Category: journalism

Stuff having to do with the world of journalism.

Thanksgiving Dog Adventures

callmemaybe321 Comment

Alright guys I’m really coming up with nothing to entertain, but if you like dogs enjoy these pictures. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Click the link ^^^ , but don’t listen to the message it is portraying. Turkey is delicious.

So for months I had been talking with a friend about how our dogs should have a “play date” because we both though they’d get along.

Over break we decided to get them together with our other friends’ dog.

I feel like I am talking about myself in like 1o years when we all have children getting together…. anywho we took the dogs to the park and let them meet each other and then off to the dog park to run around and play with sticks.

Now enjoy these pictures of dogs drinking water and playing with sticks. 🙂

Silly Ella drinking water like a person (above)

Kai “The Best Dog Ever” Shiffman trying to attack the water

He decided the water was no threat and that he could then drink it

Very proud of his stick which he is guarding from a greedy Ella who took every stick from Kai

Dog Couture

Archie wanted to sit up front

Well folks this sums up how the end of my break went.

I just wrote a blog about our dogs playing in the park and allowed you to look at pretty pictures……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..dots are interesting.

Have a good one!

Another War in the Name of God

smackyjackjack2 Comments

Let’s say

That I belonged to a social club that met each week.

Let’s say

That the people in the club believed that it was founded by a guy named, I don’t know, Chuck.

Let’s say

Chuck was a homophobic, misogynistic, genocidal old man who lived in a cloud and had the power to make everything happen.

Lastly, let’s say

That because I belonged to this club, I inherited a hatred of all other social clubs in the area.

Okay, now of course no one would ever join this club. It’s ridiculous. However, if this was your religion, you’d be perfectly fine with it.

The Old Testament, for instance, a book held believed to be true by both Christians and Jews, is one of the most outrageous pieces of literature in Western Culture.

For most of it, God is killing people. He wipes out everyone but Noah and his family in one part, destroys two cities and its inhabitants in another, forces Lot to offer his own daughters to be raped, etc.

However, when the O.T. is lacking in violence, it makes up for it in sheer whimsicality and stupidity. This is the same with all religious texts. There really is no room for a reasonable person to believe in some of the “facts” of Juedo-Christain beliefs (I’m not leaving other religions like Islam out on purpose, its just that these strike a little closer to home).

Religous “Facts”:

1.   Sadly (spoiler alert), Noah of the O.T. died at the young age of 950. The good die young.

2.   Although also in the New Testament, it is possible (and actually turned out quite well) to be swallowed by a giant fish, live in there for a while, and be spat back out.

3.   The universe was created by…well God. There isn’t much else to say about that because books like the O.T. say about that much in regard to the beginning of time (cough-COP OUT-cough).

However, taking what some would call “cheap shots” like this at religion isn’t fair because these things aren’t meant to be taken literally. They’re simply meant to be ignored and the good bits should be cherry picked out when needed.

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Random Disney Trip

backinphillyLeave a comment

As I write this, we are about to leave for a day long trip to Disney. These past couple days away from school have been filled with excitement, heartbreak but most of all, FOOD!

Yesterday we found a place in La Jolla that advertises the sale of a cheesesteak. Before yesterday, the only place I was getting cheesesteaks from in this town was Jersey Mike’s and Philly station. Both of which are somewhat subpar.

Yesterday, the restaurant had the ingredients that we were waiting for.

Amoroso’s rolls? Check!

Provolone and Cheez Whiz? Check!

Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer? Check!

Every thing was falling into place. That was until we found out that the cheesesteaks were made with roast beef.

Now I’m not going to sit here and pretend to have any idea what kind of meat goes into a classic Philly cheesesteak, but it ain’t roast beef. Something about the taste just wasn’t right. We quickly recognized that the meat ruined the sandwich.

But I wanna mention one massive heartbreak from today. The Eagles, once again, lost.

At this point, I’m not surprised. I’m just annoyed and pissed off. I’m disappointed. It was hard to watch my team fall so pathetically. But I digress. We move on. That’s the Philly way.

Well, hopefully Mickey Mouse and all that crap will help me feel better. I’m going to spend tomorrow in Disneyland with my family and my girlfriend.

I hope nothing goes wrong. What could possibly, right?

Choices Follow Up

callmemaybe32Leave a comment

So I was thinking again yesterday, occasionally it can be dangerous when I do that, but it wasn’t, it rather was quite productive.

I went home and turned on the TV and was looking for some sport to watch being as the NHL is STILL locked out… cough* cough* Bettman (still waiting).

Any who, I saw something called “A Football Life” and turned it on.

It is a series who follows a different player every week, but it shows their life through the season.

Yesterday’s episode was featuring Ray Lewis, “the Ravens 16 year defensive soul,” as the show called him.

He is actually someone I can admire and look up to.

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Propositions, Elections, and Other Doozies

smackyjackjackLeave a comment

Well, I suppose its time for me to go off on the elections.

First of all, well done America. You did the best you could in a two party system (there’s  always Jill Stein though).

