Some news (I use the term somewhat broadly) about a couple things that have been mentioned copiously on this blog in the past. As you may be aware, yours truly is quite the Peter Sarsgaard enthusiast, as well as a... it's hard to think of the proper word here, but let's just say I'm always up for reading about Stephen Glass, Patron Saint of Fabrication.
So, I happened across this one NPR interview with Stephen Glass about a particular article he had written/fabricated. There's another interview floating around on youtube on the same topic, but it's a different one than this NPR one. This NPR one I actually hadn't come across in the past (can you believe it?), but it was interesting to hear. They even have a transcript with the disclaimer "Below is the transcript of the interview. It is here because we did not want to erase history and because it provides insights into Glass, not because we believe he spoke truthfully," but it's interesting to hear him talking so I recommend actually listening to the interview. I also found this about Shattered Glass, which I don't think I had read before, but I honestly can't completely remember, as I've read so, so much about Stephen Glass and all.
Tying these topics together, the Washington Post recently published a list of the 10 best journalism movies. I'll stick to the more notable ones, in my mind, all three of which were mentioned and which I've seen (in fact, they're really the only journalism movies I've seen to date). All the President's Men (no surprises there; that's probably the most famous one of all), Spotlight (fairly recent, and starring Mark Ruffalo, who actually bears a fairly close resemblance to the actual person he portrayed in the movie -- I became aware of this because there was a picture of the actual person in an exhibit in the Newseum, and I realized that hey, that's the guy who got portrayed by Mark Ruffalo in the movie Spotlight!), and.... Shattered Glass (starring Peter Sarsgaard as the editor, and Hayden Christensen as the eponymous Glass. Chloe Sevigny is even is this movie too, as one of Glass' coworkers.)
Each movie has some commentary about it by a journalist; the relevant ones had commentary from the people portrayed in them: All the President's Men had commentary from Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Spotlight had commentary from Marty Baron, who was the editor at the Boston Globe at the time of the events portrayed in the movie (they got the casting pretty accurate for his character as well, as far as physical resemblance goes). I seem to remember reading about Spotlight somewhere that the costume design for the journalists' clothes had them dressing somewhat more snazzily than they actually did in real life. Which is sort of interesting to think about, if you're me; I love to know about those little background details. For All the President's Men, they were very meticulous about making the Post's newsroom look as it actually did at the time of the events.
Anyways, onto the main event here.... Shattered Glass (which I wouldn't mind rewatching, yet again). Chuck Lane gives commentary about this one; he, as I'm certainly very well aware, was played by Peter Sarsgaard in the movie. Some of the notable bits (honestly, that was most of it): he was ashamed that Stephen Glass had been able to fool him and the fabrications were published, instead of being proud of uncovering the fabrications. Apparently, the movie was pretty visually accurate (which is nice to know): "'Shattered Glass' nails that era's TNR office culture, right down to Glass's trademark blue Oxford shirt and khakis." (and how he didn't wear shoes in the office, just socks) Towards the end of the commentary, Lane draws some comparisons between Stephen Glass' use of stereotypes and playing to people's biases and the current political/cultural climate, which is something I've sort of touched on somewhere in the past on this blog, I think.
I had also lately been thinking about about the idea of a play (or movie) based on recent events in my own life. I guess it could sort of be considered a journalism play/movie, or at least somewhat related to/involving that topic. I had even decided theoretically who could play a couple of the characters (based on real people!)... Peter Sarsgaard as one of them (one of the protagonists, a journalism/English professor) and Wolf Blitzer as the main antagonist (also a professor, but not particularly adept at his job). Which is a bit of a theoretical disservice to Wolf, since he seems like a nice and decent person, and in my theoretical play/movie, he would play the role of an unsavory and nasty character... but as far as physical resemblance goes, I think it's fairly close. As for the other people/characters, I don't know who would theoretically play them, but I have given some thought to the costume design and the set decoration/locations/visual stuff. It would be interesting to be a film director and/or to write a play, and actually have the play performed...
As far as Peter Sarsgaard goes, the new Netflix documentary series he's in has FINALLY been released. Finally!! So I'm hopefully going to get around to watching that sooner or later, so perhaps expect a review if I'm not too lazy. I've realized that I've gotten to the point where I've seen most of the more interesting looking movies in the filmographies of my favorite actors, so now some of the ones that are left are the ones that seem like they'll be boring and/or bad... which means I can either watch and suffer through those, or find some new favorite actors and start exploring their filmographies... I have to watch Requiem for a Dream again sometime before the end of the month before it leaves Netflix, so I just need to wait until I'm in the right mood for that. It's a great movie, but it's fairly heavy and depressing.
