I picked this article from the New York Times because it is about something important to me.
On Oct. 19 (my 21st birthday), J. K. Rowling was at Carnegie Hall in New York City for Scholastic's Open Book Tour Sweepstakes. If you don't know who Rowling is, first of all you must live in a box and second of all she's the author of the Harry Potter series.
Well for a little back story here, only 1,000 people got tickets to the book signing on Friday. You had to enter a contest through Scholastic and be chosen. Your prize was two tickets to the show.
I love Harry Potter. Call me whatever, I'll be the first to stand up and say I freakin love Harry Potter and Rowling. So I entered the contest thinking nothing of it until I got a call on Sept. 19 from Scholastic saying that I had won. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present.
So I picked this article from AP in the New York Times about Friday's event.
This article isn't necessary long and detailed but it covers probably the most interesting part of the evening. During the question and answer session, someone asked Rowling is Albus Dumbledore (Headmaster of Hogwarts) ever found love in his life. Rowling said she always pictured him as gay and the whole auditorium cheered. She jokingly responded, "If I had known it would make you this happy, I would have told you years ago."
Though many people find this tidbit about Dumbledore interesting and pleasing, many people are outraged. My dad heard on TV earlier today that many religious groups are yet again protesting Rowling and Harry Potter, now for homosexuality.
What I love about the whole thing, though, is that Rowling is fully aware of all of the controversy and doesn't let it bother her. Towards the end of the Q & A, an announcer, from backstage, said (not exact words )"Hello? Can you hear me?" And Rowling responded, "God? Is that you? And people say I don't believe in you!" I love that about her.
I get sick of hearing people complain about Harry Potter. Obviously enough people like it that it is the most successful literary work ever. I'm also extremely glad that I got to meet her.
OK, that's the end of my birthday story.
And that's the end of my converged journalism blog!
It's been fun!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Oops...
Maybe Britney Spears is trying a little harder to clean up her act. Maybe. According to an article by Gina Serpe at E! News, Spears willingly went to the police to be booked for two driving misdemeanors.
The article was very thorough with its description, even including a link to Spears' booking sheet.
What I liked the most about this article, was the video provided of Spears. The first part of the video was of Spears leaving the police station and the second part was later in the evening when Spears and her producer friend Sam Lufti went to Jack in the Box.
The video added a visual aspect to the article because in the article Serpe described how Spears looked and acted as she left the station and her wig at Jack in the Box.
Yes I said wig. Spears brought out her pink wig again. Who knows why.
Even though the video was shaky and rough, it added a lot to the story because it gave an important visual.
The article was very thorough with its description, even including a link to Spears' booking sheet.
What I liked the most about this article, was the video provided of Spears. The first part of the video was of Spears leaving the police station and the second part was later in the evening when Spears and her producer friend Sam Lufti went to Jack in the Box.
The video added a visual aspect to the article because in the article Serpe described how Spears looked and acted as she left the station and her wig at Jack in the Box.
Yes I said wig. Spears brought out her pink wig again. Who knows why.
Even though the video was shaky and rough, it added a lot to the story because it gave an important visual.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
The Dark Side of Peanuts
I stumbled across an article on The Times Online about a biography coming out this week based on Charles Schulz, the creater of the Peanuts comics.
Snoopy's unhappy father, AKA Schulz, apparently lead a dark life behind the scenes and let it out through his Peanuts characters. According to the writer of the article, Tony Allen-Mills, Schulz was never very happy in life. The biography, written by David Michaelis, tells about Schulz's life and why Peanuts was the way it was.
Michaelis said that adults who were familiar with Peanuts probably saw Snoopy as lonely and underrated. He assumed kids just saw him as a cartoon dog. Schulz molded Snoopy a particular way for a reason.
At the end of the Peanuts run, Michaelis discovered that of all the cartoons, Lucy always snatches the football away from Charlie Brown and Charlie Brown never got a Valentine on Valentine's Day.
According to Schulz, it was because unhappiness was funny.
