Thursday, March 24, 2011

charity/ headlines/ ethnic diversity on TV

Mar. 20 Charity: I was reading a letter in the Edmonton Journal by a teenager named Maria Sharif. She said that we only donate to charity when a natural disaster strikes. She said there are people who suffer everyday in countries like Iraq and Africa, but we don't help them. Good point. I had written an essay for my Writing for the Ear class about charity. I said: "We only donate to charity during Christmas, but what about the rest of the year?"

Well I know my friend Angela donates to the Red Cross every month. My old manager Aziz donates money every month to this charity that helps children who are amputees in 3rd world countries.

I read that Sandra Bullock donated $1 million to help the people in Japan. Charlie Sheen is donating $1 from all his tickets from his comedy tour to Japan too. Also celebrities like 50 Cent and Mariah Carey who performed for Libya leader Ghadifi have donated their earnings from the show to charity.

Mar. 21 Headlines: Here's some more headlines I collected from the Edmonton Journal Sunday Reader:

"Girlfriend Calls 911 On Pot- Smoking, Jobless Boyfriend" -Headline in Arizona Republic

"FAA: Man in Plane Tossed Toilet Paper on School" -Headline in Arizona Republic

"Blocked view prompts strip- club melee"- one woman was standing on a chair while watching a male stripper. A woman who sits behind her told her that she was blocking her view. Then a fight broke out between the drunk women. This is from the Nanaimo Daily News.

"Fla. Man Denies Cocaine Found in Buttocks is His" -Atlanta Journal- Constitution headline

A rice farmer in Taiwan dresses up his scarecrow to look like Michael Jackson with a white sequined glove, black fedora, black brogues and another one has the red "Thriller" jacket. The pose is the signature dance moves. -According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

In Jeannette, Pennsylvania, the town officials laid off the town's only police dog. According to the New York Post, the dog will get two months' kibble as severance.

A Florida couple named Mitchell and Judith Fletcher bought a skeleton for $8 at an estate sale for their Halloween decorations. As they were decorating it, they felt the bones were real instead of plastic so they called the sheriff's office. The county medical examiner said it was a "professionally prepared human anatomical skeleton." The Fletchers won't get the skeleton back because trafficking human bones is illegal.

The Bradley County Sheriff's Department in Tennessee says they reuse underwear for prisoners. They said they sanitize them before giving them out to be reused by a different person, but that's still not good. This was from MSNBC.

3.5 floppy disk: Here's a mild rant. Last month one of my red Memorex 3.5 floppy disks crapped out on me. I got this disk back in 2002. It had my resume on it among other things. So I went and had my resume copy and pasted from my email to a purple Memorex disk. Now the purple disk crapped out on me yesterday.

The resume in my email is from 2008 so I had to add some jobs and duties to it. I then thought: "I email scripts to myself, how about my resume too?" The purple disk had my Eng. 101 essays from college on it. I did put the essays on my blog for anyone to read. It also had my Fighter pitch package on the disk. However, there wasn't really anything on that document.

I take care of my disks, but some things stop working because they're old. I thought it was because I saved a document on my disk while using a different computer. I thought that was what wrecked the disk. But then I tried it on another Memorex disk and it worked fine.

Mar. 22 Ethnic diversity on TV: I was reading this in the Edmonton Journal yesterday, but I remember noticing it myself. In the combined 21 seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, there are mainly white people. The people of color singles get eliminated within the first round. The producers say that people of color aren't going into auditions for this show.

There are opposing producers says there are, but they think audiences won't watch it if the lead is a person of color or root for an interracial couple. I don't watch this show, but I only see the commercials for it and I mainly see white people.

There's a MADtv sketch years ago making fun of teen dramas. They called it"Pretty White Kids with Problems." On Gossip Girl it's a group of white kids as the cast. There was an Asian girl and black girl as Blair's lackeys, but after the kids went to college, they got rid of them. However, this season there is a black girl named Raina and her dad who are a big part of this season's storyline.

I notice more ethnic diversity in the small non-speaking parts on the show like how there's a black man as the prison guard. I've seen an Asian guy on the show who shows up in one scene, and then again with his shirt off. I remember way back in 2003 on Fametracker forums about Asian racial stereotypes on TV and movies. How come you never see an Asian guy who is sexy? They usually are karate masters and are geeks.

Vanessa Minnillo: She's an actress and she was on 30 Rock. The joke was her name was Carmen Chao and you can't tell if she's Latino or Asian. By watching it, I was like: "What is her ethnicity?" It turns out her dad is Irish and Italian and her mom is Filipino.

Dream: Last night I dreamed I was in this school/ office environment with these cubicles. I had a dream awhile back that I was in my gr. 9 math class room. Last night had Daren Kagasoff in it. He's on the show Secret Life of the American Teenager which is coming back with new episodes next week. I know it's a crappy show, but I like to watch how bad it is. I can't remember what DK did in my dream.

Secret Life: There are a few moments on SLAT with good acting and writing like the one where the actors Francia Raisa and DK play the couple Adrian and Ricky and they go to counseling together. It had a good moment as Adrian tells the counselor when the first time she had sex with her friend/ neighbor before he moved away.... so he could get cancer treatment.

Mayim Bialk was on for a few eps playing the school counselor. Remember, she was the star of the early 90s sitcom called Blossom? Well she's now on The Big Bang Theory so good for her.

Mar. 23 EI: I was watching 30 Rock about working for a TV show like Saturday Night Live. Pete (Scott Adsit) is a writer for the fictional Tracy Jordan Show.

Scott: When Tracy and Jenna are gone, I can file for insurance. I can keep getting paid when I'm not working.

That reminded me of my EI. It's going to expire soon. Well at least I got a big amount of money during the 8 months of unemployment. Though it's really how much money I would be making if I was working part-time. At least I have a job.

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