The Random(ed) Blog

Friday, June 19, 2009

A Friday Look at Things

It's Friday. It's Juneteenth (June 19). It's #followfriday on Twitter. It's TGIF (unless you live in a country where it's SATURDAY!!!) Anyway, for the past week, I've been updating a friend of mine about goings-on at CNN (including stuff about Errol Barnett and Michael Holmes). I think we're both admiring CNN anchors... more than we should right?

You might've noticed that my twitter avatar and the avatars of my friends on twitter have turned green. Well, that's because since Friday June 12, Iranians were in the news for, you guessed it, the elections. Last Friday, Iranians voted in the 2009 presidential election. There were 4 candidates, but the two major ones were Mahmoud Ahmed-not-yab (can't spell his name at the top of my head. Not bothering to google it either) and Mir Hossein Moussavi. Ahmed-not-yab (they told me it's Ahmadinejad) was officially declared the winner on June 13, and the rest is history. Moussavi supporters were protesting to no end, declaring the color green for the candidate, and that's how we are going green on twitter (and we're not talking environment here) If you have twitter, go here: http://www.helpiranelection.com and your avatar will be green in one shot.

Another thing about the Iranian elections is the media restrictions. I was watching CNN (partly because it's my favorite channel and mostly because they got great reporters) and they got restrictions. First, it was 'international reporters cannot go to rallies' and then Reza Sayah (who I'm liking more and more) only had to do one live report a day (don't know if any other network is having this problem too). Well, that's why CNN got Octavia Nasr, Errol Barnett, Christiane Amanpour, Ivan Watson (looking good in Atlanta) and, yes, Reza Sayah, and the so-called 'Iran Desk', but I know they've used it for different stuff in the same matter and scale. If Reza can only do one a day, team coverage is a must. Go CNN!

And local news here say that they got the autopsy of little Orlando girl Caylee Anthony, and I'm guessing it's gruesome. Will check it out later, though.

And it's almost summer (unless you live in places like New Zealand, Australia, most of Indonesia, South Africa, South America, and the like) so crank up your AC. If you live in places I just mentioned... crank up your heater.

That's my Friday look at things. Wait for my rant when it comes.

Also follw me at @dezbee2008 on twitter.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

What I Didn't Expect -- June 7, 2009

http://twitter.com/dezbee2008/statuses/2067242889

http://twitter.com/dezbee2008/statuses/2069910887

http://twitter.com/dezbee2008/statuses/2070024962

Saturday, June 6, 2009

"What I Didn't Expect" -- June 6, 2009

Seems to me like my fellow twitterers are enjoying this. :-)

June 6, 2009

http://twitter.com/dezbee2008/statuses/2051540325

http://twitter.com/dezbee2008/statuses/2055275206

http://twitter.com/dezbee2008/statuses/2059212149

Friday, June 5, 2009

What I Didn't Expect -- June 5, 2009

First from my friend Alex in Germany:

http://twitter.com/Axl0706/statuses/2040230875

Now for today's updates:

http://twitter.com/dezbee2008/statuses/2041757539

http://twitter.com/dezbee2008/statuses/2042345041

http://twitter.com/dezbee2008/statuses/2046398362

http://twitter.com/dezbee2008/statuses/2047282327

http://twitter.com/dezbee2008/statuses/2049470395

Thursday, June 4, 2009

What I Didn't Expect -- June 4, 2009

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

"What I Didn't Expect" Twitter Series -- June 2009

Monday, June 1, 2009

Top 10 CNNI Moments of May 2009

It's the end of May (actually, it's June 1st) and I wanna do something different. Here is my top 10 CNNI moments of May 2009

10) Opel deal saves Berlin's GM division -- yay
09) Trying out a coconut -- Andy Saputra 1, Arwa Damon 0 (BackStory)
08) Tweetathons from Rosemary Church, Kristie Lu Stout, Richard Quest, Errol Barnett, folks from BackStory, and so on.
07) Matthew Chance's a 'chance' encounter.
06) Undercover rep in Myanmar easily recognizable (thank you mute button)
05) 2 million displaced in Pakistan (very sad)
04) Susan Boyle's almost-triumphant run on Britain's Got Talent
03) Isha Sesay, Mark McKay, and Guillermo Arduino trying their hands at spelling
02) Barcelona wins Champions League (and Alex Thomas wins the bet over Pedro Pinto)

And the number one CNNI moment of May 2009:

01) Arwa Damon's grasshopper eating moment (and the liquor that comes with it)

These are my top 10 moments of CNNI this month. What's your top 10?

