Raw, but c*nsored blabbing and blogging of a young journalista
and local news producer in Southern New England.
email topstorylive % at # gmail + dot = com

Sunday, February 27, 2005

Random click: "The Residents"

Wired News: The Residents Get 'Icky'

This is what I stumbled across looking for a free MP3 of "The Stars And Stripes Forever." The regular, orchestral version, not the one by The Residents.

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... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/27/2005 09:56:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Two articles

Time Magazine: "A New Cyber-Security Breach" (from Friday):

"In the financial world's latest cyber-identity crisis, Bank of America today is warning the holders of at least 1.2 million of its federal employee credit card accounts that a major security breach may have left their account information exposed to theft or hacking..."

Maybe they'll send a personal courier next time, huh, instead of trusting it to steerage?

Boston Globe Editorial: "Don't bother":

"In this time of terrorism, budget tightening, and thinned ranks -- when retired service people are being pressured to reenlist -- the military needs all the talent it can recruit."

Even gay bois and girls who can learn how to aim an m-16 with the best of them.

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... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/27/2005 06:53:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Explosion of gay plotlines

"The week TV came out" at PlanetOut

Okay, I'm missing all this good dramatic television. Life sucks to be me.

As soon as Desperate Housewives Season One comes out on DVD I'm first in line to buy it.

As for The Simpsons, I'm way over having missed all the new good episodes for years.

I've kind of had inklings about the O.C. happenings because it's one of those things I have on in the background while I'm waking up and getting ready for work.

One thing I don't get with the above article is, who is the guy pictured? ... (bouts of research later:) Okay, looking at the picture itself it appears to be of "lanky gardener Justin" (Ryan Carnes) on Desperate Housewives. Natch.

The only thing I saw of this scene is thanks to "Access Hollywood." They showed like the aftermath of the make-out, where Teri Hatcher is stumbling and bumbling away from the two guys in the swimming pool -- it's a good thing she didn't fall in the pool as well.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/26/2005 07:13:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Semi-permanent, digital record

Just added to the blogroll: Geoff Fox - My Permanent Record. Of course, this WTNH meteorologist isn't about to say anything that goes on behind the station's closed doors. Right?

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/20/2005 01:26:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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Okay, my bad: PVTV and CameraMan sted ParkerVision

Okay, I blew a lot of smoke without doing any research, in the the entry "On ParkerVision" (also read the comments).

ParkerVision no longer owns the PVTV and CameraMan automation systems. Thomson and GRASS VALLEY GROUP do!:

Built for cost-conscious news, broadcast and educational program production, Grass Valley PVTV systems let users get more content on air, more easily, with fewer personnel. They eliminate many human errors, improve production consistency, and can handle late-breaking and unexpected events -- all without sacrificing the look and feel of a broadcast or presentation.

Grass Valley Group has been an industry leader for decades when it comes to TV broadcast switchers -- the boards where a technical director pushes buttons and chooses what cameras and video effects go on the air. GVG has also offered video servers and video disk storage units. Grass Valley Group was once a unit of Tektronix, which has been an industry leader in oscilloscopes (waveform monitors -- which engineers use to adjust the quality of video) and hardware testing and measuring equipment.

I want to re-stress: I have never used PVTV or CameraMan but it has a bad reputation. So why am I spreading rumors? Because I don't like the trend behind the rumor.

I'm going to tone down some of the worst remarks I made in that entry. Is that right or wrong in the blogger's ethic book?

MORE PVTV LINKS: Google featured more links on "Who uses PVTV?" that kicked butt.

Webmurley.net's Bryan Murley blogs about a conference presentation Emerson College's Janet Kolodzy made about students using PVTV, ENPS and Avid Newscutter for newscasts. Murley brings up the very same thing I did: "what about those tiny stations that still don't use non-linear, which is where a lot of students will end up at first?"

In 2001, Video Systems magazine reported that ABC's network studios purchased PVTV automation for some breaking news coverage.

Some of the folks in Legal (a.k.a. "my conscience") worry about the fact that I singled out WTNH as a PVTV user. In 2002, Broadcast Engineering magazine reported that KBAK in Bakersfield installed PVTV, and has even used it for live non-news applications in studio. Broadcast Engineering also reported in 2001:

McGraw-Hill Broadcasting Group is also using a ParkerVision system, the PVTV Studio News 24 Plus!, for ABC Network affiliate stations in Denver, Indianapolis, San Diego and Bakersfield, CA.

Those stations are KMGH Denver, KGTV San Diego, WRTV Indianapolis and KERO Bakersfield, according to a Jacksonville Business Journal article from August 2001, which also has a daub of history about the ParkerVision company. This article also says WAWS and its UPN sister station in Jacksonville (owned by Clear Channel) are using PVTV. WWNY also has PVTV, according to Broadcast Engineering.

