You're invited...

...to James Brown's funeral.

Glancing at all my blog feeds, I stumbled upon Rolling Stone magazine's blog, particularly this entry about the Godfather of Soul. I clicked around and found myself a little taken aback at this photo in their photo gallery. It reminded me of this photo of Elvis.

I thought it was really cool that they published that photo and that I got the priviledge of seeing Brown in his final resting stage.

Editing savior

I found a Web site that is going to get me through my reporting class. SparkNotes guide to common errors.

New Media + Politics = A Whole New Ball Game

While it's certainly been years since the Internet revolutionized the way politicians campaign and raise funds, the massive flood of media throughout our culture continues to evolve. Some political hopefuls are keeping up with the game, while others are keeping the bench nice and warm. In case you've been living under a giant boulder, there's a presidential election in less than two years people! Here's a look at some who are doing it right and others who could learn from them. See for yourself:

DEMOCRATS

• NC Senator John Edwards (officially running) - His Web site is very..."hip," for lack of a better word. You can see what he's currently listening to, the books he's reading and a list of his favorite links (he's a huge UNC basketball fan!) . In addition to a typed blog, he keeps an up-to-date video blog too! And if that's not enough for you, check out his MySpace, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube pages. He deserves the "cool-guy-who-gets-it" award.
  


• Illinois Senator Barack Obama (committee formed) - A clean site with some well-produced video, including this one of his announcement to form a presidential exploratory committee.
  


• Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich (officially running) - His site is just shy of a jumbled mess, but to be fair, he gets points for his video blog too.

REPUBLICANS

• Former NY Gov. George Pataki (expressed interest) - He currently uses the 21st Century Freedom Web site as an outlet for his political campaign (Wiki explains the conditions for listing a candidate and rules about Web sites). You can soak up all of his campaign news from his Podcast.
  


• Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (expressed interest) - Overly-busy Web sites like his make my brain (and fragile eyes) go crazy. He gets a nod for his Podcast, but minus points for broken RSS feed links.
  


• Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney (committee formed) - What I liked about his site was MittTV, his presentation of a series of videos (not just his TV spots) that are well-produced and get his ideals across. While similar to a video blog, I liked that it was sharp-looking and still user friendly.

Because of the rules and regulations regarding candidates and their Web sites, it will be interesting to see new domains popping up once official bids have been announced. Of course there are several other potential candidates from parties that aren't red or blue. Wikipedia's 2008 Presidential Election page breaks it down really well. Someone who's interested in the ever-changing role of the Internet in politics (and who has more time on their hands than me!) would have fun grading the candidates based on their level of "Web-savviness" and ranking them against each other. Has anyone else seen/heard/read/blogged about such a thing? I'm very intrigued!

The Abe Assignment

After being totally ambitious (and bored) over winter break, I went ahead and got a head start on exercise one for my adv. online media class. It was due this morning and I really wish I had received my design textbook before I had to turn it in. I do believe that I am fairly creative, but assignments with unlimited creative freedom make my brain run in circles. I finally gave in to a really simplistic design layout. You can check out my final product here.

AT&T hanging up on Cingular

Although not necessarily journalism related, I knew Cingular customers particularly in Gainesville would rejoice in the latest news from AT&T. Whether or not service will improve, my grudge against anything Cingular is slightly soothed by the fact that they're phasing out that name. It's a shame the amount of money spent on advertising for that stupid little orange stick figure and its commercials. Service with the most dropped calls?? I think not.

Gator MANIA!

Fellow gators (and hopefully any college football fan) might enjoy this little tidbit from Monday night's Gainesville debauchery. This has got to be the best damn little city in the world.

No love for the Gators?

After a long, long night of reveling in the glory of the Gators' miraculous win against Ohio State, I opened my Web browser and was a little troubled.

I am long-time CNN watcher for my news. I have their Web site as my homepage so I can browse the day's headlines before whatever surfing (or shameless Facebooking) that I do. But that may change real soon.

This morning amid their "Latest News" links I found out that Hilary Swank officially confirmed a rumored relationship. So glad she clarified that. I read that celeb socialite Paris Hilton pleaded not guilty to her DUI charge. Thank goodness that's settled. And in case you follow celebrity real estate, you may be interested that Suzanne Somers' Malibu house won't be going on the market any time soon. It caught on fire yesterday.

These three stories were not categorized among the headlines and were listed among stories about terrorism, politicians and international conflict; stories that undoubtedly belonged where they were.

Granted not everyone in this country is concerned with which university's football team reigns at the top for the year, but surely the outcome of the National Championship college football game ranks higher on the news priority list than Hilary Swank's newest love affair! Am I alone in my feelings on this? If CNN was a newspaper, would front-page photos of Chris Leak hoisting that beautiful crystal football be replaced with pictures of Paris Hilton? Seems like CNN could be the next big celebrity tabloid.