AOL Video is actually pretty cool! I had never actually been to the website since they began their advertising campaigns for the "new AOL" You can download full length shows and movies... and of course, watch videos like these.

American Idol Insider Blog

Check out #1 and #7! Holla!

SNL - Sofa King


Hard to make me LOL, but this made me LOL today.

Last night, I was in class for the third to last time for what I hope will be a very long time. We turned in our papers and were set free at 7:40 PM, nearly two hours before our regular 9:30 PM release. I was excited to be out so early so that I could rush home, get dinner, watch Idol Gives Back (Carrie Underwood...you are ridiculously hot...just so you know, you know...when you randomly stumble upon my website...yeah.), and sleep at a reasonable time. What could be better, right?

I walked back to my car in USC's Parking Structure "D" and while I was walking up to my car, I saw a girl was circling my car and her Red 2003 Ford Explorer parked next to mine. I was a little confused, a little prepared to get pepper sprayed for no reason, but continued to walk over to my car. I opened my trunk, put in my bag, and walked over to the driver's side of my car to open the door and head home. Normal, wonderfully early night, right?

As I moved to open the door, I was greeted with the sounds of crunching, broken safety class beneath my orthopedic-like Reebok Classics. Someone had broken into the car next to mine, leaving shards of broken glass where her passenger window had once been and a glass party on the ground between our cars. The girl, who I later found out was named Susana, was visiting USC for an information session because she was considering transferring to the School of Social Work at USC from Cal State Los Angeles. And of course, on a day where she was excited at the possibility of perhaps transferring schools, her car gets broken into, and her briefcase gets stolen in the very parking lot of the school that was vying to take $33,000 a year from her and put her in debt for years to come. Fan-effing-tastic.

I wanted to go home. Honestly, I'm pretty burned out from two years of work and grad school. I look forward to the weekends for the sleep as much as I do the faces that appear on the weekends. But what are you supposed to do? Do you just jump in your car and say, "Oh man, that sucks...well, hope it works out!!", wave, and leave a girl who doesn't even go to your school stranded in a parking structure with a busted window while she waits for the campus police (USC's Department of Public Safety) to show up?

So I waited with her. We walked around her car and found that DPS had left a business card with a note that said "Found damage to your vehicle @ 1800 hours, please call if you want to file a report." I don't think the 1800 hours was accurate because I parked at 6:30 PM and I don't think I'm that oblivious that I wouldn't notice a mountain of broken glass beneath my feet after parking my car. But then again, I was on the phone. I wouldn't put it past me.

What do you do with a total stranger while you wait for DPS to show up (35 minutes) and you are standing next to a violated car? You small talk, a lot. I found out that she lives not far from where I used to work, has a boyfriend, and that she interns at a school right now for her passion, social work. She found out that I was in grad school, asked about my job, and of course, asked me a ton of questions about USC and well, DPS. It was a lot of joking around, trying to keep her mind on anything but her car. When we did talk about the car, we tried to be optimistic and light-hearted about it - "At least they didn't take this...." or "Why didn't they want my CDs?"

Waited for an hour with her and helped her get in contact with DPS and provide them with a report. There was a blatant handprint on the side of her car from who we would assume to have been the person who broke her window, but DPS is currently not allowed to take fingerprints at crime scenes (per LAPD). Our DPS officer described this problem as a "stupid, power thing," and lamented how the LAPD was requesting Susana to drive her car downtown with a busted window if she wanted them to take prints. She fervently declined. Another car break-in at USC, another person goes free. Story of our parking structures.

Then it was time for me to leave. Caught up with some old friends, picked up Tito's Tacos, and watched Idol Gives Back. Got three votes in the night before (two for Jordin, one for Chris) before I passed out at 12:45 AM. I thought it was a great special and hope that it's something that continues every year in some capacity. I cannot think of a better stage to try and raise awareness of an otherwise invisible problem for us here in the United States than the Idol stage - the biggest stage on television today.

America's Top 10 Most Bloggiest Neighborhoods

And I have belonged to two of them. Rep your hood!! *starts dancing around with a computer mouse dangling around his neck like a G-Unit Spinner*

Article pasted below:

Since we've been tracking local bloggers in over 3,000 US neighborhoods for the past six months now, we thought it would be fun to run the numbers and finally answer the question that's been on everyone's mind: what exactly are America's bloggiest neighborhoods? The results below are based on a number of variables: total number of posts, total number of local bloggers, number of comments and Technorati ranking for the bloggers. If your neighborhood's not on the list, start a placeblog or let us know about a placeblog we're missing — we'll calculate this list again next year and let you know what's changed.

1. Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
The Neighborhood: The rapidly gentrifying tree-lined blocks of 19th-century townhouses are also home to the Pratt Institute of Art.
Local Blogger: Jonathan Butler, creator of Brownstoner, who quit his Wall Street job earlier this year to run his popular real estate and home renovation blog full-time.
Local Obsessions: Will the nearby mega-development Atlantic Yards destroy the neighborhood's quiet charm? Is the still-hot Brooklyn real estate market headed for a crash?

2. Shaw, DC
The Neighborhood: Emerging from a generation of economic decay, these centrally-located 19th-century Victorian row houses and their residents harbor the rich history of this "pre-Harlem center of African-American intellectual and cultural life".
Local Blogger: An undisclosed Shaw resident behind Remaking le Slum Historique and The Shiloh Baptist Church blogs.
Local Obsessions: Will H Street's historical significance as the center of the 1968 MLK assassination riots become a fleeting memory in the wake of the multi-million dollar redevelopment plan for the area?

3. Downtown LA
The Neighborhood: After the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance was passed in 1999, developers were able to swiftly convert Downtown LA's vacant commercial buildings into renovated lofts and luxury apartment complexes.
Local Blogger: Eric Richardson, creator of blogdowntown and member of multiple neighborhood council committees.
Local Obsessions: The displacement of the homeless population, particularly in the Skid Row area.