More from the Jax Biz Journal, who reported in 2001 that ParkerVision was hoping to start making money from its whopping investment:

NBC affiliate station KGET in Bakersfield, Calif., switched to the PVTV system early in 2000 and eliminated three camera operators, an audio operator, a technical director and a teleprompter operator from each of its newscasts.

"We do as good and clean a newscast as we ever did," News Director John Pilios said. "And we have the obvious benefits of reduced overhead."

Although detractors criticized PVTV for cutting jobs, some client stations use the freed-up staff to their advantage.

After implementing PVTV, WWTI in Watertown, N.Y., boosted its in-house production from 10 half-hour shows a week to 39 without adding staff. Stations keep all advertising revenue for in-house productions, rather than paying portions to networks or syndicates.

PV Notes reports ParkerVision has never made money from its juggernaut, selling it to Thomson/GVG. This Jacksonville Business Journal article echoes that, as of 2001: "The company, which went public in 1993, has never shown a profit."

That's got to be some kind of karma at work. No?

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... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/20/2005 12:25:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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On Loc: Nepenthe

East Greenwich High School people. And PW. Who knew?

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... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/19/2005 09:22:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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OMG...

"Theprovidencechannel.com

This Domain has expired.
Please contact your provider to renew."

Oh, dear...

I may just have to IM this person to see what's up with him.

Even though he doesn't know me at all and I don't really know him.

I'm such a blogging loner. I need to get out more often.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/19/2005 09:47:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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"Whooooooooo are you? Who, who? who, who?"

Okay. Since I totally don't recognize this person I am just going to have to figure out how I can start watching CSI to see how the hell Crazy old Walter comes out.

And maybe they'll just have to figure out how to bring Wil Wheaton back in a completely different role.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/19/2005 09:38:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Glug glug, to the left

Drinking Liberally, yet another reason to go out drinking more often.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/19/2005 09:10:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Taking a Pounding

In celebration of my returning the letter of intent to re-sign my contract, here's a link that is not work-safe: "In celebration of 75 a**-pounding years, Americans are encouraged to get close to loved ones and get that bung-tastic feeling that only comes from deep rectal thrusting. "

(Thanks woneffe, whose blog I shamelessly ripped this off from... and he ripped it off from the g spot, who ripped it off from Raw Youth [who asked "Any takers?"]. And somehow I also found out it was at Dajoro.)

Meander: Remind me to see "Rules of Attraction" (and thank you Raw Youth.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/19/2005 08:49:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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"There is no such thing as a blogger ethic"

Lost Remote: How to save blogs from ourselves by Steve Safran
Lost Remote: Tension between blogs and big media by Cory Bergman

So the latest meme (?) coming around about the blogosphere, and possibly in the blogosphere, is that "blogs are what happened when we said, 'what if we give anyone who wanted it an unlimited supply of printing press, paper, ink, and a method of distribution?' The answer is, political dialogue."

I think somebody may have said something like this on the Charlie Rose episode I saw a chunk of the other day featuring Andrew Sullivan, Wonkette Ana Marie Cox, Joe Trippi, and Instapundit Glenn Reynolds. I'd kill for a transcript of that. Or even a link to something about it. (I'll work on that.)

Personally, I generally use my blog for "Hey, look at this" and "I think X" and "You'll never believe it, XYZ happened to me today." Much like I should be talking on a regular basis to chums in town, which is another story altogether but I digress.

The entries that Steve Safran (who I continue to enjoy reading every time I see his name (despite his conservatism that I've just found out) and have enjoyed since I first saw him doing web stuff on on NECN ages ago) and Cory Bergman have offered on "how to save blogs" indicate we should be transparent. Safran:

We have to acknowledge our biases (which many sites do well) and respond to our audience.

Does this mean we should be open about our identities, which I am not?

Yes, I'm still wondering about this one. There are lots of blogs I read where the writer is not open about his or her First Name and Last Name and may or may not talk about their jobs.

I think I may have registered as Independent for the 2004 election just to be on the safe side (I'd been thinking about doing that for some years just for the journalist aspect -- in a sad attempt to look impartial), but voted for Kerry just to get rid of George W. Bush. I don't think Politics is my forte; Emotion would be a more likely candidate. Creative Eloquence, perhaps. Writing Just For Kicks.

Then again my friend Patrick thinks blogs are "insipid" -- and he's got a point there. Especially for ones like mine that are so shallow. No?

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/19/2005 08:06:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Teachers are real people too

TIME Magazine: Parents Behaving Badly: "If you could walk past the teachers' lounge and listen in, what sorts of stories would you hear?"

--"You will never believe what I found when I got to my classroom. Billy was chasing [a girl] around and around the basketball court. Right as I got there he was trying to KISS her."
"What is with that kid?"

