Tell ABC that they made the wrong choice

The following letter just went to ABC, unfortunately their contact form is restricted to a certain number of characters. But I hope you will make a statement anyway. It might be especially important now that prop8 and prop2 have passed in California and Florida

Dear ABC executives, I want to express my disappointment about learning that ABC is abruptly ending Brooke Smith's time on Grey's Anatomy. I have a hard time believing the sudden "killing off" (though not literally) of Erica Hahn had nothing to do with her sexual orientation. It is a shame to let such a character go because whether gay, straight or bisexual - Hahn is an intriguing character. The shame is even bigger since her coming out moment was one of the best ever seen on TV. Sincerely, mcC

you can tell ABC they suck here

Election Night coverage

It's 11 pm here in Austria and I'm still determined to stay awake for the election results. this just isn't something that I want to wake up to in the morning, this is something I want to see live. And to make this more fun I'm live twittering the whole thing. If you want to read about Austrian TV presenters mis-pronouncing names and places and filibusters - go to http://twitter.com/mcCutcheon
I'll be trying to make this as much fun as possible. Also am keeping my fingers crossed for Obama and hoping I won't have to eat my words tomorrow morning.

another psa brought to you by a relentless mcC

Tell me again that Starbucks is bad.



while they apparently trust you to tell them the truth about whether you voted it's still great that they're trying to encourage people to actually go and vote. it's a good ad methinks.

Oh, and because I will invariably annoy you with this for the next couple of days anyways:
VOTE!
I know the lines are long, I know you're probably gonna miss work and make less money that week (though that may actually open up the chance for you to finally get some decent health care like I do), I know you have better things to do - no wait actually you don't, you shouldn't. Because this election is really important. And no matter if people tell you that your ONE vote won't make a difference, it will. Many "one votes" will make a lot of votes and that will make all the difference. Make your voice count. Go vote on Tuesday! Please.


And while we're at it: Vote NO on Prop8, because this PSA shows you what fundamentally will happen.

I really need a new gig

I wrote an article about reverse graffiti last week. keep in mind that reverse graffiti is when you use a stencil to clean parts of a wall and not to spray stuff onto it. However, the readers of the paper I almost exclusively write for don't get that - they send stupid letters-to-the-editor. And neither does the chief editor - who in turn sends equally doubtful emails around the whole office. Now, please, also keep in mind, that I was very clear in the article about the fact that this isn't spraying but cleaning. They still complained about that. But they also complained about the things the guy I interviewed said - He was politically left-ish and uttered some anti-police power things, i.e. that he was glad to have found something that annoyed the police but which they couldn't do anything about since it was legal. So they actually complained about the quotes (!) I happened to use. One of my co-workers (right wing, pro-police, openly racist, misogynist, homophobic) apparently ranted the whole day about that, I was told (I didn't work today, so a co-worker called me to warn me of Monday)

Again, I really need to finish uni so I can finally start looking for work elsewhere. There's not much choice here, but there's one daily that doesn't enforce this right-wing, neo-liberalist bullshit all the other twits do. One paper. One paper! Crap, I'm probably gonna end up moving to a different country rather sooner than later.

P.S.: in case you wondered: everyone knows about the openly racist guy's openly racist slurs - also he doesn't really work much or well - yet no one does something about it. not my boss, not the editor-in-chief. Sad, isn't it. How disillusioned would I have to become to be able to work in such a place?

It's hard not to gush

So... I did get to write an article about Randy Pausch. The media department was looking for a story  - like, fast - and someone remembered my pitch. Of course they only realised they needed a story really late in the workday, so my article isn't exactly perfect. I basically wrote it and then skimmed it once or twice to catch the biggest mistakes. I would have had more time if I wouldn't have had to watch the Last Lecture again (it's more than 1 hour long).

- I just got a call saying that the article was OK considering the short time. Ah well, I guess I have to hold myself to a higher standard. Someone should :)

Again, Pausch's speech was inspiring. I had a really hard time staying in my journalist role and not gushing in the article. I can only try to remember his words every day. Especially that stuff about not complaining but working harder. I'm a big complainer and I know it. And: I don't always "find the best in everybody" like he suggests. But I'm willing to try and work on this. I'm determined not to let the brick walls hinder me. And I'm not ashamed to be so influenced by the thoughts of someone whom I didn't even know. I know I'm not alone with it. Even though his speech was intended for his kids in the first place Randy Pausch spoke to a helluva lot of people.

R.I.P.

