Was I wrong about Carl?

So, the email scandal did not take Carl down, and it seems to have emboldened his supporters. As much as I hate to admit it, I find him entertaining, and his brash, ridiculous statements (telling Susan Arbetter he was going to take a baseball bat to Albany, for one) somewhat refreshing in a state where legislators complain about working four day weeks and can't pass a budget. While enjoying wide support in Western New York, Paladino is a virtual unknown downstate. Picking Tom Ognibene, a conservative from Queens, was a smart choice in spreading his name around the state, but I doubt it's going to get him a win in the Republican primary, much less a win against Andrew Cuomo. At the end of the day, he seems more like a caricature of a candidate, something Hollywood thought up (he reminds me of the politicians in Robocop,for some reason), to be over the top and almost out of control, and less like a legitimate candidate for governor. Carl may be "mad as hell", but he won't be governor.

Hey, Carl!

I am willing to bet that the email scandal Mr. Paladino is currently involved in will effectively end his political aspirations. I'm not sure I get his defense. Forwarding an email, without actually checking its contents is insanely stupid (if even true). "Oh hey mom, huh? No, no, I had no idea I sent you a woman having sex with a horse, I swear!" Anyway, I won't shed a tear over it.

Big Plans

I've had all sorts of big plans for this blog. I've wanted to write about local politics, New York State politics, national politics, sports, Buffalo, Buffalo history, etc... I've found that being in school has made keeping up with any of those ideas nearly impossible. I have to get past this, and keep this updated, if only for the practice it provides. I've heard that some people read this, but maybe no one does. I wouldn't blame anyone, blogs with one update every six months aren't very exciting. Anyway, I'm going to push myself to produce more posts, and try to follow through on some of the plans I had for this. If you do happen to check this from time to time, stay tuned.

St. Pat's Day

I'm looking forward to it.

Interview Article

Here is an article I wrote about a friend of mine.

Bryan Maury is a local journalist who has experienced the good and the bad of choosing journalism as a career path.

When Maury landed a journalism job with the Buffalo Current during the semester before graduating in 2005, he thought he was set. “It didn’t pay much, but it was the best $7.50 I’ve ever made in my life,” Maury said. Maury worked in the entertainment wing of the paper, and was able to meet bands and musicians he had long admired. “I was able to meet Brian May from Queen, and interview the Dropkick Murphys,” he said, “I usually interviewed and met really cool people.” Six months into the job, however, Maury was laid off, and the paper shut down. “Everyone got laid off, it totally sucked,” Maury said.

Since that time, Maury has worked as a freelance journalist, contributing to local papers and Internet sites. He has written about sports and local matters, from the Boston Red Sox to the new roundabouts in Hamburg. “I’ve had opportunities to freelance, and it’s something I plan on doing more of,” he said. “I’ve written for a few on-line magazines and some local papers.”

Maury received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Buffalo State College, but it was in high school when he first discovered his love of writing. “I wrote for the high school newspaper, but I never thought about pursuing it,” he said. That changed when he attended Erie Community College for English. “Erie Community College didn’t have a newspaper, so I got together with a few other students before the start of my second year, and we started a full fledged newspaper,” he said, adding, “after graduation, I looked back at things I wrote, and really liked it. I wanted to do it.”

Maury transferred to Buffalo State College, after graduation, to pursue a career in journalism. Maury believes that Buffalo State has a great journalism program. “I really learned a lot, really developed my voice as a writer,” Maury said. He also wrote and edited “ The Record” while there. “Writing for ‘The Record’ was a good experience,” Maury said, “it gave me experience for when I started writing for other publications.” Maury also did two internships while at Buffalo State. He was a photo runner for Reuters during Bills games, and he interned at Night and Day, a local newspaper. Working with “Night and Day” wasn’t the exciting reporter’s job he was looking for, but it taught him a lot. “I was interviewing people about the school supplies they were buying, and how they were going to decorate their dorm rooms,” Maury said.

Maury is currently looking into graduate programs for journalism, and freelancing as much as he can. He believes the Internet will open up new opportunities for current and future journalists alike. “As much as I love print journalism, the internet is a great tool,” Maury said. “It gives you more freedom as a writer.” He also sees social media playing a role in the future of journalism. “Social media is a huge part of where journalism is going, again; it’s just a great tool,” Maury said. According to Maury, journalists need to embrace new technologies to stay relevant. “It sucks that newspapers are closing, but it’s the new way.”

Maury has advice for those who are thinking about journalism as a career. “You really have to love it, and not be concerned with money, especially starting out,” he said. “You’re going to have to pay your dues.” The most important aspect, according to Maury, is finding your voice as a writer. “Find your voice,” he said. “I’m still working on it, but it’s about making people think, laugh and feel something.”

I realized something the other night, while picking up some Clash cds my cousin burned for me. Music is so impersonal when we download it. Yes, it's quick and easy, but that's it. There is nothing else to it. Picking up the cds, I talked with my cousin about the albums he burned. We talked about the different tracks on them, what each song meant to him, and the songs I should check out first. It made getting these cds exciting, and personal.

