trying something new with the bias meter
Got the bias meter up there at the top of the page -- at the top of most pages on the site. Cuz I think it’s important to make sure that everyone knows exactly how biased I am. The whole idea of the bias meter was to keep the concept in front of your face all the time, which was getting lost in making it just another blog entry. But I guess I’ll post at least a quickie blog entry when I update the bias meter, mostly to ID the latest entries for those who don’t immediately recognize them, but also to get some text in here, because that’s what Google and Technorati and such recognize. (And you wouldn’t believe the hits I’m getting lately off people searching on “David Tennant.” So, you know, any opportunity to mention his name in a halfway legitimate manner has got to be a good thing.)
So, IDing:
obsession: Doctor Who (most recent episode blogging: “The Poison Sky”)
boyfriend: David Tennant as the Doctor (I’m starting a whole summer of Tennant and Hamlet)
psyched: Get Smart (I’ll be very sad if this one sucks)
dreading: The Love Guru, dear god no
enemy: Carrie Bradshaw, because no one should have that much disposable income to spend on shoes
(Technorati tags: Doctor Who, David Tennant, Get Smart, Love Guru, Carrie Bradshaw)
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comments
posted by Clayj (Tue Jun 03 08, 5:50PM)
MaryAnn, cool idea!
But one thing I see right now: The Bias Meter is not properly centered at the top of the page. I am using Mac OS X 10.5.3 with the latest build of Safari.
posted by MaryAnn (Tue Jun 03 08, 6:11PM)
I think the centering problem is fixed now.
I hate CSS. I know it's powerful and all, but it's so confusing...
posted by Clayj (Tue Jun 03 08, 10:03PM)
It's better, but still a little farther left than I would imagine you intend for it to be. Am I correct in assuming that it should be centered over the white space between the two purple columns that flank the left and right sides of the page?
posted by MaryAnn (Tue Jun 03 08, 10:16PM)
The words "bias meter" should be approximately centered over the center white column. I think that's gonna have to do for now.
posted by Dave (Wed Jun 04 08, 1:06AM)
I hate to break this to you, but your boyfriend has been in the British tabloids again. They're reporting that his new girlfriend is Peter Davison's daughter, Georgia Moffet, aka the Doctor's daughter in the episode screening on SciFi this Friday. No, really, they've been photographed leaving each other's flats first thing in the morning. Paging Dr Freud...
posted by Fett101 (Wed Jun 04 08, 1:07AM)
A suggestion. You could put a short explanation of who or what the image is of is in the Alt id for the images.
posted by MaSch (Wed Jun 04 08, 2:30AM)
Dear MaryAnn,
is it the first time your enemy is a fictional character? Not that there is anything bad about it, I'm just curious ...
PS (and spoil, a bit): It seems many fans who were disappointed by the new Indiana Jones movie would consider "the fridge" their current enemy. Could an inanimate object (like a telephone, *not* like a wife -> "In Bruges") ever be your current enemy?
posted by Jurgan (Wed Jun 04 08, 8:16AM)
I like having it back. Being omnipresent is important to serve its function, and it looks better horizontally than vertically anyway.
I, too, am psyched for Get Smart and hope it does not suck. That was one of my favorite shows growing up (on Nick at Nite- I'm not that old). I normally dread these "updatings," or whatever they're called, but I really think Steve Carrell can pull it off. The previews are encouraging.
Love Guru looks like it's probably bad, but I think it has a chance to be good. I laughed a couple of times at the preview, which is more than I can say for that Adam Sandler movie coming out. Don't Mess with the Zohan, or whatever it is. I didn't laugh once at that preview, just stared in slack-jawed horror. We can already see lots of gay jokes, or at least implications, based on him being a hair stylist. Plus, he's a former Israeli counter-terrorist who's being targeted, so there's the opportunity for lots of offensive ethnic stereotypes against Arabs! *vomit* But I know you usually avoid Sandler movies- are you skipping this one?
"It seems many fans who were disappointed by the new Indiana Jones movie would consider "the fridge" their current enemy."
