Total Perspective Vortex
What really happened to Trillian? Theories abound, but you can see what she's really been up to on this blog. If you're looking for white mice, depressed robots, or the occasional Pan Galactic Gargleblaster you might be better served here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/guide/.
Don't just sit there angry and ranting, do something constructive.
In the words of Patti Smith (all hail Sister Patti): People have the power.
Contact your elected officials.
Don't be passive = get involved = make a difference.
Words are cool.
The English language is complex, stupid, illogical, confounding, brilliant, beautiful, and fascinating.
Every now and then a word presents itself that typifies all the maddeningly gorgeousness of language. They're the words that give you pause for thought. "Who came up with that word? That's an interesting string of letters." Their beauty doesn't lie in their definition (although that can play a role). It's also not in their onomatopoeia, though that, too, can play a role. Their beauty is in the way their letters combine - the visual poetry of words - and/or the way they sound when spoken. We talk a lot about music we like to hear and art we like to see, so let's all hail the unsung heroes of communication, poetry and life: Words.
Here are some I like. (Not because of their definition.)
Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Smart Girls
(A Trillian de-composition, to the tune of Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys)
Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
Don’t let them do puzzles and read lots of books
Make ‘em be strippers and dancers and such
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
They’ll never find men and they’re always alone
Even though men claim they want brains
Smart girls ain’t easy to love and they’re above playing games
And they’d rather read a book than subvert themselves
Kafka, Beethoven and foreign movies
And each night alone with her cat
And they won’t understand her and she won’t die young
She’ll probably just wither away
Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
Don’t let them do puzzles and read lots of books
Make ‘em be strippers and dancers and such
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
They’ll never find men and they’re always alone
Even though men claim they want brains
A smart girl loves creaky old libraries and lively debates
Exploring the world and art and witty reparteé
Men who don’t know her won’t like her and those who do
Sometimes won’t know how to take her
She’s rarely wrong but in desperation will play dumb
Because men hate that she’s always right
Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
Don’t let them do puzzles and read lots of books
Make ‘em be strippers and dancers and such
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
They’ll never find men and they’re always alone
Even though men claim they want brains
Life(?) of Trillian
Single/Zero
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Okay.
I don’t use blog space to endorse, well, much of anyone or anything. I don’t sell adspace, I don’t link to sites/blogs to make money or raise hit counts for other people, basically: I don’t sell out. That’s not why I have the blog.
And no, I still don’t have an answer for why I have the blog, but one thing I can say without hesitancy is that I don’t do it for financial gain. In fact there’s very little in my life I do for personal financial gain which is actually a problem. I’m working on that.
But rest assured this blog will never, ever be about making money or furthering someone else’s hit count/click through agenda. The links you find on here are links to people/products/sites/information I personally use or support which I think you might find interesting, too. I get no money from them, no reciprocation links, nothing. I am merely offering suggestions to people/products/sites/information I like or find interesting/helpful/useful.
At the moment there is an ASPCA banner at the top of the blog. It’s no secret I like animals. It’s no secret I advocate animal rights. I’m just informing anyone who stops at the blog that the ASPCA is raising awareness for animal rights by illuminating the April 10 night sky in an orange glow. And if you feel so inclined to participate, hey, great, thanks from me and all creatures great and small. If you don’t feel so inclined to participate, hey, great, have a nice day. I link to some fellow artists who I like and who I think some of you might like. If you chase up their links and like their art, cool, thanks, enjoy. If not, cool, have nice day.
Right. So. Now that I’ve spelled out the integrity disclaimer I’m going to flagrantly endorse a site.
Read: This is pretty swutting special so you swutting well better pay attention.
The Beachwood Reporter has been online for about a month. And every day it has rocked my little news world. The news focus is Chicagocentric. But. There is something for everyone at the The Beachwood Reporter. You may not care about the Daley administration or the flagrant and scary generification of the architecture and commerce in Chicago. But. You might care about reading some great insight, wit and wisdom about these and many other topics.
And it makes a great homepage, especially for the office: The front page changes every day and has a "safe" topic. Little will your boss or that nosy church lady know it's cram packed with really funny, interesting and cool information and links. Even better? That know-it-all IT guy probably doesn't know about it yet so you can be smug and superior to him and whatever his hipper than thou and first to know about it site of the week is.
Steve Rhodes is a journalist extraordinaire. And a great writer. And a good guy. He’s everything a reporter should be: Intelligent, insightful, resourceful, hard hitting in the places it hurts most to the people and issues who deserve a good slug in the gut (or elsewhere), yet sensitive, helpful and compassionate to the people and issues who deserve a credible voice - all without personal agenda or motivation. He wants to uncover and inform The Public (us) of the facts, present them and then, and this is the part which always brings a tear of pride and joy to my eye: He assumes readers are intelligent enough to connect their own dots and form their own opinions. Yes. He’s the Superman of journalism. An Eagle Scout of reporting.
Why am I going on about Steve Rhodes and the Beachwood Reporter?
Because journalism’s different in the era of blogging. There are a lot of blogs and sites cloaking “facts” as news but are in fact pushing for their own agendas and causes. I’m all for free speech, in a big way, so no, I don’t take issue with what someone writes on their blog. However. Corporate blogs are, well, corporate blogs. They’re not exactly unbiased. So. Just the facts, ma’am, might be the facts slightly skewed to further the agenda or campaign of someone with financial, political, personal or corporate motivations. Conflict of interest for $500, please Alex.