4. Newton, Mass
The Neighborhood: Comprised of 13 villages that form a bedroom community of nearby Boston. Home to the various campuses of Boston College, Newton has graced the top of the FBI's annual "Safest City" study for the last five years.
Local Blogger: Kristine Munroe, monitor of The Garden City
Local Obsessions: Houses appear to be selling - does this mean that the Newton housing market is picking up? How is the increase of Route 9 traffic from Chestnut Hill Square going to affect the Parker Street area?

5. Rogers Park/North Howard Chicago
The Neighborhood: Located in one of the last remaining pockets of poverty in Chicago's North Side, it‘s home to a culturally diverse group of residents that have very mixed feelings about the rapid gentrification.
Local Blogger: 24/7 North of Howard Watchers
Local Obsessions: Don Gordon and Joe Moore's heated race for Alderman of the 49th Ward.

6. Pearl District ("The Pearl"), Portland
The Neighborhood: Previously known as the "Northwest (Industrial) Triangle", it was dubbed "The Pearl District" in the early nineties when a local compared the newly emerging artist lofts and galleries to pearls hidden within the crusty shells of this former warehouse district. The Pearl is now Portland's largest art district and has notoriously expensive real estate.
Local Blogger: Lynnette Fusilier (aka PearlGirl), the woman behind Neighborhood Notes
Local Obsessions: New neighborhood restaurant watch! Get Bento, Park Kitchen and Bay 13 are all on the radar this month.

7. Watertown, Mass
The Neighborhood: An affordable alternative to its rival Boston suburbs, noted for its citizen involvement in community issues and local politics.
Local Blogger: Lisa Williams, vocal advocate of citizen journalism, author of H2otown, and co-founder of the newly-launched Placeblogger.com
Local Obsessions: A lack of interest led to the cancellation of the Watertown High School's 2007 Girl's Softball season - will someone start a youth softball league to seed the passion of softball to a younger generation?

8. Harlem, NY
The Neighborhood: Residents of this legendary cultural epicenter saw gentrification catalyzed in the 1990s by new federal and city policies and the development of the $66 million Harlem USA retail complex on 125th St.
Local Blogger: UPTOWNflavor
Local Obsessions: Will buildings such as the Corn Exchange continue to sit vacant and tempt vandals? Or will community leaders and real estate developers finally come to an agreement over the best way to revamp these landmarks while preserving Harlem's history?

9. Potrero Hill, SF
The Neighborhood: While families lived on the hill, flatland manufacturing by firms like U.S. Steel, the Union Iron Works, the Western Sugar Refinery, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co. and American Can Co., among others, ensured that the area remained largely industrial through most of the 20th century. But a combination of deindustrialization and the late-1990s Internet boom began driving the conversion of factories and warehouses into housing or offices.
Local Blogger: Potrero Hill, San Francisco
Local Obsessions: Will the new Whole Foods, San Francisco's largest, be a foodie's dream come true or a commuter's traffic nightmare? Can the Good Life Grocery, a staple in Potrero Hill since 1974, survive the competition?

10. Coconut Grove ("The Grove"), FL
The Neighborhood: Originally an independent community that was annexed by Miami in 1925, The Grove is home to enough restaurants and open air malls to have earned it the nickname, "Miami's Food Court". An active boating contingent takes advantage of the southern border along Biscayne Bay.
Local Blogger: Coconut Grove Grapevine
Local Obsessions: Will city officials go through with the rezoning of Mercy Hospital to allow for the development of three new condominiums? Coconut Grove residents protest this "Mercy Land Rape" for fear that it will destroy their scenic vista of the historic Vizcaya house and gardens.

Man Gets Hit with Pizza at Boston's Fenway Park

The most random, yet entertaining story out right now.

Boston

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I know the song is about going to Boston because someone is tired of California, but I assure you, I'm staying on the West Coast.

I know this song has been out for a while and it's probably for girls (as is most of the music I seem to like), but I am really intrigued by this video for some reason. Something about it is really sad (beyond the lyrics) to me about waves crashing into pianos and totally destroying them and rendering them useless. I've never been a destructive person (I hate watching people break things just to break things), so watching the waves crash into these pianos which could probably have gone to good use for families that otherwise can't afford them for the sake of a capitalist music video is painful, yet powerful in a weird way to me. This makes no sense. I need to get to sleep.

Rapper Lil Romeo to play basketball for the USC Trojans?

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, what was once a dream could become a reality (for me). Lil Romeo (you know, "Romeo! Make them elbows swing, Romeo make them elbows swing!") hopes to suit up in the Cardinal and Gold and play for Tim Floyd and the University of Southern California Trojans.

Can Romeo do what Bow Wow couldn't and make it to the league? He stands at about six feet tall right now as a high school junior and genetically, the kid has game through his father Master P, who had a couple summer league stints in the NBA. I would personally love to see this kid come to USC and play with OJ Mayo. I have no doubt that Romeo has game and that he's come a long way since telling girls that he "ain't need a girlfriend" despite the fact that girls once proclaimed, "Oh Romeo, you're the cutest boy I know..." To which Romeo could only respond "I know, I know," like any rapper at the top of his game.

Put this guy on the court. Sell tickets. Sell jerseys. And finally give USC more hood appeal than UCLA (a mystery that makes no sense because UCLA is in the 'burbs, while USC is South LA)

I'll proclaim it here. If Romeo sends in his letter of intent to USC, I'll drop whatever it takes to get season tickets so that I can watch P. Miller's kid and OJ Mayo take USC basketball to a level of popularity that has never been seen and will never see again. Follow your dream, Romeo and come to USC. I have little doubt in my mind that you will break the record for being asked to the most sorority invites, exchanges, and formals in USC history. For this reason alone, fax in that Letter of Intent.

Romeo + Mayo = Sold out Galen Center and a Final Four Appearance.

Bobby Lee is a funny guy


I had the pleasure of meeting Bobby Lee while working as a Production Assistant for a small comedy special called "Comedy Zen" my senior year of college.

After introducing himself to me and exchanging small talk, one of the first things Bobby said to me was, "Hey man, you like white girls?"

Obviously, I responded in the affirmative (who doesn't? Modern media won't allow otherwise).

