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

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Clayj
Tue, Jun 03, 2008 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.

MaryAnn
MaryAnn
Tue, Jun 03, 2008 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…

Clayj
Tue, Jun 03, 2008 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?

MaryAnn
MaryAnn
Tue, Jun 03, 2008 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.

Dave
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 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…

Fett101
Fett101
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 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.

MaSch
MaSch
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 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?

Jurgan
Jurgan
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 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.

Count Shrimpula
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 12:16pm

Love the bias meter placement, MaryAnn. I think it’s a great choice putting it up there.

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*

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.

MaryAnn
MaryAnn
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 2:33pm

is it the first time your enemy is a fictional character? Not that there is anything bad about it, I’m just curious …

I can’t remember. I doubt it, though.

Could an inanimate object (like a telephone, *not* like a wife -> “In Bruges”) ever be your current enemy?

Sure, why not?

But I know you usually avoid Sandler movies- are you skipping this one?

I gues someone doesn’t read all my posts… :->

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.

*plugs fingers in ears* La la la, I can’t hear you!

they’ve been photographed leaving each other’s flats first thing in the morning.

Oh, that’s just gross. I mean, not what they’re doing, but what the newspapers are doing. Ugh.

MaryAnn
MaryAnn
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 2:40pm

A suggestion. You could put a short explanation of who or what the image is of is in the Alt id for the images.

Actually, “title” works better… and now it’s done. Thanks for the suggestion.

MaryAnn
MaryAnn
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 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.

Dave
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 3:12pm

And one attachment is healthier than the other because…?

;-)

MaryAnn
MaryAnn
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 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?

Poly in London
Poly in London
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 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 :)

Clayj
Wed, Jun 04, 2008 10:48pm

“Anyone got his mobile number?”

Yes.

Poly in London
Poly in London
Thu, Jun 05, 2008 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).

Jurgan
Jurgan
Thu, Jun 05, 2008 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.

Debbie Coley
Debbie Coley
Tue, Jun 10, 2008 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.)

Jurgan
Jurgan
Tue, Jun 10, 2008 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? :)