The guy behind me is staring at me, right? I totally feel it.
Rating: 9 out of 10
It is expected now for any member of the political beltway or those who report on it (and other daily news events) to grace the shelves of our local bookstores (or the front page of our eBook apps) with a tell-all/biography/memoir. Most are pushed on them by overzealous managers and agents trying desperately to cash in on their popularity with various demographics, but every now and again one journal will come to fruition from a much more real and meaningful purpose.
Dispatches From The Edge: A Memoir of War, Disaster, and Survival is a touching remembrance from CNN superstar Anderson Cooper. Covering portions of his childhood and the darker moments of his youth, it also details heart-wrenching details of his reporting on Hurricane Katrina and the wars in the Middle East. Filled with honest and frank recollections from not only the front lines of some of our most recent calamities, Cooper also pushes his investigations internally to find out what drives him to consistently drop himself into some of the worst places on Earth.
The first thing that grabbed me about this book was the random similarities I didn’t expect to share with Anderson Cooper. His father passed away when he was ten years old, mine when I was five. It had a dramatic effect on each of our lives. He mentions his inability to fully process the emotional impact of that event, and the later suicide of his older brother, as key reasons for his apparent addiction to placing himself in the literal and psychological cross-hairs of the worst spots in the world.
Some of the most interesting parts, including those about his personal life, are when Cooper reveals many of the things he saw that never made the news, things deemed unworthy of CNN coverage. One scene talks about when he was in the Middle East passing out over 200 gallons of water to locals with the help of our armed forces. No one died that day, no IEDs went off, so no one ever heard about it. Cooper sadly admits the old adage that still holds sway over all news coverage, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Another story mentions gruesome and horrific details about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The utter lawlessness committed not only by the locals taking advantage of the chaos, but law enforcement personnel who devolved just as much into primitive gangs of roving warlords. Some of those stories were snuffed out early on because it was deemed too dangerous in risking a possible backlash against all authority, which very well could have happened, but it doesn’t make the reality of it any easier to swallow.
Cooper also eloquently covers his tenuous balancing act between being an unbiased reporter and an opinionated celebrity. Once he made it out the other end of some incredibly dangerous job hunting tactics, landing in the spotlight of CNN forever altered his ability to reach millions of people and also his struggle to keep his sanity. He now was given access to people and events ranging from awe-inspiring to nightmare-inducing. With great skill and strain he has always come from those places knowing he had to wrap those images into a coherent story meant to inform, educate and enhance the world discussion. The Achilles heel for any reporter is to somehow deliver that information without bias and political overtones, which Cooper has managed to do time and time again, making him one of the most respected in the business.
In the last couple of years, Cooper has begun to step out of the middle ground and reposition himself as a true fact finder in a much more aggressive sense. Under the moniker, “Keeping Them Honest”, Cooper began bringing on politicians and other notable news makers when he felt something they were preaching about was demonstrably false. No longer fulfilled by calmly reporting the facts to his audience, Cooper decided to drive the falsehoods out into the light during live interviews. The only down side is if he brings on someone from the right side of the political spectrum and corrects them, Cooper becomes labeled a liberal activist, and if the guest is more left leaning, Cooper becomes labeled a political tool for the right. It seems like a no-win situation for him, but he is taking it in stride, sticking to what he believes is meaningful for people to know and that is what keeps him cemented as one of the best in the industry. Dispatches tries to ride that thin line as well, pointing out the inequities in the reporting that most of the country saw, while not coming down as an outright attack on the media as a whole.
The End of the Page recommendation: Dispatches From The Edge is a harrowing and heartfelt look in front and behind the lens of one of the most notable newsmen in the business, Anderson Cooper.
Posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago at 9:07 am. Add a comment
1 – Here is the proof we all needed to believe that the printer in our home computer set-up is always a douchebag and doesn’t want to play nice with the rest of the network. [via College Humor]
2 – Yep, my life has gotten to the extreme height where someone could say to me, “You know what? A blind dude could play golf better than you?” And they would be right. So, so right. [via With Leather]
3 – I want to write into this pleasingly simple company and help them come up with more medical aid packs, like “help I’ve lost my way” and inside you find a compass and ten little sayings from various spiritual texts, or “help I can’t find the princess” and inside would be a pocket sized walk through to Super Mario Brothers. Gotta help people find those warp zones, man. [via JoshSpear]
4 – Helping to turn the tide on SNL, Ashton Kutcher actually showed up in good form over the weekend and took part in a number of funny skits, but per the tradition of the last couple of months, the show felt it’s high moment when Kristen Wiig showed once again that she is the most dedicated cast member on the show. Her characters are always completely over the edge, but gratefully she never lets go or breaks which helps push the comedy even father. Check out this clip from Weekend Update where she appears as the uncomfortably nervous travel reporter, Judy Grimes. [via Hulu]
5 – Evidently Kobe Bryant jumped a car for a commercial stunt. Here’s a video of what it would have looked like had he not succeeded. Honestly, I was not ready for what happened. [via GorillaMask via 13gb]
6 – I felt bad enough when I was a kid and lacked the skill or coordination to ride a real skateboard, but now the youth of today decided it was time to show off once again by proving their oodles and oodles of talent on invisible skateboards. Well good for you kids, I’ll just be over here building my invisible model of Westminster Abbey from invisible Popsicle sticks. Ow, oh god, ow, invisible brain freeze… [via GorillaMask via EJB]
8 – The Invisibles Quiz this week was obviously built to make me feel like I have never seen a movie in my life. I got 3 out of 8. If you need to find me for the next week, please send comments to Luke c/o Netflix or Local Theater. [via Filmwise]
9 – This trailer for the documentary American Teen pulls all the right strings, heartwarming, earnest, clique-filled, heroic, etc. I was fully on board up until the very last shot after the title card. Seriously, awkwardly funny and just plain awkward are two totally different things and that shot falls badly on the wrong side of the line. [via FilmDrunk]
10 – For those of you who watch the Compassion Forum on CNN with Obama and Clinton (McCain declined the invitation), I really have only one main issue with the whole discussion. It was plainly an avenue for the Democratic Party to reach out to those faith-based voters that have traditional fallen under the umbrella of the Republican Party. With that goal in mind this was a great success and a valiant effort, but in order to not shun or scare the moderate or non-faith-based voting block the forum was emblazoned with the moniker of “Compassion”. Here’s the sticky part. Too many people are still under the opinion that you have to be religious to be compassionate. That you have to be hearing the voice of a god, any god, telling you to be nice to someone or treat them with a decent level of respect. Obama lightly teased that idea when he said we were not just a Christian nation, but a Jewish nation, a Hindu nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation and an Atheist nation or a nation of non-believers. The fact is I can walk up to someone and treat them with every ounce of respect that I have in my body and mind and act only out of the belief that it is the right thing to do, not because a random deity has directed me to do so. Compassion should be universal, religious doctrine should not.
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Posted 3 years, 9 months ago at 10:29 am. Add a comment
1 – The primaries last night were not the slam dunk we were hoping for on the Obama train, but the Clinton marketing engine has failed to derail us in any fashion. Obama is still ahead in the delegate count because in Texas she failed to take it by any size-able amount, meaning the delegates are fairly evenly split. While watching the coverage last night it was mentioned that there was a flowchart sent out very early on in the race between Obama and Hillary that laid out every primary and caucus and which ones they predicted Obama would take. Amazingly this document is being hailed like a Nostradamus doctrine since it’s been nearly on the nose the whole time. It predicted the loss in Ohio, the close shave in Texas and had Obama winning 10 straight in a row up to this point (it failed to believe he would win in Maine, which he did, giving him 11 in a row). So if those palm reading folks continue putting their faith in this chart, Obama will still come out ahead when the votes are all tallied up with crucial wins in the final primaries. I hope they’re right because I am someone that does want to see things change and Hillary is unfortunately showing herself to be more of the same politics we’ve had for the last 24 years.
