Life Editor Ivan Lajara talks about living in the Hudson Valley, language, the Web, cats and even politics. But he shouldn't.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
High-definition Lincoln
This image released by George Eastman House is a conserved broken glass-plate interpositive of Abraham Lincoln, taken by Alexander Hesler at the Illinois state Capitol in Springfield on June 3, 1860. George Eastman House International Museum of Photography & Film conserved the glass-plate interpositive, which was used to make copy prints following Lincoln's death. The interpositive is owned by an anonymous collector. (AP Photo/Courtesy George Eastman House)
I'm totally making a small version of this monstrosity on Sunday (I may even add some cheese) just to anger my veggie-inclined friends, who'll have to content themselves with uncooked broccoli and my special take on a Virgin Mary (vegetable juice).
A paper to be published in March in Social Sciences Journal by economists David E. Kalist and Daniel Y. Lee of Shippensburg University found that unpopular first names can increase the tendency toward juvenile delinquency, as reported by Live Science.
The caveat is that the name has to be mixed with factors like a disadvantaged home life, which I had the fortune of not having, since my name is one of those the study picked as having the biggest chance of creating a criminal.
French tight rope master and Shokan resident Philippe Petit was the guest at the Colbert Report on Tuesday. Here is the hilarious clip in case you missed it.
Also on Tuesday, Colbert made mention of New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of Columbia County, though the piece was mainly about Papa Bear and Caroline Kennedy.
Stone Ridge actress Melissa Leo received a best actress Oscar nomination this morning for her role in "Frozen River," a film by Chatham director-writer Courtney Hunt. Freeman reporter Bonnie Langston is talking to her as I type this.
Leo is in Park City, Utah, promoting"Predisposed" a film by West Hurley West native Philip Dorling, at the Sundance Film Festival. Dorling directed the film and co-wrote it with his mentor, Ulster County resident Ron Nyswaner, who wrote the screenplay for the Tom Hanks film “Philadelphia.” Nyswaner received an Oscar nod then for that screenplay.
Also of note, the Academy nominated “Man on Wire” for documentary feature. The film is about French artist and Shokan resident Philippe Petit, who in 1974 walked across a wire that had been strung illegally between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The documentary by British director James Marsh was partially shot in Ulster County.
"You should seriously be ashamed of yourself for printing such junk. If this is the best that you can come up with for our new president, you do not deserve to be a writer — at all."
I remember a journalism teacher who once said that readers who write angry letters to the editor or make unflattering calls have been made really, really angry by whatever was published.
(Think about it. how many times have you read something that angered you so bad you decided you were going to write something to the paper or call — and then didn't?)
But the thing is, the column wasn't about Obama. And because the call was anonymous, I couldn't call the lady to tell her to relax — with an Obama scented candle ($19.99) and Obama tea. ($15.50)!
...
I also received an e-mail from a person who did identify himself, thanking me for the column. Then he proceeded to plug the Obama watch.
* the craptalicious suffix "-licious," which apparently can be attached to anything;
* "PUMA," via angry Hillraisers after the Democratic primary. It stands for "Party Unity My Ass," which is fitting because the Democrats are represented by the ass (though I have a feeling that's not what they were referring to). "Hillraisers" was now among the finalists; and
* "long photo," which allegedly means "a video of 90 seconds or less." I guess that makes television news "long newspapers."
One of the words deemed most likely to succeed in the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year announcement is related to the Web site Twitter.com:
Tw-, tweet-, twitt- Combining forms all connoting a relationship to Twitter, a free nano-blogging service.
If you are unfamiliar with Twitter, you've probably been at your bunker trying to survive the current economic climate (News Flash: It is still bad, go back underground).
And if you are familiar with it, you might still be wondering what's the use of having a site in which users can only post 140 characters per post. Aren't Facebook's status updates enough?
No.
Because you should know that twitter is great.
If you want to get hacked.
Here are a couple of examples from Jan. 5:
Other twitters hacked that day included Barack Obama, the Huffington Post and Britney Spears.
Needless to say, I started my own - "for research purposes," as I like to name all the projects I'm likely to abandon.
At the risk of coming off as an annoying blogger, I'm going to annoyingly complain about things on this blog - as a "journalist."
Here are the things that are annoying, on this Monday, Jan. 11, 2009.
* Monday, Jan. 11, 2009;
* $3 coffee;
* $3 coffee on my lap;
* Six stray cats in front of my house that like to pee on my porch and make me spill coffee;
* One indoor cat in said house who likes to get back at the outside cats by peeing on the entrance of the house.
* Annoying bloggers;
* Newspapers that advertise Golden Globe Awards coverage on their front pages and only have partial coverage, and then send readers online for "full coverage."
As in, "Pay to get half the story. Or don't, and get the whole thing for free!" Nice business model.
(The Freeman was the only daily in the mid-Hudson Valley with full Globes coverage, which wasn't that hard to do, since it was a wire story);
* Annoying and infrequently bloggers with cat pee on their porch and coffee on their lap who complain about newspapers.
* Award shows.
...
What are yours?
But, most importantly:
Do you know how to scare six cats away from a front porch?
The best supporting acting category just went to Kate Winslet over, among others, Ulster County resident Vera Farmiga, who played an outed CIA agent in "Nothing But the Truth."
She has told New York Magazine that, "living upstate is nothing but beneficial."
The Critic's Choice Award for best documentary was given just now to "Man on Wire" about French artist and Shokan resident Philippe Petit, who in 1974 walked across a wire that had been strung illegally between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The documentary by British director James Marsh was partially shot in Ulster County.
The award was presented by neighbor Melissa Leo of Accord, who's up for best actress.
Former "Hannity and Colmes" co-host Alan Colmes joined funnier-than-Sean Hannity host Steven Colbert on Monday on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."
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