Author: jbenton

si people playing loud music.

The Sports Illustrated folks are putting out a complete daily issue throughout the Games — bravo for them. But do they really need to start blasting their stereo as loud as it goes as soon as they put the issue to bed? Particularly when the ceiling’s 50 feet high, but the walls separating our offices only go up 10 feet? London Calling is a wonderful, wonderful thing, but not on deadline when you’re trying to interview a Hare Krishna temple leader.
Now I know how my college newspaper coworkers felt when I insisted on playing Sloan and Morphine at high volume during production.

herald valentine’s day issue

More non-Olympic material, as I wait for Hare Krishnas to return my call (the story of my life). My old college newspaper was founded on Valentine’s Day, so every year they publish a huge issue that day. Any student gets to write a valentine to anybody else. Considering how generally sexually repressed those students generally are, they’re usually an outpouring of lust. (Editing this issue was always much fun, if only to see what you could sneak in about your co-editors.) Here are some random entries:
Samantha Green-Atchley (TC): Thanks for showing me some love. I was getting real lonely…

mcdonald’s notepads

Evidently, the PR staff at McDonald’s has figured out how to infiltrate the hearts and minds of journalists. One of them just dropped off a box of 60 reporter’s notepads, each of them emblazoned with the mighty arches and filled with McD’s coupons and McD’s story ideas. (“During the Games, we expect to use more than 1.8 million meat patties!” “Totalling nearly 20 pounds,” they most certainly did not add.)
I suppose this is an attempt to get us using McDonald’s rhetoric in our stories. “Winning gold was as satisfying for Plazhtova as a juicy Big Mac on a cool autumn evening.” “Ohno’s turns were as crisp as a McDonald’s french fry, yet as smooth as a classic Triple-Thick Shake.” That sort of thing.
More likely, it’s an attempt to get McDonald’s mentioned in those awful “reporter’s notebook” things newspapers run about things of interest only to, well, reporters in Salt Lake City. Or perhaps it’s an attempt to get McDonald’s mentioned in, um, Olympic blogs.

child genius link

Warning: non-Olympics material ahead. Kim (who is becoming an alarmingly good source of good web tips, both M&M-corruption-related and not) points out this engaging story about a “child genius” who’s been outed as a fraud perpetrated by his mentally ill mother. (Sprinkle in the words “allegedly,” “apparently,” and “accused of” in that last sentence if you want to make it non-libelous.)
Consider it this site’s Chapter 2: The Dark Side of Child Genius after the relatively cheery Chapter 1.

olympics, day six

Day Six: Relatively unexciting day Tuesday. Wrote up my halfpipe story, then spent much of the day at Mormon Central, on Temple Square. Had an early afternoon meeting with H. David Burton, presiding bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for a story that should appear this weekend some time. The LDS media guy was very helpful, but he did show a hair of the quasi-paranoia the church often does, insisting on tape recording my interview so that if I misquote him, they’ll have documentary proof. I suppose I can’t blame him — the church has gotten mauled a few times in the past by folks in my profession — but it’s still a bit annoying.
Anyway, later that afternoon went over to the Family History Library, the depository of the world’s biggest collection of genealogy records, for another story for Thursday’s paper. The story turned out to be mediocre, but I was pleasantly distracted by the very attractive “guide” the church shackled me to for the duration of my visit. (The church isn’t big on letting reporters wander around alone, even in public areas like where I was.)
Came back to the office, started work on another couple stories, skipped the Rick Perry meeting, then actually left at a decent hour (well, if working until another 12-hour day that ends at 9 p.m. qualifies as “a decent hour” — my, how standards change once you get to the Olympics). Caught up on some email, watched some boxing ESPN Classic (rapidly becoming my late-night TV SLC guilty pleasure), and off to sleep.