Apologies for neglecting the blog; I've been busy (and sort of lazy) lately... but with the winter break, I hopefully should be having more time to think of (and write) things for this humble blog that no one really reads. If you do read this blog (for whatever reason), I hope you find it interesting.
Friday, December 15, 2017
Sunday, December 3, 2017
Plants
Whoa, I haven't blogged for nearly a whole month. Yikes. If I actually had more of an audience I'd be more ashamed about it, but... life goes on. I haven't gotten much written of my own doing for the newspaper either, but I'll blame that (again) on some ongoing internal issues/conflicts/exasperation with the whole beast. I love and hate it at the same time. (or more specifically, there are some parts of it I love, and other aspects that are driving me batty and make me want to scream. Take your guesses at what those might be!)
Lately, I have been thinking about plants (among other things; the other things I've thought about include stuff like how I've neglected this blog, and Glenn Thrush, but we'll get to that later). The thought came about because I was pondering about what might make a good gift for a certain someone who I regard highly and who deserves a nice holiday/end of semester present from myself and some other people who the present can collectively be from.
I considered the idea of a plant, but then I started thinking about how not everyone is really a plant person. Not everyone's idea of a good gift is a plant. Not that I think a plant would be a really horrible gift in this situation; it's perfectly decent, just maybe not the exact best choice for the recipient in mind.
By the time I'm getting around to finishing this post, I've sort of decided on a fitting present (that's not a plant) and have downloaded an app where you grow your own virtual plants, since I don't have a real physical plant at the moment. The virtual plants are... cute and nice, and the app has pleasant ambient music (sometimes I listen to Swedish radio when I'm trying to work on something and feel like hearing something but not necessarily any specific music -- it's pleasant background noise but not too distracting since I don't understand enough Swedish to know what they're saying). Although, I do wish the plants maybe needed a little more attention than they do. That they were a bit more interactive. Or something like that. But until I can get an actual plant, this is just going to have to do.
At the moment, I sort of feel a bit like a plant myself, the kind that has those long skinny leaves sprouting out the top of it since that's sort of what it's been feeling like to have my hair as long as it currently is. I kind of wonder how badly it'd turn out if I tried to cut my own hair.
Also, I saw a picture of lettuce today and it looked pretty, so it would be interesting to grow my own lettuce. And/or decorative cabbages. A citrus fruit tree might be interesting as well, even though they probably wouldn't do so well in this climate unless they grew in a greenhouse or something.
So there's a little post, finally. It's not particularly spectacular, but at least it's something. Quite soon it'll be winter break so I should have a lot more time to do whatever I want, which could include dedicating more time to the blog than I have been lately. There were a few other things I'm planning/hoping to get done over the break as well, so we'll just have to wait and see if I actually get them done or not! (among them: potentially, dates... if any of the online dating people seem sufficiently interesting enough for me to actually want to take a chance on and go to the effort of spending time with them in person. I decided that in the event it's a restaurant date, I'll pay for my own food if I liked the person/date enough to want to go on another date, but if not and I found the person boring and the date to be a waste of time, I'll leave them to pay... I think that's fair. Naturally, while online dating/going on dates is hit or miss, I think watching Peter Sarsgaard movies is more likely to be satisfying/fulfilling to me. So there are a number of those I should probably try to watch over the coming weeks.)
Lately, I have been thinking about plants (among other things; the other things I've thought about include stuff like how I've neglected this blog, and Glenn Thrush, but we'll get to that later). The thought came about because I was pondering about what might make a good gift for a certain someone who I regard highly and who deserves a nice holiday/end of semester present from myself and some other people who the present can collectively be from.
I considered the idea of a plant, but then I started thinking about how not everyone is really a plant person. Not everyone's idea of a good gift is a plant. Not that I think a plant would be a really horrible gift in this situation; it's perfectly decent, just maybe not the exact best choice for the recipient in mind.
By the time I'm getting around to finishing this post, I've sort of decided on a fitting present (that's not a plant) and have downloaded an app where you grow your own virtual plants, since I don't have a real physical plant at the moment. The virtual plants are... cute and nice, and the app has pleasant ambient music (sometimes I listen to Swedish radio when I'm trying to work on something and feel like hearing something but not necessarily any specific music -- it's pleasant background noise but not too distracting since I don't understand enough Swedish to know what they're saying). Although, I do wish the plants maybe needed a little more attention than they do. That they were a bit more interactive. Or something like that. But until I can get an actual plant, this is just going to have to do.