I found this article highly interesting and well researched. I had NO idea that Schulz was such an unhappy person. As a critic from the New York Post said, you'll never watch Peanuts the same again after hearing these things. It's true. Next time I watch A Charlie Brown Christmas (like I do almost every year), I'm going to notice the sadness in the characters and I'm going to connect it to the sadness in Schulz's life. I imagine people who read the biography will do the same.
Snoopy's unhappy father, AKA Schulz, apparently lead a dark life behind the scenes and let it out through his Peanuts characters. According to the writer of the article, Tony Allen-Mills, Schulz was never very happy in life. The biography, written by David Michaelis, tells about Schulz's life and why Peanuts was the way it was.
Michaelis said that adults who were familiar with Peanuts probably saw Snoopy as lonely and underrated. He assumed kids just saw him as a cartoon dog. Schulz molded Snoopy a particular way for a reason.
At the end of the Peanuts run, Michaelis discovered that of all the cartoons, Lucy always snatches the football away from Charlie Brown and Charlie Brown never got a Valentine on Valentine's Day.
According to Schulz, it was because unhappiness was funny.
I found this article highly interesting and well researched. I had NO idea that Schulz was such an unhappy person. As a critic from the New York Post said, you'll never watch Peanuts the same again after hearing these things. It's true. Next time I watch A Charlie Brown Christmas (like I do almost every year), I'm going to notice the sadness in the characters and I'm going to connect it to the sadness in Schulz's life. I imagine people who read the biography will do the same.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Cleveland shooting
I looked into the shooting at a Cleveland high school because it is close to my hometown. I found excellent coverage at WKYC's website. WKYC is Cleveland's local news station.
By just going to this link, you can find many videos relating to the shooting. Talk about amazing coverage. WKYC provides multiple stories on the shooting as well as related video and related stories.
Related stories include testimonials from fellow students as well as information on the security plans the schools are going to be implementing.
I clicked through some of the stories and what I really like, other than the extensive coverage, is that at the bottom of the stories, such as this one, have links at the bottom to other stories that are similar to that one. It also has links to the related video.
Back on the main story page, at the bottom you can also find web extra links to stories exclusive to WKYC's website.
All in all, I thought WKYC covered this tragedy well. It's hard to try and find something good within this whole topic, but I tried.
By just going to this link, you can find many videos relating to the shooting. Talk about amazing coverage. WKYC provides multiple stories on the shooting as well as related video and related stories.
Related stories include testimonials from fellow students as well as information on the security plans the schools are going to be implementing.
I clicked through some of the stories and what I really like, other than the extensive coverage, is that at the bottom of the stories, such as this one, have links at the bottom to other stories that are similar to that one. It also has links to the related video.
Back on the main story page, at the bottom you can also find web extra links to stories exclusive to WKYC's website.
All in all, I thought WKYC covered this tragedy well. It's hard to try and find something good within this whole topic, but I tried.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Comparing video
I heavily criticized the video on the Orlando Sentinel's website last week so I went searching for a publication that did a better job with online broadcast.
I found one.
On the Sacramento Bee's website, they have a multimedia section with video, audio, slideshows and more. I went to the video section and picked the first one. It's about bridge safety and bridge inspecting in their area.
I wouldn't really call this the most interesting video, but it is presented in a much better way than Matt Sokoloff's videos from the Orlando Sentinel.
This video is actually done out in the field - from a bucket truck hanging over the side of the bridge. The guy narrating is one of the bridge inspectors, so he's very knowledgable.
The video provides an inside look at what these men do day in and day out. Their jobs are probably underappreciated. People often forget about workers like these men and the amazing work they do. In that sense, I think this video is highly important because it shows the people in the Sacramento area how these men protect their safety.
Plus, I don't think it takes much to outdo Sokoloff at the Sentinel.
I found one.
On the Sacramento Bee's website, they have a multimedia section with video, audio, slideshows and more. I went to the video section and picked the first one. It's about bridge safety and bridge inspecting in their area.
