As Patrick’s Place begins its 5th year, I thought I would take a quick look back at 2007, and try to pick the best single entry for each of the twelve months of the previous year.

January: Comparing Storms: A publicized email from someone claiming to be an emergency official somewhere in Colorado was an attack on the victims of Hurricane Katrina and an unfair comparison of the impact and aftermath of a category five hurricane and a severe blizzard.

February: Taking Offense: A slip-up by Parade magazine gets someone riled because it mentions a famous horse after the horse’s death. Okay, okay…it was an embarrassing mistake…but was it serious enough to “offend” someone?

March: Much Ado About “Politics As Usual”: Commentator Ann Coulter made a mean comment about John Edwards. People went ballistic and the sweeping generalizations started flying. I decided to point about a few important points about mudslinging from both sides.

April: The College Massacre and Prayer in Schools: What would make a college student gun down 32 of his classmates? Well, I had an idea of one thing that didn’t cause that particular tragedy.

May: Politics and the Race Card: A local columnist says Charleston is “due” for a black mayor. I suggested that there might be one qualification more important than race.

June: The Nine: After a week of editing footage of the deadly Sofa Super Store fire, I found the time — and the need — to visit the site of the tragedy in person.

July: Sanctity: A senator’s name appears in the address book of the “D.C. Madam.” He supported efforts to protect the “sanctity of marriage.” So I had a few questions.

August: Off the Cuff: A remark made in jest at church started nagging at me, so I wanted to set the record straight about my views about God.

September: Everything That’s Wrong with Christianity: A comment about the Lord’s Prayer led me to some important points believers should consider.

October: Halloween Party or Fall Festival?: Another annual pointless debate about holiday nomenclature. But this year, I’d had enough, and pointed out an opportunity Christian parents keep missing year after year.

November: When is it Really Discrimination?: If you spend your time walking around expecting discrimination and looking for it at every turn, you can easily find it, even when it’s really not there.

December: It’s About Tolerance, Not Belief: In response to a fellow blogger’s post about the difference between theists and atheists, I suggested that tolerance isn’t dependent on how much or little one is willing to accept when it comes to religion.

Well, that’s my list of twelve entries. Now it’s your turn: can you come up with one post per month that you feel is the best of your blog? Consider yourself tagged…and leave a link so I can revisit some of your standout posts from 2007.

If you were a child of the 1970s, you may remember a short-lived cartoon/live action series shown in the classroom called Vegetable Soup.

Thanks to the “miracle” of YouTube, here is the ultra-funky theme song:

The metaphor of the recipe — “It takes all kinds of vegetables…” — was intended to be a theme of diversity and acceptance of different people and views.

Hopefully, more of us can keep that in mind in 2008.

I love the ads for Burger King with the (presumably authentic) hidden camera footage of customers being told that the Whopper^® had been discontinued.

Here’s a summary of the practical joke:

Anyone who knows me well probably already knows that had I been one of the customers being told that there was no longer any such thing as a Whopper on the menu, things wouldn’t have gone well.

Not well at all.

My favorite quote from one of the customers who thought they were being interviewed by a legit news organization after the joke:

“What are you going to put on the logo now, ‘Home of Whatever We Got’?”

On the other hand, the chain was spared any tirade from me by the fact that I haven’t had a Whopper (or the more-damaging, 1400+-calorie Hardee’s Monster Burger) in almost a full year.

Oh, yes…I still miss them.

Patrick’s Place received some sad news that involves local television as well as the world of local writers in the Lowcountry:  author and former broadcaster Red Evans is fighting cancer and was placed in hospice care just before Christmas.