At the moment, I sort of feel a bit like a plant myself, the kind that has those long skinny leaves sprouting out the top of it since that's sort of what it's been feeling like to have my hair as long as it currently is. I kind of wonder how badly it'd turn out if I tried to cut my own hair.
Also, I saw a picture of lettuce today and it looked pretty, so it would be interesting to grow my own lettuce. And/or decorative cabbages. A citrus fruit tree might be interesting as well, even though they probably wouldn't do so well in this climate unless they grew in a greenhouse or something.
So there's a little post, finally. It's not particularly spectacular, but at least it's something. Quite soon it'll be winter break so I should have a lot more time to do whatever I want, which could include dedicating more time to the blog than I have been lately. There were a few other things I'm planning/hoping to get done over the break as well, so we'll just have to wait and see if I actually get them done or not! (among them: potentially, dates... if any of the online dating people seem sufficiently interesting enough for me to actually want to take a chance on and go to the effort of spending time with them in person. I decided that in the event it's a restaurant date, I'll pay for my own food if I liked the person/date enough to want to go on another date, but if not and I found the person boring and the date to be a waste of time, I'll leave them to pay... I think that's fair. Naturally, while online dating/going on dates is hit or miss, I think watching Peter Sarsgaard movies is more likely to be satisfying/fulfilling to me. So there are a number of those I should probably try to watch over the coming weeks.)
Saturday, November 4, 2017
The Odyssey Online: a frivolous publication
This is a media analysis, sort of? Or a media critique, or something. (I'm the next Brian Stelter, right here!!)
I will admit that at first, it took me a few seconds to remember the correct spelling of "odyssey." Initially, I wanted to spell it as "odessey."
I briefly mentioned this website in a previous blog post; I believe it was the one where I went on about the idea of a Stephen Glass costume (remember to ask people, "Are you mad at me?"). The website has recently become of slight relevance to me, so I thought I'd go a little more in depth with a full post on it.
A certain person (who shall remain unnamed) that I know/work with happens to write for this website, I've been informed. Which made me come back to thinking about it, and subsequently, researching it quite a bit.
Along the lines of Thought Catalog or Buzzfeed, it comes across as a slightly more academic version of those websites. Regardless, I would not consider it to be a particularly prestigious website to write for; it's really just a glorified mega-blog with spades of fairly inane and unoriginal content.
My blog, in contrast, I'd like to think does have a decent amount of original ideas/content, even if some people may consider the topics to be irrelevant (to them, maybe, but not to me -- who wouldn't want to read endless posts about Stephen Glass/etc??). But I think my posts here are definitely unique, even if there's only a small audience for them.
Anyways, onto the research. Come to think of it, I think I'm fairly good at that part, among other things. See for yourself:
Start off with this article from Wired, which sums up the website pretty well. According to this, there's supposedly an editing process, but if you take a look at some of the things that have been published on the website, I'd say that whoever's been editing them isn't very good at their job.
A number of student newspapers have published opinion articles about this website and they're pretty spot on. My little piece here is just on my blog, but it's in the same vein. These are all worth reading in full (I did, and so can you!), rather than just the particular quotes I've chosen to highlight here.
The Odyssey cheapens writing, cheats students: "The Odyssey’s low editorial standards raise serious concerns about how millennials consume journalism." I certainly wouldn't call the things that get published on that website "journalism." Writing, yes (not even particularly good writing, necessarily), but not journalism
The Odyssey dilutes journalism: "But websites such as the Odyssey — with more than 30 million monthly visitors, according to the website — only popularize the trend of blog-style entertainment news that adds little to the industry’s integrity."
"No reporting, no research, just shameless clickbaiting." Again, it's not journalism! Maybe some people consider it to be, but it's not. Writing/media, sure, but not journalism.
"Just because someone wants to write, doesn’t mean he or she has the chops to do it." Oh, definitely.
Exodus from the Odyssey: from three people who used to write for the website; their reasons behind resigning (imagine that!) "What mattered to my manager wasn’t quality, it was simply quantity, and that was that."
"I never felt like my writing improved, or that I was maturing as a writer. For a platform that advertises its writers as its most important resource, there was little work being done to refine or improve them. At the end of the day, the life of a content-aggregation writer follows a familiar formula: optimism, cynicism, and burnout."
Here's a snarky little thing from the Daily Pennsylvanian. "It seems as though any college student, no matter how terrible their writing or uninteresting their opinion, can use the Odyssey as a soapbox. The sheer lack of quality control and editorial presence begs the question, 'do they let just anyone write for this damn thing?'"
An open letter to the Odyssey Online: "My largest issue with The Odyssey is that many people don’t see it for what it is — it’s a big blog written by many different writers.