I came to work about five minutes ago, and I was barely sitting when one of my co-workers came into the room and told me "your internet professor is dead". At first I didn't know what the heck he was talking about. But then I remembered that I had pitched a story about Randy Pausch to him about a month ago (he declined back then). I went to Pausch's website, he died three days ago on Friday. For those of you who are not familiar with Pausch (I wrote a post about him back when). Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and he was dying of Pancreatic cancer. Diagnosed in 2006 and given three months to half a year he continued to fight the cancer for almost two more years. His "last lecture", held at Carnegie Mellon, inspired many young (but I reckon also older people) to make the most of their lives. The lecture made the You Tube rounds and got published as a book. (you can find Randy Pausch's story here and his personal website where he kept updates on how he was doing here).

I'm not crying (I try not to at work), but I do feel terrible. After all, the words of this amazing person did touch my heart and somehow, as he was doing OK for such a long time (with ups and downs of course) according to his website, I kinda took it for guaranteed that he'd be around a bit longer. Boy, what I would have given for an interview with him. In cases like that it really sucks being on the wrong side of the pond... Even via a youtube video on a screen that guy came across as extremely charismatic and a person with so much heart and enthusiasm. My heart goes out to his family, his friends and his students - and all those others who, like me, feel they have learned so much from Randy Pausch's Last Lecture.


edit: This NYT article succeeded in making my cry.

media ethics and the U. S. of A.

Last night I was reading a Huffington.com post about Christian Bale allegedly assaulting his mother and sister and I happened across the following sentence: "British police do not name suspects who have not been formally charged." That put me severely in shock. I hadn't realised that it would have to be specifically stated in an American media outlet that no, the police does not publicly identify suspects that haven't been officially charged yet. That must mean that this isn't the case in the U.S.
Now, I'm all for freedom of the press, but I in that case I'm glad that in Austria (and probably most other European countries) it is intrinsic to media ethics that suspects are not named in the press period. Not ever, unless it is in the interest of the public. And that's one of the few things which I am happy about in this country.
I still can't believe that this isn't the case everywhere else in the world...

me-mosaic

LG did one. And Finn did one. And I'm game and have the day off (and Finn just complained that I haven't done one yet), so here comes my
12 things flickr meme!



This is how it works:
1. type your answers to the 12 questions into the flickr-search module.
2. pick one of the pictures of the first result page and add their url to the Mosaic Maker (you'll have to register)
3. Press the "Create" button and post your mosaic.


12 Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your flickr name?

bid for life

A guy is selling his life. Actually, he's auctioning it off on eBay. Everything he owns (house, vehicles, sports equipment, etc.) plus his friends and his job.
There are things that impress me a lot, but this one really freaks me out. I wouldn't be able to do it, I think. Just go and leave everything behind.

Have a look at the website though. Crazy...

The one where I get kicked out of a courtroom

Yesterday I went to do my first court story.
The courtroom had only two rows of seats. It is customary that journalists can sit in the first row during trials that are open to the public, seeing as they're supposedly representing the public.
However that particular judge wasn't quite aware of that apparently and kicked three of the six journalists out. lack of space he said. well, they should have made space then. or maybe thought about it before, because it's not unexpected that a case about a guy selling 12 kilos of coke through his Viennese Schnitzel-restaurant will attract the public. not a surprise.

however, me and a colleague from another paper came back half an hour later, opened the door and saw that in fact two seats stayed empty. but the crazy judge yelled at us again and didn't let us stay.

It is ridiculous to not admit part of the press to a public trial, especially if another part of the press is allowed to stay, for no apparent reason; just because the judge thinks he's the shit. Needless to say all three of us who were kicked out complained to the district court. I'm curious what will come of it.

The funny thing about this is that is was the very first time I got sent to court and ended up having to call my editor saying: Ummm, I kinda got kicked out of the courtroom ;)

hobby swap

I recently have begun thinking about how partners influence each other. You know, those little things, interests, hobbies, books, series, movies, etc. that are so important to you that you want to share them with your partner, make them understand what is so great about them.

In those (almost) 3 years that finn and I have been together she has introduced me to Buffy, M*A*S*H and Neil Gaiman. I recently showed her Star Wars (and am planning to make her appreciate Star Trek TNG since she can't even tell the difference between Geordi and Data), got her into the Harry Potter series and took her role-playing (although I have only dabbled in it myself).

She (successfully) forced Tori Amos at me, but I'll probably never get her to listen to country music. Especially with music she's usually the one who finds new stuff and gets me to listen to it and sometimes like it quite a bit. On the other hand I haul in TV-series and movies to get her addicted to (har har har!). Both of course with the occasional exception.