Bobby went on to tell me about his girlfriend, getting along with parents, and all kinds of other random insights that he could offer me, a then-21 year old college student, about life and love. The funny thing about him and this conversation was that it was completely genuine. He was totally interested in anything that I said and was probably asking me more questions about myself than I was about him.

And then, in true Bobby Lee fashion, he proceeded to do his routine, strip down to a man-thong, and show his anus to the crowd.

Conrad / Wahler "Sex Tape" said to be "very vanilla"

Last week, cable internet bandwidth providers were able to breathe a sigh of relief because apparently, the rumored Lauren Conrad / Jason Wahler sex tape was more hype than substance.

How long until another similar celebrity scandal breaks out? I give it two weeks...

Man Receives 5,000 Phone Calls After Posting Phone Number on YouTube

5,000. Wow.

So this guy posts his number on YouTube in case people "just want to talk," I suppose he is there to listen. He doesn't know people, but yet says he "cares" about these people. This whole concept is so bizarre to me that I cannot even begin to put my finger around it. What makes this situation even more interesting is the fact that the guy is paying for his cell phone bill and the extra minutes and text messages that come as a result of his YouTube phone number posting.

I can understanding eating the cost of building a website because you're hoping to get swallowed up by a larger media conglomerate, but a cell phone bill? I know that this guy is trying to be a friend (and is likely a wonderful conversationalist), but there has to come a point where you need to sleep and cannot handle the beeping of call waiting interrupting you every second of the day, right? Am I completely off base here? What even weirder to me is the fact that this guy is 20 years old! He's not some nice 70 year old lady who has a lot of money to burn from her 401k and IRA, but a "spiky haired" 20 year old male. I hope he makes something of this.

Otherwise, things are going pretty well. School is winding down and I'll be turning in my third to last paper on Wednesday and submitting my thesis next Tuesday. You guys were right, the excitement builds as graduation gets closer... Can't wait to get there.

American Idol Insider Blog - Sanjaya Malakar Top 10 Book Titles

Check out #3! I'm pretty proud of myself.

I really want to believe that the Internet is going to empower voters and encourage young people to learn more about candidates so that they can make educated votes. I checked out the Barack Obama page on YouTube, hoping to learn a little bit more about one of the more intriguing candidates for the 2008 Presidential Election. I watched some videos and thought that it would be very cool to see if people were engaging in intelligent discussions about the videos that I could learn from myself.



While some of the comments were great, others definitely included...

"dude charlie rose is so intimidating"

"Obama, Clinton, McCain, Edwards, Romney... Who cares?
They're all puppets on the same New World Order police state string!!
A vote for them is a sure vote for destruction and tyranny.

Vote Ron Paul before we fall!!
In 2008, we regulate!!

He has never voted to raise taxes.
He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
He has never taken a government-paid junket.
He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
He voted against the Patriot Act.
He voted against regulating the Internet.
He voted against the Iraq war."

"you suck obama"

Well, it'll get there.

There were also some really interesting posts like these:

"To all that say the war in Iraq is wrong. I have one question, why then do most troops who have fought in the war support it and the president? Well, one reason is all the Iraq veterans, including myself, know the truth about what is going on there. If you really think the media accurately portrays this war you are sadly mistaken. I have seen evidence there that supports every reason why we went. I am proud to have crossed the boarder into Iraq in 2003 with the U.S. Army."

And straight forward, "you thought it, I said it," posts like these:

"His record is that he is the only major candidate that had the good judgment to see that this was a "dumb" war."

Check out the MySpace/YouTube pages when you have a chance. I'll check out the Clinton ones over the weekend as well. Interesting stuff when no one is there to edit (is anyone editing?)

Three top prospects for this year's NFL Draft have admitted to using marijuana, NFL team sources have confirmed to The Sports Xchange.

The players cited are Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson, Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams and Louisville defensive tackle Amobi Okoye. None of them tested positive for drugs in tests done by the NFL or in any of the random tests conducted in college by the NCAA.

Three top prospects? If every player was this honest, it'd be more like "All but three top prospects have admitted to using marijuana." I love how fans and some sportswriters forget that a large percentage of athletes don't come from perfect, drug-free lives, and that it somehow becomes big news when *gasps* someone has done drugs before.

NBC looks for a story on Facebook


Really don't know how I feel about this, nor the "Today, we are all Hokies" profile pictures that people are putting up on Facebook. It's confusing... Despite the fact that so much of the media coverage on this tragedy is about Cho Seung-Hui and repeatedly talks about how he is South Korean, I feel a strange disconnect with this event - perhaps because I didn't watch the news coverage the day of the shooting. I did read about it, but I wonder if it's because I haven't been exposed to as much of the mainstream media on this story that I am left less affected.

On a completely unrelated note, I love these American Idol bobblehead widgets.

Get this widget!

Rest in peace, Sid Brooks.

I just heard that my former boss in the USC Football Equipment Room, Sid Brooks, has passed away. Sid was the head of equipment operations for USC Football for two of the three years I was part of the USC Football program. While Sid did a lot of things that made us make confused faces at each other and really asked a lot (oftentimes seemingly unreasonable requests) of us, he always treated me with respect and cared a lot about me.

It was always funny how Sid always tried to get on TV with Coach Carroll and how he liked to be the first person off the bus or the first person to walk into a stadium so that he could lead the team. It seemed ridiculous at the time, but looking back, I knew it was because he really cared. Of course, all of the student managers had their battles with Sid, but that's inevitable in any sports environment. At the end of the day, Sid was always there to give me a firm handshake, or even a hug for a job well done. I remember when he came into the room, shook my hand, and gave me a hug, congratulating me on becoming the head student manager for the team for the 2005-2006 season. Yes, I already knew and the paperwork had already been signed and turned in, but Sid just had so much pride that he felt like he had chosen me to do a great job for the program, even though he was retiring. I remember that he told me that he knew he was leaving the student managers in good hands and that he'd still "be around," if we ever needed him. At the time, we laughed about it. Now that I look back on it, it almost brings tears to my eyes.

Now that I think about it, it's with a heavy heart that I say goodbye. Rest in peace, Sid.

"Once you have made the small changes that I requested, this looks ready to go!"
- My Thesis Professor

And with those words, a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. A small edit and a one paragraph abstract away from being done with my thesis.

