Raw, but c*nsored blabbing and blogging of a young journalista
and local news producer in Southern New England.
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Thursday, September 30, 2004

Never be a Nanny [UPDATED]

[UPDATED] Jeez, I'd better watch how I post. At first this all appeared in black and included the HTML.
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Ugh. It's 4:44 pm and I felt compelled beyond belief to finish The Nanny Diaries.

It's amazing how royally screwed up in the head real life can be. That is, if you think like I do, and believe that The Nanny Diaries was based on the real-life Nannying experiences of the two authors working for dozens of Central Park West-style matrons in New York.

My hope is that the novel is at least a slight exaggeration, and that there is nobody TRULY that horrible in life, as the a**hole father, or the harpie slave-driver second-wife mother. How awful.

You like Jackie Collins? You must like caviar as a treat too. Give me twenty boxes of The Nanny Diaries and mozzarella and garlic pita chips any day. (I almost called it Doritos, but felt that would be insulting.)

Next on the list: .....What?..... Hmm.... either Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber or Eric Bogosian's Mall.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/30/2004 04:46:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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What goddess am I most like?

Okay, it's a stretch. Let's see what Women.com's quiz says:

I scored 41% Aphrodite, which means I'm charismatic, self-assured, comfortable with my body, and sexually unrestrained. Jeez. However, to find a more lasting relationship with (people), I need to add more of the goddess Hera to my life.

I'm 25% Athena, the wise counselor. This also means I guard my intimate side, which is so true, yet do I protect my emotions?

I'm 16% Artemis: "You feel complete without a man in your life." Well, I could get along without one I suppose -- there are those people who simply die unfulfilled in certain realms of their lives -- but I feel I've been looking for a mate for around 20 years. I had crushes on girls (well, at least one) when I was in first grade. Doesn't that mean anything? I think it's safe to say that I do not feel complete without a man in my life.

Now getting the RIGHT man... that's another story.

I'm 16% Hera: I tend to find fulfillment in relationships and see marriage as a permanent union of equality.

I scored 0% on Hestia (values sacred place/home/sanctuary -- my home is always a mess), Demeter (selfless nurturer and cartaker -- what, I don't like to take care of people?), and Persephone (experienced great loss and rose from the ashes -- okay, I guess my life's been peachy in the long run compared to many... Hmph).

I also took a test on Male Anatomy which was very humorous. I actually got 7 out of 10 questions correct. Odd, wouldn't you think? Suffice it to say that in high school, it sounds like it would have been better for me (and possibly for my classmates) to make us all take showers after P.E. According to this quiz, 80 percent of the male population is uncircumcised. Whatever. If you say so.

I also learned something: the reason men "turn over and go to sleep" right after orgasm is because ejaculation depletes their/our/his muscles of glycogen, i.e. body fuel. It's stored in muscle and liver tissue and broken down into glucose when needed by the body.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/27/2004 05:59:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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Babs loves Dan, and Martha

New York Daily News's Lloyd Grove reports in Some Rather kind words that the other day at Barbara Walters's going-away party she gave words of praise and support to Dan Rather and Martha Stewart.

I'm of the wondering opinion that the reporting and then retracting of documents that purported to detrify President George W. Bush's National Guard record -- and say that Mr. Bush skived off his requirements and responsibilities -- could easily be Dan Rather's undoing. I think people have been looking for a reason to oust him, and here's why. People I've randomly heard from here and there simply don't like him. Rather was highly ripped on the night of the election (selection?) in 2000 when he was spouting remark after remark that was too folksy. Whereas Tom Brokaw is still quite solvent, Rather seems to be getting fuzzy around the edges.

Rumors and reportage are flying around about Rather's own trusting of the documents, the producer who was involved (TBA whether she will be forced to walk the plank a la Jayson Blair -- not that she was a fabricator like he's been documented to be), and now a CBS News investigation. And a touted on-air apology from Rather for going forward and publishing. Did you SEE these things in Newsweek? The documents have the strict LOOK of a modern-day inkjet/bubblejet, rather than a typewriter of the day. The only way anybody could have really gotten away with them is if they had been touted as, say, an email message containing the text. Which, if it had been, couldn't be verified for love or money, because email documents can be fabricated with only the writer's imagination as the limit. And speaking of imagination, could that have been the problem? Surely if anyone had merely considered whether the documents were fabricated or not... it would have dawned on them that they obviously were.

