Archive for November 2008
This is What an Obama Victory Looks Like
Attention world!
Used to be Missouri was a bell weather state. Whatever went here, went everywhere. Well, not anymore, as it turns out. Even early in the morning, we still have no word on where Missouri stands on the map. Red? Blue? Does it matter?
Obama is our next president!
In order to secure this historic election, I stood in line for nearly two hours to cast my ballot. Here in St. Louis county, long lines were everywhere. In one black neighborhood in north St. Louis, people waiting in line for up to six hours to vote. In Florissant, also in north St. Louis county, people waited for three to five hours. That’s devotion. Makes my two hours seem small.
Anyway, this is what democracy looks like:
A lone line at the polls in St. Louis county during election 2008
Trouble Brews at BBC over Brand and Ross
Britons, if you are reading this, perhaps you could explain some things to me.
For Yanks, here’s the story. BBC Radio Two is apparently the most popular radio station in England. On Radio Two, listeners could tune in to a late night radio show hosted by none other than Russell Brand. Americans know Brand from the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall and American teens know him as the most recent host of MTV’s Video Music Awards.
Brits, however, have had quite enough of Brand’s antics, apparently. On Brand’s October 18th episode of his TV show, he and popular BBC presenter Jonathon Ross were having a bit of fun. Americans won’t recognize Jonathon Ross at all, so no point in trying to explain. Suffice it to say that Ross is one of the highest paid men on the BBC payroll for his work on both radio and TV.
Both men thought it would be a good idea to make cheeky phone calls to Andrew Sachs’s answering machine. Sachs is best known for his acting role on Fawlty Towers as the Spanish waiter. For those Americans who didn’t watch as much PBS as I did growing up, you probably don’t know who Sachs is, either.
Point is, Brand and Ross decided to joke that Brand had slept with Sachs’s granddaughter and told him just that. So, in a series of possibly-misguided comedy bits, the two men left several messages for Sachs claiming so, making it worse, and milking the moment for comedy.
Apparently that sort of thing doesn’t go over well with Brits.
Because of a joke phone call, Ross has been suspended for about three months without pay. That means he can’t do his radio show, and he can’t present–or “host” as we say in the States–on his or any other BBC television show. BBC News reports claim that this gaff could cost Ross about 1 million pounds.
Brand has quit his show as well. Damn, I was really starting to enjoy his podcasts.
Now the station director at Radio Two, Lesley Douglas, has quit her job over the incident.
So Britons, I want to know: what’s so wrong with that?
I realize it’s not technically polite to call an aging actor and make obscene claims on his answering machine. However, have you ever heard the raunchy talk on American morning radio shows?
Perhaps one of you could explain what in the world was so wrong with a crude joke? I mean, they may be rude, but Ross and Brand are certainly no Opie and Anthony.
UPDATE: Seems like we get away with much more on our airwaves here in America. Plus, we don’t have that English propensity for perpetual politeness. I guess our ability to spread out and have more personal space is a contributor to that, making us, in the minds of the space-cramped Europeans, rude, loud, and obnoxious. And so the cultural divide continues.