- One take home final (going to be hard)
- One 20 page paper (3 pages done so far)
- One test (47% to pass the class)
- One thesis (could finish in an hour)

And then I'm done. Wow.

Blogging for Dollars

That'd be so sweet...

Hilary Clinton: 1984



Definitely not breaking news, but in case anyone hadn't seen this, I wanted to post it on my webpage to keep us up to date with interesting, "grown up," water cooler talk. This video was posted on YouTube, apparently by someone who wasn't an official member of the Obama camp, in support of Barack Obama and obviously, against Hilary Clinton. It's a take off of the Super Bowl commercial that Apple used to introduce the Macintosh to the American public.

It's a bit inspiring and eye-opening about how much America has been able to slowly embrace at least some change that this upcoming Democratic nomination battle is going to be decided by a race between an African-American man and a White woman. Well at least it will remain inspiring, until they both get beat by a Republican White guy (kidding!...well, kind of).

I wonder what it would say about our country connotatively if in a year where everyone thinks a Democrat will take over as the POTUS (what up, West Wing), a white rich Republican still manages to win the election. It's also interesting that the election has candidates (other than McCain and possibly Edwards) that have don't have the traditional experience (both military and in terms of years) that typical candidates seem to have. I don't really know that much about political history, but I'm wondering if any city mayors have made the jump to become the President of the United States like Rudy Giuliani is attempting to do. Regardless, wanted to share the video. Original video is posted below.



It's funny how this commercial to introduce the Mac was so dark and yet today, Macs are advertised like this.



Out with the old, in with the new.

Word is getting around that a Lauren Conrad "sex tape" is going to find its way to the Internet in the near future. While LC denies such claims, many other celebrity news and blog sites are jumping on the bandwagon that this tape might actually exist - tarnishing the reputation of my reigning celebrity crush.

Considering the circumstances (Jason Wahler, the alleged other participant in the alleged sex tape, I believe is going to jail for drunkenly punching someone and is trying to make some money before his criminal record is officially going to hold him back in life... not as if that would stop him from still ending up at huge Hollywood parties after his release), I wouldn't be surprised if it existed and was released in a last ditch effort. Definitely one of those "if you're going to go down, go down swinging" moments, but we'll see what it does to my beloved LC and The Hills. Just a thought, if celebrities don't want these tapes to come out, maybe they shouldn't bring the camera into the bedroom. It's unfortunate that everyone tries to make money off of them and especially when you're the bigger star, as is the case with LC here, you'd like to think that you'd really look out for yourself.

LC > Normal bandwidth usage

Jenna Fischer: A close second on my unofficial list of celebrity crushes

Did I mention that I saw Wicked in Hollywood a few weeks back? I don't know much about musicals, but I'd be pretty surprised if they got better than that. Shawn Wayans was a few rows in front of us with his family. The two leads were incredible in the play and I highly recommend anyone in Los Angeles to see the play, even if you don't really "get" musicals like me (I was totally lost during "RENT," because I didn't know you had to listen to the lyrics...I would bob my head for five minutes and then emerge from the musical number completely lost). Tickets were a lot...about $100, but I figured it was only $25 more than I paid to see 50 Cent a couple years ago... not that he's not culturally enriching in his own right.

"Grad School Prom" was this weekend inside the California Science Center (which is actually a pretty cool venue for a dance!). It was so much fun to see everyone dressed up and getting down on the dance floor - most fun night I've had in a long time. Pictures to come as soon as someone puts them up on Facebook. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Some of the more interesting early results on my thesis research on text messaging between genders...

- 68.3% of participants reported primarily using text messaging for task-related communication with people of the same gender.
- 30.8% of participants said that they primarily used text messaging for relationship maintenance purposes with people of the same gender
- Males appeared to use text messaging primarily for “Task-related” purposes rather than “Relationship-maintenance” purposes more frequently than females
- 66.7% of participants reported that they generally used text messaging for relationship maintenance purposes when communicating with people of the opposite gender
- 33.3% of participants reported that they generally used text messaging for task-related purposes when communicating with people of the opposite gender
- 64.2% of participants said that they either “Strongly agree” or “Agree” that text messaging is an effective way to maintain their relationships
- 74.2% of participants said that they either “Strongly agree” or “Agree” that text messaging is an effective way for them to “get tasks done.”
- 84.2% of total respondents said that they had no preference as to which gender they preferred to exchange text messages with

Kind of boring, but kind of cool.

On a side note, gotta love the fact that I get ads for lubricated condoms now at the top of my page. My roommate's friend Troy is taking over as the manager of Hurry Curry in Pasadena. Hopefully, we'll make our way down next weekend and I'll have some pics and a restaurant review!

It's Raining Men....Hallelujah, it's raining men.

USC Threatens Students' Civil Disobediance with Suspension and Homelessness

I don't really know any of the details on this story, but I do know that I think it's very, very funny that the students brought kitty litter in case they had to go to the bathroom. I'm just wondering if anyone used it.

American Idol doesn't care that it's not in the "Big 3"

Some say the series is losing momentum, but based on these numbers, it'd be hard to say it's not still a huge success.

How Blogging Can Help You Get a New Job
By Sarah E. Needleman

Could definitely go both ways, but an interesting take on the blogosphere.

glumbert.com - Shift Happens

I knew a lot of these facts already, but it couldn't hurt to spread it around.

By the way, 102 hits on Sunday. Thanks again, guys!

2005 USC Football Online Media Guide

Just found this online while searching for slanderous comments about me, check out the mid-bottom of page 4 on the right! One of my more proud moments in "get your name printed" history.

Sports Illustrated: Reggie Bush Gives Back
By Arash Markazi



I was cruising the "information superhighway" (remember when people used to call it that?) this morning and found this article on Reggie Bush's charity efforts that he's been carrying out in both San Diego and New Orleans. It was a really refreshing read and I was proud to read about how not only Bush, but other former USC players, Matt Leinart and LenDale White were getting involved with Reggie's "Camp 619" for San Diego area youth.

