The beauty of the three-word lede...

Sometimes you just have to make sure you've amused yourself...which is exactly how I approached this 150-word blurb about Patty Griffin.

Wag the dog...

The left/right debate wags it's way into the canine world. In a nutshell, positive feelings= right side wag, negative=left side wag.

Who wants to wager on which Faux News show picks up on this story first? I'm betting it's Greta...

From the NYT: If You Want to Know if Spot Loves You So, It’s in His Tail

The Price We Pay...

So many choices...and we pay so much, literally, for the stuff we never consume.

And as this NYT piece points out, the broadcast networks know they're fighting a losing battle for eyeballs, so the "hack and slash" mentality concerning their budgets come into play...hence the domination of "reality television."

From The New York Times: ‘American Idol’ Is the Price We Pay for a Menu of So Many Channels

This one goes to 11...

Spinal Tap reunites for Live Earth...

Bill Moyers' Journal: "Buying The War"

Set your video recording technology of choice tonight for the debut of Bill Moyers' new PBS series Bill Moyers' Journal, marking the veteran journalist's return the the public airwaves.

And from all indications, his first broadcast could be comparable to a golfer taking a few years off from the links and stepping up to win The Masters in his first tourney back.

The following is Moyers on Bill Maher's HBO show Real Time this past weekend, promoting the documentary on the news media's rolling over when it came time to market the war.

"Buying The War" tonight on PBS...check your local listings...

Yeah, so much for that idea...

The pressroom gets busy, programs stop working, net connections go up and down 15 times...ah, the glamourous life of covering the overprivileged...

This morning on campus...

So the CMT Music Awards (formerly the Flameworthies, formerly the Flame Worthies, formerly the TNN Music City News Awards, formerly the Music City News awards) are being held for the second time on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, my sometime employer. (I've been an adjunct Media Studies instructor here for three years.)

The lessons learned from last year's show seem to come in the form of CMT taking up a boatload of parking spaces this time around, with tour buses taking up three roads and more than a few Curb Event Center entrances in preparation for tonight's event.

This morning, as I exited the parking structure nearest both the Curb Center and my classroom, my path to the classroom was pretty well blocked by barricades and yellow windbreakered security personnel.

I had one student make a mad dash across some part of campus under lockdown, and when he was told he couldn't cross at that point, he shot back "30 grand a year tells me I can..." and just kept walking.

Granted, that's about as far as campus protests go these days, but I was quietly proud...

The calm before the boredom...

Yes, the powers-that-be insisted we be here at 3pm. Naturally, we were among the first in the room...

The standard awards show setup is in place...stage, monitors (audio and video), photogs down in front (at least they're giving them chairs here), two rows of pencils (or laptops in this case), videogs on a riser behind me...

One of the interesting things this year is the photo service guys (Getty, WireImage) are in the back of the room, facing away from the press room stage. Doesn't really matter...they'll be hunched over their image editor of choice all day/night anyway...

BTW, why am I here? My business partner Ed is shooting for CMT.com, and I'm editing for him. So basically I'm learning Aperture on the fly before throwing them up to CMT via FTP. Fun, fun, fun...

More as it comes to me...

Live blogging the CMT Music Awards...?

Hey...I'm here...I've got an internet connection and what will probably a lot of time on my hands, so I'll throw in my two cents on occasion...

Don't you hate it when...?

You realize you haven't updated your blog in two months?

Yeah, me too...