I miss the days of waiting for a record to come out, and going to home of the hits or discovery records to get it. It made it an event, something to look forward to, not just a few clicks on the computer. Maybe I am getting old, and antiquated, but I really feel that we are missing out on a lot with the increased digitization of music (and, for that matter, almost everything).

On a side note, I'm going to make an effort to start making mix cds for people. It's a lost art.

NY - 23

It's kind of funny that the conservative, tea party candidate lost. They even brought in the big guns!

Slug

I wish the Sabres could have just made their jersey switch this year, instead of waiting until next year.

Updates

So, I'm at around one update every six months or so. Good Job.

Flying Checklist

I don't need much when I fly, just my Ipod, and an interesting book. I do, however, have one request. I do not want to sit next to the "I'm afraid to fly person" anymore. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of sitting next to a girl who cried during take-off, retrieved the vomit bag several times in flight, and shook the entire time. I considered telling her that I thought she was being irrational, and if she is having this much trouble on an hour and fifteen minute flight, she may want to consider driving next time. I thought about explaining to her that her current outlook on things was really cutting into my reading time, and how hard it was to relax with the constant fear of being vomited on in the forefront of my mind. I reconsidered, and was content that I was not cleaning puke off of myself thirty thousand feet in the air...

It's not the first time I've sat next to this type of flyer. Last time I flew into Fort Myers, I sat next to the biker version of curly from the three stooges, with a thick, nasally Rhode Island accent. Instead of keeping his anxieties to himself, he decided to project them onto me. "This guys fekkin' scared", he repeated to anyone who would listen, including the flight attendant. "He needs a fekkin' drink". It should be noted that I was reading, listening to music and attempting to mind my own business, while his legs shook. After taking my headphones out, and reassuring him that I was, in fact, okay, he responded by telling me to keep my headphones in, if it calmed me down. Unfortunately, my attempt to reassure him opened the door for conversation. I was told about the harley he had just bought, having sex on a harley while riding (a claim I find dubious, especially considering the source), and how much living in Buffalo must suck (oddly enough, for me). I was also shown several tattoos I never wanted to see. Thankfully, it was a short flight, and we went our separate ways (I made the mistake of telling him my brother was a deputy sheriff in Ft Myers. Our parting words: Him - "make sure your brother knows who I am, in case I get in trouble", Me - "Ummm, okay").

I enjoy flying, I really do. It's time when I am not on-call, I can't answer text messages, and I'm not being distracted by the internet. I can concentrate, and relax. I'd rather not deal with my fellow citizens irrational fears and anxieties. Is this too much to ask?

More from the NY Times on Buffalo

Buffalo is listed as one of the fourty four destinations to travel to in 2009. Pretty cool.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/11/travel/20090111_DESTINATIONS.html?hp

Christmas Eve

I was lucky enough to watch the homeless, drunk version of santa claus (riding a bike, in december, in Buffalo) yell "pornstar" loud and repeatedly at the uncomfortable hipster walking across the street. It made all of the hassles and waiting in line worth it.

The last Leaf game I attended...

Every year, I end up with tickets to several Toronto Maple Leaf games in Buffalo. It's almost impossible to get tickets in Toronto, so a lot of Toronto fans come down to Buffalo and buy tickets from season ticket holders who can pay for a seasons worth of tickets by selling them to Leaf fans. It's hard to describe the annoyance of walking into HSBC arena (the clever name we have here in Buffalo for our arena), hearing chants of "Go Leafs Go". Oddly, it's the only chant you hear (being one of the original six teams does not lend itself to fan creativity, apparently). Of course, they're much louder than anything you and your friends can muster, and it sets the tone for a night of annoyance.

Security at these games is much more visible and omnipresent. If this were Europe, you'd expect a soccer like riot. Ridiculous, nationalistic arguments abound, with Buffalo natives reminding the Leaf fans that Canada, does in fact suck, and Toronto natives reminding Sabre fans that we've never won a stanley cup. Sometimes these digress into serious discussions of national policy (Canadians are pussies, Americans are gun toting red necks) and sometimes you form a bond with your northern counterpart. There's been a lot of losing in Toronto and Buffalo over the years. Either way, you leave feeling violated in some way.

Last year, around this time of year, was the last Leaf game I attended (I'm torturing myself tonight). Walking into the arena, I am instantly bombarded by "Go Leafs Go", and throngs of fans wearing blue hair and Leaf flags as capes (some sort of weird Canadian super hero, I suppose). I check my ticket with the ticket holder and walk into the lobby. Almost instantly, I am slammed into by a short, fat man wearing a Toronto hat. I apologize, and he responds with "fuck you, eh". Not one to be out done, I push him, and he responds that he is going to kill me (I find this a dubious threat, we are amongst 18,000 people), and I respond with "go fuck yourself". I paid too much money to get into the game to get kicked out three seconds in, so I walk away. As I walk to my seat, I quietly curse every season ticket holder that sells their tickets...

