Disgust for chain letters

So, I've come across a pretty popular chain letter among the Latter-Day Saint faithful. I knew it was coming, but I thought by now the folks arcitechting these would have learned a thing or two. Let me debunk this peice by peice, so maybe people will stop forwarding this crap.

I'm asking for your help- for about 3 minutes of your time.

HBO's new series, "Big Love", is about a polygamous family and is set in a Salt Lake City suburb. About the likely impact of this sexually driven show, the New York Times said, "We may never look at Utah and think white bread again."

Parodies of beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints occur- belief in priesthood by a man blessing his hunting rifle, belief in personal revelation from the Holy Ghost by dramatic visions that the polygamous leader discusses casually with a friend. Talk of "celestial kingdom", "free agency", and the "Choose the Right" slogan are included.

I'll concede these points. I haven't researched the show in depth, so I can't speak for the voracity of their claims, but I could see that in the show.

There is a brief disclaimer stating that the polygamists don't have an active connection with the LDS Church. But if the writers don't intend for viewers to make the connection, one wonders why they set the show in Salt Lake City, the Church's world headquarters, and why they included distortions of LDS beliefs.

Ok, that's fine too.

NBC recently cancelled a show about a dysfunctional Episcopal priest who saw a "Jesus", after almost 700,000 people emailed and complained.

Let the spinzone begin. That show was low rated, and controversial. If it were just controversial, NBC could care less about how controversial, they're just in it to make money. Cold hard facts, people. NBC delivers eyeballs, and if there are less of them watching a controversial show catching flack for featuring religion, they'll can it. HBO, however, is a different story.

Couldn't we do the same for this show? If you agree, will you:
- forward this email to at least 8 people
- print this out
- email a polite protest to HBO:

OK, here's where I get even more sketchy about this. Seeing how I've already recieved this from 3 people, I'm starting to say "WHOAAAAA" and I think if people in the LDS church haven't heard about this now, they will soon. Please, stop emailing chainletters along to others when you haven't confirmed the veracity of the statements. Let's keep going:

Go to www.hbo.com, scrol l to bottom of page, click Contact Us, click on The Sopranos (unless Big Love is listed when you do so), scroll to the light blue box near page bottom, on the line just under Submit an Email, click on Contact Us. Then enter your information, specify it's about Big Love, and leave a message asking them to cancel this offensive show.

It's your right to voice your opinion, but if you do, please don't use this text below.

One or two sentences is all it takes. Or feel free to copy or edit
this message:

I am offended that you would produce the series Big Love. It demeans and distorts sacred beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. By setting the show in Salt Lake City, it blurs the line between the Church and the long renounced practice of polygamy..
If you had any idea what horrible things the people who practice polygamy did, (the FLDS people) you would be revolted.

Do you think that by having the producers came to 'visit' the town you understand what life is like for the FLDS or what they do, you are WRONG.... You have no idea of what you are trying to mimic. 14 year old girls are raped, and forced to marry their uncles - 60 year old men, with 5 other wives. They don't teach their children and force the young boys to NOT go to school and to work construction. Because they are in-bred, they have a lot of physically, and mentally retarded children, that they don’t take ‘out’. Because a man can only claim one wife, and each woman has so many children, the ‘unmarried’ wives claim they are single parents and mooch off the welfare, while they drive Brand New Cadillac’s, trucks, and S.U.V.’s. Do not make a show about something that you know nothing about.

Please cancel the show immediately

There are a couple main problems with this letter. One, it feels confrontational. Using words like "I'm offended" and talking about the rape of the children tugs at certain heartstrings that media outlets are trained to dull. I'd probably shift focus away from things that have been explained in many different documentaries. I mean, they've got to know about Warren Jeffs at bare minimum. At least turn on the freaking TV in Utah, where polygamists cause problems for the whole state. May I suggest a better letter for forwarding?