What is it like in your relationship? What have you taken away from past relationships?

why we need a new press agency

Apology to the non-german-speakers, but the following stupidity was just begging to be blogged about (I'll try to translate below):

"Unter dem Motto 'Weg mit der Diskriminierung' will er Gleichgeschlechtlichen, die Verantwortung übernehmen' wollen, ermöglichen, Partnerschaften vor dem Standesamt zu schließen [...]." (APA, 30.09.2007)

Also, ich bin mir relativ sicher, dass ich nicht gleichgeschlechtlich bin... *nachschaut*
________________________________________________

In a press release the Austrian Press Agency basically made the mistake of calling homosexuals "same-sex" instead of "gay". And I'm pretty sure that just because I have a girlfriend I'm not a same-sex person, at least not all by myself...

a different kind of "food-fight"

a bit longish, but quite disturbing: america at war via foodstuff. trust me, you won't get hungry.

get your info fast and good

If working as a journalist regularly for the past 6 months has taught me one thing it's: always call. Before you spend forever trying to find very specific information online - call the rep's. They're always glad to help and get their spin out and you get your info. What I learned today is, that this also works very fine if you're writing a thesis instead of an article. In this case I was trying to find out some jurisdictional stuff about gay marriages (which are supposedly in planning here in Austria) and ended up getting way more information than I thought I would. now let's just hope, they actually send me the email they promised me.

10.000 yrs iraq

eat this!

Reading up for my thesis I listen to the music that's on my laptop. And sometimes I listen more closely than usually. And that's good, because it pays off to listen to the Barenaked Ladies properly. For instance to "Fun & Games" from their "Are Men" album:

We sent in the army
They sounded alarms we
Saw it coming from a mile away.
We kept it off radar
Because we had to say our
Intentions were to save the day.

Why did you fail to see?

It was a gag
It was all for a laugh
And they were shocked and they were awed
and they were blown in half

Fun and games
We're just pulling legs
We knew this barrel of fun
Would be a powderkeg

We kept it all long-range
and made a regime change
You'd have thought it would have been a gas
But when it got ugly
We sat around smugly
Because you bought our little joke en masse
Don't look at me that way

It was a gag
It was all for a laugh
We knew your sons and daughters
Would be blown in half

Fun and games
We're just pulling legs
We knew this barrel of fun
Would be a powderkeg

Put a smile on
We're the ones that you selected
Leave that dial son
Because we just got re-elected
In a while our
Bill of rights will be rejected

and all the blame will be deflected
the forests will be unprotected
the nation's poor will be neglected
creation myth is resurrected
a new salute is genuflected
a gallup poll will be respected
gallows pole will be erected
all this will go undetected

While you all slumbered
We sat and crunched numbers
Of all the causalities we could afford
There's no need to draft them
You could hear us laugh then
The poor and black all need the room and board
Did I say that out loud?

It was a gag
It was all for a laugh
And now our very nation has been blown in half

Fun and games
We're just pulling legs
We knew this barrel of fun
Would be a powderkeg

Oh yeah....

the truth about money?

"You don’t feel connected to anyone, in a way, not to the people who have so much more than you and not to the people who have so much less. Money has stretched us all apart from one another. I may be overstating it a little but not a lot. It’s messed us up."

- Joel Lovell, The Upside of the Downside


And it's not just like that in New York, it's like that here too, though I guess the gaps are not as big.

heh

I like good ads. I like this one, I think it's funny.


And I'm beginning to like Justin Timberlake, it seems the guy has a sense of humor.

In which I tell you why I love my job

I love the fact that as a journalist you get to learn about so many things you never would've thougth about. Of course, sometimes I have to do an article about stupid soccer-related stuff that doesn't interest me the least. But today I learned more about landslides than I ever thought I would (want to). And I was surprised to find it more than just mildy interesting. I wouldn't want to study it, of course, but I am happy that I learned what I did today.

another red telephone

Via huffpost I came upon this article about an activist who set up a direct line from a Boston street to Iran, so citizens from both countries could communicate with each other. That's not only a genius idea but also so very very important, because it shows that the people usually don't have a problem with each other - it's always just the warlords of any given country who need to pretend they're doing the right thing by threatening each other and launching bombs on the other. Unfortunately the wars they start don't affect them, but said people, the citizens on both sides, who, in the first place, didn't have anything against each other.