Yesterday I decided to give my Jeep a spa day.
Of course in hindsight the words
Category Archives: Beyond
Longing for a Simpler Kind of News with less Filler
This past weekend I saw Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, which oddly enough is the sequel to Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
In both movies Will Ferrell helms a cast of characters in a television newsroom where various hijinks ensue.
While the jokes in the movie are easy to see, what may be missed by the casual viewer are the kernels of truth that show the steady decline from the evening news being a source of information to it becoming merely a source of entertainment and low calorie news.
To be fair the golden age of journalism had already come and gone by the time I started Journalism school.
That is not to say that there are not still many fine journalists working today but merely to point out that the days of all journalists being held in high regard and only reporting well vetted factual stories has passed.
Photo R. Anderson
With the advent of the 24-hour news cycle journalists had transitioned from people reporting the news to in many cases being larger than life and part of the news themselves.
Of course one need only read the story of Icarus to know what happens when one flies too close to the sun.
This past year several high profile journalists from national news outlets were suspended when it was learned that some of their stories were not as factual as they were led to believe.
One of the higher profile incidents of this involved a reporter for 60 Minutes which in many ways started the television news magazine format.
It would be easy to blame the increase in journalists taking shortcuts on the internet and the 24-hour news channels.
One could argue that with more pressure to be the first with a story shortcuts are often taken but the fact remains there are no shortcuts to good reporting.
A news story is only as good as the facts that are contained within it and the writer who brings so facts to light in a way that the reader or viewer can understand and act upon.
While it is true that pictures and infographics can enhance a story they are not substitutes for the facts.
When USA Today was first published there were those in the media at the time that thought that a national newspaper filled with shorter stories and more charts and graphs than the rest of the papers on the market would be a flash in the pan and fizzle out.
Instead USA Today , once deemed the
Fire and Ice (Cream) Perfect on a Cold Winter
Over the past couple of days the temperature in this part of Texas has transitioned from
Dead Malls are Casualty of Consumer War
With the Christmas gift season over a week in the rear view mirror many retail chains are counting their profits and hoping that the season helped them get
New Year, Same Resolutions
Today marks the first day of 2014.
Today also marks the time when people drag out their New Year
Treasure or Trash is a Matter of Perspective
The other day I rescued a lovely wooden hutch from next to a dumpster in my neighborhood.
Now to be 100 percent clear the hutch was outside of the dumpster so no
Christmas Lights Bring Visual Element to the Season
There are many sights and sounds of Christmas that help people feel the magic of the season.
While we focused on the sounds of the season Wednesday, with the various songs of Christmas, today we are going to turn our attention on the sights of the season that help set the stage for celebrations.
In particular, we are going to focus on visuals in the form of Christmas light displays.
Growing up my parents never placed Christmas lights on their house so televised lights and trips through the neighborhood to see the lights on the other houses were my approach to seeing the lights of the season for many years.
Photo R. Anderson
One of the most iconic Christmas light scenes on film for me comes courtesy of the Griswald family.
I am sure almost everyone reading this has seen National Lampoon
It
Christmas is only a week away.
The above statement will likely illicit several reactions depending on whether one does or does not have their Christmas shopping done.
Of course a staple of any trip to the store to shop for Christmas presents is being joined by the sounds of the season.
No I am not talking about the sounds of people fighting over the last roll of Hello Kitty wrapping paper or the latest Tickle Me or Sing with Me Elmo.
I am referring to the in store music selection which no doubt will include Christmas music being piped through the store’s sound system.
Now, in the past two weeks I have attended three Christmas concerts filled with the various sounds of the season.
Photo R. Anderson
But for those who prefer their Christmas music to be in a retail setting a trip to the local big box store can be just what the doctor ordered.
And for those of us who prefer to do our shopping online, popping in some Christmas music while dashing through the web can certainly heighten the experience.
Of course it seems like everybody with a record contract has a Christmas album so there certainly are a lot of choices when it comes to picking one
Superstitious Day for Some, One less Shopping Day for Others
Today is Friday, December 13, 2013.
For some people this means nothing more than the fact that yesterday was the 12th and tomorrow is the 14th.
For others it means that there will soon be less than 10 shopping days left until Christmas.
For the superstitious among us today means all of the things above in addition to it being an unlucky day all the way around.
While many may think that the Friday the 13th craze started with a certain movie character named Freddy the roots of Friday the 13th actually run much deeper than late 20th Century cinema.
Since the 19th Century Friday the 13th has been considered an unlucky day in Western and Eastern superstition.
Friday and the number 13 were considered unlucky by some on their own so it was only logical that both occurring at the same time would be even unluckier.
In fact fear of Friday the 13th even has a name; friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga being the name of the Norse goddess for whom Friday is named in English and triskaidekaphobia meaning fear of the number thirteen).
Personally I have never feared Friday the 13th although I do fear not finishing my Christmas shopping in time.
Photo R. Anderson
But the arrival of Friday the 13th made me think about sports and the superstitious rituals that many players seem to follow.
There are players who will eat the same pregame meal because they feel that to eat anything else would risk certain disaster on the field.
Hitters on a hot streak in baseball are notorious for continuing whatever
If it Snows in Dallas and a Football Game is Held do the Fans Make a Sound?
Last Saturday the University of Central Florida Knights captured the American Athletic Conference title when they defeated the Southern Methodist University Mustangs before a handful of fans.
The lack of attendance was due to an ice storm that hit the Dallas area making travel to places like SMU