--"Billy struck again."
"With the same girl?"
"The same girl."
"What'd he do this time?"
"He was chasing her around and around the observation deck of the Space Needle."

--"You know how we had the kids draw pictures of the characters they created?"
"Yeah."
"The character that Billy drew looks JUST like [a girl in his class]."
"Creepy."

--"How's Billy doing? Since it's your turn to have him and all."
"Honestly, anything creative with this kid is just asking for trouble. I'm surprised he hasn't spawned a lawsuit."
"What happened now?"
"We asked the kids to write novels and make their own books."
"Oh, I can just imagine."
"No you can't. He created a 'me' character who falls in love with a character who looks and sounds like [a girl in his class]..."
"And of course in this fantasy she likes him back."
"Yep, and what's more the 'me' character has to fight a character like [a boy in his class]... who, as written, is just a psychopath."
"Funny."

Okay, that's off topic, but if I talked to my teachers today and some of the other staff who worked at my school when I was a kid, I don't know what I would say to so many of them. Something like... "I'm sorry I was such a screwed-up-in-the-head little hellion?"

I have no idea how much my parents interacted with my teachers, but I think there was a good mix of involvement and hands-off-ishness. And I think, in truth, I liked every single one of my teachers. Nobody was mean. Only when they needed to be. There were only lessons, not harshness. I mean, there's one that stands out -- with one certain little incident -- but it could have been worse. And 20/20 hindsight lets me forgive her.

Okay, now you want to know what the incident was. One time I was looking on this one teacher's desk at something on the top of it, probably something that had to do with grading or something like that.

"HOW DARE you look on my desk!" said (not yelled, and definitely not screamed) the teacher. I dare say she may have been talking to a parent -- or another teacher -- when she noticed this. She told me to go into the computer room (which was right next to her desk) and wait (presumably while she finished her conversation).

I did, and waited in whatever fear you want to think of -- this woman was probably 5'11", but was seven feet tall to me then. She took no nonsense.

The teacher came in and closed the door and simply gave me a talking-to that I think was trying to be very meaningful -- reprimanding with a lesson rather than trying to mentally beat it into me -- the lesson being: please don't snoop into what's on the teacher's desk because it may need to be kept secret.

Even though SHE was the one who left whatever it is on the TOP of the desk. It's not like I was opening her drawers and going through her papers, looking for candy or test answers.

My parents are a different story of course. No harshness there either; to hear them tell it, they weren't harsh enough, and most days I'd have to agree. (Love you Mom and Dad!!!!!!!)

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... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/19/2005 07:59:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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More reason to not talk about work

CNN/Money's Krysten Crawford just did a good update on how people are being fired for blogging about work: "Blogging is all fun and games, until the boss finds out."

I dunno. Have I revealed too many company secrets here? I'm sure I could be sued for breaching contract. (shrug) Well, anyway.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/19/2005 06:08:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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On ParkerVision

[UPDATE 2/20/05 12:27 PM]: I have now made this follow-up entry where I clarify a lot about ParkerVision and PVTV.
[UPDATE 2/19/05 6:13 AM]: You should know that a) I have not studied newscasts produced under ParkerVision and b) I have never used ParkerVision myself; all the following opinion is based on rumor and word of mouth.

Sounds like I need to say a few words on ParkerVision. In my entry about Game One of the 2004 World Series I referred to the fact that Emerson College now features ParkerVision in one of their brand new studios in the new building they built in Boston's Theatre District, behind the (Cutler) Majestic Theatre. More on that later.

Someone found the entry and commented, pointing me to a blog called PV Notes.

What is ParkerVision? You got a hint in the old Albert Finney and Susan Dey movie, "Looker." You may have heard of robotic studio cameras, whereby one person sitting at a console can control three, four or more cameras instead of one person controlling each one of them -- adjusting the "ped" or how high the camera is, tilting up and down, panning left to right, zooming in and out and adjusting focus. Imagine now that EVERY SINGLE THING required to put on a newscast or television show was automated if it could be. That's ParkerVision.

The director, or producer, operates the cameras, character generator, audio board, music cartridges/sound cues, videotapes (or video storage server), video source switcher, special video effects generator, graphic storage, and ENG (electronic news gathering) receive (where an engineer tunes in microwave shots from live trucks, and satellite shots), all with the push of a button. Push the button, the next thing happens -- like a GPI (general purpose interface). The only thing that is not automated is the human element: the anchors/talent, and putting on their mics and telling them where to sit or stand, or the actual newsgatherers -- producers and writers and reporters. (Thanks to Ananova of course that may be automated too one day in about 3006.)

WTNH/WCTX of New Haven has ParkerVision, because 'TNH is the number three (or four? if you count WTIC-TV I suppose) station in the Hartford/New Haven market, and the company is looking to cut its losses. [UPDATE:] I mean, that's my assumption. It's pretty common knowledge in the industry that WTNH has been considered more of a New Haven station than a Connecticut station in the recent past.

