Somyr Perry's Open Salon Blog

Eating rented food

Mon, 21 May 2012 17:05:41 -0400

Every single person out there is a closet rented food eater, and you won’t convince me otherwise.

I’m sitting at my desk freaking out because I ate my lunch for second breakfast (again) and there was nothing left over for first lunch (everyone should eat like a hobbit, btw).

I get the healthy eating thing, and I usually eat healthful meals, salad, pasta, bread, wine, blah, blah, but sometimes you just want gross food. Examples of gross food include:

BK Double

Nachos from the ghetto taco shop

Big Mac

Fried cheese sticks from where ever

Beef ‘n’ Cheddar

Doritos Locos Tacos

You get the point. One of my besties calls gross food “rented food” because “you only get it temporarily; it vacates your body immediately.”

So amazing. And so true.

Today I ate rented food and it was so awesome until it wasn’t. But, I take solace in knowing that everyone else out there eats rented food once in a while, even if they won’t admit it.

iPad Lameness

Sat, 19 May 2012 21:05:46 -0400

So I'm trying to get back into blogging. At the same time, I heart my iPad. But along with the brilliant decision by the Apple people to disallow Flash, apparently I can't upload photos (or anything else) to OS from my iPad.

It's not easy to come up with interesting things to blog about. It's best done on the fly.

I've been trying to write this one post for the last 20 minutes, and during that time I've learned that I also can't do a lot of other very normal word processing functions, which is so lame.

My Fave Things Thursday

Thu, 17 May 2012 18:05:39 -0400

Since it’s not that great of a day, I want to turn my frown upside down. So I’m going to think about all the things about this day that deserve an awesomeness award.

1. Champagne. I brought a bottle to work today because my employee completed her exams for her Masters degree. Now she’s more educated than me. Yay.

2. 2. My lululemon jacket. Not everyone can afford a lululemon. And neither can I. (I got it for my birthday.) But, how fab is this little detail on the sleeves?! I don’t do yoga or anything. I just wear it because it’s expensive.

3. This photo of my son. Stinkin’ cute.

4. 4. Babe Walker’s blog, Babewalker.com. I’m pretty sure that I’m like two and a half high schools older than she is, which makes me sad because I feel old today, but she’s practically my SAB (separated at birth), she makes me laugh out loud, and she’s almost as chic as I am, except in a less rednecky kinda way.

5. The 10 percent off coupon sent to my inbox this morning from Pep Boys. I need my brakes fixed and my oil changed.

6. 6. Iced green tea with no sweetener and no water. Except that today I got a trente instead of a venti and I have to pee every five seconds. (I don't know why my iced tea is sideways.)

7. Dave Holmes. He is my fave thing EVERY Thursday. He’s a radio guy (on some station in L.A.) and a writer for Vulture.com, for which he recaps every American Idol episode. I don’t know if he’s a professional comedian or not, but his writing once made me laugh till I cried so hard that I couldn’t finish reading his article. I had to recover for like an hour before I could go back and read the rest.

8. Free ice cream. My office is 50 yards from the Dreyer’s headquarters, and the Dreyer’s people gave us these two huge freezer fulls of ice cream and ice cream bars.

That's all the awesomeness I can think of today.

GQ's Cover Controversy

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:10:53 -0400

Let’s talk about covers. I’ haven’t blogged about the magazine industry in a while and a recent firestorm of controversy has erupted around the November cover of GQ Magazine.

TMZ reported yesterday, that the Parent’s Television Council, a self-described non-partisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment, is up in arms over “Glee” actors Dianna Agron, Cory Monteith and Lea Michele’s provocative poses on the GQ cover. Here’s a portion of the group’s statement:

“It is disturbing that GQ, which is explicitly written for adult men, is sexualizing the actresses who play high school-aged characters on ‘Glee’ in this way. It borders on pedophilia. Sadly, this is just the latest example of the overt sexualization of young girls in entertainment,” said PTC President Tim Winter. “Many children who flocked to ‘High School Musical’ have grown into ‘Glee’ fans. They are now being treated to seductive, in-your-face poses of the underwear-clad female characters posing in front of school lockers, one of them opting for a full-frontal crotch shot. By authorizing this kind of near-pornographic display, the creators of the program have established their intentions on the show’s direction. And it isn’t good for families … Unfortunately, it seems ‘Glee’ is only masquerading as a family show and is far from appropriate for young viewers,” Winter concluded.

