My internet connection gets switched off this Sunday, as I leave my apartment here in Nagano for three weeks of travel before I head back to Seattle.
Despite the fact that my phone forces me to change each and every character I type from uppercase to lowercase, making an already tedious method of text entry almost unbearable, I plan to post occasional (short) entries during those three weeks of travel (thanks to Kevin Cameron’s Mobloging For Other People).
So, I’ve been sitting here trying to think of an appropriate icon or tag line for use with entries posted from my mobile. But then I realized that labeling the entries as such is really more of a “gee-whiz” reaction to new technology. In the end, it doesn’t really matter how the entry is posted.
However, if you’re interested, entries during the next few weeks that are only one or two sentences are likely posted from my mobile. Either that or I’ve got a lot of time on my hands. A longer entry probably means I’ve found an internet cafe.
Category: Media, Journalism & Blogs
Take A Break From The Tube
This coming week is TV Turnoff Week. Take a break from the onslaught. You just might find you like it.
If your boob tube isn’t a behemoth, stick it in the closet or basement and put a plant in its place. If it’s more of the monster-size variety, cover it with that nice shawl your grandmother knitted. At the very least, hide the remote — it’s amazing what’ll happen when you can’t channel surf without moving your fat ass off the couch.
Bonus points for the best idea on how to spend one’s time away from the tube.
Tricky Dick Gets No Respect In Iraq
The other day on NPR’s Morning Edition, Anne Garrels reported from Baghdad that looters had been stripping bare the mansions of Iraq’s former leadership. She mentioned that at Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz’s mansion, everything was gone except for a few books, one of which was by Richard Nixon.
Teaching The Kids About War
While flipping through the channels last Saturday night trying to pick up news on the war, I came across a show that was teaching kids about the conflict. It looks like the show (or segment) is called Kodomo Nyusu (Kid’s News). They were using toy props and cartoons to show a trio of very glum-looking kids what was happening in Iraq. It was too bizzare to pass up, so I grabbed my camera and started snapping photos.
Here’s my report…
Fox News Alert: Invading Ants
Mr. Odana at Trash Addict has keenly noticed that the future (the wrong one) has arrived.
My favourite scary news station is Fox News. It could have been invented by Ray Bradbury or George Orwell. The newscasters look like Real Dolls and there’s an air of mad dystopic future society-gone-wrong about it. The reporting is somewhat right-wing and fuzzy, and I keep expecting to hear reports about invading ants from Mars (Starship Troopers), or hearing that the president’s nose has been kidnapped (Sleeper).
Another War Blog
Back to Iraq is a blog written by Christopher Allbritton, who wants to cover Northern Iraq as an independent journalist. He’s raising money to fund his endeavor. (Wired has a story.)
Here’s Allbritton’s introduction:
I’m Christopher Allbritton, former AP and New York Daily News reporter. This summer I went stumbling around Iraqi Kurdistan, the northern part of Iraq outside Saddam’s direct control, looking for stories. (Some might call it “looking for trouble.”) Well, now I want to go back in time for the war. So I’m asking your help in supporting independent journalism.
He’s going to have to hurry to get to Iraq “in time for the war.”
War Blogs
CNN Correspondent Kevin Sites has started a blog, posting from what will likely soon be a war zone.
. . . . .
Where Is Raed? appears to be a blog written by an Iraqi from Baghdad. There’s not much information on the writer (which is probably smart, considering his views on Iraq’s current regime), but it’s a fascinating read of life in the crosshairs.
An excerpt:
A BBC reporter walking thru the Mutanabi Friday book market (again) ends his report with: “It looks like Iraqis are putting on an air of normality.”
Look, what are you supposed to do then? Run around in the streets wailing? War is at the door eeeeeeeeeeeee! Besides, this “normality” doesn’t go very deep. Almost everything is more expensive than it was a couple of months ago, people are digging wells in their gardens, on the radio yesterday after playing a million songs from the time of the war with Iran (these are like cartoon theme songs for people my age, we know them all by heart) they read out instructions on how to make a trench and prepare for war, that is after president saddam advised Iraqis to make these trenches in their gardens.
. . . . .
UPDATE: A note to those of you arriving here via a Google search for “war blogs” — for a more complete list of war-related links, visit the main page of mikemedia.
Look Elsewhere For Good Snowboarding Pics
I recently wrote about how Google gives blogs high ranking in search results.
Currently, about 40-50 visitors a day are reaching my site via search results for “snowboarding pics.” They’re landing on this page, which is ranked second on Google for the above search phrase.
As much as I appreciate new readers, I feel a bit like they’re getting a raw deal when they come to my site looking for snowboarding photos. Anyone who is doing a Google search is probably looking for more of these kinds of photo, rather than the tame offerings I currently have posted.
I’d say this points to a problem with the way Google is currently providing results. My snowboarding pics entry doesn’t deserve to be ranked so high.
Good Trash
A Mr. Lubin Odana gives trash a good name with his blog, Trash Addict.
A recent link on the site is to Richard Osterweil’s Celebrities On A Bad Day.
Getting Ready For The Show
If there was ever any doubt that America will go to war with Iraq regardless of what happens at the United Nations, the fact that the stage for this drama has literally been sent to the Gulf should erase those doubts.
USA Today reports that the Pentagon has shipped a $250,000 briefing stage to Qatar. Via FedEx. With a shipping cost of $47,000.
As the stage’s Hollywood designer, George Allison, rightly points out, that’s chump change for the U.S. military. But read his quote, and tell me you don’t want to see this man strapped to a bomb a la Dr. Strangelove.
Lights, cameras, get ready for war
USATODAY.com
Allison, interviewed while overseeing set construction last week, said the cost of the briefing stage is justified.
“It’s much cheaper than one bomb, and it can do a lot more. It is the face of the military,” he said. “What’s important is not what they’re standing in front of, the set, but the ability to communicate with members of the press.”
There’s no business like show business, that’s for sure.