lock and load

Reading Mack Rawden's commentary excerpted below about comediennes as he gets ready to watch Date Night, I am trying to imagine my better half funnin' about JonBenet Ramsey or the Lindbergh kidnapping. I can't quite get there. Guess that could be sorta kinda close to how Sarah Palin might have felt about Tina Fey during the 2008 election. I am not at all convinced Ms. Palin will ever think Fey is incredibly amusing and entertaining as me and some guys out there do - -

No More Catty Best Friends:

Support Tina Fey As She Proves Women Can Be Funny
Posted in Cinema Blend
By Mack Rawden

"This Friday, I’m going to see Date Night. Not because I love Romantic Comedies, not because Mark Wahlberg is shirtless, and definitely not because The Office isn’t enough awkward Steve Carell humor for me. I’m going to see Date Night on Friday because I believe in Tina Fey. She makes me laugh, unexpectedly, sheepishly, loudly, thoroughly and consistently. She is, without question, one of the ten best comedians working today. She’s John Belushi doing Joe Cocker. She’s Richard Pryor killing on the mic. She’s Norm MacDonald cracking jokes about O.J. Simpson, Vince Vaughn standing on a diner table and Johnny Carson direct addressing his audience as K-Mart shoppers. I believe in Tina Fey because she makes me laugh, and that’s why, for the first time in my life, I’m going to see a comedy entirely because of its female star.

...it’s not that chicks aren’t funny. My girlfriend makes me laugh all the time. She’s clever and just the right level of cynical, but she never lets herself become a sideshow. My male friends and I are a sideshow. We’re shameless. From whipping out our *beep* to pretending to talk like the deaf, we’ll lower ourselves to outright embarrassment, we’ll stoop to referencing JonBenet Ramsey, sink to making Lindbergh baby jokes, cram in thirty-five chocolate chip cookies at the same time because *beep*, we’re men and for some reason, we can get away with it.

...for the first time ever, thanks to Jane Lynch, thanks to Wanda Sykes, most of all thanks to Tina Fey, and in honor of so many great female comediennes like Gilda Radner who never truly got a fair shake, I’m excited about where female-driven comedy is headed. I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is, the question is whether you’re ready to join me." [read more]

scoop

Inserting JonBenet Ramsey into the questions about the reliability of information dished up in the media, the publisher of the Aurora Sentinal poses a few thoughful questions for consumers to consider about their source of news- -

Balloon pops media madness

Published in The Aurora Sentinel
By H. HARRISON COCHRAN

"Watch what you wish for...A question as disconcerting as why the media madness mesmerizes us is why the perils of young white children (think JonBenét Ramsey) fascinate us more than the tragedy of others?

Does it matter more to you when the news was published or broadcast, or where you heard it first trump the source?

Where did you see or hear the story first?

What the heck is a scoop worth these days and who cares who got there first other than news directors?

When Oprah is interviewing Sarah Palin, who is the entertainer and which one is political? Which one had the most impact on the last election?"[....read more]

H. Harrison Cochran is publisher of The Aurora Sentinel Aurora, CO. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or publisher@aurorasentinel.com.

Ace in the Hole is a 1951 American drama film. It marked a series of firsts for auteur Billy Wilder...The film is a biting examination of the seedy relationship between the media and the news it reports and the manner in which it reports it[...wiki continued]

pain in the foot

Sarah Palin's sweet 7 year old daughter interviewed on national TV wearing high-heels yet JonBenet Ramsey is still the poster child for 'elevated' parental value comparisons. Frankly, I am just as nonplused by Palin as I am the whole pageant scene, but I digress. JonBenet costumed in short stacked mary-janes for performance was for some reason not quite as troubling as seeing the First Dude hand off his infant son to a 7 year-old teetering around in (hopefully her mother's?) stilettos --


Little Girls In High Heels -- What's With That?!
posted at Everyday Ethics
by Hillary Fields

"Ok, now. Twice in the past week I've encountered girls under the age of ten wearing high heeled sandals...Yet dress-up is different from daily wear...And these kids weren't wearing their tutus and tiaras. No, they were sporting heels like they were a part of daily life.

I felt, somewhere deep, deep in my soul, that there was something vastly wrong with this. Not only does it seem to sexualize little girls (JonBenét Ramsey and that whole heinous pageant circle comes to mind), it asks them to stop running free..."

easy marks

Just a few days past the one year mark after the Boulder DA announcement that foreign male DNA found on JonBenet's clothing was found, matching the other foreign male DNA found repeatedly at the crime scene. Back when the DA made that official statement of apology to John Ramsey for the years of persecution a riot of words ensued, and continues. Once again rather than directing one second of energy toward putting pressure on those charged with solving this heinous crime, lofty debates began over the precedence DA Lacy had undertaken in 'clearing' the Ramseys, media ethics and the well documented incompetence of Boulder police. Others, mostly those relying on creative media reports that launched the witch hunt to persecute the Ramseys, latched on to the word 'new' as associated with 'touch DNA testing' in order to justify denials of fact of science and evidence in order to keep feeding their gut feeling the Ramseys murdered their child. It is just not rational, I know, perhaps a reflection of easy marks and those more vulnerable to incorporate media sensation into real life, rather like the sincerely grieving fan who suspects Sarah Palin could have had something to do with Michael Jackson's death--

FEMALE CALLER (31:50): He (Michael Jackson) is truly the soundtrack of my life. I also have a theory about Sarah Palin as well and I’m going to put it out there on radio, hopefully someone can investigate.

But, I think maybe she did something to Michael Jackson. Maybe there’s a scandal there. Maybe she’s stepping down because something’s about to come out. I don’t know, but I’m gonna just put it out there on your show so we’ll see.


SHARPTON: All right, thank you for your call, Ashley. That’s interesting. I’ll put it out, we’ll see. I don’t know