each candidate felt their running mate was to hold the office of the president, Obama had a distinct advantage. Let's be honest: McCain didn't pick Sarah Palin as his running mate because of her stunning political background. Palin brought charisma to the ticket, and she rallied the far right base that McCain had lost by being too moderate for their liking.

Then there were the times when McCain managed to make The Golden Child look genuinely uncomfortable. After hearing the first prompt he could vaguely relate to it, McCain jumped into the debate with "ACORN this," and "Ayers that." I was intrigued to see Obama's normal response to personal attacks (of laughter) now be accompanied by him turning his head down, closing his eyes, and shaking his head. While I may be over-analyzing something that was simply Obama trying to play it cool, it intrigues me.

While we're talking about body-language, though, I can't help but mention the multiple times McCain seemed to be looking at Obama with an expression of forced placidity. His eyes said, "I'm going to eat your soul, Barack." (Pictures to come)

Discussions over health care and Supreme Court appointments were almost obligatory, and each candidate answered along party lines on health care and McCain answered correctly on appointments, stating that he would apply no litmus tests to justices.

I wish this had been the first debate. As a McCain supporter, I believe there would be a fleeting chance for a Republican victory were this the first debate with only more like this to come. I fear that the performance by McCain was lost on the masses who, at this point, would jump off a cliff if Obama only told them they should. It is too little too late. Between ACORN and idiots, Obama is the next president of the United States.

And I'm moving to New Zealand.

"If I had to make a choice, to choose the government without the press or to have the press without the government, I will select the latter without hesitation."

-Thomas Jefferson

Any time you study something, it’s great to have access to an expert in that field. The best way to learn Mandarin would be by having a study buddy who just happened to be from China. The best way to learn about cooking would be from a master chef. The best way to learn about the print news media is from someone who lived in it.

Bob Wiggington is one of those people. He spent years working as a journalist, doing everything from hiring reporters to traveling to high-conflict areas in Afghanistan, before he ended up teaching at Lindenwood University. On Monday, I, along with my fellow classmates, had the opportunity to just listen to him talk.

Despite the demanding deadlines and people who couldn’t have been crueler, Mr. Wiggington told us that working as a journalist was likely to be, “the greatest job I could ever have because I felt like I was doing something.” Newspapers have always been the citizens second line of defense against the government (with the first being the Constitution). He pointed out that with the widespread layoffs that are a result of more and more people getting their news either online or not at all are going to cause us as a nation widespread problems dealing with our government. When the politicians are only hiding their dirty laundry from 100 people instead of 100,000 it becomes infinitely easier to simpler.

Over the last week, I’ve been thinking about this. Is the only reason the media may fail to do their watchdog duties because there are fewer journalists? Is there more to the story? I spent one week paying more attention than ever before to the print media, and some things became clear.

First, I found it impossible not to agree with Mr. Wiggington on the fact that many papers (USA Today, St. Louis Post Dispatch) may very well be to busy pandering for readers to actually care about stories and content any more. Brightly colored cover pages illustrate every story with blown up shots of sports teams, politicians, and celebrities to the point where one can’t tell the lead story from the filler.

Another thing that may worry me and no one else is the fact that, for the last few months at least, it would seem that all brackets of the news media are too busy falling head-over-heels in love with Barack Obama to report objectively on just about anything political. Were we to rely wholly on the print news media, we would know only that this “Mr. McCain” has been trying to steal lovely Senator Obama’s thunder. For my token bit of editorial in this blog, I must say that I hope in the end of this love fest, the press gets herpes, because they obviously aren’t using protection.

Then again, that last sentence obviously has nothing to do with the facts and everything to do with the fact that I’m racist.

Media...what is media? (You are probably reading this and wondering why I'm bothering with such a stupid hypothetical question, seeing as the only people who may read this are in my class on the subject, but bear with me.) I tried defining the term myself in a clear and concise manner, but I failed miserably. As a result, like any good Gen Y-er, I went to Google for the answer.
Among other things, media is defined as, "A vehicle or group of vehicles used to convey information, news, entertainment, and advertising messages to an audience." Now that I had a proper definition to work with, I could really wow the Internet!

Like it was supposed to, this got me thinking about what this mysterious being is and how it impacts me. Then I realized I am too strong of will and mind to be impacted by such things (that was sarcasm. I felt I should point this out seeing as it's in writing and not in person), so I focused more on the effect it has on my sisters.

My sisters, Kara and Lauren, and 12 and 10, respectively, and I love them to death. They are also heavily influenced by the media, specifically the pop-tween genre (don't Google that term, I just made it up). They have their Jonas Brothers T-shirts from the $100 a ticket concert they went to, they own copies of every High School Musical movie and like to sing and dance like prostitots the girls in the movies. They love Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana (which they tell me are two totally different musical styles and attitudes) and they use Disney’s made-up slang.

