I stopped by the Enfield House today, after a Thanksgiving afternoon hiking in the Greenbelt. It's empty and for rent.
I looked in the front windows (the window in the door is still covered by Leslie's square of fabric), and the living room looked empty and sad. There's a vase in between the blinds and glass in one of Amy's windows. I took the thermometer that was still nailed by the back door and plan to go back for the two chairs Leslie's parents gave us.
The ducks are still on the fence, and the bush out front still bears the remnants of tinsel, Mardi Gras beads, xmas lights, and even the wilted cardboard and foil star. There was junk mail addressed to me in the mailbox.
It's sad to think that no one will be in there freezing their asses off during the holidays. It decorated so well.
Her father, Tom, appeared on NBC's "Today" last week and received a call from his interviewer, Matt Lauer, later that day.
"He said, 'You know, your daughter's the most sought after teenager in the world. She's even surpassed Jessica Lynch."' ...
Unlike victims whose fame is fleeting, Hamilton's manager, Roy Hofstetter, believes her ordeal will have a lasting impact.
"What I'm trying to do is make this 15 minutes of fame into Brand Bethany Hamilton," Hofstetter said.
He said he's also in talks for movies, books, a reality show, a clothing line and a speaking tour.
The "outside authority" quotes the article uses are equally strange:
After CBS's "48 Hours Investigates" dropped out of the competition for an interview with Hamilton, the show's executive producer, Susan Zirinsky, said she wasn't sweating it.
"These stories are like buses," she told the New York Post. "You try to catch them, and if one passes you by and you don't make it, there's always another."
But tragedy does sell well, said Simon Moore, communications professor at Bentley College outside Boston.
"In our wired world, tragedy is like cereal or deodorant," Moore said. "The media is aware that tragedy sells, so naturally we get a lot of them. Who remembers all the tragedies that have come our way this year? This month?" ...
"The bigger the scale of the tragedy, the larger the amount of money," said Robert Smith, author of "How To Be Famous in 90 Days."...
But Sally Stewart, a former reporter and author of "Media Training 101," a guide to dealing with the press, said "many people caught in tragedies don't make a penny."
"The biggest beneficiaries," said Stewart, "are the media themselves."
I'm particularly fond of that last one—I wasn't aware that "making a penny" (or a few million) was the right and goal of anyone "caught in tragedies." Now, granted, this quote was probably addressing the disparity between the steady stream of profits media machines make off of disasters and crimes versus the financial compensation victims receive for having their lives and images splashed across tabloid headlines... but in the context of this article it really just sounds like "victims get screwed on these, their great money-making opportunities."
Aw man, remember SeaQuest DSV? The only reason anyone ever watched it ever was Jonathan Brandis. He was also in Ladybugs and Sidekicks. I was deeply in love with this guy. I had his calendar and everything.
He's dead!
From E Online:
PASSING: Jonathan Brandis, star of the NBC series seaQuest DSV, found dead in his Los Angeles apartment on November 12 of an apparent suicide. He was 27.
That's it. No link or anything.
tvguide.com gives him a bit more...
SAD NEWS: Word is out that actor Jonathan Brandis was discovered dead in his Los Angeles apartment on Nov. 12. The 27-year-old actor was beloved among Gen-Xers for his roles in Neverending Story 2 and NBC's mid-90s series, seaQuest DSV. Coroners pointed to suicide as the possible cause of death, although more testing will occur before a final ruling. Fans last saw Brandis — looking very handsome and grown up — in his recent indie film, The Year That Trembled.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Octodog, "the first and only kitchen utensil specially designed for the rapid production of hotdogs cut specially to resemble little pork octopi."
Must be seen to be believed. From the Daily Illuminator by way of Drew.
...Basically just for me, since I know few people who are as anal about it as I am (I just spent ten minutes trying to even out the spacing between entries on the same day and entries on different days. I failed.):
- Changed font size for entries from 12px to 11px.
- Added permanent links for entries (click on the time posted... though I can't figure out how to get it to jump to the date rather than the first line).
- Cleaned out my UT webspace page... non-crappy content to appear sometime in the spring. Vague ambitions of getting my own domain.
- Pissed that backblog comments aren't working. (UPDATE: their server is down for maintenance, according to a cached Nov. 3 page)
I introduced myself to our nextdoor neighbors today—when I got off the bus they were sitting on the couch on their front porch, drinking OE800s at one in the afternoon. Chris and somebody—Jeff? David?... They promised to give us a heads-up on any upcoming parties ; )
Good party times on Halloween—our party was short-lived but fun, and Doug's was the kind that's much better to go to than host.
Maryann was a super superhero, and I was the Safe Sex Fairy (complete with condom and birth control safe sex wand). Apparently a high-schooler in Florida had the same idea (minus the wings) but didn't get quite the enthusiastic reception that I did.