Originally known as “The Rockin’ Redhead” on local radio, and then as a local television journalist, Evans, 75, calls himself a three, possibly four-career guy:

“Thirty years in broadcasting, as The Rockin’ Redhead and then as a TV journalist. I’m a three-career guy, maybe even four. A radio personality when I was young, spinning Elvis, Fats, and the drifters. I was the Rockin’ Redhead, a wisecracking, adlibbing deejay with voice mimics and catch phrases. Alas, I outgrew all that and got serious, turning to news which occupied my focus for the next twenty years and eventually led to lobbying Congress in Washington, DC and public speaking. Fifteen years later, after I retired I began my fourth career, writing fiction and playing with my grandchldren in Charleston, SC where I reside with my wife of 50 years.”

That description of Red, written by Red, is found on his blog, which he just began back in November, after publishing his first novel, On Ice, an unusual road trip story about a corpse being kept literally on ice in a kiddie pool, a farm boy and a flatulent dog.

More on the novel can be found at the publisher’s site, incidentally.

Upon learning of his diagnosis, according to Evans’s son, Mike, Red didn’t abandon his sense of humor.   “He said his cancer now has cancer and that the tumors in his body are all trying to join up with each other.”

I’ve never met Red officially, though I know we were recently in the same building when he stopped by to talk about his novel during a guest segment.

Another local author, Dave Moulton, told me the other day that Red read a passage from his book during last month’s meeting of the local writers group I’ve been attending.  Unfortunately, I missed that session.

Please keep Red and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Keep fighting, Red.

It’s the final edition of the Sunday Seven. For the year, that is.

For the past few weeks, the major media have been compiling their list of the biggest stories of 2007. If you thought you heard the patter of fevered footsteps following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto just a few days ago, you were correct in your perception: many outfits were trying to add this latest end-of-the-year bombshell into their canned packages listing the most notable headlines.

It’s not unusal for big stories to sneak in at the very last few days of a year, either. But that’s for another post.

In any case, this week’s edition is all about those big headlines…but with a slight twist.

• First to play last week: Cat. of “Sweet Memes.” Congratulations!

I note that Cat. was also the only person to play last week. Tough question?

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Name the seven stories of the year that resonated most with you. You may provide links to the stories if you wish or provide a brief summary of what happened.

(The storites can be international, national or local, and can be serious “hard news” or more lighthearted stories: the only requirement is that they must have had some interest for you personally. And for extra credit, explain why the stories meant enough to you to make the list.)

Either answer the question in a comment or answer it in your journal and include the link in a comment. (To be considered “first to play,” a link must be to the specific entry in which you answered the question.) You may include this link in the URL space when leaving your comment, or in the comment itself. As long as it’s there in one spot or the other.

Look for my answers in a new post after the New Year.

It’s the time of year when we traditionally wrap ourselves in a blanket of nostalgia and ponder those who passed away over the last twelve months.

In keeping with that tradition, I offer this page of notable deaths as compiled by the Associated Press.

And there’s something striking about the list:  the fact that the majority of those who died were well into their seventies and eighties.  The youngest person, a rapper, was 33.  Anna Nicole Smith was the second-youngest at 39.

The third-youngest on the AP’s list were Boston’s lead singer Brad Delp, who died on March 9th and pro football’s Darryl Stingley, who died on April 5th.  Both were 55.

The oldest, Brooke Astor, was 105.   A second centenarian on the list, Oliver Hill, a lawyer who argued the Brown v. Board of Education case, was 100.

I guess we really are living longer.  And I’m all for that.

Sometimes, as many of you know, it’s what a political ad doesn’t come right out and say that is worth thinking about.

I’ve been thinking about a campaign commercial called, “Searched” from the Mitt Romeny crowd. It’s a testimonial by one of his business associates, a father whose daughter went missing in the Big Apple. Oh, yes…you’ve seen it, right?

I’ve seen the spot often enough now that when I do, I start asking lots of questions, starting with whether I’d run the same spot if I were going for your vote. And the answer I keep coming up with is no.

It seems innocent enough. There’s a father, Robert Gay, who obviously loves his daughter, at times struggling to avoid breaking down as he recounts the terrifying story of her disappearance. It’s one of those “parent’s worst nightmare” moments that we promo people like to mention when we’ve hit writer’s block in a script.