It’s a hub for blog writing — not journalism. Journalism is not taking your life and opinions and stating them without any outside evidence or interaction with others."
Mass-Produced Online Content Hubs: Exploitative, Not Just Annoying: This one focuses a little more on the fact that the writers are poorly (if at all) paid for their writing, which is sort of an issue, but at the same time, my take on it is that if you're writing for that website, you're probably not writing anything that's worth getting paid for.
The Odyssey need to rethink its approach to online journalism: "I’m convinced there’s absolutely no editing process, at least judging from the amount of laugh-worthy grammatical errors I’ve stumbled upon. I’m sorry, but if you can’t tell the difference between "then" and "than" or "their" and "there," THEN you shouldn’t consider yourself a published journalist. It’s gotten to the point where my roommate and I have a competition to see who can find the worst Odyssey article, which results in a lot of laughs and lost faith."
For the heck of it, song of the day: (take your pick!) Psycho Killer (Talking Heads), or Fury (Muse)
P.S.: I need to finish writing my chalk editorial (among other things!!!) instead of blog stuff like this. Also, in the process of looking up Brian Stelter since I mentioned him at the beginning of this post, I came across this New Republic profile of him that's pretty interesting!
I will admit that at first, it took me a few seconds to remember the correct spelling of "odyssey." Initially, I wanted to spell it as "odessey."
I briefly mentioned this website in a previous blog post; I believe it was the one where I went on about the idea of a Stephen Glass costume (remember to ask people, "Are you mad at me?"). The website has recently become of slight relevance to me, so I thought I'd go a little more in depth with a full post on it.
A certain person (who shall remain unnamed) that I know/work with happens to write for this website, I've been informed. Which made me come back to thinking about it, and subsequently, researching it quite a bit.
Along the lines of Thought Catalog or Buzzfeed, it comes across as a slightly more academic version of those websites. Regardless, I would not consider it to be a particularly prestigious website to write for; it's really just a glorified mega-blog with spades of fairly inane and unoriginal content.
My blog, in contrast, I'd like to think does have a decent amount of original ideas/content, even if some people may consider the topics to be irrelevant (to them, maybe, but not to me -- who wouldn't want to read endless posts about Stephen Glass/etc??). But I think my posts here are definitely unique, even if there's only a small audience for them.
Anyways, onto the research. Come to think of it, I think I'm fairly good at that part, among other things. See for yourself:
Start off with this article from Wired, which sums up the website pretty well. According to this, there's supposedly an editing process, but if you take a look at some of the things that have been published on the website, I'd say that whoever's been editing them isn't very good at their job.
A number of student newspapers have published opinion articles about this website and they're pretty spot on. My little piece here is just on my blog, but it's in the same vein. These are all worth reading in full (I did, and so can you!), rather than just the particular quotes I've chosen to highlight here.
The Odyssey cheapens writing, cheats students: "The Odyssey’s low editorial standards raise serious concerns about how millennials consume journalism." I certainly wouldn't call the things that get published on that website "journalism." Writing, yes (not even particularly good writing, necessarily), but not journalism
The Odyssey dilutes journalism: "But websites such as the Odyssey — with more than 30 million monthly visitors, according to the website — only popularize the trend of blog-style entertainment news that adds little to the industry’s integrity."
"No reporting, no research, just shameless clickbaiting." Again, it's not journalism! Maybe some people consider it to be, but it's not. Writing/media, sure, but not journalism.
"Just because someone wants to write, doesn’t mean he or she has the chops to do it." Oh, definitely.
Exodus from the Odyssey: from three people who used to write for the website; their reasons behind resigning (imagine that!) "What mattered to my manager wasn’t quality, it was simply quantity, and that was that."
"I never felt like my writing improved, or that I was maturing as a writer. For a platform that advertises its writers as its most important resource, there was little work being done to refine or improve them. At the end of the day, the life of a content-aggregation writer follows a familiar formula: optimism, cynicism, and burnout."
Here's a snarky little thing from the Daily Pennsylvanian. "It seems as though any college student, no matter how terrible their writing or uninteresting their opinion, can use the Odyssey as a soapbox. The sheer lack of quality control and editorial presence begs the question, 'do they let just anyone write for this damn thing?'"
An open letter to the Odyssey Online: "My largest issue with The Odyssey is that many people don’t see it for what it is — it’s a big blog written by many different writers.
It’s a hub for blog writing — not journalism. Journalism is not taking your life and opinions and stating them without any outside evidence or interaction with others."
Mass-Produced Online Content Hubs: Exploitative, Not Just Annoying: This one focuses a little more on the fact that the writers are poorly (if at all) paid for their writing, which is sort of an issue, but at the same time, my take on it is that if you're writing for that website, you're probably not writing anything that's worth getting paid for.