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Saturday's Rant(s) -- May 9, 2009

Welcome to my Saturday rant. And today, my constituents and I have been looking at Tru TV's schedule (read the last blog entry) and tonight, we're watching The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest Drivers 9. I love "World's Dumbest" b/c not only the people are dumb, but the commentary makes the show a lot funnier than it is (what I like), so...

Constituent #1: We have a fair share of dumb drivers.

Me: Yes, but we have more idiots driving in Florida than ever. In Florida, everybody thinks everybody is an idiot.

Constituent #2: I think California does that too.

Me: No, Californians sit in traffic. New Yorkers flip each other off. Texans keep guns in their cars, boats, RVs, whatever, and Floridians call each other idiots.

Back to the blog: So, the show makes me smarter.

Constituent #2: You are already smart.

Me: Yeah, I know that.

Back to the blog: Also on tonight, it's the Cleveland Cavaliers @ Atlanta Hawks. The Cavaliers (I call them Team Lebron) are the only undefeated NBA franchise in the post season. The Detroit Pistons (I call them Not 0-16) couldn't beat them (and thus became the NBA's version of the Detroit Lions. Why is it that the only decent team in Detroit are the Red Hawks)? Anyway, how is it possible that the Atlanta Hawks (I call them CNN's NBA hometeam) would beat them?

Constituents #1: Yeah, and you can bet that either the Orlando Magic or the Boston Celtics might beat them.

Me: Yeah, right. The Pistons knocked out the Magic twice from the Playoffs, so I'm glad we ain't got the Pistons. However, if the Magic knock out the Celtics (reigning champs) and the Cavs knock out the Hawks, we're in trouble. So you got four choices, it's either Cavs/Magic, Cavs/Celtics, Magic/Hawks, or Celtics/Hawks. In the west, it's either Lakers/Nuggets, Lakers/Mavs, Rockets/Nuggets, or Rockets/Mavs.

Constituent #2: I know someone who is a die-hard Spurs fan, and when Dallas eliminated them, he went for the Nuggets.

Me: And the Denver Nuggets are 2-0 against Dallas. He's probably happy. He'll be like "That's what you get for knocking out my Spurs!"

Constituent #1: And I'm still pissed that the New York Knicks didn't make the playoffs.

Me: Anyway, the Magic are 2-1 against the Celtics. A 23-point difference.

Constituent #2: Game 4's tomorrow, right?

Me: Yes, game 4 is tomorrow.

Back to the blog: I'm still not drinking the scorpion/snake juice stuff.

Constituent #1: I heard it tastes good.

Me: You must've been to Laos.

Constituent #2: Look at you. You guys are still on it.

Me: Yeah, like you're still on Fred Pleitgen's "Too Tall" BackStory a month after it aired.

Constituent #1: Hey, it made it to the weekend "Best Of"

Me: Yes, and I saw it, like 7 times.

Constituent #2: Some building imploded in Orlando today.

Me: It's like every effing Saturday a building somewhere in the country implodes. This week, it's our turn.

Constituent #1: What was it, some hotel?

Constituent #2: Colony Plaza, to be exact. Condemned in 2001. Finally imploded. It's a real treat.

Me: That s*** woke me up. Anyway, I got nothing more to say. I'm outta here.

Constituent #2: Let's go to that burger joint...

Conversations You Will Never Hear From Ordinary People

Constituent #1: Did anyone watch BackStory last night?

Me: I think she did.

Constituent #2: Yes, I did. We all did, actually, and I loved the grasshopper taste test.