The first day I met LenDale, before he had ever played a college football game, he told me he was going to rush for 1,000 yards (came close) his Freshman year and that he was going to go pro after his junior season. Never had any reason to question him. Now he, Matt Leinart, and Reggie Bush are doing big things both on and off the field through Bush's charities.

My last semester writing for the Daily Trojan, I was given the "Little Miss Sunshine - Opinions Columnist of the Semester" award by now-Daily Trojan Editor in Chief Jeremy Beecher. While the award got some laughs, because Jeremy said that I was the only weekly columnist with a positive column that for some reason, people read and loved, I was really proud of receiving the award. It's so rare that we ever get to hear about good things that people are doing because as a society, whether we like it or not, we love to hear about drama that's not ours. Adam "Pac-Man" Jones is a household name for sports fans, likely having the same amount of recognition is guys like Champ Bailey, and even New England's Asante Samuel, despite the fact that he has probably done less on the field than either of them. Why? Because he gets in trouble and people seem to eat it up (even though I've also seen a good number of stories talking about how Pac-Man also gives back to local schools, which don't seem to make headlines).

People always used to ask me, "Who is the nicest/coolest/funniest/smartest/etc. player on the football team?" Not only were these questions ridiculous, but they were almost impossible to answer. Almost every time, the questions were followed up with "Is Matt/Reggie nice?" And yes, they were both great guys when I saw them everyday in college. However, both of them were college students living the life of a celebrity both on and off campus. Everyday, the two stars would get mobbed by young kids hoping to get a picture or autograph and grown men trying to make a living off of eBay. Grown men would pay small children to try and get Reggie's autograph for them because they had already accumulated a bunch that day to try and sell later. After Reggie won the Heisman, because of his flashy play style, he was probably twice as popular as Matt "with the kids." People would get upset with him for running straight to and from practice and not signing autographs along the way, but I couldn't see how people didn't understand that this might have got old for a 21 year old college student who, while he obviously got to benefit from the exposure, likely just wanted to have some normal days and a normal life sometimes.

I remember one day, Reggie was running out of meetings to get changed for practice and I saw this middle aged couple scream "REGGIE! Hey, let us get an autograph real quick!" Reggie responded "Sorry, I'm late for practice, I gotta get down and change," before he ran down toward the locker room. The couple, in desperation, with their USC Bookstore bags filled with autograph footballs, cried out "COME ON, REGGIE! Just one second! Come on, that's cold, man. That's cold..."

As "regular people," we think that it would be cool to have people ask you for autographs. However, I wonder if people ever think about how it might feel to be interrupted every single time you went out shopping or to a meal with some friends because someone is "huge fan" of you. People constantly asked me to get autographs of players for them during my four years of college, saying, "Oh my dad is the biggest fan," or "I LOVE Reggie Bush/Matt Leinart." The two guys were the cornerstones (along with many others), of two national championship teams, everyone loved them, but oftentimes, people didn't seem to recognize the toll that it frequently took on them. Sometimes, the two guys just didn't want to give autographs or take pictures and I don't think it's because they wanted to "protect their brand," but rather I think that they just wanted to enjoy being a college student before it was their official job to be athlete-celebrities.

I was really proud to read Arash Markazi's (who gained notoriety as a very controversial writer who covered USC Football for the Daily Trojan) positive article on Reggie Bush. It's silly, but I felt a great sense of pride that for three years, I was "Lil' Man," to Reggie - his little (yet older) homey who would carry his helmet up to the locker room after the game so he could do post-game interviews without trying to figure out what he should do with his helmet, find his digital camera for him during post game (and get stuck in the tunnel one time with it at the University of Washington), and occasionally save him from hoards of money-hungry autograph seekers by saying he'd left for the day. I hope that all these guys continue to perform well on and off the field now that they've moved on from Heritage Hall. While their success on the field is great, it is truly admirable that they are doing enough positive things off the field for a major media publication to write about it.

Fight on, guys.

That Bill O'Reilly flip out post was a little too intense for me.

If it disturbed anyone else, found this video on YouTube to clear your mind.

Apparently, a stand for the camera messes up his flow

I would give this guy a dollar if he was performing at Third Street Promenade. See? Now you're not even thinking about O'Reilly....until I just said that. Just watch it again and your mind will be totally clear again.

Bill O'Reilly loses his cool in an "interview" with Geraldo Rivera

It's almost like watching two drunk frat boys argue about college football

It's not really the content that surprises me, but more the finger-pointing, raised voices, and inability for these two professional television journalists to sit still and speak reasonably while on television. Did anyone see this live? I'm wondering if I missed anything else in this interview. These two have to have a history somewhere for them both to act this way. While I'm not at all a Geraldo Rivera fan club member, O'Reilly became a talk show host who wouldn't allow his guest to talk and it's almost disturbing how quickly he got worked up after his views were challenged. He refuses to listen and while there are two voices, you can tell that O'Reilly is only hearing his while Rivera at least responds to O'Reilly's comments. Was it because Geraldo said "Irish drunk?"

There are some people who always have to be right and somehow, even when they're wrong, they're still right. There are people who argue, but forget to listen. As a result, there is no solution, but yet, these people feel satisfied. I am not friends with those people.

Thought this would be kind of fun...

Looking around for that Reggie Bush picture took me for a trip down memory lane, so I thought I'd post a few pictures of some of the pretty cool opportunities I've had to meet some "famous people" in my near quarter century on earth thusfar.

The Hall of Fame is great for me, Ronnie Lott...
But there was no greater thrill than meeting this short Asian.

I, Carson Palmer, might be a Pro Bowl Quarterback...
But that doesn't mean I won't take pictures with a jamoke.
Man, I might be Carmelo Anthony, but I could use some work on my game sometimes...
So I'm gonna dunk over this kid while he cries under the hoop.
Aaaaaaah I'm Matt Leinart and I'm going for the win!
...Who is this small child next to me??

Rawrrrr! No offensive line can stop me, Kenechi Udeze!
But I will stop and take a picture with this lost child...