Many (most) bloggers are not trained or experienced journalists. Which is, you know, kinda cool. But a big part of being a journalist, a news reporter, is researching and presenting facts, all sides of the issue, and keeping personal bias out of it. Good reporters do not let their judgment in reporting facts to the public be clouded with political, financial or personal motivations. You know, integrity. That pesky integrity issue.
Integrity is an increasing problem with blogs. So many bloggers claim (and seem to be) credible. Most of the big news sites we generally “trust” to present us with reliable facts we need to know about the world around us are in fact owned by corporations who have huge political, financial and personal agendas. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but, I’m sure most everyone can recall a story that didn’t get press or air time while something else which isn’t even news got a lot of press/air time. (FOX, this means you.)
For instance: My old neighborhood has a staggering amount of crime. Violent crime. I can personally attest to that because I was a victim of some of those crimes and a witness to many others. Muggings, rapes, burglaries, hate crimes, property damage, flagrant drug dealing and prostitution were daily aspects of my life when I lived there. I’m a white girl born and raised in pristine suburbs. If I can spot a drug deal, believe me, anyone can. And yet, does any of this crime get reported in the news? No. It does not. Does anyone in the media raise a question about why the police won't or can't do more about the crime in this neighborhood and others all over the city? No. They do not.
So a lot of people think my old neighborhood is hip, cool, safe place to live and play. They're hoodwinked into believing they're going to have fun in a safe environment. And when they get mugged, or when their car is broken into and/or sprayed with racial slurs, or when they take the Bichon Frisé for her morning walkies and find the sidewalk littered with spent condoms and syringes, they are bothered and wondering why something isn't done about the crime or at the very least why it's not reported in the media. Why, they and you may ask, if the crime is so bad, is the public not informed? Here’s your answer: Real estate values. There are mega zillion dollar condo developments all over the hood. A small (very small, dorm room small) studio condo lists for a minimum of $275,000. High value assessments mean high tax kickbacks, I mean revenue. High property tax revenue means more money in the local government. Funny how it always ends up on the mayor's desk, and even funnier how he never knows anything about that or anything else.
If The Public knew about the crime in the neighborhood they would not be plunking down insane amounts of money for those condos and paying high property taxes on them. Retailers would not be eager to snatch up storefront space so there would be less retail sales tax revenue.
Yes. Money.
There is a very high turnover rate with storefronts and condos. Staggeringly high. Why? Because like me, once shop owners and condo owners are victims of crime several times they think, “A) Why am I putting up with this, B) why does this go unreported, and C) had I known it was like this I wouldn’t have moved/set up shop here in this every expensive neighborhood.”
I’m not saying I know there’s a gag on releasing those crime stats in the media. I’ll let you connect your own dots.
Steve Rhodes is reliable. Credible. Full of integrity. Witty. Insightful. And a nice guy. He’s the guy you would trust to do the right thing in any situation. He’s got the brains and resources to do a thorough job, but is uncompromising in his good guyedness. And he writes the way most writers wish they could write. He can cleverly make a wry slam dunk against Daley without coming across as a bully or malcontent. (okay, there’s so much material with Daley that’s not exactly difficult - Daley brings out the best sarcasm in people - but Steve does it best, and always graced with intelligence and reliable facts.)
His front page news reporting tells us news that’s either not reported or buried deep in the papers behind the Nordstrom ad where few people stray.
But wait! There's more! Steve Rhodes then uses his investigative and insight skills to cull some of the best writing and arts and entertainment sites to be found. Many who are not the same sites everyone reads thinking they’re unique and special. Yeah. Unique and special along with 10,000 other readers. Steve truly does find the cool stuff, the smart stuff, the clever stuff, the funny stuff, the stuff people who do not have financial or hit count agendas are creating online. The stuff you know is out there somewhere but have difficulty finding amid the bazillion search engine hits.
For instance, Steve recently shared Zero Art Radio with the world. Cool, huh? Kind of like that one movie with that one guy, I think he overdosed on crack, oh wait no, that was that other guy, it just seems like this guy would have overdosed on crack, whatshisname? Slater something or another, but anyway it was a really popular movie in the ‘80s where this kid has a pirate radio station and incited angry teenage mayhem. That was in the days before podcasts and iTunes, and fortunately we’ve come a really, really long way since then, we’ve evolved and now we have Zero Art Radio and we all know about it thanks to Steve Rhodes and the Beachwood Reporter.
Not just Chicagocentric news. Information and cool sites everyone can use and enjoy. Fresh blog and site air. Finally.
Right. So. Yes. I endorse the The Beachwood Reporter. Should you care that I endorse it? No. In fact I hope you don’t care that I endorse it. It’s my opinion. I want you to form your own opinion. However. If you’re reading this blog you’re probably of a similar mindset as me. If that’s the case, you’ll probably really enjoy the Beachwood Reporter.
I know.
You don’t hear from me in weeks, and then I’m all like “ooh Beachwood Reporter this and Steve Rhodes that.”
And you’re wondering if I’m taking more or at least more illicit drugs or if my dire financial and personal straits of late made me sell out to The Man, The Man represented here by Steve Rhodes.
No.
I’m just trying to be positive! and upbeat! and notice the good things in the world! and trying to get out of the drama, horror and malaise in my life by trying to focus on something else, something we can all enjoy. And I have a difficult time finding such things. So I’m kind of excited to find one oasis of intelligence and humor and happy to be able to finally share something, you know, positive, with the class.