Dear HBO,

I've enjoyed your programming up till now, especially the family friendly HBO Family. Your selection of first run cable movies and original programming is typically top notch. While that may be the case the majority of the time, I'm particularly concerned about the program, "Big Love." Despite the opening disclaimer, the show makes grand allusions to the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ("LDS Church") as practicing poligamy, and does little to quell people's already warped sense of who these people really are. I've been asked on many occasions how many mothers I have, or if I'm going to marry more than one wife. While these assumptions are based on ignorance and typically can have an innocent reply, the show "Big Love" is doing little to educate the public, and causing more misinformation among them.

While I know your concern for entertainment trumps my feeling of being slighted religiously, consider how stereotyping in any other form would draw outrage among other groups. Take Islamic fundamentalists. Typecasting middle-eastern fundamentalists living in Pakistan would send the message that while comedic, a lot of these people are really into suicide bombing and hating westerners, while (one would hope) the majority of Pakistanis are good people, and not interested in suicide bombing. I know the example is not without its holes in logic, but I'm not looking to present an infalliable argument. I know you understand the gist of what I'm saying, and hope you'll feel more respect towards a religion that promotes family values so ferverently.

I know while I am one person, "Big Love" has made me reconsider my subscription to your channels. Unfortunately I'm not a subscriber to HBO. Please reconsider your decision to air "Big Love."

Best,

Randall

See? The tone of that letter is one of logic and understanding, as opposed to being offended and harping back at "the liberals."

One final note:

Source of info: www.lds.org click on Newsroom for News Media


Please see the church's stance on this topic here.
They also lay out the framework for understanding, and don't promote the show's misrepresentation of Latter-Day Saints.

Memories!!!

DSC00733.JPG,
originally uploaded by ucf_xealot.

Just got back from CA... post more l8r.

Cya,

Randall

Difference between good, and great

Hey hey,

So I'm blogging at you live from Santa Monica, CA, where we're jammin' out some awesome code. Funny thing, though, so I'm designing some new motion graphic elements for web, which I've never (ever) done before, and I'm going to start busting them out in After Effects (probably, and then follow it with flash, if there's some sort of cross compatibility, that'd be awesome.) Anyway, I have no idea what my limitations are for doing stuff for the web, and I go to the developers and am like "so, I've got this great idea, what are my limitations?"

They're like, "Dunno, go wild, and then we'll see where we have to scale back."

At a previous organization, if I were doing motion graphic projects, it'd be the opposite. "Here are your limits, now design." Basically, instead of having the best idea from me, they get the idea that fits inside the box. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the difference between good and great.

I'll post more later.

Bedroom

Bedroom,
originally uploaded by dex0doom.

A view from the top of my bed, courtesy of Flickr.

So I'm basically in now. I've been tidying up for the last little bit, and while my room certainly isn't clean, it also isn't too dirty, which works for me, for now. I'm in dire need of some housecleaning assistance, mainly because I really have a lacking part in my brain that isn't clean. I'm really trying though, sincerely.

I'm gonna post more photos, or alternately, you can go to my flickr page.

Tom

Tom,
originally uploaded by C.K. Sample, III.

My friend tom is hot.

Just found this photo of him on Flickr.

I'll post more later, I promise.

New Place

Yo yo,

I'm in my new place now. Call me if you need the address, or drop me a line.

Later,

Randall

Responsible Journalism!!!

Wow. I really love / hate new york news. I really like Newschannel 4, and it's really well done from every angle. I do live in the number one market in the country, so in theory, it should be the best, but a quick viewing of Fox5 makes me hate new york news. 5 starts with the tagline of "do you know where your children are?" Yeah, it's that sensationalist crap. Newschannel 4 found a possible suspect in the case of a person who was raped and murdered. They witheld the name of the suspect, because they weren't sure he was the actual suspect.

Wow.

Journalistic integrity now?

Amazin!

Introspection, by Ordinary People

I'm cleaning my room for my delivery of some furniture from Ikea. Exciting times indeed. I started listening to my iPod w/ my Shure E2c headphones, and right now I'm blown away by how it makes you feel in your own world.