I’ll first say that just because “Glee” has actors playing high-school kids singing and dancing doesn’t make it a family show. It’s on at 8 p.m. at my house, when my kids are off to bed, and it’s on Fox.

When has anything televised on Fox been appropriate for kids?

The “Glee” writers don’t craft the character’s dialogues and interactions with middle-schoolers in mind. Seriously. I also don’t believe they mis-market it as a family show. “Glee” is a perfectly respectable grown-up’s show complete with sarcasm, lust, raunch, jealousy, insecurity, and plenty of “I-remember-when-I-did-that-as-a-teenager” situations that make adults fondly (or not) reminisce about their wonder years.

So why in the heck would the PTC believe that “Glee” producers and GQ editors should plan their photo shoot and promotions around middle-schoolers? That’s just lame.

I won’t argue that there is an epidemic of “sexualization of young girls in entertainment,” I’m just not sure this is a solid example of the practice considering the ages of the actors. They’re not teenagers. They just play them on TV.

In a classy move, Dianna Agron (not the gal in the pink panties), addressed the negative buzz about the cover on her blog. She downplayed PTC’s surprise that GQ is pushing consumers’ comfort-level boundaries, and I agree.

“In the land of Madonna, Britney, Miley, Gossip Girl, other public figures and shows that have pushed the envelope and challenged the levels of comfort in their viewers and fans … we are not the first.”

You go girl. (My daughter’s not allowed to watch Hannah Montana, either.) Agron also “apologizes” if the images are offensive, which I wish she wouldn’t have done. But it was for good measure.

The GQ cover was done in the spirit of the show and portrays its same tone and context. There’s no disconnect there, which means that the photographer, stylists and editors did their jobs well in producing a cover of excellent composition.

I hope that the GQers are doing two things right now: Rolling their eyes at all of the naysayers, and high-fiving each other because they’re going to sell a lot of magazines.

Salon.com Finalist in Excellence Award in Online Journalism

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:09:55 -0400

You may read this announcement in its entirety here.

Finalists for the 2010 Online Journalism Awards, many pushing the envelope of innovation and excellence in digital storytelling and distribution, were announced today by the Online News Association and its partner, the School of Communication at the University of Miami.

The finalists are:

Knight Award for Public Service
The Las Vegas Sun and the Greenspun Media Group: Do No Harm
Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Flipping Fraud
The Roanoke Times | roanoke.com: I-81: Fear, Facts and the Future

Gannett Foundation Award for Technical Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism
AP Stylebook Application, site, Twitter feed (1, 2, 3)
CNN iPhone App with iReport integrated
NPR API

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Micro Site
California Watch and the Center for Investigative Reporting
Gotham Gazette
St. Louis Beacon

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Small Site
ProPublica
The Texas Tribune | texastribune.org
voiceofsandiego.org

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Medium Site
The Las Vegas Sun and the Greenspun Media Group
Army Times Publishing Company: Military Times
Mother Jones
Salon Media Group: Salon.com

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Large Site
msnbc.com
NPR: NPR.ORG
New York Media: Nymag.com
The New York Times

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Non-English, Small Site
Cyberpresse.ca
OWNI
Local Foods Yahoo!Taiwan

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Non-English, Large Site
EL PAÍS
SA LA NACION
G1 - TV Globo

Breaking News, Small Site
The Oklahoman / NewsOK.com Staff: May 10 Tornados
The Tennessean: Nashville Flood

Breaking News, Large Site
Boston.com: The death of Edward M. Kennedy
CBC News: G20 Summit
CNN.com: Haiti Earthquake
The Seattle Times: Four Police Officers Slain
The New York Times: Haiti Earthquake Coverage

Specialty Site Journalism, Affiliated
BBC News: Election 2010
CHOW.com
NPR: NPR Music

Specialty Site Journalism, Independent
Curbed Network: Curbed.com
Design Observer Group: Design Observer
theheart.org by WebMD

Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Small Site
The Center for Public Integrity: Sexual Assault on Campus: A Frustrating Search for Justice
ProPublica, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Frontline: Law and Disorder
Vancouver Sun: Vanishing Point: A five-part investigative series
voiceofsandiego.org: Out of Reach

Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Large Site
The Las Vegas Sun and the Greenspun Media Group: Do No Harm
The Los Angeles Times: Toyota: Road to Recall
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Justice Delayed, Dismissed, Denied
NPR, ProPublica, Frontline: Brain Wars: How the Military is Failing the Wounded
The New York Times: Toxic Waters

Multimedia Feature Presentation, Small Site
ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Innovation: Black Saturday
National Film Board of Canada: This Land
News21: Powering a Nation

Multimedia Feature Presentation, Medium Site
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, Domani Studios, The Martin Agency, AOL, AOL News, AOL SHOUTcast: We Choose the Moon
The Denver Post: American Soldier
The Las Vegas Sun and Greenspun Media Group: Bottoming Out

Multimedia Feature Presentation, Large Site
NPR: Grand Trunk Road
Reuters, Online News and the Thomson Reuters Foundation: Surviving the Tsunami – Stories of Hope
The New York Times: Held by the Taliban
USATODAY: Vancouver Olympics

Multimedia Feature Presentation, Student
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University: SyracuseDiners.com
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism: A Seed is Forever
UNC School of Journalism: Living Galapagos
Western Kentucky University Fleischaker-Greene Scholars: Farm to Fork: Investigating Agriculture

Online Topical Reporting/Blogging, Small Site
The Center for Public Integrity: Disaster in the Gulf (1, 2)
FLORIDATODAY: The Flame Trench space blog (1, 2)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Persian Letters (1, 2)
voiceofsandiego.org: Building a Community around Education Coverage (1, 2)

Online Topical Reporting/Blogging, Medium Site
CBC News: Inside Politics Blog (1, 2)
Mother Jones: Team Coverage of BP Oil Spill (1, 2)

Online Topical Reporting/Blogging, Large Site
AOL News: Haiti, Life After Death (1, 2)
CNN.com: Technology (1, 2)
CNN.com: Afghanistan Crossroads (1, 2)

Online Commentary/Blogging, Small Site
Caring.com: Dad Has Dementia (1, 2)
Forward.com: The Sisterhood
Truthdig: Chris Hedges (1, 2)

Online Commentary/Blogging, Medium Site
Salon.com: Glenn Greenwald (1, 2)
Mother Jones: Kevin Drum (1, 2)

Online Commentary/Blogging, Large Site
ESPN.com: Howard Bryant (1, 2)
Politics Daily: Jill Lawrence (1, 2)
The Los Angeles Times: Christopher Knight, Culture Monster (1, 2)

Outstanding Use of Digital Technologies, Professional
CNN.com: Home and Away: U.S. & Coalition Causalities
The Las Vegas Sun and Greenspun Media Group: Bottoming Out
The New York Times: Oil Spill Tracker
The Texas Tribune Data Apps

Outstanding Use of Digital Technologies, Student
No award given

Outstanding Use of Emerging Platforms
NPR.ORG Mobile Applications
USATODAY for iPad

Online Video Journalism, Small Site
Huffington Post Investigative Fund: Tapped Out: How an Unpaid Water Bill Cost a Baltimore Woman Her Home
MediaStorm: Take Care
Minnesota Public Radio News: Explaining Instant Run-off Voting
Yale Environment 360: Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining

Online Video Journalism, Medium Site
The Las Vegas Sun and the Greenspun Media Group: Bottoming Out (1)
Knoxville News Sentinel / knoxnews.com: Death on Chipman Street
The Dallas Morning News: Choosing Thomas

Online Video Journalism, Large Site
NPR: Krulwich on Science (1, 2)
NPR and ProPublica: Traumatic Brain Injury – The Battle For Care
TIME.com: Sudan Stories
The Toronto Star: William and the Windmill
The Washington Post: Scene In Video Series (1, 2)

Online Video Journalism, Student
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University: The Fall Workshop (1, 2)
Knight Center for International Media, School of Communication, University of Miami: My Story, My Goal

Community Collaboration
CBC News: G20: Street Level
CNN.com: Haiti: The Missing, The Found, The Victims
The Los Angeles Times: Westside Debate
West Seattle Blog: West Seattle’s only 24/7 news source