A Little of the Old In and Out



In: The Red Cross. If you haven't donated a little already, The Red Cross is the best way to help our fellow Americans in this hour of need. Here.



(image via staciwilson)

Out: Vivica Fox. Vivica Fox, best known for stalking Fitty Cent, as if he were some suculent wild prey species, is at it again, this time ranting "crazy-ghetto stylee" (tm) on the late night talk show circuit. What could make the august thespian who so ably portrayed the complex, Oscarworthy role of "Lysterine" in that overlooked masterpiece on the fin de siecle urban dating scene, "Booty Call (Pronounced: "Boo-tee"; Averted Gaze)"

But we digress. After getting into a bit of a rhetorical brawl with ABC's resident frat-boy Jimmy Kimmell for doing some off-the-cuff Star Jones humor, Viv turned down the host's offer of an olive branch. Violently. With extreme prejudice. According to Lloyd Grove's Lowdown:

"'You know what? The four of us should get together - me, you, Star and [Star's husband] Al [Reynolds],' Kimmel suggested.

"Fox responded grimly: 'You would get your a- kicked.'

"'I'm sure I would,' Kimmel said. 'But that would be funny for you.'

"'It wouldn't be funny,' Fox vowed. 'I would have to take off my shoe and beat you down, brotha!'"

Either Vivica Fox is one of the most loyal (albeit "countrified") friends ever, or she is a wizard at garnering publicity. Think about it: when was the last time a "star" of a crummy Lifetime TV series garnered this much press. Either way: Viv's vivid.



(image via NYSocialDiary)

In: Alex Kuczynski Bashing. It's Thursday, so Alex Kuczynski is at it again, this time yammering on about "crisp New England autumns." Autumn shmautumn. We wouldn't be a proper media blog (wait: are we even a "proper media blog"?) without a little good-natured Thursday Styles Alex the K bashing, committed -- so ably -- by surrogates Choire Sicha and Tom Scocca in the salmon colored weekly's blog:

"Media Tom: Ask Alex Kuczynski to chip in to buy it. She's got cash to spend, it seems. Here's another thing you can do when you're Alex K.: defenestrate cash! 'I thought the sequined ribbon belts were overpriced at $58, but I bought one anyway.'

"The Transom: Some day there will be a store which features overpriced sequin belts and pudendal laser surgery. If only one could shop whilst getting permanently shaved bald down there.

"The Transom: Alex doesn't reveal much this week; Didn't we already know she plays golf and has bizarre, culturally fetishistic tastes in clothing?

"The Transom: Also, $138 sweaters are now listed as 'Relatively inexpensive,' which is a fantastically loose phrase. Relative to what, exactly? To the Thunderdome that is Prada?

"Media Tom: Relative to a secluded mountain retreat for a zillionaire?

"Media Tom: Relative to a light-lifting writing contract at the New York Times?"

Oh no he didn't.



(image via optics.org)

Out: The Communication Breakdown. What is it about America's repeated failure of communication in the face of a disaster? The inability of civil authorities to communicate with each other in the face of disaster reminds me -- oddly -- of Ingmar Bergman's Shame, a movie devoted to the artistic representation of what happens as communication dies (spoken like a true Gemini, eh?). D.C.-ologist Norm Ornstein sings for his supper today in HuffyPo:

"When the third plane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, emergency workers, fire, police and others streamed to the site to help, coming from several adjoining counties in Virginia and Maryland. They soon discovered a huge impediment to their rescue and recovery work-- they could not communicate with one another because their radios operated on different frequencies-- if they tried cell phones, they found the system basically frozen through overload in a panicked Capital region. So after 9/11, one of the high priority items on the agenda was making emergency communications systems interoperable across the country.

"This had been a longstanding problem, caused in part because of the failure of the federal government to allocate appropriate space on the electromagnetic spectrum-- the airwaves, that is-- for these services."

Sound familiar? Blogger Paul Kapustka writes, caustically:

"According to some government types, the Bush administration does have a national broadband policy. But as Hurricane Katrina rudely pointed out this week, there's still no coherent, nation-wide first-responders communications network, a technology failure that must fall, in part, at the current leader's feet.

"As some of us have said before, it's appalling that nearly four years after the terrorist attacks on this country, our elected officials still haven't found the political will to build communications networks that could help make us all safer in times of need."

Finally -- something positive -- Are satellite communication systems the way to go?:

"Communication is one of the most critical necessities during a disaster. Unfortunately for the public, there are few viable options when things go bad. Hurricane Katrina marks the latest example, as the flooding has ravaged the telecommunications infrastructure in the lower Mississippi and Louisiana region - particularly New Orleans. In that situation, most people, and even some businesses, are generally out of luck, since resources and attention are placed on providing communications for public safety agencies and the military. Still, there are some options out there and in development. They just aren't practical. The most dependable communications device is the satellite phone. These phones bounce their signals off satellites orbiting Earth, so any destruction to the infrastructure on the ground would have little effect on those devices."