And in this world, I realize how freaking lucky I am.

Seriously, how many people get the chance to live their dreams in the city of their dreams? Not enough, that's for sure. I'm never going to settle for anything, I'm always going to work to get the best possible experience out of life. Right now, I'm not loaded or anything... but I'm sure not broke, and my bank account for luck seems to be full, so I'm bracing for some tough issue that is about to be thrown my way.

Regardless, I'm having a blast.

Quote of the day

"I graduated in Communications with a lucrative career in Retail."
-- MTV's "True Life: I'm a Professional Eater"

Questions....

So two things I need responses on.

1) I've got 15 bucks in iTunes credit, what music should I buy?

2) I've got a free domain coming my way, which domain should I get?

Answer these pressing issues either in the comments below, or hit me at pressingquestions[at]randallatnyc[dot]com replacing [bracketed] sections with real charecters.

Later,

RB

Great Writing

Wow.

Certainly the administration, even given its penchant for excessive secrecy, disinformation and image manipulation, isn't naïve or mischievous enough to think they could have covered up the first shooting casualty involving a sitting vice president since Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton 202 years ago.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/259841_bunting17.html

That's great writing.

Little Kid

So... in New York specifically, I turn in to a little child. I'm eager to learn about everything, and ask anyone who's been here longer than me (read: everyone) all sorts of idiotic questions as soon as they pop into my mind. "Whats HSBC stand for?" "Why is new york traffic so ephed up?" Yadda yadda yadda, you get the idea. I'm grateful for all of my surrogate parents out here in the big (huge) apple. Thanks.

If I see a press release about you, you're not hardcore.

News Flash:

Rapper Penelope Jones will appear on americas most wanted this weekend.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-15-2006/0004283056&EDATE=

News Flash:

Rapper Penelope Jones exploiting past for future gains.


I really enjoy hip-hop, and I really like the more positive spin on hip-hop, IE Kanye West, Black Eyed Peas (some may hate me for that, 'tis ok, I really liked them pre-fergie, like that gets me any cred back) and on the more independent side, Mos Def, Talib Kwali, De La Soul, the Fugees, Tribe Called Quest, and others in the more vibrant and interesting style of hip-hop that so many Americans aren't necessarily accustomed to.

I really REALLY hate hip-hop when it sells an image of a star, and not just their music. When's the last time you heard 50 Cent say "its about the music, stop going over my past." When you see 50 cent on stage, he's rocking a bullet proof vest, with gun targets in the background. Really, really, stupid.

I'm not just player hating, because I can, I'm player hating because I'd rather hear someome rap about money, cars, and rims than how hard they are. Jay-Z walked the fine line, and turned out gold. I wish he could have been lyrically Talib Kwali for more than a few albums, but, yeah, we all yell holla. I think Jay-Z and 50 were bordering on a rap feud "I didn't get shot up a whole bunch of times.... or make up [ish] in a whole bunch of rhymes..." sounds like a 50 cent call out to me. Whatever though. Positivity reigns supreme.

Websurfing for 4 hours?

Is it possible to surf the web without a topic for four hours?

Yes, and I just did it.

Thanks in part to Wikipedia, I sucessfully read the news, and then researched meaningless topics for the last four hours. I did, however, keep checking craigslist, so I was being a little useful.

Wow, I hate the internet.

I need a place.

I still need to find a permanent address in NYC. If you're in Williamsburg, or anywhere in Manhattan, hit up apartments[izzat]randallatnyc[dizzot]com. My ceiling is $1000 plus utils, and I'm not picky and wouldn't mind a shared apartment or anything greater [maybe 5 bedrooms would be a little much.]

Oh, how my life will change

Engadget founder/EIC Peter Rojas is on the cover of New York magazine. In the article, there's a super interesting perspective on Rojas, who I'd describe to be a good friend and confidante. Peep this exerpt:

The age of the blog moguls is here. For Pete Rojas, blogging paid off handsomely. Last fall, AOL bought Weblogs, Inc., which includes his blog Engadget, for $25 million. “I didn’t intend to become a millionaire,” says Rojas, “but I wound up there anyway.”