Zip's Wiseguys, 2:45am.

As I walk in the door to get two slices of cheese pizza, all I hear is screaming and yelling. This is a common occurrence at this particular pizzeria, so I don't think much of it. I realize, almost immediately, that it is the man working the register who is yelling, and he his yelling into his cellphone. "I'll kill you, nigga, punk bitch mutha fucka". This continues for a few moments. After he notices that I am standing at the counter, he says "hold on" into the phone. His tone changes, and he says, "Can I help you?" in a calm, polite voice. I ask for my two slices of cheese pizza, pay for them, and leave the pizzeria. As I am walking out, I hear the phone conversation resume. "I'll drive over there and kill you right now, mutha fucka......".

My current job.

I make my own schedule now, and the results have been interesting. No more eighty hour weeks and no more being on call twenty four hours a day, every day. Sometimes I work forty hours, sometimes I work twenty. It's opened up a world of opportunities school wise, and time for more creative ventures. So far, however, I've found myself staying up all night, arguing with teenagers over how much I think Nickelback sucks on youtube. It's not really what I envisioned for myself. I'll figure it out, but in the meantime, Nickelback does suck!

The Baptist Church

We used to play hockey in the parking lot of a Baptist Church, in South Buffalo. I couldn't tell you the actual name of the church, as I still only know it as the "baptist church". It was a natural place to meet up for games of hockey, as the parking lot is quite big, and someone (we thought it had to be a church member, but looking back I'm not so sure) painted hockey like markings on the blacktop. I say hockey like markings, because everything was crooked, and nothing lined up. Both of my brothers played there, as well as most of the neighborhood kids (for better or for worse, it was scary to be matched up against drug dealers who weren't afraid of flashing their weapons). I spent hours and hours there, crafting my trade and trying to impress the girls who would inevitably stop by. One of the last times I played there, my youngest brother (Scott) was playing goalie, and was stopping everything the other team threw at him. I was on Scott's team, and my younger brother (Chris) was on the other team. A kid from the neighborhood (Brian) took a shot that Scott stopped and trapped on the ground with his baseball glove (this was south buffalo, no fancy street hockey equipment there). Brian proceeded to hack and slash my brother, using every demeaning curse word used at the time (faggot and bitch come to mind). My brother Chris immediately dropped his stick, grabbed Brian by the throat and slammed him against the brick wall of the church (Brian was bigger than Chris). I did my part by threatening Brian's life with a variety of adjectives. Brian apologized to Scott, and we continued to play the game. My friend Paul, who was hanging out with us for the first time that day, left sometime during the scuffle. We thought we scared him off (maybe we did), but he's still around, and one of our best friends.

Post - Election Letdown

I have to admit, I miss all of the pre-election news coverage, the same coverage I swore off so many times, only to seek it out a few hours later. I obsessed over it (thank god I have an amazing girlfriend, who doesn't mind my obsessive watching and reading of political coverage - or the NHL, for that matter!), and I feel a (sort of) void in my life, now that it's all over. Economic stimulus packages and corporate bailouts don't excite me much, and it's hard to get fired up over the vile stream of shit on fox news or right wing radio, because they don't really matter anymore. Not to be misunderstood, I am extremely excited about the Obama presidency, and the prospects of real change. I just miss the McCain mis-steps, the Palin Interviews and watching the strategy of the Obama campaign unfold. I'm sure it will be a temporary lull, things are already starting to pick up.

Buffalo isn't dead.

Cool article from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/arts/design/16ouro.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1

Rush is right?

Since the election, I've been listening to a lot of talk radio in the Buffalo area. Buffalo offers two subjects (for the most part) on talk radio, sports and politics. The overwhelming majority of political talk shows are presented from a conservative, right wing viewpoint (Rush Limbaugh's show sits between two self - described social conservatives who routinely idolize Sean Hannity). It's been interesting, to say the least. There is almost a sense of panic on the right. One day, they blame the left wing media. The next, it's moderate republicans, and the next, it's black people. They don't have a general sense of where things stand, or what they need to do next. Their usual tactics didn't work, and they're lost. This election signified the end of cynical, divisive politics. Rush, Sean and the rest of them are on the outside looking in.

Sarah Barracuda

Will Sarah Palin disappear? It's doubtful. I initially hoped that she would return to Alaska, never to be heard from again. After thinking about it, though, it seems she could be the democrats biggest ally. It's true that she excites the conservative base (or what's left of it), but it's not enough of the electorate to make a real difference (the same may not be true in four years), and she provides enough ridiculous sound bites to make anyone seem more qualified for public office than she is. I'm sure she will study and come out better prepared in 2012, but I wonder how much she can actually retain. I've been reading some of the interviews she's given, and it's hard to make out what she is trying to say. She talks in circles, contradicts herself, and makes no sense at times. Her interviews sound bad, but they look even worse on paper. I'm not sure she can improve. Time will tell, but she does make for good copy.