Don't Be That Guy

Don't let the fire burn out -- get psyched for Tuesday, find out where your polling location is and make a plan to get there early to cast your vote.

(Thanks, Josh, for the link.)

Samantha Bee Always Gets it Right

"John McCain has finally put the concerns of women where they belong: in derisive air quotes."

I love Samantha Bee. She says exactly what I wanted to say to every boy(and girl) who took Basic Social Questions with me my sophomore year of college, and did not support my carefully crafted assignment that allowed me to argue in front of the class why women should have the right to choose when it came to abortions. In fact just thinking about that course and all the staunch, conservative people I went to college with who think that overturning one of the most important amendments to the constitution is a good idea makes me incredibly angry. If I had the class list today, I would personally email every single one of them the video above, because as Samantha puts it: "I'm sure if John McCain was raped, and had a baby growing in his penis, he would want it publicly discussed at the same level of abstraction without concern for his specific 'life' or 'penis.'"

God I'm in a bad mood now. I still love you, Sam Bee.

Less Staff, Same Quality? Don't Get Your Hopes Up.

"Clearly, the sky is falling. The question now is how many people will be left to cover it," writes David Carr for the New York Times today. He poses an interesting question about how the economy is affecting the print industry. As he states, "The paradox of all these announcements is that newspapers and magazines do not have an audience problem — newspaper Web sites are a vital source of news, and growing — but they do have a consumer problem."

The death of newspapers has been widely covered over the past few years -- but now glossy magazines are also feeling the tighter belt. Recently, CosmoGirl, The Christian Science Monitor and Radar magazines all closed. Rolling Stone Magazine became a more stream-lined size to save money and Time Inc. fired 600 people as they are restructuring their organization to become more web-centric.

The only problem is that just because something is online doesn't mean it takes less journalists to find the stories. In fact, most of the website components to the print publications are generally understaffed or supplied with bloggers. I might be using the blog medium right now to get my thoughts across, but in no way do I believe that blogging is a decent substitute for journalism.

I'm wondering how newspapers and magazines going to be able to cover all the events happening in the world today (a new president, the Wall Street mess, the credit crisis, movie stars' tragedies -- the list goes on...) with a quarter of their staff? There's still going to be news and headlines -- but we will actually be able to obtain all the breaking stories?

If newspapers die, their subsequent websites will not be the same. The content you read online is still investigated and vetted by print people -- and simply adapted to the web. In order for the websites to maintain the kind of content their readers are used to seeing on a daily basis, the print journalists should still have their jobs -- they will just need to me moved to a different medium (that being the web.) We still need people in the field, finding the stories, talking to the sources and making sure an article has legs. Bloggers can get the news out there quickly, but that doesn't mean it's always right, edited, unbiased and complete. Cutbacks of journalists and paper and the tranisition to web format might save money but won't necessarily save a publication.

"I have to go powder my nose."

My lovely Halloween costume this year -- Mrs. Mia Wallace.

I Want My MTV

MTV quietly rolled out a brand new music video archive site yesterday called MTVMusic.com.

As Silicon Alley Insider states, "The site looks good and, in our limited testing, works great. And like Hulu, MTV also (smartly) lets you embed their videos on your blog, MySpace or Facebook profile, Tumblr, etc. (see below). It also has the requisite "social" functions like comments, rating up/down, etc."

I played on the site for a little while and found it to be clean, simple, easy to use and about 4 years too late. But it's still exciting for the mere fact that I can find some of my favorite videos -- and catch up on what I've missed over the past few years while MTV forgot to play music videos on television.

And now -- my selection. This is an old favorite of mine -- I remember watching it after school at the Amann's house when they used to babysit me. Carol April would not be happy knowing Axl Rose was entertaining me in elementary school, but I can't help but feel the love for "November Rain."

Guns N' Roses |MTV Music

"Dogs. All I Really Want is Dogs."