A director friend of mine who works freelance in New York City thinks the idea of ParkerVision is appalling. And so should he.

Here is my varied feeling on ParkerVision.

1. The geek in me can't get over the toy aspect of it. Watch! With one button I make the cameras do this, I make this happen here, I do that, and this, and that and everything! Wow! Cool!

That novelty doesn't last long. Especially where you work where I work.

2. Okay, that's fun and everything but what happens when you have breaking news?

Supposedly the producer is supposed to have a pre-set "script" for the computer to follow, just as he or she might have for the anchor to toss to ad-libbing or a live reporter, that includes camera shots, graphics, animation, Chyron supers, music carts, whatever. It just has to be dragged into the computer rundown.

3. Okay. I suppose we could go with that. But what happens when one of these elements goes down?

When I was at a different station -- one that had robotic mechanisms on its regular cameras, so that human operators could also use them like regular "manual" studio cameras for, say, a live show where you have to go with the flow -- sometimes the "robo"s went haywire. At least once the camera spontaneously panned off the anchor it was supposed to be looking at -- while the camera was on the air. Another time, a camera started moving toward the anchor desk of its own accord with its head tilted down like a bull. If the male anchor, who saw this, hadn't leapt out of his seat and rushed over and punched the emergency stop button on the pedestal, the camera and teleprompter would have slammed right into the desk.

Besides just robots going nuts -- what happens when your still store, or your switcher, or your skycam controller, or your chyron controller, or the Chyron Duet itself, which are all controlled by Windows computers, dies? Humans can ad-lib around it and change camera shots and such things in milliseconds. With ParkerVision, however, the computer's "script" would have to be re-encoded manually -- line by line -- which might require rolling a break so the producer could get the computer's act together.

And knowing the way humans are overworked in television these days, what happens when the producer has encoded something incorrectly?

The answer to all of this is: [UPDATE:] a poor on-air product.Or, as some might say, IT LOOKS LIKE SH*T CRAP ON THE AIR!

And corporate's answer to THAT is threefold:
a) Smack the overworked worker for doing bad work even though we set him or her up to fail. Or don't smack him/her.
b) Get another worker who works for cheaper and won't bitch when we give him or her too much work.
c) The poor on-air product? Oh, THAT'S THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS!

Think about it. For a fraction of the cost you can get a newscast on the air. That means you can sell commercials for it.

Naturally, unions hate it. Per newscast or newsblock, you can get rid of up to ten technicians. And automation doesn't ask for benefits, 401(k)s or time off.

(It does break down, but it doesn't have a family with mouths to feed, so get rid of the blasted thing.)

Now a word about the use of ParkerVision in a college setting. The very IDEA of using ParkerVision in a teaching setting is awful. Especially for Broadcast Journalism students. Before, every single little blonde BJ'er who wanted to be the next Katie Couric or Mary Hart would have to learn how to shoot her own stuff, operate the studio cameras, punch a show on the switcher, feed videotape machines, and floor direct. Now, she doesn't. This is a disservice to the student; she will not learn how difficult EVERYONE ELSE'S jobs are (or easy they are) and will not learn a respect for the people who do them -- that is, not before entering the real world, and that's only if she EVER learns a respect for the other positions.

I also say it will be more DIFFICULT for a student to get a lot of the theory of producing a show if a lot of the teaching and learning has to center around programming this intricate, confusing computer and making it work.

Once that little blonde BJ'er graduates, and has only worked on ParkerVision, what happens when she gets to a market that's still producing on typewriters? (I'm sure somebody must still be doing that somewhere.) It'll be so much more difficult to get up and running. And that student with limited experience will be a seriously lower caliber student than the college's students of yesteryear.

When I took Film I in college -- though I was not a film major -- it was a pain in the neck for me to learn how to bench edit. But "you've got to learn how to crawl before you can walk." Once I had bench-edited something, I had some very basic concepts already that helped me once I got to a Steenbeck flatbed editor. And what I learned on a Steenbeck would help if I had gone on and learned Avid intimately. (Of course I'd already worked on Media 100 on video projects and had other video editing experience, so I was at an advantage from the start, but still.) The same applies for learning broadcast television.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/19/2005 04:27:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Portland grumbling

A request for producers and writers. Please put the state when referring to any city called Portland in the United States. There are ten of them according to Mapquest, two of them in New England:

(city/town, state, county, country)
Portland, OR, Multnomah, US
Portland, ME, Cumberland, US
Portland, CT, Middlesex, US
Portland, IN, Jay, US
Portland, TN, Sumner, US
Portland, TX, San Patricio, US
Portland, AR, Ashley, US
Portland, CO, Fremont, US
Portland, FL, Walton, US
Portland, KS, Sumner, US

Thank you. If you do this I'll forgive you the next time you say OR-UH-GONE. Which is wrong, but if it's what they're teaching you in school east of the Rockies how am I supposed to fight that?