I was mad at the fridge myself, until I read Maryann's review. Not only does it equate to the Raiders boulder, but it also hits on one of the key cultural fears of the fifties, while the other two fears played a major role. Something like that had to happen, even if it was pretty silly. I just noticed, though, that that was the only Indy opening scene that was directly related to the plot of the movie. I guess they wanted to get to it faster.
posted by Count Shrimpula (Wed Jun 04 08, 12:16PM)
Love the bias meter placement, MaryAnn. I think it's a great choice putting it up there.
Actually, there's an interview with Robert Smigel about the film at The Onion AV Club (http://www.avclub.com/content/interview/robert_smigel) that's pretty interesting, and addresses a lot of that. Definitely sounds like they weren't setting out to make a lot of Arab stereotype jokes and such.posted by MaryAnn (Wed Jun 04 08, 2:33PM)
I can't remember. I doubt it, though.
Sure, why not?
I gues someone doesn't read all my posts... :->
*plugs fingers in ears* La la la, I can't hear you!
Oh, that's just gross. I mean, not what they're doing, but what the newspapers are doing. Ugh.
posted by MaryAnn (Wed Jun 04 08, 2:40PM)
Actually, "title" works better... and now it's done. Thanks for the suggestion.
posted by MaryAnn (Wed Jun 04 08, 2:47PM)
Oh, and about the boyfriend thing: the Doctor is my boyfriend, not David Tennant. I'm sure Tennant is a nice guy and all, and he's obviously cute as hell and very talented and everything, but does he have his own time machine? I doubt it.
posted by Dave (Wed Jun 04 08, 3:12PM)
And one attachment is healthier than the other because...?
;-)
posted by MaryAnn (Wed Jun 04 08, 4:57PM)
I like to think of Mia Farrow in *The Purple Rose of Cairo,* who says, of her lover -- a character from a movie (played by Jeff Daniels) who has walked off the screen to be with her -- that "he's fictional, but you can't have everything."
It's not sad -- okay, it's sad, but only a little -- to be in love with a fictional character. Being in love with a total stranger with whom you have the illusion of intimacy because you've seen him/her on a movie or TV screen pretending to be someone else entirely...? Therein lies the way of the stalker. And that *is* sad.
And of course, anyone with half a brain must concede that the chances of meeting a fictional character are only infinitesimally more remote than the chances of meeting the actor who plays him. Also: have you ever known any actors? They're crazy.
Then again, I'm crazy too. So maybe David Tennant and I *are* perfect for each other. Anyone got his mobile number?
posted by Poly in London (Wed Jun 04 08, 8:09PM)
It's not sad to be in love with fictional characters. It's only sad if you have an exclusive relationship ;)
"I'm sure Tennant is a nice guy and all, and he's obviously cute as hell and very talented and everything, but does he have his own time machine? I doubt it."
The time machine is the deal breaker for me as well :)
posted by Clayj (Wed Jun 04 08, 10:48PM)
"Anyone got his mobile number?"
Yes.
posted by Poly in London (Thu Jun 05 08, 6:22AM)
A friend of a friend lives at the flat beneath his, does that count for anything?
(And no I am not stalking him. And no, I don't have posh friends, and it's not a posh house).
posted by Jurgan (Thu Jun 05 08, 8:51AM)
"I gues [sic] someone doesn't read all my posts... :->"
Yes, I saw those afterwards. When I haven't been by in a few days, I see the top posts first (which, admittedly, is backwards). But I commented on one of the others.
posted by Debbie Coley (Tue Jun 10 08, 6:00PM)
A comment on Jurgan's statement "I'm not that old". Those of us who were born in the 1950's don't consider ourselves old! May I also defend two certain actors? I have met both of the actors from "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (Robert Vaughn and David McCallum) and neither one is crazy. (I can hear women of a certain age sighing dreamily.)
posted by Jurgan (Tue Jun 10 08, 6:36PM)
"Those of us who were born in the 1950's don't consider ourselves old!" I'm sure you don't. I didn't say you were old, though, just that I'm younger. I know plenty of people born in the fifties whom I don't consider old, like my mother... I'm not helping, am I? :)
posted by Debbie (Wed Jun 11 08, 1:08PM)
Jurgan, that's okay. When I thought about it later, I realized you weren't being impolite. I'm glad you can appreciate the TV shows of our era.