I've been working with Peter, and Ryan, for the better part of a year (like 8ish months) and I've had a great time, and a hard time. A great time, because they've enabled me to head towards my dreams and opened soooo (ooo[o times 30000]) many doors for me that I'm about to embark on a grand vision of my career. They gave me a shot at Engadget, which led to me blogging at DV Guru, and the DV Guru Vodcast, which led to me being full-time (and getting health insurance, yay!) with my new project (more on that later.)

I owe a lot to Peter, and thankfully my work ethic might someday lead to the sort of payoff Peter has seen. While I was working at KSL, I didn't really have these grandiose ideas about where I wanted to go, or what I wanted to do. I've always had a broad goal to end up on some sort of cable outlet, reporting on technology. I thought TV news was going to get me there. Then, once I had seen the (sometimes) seedy underbelly of the beast at one of the best local TV stations nationally (after seeing the NYC Fox affiliate, and some of Denver's major networks,) I realized something: Local TV news is a great training ground, and it's definetly fun, but it will suck your soul away, and they take advantage of everyone as much as possible.

It's a sad fact to realize to be honest. I realized it after I had been working multiple 50-60 hour work-weeks. That's not their fault. They didn't intentionally schedule me that way, I actually chose to work that schedule. I realized it though, after seeing the way they (management) treated the news product. It is a product, and like any product, it needs to be produced as cheaply and efficiently as possible. Without regard to the management's charecter, (they were the best managers I've ever had the pleasure of working for) I realized that the TV news animal has a tendancy to suck the creativity out of everyone. Every person in every department that had been there longer than a few years had the exact same story: They used to care about their job, but they didn't see any sort of associated benefits, so why care? Other than sheer pride, I couldn't really answer that question.

That's what leads me here... to New York City, and back to Peter Rojas. Working at Engadget, he frequently works from before dawn, till after dusk, on nothing but the world of gadgets. It's that kind of enthusiasm for the world of technology and consumer electronics that drives Peter, and now other Engadget editors, to come up with the best content on the Internet. Why is KSL the number one news station in Salt Lake? Other than the built in audience factors, its a quality of news product that is unrivaled in that DMA. (Notice, how sparingly they use the term breaking news? A measure of sensationalism is definetely the term breaking news.) People at KSL care enough about what they're doing to have the best product on air. People at Engadget (and when I cover digital video, myself at DV Guru) revel in their coverage. Since I was doing both simultaniously, and had the chance to see what the grass looked like while straddling the middle of the bridge, it's a dynamic that definetely turned me off of TV news for a while, at least. Not withstanding those issues, becoming a reporter in TV news, unless you're one of the "chosen few" who can make it into a market 36 station without paying any dues, you basically are working for experience.

My brother, who just sold his website [doesn't this post sound like it's 1999 all over again?] has had to deal with the annoyance of TV news for the last 10 years. Being the youngest sibling, I've been lucky enough to be able to see what my family is doing, and then circumnavigate the world based on their experience. I think I truly am spoiled, not so much with temporal items as much as priceless knowledge from familial experience. Ryan, my brother, gave me some advice last year as I was (fake) graduating from school. (Yeah, I'm still 6 credits short. Don't worry, I'm going to finish in the fall. I swear.) He said something that kind of sparked my whole Engadget / Weblogs, Inc. / DV Guru / (other project) revolution. He said everyone had told him for the past 10 years at least, that there was no money in TV, and more specifically no money in MMA. He proved them wrong, and he said to follow my dreams. Sounds kind of corny, but totally true.