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/19/2005 03:16:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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It's OFFICIAL!

Yeah, I think I have the winter blues. Or something. Burnout perhaps. Which was really quick because it's only like the first week or two of sweeps.

I need more places to lie down and blog, or just lie down and be on the computer in general. The entire apartment could use a makeover by a reality show.

On the bright side (as the sun rises just in time for the Sunday morning show's CityCam shots) I got the two CDs I ordered from Amazon quicker than I expected. Or maybe it's just that time passed quicker than I was paying attention to it. So, now I am listening to the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Score of Terry Gilliam's Brazil, composed by Michael Kamen. Now I can cue up the frenetic office music at will.

I also got Wicked. You may commence the beatings, lovers-of-the-book.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/13/2005 06:41:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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On Blogging and Journalism

Do they go hand in hand? The question is covered by the Christian Science Monitor in Are bloggers journalists? Do they deserve press protections? The article stems more from the revelation about iPod shuffle and the small new Mac CPU on a blog. What I don't get I guess is why Steve Jobs isn't interested in free buzz. Maybe it's that he's worried somebody will steal the idea. (Topic for another entry: The iPod shuffle isn't that original; it's almost a step backwards, merely to be less expensive but compatible with the iWorld.)

Personally, I don't expect anybody reading this to take anything I say as gospel; it is my opinion (especially when I called Margaret Spellings a really nasty name which I don't have any problem saying to her face, though I starred it out after "the folks in Legal", i.e. my conscience, recommended I do so). Generally I get information from the Web itself so I have something else to point to to back up my claim.

Al Tompkins, of the Poynter Institute's "Al's Morning Meeting" daily email, talked "bosses who blog" in his Friday Edition this week:

It would be cool to have governors, mayors and Members of Congress blogging. I would not be interested in partisan junk, but in the real day to day struggles of serving a state, city or congressional district. I bet, if done routinely and honestly, it would become required daily reading. Wouldn't it be interesting if news directors and editors wrote regular blogs about why and how they chose to cover what they covered each day.

With that nice segue, he linked to news director Peggy Phillip's blog and newspaper editor John Robinson's blog.

Two things to consider are a) should I stay semi-anonymous here? and b) where is the delineation, for me in my newswriting life/career, between opinion and plain, factual, balanced reporting? Can I write this blog, compose an opinion like Margaret Spellings is a blankety-blank, and then go to work and write things without an opinion? It'll be something to work on ... I'll probably be mulling that over for some time.

Search Poynter.org for journalism and blogging

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/13/2005 04:42:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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drive-thru dreams

i'm trying to wake up now that i've been called in to spot the weekend morning producer who is out sick. i want to go get something to eat before I go in but my stomach has the woken-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-not-hungries. For me, today, falling asleep after 3:30 (after a ridiculous mini-shopping spree at Oop! (Thayer Street) and watching the last 90 minutes' worth of two episodes of Broadway on 'GBH 44 and calling like, seven Men I Know like a loser to "Just see how you're doing..." and so on.... (and having only one call me back) it's the middle of the night. I probably would have waken up of my own accord at like 11 pm tonight. Maybe when I get in the drive-thru lane I'll feel like eating something. Or I'll end up going and getting the biggest Caramel Swirl Iced Latte With Skim Milk and Sugar at D'n'D.

Dude, I need to do some major reordering on my Netflix Queue. I need some serious comedy this weekend and will probably have to (horrors!) RENT it to get it.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/11/2005 09:42:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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Canada/Winterlicious Finis

I never finished my dish of the last day in T.O. I madly taped a bunch of different newscasts as much as I could before I shipped out Sunday morning before the crack of dawn (and subsequently getting in a line I didn't need to get in and wasting about five minutes of half-asleep time).

Saturday I slept late -- 10 AM-ish. We were determined to do some Shopping with a Capital S. Kelly promised H&M's brand-spankin'-new flagship store at Eaton Centre, so H&M it was. On the way there we tried to figure out what to have for a late breakfast. On the fly (without really thinking about it much beforehand) we went for dim sum on Spadina. Oh, it was a good thing too, because we used to do that a lot more often in collegiate times. After the sumptuous meal we hobbled in the direction of Eaton Centre and one of the larger H&M stores I've seen (the other was probably in NYC, whichever one has multiple floors). I looked at casual blazers that I could wear to work with jeans, but nothing fit in my Scottish pennypinching price range -- unless I wanted to go beige, which I definitely didn't. Kelly looked at suity-type jackets for work now that she's an assistant manager for the jewellery (sic, Canadian spelling) store chain she works for. I think she got something nice; I can't remember the specific design. Since I'm an H&M addict I couldn't help picking up a little something.