As for Martha Stewart, the jury's still out for me on the woman. She is very entertaining, though, partly because she's SO put on. Every other home decorating guru is more believable because they seem so much more like a real person.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/27/2004 04:28:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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On Loc: Beacon Hill

It is just so wrong for it to be almost October and this warm.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/26/2004 03:00:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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Who are you?

My first name is Bill. The rest is being withheld for reasons that should become apparent. I am a local newscast producer for a television station in New England. You can find further clues elsewhere on this website.

Like the guy at Microsoft I am contractually prevented from revealing how I ply my trade. In many cases I am not violating this condition; certainly not in print and often not through other means. I do consider it possible for me to refer to content in a program that has aired after the fact. I'm keeping mum on how it got on, though -- that is, if I do indeed know.

I don't take things seriously, but that is one of the things I actually do try to take seriously -- not taking things seriously. You know what I mean?

I will from time to time blow off steam about how my day went -- usually vaguely and more driven by emotion than anything else. You'll basically see demonstration of the thesis that WORKING IN (LIVE) TELEVISION IS STRESSFUL. Also often underpaid, more so in local than in national markets.

There is a lot that's wrong with the work that I do, to many educated people. Others say the evils of the work we do are necessary to generate the revenue when the viewer base is constantly distracted and shrinking. Being in the environment, you get used to it, and I try not to. I am also trying not to be overly overly exploitative, which television tends to be, especially these days (thought many times now it's the people who put themselves in the spotlight for exploitation -- think of everyone who ever tried out for a reality TV show). Everybody's a critic, and they all hate (local) television news -- every man-jack of them.

One thing I do like to do is critique things I see on TV, including on my own air. I like what I like and I don't like what I don't like, and I am obviously one solitary voice out of the millions. I could be wrong. Who can ever be certain that he or she is right?

If an entry is posted "On Location," I may be blogging from my phone via SMS text messaging. I think that is really cool. It's just a pain that every time I do it, it costs ten cents.

As I write this, I'm 25 years old. I was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1978 at Bess Kaiser Hospital. Or was it one of the others? I went to a private school where I lived a somewhat turbulent though sheltered life in lower and middle school. When high school came along I had just had a boost to the confidence, and then all of a sudden somehow all us "undesirables" or "misfits" or "the people who were not the 'POPULAR' people" found we could get along by ourselves, or by forming our own clique. So high school was better than my preceding years, with only a major career disappointment to note near graduation. But I did graduate with my class. For college, I went to Boston, and desperately needed the change. The four years needed to be about ten, and the play could have been at least three times harder, or at least as hard as I worked. I graduated, entered the career, and now after three years here I am.

In high school, a notable teacher who is no longer with the school, or with us, saw in me a newspaper columnist. The news director of my first internship figured I would be a good candidate for producing. At points, I've been a chamber choir member, actor, theatre technician, floor director, technical director, screaming director, reporter, anchor, tape and non-linear video and audio editor, film cutter, audio engineer, character generator operator, telephone switchboard operator and receptionist, computer lab assistant, and data entry clerk. When teaching, I use the best method I know, which is to "guide your hand," and tell you how to do it. It's the only way you'll learn. Then again, sometimes you have to figure it out on your own, which I am still doing (cue Mary Tyler Moore throwing her hat into the air).

I don't think blogging is going to get me a boyfriend. Even less likely a girlfriend. But I'm doing it anyway because it's fun, and I hope someone understands that.

The old history

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/25/2004 08:25:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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Books Lately [UPDATED]

Ugh. I feel awful and should call in sick. My nose is running, I'm stuffed up, nasal drainage is in effect so my throat is sore, it's unpleasant.

Lately I've bought up a couple batches of (cheap) books. I love Buck a Book, even though they closed the store in Downtown Providence. Apparently the only branch left in Rhode Island is the one near me. I also had to snatch up a small bunch of books at Book Warehouse at the Wrentham Factory Outlets. Every book in these last two jaunts was about $5 or less after costing at least $11 or so before, and almost good as new. (Sorry, authors. Remaindered books can be fun!)

