Pandering: A New Definition There Of

Hello Sarah Palin, and eventually, goodbye to some political adviser who just ruined their career by recommending that Mrs. Palin should be the GOP running mate.

That's enough up there pretty much, bet a second rhetorical is so much more fun. What's it gonna be America? Vote against the Black Man or the White Woman? Is that how this will be decided? Who's just not going to show up on election day? I can see it now...

At least I can give it to McCain for being bold, though in a rather insincere way. I can truly say that I have no goddamn clue as to what's going to happen this November. It's tantalizing and scary really, my fingers are crossed.

HPC certified: Public Passion

A plug for this other blog-o-mine, or better yet, one that I just started and invited half of the HPC to already. Public Passion. Cha'll know what to do. The amazingness above was in Union Square; a handjob for sure at one point, and someone mentioned they just might have been having sexual intercourse. Cho-ass? You decide. Um, ignore the fact that PP and HPC have the same layout. Ok? Cool.

Return of the Prodigal Hater: The Media, Still Blowing it on the Iraq War. Me, Trying Not To Blow it.

After a blissful couple of weeks of being low on hate and high on love and liking, I'm back to hating man.

I consider myself a part of the periphery of the media. I'm a staff writer for these guys; I'm a skateboard writer, hence, I'm a part of the fringe of the periphery of the media, but still, I try to take media matters seriously, and if in some meager way, apply it to my "journalism."

One of the ways that I attempt to bolster my media mind is by listening to On The Media; I've posted about these guys before. I rarely catch them on the radio, so I've taken to downloading them weekly. Recently I got behind on listening to my downloads, which meant that I started out today with their show from March 21, '08. I'd gotten rather behind.

The 03.21.08 show happened to be a re-cap show of all their coverage of the coverage of the War in Iraq; what a way to ring in a "Fifth Anniversary"! While I was well aware that the media, for that matter, most of the media, had blown their reportage of the war, what I found in the above episode of On The Media was nothing short of puke in your mouth sickening at times. Download it, pod it, and then find an activity where you can listen to the entire episode in entirety. (Note: I'm well aware that On The Media is a criticism show, and that they damn well intended to make me throw up in my mouth. Still, the fact that they can compile 50 minutes of audio that has the ability to do that to me is telling.)

Here's what bums me out, beyond the tragedy that is everything regarding the current war. The whole thing was a good slap in the face for me to get way more proper about my own work. I'd been making a push to slip in a little bit more "real talk" into my pieces, but really, it's a dicey activity. Piss off the wrong people and advertisers walk. Call out a skater and all of a sudden there's someone who will actually try to kick my ass for some dumb comment. Ridicule a video worth ridiculing (or supposedly ridicule a video), and I end up with someone saying "Fuck Gerbik". I don't want to sound like some gigantic pussy for stating all this, but I also want to have fun doing something I love and not worry about bullshit. All the while I find myself cringing while I dance around the fact that so and so skate video should never, under any circumstances, be purchased, and I worry about the feelings of some 16 year old kid while he blatantly lies to me in the middle of an interview.

Fuck it. Time for some "smart real talk," keeping my job, and having fun. And calling out teenagers; we hate them more than ever.

Shitheads (not Vol. 8)

I really can't stand teenagers. Especially teenagers in restaurants. They are loud, obnoxious, boisterous and generally repulsive. They tend to believe people care about their opinions, when

in reality - nobody cares what teenagers think. Not even the teenagers that participate in student debate, mock trial, speech...or any activity where students act as though their limited education allows their verbal vomit to possess any more merit than usual. There was a recent debate on our very own HPC about the legitimacy of blogs and new media venues in general. Many people have the opinion that blogs are like teenagers; self-indulgent, narcissistic, snotty shit for brains, and they never shut up. Funny thing is, I like blogs. I read a ton of blogs, about all kinds of things...some completely for the purpose of wasting time and laughing and others because their content is challenging and informative. (and yes...I know slate is a magazine...but their writers blog). Because, while blogs might be a little too cool and full of themselves at times, they can be shut off, navigated away from, or simply never visited again - the teenagers is an entirely different subject. Teenagers will follow you if they know you're uncomfortable in their presence. In fact, teenagers enjoy pissing people off. Look at the jag-off above - this idiot teenager in Australia is a lame-ass racist piece of shit who has been convicted of drunk driving, spitting on an asian kid, and all around douche-baggery. Guess why? He's a teenager. Therefore, impressionable, sure of himself, and stupid. And when he's out of jail or off house arrest he's going to be back in the general public - and that makes me shudder.