Thursday, March 13, 2008

GREAT MOMENTS IN JOURNALISM

This happened about a week ago in the newsroom.

While writing this story, I had to open up the dictionary to confirm the proper plural form of areola. Sadly, it was edited out.

It's areolae, or areolas, in case you were curious. Heck, you're more likely to be using the plural, unless you're writing about Janet Jackson.

This has been... Great Moments in Journalism. (cue orchestra)

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UPDATES

It's been a long time coming, but I've added some links to the side.

About the Cohorts, my fellow bloggers. There's really no order to the list, save this: If I've met you in meatspace, you're at the top of the list. Other than that, there's really no ranking, except for Ron Davis. He'll always be at the top. I've added links to The Secret Drinker and A Running Commentary. The former drinks like a fish, I hear, and the second has a pleasant memory of an editor at the News-Leader telling him he made a mistake taking a job with the Christian County Headliner. Yep... some mistake that was, huh Matt? :)

If you've posted a comment, I've probably added you, as well. That means you, Life of Jason and Sugar Britches. Thanks for participating, and I'll do better at returning the favor.

About the Beacons: I've added The Chart, the student newspaper at Missouri Southern State University. Great bunch of students who get after the news. They are led by adviser T.R. Hanrahan, whose blog (Newsprint in My Blood) has been added.

About the Goodies: I added a few magic-related links. Those links aren't going to teach you how to do anything, but they have fresh content with amateur and professional magicians doing amazing things. Enjoy.

A quick refresher on what this blog is about: This is my personal blog, dedicated to all the geeky, interesting things I come across. I may also talk about media colleagues in the Joplin area, but always in fun. Because it's always fun to make fun of John Hacker.

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OFFICIAL MAILBOX LOST GRIPE #28


Wow. One of the best episodes we've seen in a while, even though we saw the return of Michael coming like a Michael Giacchino diss at the Oscars. The combo of a flashback and flash-forward made for a good punch in the gut. (A note to grammar nerds: Even though it looks weird to hyphenate flash-forward but not flashback, those are the proper spellings, according to Webster.)

Like I mentioned in the prior post, Lost operates according to its own set of strict rules. We saw an example of that in this episode. When Sun was in labor (in a flash-forward), she cried out for Jin. The moment hid the truth from the audience (that Jin was not actually alive, because his moment was a flashback), punching us in the gut when we got to the gravestone scene. There, Sun explained the moment away, saying that the doctors told her she was crying out for her husband. The technique was so good it made us forget all about Aaron, who is likely No. 5 of the Oceanic Six.

ANYWAY... it's frustrating when the show flops because it has to follow its own rules. Hence this week's gripe: Juliet tries yet fails to convince Sun to stay on the beach with Jack. When it appears Juliet has lost, she tells Jin that Sun bumped uglies with another guy.

WHY?! Did Juliet want to save Sun's life by ensuring some uncomfortable silence and soul-searching? Juliet later explains it away as an attempt to keep Sun on the beach, but we didn't believe that for a second. We can buy time travel, Jack's dad being alive and Libby falling in love with Hurley, but we can't believe that. When she spilled the beans about Sun's affair, she did so because she was ticked. Vindictive. Spiteful. Not charitable or Hippocratic oath-ic in the least. Sure, she had to explain it.

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LOST CATCHUP

A quick catchup before I write this week's gripe:

~ "The Constant": Boring episode. I've never said that about a Lost episode, but really it was. These guys think that it was one of the best episodes ever. Can you believe that? That ep was no "Tricia Tanaka is Dead," "Walkabout," "S.O.S." or "Greatest Hits." The reconnection between Desmond and Penny saved it, but the episode dabbled in one of my least-favorite sci-fi plot mechanisms: The scrambled timeline.

Lost operates according to a strict set of rules. Unlike other shows, Lost shows everything for a specific reason. And the things that don't quite make continuital sense (such as Walt growing three feet at the end of season 3) are either explained or joked about. But Desmond's trip back in time creates WAY more questions than the show can possibly answer. Was Penny searching for Desmond BECAUSE he demanded her phone number eight years ago? Or was that a lucky coincidence? Before that episode, Penny was already searching for Des. Then when he calls... did he just happen to keep the same number? The whole time travel just seemed like a weak plot mechanism to get Desmond on the phone with Penny. And it didn't do anything to move ideas about the island's time-bending properties forward.

~ "The Other Woman": This episode made up for the last one. We knew Ben was messed up, but DAYUM. But why is Jack kissin' on Juliet, when he's in love with Kate, allegedly?

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