Boy do I, Will Ferrell, want to take a picture with some random kid at the Orange Bowl...
Ah...Mission accomplished...
Hey man, did you check out DaveChung.com today? Tom Brady did!
What a thrill to meet a former Daily Trojan writer!
Should I, Nick Lachey, hang out with Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart?
Or hang out with the creator of DaveChung.com?
Wahoo! DJ, who would have thought I'd be on DaveChung.com!

Good luck in the draft, Steve.

Haha, I feel like I could do this all night. Man, it's nice to have the day off tomorrow. All joking aside, there are parts of it that I do miss.

How did I miss this? Reggie Bush, you came up!

I just remember us as young bucks, back when people could catch you on a cut back...And now you're in Ciara music videos and are allegedly dating her

And me? Well...I guess things are pretty good...Didn't make it to the league or can't flip into endzones, but...

Found me a nice girl...

She's no Ciara, but she has a good heart.

Does anyone else find it humorous that "The Gay Quiz" is probably one of the most common sponsored links on my Google Adsense bar? Has anyone ever clicked it? I'm not helping matters by writing those keywords into this entry right now, which will likely make it appear even more frequently, but there's something mildly entertaining about the fact that Google's algorithms feel like that's an effective advertisement to have on my blog.

Today, I went to a Shell station on La Cienega (you know, that one with the car wash) on my way home from picking up a present for Arlene from someone she works special events with (very excited to go down to San Diego and catch up with the Freemans this weekend). I had about a quarter tank left, so I kind of needed gas, but really, I just noticed that I had a $10 dollar bill that was about a half centimeter from ripping, so I wanted to get rid of it before I had to be that guy who tapes it. That's a stupid reason to spend $10, but today, that was my reason. I remember when $10 made your gas gauge move significantly, but that's beside the point.

Anyways, so I walked into the convenience store/cashier area to find what really resembled a house of horrors, at least for a gas station. The bathroom door was wide open and two women were speaking incredibly loudly in a language I couldn't comprehend (which is tough because I'm familiar with a good number by this point in my life). A girl, sitting in a stroller, had her face and both her hands just covered in vomit and was smiling, talking, as if she didn't even know it. Two other kids, who I assume to be her brother and sister were running around the convenience store, while their sister continued to just play with the barf that was now all over her arms and hands, while the two women continued to speak with each other, run the water in the bathroom and ignore the children.

Making the situation even more interesting, a homeless woman who was blasting some kind of house music through her headphones opened the door for me and moaned loudly and motioned for me to go in before her. I obliged, only to have the homeless woman cut me in line immediately after. She demanded/asked the cashier for a dollar (that's just not realistic at a retail location, but I feel like logic was far out the window at this point), only to have the cashier brush her off. The woman was fine with it, turned around, continued to jam out to her house music and walked out of the store without even asking me for money (maybe she thought my Bluetooth made me an alien, North Korean spy, or she thought that I was the one who was weird looking).

Regardless, I made my way up to the cashier and paid for my gas. I remarked to the cashier, "It's an adventure in here..." He smiled and said, "Naw, man, that lady comes in here all the time. It's nothing." He said nothing about the now-departed girl covered in vomit that looked like something out of The Sixth Sense. I paid, pumped my gas, and left. Weirded out? A little.

However. this eventful trip to what is normally a pretty calm gas station continued to show me something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. More and more, I realize that our outlook on the world is so heavily shaped by our frame of reference that while we all live in the same world, we all look at things so different. Our frame of reference shifts as our situations shift and our values change as our opinions on things are shifted by the world around us. Yes, I realize that it sounds like I have been smoking a lot of weed before sitting down to make this late night post, but I promise that this is a completely level-headed post.

When I went back to the East Coast for the longest that I've been back in about three years (about 3 weeks), I realized that somewhere along the way, I've become a West Coaster. Because I hadn't really been back for so long, I came to this sudden realization that it was really bothering me that I had to sit next to strangers on subways, ride on buses next to randoms, and well, walk places instead of drive. Suddenly, it wasn't ok for me to walk in dirty snow or drive on roads that didn't have reflective paint or reflectors. I was out of my element at the place that once was my element.

Living near USC will get you very used to being around some interesting characters and will really normalize the idea of having a lot of homeless people and experiencing general paranoia when you're walking around at night. Now that I'm out in West Los Angeles, working in one of the most upscale parts of Beverly Hills, it's weird that suddenly, that "hood," where I have class three nights a week isn't normal to me. At USC, designer everything becomes normal, seeing girls with Chanel sunglasses becomes no big deal, and you don't think for a second that "there is no way that Prada purse is real..." Why? Because it is real and it ceases to impress you in a superficial way as much as you likely think it would because of the price tag. Going to college makes you assume that people can write grammatically coherent sentences, make a Powerpoint presentation, or even know how to act in an upscale restaurant, but the reality is that this is not what much of the world is like. Life for everyone is not like The Hills on MTV, even though it's easy and completely doable to live that life, but we often forget that our life is not everyone else's.

While I stupidly and wrongly worry about how I'm going to clear $300 off my credit card bill after buying a GPS, someone else is worrying about how they're going to pay their electricity bill, rent, and food with their minimum wage. And it's about time that I realize that a little more and stop feeling sorry for myself when I have more than enough, even if it means that I don't have more than the people around me.

A little ranty today.

The Chicago Sun-Times Goes Online

Ok, well not completely, but partially.

Maybe I'm being nostalgic, but now that more magazines (Life, Elle Girl, Premier, and more) and newspapers are going to partially online or full-online versions, I feel like we're going to be losing that excitement of getting a magazine in the mail (and having it be left unread for two months until you get around to it, making anything inside not even close to timely, but yet you emerged generally more informed than the general public) or opening your front door to pick up your newspaper (or hope that someone hasn't stolen it from outside your apartment complex). Is anyone going to get their latest issue of Wired in their email box and jump for joy? Maybe...but when I get my BusinessWeek Online emails, I always delete them, figuring that I'll just read it in the print version when I have a minute.

Are we ready for our long-time print friends to go all online? Personally, I find it tough to long articles and stories on my computer (if anyone has emailed with me, I apologize for the novels...), but that clearly seems to be the way that the print industry is going. Definitely wouldn't be surprised to see a portfolio-like small LCD-esque device that you carry around with a wireless connection that can download any of your subscribed magazines and arachives anywhere where you can get a Wi-Fi connection or piggyback on a cell phone carrier's EVDO network in the near future. No doubt it will be overpriced, but no doubt it could be the future.

