Hey, I can write about TV again! Where do I begin???
Television Without Pity Suffers A Brain Drain. Sound Familiar?
Last year, when J-Unit and I left TVgasm, we passed the sell-out baton to Television Without Pity, which was soon acquired by Bravo TV literally days after we stepped down. Now, just under a year later Gawker reports today that three of TWoP’s founders will now be moving onto bigger and better things. Or, as Sarah D. Bunting, Tara Ariano, and David T. Cole put it, they’re aiming “to pursue dreams and ambitions that will take them beyond TWoP.” Translation: we’re gettin’ the hell out of here.
Rumors are already circulating that TWoP’s new corporate parent was anything but a perfect fit. Gawker’s Nick Denton even goes so far as to suggest that the site’s critical stance towards NBC soured relations with Bravo. Who knows if any of this is true, but having gone down the “I Sold A TV Site And Left Exactly 365 Days Later” road, I have a few ideas of how it all played out in my head.
Nevertheless, I can’t help but be amused by the timing of this news, which has arrived on the very last day of my noncompete clause with Bunim/Murray Productions. What a perfect way to end a year of silence. Ten hours, forty-three minutes left and counting…
• And This Is Why Corporations Don’t Buy Blogs [Gawker]
Top Ten Worst Baggage Claim Annoyances
Inspired by my recent trip to NYC, I’ve decided to come up with the ten most awful things that happen at an airport baggage claim (short of actually losing luggage). I’m sure there are more annoyances than this list can handle, but at least this is a good starting point.
LIVE BLOGGING JETBLUE: Back to Burbs Edition
The view from my seat.
Ahh, it feels like it was just last week when I last wrote a flight blog, and here I am again, busting out the laptop for more airborne commentary. It’s time to leave the chilly climes of the Northeast and return to the sunny, temperate weather of Los Angeles — Burbank Airport, specifically. After a whirlwind weekend of wedding activities (and snow), I’ve found myself back at JFK, sitting in the JetBlue terminal and waiting for this alleged wireless hotspot to kick in. You see, despite my laptop registering a full four bars-worth of connectivity, I’m unable to access the World Wide Web. A quick polling of my nearby laptop neighbors reveal that they too have been similarly and frustratingly cockblocked from the Internet. Sadly, this isn’t the first time this has happened. The last few times I’ve flown out of JFK, I’ve noticed that the wireless hotspot has been anything but. I mean, yes, it is a spot, but it’s hardly hot.
So without internet access, I’m stuck here observing my surroundings. The terminal is packed, I should note. I think I saw someone from Bunim-Murray at the food court. I don’t know his name, and I never interacted with him when I was working there, but I’m fairly sure he’s a producer or something. I also saw a woman watching Juno on her laptop. I guess she had a screener. WELL. Two can play at that game, lady. Maybe I’ll just pop in MY screener of Atonement. Actually, I won’t. It’s entirely too early in the morning for a delicate British drama.
Lastly, I should note that some guy full-on farted at the security check in. It was nasty. So nasty that one of the security guards asked another loudly, “Juan, did you pass gas?” She then fanned her hand in front of her face. Whoever smelt it dealt it, right? Rest assured, it wasn’t me (despite my making the rhyme, which means I therefore did the crime. Although, now I’ve denied it, which means I’ve also supplied it. Damn, I’m really making a bad case for myself). Nevertheless, the lack of usable internet access mixed with the toxic clouds of ass emissions has made this morning in Terminal 6 slightly unpleasant. That’s okay though. I actually have real work I have to do, which means that while I’ll check in periodically to give updates on the flight, I won’t be as fastidious with the blogging as perhaps my trip out [ed. note — this proved to be a lie]. Plus, there’s also the very real possibility that I may conk out mid flight (only got like two hours of sleep last night). So now we’re all updated and happy, yes? Good. See you in the air.
Continue reading “LIVE BLOGGING JETBLUE: Back to Burbs Edition”
LIVE BLOGGING JETBLUE: Burbs to JFK Edition
Oh what a week. After having made an auspicious paparazzi photo appearance a few days ago, I knew I had to somehow maintain the (VERY real) image of my fast-paced Hollywood lifestyle, and what better way to do that than by jumping on the latest plane out of Burbank and jet setting to New York City? Yeah, I’m that cool — I fly across the country just for the hell of it.
Okay, okay. I didn’t fly across the country to look cool. I came to New York for a wedding. And I flew on the rather unglamorous (but still wonderful) JetBlue. So as you can see, my pseudo-glitzy image is in much need of bolstering (and mark my words, it WILL be bolstered some day). In the time being though, I’ll do what I do best: writing a transcontinental flight blog. Or as I call it, a flog. Good times to be had by all, I’m sure.
Continue reading “LIVE BLOGGING JETBLUE: Burbs to JFK Edition”
Sea Spiders and the City
About ten days ago, scientists released underwater footage from the depths of the ocean that portrayed, among other things, sea spiders swimming along in the dark, icy currents. I was rather fascinated by these water-bound arachnids, and as one is wont to do in such circumstances, I promptly headed over to Wikipedia for further reading. Much to my surprise, there was a wealth of information about these little underwater critters, but nothing surprised me more than when the article announced that sea spiders “are cosmopolitan.” I know that in this context, “cosmopolitan” refers merely to a near-global biological distribution of the species, but upon further research, I discovered that sea spiders are also cosmopolitan in the everyday sense too. Shocking photographic evidence after the jump.
Instant Karma's Gonna Get You
I’d like to think that thirty years of a monastic lifestyle would help some people’s karmic footprint, but in the case of Buddhist monk Reverend Seiji Handa, Nirvana is still a way off. The ill-fated religious man was unceremoniously killed by a runaway lawnmower, leaving all to wonder what this guy must have done to have received that nasty bit of karma. I mean, the guy was a monk. A monk! And he wound up dying like this? In a gruesome freak accident? I don’t want to start rumors, but I think that someone must have cheated death on an airplane/highway/roller coaster. Am I right, Ali Larter?
• Runaway lawnmower kills Japanese Buddhist monk [Yahoo News]
Random LOLCat of the Day: Cingular Edition
It’s funny because it’s true.
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: Adventures On The East Side
I spend a good amount of time talking about the glamorous, exciting world of Los Angeles, and while I like to think of myself as being a veritable connoisseur of each neighborhood, the truth of the matter is that I only keep to a few select regions of the city (ie. the clean ones). Occasionally though, I break out of my routine and explore those other oft-overlooked corners of the metropolis, even if it means intermingling with hipsters and those that profit off them.
And so with the goal of changing things up a little bit, I present to you my Saturday afternoon trip to… SILVER LAKE.
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What Your Car Says About You
“I’m sensible; so I cradle my head in my hand. But I’m a little wild; so I only use ONE hand. That’s why I drive an Accord.”
Earlier this week, Forbes ventured into the world of unspoken gender truths when it published the semi-provocative article titled “What Your Car Says To The Opposite Sex.” The writer, Jacqueline Mitchell, performed a fairly thorough, albeit unscientific analysis of various vehicle brands and came to some amusing, insightful, and sometimes colorful conclusions about how a car can reflect upon an owner. While I felt Mitchell’s take was by and large accurate, I think there’s more to be said. After the jump, both the Forbes and B-Side Blog take on what a car says to the opposite sex (or actually any sex in general).