My earlier trip to Buck a Book garnered Shanghai Baby and William Goldman's Boys and Girls Together.

Shanghai Baby was moving. Gripping. Maybe it was shocking. I'm sure it was. Though banned in its native country, it sure wasn't as shocking as some of the books that have followed it so far. It was wonderful to read what seemed to be a semiautobiographical memoir of a young woman's quest to write ... well ... seemingly, the book I was reading ... (love those mental feedback loops), and her love affair with the city of Shanghai. It was sad to read how the love of her life couldn't be fulfilled. Such drama. Thanks, Kelly, for recommending it.

I have just this week finished the hefty tome Boys and Girls Together. This, too, had its sadness. Goldman, of course, was behind all manner of books on Hollywood and the fairy tale for adults, The Princess Bride. And you know, now that I think about it (for I've just this minute thought about it) now I can see why The Princess Bride had so many backstory exposition sequences -- about Fezzik, and Inigo and so on -- that kind of veered off from the main story at hand, and therefore had to be sliced wholesale when the movie came along. Boys and Girls Together could also be made for the screen; but it's so long it would have to be a miniseries, a la "Tales of the City." And who would want to slice anything away from it? It jumps around just a tad, though. And you'd have to watch every single episode all the way through to know everything and keep up with all the developments. When I was "back West" over Labor Day I noted to my parents about the book that there was so MUCH exposition about the back stories of the four men and one woman who come together in New York City. Now I guess I know why; and yet now that I have finished I will have to re-read this thing (with the knowledge of how it ends -- sadly) so I can come full circle with all the characters. At one point because the book went into such detail about the families of our heroes (Heroes? Tough to say, really, sometimes) it made me want to start filling out index cards to keep track of everyone, everyone's peccadilloes, and motives. Must have been a hell of a book to WRITE too. In the edition I have Goldman's preface presents a good argument for just saying screw the critics' opinions and KEEP WRITING.

(And by the way I see on GMA this morning that Brooke Shields seems to be starring in a new production of Wonderful Town, which is probably about New York City of old, so I'm going to have to look into that...)

Latest trip, to Book Warehouse, garnered several former NYT bestseller-types: Playing with Scissors, The Nanny Diaries,, Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber, Silicon Follies, and Fired, Downsized or Laid Off: What Your Employer Doesn't Want You To Know About How To Fight Back.

Right now I'm reading Playing with Scissors because I loved Augusten Burroughs' Sellevision. Trust me, this one is already far more shocking than anything that happened in Shanghai Baby, starting with what happened when the baby ran under the piano. Eeeeewwwww, and all those sounds of disgust. I suppose once you've written Sellevision how are you going to top it? With this, of course. What a life this man has had, apparently. I feel like saying "Oh, I'm so sheltered," in self-pity. Jeez. I've been reminded in the past few days of the mantra-slash-franchise "Everybody Has A Story" on CBS's "The Early Show" (it may also be on the Evening News too). Remind me to write Steve Hartman and ask him if he ever ran across anybody who didn't want to be on television.

I think I also need to put The Devil Wears Prada or a book like that -- whichever one it is where the young Candace Bushnell/Bridget Jones-type heroine takes on her (female) boss who has taken to making her her personal slave -- on my Amazon list. Maybe it's already there. Birthday coming soon. Also make sure the two, or is it three?, big David Sedaris books are there too, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Those books can only be improved upon by having the author himself read the book on tape.

And going back to "Everybody Has A Story," Boys and Girls Together also brought up a great theme that it basically laid down at the reader's feet close to the end of the book and made it more than obvious:

Ordinary people do extraordinary things.

Which I should put up on my wall.
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[UPDATE: The CBS News website's pages about "Everybody Has A Story" reports it has sometimes taken Steve 44 phone calls to get somebody to agree to tell their story. Impressive.]

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/21/2004 04:15:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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Beheading lamenting

It is either appalling.... or there's simply something wrong with ... the fact that this morning the story of another American beheaded by terrorists (the first of these three, not this one that seems to have just happened as I write this) turned into only a VO in my newscast this morning. It got lost in the DAILY TIDE of local and national gobbledygook.