Oh, all right, it was a cute little pair of boxer shorts. I'm only saying that to make you stop thinking it was a thong. Honestly, you people are irrepressible.

Elsewhere in Eaton Centre we went searching for a leather jacket for Mike T. He found a really nice one at Danier Leather but was hesitant to buy it.

Where was next? I want to say we started home, but got pulled in by Williams-Sonoma. I took the selfish opportunity to beg off for the few minutes that Kelly and Mike T could drool their way through the home and kitchen goods to go find that men's specialty store that intrigued me the last time I was (t)here -- all of two years ago, or whenever it was. It was on one of the levels across from Sears.

Apparently it is no longer there. I looked at something else on my way back, like watches on a chain (because I am looking to maybe get a new nice but CHEAP watch to keep on my belt because I have no idea where my watch went back when I was in Oregon in December and I hurt my wrist) but decided to hightail it back to Williams-Sonoma.

Then on the way to a shortcut to the subway (What is it called? The TTC? The "Rocket" as the ads call it?) we couldn't resist going into one of those stores with "As Seen On TV" crud. Even though this is Canada, they had Chef Tony's handy chopper, the idiotic Magic Bullet chopper (as flogged by the equally idiotically accented Mick Hastie), the Q-grill portable gas grill thing, and a bed-type thing which Mike T had wanted to get for some time. He tried it out. Apparently you hang upside down by your ankles (swinging into position, that is, by a seesaw motion) and it does your back and presumably your spine a world of good. But he wanted to sleep on the thing, and have it replace his regular bed. How anybody could sleep like THAT with all the blood rushing to their head is beyond me. Perhaps it was beyond Mike T too because he didn't stay on it too long.

THE BUSINESS OF THE DAY: Stork on the Roof (Frommer's) was quite delectable for Winterlicious; and $20 sted $30. Much smaller, but oh, great service. We all had to try each others' appetizers and entrees.

I think this is what we had; between the three of us we had everything on the Winterlicious menu:
Bill: Mixed Greens / Indonesian Style Braised Beef Cheek / Frozen Belgian White & Dark Chocolate Terrine
Kelly: Homemade Chicken Liver Parfait / Grilled Butterflied Filet of Salmon / Dutch Apple Pie
Mike T: Soup of the Day (Potato & Onion) / Filo Parcel of Vegetables, Mushrooms & Cheese / Spiced Caramel and Pecan Steamed Pudding

The delay of making this entry a week after the fact really isn't fair, but everything was good, even the Chicken Liver Parfait (if you can kind of get into that sort of thing to a smidgen as I do). Trying Kelly's salmon reminded me of when I'd had bluefish (at least I think it was bluefish) at McCormick and Schmick's in Providence with my friend Patrick, not a month before. The salmon, and possibly what it was marinated in (maybe the salsa had to do something with it too) wasn't at all like the smoked salmon my parents have always eaten with cheese and crackers at the beach in the distant past. (Not that it would be; it wasn't smoked for a start. Yeah, I have a lot to learn when it comes to fish.)

My beef was, granted, reminiscent of what I'd had at Flow the night before. However, this was much spicier; there was a sort of chili-like aftertaste -- not chili paste, like American chili. Kelly identified it as something like paprika, but I don't think it was paprika, and I don't think it was chili powder.

Mike's soup was tasty. I remember having a generous section of his filo, and it was delicious, but it's not exactly.... well, let's put it this way: it's not red meat. Mmmmmm!

My "terrine" was chocolate decadence, but I can't remember if this or what I had later (or, indeed, what I had at Flow) made my tablemates think I was having an indecent reaction. (Well, probably.)

TO FURTHER BUSINESS: Okay, Easy and the 5th was NOTHING like what I expected. I'm thinking we waited outside to get in a previous time I was in Toronto but we did not go in because we got too cold.

The construction of the interiors of Easy and The 5th are evocative of an ancient clothing sweatshop of the 1920's. My saying this is meant to be a compliment. It makes me think the weathered wood of the pillars used to see a lot of work -- and now it sees a lot of pleasure.

Let's begin with The 5th, where we had (additional) dessert. The dashing (and, yes, young, hee hee, but not too young) host, in black three-piece suit, will meet you in the famed rickety freight elevator, now featuring a Persian-style rug and entry table with guest book -- where, if you've come this far for dinner or dessert, your name had better be beforehand. You ride up from the second floor to the fifth in a lengthy but leisurely trip. There are less than 20 tables. A fireplace crackles with gorgeous white leather couches immediately in front, and next to live musicians playing jazz. We sat at the fireplace and started sweating in short order.

The price is as apropos as the decor; immaculate, inscrutable, and incredible. But definitely worth it. I might be happy we weren't having dinner there, but I'd be just as willing to blow the right price with the right person at this intimate lair.

