Newscoma

I really dig the Nashvillest.

I want to see this right now. RIGHT NOW!

Of course I live in Hoots. We don’t usually get groovy movies like this here but I will see it.

Yup. I have the patience of a mayfly.

It’s Mr. T’s birthday.

I pity the fool and all.

I was at the office yesterday working on some stuff when I heard the news about Ted Kennedy. My heart sank a bit for more than just the obvious reasons. Kennedy has a brain tumor as I’m sure you already know.

My mother had a brain tumor. Her’s was metastasized from another location. I knew when I heard that he had a seizure, as she did repeatedly, that when he was rushed to the hospital it wasn’t of the good.

If you have ever been through something like this, then you know how bad it is.

I noticed that most folks regardless of their political affiliation have been very kind about his health.

Everyone but Michael Savage.

We always hear about how there is the battle between old ways of covering news and new digital media. Of course, these days sometimes I feel my job is more about being a battering goat for complaints as yesterday that seemed to be the ONLY thing in my job description.  I was also taking care of an awning problem in front of our building that was victim to the winds and age this spring.

That’s not news. That’s housekeeping.

I miss balls to the wall writing news and it’s hard to do that sitting behind a desk at times. I used to love getting out and organically finding news stories. I used to have four deadlines in one day when I was in radio news. I like the feel of busting a news story from the trickle and whisper of it’s conception to when it breaks knowing that I was getting that piece of news to the people.

And, I’m dealing with awning, complaints and personnel issues these days.

I bring this up that sometimes when you get to that point in your career when you realize you are in transition.

I am, however, excited about new concepts in delivering news. I mentioned last week I’ve been following a murder trial on twitter.

I also noticed yesterday that Katie Allison Granju covered minute-by-minute the shooting of a police officer at WBIR on it’s news site.

I realize news is changing.

Fortunately, tomorrow I am covering a hearing of a deputy who killed his estranged wife’s lover. He was convicted a couple of years ago but the case is headed back to court. As I love covering court better than just about anything, it will be a welcome change. If only they had WiFi in the courthouse here then I could report it live.

I need to work on making things like that happen.

Umm, okay.

Wow.

I have nothing left to say.

Here.

When the antics of Bill Hobbs makes the New York Times, CNN and all of the major news outlets, you know he’s sitting home grinning. He did his job. Not only did he get the Tennessee GOP noticed, but he’s gaining a Rovian presence on the national front.

Rove is, despite his diminished role in the Bush White House, and will always be the GOP’s Go-To guy.  Bush is a lame duck. Rove has moved on despite the whispers in Washington.

Want to see non-scandal du jour? Call on Hobbs these days. Hobbs is this decade’s new Rove. Little Rove, if you will. Instead of lurking, he’s out there. Mark says this is not the way usual shillers do it but I’m not sure if Hobbs is just changing the game. Hobbs has gained infamous celebrity. Addictive, ain’t it Bill.

Will it blow up in his face? I’m not sure. You see, if the Tennessee GOP disapproved, then they’d get rid of him. Yeah, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker have issued statements condemning his latest drive-by but it hasn’t changed anything.

I’ve spoken about how this impacts, long-term, this state’s reputation but it doesn’t matter at this point. The Tennessee GOP is more than satisfied with Hobbs’ shenanigans. And he doesn’t back up.

But here’s what bothers me the most. Our state has shown with the Tennessee GOP’s actions that the perception is our state did not display goodwill toward Michelle Obama. We didn’t show goodwill toward Barack Obama back a couple of months ago. The individuals who did are secondary to the actions that Hobbs put up and videos he’s done. Kindness was not reported on. Issues were not reported on. And Obama defended his wife. Most folks love chivalry and he displayed it.

The Tennessee GOP got the national play though.

Is what Hobbs did fair game? I guess it is. I don’t have to like it but the local GOP party is going to continue with this. And Hobbs just might get a national gig out of this because his actions are proving that mainstream media is going to pay attention to him.

But one thing that Hobbs and Co. maybe didn’t take into consideration is if they are changing the game, then they have to play by the rules they set. I’ve noticed around the Tennessee blogosphere this morning that Cindy McCain’s background is being questioned in comments at some of the blogs. Her father’s history, her money etc.

When this happens to the Republican nominee for president’s wife, how is Hobbs going to react then? If the game is gutterball and it takes two sides to play, the Tennessee GOP is going to have to deal with long-term ramifications that they created.

Mud always gets slung in politics. I’m not naive.

Just my observation.

I love this picture more than I can tell you.

From Ricko.

And I have two of these Bigfoots. Or is it Bigfeets?

