Recent Writeups about Forest Hills

There's been some recent coverage of the neighborhood in the press that I thought I'd throw my two cents in about. One, excellent. The other, pretty darn bizarre.

First, the excellent one. Kudos to amNewYork for their really good article about the neighborhood that appeared in the paper last Thursday: Forest Hills, Queens: 12 places to know in the neighborhood

Of course, no single newspaper article is going to be comprehensive about all that our neighborhood has to offer today, but this one was the best one I've read in a long time, and also the most accurate. There were a few minor mistakes (Station House isn't tucked behind the LIRR station, for example, it's actually right smack in front of it). But compared to the dreadfully inaccurate coverage of our neighborhood that is normally in the mainstream media, this article was terrific.

One other issue is it didn't even touch on Metropolitan Ave., except to call that small movie theater down there an indie theater, which it isn't. It's more of a second-run theater, that is getting some more first-run movies these days. But, again, that's nitpicking. I'll take the great coverage—finally—of some of the greatest places we have today, like Station House and Jack and Nellie's. And the more accurate depiction of the neighborhood as diverse, instead of populated by only one or two groups.

Now that I've got you all so happy, I will ruin that by linking to perhaps the most bizarre coverage of Forest Hills I have ever read. That's the infamous Q&A that appeared recently on Vice.com:
Awkwafina Cherishes Buffalo Wild Wings and Other Forest Hills Chains

What can I say about this? It's so inaccurate, so strange I really don't know where to begin? Lines around the block outside of Bareburger, which she calls "the pride of Forest Hills"? A neighborhood filled with chain restaurants, when we have two?  "There used to be a tennis stadium there?" (What is that large structure where I saw all those concerts this past summer? Hmmm...) The rest is so out-of-touch with the neighborhood, it's really not worth commenting on...

CNN Ponders What's News

Huh? Am I missing something? CNN covers the news? Um, since when? If that's what's considered news today we're seriously screwed as a nation..( I resisted using a much stronger word there because of my Uncle who apparently reads this blog out there in Los Angeles and doesn't like when I curse I hear).

Zucker plans massive change at CNN
Anyway, this is from a new website called 'Capital' about New York City politics. Worth checking out. But they're not off to a great start by the peculiar point of view they seem to hold in this particular story! When I read the headline I thought to myself, "Finally! He gets it! When we turn on CNN we want to watch the news! You know, like they used to do, when they had reporters and they went out into the world and like covered the news and shit?"

And then I read the article... crap....

Oh, and by the way, while I'm on the subject of TV, I'm still mighty pissed about this...(is 'pissed' a curse?)

More Media Musings

The last time I dealt with CNN and Anderson Cooper, it was about their over-hyped coverage of Hurricane Isaac hitting New Orleans. Well, there's something else CNN and Anderson have been up to for quite a long time now that annoys me so much I just couldn't help but rant about it.

Has anyone else noticed that Anderson Cooper's 8 p.m. show on CNN is simply replayed in the 10 p.m. time slot and disguised to look like it's a new, live show?? ARGH!!! What kind of journalism is this??

Watch it next time you have a chance. At 10 p.m., Cooper comes on for like five seconds and says, "It's 10 p.m...." and then they immediately replay the show that he did at 8 p.m.! It would be hilarious if it wasn't so insulting to every viewer's intelligence!

While I am on the subject of Anderson Cooper, this person seems to have a HUGE problem with what the term "Live" means. His daytime show, which was rebranded as "Anderson Live" airs here in NYC at 12 p.m. and is actually recorded at 9 a.m. that morning. Um, how does this merit the word "Live" in the title? OY!

Getting back to CNN, I watched last night at 8 and then tuned back in at 10 and noticed that the live report from Cairo they aired at 8 p.m. was replayed in the 10p.m. show, with the word "Live" still on the screen! How do they freakin' get away with that?

I'm sorry, but if you are a news organization, you have one purpose, one job to do: To relay accurate information (FACTS) to your audience. If we can't even trust you with the most basic of facts – what is really being broadcast "live" — then how are we supposed to trust you when it comes to anything else you report?

It is not for you to decide what is reality, CNN. That power is beyond even you. And it shows the utmost arrogance to just assume your viewers are stupid and that facts are not important to them. At this point, what is the difference between you and simply an entertainment network? Walter Cronkite is probably rolling over in his grave.

More Media Criticism

... and while I'm criticizing the media today, I have to say CNN is getting worse and worse. Just their anchors' general editorializing about stuff. Where's the objectivity? Disgraceful. Not journalism. On a related noted, watching the coverage of Hurricane Isaac today, I really have the feeling that this storm is being hyped way more than it merits. We'll see if what I'm saying proves to be true. Yes, they're evacuating some people from low-lying areas right near the Gulf that are prone to flooding. But from everything I've read, the levees in New Orleans proper, which led to the catastrophic flooding from Katrina 7 years ago today, are not close to having any problems whatsoever. You wouldn't know that from watching CNN! They are doing their best to make this a disaster that rivals Katrina. And I believe from all I've read and heard, that that is a very inaccurate exaggeration.

By the way, if people are out in a hurricane, being blown about, that by definition means that the hurricane is not that bad. Think about that when you see those photos of people in the wind and rain on The NY Times website and on CNN . What you're not seeing is it's probably college kids having fun. I did it when I was that age. If the hurricane was really bad, you would not be seeing people standing up in it!

Enough already.

Along those lines, Anderson Cooper, please sir, enough already. Get out of the rain.

Really bad jobs by the news media are one of my pet peeves. Excuse me for my ranting.

'This Is The World That We Live In'

Thanks Rosanna Scotto, for letting me know that. The Channel 5 local news anchor informed me of that after reporting breathlessly about the latest security scare at Newark Airport this morning. Of course it turned out to be nothing more than the ordinary radiation emitting from someone's packed computer monitor that forced the closure of the entire American Airlines terminal, delaying thousands of passengers.

Anyway, Rosanna, thanks for letting me know that 'this is the world that we live in,' especially considering that you and your broadcast play such a terrific role in bringing that world to me each day by reporting every single false alarm "lockdown","security breach", "home invasion" or whatever other ridiculously dramatic new scare-phrase you have invented to keep us all glued to the screen!! This is for you!