We moved to the bar after a time and continued cocktails. The bartender (bartendress?) who served us was smart, funny, knowledgeable, and great with suggestions. (Though I suppose I embarrassed myself when I asked for a Midori Sour -- which may be a New England thing -- and she didn't know what went in it, and neither did I!) This is about the time I can start blaming my wavering memory on the alcohol. She recommended some kind of unusual martini for me, but I can't remember what it was. I'm pretty sure it was on the sweet side. I also tried some scotch with Kelly and Mike T, but unless I try it on the rocks one of these days and like it that way, it is just not going to become one of my drinks.

A delovely selection for an incredible assignation.

Downstairs was Easy, once known apparently as "The Big Easy." Whatever it is now is fun. However, the white decor continuation seems to be an odd choice for a nightclub. It's a strange feeling to have the light package so reflected.

We danced for at least two, maybe three, hours. There weren't a lot of places to sit, and maybe if we (or at least I) had sat and rested more we could have closed the place down.

It was charming to see purportedly straight men trying to dance -- and well, kind of failing. Then again, whenever I get on the dance floor these days, unless it's got the comfortable anonymity of being packed, it helps if I have at least one drink in me. Then, sober or not, whatever I try doing (though I am committed to having fun on the dance floor no matter what anybody thinks of the may-be shabby performance I give) makes me think of a song... that I guess is Soul Decision's "Faded," which sounds a lot like one of those songs in the 90's which was very sensual, and you might be expected to dance well to it, but guys just cannot.

Veronica, one of the young ladies which had joined our troupe this week for the gastronomic enterprises, and I started having the roving eye. Naturally at first we both started looking at the same guy who was tall, wearing a white button-down shirt with stripes, dishwater blonde but well styled and wearing great vintage-type glasses. Those are all the rage now with trendy and bespectacled [gay] men. Maybe I should get new ones to replace these cute little simple ovals. White-Stripe Shirt Guy was dancing in a group with three other guys and a girl. One of the guys was very ... well, either straight-looking, or not a slave to fashion, or the girl's boyfriend. But then again he started dancing with some other woman so that last must not be it. He was primarily in black with facial hair and a sort of dazed or fish-out-of-water-feeling look on his face. I can't remember the third guy with them but he could have been gay, just like White-Stripe Shirt Guy could have been.

I swear I looked at them too much, and eventually this quartet moved around and/or split up. Then Veronica started eyeing this other guy on the other side of our group, in a group of all straight guys. She struck up a conversation with him... but he turned out to be married. A-ha. Not so much going for that one, though hot in his late 20's. Hmph.

We headed home a little before closing time, our coats having been brought down from The 5th. That's just how thorough they are there.

Entry begun: 4:48 am... Finished 6:37 am after the sun is up enough to start using Skycam.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/06/2005 04:48:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Sticking it to Margaret Spellings at home... and fearing homosexuality

What appears to be an editorial from the Houston Chronicle features this about Spellings:

"She graduated from Sharpstown High School and the University of Houston and headed to Austin, working as a lobbyist for a school board association and later as Gov. Bush's education adviser. She is married to Washington attorney and lobbyist Robert Spellings and is the mother of two teenage daughters by a previous marriage."

This usually means that the subject has had a divorce. Washington Times:

"The former Margaret La Montagne, a divorced mother when she came to Washington in 2001, lived with her two young daughters and her sister in suburban Virginia until Austin, Texas, lawyer Robert Spellings publicly asked her to marry him at a dinner honoring Bush political director Karl Rove that spring.
    Mr. Spellings has two sons from a former marriage. "

So divorce is okay in a Republican's "family values" home but not homosexuality? Or gay marriage, or gay parenting? Was Spellings aware that Buster himself is a child whose parents are divorced? Doesn't she think it would be beneficial to portray a family who's going forward after divorce? That, after all, is what she'd be killing if she wants the cash for "Buster" pulled altogether.

I should grant that this is kind of comparing apples to oranges. But isn't it playing by the bible-thumpers' rules?

More editorial from Chron.com:

"Spellings started with a stumble last week by denouncing PBS for spending public money on a cartoon featuring among a cast of characters two lesbian couples. According to the new secretary, many parents would not want their children exposed to such life-styles.

Gay people pay taxes, too, and have the right to be objectively portrayed on a federally funded medium rather than be airbrushed out of existence. Spellings and her department should stay out of the culture wars and resist the sway of partisan ideologues who care more about advancing their agenda than about teaching children how to read, write, calculate and reason."

CNN.com has a really good interview and bio of Spellings from a few days ago, where she defended her "Postcards from Buster" stupidity:

"On lifestyle issues, I think it's appropriate for parents to deal with those and address those as they see fit, in their own way and in their own time," Spellings said. "I believe that as a mother, and I believe that as a policy-maker. For the Department of Education or public broadcasting to get into things that are, you know, in a grayer area, is just not something we need to do."