It's also weird that stories like this and the fact that I'm struggling with the idea of online-print media makes me feel old...and I'm 23.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

"The Graduates" Fails To Make The Grade

Basically, The New York Times is having eight college seniors who hold high ranking positions at their respective college student newspapers write a blog about looking forward to the future in order to try and get some young people to read the paper (well, on their computer screens).

Without a legitimate career in journalism in sight, that would have been such a sweet gig. I would have loved to write about accruing an extra $20k in student loans for a Master's Degree that has a good chance of never paying for itself. Instead of writing optimistically about the future, I wish that someone would write about how most people fresh out of college are not only generally poor, but generally aren't thrilled with their jobs. I would love to hear about someone talking about how they're frustrated about working full-time while their friends bum it at home and enjoy a better quality of life than them. Hopefully the students blog about jobs they didn't get, facing reality versus what they expected, and disappointments as much as the triumphs of moving on to the "next big step" in their lives.

The author in the linked article basically says the same thing, thinking that it would be great to hear some very real stories instead of stories that will end up being clips to add onto a journalism resume'.

Other than a boatload of student loans, I'm pretty satisfied with my life so far, but I think I could have been pretty entertaining. I have a cool full-time job in Beverly Hills, live in pseudo-West LA, have the quintessential compact car, a supportive family, no car payments, a Nintendo Wii, good friends, a boatload of CDs, two iPods, and an HDTV. On the surface, life is pretty good and really, I can't complain.

My mom fwded me this messagea few weeks back when I couldn't really see how lucky and fortunate I was to be in my situation amidst all the confusion and uncertainty in my life. To be honest, normally, I hate forwards. But while a little lame and gramatically questionable, it made me appreciate a bad day at work and each day of my life a little bit more.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who won't survive the week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle,the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture orthe pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 20 million people around the world.

If you attend a church meeting without fear of harassment,arrest, torture, or death,you are more blessed than almost three billion people in the world.

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overyour head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read anything at all.

You are so blessed in ways you may never even know.

Word to your moms, from my mom.

Yesterday (Both DaveChung.com new records):

Page impressions
86

Clicks

6

Thank you guys so much for your support and continuing to check out my humble blog. I have a lot of ideas in mind that I can't wait to put in motion as school begins to wind down and it means a lot to me that people continue to check out my page.

Congratulations to the Irish Trojan's blog for making it to 5 years of blogging. Your website is an inspiration to guys like me.

For today, I leave you all with a bit of off-color news from yesterday that I thought was funny.

Thai Zoo Turns to Artificial Insemination as Panda Porn Fails

Yikes.

Will Oleg make us watch commercials?

Video

As a near avid DVR user at this point, FOX, along with other major media companies are experimenting with new ways to get viewers involved with watching TV. Is it too little too late? Going to USC and living in Los Angeles has skewed my perception of how many people actually use DVR's and TiVo's when they're watching TV, but I'm wondering if these types of tactics would make any DVR convert slow down their commercial "zapping." For non-DVR users, which is by far the majority of the United States, perhaps Oleg will make users slow down and pay more attention to television advertisements.

MySpace Will Hold Presidential Primary
Michael Arrington

MySpace has more registered members than Mexico has people. If it was a country it would be the 11th largest in the world. So while it may be a major marketing event for MySpace to say it’s holding a presidential primary next January, you can be sure the candidates will take it seriously.

The MySpace primary will be held on January 1 & 2, 2008, before any of the official state primaries. Every user will be asked to vote for their favorite candidate.
Most of the candidates already have MySpace pages. See, for example, Hillary Clinton (7,468 friends), John Edwards (16,921 friends), Rudy Guiliani (private profile), John McCain (3,596 friends) and Barack Obama (89,465 friends). See all of the candidates here.
We recently covered an enhancement to John McCain’s MySpace page.

I actually think it would be much more interesting for Facebook to do this than MySpace. Facebook’s user accounts are each tied to an email address or cell phone, resulting in far fewer fake or duplicate accounts. Given the low quality of the MySpace user base (multiple accounts, no identity check, etc.) it would be relatively easy for a campaign to create a significant number of fake accounts to stuff the ballot box in their favor. Facebook can also tie their users to U.S. residency much easier than MySpace. The results would actually be interesting.

This story caught my eye earlier today.

Something that I say over and over is that I think it's pretty unbelievable that every child born in the 21st century has a very good chance of ending on up Facebook or MySpace. While I believe about 70%-80% of the United States has Internet access right now, we're not getting far from the point where a significant majority of the whole country could end up on a social networking site. Will we get to the point where you'll be able to see your neighbors on a social networking site so you can poke, message, and post a bulletin telling them to turn down "Leave" by JoJo on their alarm clock in the morning? Who knows! Is this scary? Perhaps.

Seeing as I would guess that USC likely has about a 70% Facebook penetration (a completely random guestimate), I agree with Arrington's thought that it might be more effective to have the election tie into Facebook, rather than MySpace. However, that's not to say that a "primary" via Facebook would be significantly more accurate than one on MySpace, now that Facebook has opened its doors to people who don't identify with a college, high school (boo), company (more boo), or even a geographic location (even worse). While it might be the layout of the website, Facebook seems to attract different types of users than MySpace on the surface (and seems to still have a largely college-educated base, which might skew the results a bit). Less flaming on people's "walls" (the equivalent to MySpace comments, which apparently can get pretty violent), more privacy features, and less overall raunchiness on the social network. However, I would venture to say that MySpace users are much more involved with their pages, likely stay on them for a longer period of time, and are generally more active within the more media-robust community (one day, I'll actually look into this).

I just mailed in my first voter registration sheet last Friday and I'm very excited to cast my first vote in the upcoming presidential election. I didn't register with a party, so I know that I have a lot to learn about the candidates. However, I look forward to getting involved with the democratic process (whether it matters or not in a state like California) and casting my first official ballot in 2008.