The Odyssey need to rethink its approach to online journalism: "I’m convinced there’s absolutely no editing process, at least judging from the amount of laugh-worthy grammatical errors I’ve stumbled upon. I’m sorry, but if you can’t tell the difference between "then" and "than" or "their" and "there," THEN you shouldn’t consider yourself a published journalist. It’s gotten to the point where my roommate and I have a competition to see who can find the worst Odyssey article, which results in a lot of laughs and lost faith."
For the heck of it, song of the day: (take your pick!) Psycho Killer (Talking Heads), or Fury (Muse)
P.S.: I need to finish writing my chalk editorial (among other things!!!) instead of blog stuff like this. Also, in the process of looking up Brian Stelter since I mentioned him at the beginning of this post, I came across this New Republic profile of him that's pretty interesting!
Monday, October 30, 2017
Happy pre-Halloween -- newspaper nails
There's a TL;DR down there somewhere (CTRL + F) if someone has happened to stumble on this post and just wants to know about how I actually did the manicure without all the personal rambling/background information...
I've somewhat neglected this blog, no doubt about it. I guess it just means I had other areas to put effort into writing for/about (and also that I've been busy with other life related things). Anyways, here's a little pre-Halloween post.
A week or so ago, I became aware of this costume, which I personally think is pretty amusing. Apparently some people don't like it, but it's certainly less offensive than some costumes. Anyways, I thought that it would be an interesting costume for me to ironically wear, but I don't think it's worth $55. Maybe half that price, and in which case, I would prefer just regular real news which is more applicable for everyday life/wear. Update: when I went to go look up the link to add here, it looks like the price has now risen to $59 and the costume is also out of stock...
Two weeks ago, I got motivated/inspired/compelled to finally paint my nails for once, even though the last time I painted them was probably at least a year ago, if not even longer. In the past, I used to paint my nails more often but then I just stopped, even though I've accumulated a ton of nail polish. My favorite brands are essie and OPI, which are fairly commonly available. Butter London is an expensive polish brand that I tried once and I think it's very overrated.
By yesterday, (two weeks since I had painted my nails previously), they were looking sort of less than fresh, so I decided to do a new manicure. At first I wasn't sure that I had polish remover on hand, but thankfully I found some. I knew that I should have it somewhere, but I just wasn't sure where. I also thought that maybe it was expired since I don't remember the last time I used it, but it worked fine.
BecauseI'm starved for attention I thought it would be interesting, I decided to do a technique that I must have read about a few years ago or something but never actually tried out until now. It involves using newspaper to transfer the print onto your nails, leaving a design of whatever words were on the piece of paper you used. The technique is pretty much like how you would apply a temporary tattoo.
Most of the things I read online said that you need to use alcohol (of some/any kind - I saw rubbing alcohol, vodka, perfume, etc, all mentioned) to transfer the print. Since I couldn't find any rubbing alcohol and didn't feel like wasting perfume (or rather, cologne) in what would undoubtedly result in a fairly strong smell, I decided to give it a go just using plain water, which only one thing I read mentioned. TL;DR, it worked.
I'm not sure how exactly alcohol is supposed to work better; I think I got decent results just using water. As for the how-to:
Materials: small dish/bowl, water, light colored nail polish, top coat, paper towel, scissors, newspaper
1) Paint nails in a light color of your choice (it might even work with something that isn't quite pastel, but still not too dark, like essie's tart deco color)
2) Cut up 10 (or more, if you think you're going to mess up) pieces of newspaper that will fit on your nails. For average size/length nails, this might be around the size of a postage stamp. Maybe do this part before you paint your nails so you don't mess up the polish while it's still wet/drying.
3) Lay one of the newspaper pieces in the dish of water and let it absorb for a few seconds.
4) Lift it out and place it over a dry, painted fingernail.
5) Fold up the paper towel a couple times and use it to firmly press (like a temporary tattoo) the newspaper onto the nail. I waited about 30 seconds.
6) Carefully peel the newspaper off; the print should have transferred.
7) Apply topcoat to seal; try to be careful so the print doesn't smear.
8) Repeat on the other 9 nails.
9) [optional - in my case] Enjoy the hopefully good results; hope to impress people you're going to see the next day with your manicure
If you want to make it sort of... more fitting for Halloween, you can do this and also turn your manicure into a pun of sorts... They sell shirts (and magnets and pins and other items, I think) with this saying at the Newseum: if it bleeds, it leads. It means basically that stories involving violence tend to get good ratings. I came up with this idea after scratching myself, which resulted in a little blood getting on my manicured fingernail, and had a lightbulb moment. I don't know if actual blood (of your own) would work as nail polish, so it's probably better to use a blood colored actual nail polish and add some dripping blood splatters over the newsprint pattern. Although maybe I should try it with my own blood!
