Tweetdeck in the News

Business Insider noticed something I did too about the Egypt coverage this weekend:

I kept seeing TweetDeck pop on TV this weekend during discussions about Egypt.�
I’m never clear on why producers think it’s useful to show visuals of Twitter, or in this case a Twitter app, on TV:� the scrolling text is impossible to read, not to mention the usefulness of Twitter et al. has everything to do not only with who you follow, but understanding why you follow them.� A fact that’s rarely explained to viewers.
Presumably these hip TV folk just wanted to show that they’re down with the kids (the kids being media people who have relied on TweetDeck and the like for more than a year now as the most useful platform with which to stay ahead of the news).�
The result, however, is a bit like going back 60 years and hearing a radio person laud this new thing called the television set, with no awareness it was thing making them obsolete.

We learned nothing from all the Tweetdeck usage over the weekend, aside from “the person producing this newscast has no idea what TweetDeck or Twitter is.”

Noah’s Blog

My son blogs about his latest tricks- including crawling and standing- in his latest blog post.

Egypt

I find it hard to find anything to say about what’s going on in Egypt, except that it’s so fascinating that we can just turn on the TV and see history unfolding in such a way. When I was in eighth grade and my class watched Bill Clinton sworn in as president, I’ll always remember my teacher saying, “in a lot of countries in the world, instead of this orderly transition, you’d be watching a war right now, or someone being murdered.” I guess this time we’re watching the exact opposite.
I do find it kind of absurd to see so much analysis of what’s going on there in terms of whether it’s “good for America,” or “good for Israel,” or even “good for Obama.” I wouldn’t say Egypt’s events have much or anything to do with any of the above. It’s about the Egyptian people wanting to have self-determination, which I’d say they should have. Now I’d certainly prefer the Muslim Brotherhood not come out on top, but then it’s not looking like that’s the most likely outcome.

Netflix Recommendation Roundup

“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” It’s a totally unnecessary sequel, it has absolutely nothing interesting or original to say about the 2008 financial crisis, it revolves around the love story of two shallow, mediocre characters (Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan, it’s way too long and “money never sleeps” makes no sense as a title or phrase. But you know what? I loved it anyway. So great to see Gordon Gekko again, Josh Brolin made a delightfully icy villain, and the whole thing was just really well photographed and told. And Eli Wallach’s tiny supporting role is something to behold. Oliver Stone really could do something great again if he actually applied himself.
– “Waking Sleeping Beauty.” A very fascinating documentary about the Disney renaissance in animation in the late 1980s, told by the animators themselves. It has a bit too much of the well-trodden internal Disney politics that we’re all used to, but the animators are fascinating people, and if nothing else it reminded me just how great those movies were. Except “The Lion King.” I always thought that one was just shit.
– “Stephen Tobolowsky’s Birthday Party.” A simple idea: the titular veteran character actor- you’ll know him when you see him- hosting friends for his birthday birthday party and telling stories for 90 minutes. And it’s enthralling. Give this guy a weekly HBO show, pronto.
– “Please Give.” I’m not generally a huge Nicole Holofcener fan, but this was the best of her films. Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt play a New York couple who sell the antiques of recently dead people, and are waiting for the 90-year-old woman next door to pass away so they can buy her apartment. Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet are both excellent as the elderly woman’s angel and devil granddaughters; I’m still yet to not love Hall in anything.

Back to the USENET Days

Like everyone else, I thoroughly enjoyed this Katie Baker piece about her days on hockey message boards in the early days of the internet in the ’90s. I remember Eworld! And message board idiots too.

Another Miscarriage of Journalism

Remember the “Kendra Loses Her Baby” nonsense of a few months ago? That same magazine, OK, gone back to the “female reality star had a miscarriage but not really” well again.

Once again, the phrase “baby joy turns to misery” has a certain connotation to it. What actually happened to Khloe, according to the article– she got pregnant, she colored her hair red, and the network asked her to go back to the original color- does not exactly meet that definition.
I mean, I’m sure that was traumatic, and we’re all praying for her around the clock, but…

I’m All For Sarah Palin-Bashing, But…

This is a bit of a stretch.

Or As Most People Call It, “Sunday”

News Item: Next Sunday is “National Porn Sunday”

Blog Commenters Aren’t Nazis

Stewart continues teeing off on O’Reilly:

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Of course, there are many big differences between Nazis and Huffington Post commenters. The HuffPo writers haven’t killed anyone, they’re not running a government, they don’t have an army at their disposal, and (presumably) they don’t hate Jews. But other than that… Nazis!

Scott Meets Brent

Last night’s “Office” was less than great, but history was made:

This just made me glad that the British Office never made it to a mediocre sixth season. Then again, “Parks and Recreation” and “Community” were both beyond hilarious last night. “Perfect Couples,” not so much.