I wouldn't really call this the most interesting video, but it is presented in a much better way than Matt Sokoloff's videos from the Orlando Sentinel.
This video is actually done out in the field - from a bucket truck hanging over the side of the bridge. The guy narrating is one of the bridge inspectors, so he's very knowledgable.
The video provides an inside look at what these men do day in and day out. Their jobs are probably underappreciated. People often forget about workers like these men and the amazing work they do. In that sense, I think this video is highly important because it shows the people in the Sacramento area how these men protect their safety.
Plus, I don't think it takes much to outdo Sokoloff at the Sentinel.
Job market getting better!
As I was searching around the Internet for information for our website project, I stumbled upon an article from today's New York Times.
The article discusses job growth and how much better it was than anyone had anticipated. According to the writer, Michael Grynbaum, the economy added 110,000 jobs in September and about 90,000 jobs in July and August.
The article also said that the fear of recession is decreasing and the chance of the Federal Reserve cutting the interest rate is growing slimmer.
This article is crucial to our job market website because it is information like this that we are basing everything off of.
Not only am I excited to find an article for today about this, but I'm excited about the outlook of the current job market. That's great that jobs are being added.
This also provides an angle for our website because later in the article it said that hiring in the private sector has weakened but the overall economy no longer appears to be on the verge of recession.
That will give us something to look into: why hiring in private sectors is lower. Hmm...
The article discusses job growth and how much better it was than anyone had anticipated. According to the writer, Michael Grynbaum, the economy added 110,000 jobs in September and about 90,000 jobs in July and August.
The article also said that the fear of recession is decreasing and the chance of the Federal Reserve cutting the interest rate is growing slimmer.
This article is crucial to our job market website because it is information like this that we are basing everything off of.
Not only am I excited to find an article for today about this, but I'm excited about the outlook of the current job market. That's great that jobs are being added.
This also provides an angle for our website because later in the article it said that hiring in the private sector has weakened but the overall economy no longer appears to be on the verge of recession.
That will give us something to look into: why hiring in private sectors is lower. Hmm...
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Long...but good
I came across a story from The New York Times Magazine about three young students from Bronxville and their college application process.
The story, Tense Times at Bronxville High, had the stories from three high school seniors in New York. The writer, Susan Dominus, told each student's story separately, but wove them together. The first student, Maria Devlin, is what I like to call the poster child for perfection. She is good at everything - the kind I love to hate. The second student, Winthrop Rutherford, wanted nothing other than to go to Princeton. And the third student, Alex Likovich, thought she had nothing to worry about when it came to her early decision application at Middlebury.
This story, isn't hard-pressed news, by any means, but it was really interesting. Dominus told these students' stories in a way that made me keep reading. I felt like I knew these kids - like maybe I went to school with them. Dominus made them relatable. She described them in a way that reminded me of people I went to school with. For instance, she talked about Rutherford's SAT scores and his love of military history and I couldn't help but thinking, hey, that reminds me of Brad from high school.
What I'm trying to say is, Dominus wrote in a conversational manner and that is my favorite type of writing. Two thumbs up for her.
The story, Tense Times at Bronxville High, had the stories from three high school seniors in New York. The writer, Susan Dominus, told each student's story separately, but wove them together. The first student, Maria Devlin, is what I like to call the poster child for perfection. She is good at everything - the kind I love to hate. The second student, Winthrop Rutherford, wanted nothing other than to go to Princeton. And the third student, Alex Likovich, thought she had nothing to worry about when it came to her early decision application at Middlebury.
This story, isn't hard-pressed news, by any means, but it was really interesting. Dominus told these students' stories in a way that made me keep reading. I felt like I knew these kids - like maybe I went to school with them. Dominus made them relatable. She described them in a way that reminded me of people I went to school with. For instance, she talked about Rutherford's SAT scores and his love of military history and I couldn't help but thinking, hey, that reminds me of Brad from high school.
What I'm trying to say is, Dominus wrote in a conversational manner and that is my favorite type of writing. Two thumbs up for her.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