One never knows.

I must come up with incredibly groovy things like Ricko.

When the race to the presidency gets a bit wiggy.

Yes, it weighs on every creature running. Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama. John McCain.

And Mabel.

It’s an odd and disconcerting path for those seeking the presidency. Sometimes candidates lose their minds.

And, yet, we forgive.

Almost instantly.

Goodness Gracious.

There are some weird ads in this world.

And I’m crying out of fear because of the odd children in them.

Yikes.

My Chuck Taylors made Reuters.

No, seriously.

H/T Pop Fi

I’ve had a long and involving day in the non-virtual world. So I give you this which I do not understand or get.

Sometimes life gets in the way. So put a bear on a horse. It apparently works, I guess.

Not every one in Tennessee is this way.

Just wanted you to know.

Sincerely,

Newscoma

Mike responds to a back-handed compliment singling him out in the Nashville City Paper’s Political Animals post written by editor Clint Brewer.

This jab at bloggers looks like the flip side of the mainstream media’s presumptive disdain for people whom they think sit around in their pajamas all day and try to copy what they do themselves. So, if they’re not writing about the City Paper’s stories, then bloggers must be taking the day off because God knows, we’re not doing anything else. It’s another example of how the press doesn’t get it.

I think some folks in the press do get it but not all of them. Jack Lail has been an ambassador and spokesperson about the value of blogging and new digital media creating a lot of good will around the community and the whole country while still remaining local in Knoxville. I try to encourage people to blog although I find my community, which is based in a college town, is more focused on MySpace and Facebook quite frankly.

With that said, Mike does bring up a good point in his post regarding good will at newspapers toward the blogging community. I don’t know the history between Brewer and Enclave but I do know that telling any blogger that writes for free that they should write about something which appears in the newspaper is only going to stir the pot and highly piss people off. Bloggers write about what interests them and they do it out of a passion for writing, a political agenda, focusing on their hobbies, social interaction and the list goes on.

I think it is highly possible for there to be a marriage between traditional media and the blogosphere. I do. However, I do think that some people, in my non-virtual world in the news biz as well, do not understand we live in a new world of media, anyone can self-publish and blogging is an organic process, one that cannot be forced.

Enclave is a great resource in Nashville for what is going on in his community. His content is original. I have called him before one of Nashville’s best hyperlocal bloggers. Mr. Brewer did commend him but it was done with snark and the compliment got lost in Brewer’s chiding. I reacted as well.

I only know a handful of paid bloggers. Newsrooms are losing people due to downsizing but that’s another story for another day. I think those folks in news need to remember people who blog do it because they want to, not because they feel a loyalty to a newspaper.

They blog because they love it.

My two cents.

I took the weekend off from blogging to go find myself. Not really, but it sounded better than just saying I needed a couple of days off-line. These things occasionally happen.The highlights of my weekend would probably bore you to tears, but I will say that on Friday, I wasn’t feeling up to snuff as I’ve been fighting yet another bout with bronchitis and was eager to just sit in my recliner and stare purposelessly at the wall.

Then I got some distressing news and had to go into action mode.

I hate action mode. Seriously I do. I would be a terrible action hero as I’m more inclined to sit on the sidelines and do nothing.

Anyway, Squirrel Queen and I had some things we needed to do so we do whatever red-blooded American Citizen does when in flux. It’s not a life-threatening flux but more of a “OMG, WE HAVE DECISIONS TO MAKE” sort of thing. We went to her mom’s house out in the country.

It is very surreal out there. Very little traffic although we did see the farm, which is leased out, tilled and those small yucky flowers that make me sneeze were sent to plant heaven. It’s planting season in the countryside of Hoots and there is something ethereal and hardcore about it all.  This is how you eat, campers. Listening to farm talk always mesmerizes me as I had no idea about the ongoing mechanics and seven day a week work that has to be done.

We sat outside in the quiet, drank a few beers, laughed a lot and worked on what was needed to work on. Throughout the weekend, we watched Mabel run around on the farm and we just hung out. Her mother has dial-up but we avoided it a pretty much other than to show SQ’s mom pictures from Mabel’s presidential campaign which she thought was pretty funny. There was, alas, no new turkey dance.

On Sunday, we met Holly and her friend Erin, who after a bout with food poisoning some months back from eating some bad sushi, decided to brave it again with us. Badger, who has never had sushi, tried it and much to her surprise, sort of gnawed on a California roll from the Bento Boxes we ordered. I think it was life-altering for her as it should be.

Things that happened this weekend:

1. We saw a flock of buzzards eating the carcass of a deer on the side of the road. Badger called it “nature’s clean up crew” but it was disturbing nonetheless.