2 – The Onion, the fake news network, is coming out with their own movie in shiny straight to DVD fashion. Kudos to Steven Seagal for being able to parody himself in what could be his best performance ever. [thanks, FilmDrunk]
3 – There is a video of this floating around, but I refuse to post it here. A US Marine is under verbal fire today, instead of literal fire, for having a fellow soldier videotape him throwing a small living puppy over the side of a cliff. I understand that war can have detrimental effects on people’s mental state and cause them to do things they would normally never do, but most of those instances come in times of intense stress and combat. This was one soldier goofing off with another and tossing a helpless animal over a cliff. Word coming out of the Marine top brass is that they are hugely disappointed and that most Marines conduct themselves with honor and respect. They are pulling together all the pertinent information now to decide what to do with this soldier, but my opinion is solidly that this person be dishonorably discharged from the Marines immediately. We have obviously been in such a rush to fill up the ranks of our Armed Forces that we are letting people in who are not there to defend our honor and our country, but people who just want to play with guns, flex their muscles and expel cruelty where they see fit. Let’s see the Marine Corps try to make a booster commercial out of that story. [via CNN]
4 – Rumors are flying around the net this morning that our favorite bouncer and dirty dancer, Patrick Swayze, is battling a very serious form of Cancer and has mere weeks to live. I desperately hope he is not as bad off as they say. Swayze may not be an Oscar winning talent, but he has helped bring about some of the greatest popcorn flicks in history. Road House not only provides some of the most hilariously violent fight scenes in history, but it also continues to serve as a measuring point for any relationship I might get into. If the girl I am interested in does not like Road House and giggle themselves silly watching it, we’re doomed from the start. But that’s only the beginning for Swayze, he also helped to bring us Ghost, The Outsiders (my personal favorite movie), Red Dawn, Dirty Dancing, Next of Kin, Point Break, Too Wong Foo: Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar and Donnie Darko. Can you imagine a happy and fulfilling life without those movies. I think not. So my thoughts and good vibes are going out to you, Dalton. May you tear Cancer’s throat out.
5 – These people have way too much time on their hands, but also way to much genius to be contained. Please enjoy, Michael Jackson’s Punch Out: [via GorillaMask via The Panda Page]
6 – The one man who did so much to bring fictional and fantastical lives to those who had none in reality has just passed away. Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons & Dragons, died Tuesday at 69 years old after a long battle with a variety of health problems. I was also one of those role playing kids, covering my dining room table with battle charts, dice graphs and miniature pewter figures that I would hand paint and detail myself. Admittedly I branched out from D&D pretty quickly into other system I felt work more expansive, like Marvel and G.U.R.P.S, but somehow I think that admission just made me more of a dork than before. Oh well. Gary helped to ignite the world of role playing and the nerds, geeks, dweebs and closet cool kids of the world owe him a debt of gratitude for that. You rolled a true 100, Gary. Thanks for the memories. [via CNN]
7 – In my mind Robert Downey Jr. can do no wrong on film (not making any claims about his personal life), but doing a role of a role in blackface? Our boy might be straying from the land of logic just a touch. Luckily, Iron Man will come out before this controversial role and we will all get to experience the full gooey excitement over the comic book extravaganza. [via FilmDrunk]
8 - The Pearl Jam parody rendition of “Old MacDonald’s Farm” is one of the joys of my life: [via Pandachute]
9 – The Dragonball Z live action adaptation is being pushed from this year until 4/3/09. Some reports are claiming it is because the release weekend was getting too crowded with other big ticket fare. My thought is they had no real idea how long it was going to take to animate all those crazy diagonal lines every time someone jumped in the air. Also, the budget for blond super spiky hair gel has skyrocketed. [via ComingSoon]
10 – What’s that you say? You want more Touhou videos!? Well here you go, it’s Hot Pockets time:
Posted 3 years, 11 months ago at 10:45 am. 2 comments
1 – Obviously the most important topic of the day, IT’S PRIMARY TIME!!! The big states hitting the polls today are Texas and Ohio and if Clinton doesn’t win both those states, along with big showings in all the rest, it’s curtains for the New York Senator. I’ll be refreshing this post as often as I can while refreshing CNN for up-to-date results. I’m on the Obamamania train, but even if I wasn’t, it really is the time and the place for people to once again give a crap about voting and taking control back. We’ve seen the results when we shirk our duties (i.e.: mentally challenged cowboys with their finger on the trigger).