A personal favorite: "Party in the front, business in the back" dog.

This weekend there were multiple Halloween dog parades that took place throughout the city. I felt that it was only right that I share where you can spend countless hours admiring the cutest dogs NYC has to offer, wishing you had a dog of your own to dress up, day-dreaming about the dog parks, wishing you had a dog of your own, etc. -- basically, spend a day walking in my shoes.

10th Annual Pupkin Dog Contest

Friends of First Run

Tompkins Square Park Flickr Slideshow

MSNBC Shows No Light at the End of the Tunnel

MSNBC.com has created an interactive slideshow titled "Economy in Turmoil", which is supposed to be a "graphic look at the mess on Wall Street."

I'm a little too scared to say anything else -- so I figured I would just leave you with something uplifting for the weekend. Enjoy.

When Stock Imagery Bites You in the Ass

My brother passed the following along to me today:

In the 2007-2008 annual report for Birmingham National Airport, on the 11th page featuring information about airline safety and security, a line of "airline stock imagery" was used to demonstrate the points being made. These images include a restrictions tag, a picture of an airline police vehicle and an x-ray of a suitcase. Standard, right? Nope.

Please see the context of the image below -- as well as a blown-up image of the suitcase in question. Focus on the bottom left corner of the suitcase.

John Stewart: Hero

"She said that small towns, that's the part of the country she really likes going to because that's the pro-America part of the country. You know, I just want to say to her, just very quickly: Fuck you."

— Jon Stewart on Sarah Palin.

"Say hi to your mother for me."

I know I'm a week late on this, but I finally got around to watching the SNL skit, "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals."

It's short, hilarious and exactly what should be on your TV on Saturday nights. If you haven't seen it yet, enjoy.

Sad Guys on Trading Floors

This blog is just what it sounds like.

Enjoy.

New York Times: Scary Headline Edition

"Three days after the approval of the White House’s $700 billion rescue plan, it looks like a pebble tossed into a churning sea."


Awesome.

The Best Dog in the World

Zoe April, 2000-2008.

David Letterman's Top 10: Sarah Palin

In honor of the vice presidential debate tonight, David Letterman's most recent top 10 list on Wednesday night was a tribute to the most talked about woman in the United States.

"Top Ten Things Overheard at Sarah Palin's Debate Camp"

#10: “Let’s practice your bewildered silence”
#9: “Can you try saying ‘Yes’ instead of ‘You betcha’?”
#8: "Hey, I can see Mexico from here!”
#7: “Maybe we’ll get lucky and there won’t be any questions about Iraq, taxes, or health care”
#6: “We’re screwed!”
#5: “Can I just use that lipstick-pit bull thing again?”
#4: “We have to wrap it up for the day — McCain eats dinner at 4:30″
#3: “Can we get Congress to bail us out of this debate?”
#2: “John Edwards wants to know if you’d like some private tutoring in his van”
#1: “Any way we can just get Tina Fey to do it?”

[via UsMagazine.com]

Fareed Zakaria Makes a Solid Point

"In these times, forJohn McCain to have chosen [Sarah Palin] to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true." - Fareed Zakaria

As the nation gears up for the vice-presidential debate tomorrow night, I feel like it's my duty to share the short piece written by Fareed Zakaria in this week's Newsweek, "Palin is Ready? Please."

What I love about this editorial, is that Zakaria doesn't need to use angry words or Gonzo language that Matt Taibii recently exercised in his own political essay. Instead, in order to get his point across, Zakaria simply transcribes Palin's own words for his readers to re-read and soak in. He reminds us by using an excellent and well-crafted point that dirty politics do not always generate the best results for the country. The win at all costs attitude may have serious affects on your campain winning, but then what? How do you run the country with a bimbo (thank you Bill Maher) standing next to you? Choosing a running mate for his presidential campaign was one of the most important first decisions that McCain had to make for this country.

It was a bad one.