1) This morning, at the train station, a woman came around bedecked in purple, ringing a little bell and collecting money for Alzheimer's. She was friendly and a little persistent, as anyone fulfilling that role is expected to be. She walked around the line of people waiting to get their tickets checked and shook her bell. "I can wait here all day," she joked and smiled at the group of women ignoring her. "No--I'm just kidding," she said. "Have a nice holiday!" And she walked off. One of the women, seeing the Alzheimer's lady leave, leaned toward someone and said conspiratorially, "And I can ignore you all day." Then she laughed. She was wearing silver earrings and stupid eyeshadow, and she was carrying a shopping bag from Neiman Marcus (or some other high-end fashion store) with little Christmas decorations on it.
Did she honestly think she could spend her money in a better way? I loathed this woman. I hope her stupid Neiman Marcus bag and the stupid pink cashmere sweater I'm sure is inside burst into flames.
2) Whenever I hear news coverage of the writers' strike in Hollywood, it's always told from a perspective sympathetic to the corporations.
Example:
Cindy: "Jim, what will be the effects of the ongoing nature of this strike?"
Jim: "Well, Cindy, if the writers continue to strike, many of the shows you know and love will probably not be airing for a while."
Cindy: "What should viewers be preparing for?"
Jim: "Reruns, Cindy. Prepare for reruns."
Cindy: "And how will the corporations be affected?"
Jim: "Well, ___ should be OK because it has 'American Idol'. But ___ and ___... well, we just don't know."
Cindy: "Tragic, Jim."
Since when is mindless entertainment more important paying people? And since when do massive, controlling, multi-billion dollar corporations--corporations that basically have all-out monopolies on communication--garner the public sympathy? You don't really hear an opinion like, "Gee, maybe they should pay writers, who are basically the brains behind each show, enough money to get out of the apartment with the 3-foot-wide hole in the ceiling, even if we have to remove one olive from the salad of each CEO during the meetings, and downgrade from Evian to tap."
Maybe we should turn to Rupert Murd--I mean, FOX News--for the latest in manipula--I mean facts. Obviously, writers' creativity is just there for our consumption. IT IS A PUBLIC GOOD. Besides, I'm sure Bill O'Reilly says it's immoral to separate families from their televisions. I mean, can we really endure--gasp--reruns?!
The real crisis we should be considering is: If we stop watching television, who will pay for his crappy patriotic ties?
(Oh, and there's that global warming problem going on too, but who cares? Carbon emissions aren't entertaining!)
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America. Ew.
(If you haven't seen this: Daily Show writers on strike.)
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