This mammoth blog post needs to get wrapped up, right now. Basically, I'm in New York following my dreams. I'm uber nervous / excited about the future, partly because I can't talk about how this new project is going to change the Internet, and partly because I'm not sure about how this new project is going to change my life. I'm not doing this for the money, the glory, or any of that, I just want to have a job that I love, and a job where people around me are striving for the same sort of quality I'm striving for. I want this new venture to be a changing force in the Internet, and I've kind of downplayed that fact to anyone who I can talk to about it because I'm so nervous. I want to be up front with everyone, but my entire hopes and dreams are pinned on the next 10 weeks. I want them to be perfect, and now that I have a temporary address, I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can to make sure that they are.

Friends, food and subway fun

So, I've been in new york for a week now. The place is so jam packed with people and things, its very hard not to be either completley overwhelmed, or to not just ignore everything. So far, I've made a couple of really good friends, but almost exclusively thanks to weblogs, inc. and our diverse group of awesome bloggers. So far, my couple of best friends are Ryan Block, of Engadget, Kat Parr, of Cinematical and other blogs, and Tom Hines, who still needs to start his own blog.

Let's start with tom. He, like all of the other aformentioned bloggers, lives in Williamsburg in Brooklyn. My second day here, he was cool enough to take me around and let me see the sights of lovely williamsburg. He kind of convinced me to be in the 'burg. He took me out to dinner with two other lovely people, and we ate at this sweet Italian eatery. It was really small, but really awesome.

So, one of my other really good friends is Ryan Block. We've been working together for the past eight-ish months. He provided the window of opportunity I needed to get headed out east. He's one of the hosts on the Engadget podcast. He's a really cool guy, and coincidentally, my sublet is literally around the corner from his place. He's cool enough to show me around, give me cool new york tips, and be a good friend, especially now.

That brings us to my other real good buddy, Kat. She has a sweet pad in Williamsburg, and we've been hanging out a good amount. She's cool enough to be down with the buick grand national. She is from texas, but I won't hold that against her. (joking!) She's a really good cook, too, which is always a gaurenteed way to make friends.

One other blogger, who doesn't live in new york but is also super helpful, is Fabienne Serriere. She's in Berlin, but was cool enough to give me new york tips before I left, and after I arrived. She hooked me up with a good cheesecake spot in midtown too.

Those are the basics of the people around this joint. They're most definetely cool.

Blizzard, whateva.

So, some may say there are blizzard-like conditions in the north east, and I'm going to disagree. Yes, NYC saw 27" of snow... but not that much wind, and you could still see. It was definetely more brutal than a normal Salt Lake snowfall, but I'm going to say I've definetely seen worse (IE the trip back from a USU basketball game in Logan at 2AM.)

Thanks in part to the stupid snow, I had to wait forever for a subway car just to go to church. Kind of frustrating, but at least the car actually came, and it was only like half an hour. The problem? Now, I know for sure, my iPod battery is hosed from all that car-adapter nonsense. Totally died after like one hour of playback.

Now, I'm waiting in the subway station to go back to Brooklyn. Good times, eh? Kind of nuts times is more like it. The mta (manhattan transit authority) says to stay indoors and not go anywhere. They're also keeping the train counts down, probably because they don't have enough workers to work each train.

So, reflecting on the new york experience requires a couple different blog posts, and the train is finally freaking here. More later.

Big NY Purchases (I can't afford!)

So, after taking 2 hours to go somewhere, I've decided to get a Treo 650/700w so I can use google maps. I'm sick of being lost, and I think that'll help me somewhat.

Also, gotta get some shure headphones.

PS, I might get an office.

Stuff i'll write about when its not 3am:

WTC site (wow.)
Times Square
NYC Pizza
Subway (DUDE, it freaking rules)
Not being overwhelmed
DS
Nintendo World
Rockafeller plaza/center
Tom Hines (what a pimp!)
Davi Da (also very pimpish)


Holy crap....

I live in NYC.

weird.

HFS+!

Wow,

I'm in NYC right now at my hotel room in Queens. Pretty crazy stuff, if I do say so myself. I'm waiting for the maid to finish up my room, and then i'll go take a shower and get ready to get the freak out of this joint. Although, the hotel is way nicer than I expected, but it is really small, which I did expect.

I'll post more when I get a free moment.

Cya!