Also, I think maybe nail polish should be more popular among men. There's no reason why they can't have interesting manicures too, even though it's not commonly considered masculine for men to paint their nails.
I've somewhat neglected this blog, no doubt about it. I guess it just means I had other areas to put effort into writing for/about (and also that I've been busy with other life related things). Anyways, here's a little pre-Halloween post.
A week or so ago, I became aware of this costume, which I personally think is pretty amusing. Apparently some people don't like it, but it's certainly less offensive than some costumes. Anyways, I thought that it would be an interesting costume for me to ironically wear, but I don't think it's worth $55. Maybe half that price, and in which case, I would prefer just regular real news which is more applicable for everyday life/wear. Update: when I went to go look up the link to add here, it looks like the price has now risen to $59 and the costume is also out of stock...
Two weeks ago, I got motivated/inspired/compelled to finally paint my nails for once, even though the last time I painted them was probably at least a year ago, if not even longer. In the past, I used to paint my nails more often but then I just stopped, even though I've accumulated a ton of nail polish. My favorite brands are essie and OPI, which are fairly commonly available. Butter London is an expensive polish brand that I tried once and I think it's very overrated.
By yesterday, (two weeks since I had painted my nails previously), they were looking sort of less than fresh, so I decided to do a new manicure. At first I wasn't sure that I had polish remover on hand, but thankfully I found some. I knew that I should have it somewhere, but I just wasn't sure where. I also thought that maybe it was expired since I don't remember the last time I used it, but it worked fine.
Because
Most of the things I read online said that you need to use alcohol (of some/any kind - I saw rubbing alcohol, vodka, perfume, etc, all mentioned) to transfer the print. Since I couldn't find any rubbing alcohol and didn't feel like wasting perfume (or rather, cologne) in what would undoubtedly result in a fairly strong smell, I decided to give it a go just using plain water, which only one thing I read mentioned. TL;DR, it worked.
I'm not sure how exactly alcohol is supposed to work better; I think I got decent results just using water. As for the how-to:
Materials: small dish/bowl, water, light colored nail polish, top coat, paper towel, scissors, newspaper
1) Paint nails in a light color of your choice (it might even work with something that isn't quite pastel, but still not too dark, like essie's tart deco color)
2) Cut up 10 (or more, if you think you're going to mess up) pieces of newspaper that will fit on your nails. For average size/length nails, this might be around the size of a postage stamp. Maybe do this part before you paint your nails so you don't mess up the polish while it's still wet/drying.
3) Lay one of the newspaper pieces in the dish of water and let it absorb for a few seconds.
4) Lift it out and place it over a dry, painted fingernail.
5) Fold up the paper towel a couple times and use it to firmly press (like a temporary tattoo) the newspaper onto the nail. I waited about 30 seconds.
6) Carefully peel the newspaper off; the print should have transferred.
7) Apply topcoat to seal; try to be careful so the print doesn't smear.
8) Repeat on the other 9 nails.
9) [optional - in my case] Enjoy the hopefully good results; hope to impress people you're going to see the next day with your manicure
If you want to make it sort of... more fitting for Halloween, you can do this and also turn your manicure into a pun of sorts... They sell shirts (and magnets and pins and other items, I think) with this saying at the Newseum: if it bleeds, it leads. It means basically that stories involving violence tend to get good ratings. I came up with this idea after scratching myself, which resulted in a little blood getting on my manicured fingernail, and had a lightbulb moment. I don't know if actual blood (of your own) would work as nail polish, so it's probably better to use a blood colored actual nail polish and add some dripping blood splatters over the newsprint pattern. Although maybe I should try it with my own blood!
Also, I think maybe nail polish should be more popular among men. There's no reason why they can't have interesting manicures too, even though it's not commonly considered masculine for men to paint their nails.
Sunday, October 8, 2017
(Shh...)
This is my blog, so if I would like to use it to air my personal vendettas, then that's what I'm going to do. Since it's just my blog and I'm not writing in any sort of official capacity, anything goes. T____ convinced me that I shouldn't write something about this for the newspaper, which is fair enough, so I'm writing it here.
Over the course of... a bit over a week, conditions have deteriorated between myself and my not-boss who thinks he's my boss and that's brought me to the conclusion that I should at least try to get him replaced - I'd be happier if that were to happen. Otherwise, I think that I would be inclined to resign. I shouldn't have to work with someone like that and I think I deserve better. I've just had it with him, I really have. And who would blame me??