Mitt Romney, he says, brought the company both men were partners in, (Bain Capital), to a halt so that all of the employees could travel to New York City to search for his daughter.

Nowhere does the ad claim that the 14-year-old girl was “abducted” or “kidnapped.” But it also doesn’t report that police said that she voluntarily went to a rave — one of those underground concerts where drugs are, unfortunately, often served — and took some Ecstasy, after which she “wandered the city” and met a young man who took her to his parents’ home in New Jersey.

This additional information came from the same source that tells the story in the emotional political commercial: her father. That’s according to this article in the New York Times from 13 July, 1996.

It is interesting to note that this article also reports that police said at the time no charges would be filed, which certainly would be strange if she had actually been kidnapped.

It also explains that police responded to the house after receiving several phone calls, but makes no mention of the much-heralded search itself being responsible for her discovery.

And there’s more: the same article says this about how the search began:

“Mr. Gay, a partner in the private investment firm Bain Capital, launched a huge search with the help of business partners Thursday to help locate his daughter, whom the family had not heard from since last Saturday.”

It was Gay, the article says, who launched the search. Not Romney.

A second Times article adds this:

“Bain Capital’s partners closed down the firm and drew on friendships and connections to find volunteers for the search.”

Neither article mentions the selfless act of friendship by Romney. Neither article mentions Romney by name at all. And both articles, including the one written after an interview with Gay himself, make it clear that the decision involved several people: “with the help of his business partners,” for example.

Now, eleven years later, unnamed “business partners” becomes Mitt Romney alone.

Maybe Romney, like like Mike Huckabee, forgot that this is the Information Age, in which such information is readily available to anyone who can type a few keywords into Google. Maybe, the father was so overwhelmed at the time with fear and worry about his child, that he just didn’t think about praising the “one man” who saved his daughter.

Or maybe time has changed the perception of who did what.

But beyond the selfless gesture itself, what is one really supposed to get out of this spot?

That Romney knows that nothing — especially money — is more important than family? That Romney is the kind of guy who wouldn’t mind letting a business he’s run lose millions of dollars during a humanitarian crisis?

Or maybe that Romney, given a cause he’s passionate enough about, wouldn’t be ablve brining everything — possibly even the government? — to a standstill just so he gets the outcome he wants?

For those who like to play the gas tank equivalent of Russian Roulette as you drive along, trying to press your luck mile after mile despite the glowing light and soft bell of your gas gauge, pleading with you to fill ‘er up, here’s a website you might enjoy: Tank on Empty.

Its purpose is to “help solve a mystery that has puzzled mankind for years: How far can you go after the gas light in your car comes on?”

Good luck. (And take the numbers with a grain of salt.)

(Via Damien McNicholl’s Blog)

Here we are at the end of another year. But before we usher 2007 out the door, there is time for one more set of six questions!

• First to play last week: Victoria of “Hikari.” Congratulations!

Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal…but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as “first to play,” you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!

1. Compared to 2006, was 2007 better or worse for you?

2. Take the quiz: How did your year rate?

3. What moment do you remember as being the most emotional for you of 2007?

4. Do you feel that you accomplished any major goals during the year?

5. Compared to your feelings last December, are you more or less optimistic going into 2008?

6. Take one more quiz: Will you keep your new year’s resolution?

If you have a Reader’s Choice question you’d like to see asked (and answered), send me an email! I’d love to be able to include it in a future edition of the Saturday Six.

My answers:
1. Generally much better.
2. I had a Fantastic Year!

Compared to most years, last year was definitely great.
Overall, you’re living a much better life than you were twelve months ago.
And nothing is a better mark of a good year.
Here’s to hoping next year is even better!
3. Standing at the makeshift memorial to the Charleston 9.
4. A few. Not as many as I wanted to, but I was able to lose 60 pounds and keep 45 of them off permanently. Now I’m working on getting those 15 returning pounds back off and making more progress.
5. More optimistic.
6. You probably won’t keep your New Year’s Resolution.