2. Big Brown is one hell of a race horse. We watched the race and were stunned how good Big Brown is.

3. There are professional beer drinkers in this world. I am not one of them.

4. My legs, or one of them at least, is terribly sunburned even after I put baby suntan lotion on them, which was a suggestion from my girl Batesville. The thing though is simply I think I missed this one spot and it hurt to move yesterday.

5. I saw what seemed like 900 turtles on the side of the road this weekend. Is this a sign of the apocalypse?

6. I also saw a coyote near town. Wonder what that’s all about? When you live out in the country, even if it’s just for two days you start saying “Gotta go to town.” I find that charming.

So, as I said, my weekend sabbatical from blogging was pretty groovy. I got to see the beloved Holly, who will be moving back to middle Tennessee next month. We determined I will most likely see her more in Nashville than I have with her in the ‘burg. She will be missed though as she is awesome.

Here’s the story:

Edwards created this monument in memory of Oprah’s Cocker Spaniel, Sophie, and Golden Labrador, Gracie, who both passed away this year. Why are the dogs sitting atop her golden head, you ask? Well, Edwards decided to take the road much less traveled in art and place them there for their literal significance: they are always on Oprah’s mind.

This guy, Daniel Edwards, also did the Brittney/Paris sculptures where they were all naked being very odd.

I only can write a letter.

Oprah:

This is more than weird.

Love ya,

Newscoma

This delights me more than it should. But it does.

I love the Innertubes sometimes so much I just want to say Squeee.

From WorkShak

Rick Rolls from My Confined Space

Boys, I want you to go here and look at this picture while I and the women folk talk about some important stuff about our lives.

As I get older, I find myself going through the same thing my mother did about 20 years ago. It’s called, da da dummmm, menopause. First of all, it exists. I’m not going to be one of those women that says “Menopause was never a problem for me.”

I cry foul on that one.

Our bodies are changing, we see that we have lived more than half our lives and while we are not old, neither are we young. We are. It’s a transition.

And, my friends, we are fabulous but it’s part of the process of life.

By the time women, and I guess I’m just speaking for myself here, hit my 40s I started pondering the meaning of life a bit more. I could honestly only think about what I had not done in my life not the accomplishments I have fought tooth and nail to get done. I got a bit tired, I wasn’t feeling as well as I did even five years ago. I found myself somewhat detached from who I was really was.

Who was I? Who am I now?

And, as I’ve said before, I’m too tired for an affair and too broke for a red sports car. Yes, I had, and still do sometimes, hit the middle-aged crazies. Of course the middle-aged crazies hits men as well. It’s pretty much a non-gender thing.

We talk about here on the tubes about different waves of feminism, of how women and men’s lives differ as they grow older and the fact that our bodies completely, or at least it feels like it, betray us. It’s a bond women have. Men have bonds too but I’m not a guy so I can’t comment about that.

It’s like our bodies say “Hey make a baby” when we are in puberty and we learn to deal with that part of being a girl and then when you hit 40 it turns right around and says to us “I changed my mind” and on top of that I’m going to make you feel all nutso for awhile. KThxbai.

I have talked extensively to a couple of woman who are going through the same conundrum of juggling emotions, our professional lives, our sexual identities and feeling like poo all at the same time. It’s good to have conversations about real things instead of ignoring them. The reality is that it’s a messed-up thing, that emotions are different and that it’s almost like we find ourselves wondering what we are going through much the same way we did during puberty. And we don’t have the lives of our mothers and our grandmothers which were so different than what we go through now. We have to take care of ourselves financially. There is no white knight on a steed coming into save the day.

And, women need to take care of each other even if it’s just listening to the grim fact that we ain’t getting any younger.

And it’s not all bad.

The uterus is a weird thing campers. I don’t have mine anymore as she was a bit bitchy but we’ve talked about that before.

Now with all of that said, for anyone who hasn’t experienced all this stuff, it’s not fun.

I don’t think people can understand how daunting it is to wake up in the middle of the night sweating like a goat until you’ve been through it. I can’t explain how I was sitting at my desk doing some work earlier this week and felt like my body was being microwaved from the inside out. It’s hard to convey in words to people who haven’t gone through it.

Why do I bring this up? It’s on my mind, that’s all.

I have to tell myself although I’m aging and there is gray in my hair, I’m pretty groovy. I may not look like Cindy Crawford, but I never did anyway.

I am just me.

There’s only one of me so that’s of the good.

And I’m not dead yet.

H/T of the photo to the lovely Aunt B.