2 – Trent Reznor, aka Nine Inch Nails, is following the Radiohead trail and releasing nine tracks off his new album for free. You can download the EP here, or pay a little more for the full album, or pay a little more for a physical CD sent to you, or pay a little more for a collectors edition, or pay a little more for a super-duper NIN uberfan edition. Really, Trent? The power of giving the album away for free when it starts to look like a drug dealer tossing out the first hit. [via Starpulse]
3 – Spice Girl Melanie Brown, aka Scary Spice, is going to strip naked to help support a charity raising money to fight the sex trafficking trade. Something about getting naked to support the downfall of sex slaves just seems slightly skewed to me. Maybe I’m just having bad memories from the time I went to the Little People’s Rights rally dressed as an Oompah Loompah. [via StarPulse]
4 – Drew Barrymore has shifted the spotlight away from her near perfect relationship with Justin Long to the amazingly generous donation she made to a world hunger charity. She presented the foundation with a $1 million dollar check during her appearance on Oprah yesterday and it is being earmarked for the hunger crisis in Kenya, although if you follow the link on the right side of my home page, it will take you to the charity site and you can designate where you would like your donation to go. I chose “Greatest Need” because I think hunger is hunger no matter where you live. So if you have the spare funds, maybe choose a Domino’s Pizza for dinner one night instead of $60 in sushi, you can easily give that to these starving kids. What you receive is much more filling than food.
5 – This is truly the beginning of the end. They know all our secrets! [via Dave]
6 – Marion Cotillard is firing back at the quotes being used against her concerning 9/11 and the moon landing. Evidently she made those a long time ago and they were taken out of context. So I’ll translate for those not fluent in backtracking French, “I used to be crazy. I’m better now.”
7 – The back-up quarterback of the world breathe a sigh of relief as Brett Favre finally retires from the NFL. He walks away holding numerous records and widely known as one of the most consistent and dedicated quarterbacks in NFL history. Now the only problem is how to supplement the instant loss of tourism and sale of foam cheese hats in the town of Green Bay. [via Sports Illustrated]
8 – The video game Rock Band is taking the next step into musical history as they begin to create and release playable tracks from the Grateful Dead. What this really means is a quick upsurge in arthritis, exhaustion and death from malnutrition as players are chained to their game systems through 4 1/2 day long jam sessions. Also, sales of Cherry Garcia ice cream will undoubtedly take a jump. Mmmm…jump. [via Starpulse, their on a roll today]
9 – Now that Battlestar Galactica is back on the air, people from all walks of life are showing their fandom proudly, but none more so than these musicians that are planning a tribute show for the sci-fi phenomenon. I’m a fan of the show, but I think I am a couple steps back from singing songs about it or naming my kids something that can only be pronounced through a series of grunts. [via Starpulse, again ]
10 – Airborne is going to be paying out $23 million dollars in a class action lawsuit where the petitioners claim: “Airborne is basically on overpriced, run-of-the-mill vitamin pill that’s been cleverly, but deceptively, marketed.” You mean we haven’t cured the common cold yet? What the hell! First some French lady tells me we never landed on the moon, then this! I don’t think I can read the news anymore. It’s too disturbing. [via CNN]
Posted 3 years, 11 months ago at 11:41 am. 1 comment
1 – Now Google has finally reached the point of full cultural integration. A young, upcoming flash-in-the-pan Hip Hop star, named Teyana Taylor, has released a track under the masterful hands of Pharell called Google Me. Click here to listen to it [via PerezHilton]. Honestly, the beat and the flow = good stuff, the chorus and concept = borderline retarded.