I don't know, maybe somebody yelled at me for not giving it more weight... Let's check the work email...

Nope. Not even an angry viewer.

Then again, why weren't John Kerry and Regis and Kelly more concerned about it this morning on "Live with Regis and Kelly"? Is it the escapism thing?

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/21/2004 03:16:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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No shrub for us, thanks, say LCR

This item's several days dated but worthy of note: Gay GOP group refuses to endorse Bush:

"Some will accuse us of being disloyal," [Log Cabin Republicans' Executive Director Patrick Guerriero] said. "However, it was actually the White House who was disloyal to the 1 million gay and lesbian Americans who supported him four years ago. Log Cabin's decision was made in response to the White House's strategic political decision to pursue a re-election strategy catered to the radical right."

District of Columbia City Councilman David Catania (R) goes further:

"The Republican's so-called big tent is a sham. There is no longer any place for gays and lesbians in the Republican Party," he said, adding that the administration's "reckless" fiscal policies further make the case against Bush.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/12/2004 01:18:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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Shooting at Seth Macfarlane

Tom Reed, or whomever Conditional Santa is, makes great sport of shooting at "Family Guy" creator Seth Macfarlane at this page (second or third item down, look for "Macfarlane" or "Bel Air"), which seems to be great fun, even though I do enjoy "Family Guy." Seth Macfarlane sure does seem more mean-spirited than his counterparts, though, even though I really know extremely little about him.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/10/2004 07:19:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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To read more about: Queertoons

So lots of cartoons supposedly have homosexual undertones? So says Queertoons. I'll have to read more about this later....

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/10/2004 06:23:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Arthur is everywhere

Jeez, this article is even older -- fall of my freshman year of college -- and it talks about just how much Arthur is ringing the cash registers: Aardvark avarice from Detroit Free Press

Personally, I like Arthur, but damn if I'm not aware of the fact that he's in bed with Juicy Juice and the rest.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/10/2004 05:59:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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But Arthur! I don't WANT to tell about our funders!

Through looking for pictures for my art project of 16 panels (specifically the picture of D.W.), I stumbled across this gem from Mother Jones magazine of last year: Sesame Street Meets Madison Avenue.

"You know, Leo, I just love telling people about our funders."
"Me too. I could do it at least once every day!"
"We do!"
--Leo and Cleo on "Between the Lions"

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/10/2004 05:12:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Why I Love Kids' Cartoons

Because they're being written so parents can get a bang out of them too, as reported in Slate: "Adult Entertainment - The Fairly OddParents is a cartoon that's smart enough for the 'rents," by Dennis Cass.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/10/2004 03:29:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Guilty pleasure songs

This started with MSNBC's article about guilty pleasure songs. 92profm's Giovanni and Kim in the morning dished it this morning. Yeah, this show was classic "Gio and Kim and Will go nuts having too much fun on the radio" stuff.

"This is the only thing on 92profm right now!!!" Giovanni will sometimes say. He didn't for some reason. He should have. 8^)

So now I'm working to compile a list of songs I would be embarrassed about, versus songs I would be out and proud about. Right now I'm listening to my iTunes "Instant Happy Mix." I'll get back to you...

Embarrassed:

Out and proud:

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/09/2004 03:23:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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Comment quandry [UPDATED]

Boy, I don't know what the hell Reblogger and Blogger are doing to each other but it can't be good.

I had a couple of comments from readers recently, and for the life of me I can't figure out how they commented because I can't figure out where their comments are coming up. It doesn't look like they commented on anything appearing on TopStoryLive.

So I started tinkering and tinkering, and I found Reblogger had updated their linking system. So I went in and updated the link on the template. And I republished.

Blogger proceeded to show its "republishing progress" screen which showed 0% progress.

For several reloads.

This does not compute, apparently, so I'm trying a basic publish just for kicks to see if THAT works. Wish me luck...

UPDATE: Okay, apparently I'm not the only one having a problem; the entirety of Blogger, especially Blog*Spot, is not publishing. So my trying to update this entry should crash the system even more! Sorry, folks...

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/08/2004 02:12:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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