A grayer area? How are people supposed to address the idea that people have gay parents, by buying a copy of Heather Has Two Mommies and having done with it? By drawing their own stick figures on the chalkboard?

If parents don't want to deal with it, should they allow their children to watch "Postcards From Buster," now that there's been so much freakin' publicity about it? (I even heard about it on the CBC in Toronto. Granted, the animation studio is in Montreal, but still.) Should PBS be a "safe harbor" where no controversial topic should be addressed, and everything should be programmed along the lines of William F. Buckley's Book of Virtues? Blecccchhhhh!

Meander:

When I was a kid (and long before I had any interest in men) I didn't realize it but I knew a fellow student, at least one grade away, who had two mothers. To my knowledge he had no father, and neither of the mothers was presented as a "nanny" or anything like that. It's different of course when you go to a pricey private school (don't get your feathers in a lather, kids; I almost said SNOOTY) but it didn't seem odd to me at all. I didn't know this student that well -- not much more than just an acquaintence -- so I guess I didn't really think about it at the time. Should the idea -- or the fact behind the concept -- that two mothers MIGHT mean there is NOT a father and mother raising the child, and the two mothers love each other as do a mother and father, be introduced by a TV show or what?

Here's the thing. Does a child younger than teenage years grasp the concept of adult love between two people? The child may be able to grasp the idea of "I love my mother," "I love my father," "My parents love me," and physical love in hugs and kisses. The teenager is trying to grasp the idea of "I love my boy/girlfriend with my heart, soul and sexuality" but that's something you grow into. Isn't it?

The fear of showing homosexuality -- as normal for someone, anyone -- I guess means our children could grow up to realize they are homosexual instead of hiding inside a hetrosexual mandate. Yes, MANDATE.

Think about this: would any child of homosexual parents NOT be exposed to the typical pairing of hetrosexuality (which tends to be what happens to procreate the species)? How many opportunities in books, television, movies are there to see heterosexuality? Countless!

The fear of homosexuality itself seems to be "homosexuals are a) coming after our children to make them gay just like them and b) coming after ME to make ME gay just like them -- and make me less of a manly man, or womanly woman". You could give the "lady doth protest too much" argument to this (as you might the "American Operator" character in The Manchurian Candidate which I saw this weekend -- the original one with Sinatra and Angela Lansbury): anyone who castigates a demon to the ends of the earth is a demon himself (or AFRAID he is a demon himself).

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/06/2005 04:31:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Stuff Spellings; We'll Take Buster's Multi-Mom Episode Anyway

U.S. official hits 'toon visit to gays:

"The education department provides a major portion of the funding for the show, so the denunciation apparently made PBS officials nervous, and they yanked the show from its schedule.

But some PBS stations - including Springfield's WGBY Channel 57 - are going to air the episode anyway. Russell J. Peotter, general manager of WGBY, said he made the decision to air the episode after viewing it."

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/06/2005 03:22:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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Squish, instead of Schwing

New York Post reports that idiot conservative groups are now worried about how GAY SpongeBob SquarePants looks:

"'It's a sponge, for crying out loud,' protested a spokesman for SpongeBob's home station, Nickelodeon. 'He has no sexuality.'"

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/01/2005 08:01:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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More product placement

The New York Times ... Advertising: Seeking the Key to the Carson Ad Mystique dishes how Johnny Carson did really well at selling. It goes on to say:

"For instance, in the third-season premiere of 'The Apprentice' on NBC last Thursday, Burger King ran a humorous commercial that served two purposes.

The spot, by Crispin Porter & Bogusky in Miami, echoed the format of the series and also told viewers that the sandwich created by the winning team during the episode would be on sale at Burger King stores the next day.

And during the Jan. 9 episode of 'Desperate Housewives' on ABC, the Buick LaCrosse became a central element of a plotline featuring the character Gabrielle Solis as she reluctantly worked as a model at a local mall's auto show."

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/01/2005 07:51:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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Does Peter Cook?

femalefirst.co.uk: Peter Cook All Time Greatest Comediam (sic)

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/01/2005 07:42:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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That's a lot of moms!

Margaret Spellings is such a f*cking c*nt. That's the only thing I can think to say.

PBS's 'Buster' Gets An Education (washingtonpost.com):

"Spellings, who has been charged with the difficult task of fixing the nation's troubled public education system, took time out on her second day on the job to fire off a letter to PBS CEO Pat Mitchell expressing 'strong and very serious concerns' about the 'Postcards From Buster' episode. Specifically that, in the episode, called 'Sugartime!,' the animated asthmatic little bunny visits Vermont and meets actual, real-live, not make-believe children there who have gay parents."

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/01/2005 07:34:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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