TeresaCentric

Andrew Sullivan's Live Tweeting the Revolution series is incredible. He consistently pulls images and updates from Iran's front lines to the fore. This tweet he recapped stuck out at me today:

R.I.P Micheal Jackson, many in Iran loved you and grew up with your songs, despite all the Regime's confinements and propaganda

It's very true that Western music has played a role in raising the generation that is now working to collapse an unjust system in Iran. A reminder that we are all connected in more ways than initially meet the eye.

Top Stories on CNN at 10:40 p.m. PST on July 25, 2009: 50% Michael Jackson 20% Mark Sanford 10% Jon & Kate 10% Air France Crash 10% Farrah Fawcett To recap: 70% Show Business, 20% political sex scandal, 10% plane crash Compare that with the 10 posts on Andrew Sullivan's top 10 at the time. (I've outlined the topic where not obvious.)

1. E-mail of the day (Topic: Iran)
2. Thinking about Michael II
3. Thinking about Michael
4. Blue Suits And The Seventies
5. The Ways Of Rove (Topic: Politicization of DOJ under Bush)
6. The Retaliator (Topic: Hawks vs. Doves)
7. "Like Butcher," Ctd (Topic: Iran)
8. Yglesias Award Nominee (Topic: Same Sex Marriage)
9. RIP
10. Blessed Are The Geeks (Topic: Technology's impact on Iran)

30% Iran 30% Michael Jackson 10% Same Sex Marriage 10% Bringing Bush to Justice 10% Reader Analysis of Conflict Management "Types" Post 10% Blue Suits - (huh?) Recap: 60% Serious news or analysis, 30% Show Business, 10% random reminiscences. This, in a nutshell, is why I have issues with the way people respond and react to celebrity coverage in the US. Yes, art is important. Yes, we should celebrate talented musicians, actors, etc. But should coverage of celebrity deaths, divorces and affairs - in short, the things normal people do all the time without much undue attention - really trump serious analysis of major world issues? Update: Sullivan calls out our fixation in his beautifully crafted obit:

I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.

Don't get me wrong. I love Michael Jackson's music. Today, the world lost a beloved musician who - as my good and wise friend Andru Edwards pointed out to me - transcended racial barriers "Before Barack, before Oprah, before [Tiger] Woods." But the artistic and racial impact of Michael Jackson's life - and the premature sadness of his death - are the perfect distraction from the doings of the thugs running Iran. I fear that the media and the American public will pay far too much attention to the train wreck of Jackson's decline and death - as they did with Anna Nicole Smith - and forget this infinitely more principled and even more untimely death, and the uncounted others like it. WARNING: EXTREMELY DISTUBING & GRAPHIC The youth of Iran are screaming out for justice. May we continue to bear witness to their struggle and support them in every way we can. (You can start by Tweeting this link.) May their voices not fall on ears deafened by the constant commercialism of US culture.

Join Ted Johnson, Maegan Carberry and I as we talk with my old college friend, Adam Kokesh on this week's Wilshire & Washington. Adam is a decorated Iraq veteran and fierce anti-interventionist who has been endorsed by Ron Paul.

Back in March, I wrote a blog post about the fate of Seattle's now all-online newspaper, the Seattle P-I. At the time, I wasn't auditioning for anything, but shortly thereafter, the editor of my college alumni magazine got in touch to ask if I would write a piece about my personal relationship to the P-I for the magazine's Spring 2009 edition - which would cover the travails of the newspaper business from all angles. Here's an excerpt of the piece I wrote:

We were a P-I family. After my parents divorced, the paper would land on both doorsteps each morning. I had no siblings to share my adventures in joint custody, but the P-I was there no matter where I slept each night. At nine, I clipped out articles from the front page for Tuesday’s current events discussion in Mrs. Loeb’s class. As an angsty teenager, I avoided parental eye contact by reading the paper and sipping a latte until the Geohegans came to pick me up for school.

Be sure to head over to Pomona College Magazine to read the rest.

My roommate Arjun showed me this unbelievably hilarious video of John Hodgman at the Radio & TV Correspondents' Dinner tonight: This video addresses all the burning questions that we've all been asking. "Is Obama one of us?" "Will he live up to our expectations?" And most importantly, "has President Obama ever read Dune?"

As soon as Andy and I came back into mobile range after our camping trip at Lake Wenatchee this afternoon, the first thing he did was go to Andrew Sullivan's blog to get some news on the Iranian election. We got tingles when we heard that people were rioting in the streets over the obviously rigged victory of the ruling party over the opposition. By the time we got into Seattle, the election story had been more than 36 hours in the making and yet the mainstream media was covering anything but. Instead, Twitter has been the main source of news for information from brave Iranians who want to share what is happening in their country with the rest of the world. It is amazing to me how much the mainstream media and the Iranian regime have in common. The regime failed to realize the power of Twitter to spread news and information, in part thanks to the structure of APIs that allow users to Tweet without having to visit Twitter's domain. This means that users can go to any number of sites and post their updates. The regime's censors cannot possibly block the people's access to every place they might post a Tweet and the result is freedom of speech in the midst of revolution. Meanwhile, CNN, FOX, MSNBC and everyone else are airing stupid pre-taped shows on everything from Letterman vs. Palin to the auction of Unabomber Ted Kazinski's belongings. They, too, are underestimating the power of people with access to the Internet to broadcast and cover stories without their intervention. They could be add tremendous value by fact checking rumors and bringing in experts to comment on the situation - but instead they're sitting on their hands. Old models - from despotism to broadcast media - are being turned on their ears by this new technology and the world is watching.

Modest living, who knew? Still, check out the range he has on that stove. He may live modestly, but the guy knows where to spend his money. Viking all the way! [Hat Tip Mark Melief.]

Beware! I work for T-Mobile and drink the tasty, tasty Kool Aid. :-) I must admit that I originally had my misgivings when I heard that Catherine Zeta-Jones would be returning as our T-Mobile spokesperson, but this ad is really awesome! And it's true, chances are that you are overpaying for wireless - and gas, and credit cards too. I see Billshrink as being a lot like Mint.com - awesome tools that use the power of the Web to help you stay on top of your financial life. Have you had YOUR mobile makeover yet? [Published of my own volition because I think my employer is super neat!]

Now THAT'S how you give a commencement speech!