It remains to be seen whether the winner of the MySpace primary will end up winning the most exciting presidential election in years. As of right now, Barack Obama's camp seems to be hard at work on MySpace (are people "adding" him? Or is "he" "adding" people?) and will likely send out bulletin after bulletin as the e-Primary date approaches.

Before realizing how corrupt it could become, I always thought that giving people the opportunity to vote online would make more people want to vote. Albeit unofficial, it'll be very interesting to see how many people "cast their ballots," for the MySpace Primary.

Some people need to chill out...

The other day, I went down to Papa John's to pick up the Carryout Special ($5.99 for a Large One-Topping Pizza), the best deal in mainstream fast food since Dan's Deal at Del Taco. After walking in to pay for my pizza which would feed me for two weekend meals (three for normal people), I, along with a few other innocent customers witnessed what was one of the more disgusting displays of spoiled customer syndrome I have ever seen.

Let me try and summarize...

"Bro, why can't you just put garlic sauce on the pizza? I called in and I asked for it."

"Sir, I'm sorry, but it is against company policy for us to do that."

"Bro, bro, what's your name? Francisco? Francisco, bro, listen to me. Don't you guys put garlic sauce on the breadsticks?" (a valid point)

"A little bit sir, but it is a different product and I am not authorized to put garlic sauce on the pizzas."

"Francisco, bro, come on. What YOU'RE telling me is that YOU are unable to think out of the box. What YOU'RE telling me right now is that you're unable to make the customer happy. What YOU'RE telling me is that you're refusing to make the customer happy??"

"No sir, I'm just telling you that I cannot put garlic sauce on your pizza."

"Francisco, wait, come back here. Francisco, give me the number to corporate."

After calling corporate, having no one pick up and complaining a bit more about the situation (no one cared). This "bro" in his form fitting, light blue vintage t-shirt opened his pizza box and had the nerve to ask "Francisco" for a favor.

"Hey Francisco? Bro? Hey bro, totally forgot. My boy just can't eat tomato sauce, I'm going to have to get this remade. I should have told you guys, but my boy just can't eat tomato sauce."

A favor. Really. You're going to ask this guy for a favor after you've been ripping on him for almost 10 minutes and making an ass out of yourself to employees who will no doubt urinate on your pizza before putting it in the oven next time and to all the other customers who came into the resturant? Incredible.

Realize you're in Papa John's, not Pizza Rustica in Beverly Hills.

Realize that you probably paid with a coupon.

Realize that you've probably never worked food service in your whole life and that the people who work in chain food restaurants really just want to have you get in, get out, not make you completely happy.

Realize that your next pizza will probably have urine all over it.

People like this make me sick.

For what it's worth, my pizza was good, by the way.

Pointless, but pretty cool.

Since starting my new job, I've been reading a lot and watching a lot of online videos on places like MySpace, YouTube, and more. While user created videos, like the one posted above are fun and are all over YouTube and MySpace Videos, there's also been an explosion of copywritten material finding its way to these websites as well, some authorized, some not. With the recent deal between NBC Universal and News Corp, online video is clearly still the next big thing in media.

Today, pilots that didn't make it to air or were cancelled are finding their way to sites like YouTube so that people can watch for themselves to see if they think the show is worth watching. VH1, along with other networks, have tried and are trying to created television shows that showcase user-generated content as well. Last week, Michael Eisner's online-only series Prom Queen began airing on MySpace and so now, to watch TV, you don't even need a TV.

No TV. No problem.

I still remember when streaming video just came out and I was struggling to watch videos off IGN for Tetrisphere on a 28k connection and now people are watching full TV episode series on their computers or TV's through products like AppleTV or Slingbox in seconds.

Best. Game. Evar.

With the standardization of HDTV in the United States in 2009 and TV monitors coming equipped with HDMI, DVI, and VGA ports to make them easier to hook up to computers, we are truly in a revolutionary time in media right now. With products like the AppleTV, which I checked out last weekend at The Grove, we are so close to being able to just have a high speed Internet connection hooked into a hard drive that can play, record, and store all our favorite shows, movies, and clips. It's pretty unreal! Even on my Wii, I can watch videos online if I feel like it and can get all the entertainment that TV provides, without even using a TV signal.

Let's be real though, I still love TV. And that season finale of The Hills, makes me realize that yes, I do still love a good half hour of TV...as long as I am watching it via DVR. Oh Lauren Conrad...you are a dream.

*sigh*

Checked out USC Football practice on Sunday. Definitely nice to be back, but weird not to know all the names, faces and numbers of the new players. Good luck to Randall, the rest of the student managers and the team this year. Everyone expects the team to get to "the natty" this year, here's hoping that it actually happens.

Otherwise, life has been pretty good. I cannot wait to graduate and just be done with this 5 year Bachelor's/Master's program. People tell me to be proud of that accomplishment and that picking up my two faux diplomas will be one of the proudest days of my life, but I can't help but think that it's just another day. May 11th (pending passing grades in all my classes) will no doubt be a weight off my shoulders, but I feel like grad school has killed any school spirit that remained after four years of undergrad.

Looking forward to having some free time though! More blog updates, jiu-jitsu, surfing lessons, and maybe even a fun weekend job are top candidates to fill the time void that will be there after graduation, but if life tells us anything, it's that things rarely go as we plan. So we'll see!

Idol is on tonight. My new strategy is to check out the AI message boards and see who has the most and least posts (people who post on the boards are pretty huge fanatics...as "Charge your cell phones!" and "Where would Blake take you on a date?" are fairly common message board topics) to see who has the best chance of staying or leaving every week.

According to the boards... The boys have the fanatic fans in a year where the girls were expected to dominate, and it would not be a surprise to see one of the judge's favorites, Lakisha Jones, end up in the bottom two this week.

Top 3

1) Blake Lewis

2) Sanjaya Malakar

3) Chris Richardson

Bottom 3

1) Lakisha Jones

2) Haley Scarnato

3) Phil Stacey

I'm still going with Blake to win this thing. If Sanjaya wins, I worry what it would do to AI as a television series because it could singlehandedly destroy the show's credibility.

Thanks for checking in, all.