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.

Writers Vs. Editors: A Battle for the Ages

"Writers, they say, are whiny, self-indulgent creatures who spend too much time alone. They are egotistical, paranoid and almost always seriously dehydrated. Above all, they are spectacular ingrates."
-Michael Kinsley

Gimmicks Gimmicks Everywhere

Has the World gone gimmick crazy? Why is that I can't go anywhere with out hearing that Diablo Cody was a stripper. There is just so much wrong here. First of all she made money and gained notoriety for documenting her stripping adventures. Let us remember that many journalists also go under conver to do things and write about them. In fact, having experiences is what gives writers things to write about. Everyone keeps talking about how unbelievable her story is. What is unbelievable about it? That a woman from outside the "Hollywood" community can win an Academy Award? Cody (whose real name is Brook Busey) grew up in Illinois, she attended a Catholic school, and then went on to the University of Iowa where she earned a degree in media studies. Is this the unbelievable part? She began writing. It turned out she was good at it. Then she went on to win an Academy Award. Is it unbelievable that she can be such a good writer? because libraries and bookstores are all filled with things written by "good" writers. There are people out there who have a natural aptitude for writing....how is that unbelievable? It is Amazing that Juno was her first screenplay. It is amazing that her first screen play was so successful. But her success has to do with her talent not her back story. To say that her story is unbelievable is to disregaurd her talent and treat her as a novelty....an anomaly. Anyone who has ever taken an interest in reading, especially memoir, can see that the writers they are reading make up a strange cast of characters with all sorts of interesting back stories. Even "common" people with "everday" jobs have interesting back stories. Show me a person who doesn't have an interesting back story and all bet that there is a writer out there who can make it appear interesting.

Anyway, Congrates to Brook/Diablo for all her success and for making Minneapolis look like it breeds so many awesome people. Everyone loves a good rags to riches/ cinderalla story but I think that it's important to remember that in most situations success comes with a grip of talent and a shit load of hard work. I wish that the media would stop emphasising that she is a stripper....it takes away from how truly amazing her success is.