Anyways, there are a number of points I'd like to make...
a) If I want to meet with other people and ask for/take their advice, I'm perfectly free to do that. I'm my own person and M____ isn't my boss/in control of me.
b) Unsavory, negative comments like the ones M____ made about me are not very conducive to a positive working environment - who would want to work with someone who's said things like that about you??? I certainly wouldn't.
c) In the 21st century, it helps to be hip with new technology related things.
d) Personality goes a long way.
e) People skills count.
f) Things would run more smoothly if M___ didn't try to be in charge, which he's not supposed to be. I'm supposed to be in charge.
Anyways, there are some things that I wanted to get out and which probably best belong on my blog here instead of somewhere else. Shh...
In other matters, I'm sort of considering doing online dating yet again.. I don't really know why I keep trying, but I do! I think the key is, go into it with low expectations and use it more as a source of amusement/entertainment than anything else.
Over the course of... a bit over a week, conditions have deteriorated between myself and my not-boss who thinks he's my boss and that's brought me to the conclusion that I should at least try to get him replaced - I'd be happier if that were to happen. Otherwise, I think that I would be inclined to resign. I shouldn't have to work with someone like that and I think I deserve better. I've just had it with him, I really have. And who would blame me??
Anyways, there are a number of points I'd like to make...
a) If I want to meet with other people and ask for/take their advice, I'm perfectly free to do that. I'm my own person and M____ isn't my boss/in control of me.
b) Unsavory, negative comments like the ones M____ made about me are not very conducive to a positive working environment - who would want to work with someone who's said things like that about you??? I certainly wouldn't.
c) In the 21st century, it helps to be hip with new technology related things.
d) Personality goes a long way.
e) People skills count.
f) Things would run more smoothly if M___ didn't try to be in charge, which he's not supposed to be. I'm supposed to be in charge.
Anyways, there are some things that I wanted to get out and which probably best belong on my blog here instead of somewhere else. Shh...
In other matters, I'm sort of considering doing online dating yet again.. I don't really know why I keep trying, but I do! I think the key is, go into it with low expectations and use it more as a source of amusement/entertainment than anything else.
Friday, October 6, 2017
An open letter of potential resignation
To Anderson (Cooper), T (names abbreviated for discretion) and M.
As you may know, at the beginning of the fall semester this year I became the editor in chief of my college's student newspaper. I was pleased about this because I thought that it would be a good experience for me and I would be able to make some steps towards becoming a real actual journalist.
Unfortunately, some events have transpired that leave me in what I consider to be a rather untenable situation. In my view, the solutions to this are: my resignation, or M___'s replacement. I don't believe that I will be able to work productively and in a positive environment if I continue to have to deal with M___. Therefore, I'm considering resigning to escape what has become a negative work environment.
Anderson, even though you won't read this, I want to say that this situation (my potential resignation) pains me because I very much wanted to work on the student newspaper and get some journalism experience. It was you who got me interested in journalism in the first place, and I admire you considerably as a journalist and as a person, so it's disappointing that it doesn't seem like I'll be able to pursue that career in the current circumstances.
Hence, I am considering resigning my position as editor in chief of the student newspaper. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy the reporting and journalism side of things, it's just the dealing with M___ part of things that has pushed me to want to resign. I would be perfectly happy if I didn't have to work with M___ and instead had a supportive and non-overbearing/micromanaging adviser.
T____, thank you so much for all of your incredibly helpful and supportive advice over the past few weeks. I appreciate it immensely. You're a great professor and mentor, in ways that M___ just isn't. Nevertheless, the current state of affairs between M___ and I (which you are also involved in) has made me somewhat inclined to resign as editor. I would be resigning due to the situation with M____, not because I've been turned off of journalism as a career. I still would like to be involved with journalism and try to get some experience in that field, but I just don't think that the way things are right now is the best environment to do so.
M___, I'm sorry, but I just don't really think that things will work out. Just so you're aware, I consider it to have been your attitude that has driven me away. I don't think that I can continue to work with someone who has said such snide things about me and is unwilling to allow me to run the newspaper as I see fit and as I should be able to, being the editor in chief.
- Rachel, (potentially former) editor in chief.
As you may know, at the beginning of the fall semester this year I became the editor in chief of my college's student newspaper. I was pleased about this because I thought that it would be a good experience for me and I would be able to make some steps towards becoming a real actual journalist.
Unfortunately, some events have transpired that leave me in what I consider to be a rather untenable situation. In my view, the solutions to this are: my resignation, or M___'s replacement. I don't believe that I will be able to work productively and in a positive environment if I continue to have to deal with M___. Therefore, I'm considering resigning to escape what has become a negative work environment.
