Greetings, Hard Thinkers, from my 7-incher. Tablet, I mean. My computer's on the blink.
So while I smash it to tiny pieces work to fix it, here are two people in news who are having a tough week...
Update from our weather center...NOT a tornado, just shit on the lens. I personally like THIS Romans approach to weather better: when in doubt, drop an expletive on air...
Ah, it's always nice to see people having worse days than me. Now I must go tear apart my computer.
Y'know, I'm always surprised by the increasingly new and inventive ways to use technology in the world. From the way smartphones are now used to the ability to check Facebook on my TV (in case I ever hated myself THAT much), the geeks have BRILLIANT ways for you to become increasingly wired to the world. That said, they MIGHT have pushed things a bit too far...
Dammit, I thought my password of "shovethatipadupyourass" was unhackable! Guess I'll have to go with my backup, "tweetthis,motherfucker". (also, bonus points for using the word "Serf" in the graphics)
I have to be honest...that was NOT the Daily Show clip I planned to use this week. I planned to do the Homeless Hotspot story separately, but Jon Stewart saved me some time. HERE'S what I originally planned to use:
In honor of the big Oscar winner, this week's installment of Thinking Hard will be done entirely silent to celebrate "The Artist"...
...
...
...
HAHAHAHAHA! That might have been the funniest succession of jokes EVER put on this blog! I'm glad you all could share it with me. That'll be the segment that puts this blog on the Huffington Post!
Okay, on to the "not as funny" stuff:
If anyone knows me, they know I am NOT a fan of children. Especially the small ones (ages 18 and younger) who whine in the stores while I'm casually looking for printer toner to support my habit use in my, um, printer. Yeah, printer, that's the ticket. Anyway, as awful as I think many small children are, they should NOT be put through this. Seriously, what new parent is SO awful to put their children through those awful pictures instead of shaking them violently like most post-partum parents do??? Those pictures will haunt those children forever.
I work in television news, and regardless of how it looks on air, it can be a VERY difficult job. From major technical problems (like losing audio and/or video) to airing RIDICULOUS excuses for "news" (like that stupid guy from North Carolina who shot his daughter's laptop...it's on YouTube...waste your OWN time looking for it), it's not always as pleasant as those plastic people who sit on our anchor desks make it look. But one of the biggest headaches? Dealing with the public. When you're out in public today, strike up a conversation at the store or Starbucks and when someone asks what you do, lie to them and tell them you work for your local television station. Then prepare to listen to 20 minutes of "oh, this happened to me/my relative/my baby-daddy" and "this story about puppies and babies would make a REALLY good news story." It can be even worse for reporters, who have to go out and speak to random people about random stories in the headlines. They're called "man on the street" pieces. Well, one station in Sacramento, California, has had ENOUGH! They're not going to put up with those fuckers on the street ANYMORE! Instead...they're asking what people who work FOR the station think...because Joe Viewer obviously gives a fuck what I think. Here's the link. Come on! Where's the fun in this??? Where's the chance I'll see someone who's DRUNK or missing twelve teeth giving what he thinks is an intelligent soundbite on the workout routines of highway patrol dogs (or something like that...I kinda zoned out at the beginning)??
Speaking of zoning out, working a morning show at a news station can be even tougher because it requires employees to walk IN anywhere from 11pm to 4am and proceed to work sometimes-twelve-hour days because managers just don't understand that even though THEY walk in at 8am, their employees have already worked at LEAST four hours (and sometimes 9). Plus, there's the chance we'll fall asleep at our desks. You think it's tough at 10am in your cubicle? It's MUCH worse in TV. Especially if you work on air. Of COURSE I have an example of this...
Though, to be fair, a lot of Fox News content puts me to sleep too. Which is why I turn to The Daily Show to get my dose of news of the day...wrapped up in 5-10 minute segments.
Okay, so it's been a rough week around the country. Mitt Romney keeps squeaking by with caucus and primary victories. Monkees singer Davy Jones died. The New Orleans Saints are about to be joined by new players Boba Fett and Dog...because they're a bunch of bounty hunters. (Seriously, anyone see this? The Saints paid defensive players to injure players on offense during the '09, '10, and '11 seasons. Ridiculous.) And a crapton of deadly tornadoes sprouted this week. Seriously..tornadoes in February??? WTF?? So I figured we could all use a good laugh. So I was going to use a video clip of a sports anchor who pre-recorded his morning sports segment and stopped midway through by saying "Son of a bitch...okay, let's do it again...in 3, 2, 1..." but when I went back for the clip today, it's been removed because it's "copyright material" (read: embarrassing for the news station involved), so I have to go with the next best thing: a sports anchor in San Diego calling Danica Patrick a bitch:
I was also going to use a clip of a student shadowing a meteorologist being caught on camera during a weather segment, but again, I've been "copyright materialed." So you're stuck with a pretty funny segment from The Daily Show:
