Leavin' on a Jet Plane

I AM ON MY WAY TO NEW YORK!
I'll be there April 1st to 6th!
I won't be online BUT I will be Voice Posting every step of the way!

If you want to hear about my adventures, visit my Live Journal and simply push PLAY next to each Voice Post that comes in.

EUG'S LIVE JOURNAL

Bye bye! Enjoy your Spring Break.

Grade the News

Using the "Grade The News" report card, I am briefly going to access the 2 local news sources I use most often: The San Francisco Chronicle and ABC 7 News

San Francisco Chronicle
Like any good newspaper, I find "The Chronicle" devotes a lot of attention to a whole scope of types of stories. Looking at the Grape Report Card, I can usually pick up a daily issue of the newspaper and find either entire sections or a page devoted to Politics, Crime, Education, Economics, Major Accidents, Weather, Social Trends, Consumer Reports, Military, Science/Tech, Health and Environment. They cover their bases.

Now whether or not something is newsworthy is somewhat subjective. Because of the nature of most of their readership, there are sometimes some "liberal" editorial choices of what should be headline news. I've noticed, however, even if there is an article that is sure to inspire a certain emotion, there tends to be 2 stories coupled together... one covering the facts and then one somewhat leading. It is then the reader's choice to what they want to give into.

I also find there isn't a terrible amount of fluff or celebrity news (unlike "USA Today") which I find respectable. Something I like about the "Chronicle" is their consistency of staying on-top of things. Some of their articles are "check-ups" on the progress of something or covering a news issue that NO other news source is covering... like gay adoption.

Additionally, because of their cultural location, it is almost unquestioned that they will cover all diverse types of news reporting. I'm not saing "The Chronicle" is perfect by any means, they definitely have their sensationalism and leading stories. There is also a fair amount of editing errors (I have a critical eye) but they do have good coverage. I'd give them an A- overall.

ABC 7 News
I grew up watching ABC with Cheryl Jennings and Dan Ashley, so I have a small bias only because of how much they've been part of my daily 5pm routine. I've noticed 9since becoming a BECA student) that ABC doesn't cover half the things it SHOULD be. Their broadcasts seem to spend a little bit too much time on pointless local crime or goofy stories. I realize that they are trying to make their readers feel connected to their communities, but that doesn't mean they have to sacrifice covering the Immigration issue to report about a mountain lion (false example, but you see the point).

ABC could really cover some deep issues if they put the effort into it and could bring it home to the SF viewers if they tried. I just sometimes don't see them trying... lacking some innovation. I have since learned to watch the 10PM FOX news report to get world news instead of ABC's 11PM broadcast. I'd rate ABC a B- overall.

Wikipedia

I decided to embark on the Wikipedia assignment. I edited 3 existing pages with further details. I'm an editor at heart, so this was almost second-nature. I'm an information junkie. Seriously, I am on a never-ending quest for new news. I like to pretend that's why my birthday is April 11th. 411 = Information

EUG'S WIKIPEDIA EDITS:

• Brooklyn (Musical)
  I added National Tour dates, cities, and cast information
  
• Michael Cerveris
  I added a list of his Broadway, West-End, and Off-Broadway credits
  
• B.D. Wong
  He's an SFSU Alumni so of course I felt obligated to beef up his bio with a list of his Broadway performances and Awards.

The Wikipedia coding is unlike HTML on so many levels! I had to really study a few pages to fully understand how to do simple commands like italicize. I'm starting to get the knack of it but there are several things I still need to learn. For example, I don't know how to add a photo yet and Wikipedia doesn't use traditional paragraph spacing sometimes.

Democracy TV

I'm addicted! As if I didn't spend enough time online, Democracy TV has sucked me up! I customized my channels because I'm a huge entertainment whore -- so I love watching the online cartoons, archived footage, funny news blogs.

Now I'm finding it somewhat fun surfing through the millions of online videos to find one that we feel is "Food For Thought." I find them more sardonic than innovating better for midnight drunken laughs than movements in free-speech. At the same time, I definitely see the purpose behind these new media forms, especially in creating uncensored programs. I'll admit: I WANT TO BE THE NEXT ROCKETBOOM GIRL! Hahaha

I'm having a little trouble adding channels to my Democracy TV with websites like EBaumsWorld.com and College Humor that have RSS Feeds... but with a refresher course, I'll figure it out.

SO WHAT VIDEO DID I CHOOSE? There are so so so so many hilarious ones out there, if I had my way, we'd spend the whole class watching dozens of them. I'm saving my favorites to my Blip TV Account. I ultimately decided on:


MYSPACE: THE MOVIE

This video, by amateur digital film artist David Lehre, is reportedly the most-watched video on YouTube.com -- with good reason. It's hilarious and epitomizes the Millennial culture's obsession with MySpace.com. I'm guilty as charged. But this is just classic. The Intro is the funniest part, and then the next 4 Chapters get progressively worse. But it's still funny because it's an accurate satire of THE AMERICAN YOUNG ADULT!

This little movie "launched" a career for David Lehre, apparently:
CNN Article and Kansas City Examiner Article. Plus of course there's a Wikipedia post on the subject.

But my thirst for funny online videos is never-ending, so I'm sharing
OTHER AWESOME ONLINE VIDEOS:
The Simpsons Intro w/Humans
Billy's Balloon and Rejected by Don Hertzfeldt
Raising Sophie
Puppet Rapist
Kid's Show

Technorati Exercise

Eug, the Teeny-Bopper, decided to Technorati search Michael Buble. I saw him on PBS Friday night and immediately became a fan of this amazing (young and hot) crooner. Marie may have wanted us to do a more serious topic for this exercise, but I'm an Arts and Entertainment man. That's how I roll. I wanted to search something I found fun instead of boring news to find "spin." This worked just fine!


TECHNORATI SEARCH: MICHAEL BUBLE

1. Kofi's Hat taught me that Michael Buble had won the 2006 Canadian Radio Music Award for Best New Group Or Solo Artist (Hot Adult Contemporary) for his newest album "Home" AND the SOCAN Songwriter Of The Year Award. There was no misinformation from this guy's blog because he only stated fact and even provided links to the official website.

2. Hot-Web simply provided another link to this Canada.com News Article that simply stated that Michael Buble was scheduled to perform at the Canadian Juno Awards April 2 on CTV at Halifax. Again, no opportunity for spin or bias because the blog provided an external link to a basic news story. So far, I'd learned two new things about Michael Buble! Technorati is my friend.

3. Zeke's Gallery had a pleasant surprise! He provided a link to the NY Times Review of Michael Buble's concert at The Radio City Music Hall. I'm a huge reader of The NY Times and for some biased reason, I find it respectful when bloggers use it as a source for information. I appreciate NY critics. A lot. The article was well-written, free from any out-of-line opinions and actually a "safe" review with the kinds of things Michael fans expect to hear.

4. Regarding non-professional reviews, I found a ton! Banana-Stand went to a Michael Buble concert at Constitution Hall, March 3. I liked this post because it had fan-photos! Maybe because I take photos from the audience whenever I go to shows, but fan-photos are more thrilling sometimes than pro-shots because it's the experience! Her review was relatively uninformative other than the fact she completely wants Michael to have her babies. Similarly, John Collins: All About Music provides a concise/short review of Michael's March 1st concert. Lastly Andrea In New York also had a blog-entry on Michael Buble's concert with more cute photos. Their opinions match mine, so it's nice to know someone thinks like you!

5. Brainiac was really bizarre and had a fragment-sentence paragraph stating that Michael Buble would be on ABC's "Dancing With The Stars" and provided another link to Reality TV.com which confirmed the report. Michael Buble had performed at the February 17 results show.

And that was that! To be honest, I don't think I'll be too big a user of Technorati. I've already developed my means of gathering information from credible news sources. I read a lot from a lot of sites, and practice media-literacy by double-checking facts and reading the bias news to just see what they're saying. Technorati seems a useful tool for me to hunt down Arts and Entertainment reviews and information however. I may use it in the future for details on an event I wish I could have attended.

New York City!

I just booked flight and room reservations for 6 days in New York City over Spring Break! This will be my FIRST TIME visiting the Big Apple! I am so excited, I can't keep from bouncing everywhere. I'm devoting this wonderful vacation to ME and BROADWAY!


Midtown Manhattan

I've already got front row seats for WICKED, my favorite musical currently starring my favorite cast (who were in the SF Tour). My great NYC friend Stefanie hunted down the near-impossible to get tickets for me!



Also, I got myself rear mezzanine tickets for my second-favorite musical, SWEENEY TODD, the revival starring Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone! This is going to be freakin' sweet. Sondheim is amazing and the staging for the new revival is stellar!



Additionally, there are about 4 other shows I hope to see. Thankfully, Stefanie and my other NYC friend, Gretchen, are masters of student-rush and lottos. I'm almost guaranteed to get tickets to my third-favorite musical, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA because they sell same-day student rush tickets for $30. Plus, if I play my cards right, I could see tons of other Broadway shows by playing 3 or even 4 lottos a day! Or just make best-friends with a little something called TKTS, which is a tourist-treat, who sell Broadway show tickets for 1/2 price.

Plus I'm going to devote a day or two for exploring Central Park, the Financial District, catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, Bryant Park, Madison Square Garden, the Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building... too much! I'll become the master of the subway system. My hostel is on 103rd & Amsterdam in the Upper West Side, right next to Gretchen at Columbia University. It's gonna be perfect!

But the point is: I'M GOING TO NYC! I've never been so ecstatic in my life! Spring Break can't come soon enough!