I finally learned that there is actually a name for this phenomenon. My sisters, as young and short as they are, are models. Well, they participate in modeling, a behavior in which they take on the behaviors, clothing, and sometimes even speech patterns that the media tells them are preferable. Don't get me wrong; if my sisters are going to be influenced by what television calls cool, I'd much rather they get their influence by some teenage boys wearing purity rings or a teen star who just wants people to like her for who she is.


As dangerous as it is, I started thinking more. "Self," I said, observing how ridiculous it was to talk to myself at 2AM, "if Kara and Lauren, who are so young and who are only exposed to a select amount of media, can exhibit this behavior, what would happen if I took a closer look at my peers?"

While waiting for my room mate to fall asleep after that odd awakening, I figured out the answer. While my sisters and their friends may blatantly model themselves after Disney stars, my political circle definitely proves that we only hear what we want to, but we let what we want to hear influence us by giving more fuel to the fire of our political fervor.

My conservative friends get their news from Fox News, while the more liberal among them tend towards internet sources (blogs, The Daily Kos, and other such sites). In most arguments between these groups, the respective side will quote verbatim from the canon of their particular news source. In 9 cases out of 10, these supposed "news bites" will be more biased than [insert something really biased here].

I suppose that all I'm trying to say here is that the media holds great power over our nation, specifically the future of it. This power is a responsibility, though they seem to treat it like a toy at times. I never thought I'd write an argument where Disney ends up acting infinitely more responsible than the people giving us the news.

Oh well, there's a first time for everything.

On a warm day in September, sitting in a swing outside of Roemer Hall I met Ruben, a freshman student from Panama. Wearing his Abercrombie shorts and Chuck Taylor’s, he seemed more than acclimated to the American social scene.

I figured I break the ice with a pretty standard American greeting.
“How much influence does American media have on you in Panama?”

The answer was “a lot. We are very, very influenced by American media.”

I asked him to clarify.

He told me that on cable, he “had 300 channels, and 230 of them were American. 70% of our broadcasting is from the states.”

He said that for international news, almost everyone watches CNN (and BBC, but we don’t care about those silly Brits, do we?), but for obvious reasons they watch local television for national news.

Ruben’s favorite shows are all on MTV. I learned this when he started talking about shows I’ve never seen. Then again, I spend more time on the internet than in front of the TV.

Not only did he know more about American television than I do, but also about American fashion. When I asked him about what sort of American advertisements he’d seen, he mentioned Abercrombie, Dolce and Gibbana, and American Eagle. “These brands I’m saying, I knew them from before I came here.”

I asked if he and his friends act and dress like Americans and he said that depends a lot on your social circle and social standings. “Cheap places sell American clothes, but they’re knock-offs.” He and his friends watch American television and he arrived in the states with an Americanized wardrobe.

“How about American movies. How many do you have in Panama?”
“Oh…a lot…”
“All of them?” I asked.
“All of the good ones. About 85% of the movies are American. When you go to the movie theater, most of them are American.”

In Panama they have access to newspapers like The New York Times and The Miami Herald, but when I asked if he read them often he replied no, that only the “elite people read those.”

“Does the government have any restrictions on the media?”
“No,” was his simpler reply. There are no restrictions on speech, but he said they also don’t have many problems with things like hate speech that would require governmental interference.

When I asked him about the internet, he told me that he has a Facebook account and his homepage is MSN. After a short pause to swap Facebook information, we got back to business.

Ruben was great at beating me to the punch when it came to questions. “Panama has a lot of different kinds of people…but mostly Americans. Americans and Panamanians obviously.” He went on to say, “If you have a country that is mostly Spanish people, they will be influenced by Spain…a small country might not be influenced by much…we have a lot of Americans, so we are influenced by America.”

I would try to make a better conclusion, but I don’t think I can.

Millennials, like the generations before us, are an anomaly to our elders. We are something new and unique and mind blowing. The entire market is changing to accommodate us, and we can’t but bask in the glory…

But are we all that different?

The answer, I’d have to say, is yes. While I’m sure there are gross exceptions to the rule, I’ve gone through the checklist to see if I’m fit to call myself a member of Generation Y and found that I’m fairly textbook.

I get up in the morning and allow myself time to check my e-mail, web comics, and news blogs before class. I have a Facebook and a MySpace and (obviously) a blog. I am readily capable of navigating Google and YouTube. I’m writing all of this on my laptop while listening to music that may or may not have been downloaded from a website based in Russia. The only time my cell phone leaves my pocket is to charge at night while I sleep…or stay up IMing the same people I would be calling. The apparent monotony of the Internet is endlessly amusing when you have the attention span of a caffeinated squirrel.

What I’m saying is that yes, I am a pretty standard example of Generation Y, but only in the technological aspect.

