MeMo

February 24, 2010

Tony, more toad than tiger

I heard about the Tony Kornheiser story yesterday, and it made me wince -- not because I feel sad for old Tony, but because I could see where it was heading.

Let's recap: Kornheiser, a radio and ESPN host, criticized an outfit worn by Houston's own Hannah Storm in very specific sexist (and ageist) terms and was suspended from ESPN for two weeks. This from a guy who looks like the product of an unholy union between an orc and an anteater.

I was right, judging from the vehemently pro-boor comments on the story on chron.com.

Now I believe Storm has heard worse, and she wouldn't have lasted in the cruel TV world unless she could take it. But that's not the issue. Why should she take it? She's a woman working in a very male world, and law if not custom makes it abundantly clear that she shouldn't have to -- that, in fact, she doesn't have to.

There are huge problems here. One is the culture of sports media (including the ones I work near) which are traditionally about two clicks classier than a men's room. Even in 2010, I'd think twice before I worked in that atmosphere, and I'm mature and possessed of the ability to smack down, hard.

Kornheiser's been listening to his own echoes too long. I used to listen to his radio show, and I even enjoyed it, largely because he got off-topic so often, but I did think I was eavesdropping on the boys-only treehouse.

You can laugh at me for being so PC, but what is the alternative? Being a creep like Kornheiser?

The fact is simple. Men-only workplaces suffer, as do women-only ones. There's strength -- and smarts -- in diversifying, broadening the base, making room for lots of people whose lives and experiences are not your own.

You think twice about making a stupid non-joke about a woman's outfit and age if you think the woman at the next desk is going to give you a tongue-lashing, or even haul your scrawny behind up to HR. Worse yet if you disseminate it out on the airwaves, thus embarrassing not only you but your employer.

At my first newspaper job, when a woman ascended the staircase in the middle of the newsroom, the men would hold up Olympic-judge-style signs giving the woman a "score". I may remember this wrong, but I think I finally held up a sign giving the guys all a score of zero.

That was 100 years ago. It makes me sad that I could still find myself doing the same thing.

Posted by Kyrie at 12:43 PM in | Comments (17)
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February 23, 2010

The story of Lucy -- please listen

I don't know how to persuade you to listen to the podcast of this story about a chimp.

It's one of the most haunting and disturbing stories I've ever heard. Not to beat up Avatar further, but I saw that movie this weekend, and I heard this story, and Lucy's is the story I will remember for a long time.

It is a story of science gone wrong, of our close relationship to chimpanzees, of the still-wide gap between us and chimpanzees, and the horrible harm when ignorance and science bond in a bad cause.

It reminds me a little of the story of Alex the African gray parrot, another intelligent animal who found himself (much more humanely) in the in-between where animals and humans can communicate.

I know you'll disagree with me, but within our children's lifetimes treating animals as property or simply meat will be considered unspeakably barbaric.

But please -- listen to the story of Lucy. You won't regret being made to think.

Posted by Kyrie at 12:49 PM in | Comments (19)
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February 22, 2010

Avatar vs. Those Pants, or why the world is this way

Associated Press Those pants aren't CGI.

Whenever I despair at the state of the universe and/or my soul, such as at 2:50 a.m. or midway through Avatar, I bring my mind back to a happy fact: The Facebook group saluting the Norwegian men's curling team's spectacular pants has more than 300,000 members.

Given that Avatar, a Really Dumb and LOUD Movie, has made about $2.5 billion, it still means there are a lot more blue-people rooters than there are argyle-pants rooters (and I bet there's little overlap).

I mean, either you like overblown eco-animist claptrap shoved in your face, or you like the subtly weird, such as the Norwegian pants. (For the record, I also endorse the Danish women curlers' cute skirts.)

Sometimes the worlds collide. Who among us can fully comprehend the weirdness that is ice dancing, quintessentially expressed by the "aboriginal" Russians?

But really, those Russians are straight outta Pandora. Is James Cameron's overblown cartoon really all that different?

Years ago, in a different universe, I worked at a newspaper where we (rightly) were concerned about diversity. The artists who illustrated many of the lifestyle stories became frustrated at trying to balance the human hues and simply decided to make all the people they drew (wait for it) blue. Nobody's actually blue, so nobody complained. I think we went through about a year of blue people. Cameron did the same thing -- he can throw a kitchen sink of first-people cliches onto his ice-dancing blue folk because they're blue. But, to amend Jessica Rabbit, they're not blue -- they're just drawn that way.

Maybe we can send a Norwegian in argyle pants in to save those aboriginal Russians. It's what Cameron would do.

Posted by Kyrie at 12:31 PM in | Comments (21)
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February 19, 2010

Some mysteries, from dating to feeling pain, to think on

When Friday comes 'round, it's time to consider mysteries, such as where the week went and why, for example, it is harder to pay a $12 bill that requires writing a check, finding a stamp and locating a mailbox than it is to pay the mortgage, which is 150 times more but can be done online.

But that's just me. There are real, serious (or semi-serious) mysteries out there.

1. Why don't men date older women, even when nearly every metric points that way? Read this analysis by okcupid and become even more confused.

2. I'm a sucker for Neolithic cave paintings. I like the new notion that some of the cave markings lead to speculation that it is a rudimentary form of writing -- thus making writing and written communication a much older form than we ever imagined.

3. Do food animals have to suffer? I was quite taken by the HBO movie on Temple Grandin, whose autism helped lead her to see how to make slaughterhouses more humane. Now there is a movement toward genetically engineering animals to feel less pain.

Umm, I guess it's unrealistic to think the factory farm is the problem and not the animal's genetics.

Your mysteries?

Posted by Kyrie at 01:57 PM in bits and pieces | Comments (12)
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February 18, 2010

We're in a pretty good mood. Really.

Really, I'm not grumpy. Honest. Not grumpy at all. Fake Andy Rooney, however . . .
1. An antediluvian Andy Rooney complains about progress: sharp stone tools, fire, migration.

2. Friend o' the Blog EatRunDive thinks this Qatar Airlines ad is a tad strange. If you don't examine it carefully, you could get the impression that it begins with marijuana leaves and later appears to show cocaine being cut. It's not, but you can definitely see it.

3. Here's evolution we can all sign on to. Even Andy Rooney couldn't resist:

Posted by Kyrie at 12:39 PM in bits and pieces | Comments (2)
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February 17, 2010

From Esquire, the best piece of writing you'll find all day

A bit busy today, so not much time for blogging.

I will give you a lovely, poignant piece of writing to read, however. Esquire has done a profile of film critic Roger Ebert, ravaged by cancer that has left him unable to speak, eat or drink but has not altered his mental capacity. It's one of those stories that is sad but inspiring -- read it.

Posted by Kyrie at 01:31 PM in journalizm | Comments (8)
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February 16, 2010

Does this Hitler video make me look fat?

It's feeling like a kind of catch-all day.

1. The Hitler-parody video genre has put some meta on its meta with this video: Hitler making a parody of Hitler parody videos. (from BoingBoing)

Not as funny as the others, maybe, but weird in a ya-gotta-love-tha-Internets way. (Caption language alert!)

2. Two kinds of people, Summer Olympics people and Winter Olympics people. I'm a Winter girl. Within that subset, another dividing line: You're either an Olympics cryer or you're not. Guess which I am.

Slate has a Sap-O-Meter to measure the sobbiness of the Olympics. Pretty colors!

3. Kevin Smith , evidently, is too fat to fly Southwest, but Coco Rocha, a size 4, is too fat to be a runway model, according to some.

Posted by Kyrie at 12:59 PM in | Comments (7)
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