Anderson, even though you won't read this, I want to say that this situation (my potential resignation) pains me because I very much wanted to work on the student newspaper and get some journalism experience. It was you who got me interested in journalism in the first place, and I admire you considerably as a journalist and as a person, so it's disappointing that it doesn't seem like I'll be able to pursue that career in the current circumstances.
Hence, I am considering resigning my position as editor in chief of the student newspaper. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy the reporting and journalism side of things, it's just the dealing with M___ part of things that has pushed me to want to resign. I would be perfectly happy if I didn't have to work with M___ and instead had a supportive and non-overbearing/micromanaging adviser.
T____, thank you so much for all of your incredibly helpful and supportive advice over the past few weeks. I appreciate it immensely. You're a great professor and mentor, in ways that M___ just isn't. Nevertheless, the current state of affairs between M___ and I (which you are also involved in) has made me somewhat inclined to resign as editor. I would be resigning due to the situation with M____, not because I've been turned off of journalism as a career. I still would like to be involved with journalism and try to get some experience in that field, but I just don't think that the way things are right now is the best environment to do so.
M___, I'm sorry, but I just don't really think that things will work out. Just so you're aware, I consider it to have been your attitude that has driven me away. I don't think that I can continue to work with someone who has said such snide things about me and is unwilling to allow me to run the newspaper as I see fit and as I should be able to, being the editor in chief.
- Rachel, (potentially former) editor in chief.
Monday, October 2, 2017
Commentary, personal update, Stephen Glass costume
Apologies for the lack of Postsecret reviews; I've been busy with being the editor in chief of the student newspaper. I'm pleased about having that position even though there is a bit of an issue that will need to be resolved/dealt with (although it's not that I did anything wrong on my part). It seems like it would be best to not splash the details of that all over this publicly available (although probably minimally read) blog at this time, so I'll refrain. (If you can imagine a cross between the personality [more or less] of Jon Stewart and the appearance of Glenn Thrush, that is one of the characters involved in this drama, if you will.)
Anyways, here is a little more commentary and pondering on something. I came across this one website, which is sort of maybe like a bit more intellectual version of Buzzfeed or Thought Catalog, and it's a repository of writing by college students. I looked into it a bit more to see if it would be worthwhile to get involved in, but then I found some things that made me reticent. Some people that formerly wrote for the website said that the website exploited their writers and only cared about quantity, not quality of the things the writers were expected to write and it became an unpleasant experience. I think it's more impressive to be editor in chief of the student newspaper anyways, rather than just "I write for this online website that people probably haven't heard of"..
PS: I have been trying to convince someone I know to wear a Stephen Glass costume for Halloween. It would consist of clothing like this (remember to take your shoes off indoors and walk around in your socks, and of course don't forget to go around asking people "Are you mad at me?"):
Anyways, here is a little more commentary and pondering on something. I came across this one website, which is sort of maybe like a bit more intellectual version of Buzzfeed or Thought Catalog, and it's a repository of writing by college students. I looked into it a bit more to see if it would be worthwhile to get involved in, but then I found some things that made me reticent. Some people that formerly wrote for the website said that the website exploited their writers and only cared about quantity, not quality of the things the writers were expected to write and it became an unpleasant experience. I think it's more impressive to be editor in chief of the student newspaper anyways, rather than just "I write for this online website that people probably haven't heard of"..
PS: I have been trying to convince someone I know to wear a Stephen Glass costume for Halloween. It would consist of clothing like this (remember to take your shoes off indoors and walk around in your socks, and of course don't forget to go around asking people "Are you mad at me?"):
Interestingly enough, about 16 years later (I assume the previous picture was taken around 1998), here is Stephen Glass in a very similar outfit (old habits die hard, I guess. Although hopefully he did manage to kill his fabrication habit):
And here we have Hayden Christensen (such a fun name!) in the perennial Stephen Glass blue shirt from the movie Shattered Glass (which I should rewatch!):
While looking for pictures for this last part, I came across this review of Shattered Glass from 2003 in Slate. I actually don't think I read this one in the past (which sort of surprised me, since I have read so, so much about everything Stephen Glass).
I found this other picture of him as portrayed in the movie Shattered Glass, and I noticed a little something about the costume design. The (mostly blue colored) shirts that Stephen wears in the movie have a fairly billowy fit to them (and I do realize that was the style in the back then, compared to nowadays). But, if you look closely, they also are too big for him in the shoulders. I think that was a nice touch by the costume department people, to convey his youth and insecurity, among other things.
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