Rain and a gusty wind here on California’s north coast this Sunday morning — “unsettled weather” in that generalized-meteorologist kind of way — which is fairly-normal for certain seaside places.
Wet, stormy-like conditions all over the West the next few days, especially up Seattle way.
Meanwhile, far to the east and last night, was the annual ‘Nerd Prom‘ — a showcase of why the entire planet is screwed like a nutcase full of nails. The two pathetic, supposed-journo creatures pictured at left were a delightful butt-feature.
(Illustration found here).
In reality, the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, held this year at the Washington Hilton, is really nothing more than a big in-bred family gathering who with laughing, foolish-looking faces eat and break high-value bread while trying to make funny. And some of it was funny, but mostly just weird — in this new Gilded Age, the whole scene reminds one of a festive ballroom aboard the Titanic.
Ironic pisser of a view.
Yet cast as ‘Nerd Prom’ be correct? Via Mediaite: So, is the “nerd prom” label accurate? Well, let’s put it this way. Tomorrow is May the Fourth. Which is Star Wars Day. And any event held tomorrow to commemorate Star Wars Day will be way more of a nerd prom than a politico/celebrity-filled D.C. event can ever be.
So there, boringly studious, and all you people, who: Often mistaken for Geeks, who aspire to become nerds, yet lack the intelligence, and end up giving nerds a bad name due to their poor social skills.
And those two pompous elevator-assholes seen above?
Both were most-rightly skewered in the event’s opening film-short, which starred Julia Louis-Dreyfus (portraying her HBO series, ‘Veep,’ character) and Joe Biden — with cameos by Michelle Obama and Nancy Pelosi. The skit was pretty funny in spots — Joe Biden’s a ham — and if you haven’t seen it, the clip can be found at Balloon Juice.
Last year, the bit was more political — the sound of Kevin Spacey’s Southern-style pronouncement of “Kardashian” stayed in my brain for weeks.
The clown on the left, yep, the guy showing pure-cool, Chuck Todd of NBC, his mug was right-off-the bat stage-center as Louis-Dreyfus drew shit on his photo — first a villainous moustache, then a beard, eye patch, etc., but was interrupted by a phone call from Biden.
She wanted to know if Biden was going to the “Nor-spondents Dinner.” Biden said no, he’d attended one, and “It wasn’t worth it.”
Louis-Dreyfus responded: “Exactly. I mean, who wants to see David Gregory crying in the corner all night? Actually, I wouldn’t mind seeing that.”
Turds tumbled — Todd and Gregory are prime examples why journalism in the mainstream sucks so bad nowadays.
Last September, Nicole Belle Crooks and Liars in an open letter to Deborah Turness, then newly-appointed president of NBC News, hit the journalism shit-nail head on:
Please tell me how you have managed to keep someone the Political Director of your news department and have him actually refuse to be responsible to provide facts to your viewership?
Sure, maybe Chuck Todd didn’t graduate from journalism school (or any university–honorary degrees don’t count, Deb), so maybe he can be excused from knowing what a news department employee does.
But ultimately, you’re his boss, and you have clearly failed him (and the consumers of NBC News) by not providing him with a clear and unambiguous job description.
It’s not hard.
A journalist informs his/her readership of facts.
When non-facts are provided for partisan purposes, it is not “doing the job of the White House to sell” a government program to say that these are LIES.
That’s reporting.
That’s journalism.
Someone who just repeats what’s said to him without placing it in context is called a stenographer.
And that is beyond the poor little pea brain of your political director to understand.
Actually, that’s not fair.
It’s not only Chuck Todd who can’t grasp that simple concept.
David Gregory doesn’t, either.
Which points, once again, to a systemic issue that your new stewardship of NBC News must address.
And since then, Gregory’s dufus-performance on ‘Meet the Press‘ has required the attendance of a “psychological consultant” — all he has to do, though, is just act like a real journalist.
One problem journalism doesn’t need is idiot-incompetence in its own ranks — the trouble is still the government. Press freedom is selective, and the US ain’t no top dog. Last Thursday, Freedom House released its annual report, “Freedom of the Press 2014,” a look at the reality of journalism worldwide.
Via Poynter:
The report looked at press freedoms in 197 countries during 2013.
Only one third earned a rating of “Free.”
According to Freedom House, they reach their rankings by analyzing events in each country throughout the year.
They reach the rankings using 23 questions “that seek to capture the varied ways in which pressure can be placed on the flow of independent information and the ability of print, broadcast, and internet-based news outlets to operate freely and without fear of repercussions.”
Their research also considers laws and regulations, political control or influence, public access to information and killings and arrests of journalists.
Countries that have a score of between 0 and 30 get the “Free” ranking.
The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden tied for the top spot for countries with press freedoms.
The United States ranked 30th, in a tie with Micronesia and Austria.
The United Kingdom ranked 36.
Ukraine, where there have been recent attacks on journalists in the east, ranked 130th with a rating of “Not Free.”
In the bottom spot, at 197, sits North Korea.
Reporters Without Borders 2014 Press Freedom Index, released earlier this year, reflects similar findings.
Finland holds the top spot in that ranking, the U.S. dropped down to 46 and at the bottom of that 180-country list sits Eritrea.
Like the Press Freedom Index, Freedom House notes that the U.S. lost press freedoms during the last year “due primarily to attempts by the government to inhibit reporting on national security issues.”
Notice no ‘national security’ jokes at the Nerd Prom. Little Eddie Snowden was conspicuous in absentia.