Me: Really? I dare you to try out that scorpion/snake juice.

Constituent #2: What? No.

Constituent #1: I would try it.

Me: I'm not going to.

Constituent #2: And you dared me to? C'mon, Dez, a snake/scorpion drink mix? Where can we find that in the US?

Me: It's not in the US. Seems to me like Laos is creepier than I thought, but I digress.

Constituent #1: You said it to every country you can think of. Indonesia's creepy. India's creepy. Malaysia's creepy. Iraq...

Me: Shut up, bonehead. I'm trying to look at Tru TV's schedule for today.

Constituent #2: Oh, look at that. 6 hours of Forensic Files, 3 hours of Speeders, one hour of World's Dumbest, an hour of police chases, 2 hours of Forensic Files...

Me: Alright. First off, I only watch Speeders on Thursdays, and I love World's Dumbest, okay, because it is so funny to watch.

Constituent #1: Yeah, especially after seeing almost every episode of the show. It's like that one guy here that tried to rob a convienient store with a palm frong.

Constituent #2: (holding a palm frong on her head) 50 dollar! Gimme 50 dollar!

Me: It's 50 dollars. Plural.

Constituent #2: Yeah, I knew that.

Constituent #1: Actually, it's Drivers 9.

Me: And you know what that means... Helio is back.

Constituent #2: Helio? Isn't that a Virgin Mobile phone?

Me: Yes. And a phone doesn't comment on people driving, kay?

Constituent #1: Is that the one that has the "Valiant and Doofus" segment?

Me: I thought that was on Criminals 12. I was waiting for that, and instead, I got the "what happens next" segment. Which is really cool.

Constituent #2: I'm afraid we'll have to rename it from Saturday's rant to Commentary for the rest of us.

Me: I'm not even typing today's rant yet, but I guess this will take place.

Constituent #1: Commentary for the rest of us? I propose a weeklong "WTF" series.

Me: Man, both of you are high on sugar this morning.

Constituent #2: What? I haven't got my soda yet.

Me: And I'm okay without it.

Constituent #1: No, let's name this one "Conversations you will never hear from ordinary people"

Me: Hello?

Constituent #2: Dez, I think you lost.

Me: Lost what? I'm still not drinking that scorpion/snake juice stuff.

Constituent #1: Alright, let's get out of here before people say something.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Friday's rant(s) -- May 8, 2009

I got a couple of constituents who tell me that 140 is a magic number... well, I actually told myself. So, one of them said that I got 413 tweets (as of now), 263 friends, 145 followers, yadda, yadda, yadda. Um, yeah, did I not mention that it would've been 269 if it wasn't for several slowpokes. Not naming names.

Alright, all three of us (me actually) are fans of CNN International's 5pm EDT show BackStory (awesomest effing show ever), but one of my constituents (me actually) watched today's show, and it's all because one of the CNNers (Arwa Damon, who is part of my so-called faves list, and so is Christiane Amanpour, Nic Robertson, among others, but specifically Arwa Damon) taped a BackStory that included eating a grasshopper. I actually don't eat anything alive (is it dead?), but after we saw it, did we lose our appetites? No.

Actually, I would never eat anything alive (it's dead right?) because I'm too scared like that, but given all that she has done at CNN, a personal message to Arwa, I'm placing bets that she is definitely 1000% woman enough to not say "I ain't eating nothing alive (dead) after this." Note to self: Stops at 100. Shut up.

Moving on, on a more serious note, Bob Jordan (WFTV ND. I live in Central Florida BTW), said there will be a story on some guy in the area who starved himself just because DCF was too lazy to help out with his problems. Look, people, I understand that more people are losing out on their jobs and other "American Dream" elements these days, and because of that, we do need folks like DCF (or CPS in the other 49 states) to help out. But given the fact that more and more people sign up for food stamps, it's an overboard, and there is a good reason folks like DCF (or CPS in the 49 other states) are overworked, but we still need their assistance.

Finally, a tidbits (well, not really) -- Go Magic (beat the Celtics)

Find me at http://twitter.com/dezbee2008