2 – Back in the day it seems the Hell’s Angels were dangerous on land, but completely inept on the water. They hatched a plot to kill Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones but failed in prime hilarious fashion:
“Mangold said the men tried to reach Jagger by sea. “The boat was hit by a storm and all of the men were thrown overboard,” he was quoted as saying. They all survived but made no other attempt on his life, Mangold said.”
I don’t know who this Mangold person is, but he should be getting phone calls from the studios right about…now! This has all the trapping of Will Farrell’s next mildly entertaining Saturday afternoon movie fare. [via The Superficial]
3 – A final goodbye to Jeff Healey. I won’t write out his whole bio, since the people over at Starpulse have already done such a great job of it, but I will say that Angel Eyes is an amazing song and is in heavy rotation in my “Heartwrenching Songs of the Eighties” folder in ITunes. What? You don’t have a folder like that on your computer? Uh huh. Sure, I believe you. Oh, in case you didn’t know the other amazing thing about this truly talented guitarist, he was blind. Yep, now don’t you feel productive?
4 – Marion Cotillard went from being the widely respected winner of the Best Actress Oscar for Mome La to being the widely chuckled at actress who made some badly worded comments about the 9/11 attacks and the landing on the moon:
“I think we’re lied to about a number of things,” Cotillard said, singling out the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center as an example of the US making up horror stories for political ends.
“We see other towers of the same kind being hit by planes. Are they burned? There was a tower, I believe it was in Spain, which burnt for 24 hours. It never collapsed. None of these towers collapsed. And there [in New York], in a few minutes, the whole thing collapsed.”
She added that the towers, planned in the early Sixties, were an outdated “money-sucker” that would have cost more to modernise than to rebuild altogether, which is why they were destroyed.
She said: “It was a money-sucker because they were finished, it seems to me, by 1973, and to re-cable all that, to bring up-to-date all the technology and everything, it was a lot more expensive, that work, than destroying them.”
“Did a man really walk on the Moon? I saw plenty of documentaries on it, and I really wondered. And in any case I don’t believe all they tell me, that’s for sure.”
So what did we learn here today? First off, never give awards to the French, they just don’t appreciate it. Secondly, never say something in a interview you can’t blame on too much cough syrup. Lastly, there are indeed still people who don’t believe we’ve landed on the moon, even though we can send robots to Mars. Sure, that makes total sense. I’m going to go back to banging my head against a wall until more knowledge and facts fall out.
5 – Simon Pegg has blasted Warner Brothers and McG for the complete mishandling of his creation, the TV show Spaced. Evidently the pattern of stealing witty and intelligent comedies from Britain and repackaging them, making them terrible and keeping the same name does make some of the original British creators a bit miffed. [via FilmDrunk]
6 – The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, just finished a two day visit to Iraq and he wrapped up the whole affair by saying “No one likes the U.S.” OK, I’ll admit we are not the most loved country in the world as we would like people to think. It’s not all teddy bears and rose parades when we come to town, but coming from Iran that statement holds just a little bit more irony. When Switzerland or Jamaica starts saying no one likes us, then I’ll be worried about our global image. If we are only being bad mouthed by crazy dictators who continue to talk about wiping other countries off the planet and ignoring absolutely huge parts of world history, I think we are still in the safe zone then. [via CNN]
7 – I was really hoping for a cool red beam or some nifty sound effects when I clicked on a link that said “Shoots Reporter with Ray Gun”. But it turns out this is an actual weapon, not one in my imagination, so it’s not nearly as cool. [via GorillaMask]
8 – Office Dare for the day: Ask a female colleague if you may borrow a lipstick. Then pocket it and walk away.
9 – It seems we can’t stop the battle for worst movie ever made this year. In the last few months we’ve seen Blond Ambition open to $64 per screen average, then The Hottie and The Nottie came in with a whopping $2,000 weekend total, now we get Witless Protection which is currently running a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and is officially being turned away by Canadian theaters. I hear someone shouting, it’s soft but you can just make it out, it sounds like Uwe Boll yelling, “See!! Someone is worse than me!!!” [via FilmDrunk]
10 – Ummmm…ouch:
Posted 3 years, 11 months ago at 9:59 am. 1 comment
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