Something isn’t quite right with the resolution you’ve selected. Maybe it’s time for a different one?

Now that Christmas is over, perhaps we can finally be rid of those ridiculous campaign commercials in which candidates attempt to make everyone believe that they’re actually taking a break from campaigning to share with you their take on the real meaning of the holiday.

The highlight for some was that infamous cross image behind Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, the one who started all of this holiday Christmas madness. The cross is actually the intersection of shelves in a white bookcase.

The Huckabee campaign says that there was no intention to subliminally insert the image of the cross into the spot, during which their man offered his own reminder of what Christmas is supposed to be about.

Huckabee himself said of the accusations:

“I wish we had been so smart as to be able contrive every frame of the shot.”

You may well have been one of Huckabee’s critics, who scoffed at the notion that it could have been a “happy accident.” You may well have cited some great conspiracy to “force” Christianity into everyone’s homes. Some of his critics would have happily sworn on a bible that there was no way such a “coincidence” could really happen.

I’ve worked in television for more than 16 years, and the reality — as unreal as it may seem — is that sometimes, a coincidence like that really does happen, and it’s the sharp-eyed viewer with absolutely no videography experience sees it and begins accusing the filmmakers of trying to pull a fast one.

I’ve seen it happen in local television, when someone spots something in a background and tries to make something out of it that no one intended…or even noticed. We were left to sit around scratching our heads wondering either why we didn’t see it or how someone else did.

I’m sure we’ve all snapped a photo that we’ve taken an extra moment or two to frame, only to discover some element in the background that we hadn’t noticed when we took the shot itself. For me, that’s an extra appeal of photography: discovering new details you didn’t notice the first time around.

And even big league film crews miss little details. Continue reading “The Christmas Campaign”

Why is it that the foods that are the worst for you always are the ones that taste the best? And more importantly, why can’t someone make healthy food taste like it isn’t.

A short time ago, Men’s Health came out with a list of the 20 worst foods you can order at a restaurant.

Yes, I was tempted to make this a Sunday Seven question, in which you would have had to list the seven most-appealing from that list. The only problem was that the very thought of doing so made me too hungry.

My station did a story on the list, as I’m sure most did, shortly after the list was released. So that we would have video of the offending food items, one of the reporters stopped by a few of the restaurants and ordered items from the list so that we could then tape footage. After the footage was safely recorded, the food was left in a break room and people were invited to partake if they dared.

We dared. Boy, did we dare.

The most painful item on the list was the number one item on the list: Outback’s Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing, which clocks in with 2,900 calories and 182 grams of fat. (And from the moment it hits your taste buds, you start thinking, “calories, schmalories.”)

I haven’t had an order of those wonderful, delicious, awesome unhealthy fries since last January, when I weighed the most I’ve ever weighed in my life.

I’d like to say that I’m completely over them, that their complete absence from my diet never occurs to me.

But we both know better than that, don’t we?

In this week’s edition of the Sunday Seven, I asked you to show off some classic art images you associate with the image of Christmas.

A few weeks back, there was an interesting sermon at my church that tackled this very subject.  My preacher showed a few familiar images like Domenico Veneziano’s Madonna and Baby pictured to the left.

Some people love Thomas Kinkade, the “Painter of Light,” whose artwork features a glowing effect achieved through lots of contrasts between light and dark and warm tones that remind the viewer of nostalgia and family.  (And contrary to what some believe, there’s no glow-in-the-dark paint involved.)

Others look at Norman Rockwell’s paintings of Santa Claus for inspiration and amusement over the holidays.  His Christmas-themed covers for the Saturday Evening Post were instant classics that still recall the magic of childhood.

Then there were the selection of hand-colored lithographs of Christmas images offered by printmakers Nathaniel Currier and J. Merritt Ives that take some back to those beloved “simpler times.”