But (and this is all aimed at you California), what the hell.

Okay, I might need to quickly remind voters that you should research what you’re voting on before you actually vote. This is so you don’t just read the little blurb on the ballot and make a quick decision.

Let’s talk props.

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Nine One One

callmemaybe32Leave a comment

It was just a regular sunday night until it wasn’t.

I was sitting at home with a friend enjoying some pizza after playing Madden 13 when all of a sudden my sister bursts in the door yelling.

I was sitting at the table and she rushed in telling me that there is a huge fire right behind a property that we rent out.

She said that she drove by and called 9-1-1 and told them that there was a very large fire and told them the location.

After finishing dinner my Dad and I decided we should probably make sure our property was not on fire and that our storage was ok.

After we had determined our stuff was in no imminent danger and had a talk with our renters we wanted to check it out.

We walked down a long stretch of driveway to see a house engulfed in flames, making loud popping noises like something was exploding, and a firetruck parked right in the middle of two trees.

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Visualizing the Venture

callmemaybe32Leave a comment

This past week I have completed my 3rd time working with a film crew producing a fashion show for a major shoe company based in Santa Barbara, CA.

My father works for a local Carpinteria company called Venture Visuals. It is a small company in Carpinteria, CA, specializing in branded entertainment.

They do work for Specialized Bicycles, local musician Dominic Balli, and many other local and non local people and companies.

I have worked for VV many times, usually just as a Production Assistant, but I have been given the opportunity at a young age to operate cameras on a few of the shoots.

This is a career I have looked into, but I do not think it will be the one for me.

I really do enjoy working in the filming industry, but it isn’t a stable career for the most part, and I have first hand experience of this.

My Dad, when I was younger worked in what most people would call “Hollywood,” but it wasn’t really in Hollywood.

He worked on many movies such as Welcome to Collinwood, The Contender, Mimic, and Cherry Falls.

He also worked on TV shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as the line producer, and on CSI:Miami as the head producer.

While he worked life was great, we lived large, and had enough money that we didn’t have to worry, but when the jobs were over, there was often a dry spell, and it was always up and down.

My mother tells me a story of a day when she didn’t have money to buy a coke at the gas station, but the next day we had more money than we knew what to do with.

So while I won’t be pursuing it as my life career it is something I can work on through college for money, and right now.

I have started early and am learning quickly.

This past week I worked at the Bacara Resort in Goleta, CA at the fashion show as a PA.

Here is a video of last year’s fall show.

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Vick Doesn’t Use Protection

backinphillyLeave a comment

I have finally found one of the many issues surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles. Aside from the porous defense, the Eagles appear to have signed 5 members of PETA to block for Michael Vick.

For those living under a rock the past few years, Vick killed dogs. It was kinda hard to miss. That’s the joke people.

In all seriousness, the Eagles line has been completely unacceptable this season. Vick has given the ball away and been taken to the ground more than any other quarterback in football. I don’t want to see my quarterback bite the dust whenever he drops back to pass.

This offseason, the Eagle offensive line looked rather strong. Center Jason Kelce, who had a strong rookie season last year, accompanied by All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters, veterans Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans, and weak link Danny Watkins made up Vick’s protection.

During the offseason, Peters torn his Achilles tendon TWICE, ending his season for the most part. The team has stated repeatedly that they hope Peters will return sometime this season. I find this highly unlikely.

Ok, while Peters is the best we got, losing one guy won’t render us useless. The Eagles then went and signed Demetress Bell to fill the void left by Jason Peters. He’s not bad so I guess we will still be fine.

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Choices

callmemaybe321 Comment

I have been thinking a lot lately about what my future is going to be like.

Not as a grown adult, but where I want to go to college, what I want to study, and what about sports?

Thinking about what’s going to go into getting in to the schools I want to go to, and if I will be able to do it.

It’s a lot to be thinking about, there are so many choices we have to make even at the young age of 16, but I have realized the future is really up to me and how hard I want to work.

I have always been the kid who doesn’t put in the effort, and I come out with a few As and a few Bs.

I have realized I need to start actually trying to put in more effort to make it all As, instead of sitting on my butt when I have free time, maybe I should study more, and get work done before sunday night.

Maybe that means I can sleep more seeing as my schedule right now is crazy.

That brings me to the other thing I have been thinking about.

It was just last year that sports started to mean something to me again.

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Don’t Worry About It

callmemaybe32Leave a comment

This past Saturday our football team had our last league game against the Laguna Blanca Owls.

Contrary to how I was feeling going into this game, and what I wished had happened, we did not end up winning, but lost our fifth consecutive game.

Sadly this season came to an end sooner than I had hoped, and not the way I wanted to leave the field.

We finished with a final score of 44-26.

That is much closer than some games we have played, and once again we played a great second half, but it takes more than that to win football games.

We did not start off with a defense that was aggressive enough to set the tone early.

While we did stuff many plays, the Owls were able to put points up with more ease than they should have had.

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