Sunday, September 26, 2010

I just don't get it

You know, maybe it's because I'm getting old or something, but I'm finding a lot of things/people unfunny that other people think are hilarious.

"Saturday Night Live" comes to mind. With the exception of Tina Fey's Sarah Palin last year, I think the skits are generally dull. I watched the premiere Saturday night and can't say that I had any LOL moments. (See, I'm hip.)

Then, of course, we have Stephen Colbert, who was a guest of Congress last week. He testified in character about immigration.

One might ask, "What the hell was Stephen Colbert doing testifying before Congress?" Actually, Megyn Fox, er, I mean Megyn Kelley, of Fox News asked that question to a Republican guest.

I found that funny. But Stephen Colbert? No, I don't get such a kick out of him, although I do like his mentor Jon Stewart. Colbert is too contrived for me. He makes me wince. Stewart's gig is more straight forward. I like that.

LOL.

So, what the hell was Colbert doing testifying before Congress? Maybe next they'll invite Charlie Sheen to testify about how women are mistreated in the Middle East.

Oh, Congress. You don't seem to be paying attention. And that's not funny.

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When I was writing for the newspaper, I was pretty much assured that someone had my back. When Copley Press owned The T-R in the early part of this decade, we had 24/7 access to attorneys on retainers and they were experts on media law. If I had a legal question or needed advice on a story or column, they would gladly provide it.

Copley Press believed in pro-active reporting and commentary and stood behind its publishers, editors and writers.

This blog writing is somewhat different because no one has my back now. Ted Diadun, an old buddy of mine from The T-R's Horvitz Newspapers days, writes a terrific column for the Plain Dealer as the newspaper's reader representative. This week's column is about how "citizen journalists" are being held liable for what they write. And that includes the folks who leave those nasty messages on newspaper websites.

I encourage all of you who occasionally chime in with your thoughts to read Ted's column here.

* * *
Another Ted -- Ted Strickland -- is catching up in the polls.

From Sunday's PD: "(John) Kasich, a former congressman, Wall Street executive and Fox News personality, leads the state's top Democrat, Gov. Ted Strickland, 49 percent to 45 percent, according to a Plain Dealer/Ohio Newspaper Organization poll of 852 likely voters."

Last week, you'll remember, I said Ted Strickland was toast. That was way back when the polls said he was almost 20 points behind. That's just more evidence, I guess, that you can't trust the polls. At least not totally.

* * *
We watched a movie over the weekend that I thought was only a couple of years old. But there was something strange about the props in it.

All the telephones had wires or were those old clunky wireless home phones that you had to hold with both hands. One of the characters used a pager, for goodness sakes.

"JUST HOW OLD IS THIS DARN MOVIE?" I screamed.

"A PAGER! HE'S USING A PAGER!"

OK, I didn't really get upset about the movie's technological shortcomings. But it was interesting to note that the movie was made in the year 2000.

We've come a long way, technologically speaking, in the short span of a decade. Consider: In 2000, there were no iPods, no You Tube and Google wasn't used as a verb. Most people accessed the Internet via a dial-up connection. Computer users did not use flash drives to store large amounts of data. They used Zip drives.

I won't belabor the point. If you care to learn more about how our lives have changed in 10 years, check out this Wikipedia link. And keep in mind that you should not cite Wikipedia as a legitimate source of information if you are in high school or college because teachers and professors get really angry about it.

* * *
Former Dover mayoral candidate Chris Penso is now a referee in professional soccer. I have to give Chris props for his ability to reinvent himself what seems to be numerous times over his relatively short life.

Sportswriter Roger Metzger has authored a nice piece about Chris in The T-R. It's nice to read about the successes our kids are experiencing outside Tuscarawas County.

Congrats, Chris.

* * *
See you next time.

2 comments:

ZachCummings said...

Dick, I'm glad you're back! It's been a long couple months without reading your thoughts. I always enjoy your take! I'll be sure to keep checking back often.

cowboy54 said...

Dick- I agree with the Plain Dealer column, except as the operator of a newspaper, I assure you the "conduit" (newspaper or site operator) will be the first subpoenaed and threatened with lawsuit (and I speak from experience).