My preacher then started talking about what Christmas was really about:  Jesus Christ taking our place in terms of being burdened by sin and pain, giving his life so we can live forever.  It is about His love for us paving the way for us to find strength and peace despite misery all around us.

He then displayed the image he said best reminds us what Christmas is really about, which you’ll see after the jump.  Continue reading “The Image of Christmas”

This is not your typical Sunday Seven question. It’s about the images we associate with Christmas. For some people, that topic might immediately make them think of Thomas Kinkade or Norman Rockwell. Maybe you associate Christmas with older images of the Madonna holding the newborn King. Maybe it’s something else entirely.

It may take a bit of digging to find seven answers, and even after doing some digging, you might not be able to come up with more than two or three. No problem. For some of you, there may be only one answer that you can honestly be comfortable with. That’s fine, too.

The question requires that you refer to some classic pieces of artwork. You might find some help at a site like art.com. The one thing I do ask is that you refer to “well-known” or “recognizable” pieces of art, rather than family portraits or your own photography.

I’m not going to answer this week’s question, because on Christmas Day, I’m going to give you a very different take on the images we associate with Christmas.

(How’s that for a tease? It’s what I do professionally, you know.)

• First to play last week: Astaryth of “Adventures of An Eclectic Mind.” Congratulations!

On to this week’s question!

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Name up to seven classic pieces of artwork that you consider to be images that represent the spirit of Christmas.

Either answer the question in a comment or answer it in your journal and include the link in a comment. (To be considered “first to play,” a link must be to the specific entry in which you answered the question.) You may include this link in the URL space when leaving your comment, or in the comment itself. As long as it’s there in one spot or the other.

Not long ago, I was in my office at Channel 37, when I heard two short beeps. The first time I heard it, it took a few seconds to even register that I had heard it. About thirty seconds later or so, it happened again. I walked out into the larger adjoining office and checked out the new printer our IT team had installed, suspecting that it must be the culprit. There were no blinking red lights and no message that anything had run amok. I stood there for a moment, waited, and heard nothing.

As I was almost back in my office, I heard the beeps again. From the same general area. It turned out, to make a long story short, that one of the photographer’s cell phones had received a call that he had missed, and the cell phone was beeping to alert him to the missed call. He returned to his desk just moments after I had heard the fourth set of beeps and realized where they were coming from.

I mention that little story to point out that while some people (like me) would be happy just being amused at my own frustration, others (like the inventers of the Annoy-a-tron) decide to find a way to capitalize on it:

“The Annoy-a-tron generates a short (but very annoying, hence the name) beep every few minutes. Your unsuspecting target will have a hard time ‘timing’ the location of the sound because the beeps will vary in intervals ranging from 2 to 8 minutes. The 2kHz sound is generically annoying enough, but if you really really want to aggravate somebody, select the 12 kHz sound. Trust us.”

It’s unusual appearance, apparently, is part of its charm:

“Assuming you have done your part in selecting a suitable hiding location for the Annoy-a-tron, it will do its part to drive your co-workers slowly mad with its short and seemingly random beeps. And when someone does locate the Annoy-a-tron, they’re really not going to know what it is - which is almost as much fun as watching them search for it. Muahaha.”

(Via J-Walk Blog)

For the benefit of those of us who haven’t quite decided to give up on the English language and stubbornly cling to the rules of grammar:

Please forget that you ever heard the word myself.
Do not use it. Ever. (Unless you review a grammar guide first.)

Otherwise, you’re using it incorrectly. I promise.

If I see one more photo caption somewhere that is labeled along the lines of “Jane and myself,” instead of “Jane and me,” I might have to go ballistic.

It’s one of those words, unfortunately, that many use to make themselves sound like they know more than they actually do. (Just like the way film students use the word juxtaposition at every possible turn while only about 4% actually understand what it means.)