I understand to demands of a job, and I don’t intend to be allowed to work in shorts, wearing flip-flops, or during any hours I please. I don’t honestly think that as many of my contemporaries as some sources would want us to think do. Certainly, a fun workplace is a perk, but one would have to be entirely idiotic to believe that they will spend their days making the fortunes they feel they deserve lounging on a couch in torn jeans after stumbling into work around noon.

Then again, who am I to have an opinion as to this generation’s character but a naive an optimistic member of it?

Included below for, really, just my own amusement is a spoof on the 60 Minutes coverage of Generation Y.

...I was just filled with an overwhelming desire to talk about something none of my friends want to hear about at 1AM.

Sarah Palin, John McCain's VP pick, is a headstrong, intelligent, beautiful woman with integrity, grit, and...what is that other important thing...oh yeah, EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE.

I'm sorry to burst any liberal bubbles (that's a lie; I'm not the least bit sorry to do so), but she has as much, if not more experience in an executive capacity than Senator Obama would have after his term in office, should the American people choose to lose what few wits they have elect him. (And if his time as President would be anything like his time as Senator, he'd spend most of that term campaigning for Emperor.)

Please, I beg of you, try to tell me that being Governor of Alaska makes her less prepared than being a Community Organizer (whatever that is) in Chicago. Please.

Try to point out that being a member of Congress makes Obama, who managed to find time to write two memoirs but no legislation, who voted 'present' over 130 times, more eligible for the presidency simply as a result of his proximity to the nation's capitol. I keep forgetting that experience pandering to the bureaucracy is more important than experience leading people and making real decisions. (It should be noted that in her time both as Mayor and as Governor, Sarah Palin never once voted 'present.' Then again, 'present' isn't an option when you have real responsibilities.)

Jump down her throat for sticking to her platform which is pro-life and pro-family by not aborting her own child when she learned he was suffering from Downs Syndrome, and by not casting out her pregnant daughter Bristol, who is marrying the father of her own child.

While no one would have any qualms if Mr. Palin were the nominee, please remind me that she should not be running for office as that will take time away from her family. I hear Democratic women are allowed to have jobs and things...radical idea when it comes to bite you in the butt, isn't it?

Also, I invite anyone to correct me if I was misguided in my belief that Obama didn't write his own acceptance speech any more than Sarah Palin did.

So yes, bring to me your poor, your weak, your huddled masses. Bring me your confused and your self-righteous. Better yet...bring me an argument against Palin that won't hurt the Democratic ticket if applied to the illustrious Freshman Senator or his running mate. And in the mean time...tell me that Piper isn't adorable.

What is passion? Is it a fleeting thing that overwhelms the senses and fills the self with a sense of euphoria and obsession, or could it be a result of one embracing a topic as a result of an intense appreciation for it? Is it something else entirely? Regardless of what scholars will define it as, we all have at least one. I, for one, have many, ranging from politics to kittens to theatre, but I believe the one I will share with the vast host of individuals the Internet consists of is my passion for Dungeons and Dragons.

Dungeons and Dragons, henceforth referred to as “D&D” is a pencil-and-paper role playing game that made its debut in 1974. Despite the poor reputation it has acquired for supposedly being an occult practice and for being a home to smelly 30-year-old men in their mother’s basements, it’s really a harmless way for nerds to express themselves creatively and showcase their ability to on-up one another through “Munchkin-ing,” or exploiting loopholes found in the rules to make a character overpowered. Also note that of my gaming group all of them smell fine, none of them over 25 live in their mothers basement, and only one of them is actually 30. As proof, here is a picture of my old gaming group.

I shouldn't delve too deeply into rules and lingo without at least explaining what the game is. In a D&D session, a group of four to six players is led by a GM, or Game Master. The players each portray a character who is some sort of heroic, while the GM controls all of the adversaries or plot-essential characters who assist by contributing pieces of knowledge or equipment. The players embark on quests in which they earn “XP,” or experience points which help them to make their characters more powerful. There are battles whose outcomes are determined by rolls of the dice.

I could write about the technical aspects or the stereotypes until I get carpal tunnel, but I believe this video will give you the best idea of what D&D is…or at least how most people imagine it.

That is my passion, as nerdy as it may be. On the up side, I’m one of very few girls involved, which means that I am subconsciously favored by most GMs. In short, this means that I am less likely to die or fail at anything I attempt simply by the grace of my nature.

Dungeons and Dragons: It’s a beautiful thing.

I do believe that this is what we as a generation lovingly refer to as a "blog." Here, my assumed audience, is where you will find my opinions and thoughts as they are being recorded for my class on the Media. I will try to keep this as interesting as I can in the hopes of gathering an audience that extends past my professor.

Hello.
I'm Victoria, Tori, or Hey You.
I think, therefore I am.
I imagine, therefore I am free.

Enjoy your stay in my mind!