« January 2005 | Main | March 2005 »

February 25, 2005

Hey...Chattanoogans...VOTE!!!

According to a news brief I heard this morning, turnout for this year's early voting was slow, and election commission officials are predicting that overall voter participation in the upcoming city elections will be somewhere around 30%.

That is just pathetic.

With over 60% of the people in Iraq literally dodging explosions to cast their votes, what's our excuse? Is it just gonna be too cold outside? Is there a sale at Goody's? Is that second trip to the Mega Bar at Ryan's too much to pass up?

What's the deal?

Posted by colrus at 10:21 AM | TrackBack

Coming Soon: The Pulse Blog

Following in the footsteps of a few other alt weeklies, The Pulse is constructing THE PULSE BLOG, which will be an extension of our website, and which will be manned by several writers and editors from the paper. We also hope to aggressively add video, audio and other goodies to it as time/money/energy allows.

Due to the semi-clunky nature of our current website software, the aforementioned RSS feed to Chattanoogan.com headlines will most likely appear on THE PULSE BLOG and not the main Pulse site.

Stay tuned for more details, including a few tidbits about some live blogging events we have planned.

Hugo Fitch, PLEASE e-mail me A.S.A.P.

Posted by colrus at 01:37 AM | TrackBack

February 23, 2005

Quickies: February 22, 2005

What a bizzee day...It suddenly hit me tonight that a) I haven't gotten to read a single book in over a week, b) haven't listened to the radio AT ALL for an even longer period of time (aside from being ON it) and c) have missed several TV shows that I'd wanted to watch.

I Organized the ENTIRE Pulse back issue archives this morning. That was a lot of paper. Spent most of the rest of the day in meetings. Spent last night combing over tons of other Alt Weeklies in order to glean guidance. I'm telling you, figuring out the ad-to-copy ratio for a 140-page paper is quite a task.

My mailbox has been inundated with CDs and DVDs. The most joyously received item was the SCTV, Volume 3 DVD set. Though Mr. Mesh admitted to me that the first season escapes him (I admit, it CAN be an aquired taste), I'm in pure comedy TV heaven. (If I can get around to watching it, that is.) I also received a Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival DVD, which I hope to watch soon, and an as-of-yet unreleased 2-CD compilation of the music of Roky Erickson, which so far is, well, quite awful. I am expecting, though, someone to respond to my intial assessment with something along the lines of, "Yeah, well, if you only UNDERSTOOD him, you'd appreciate him more. The man's a genius." Maybe if I, too, was out of my mind, I might like his work better. Gimme a few days...

A few months ago, Chattanoogan.com's chief web guy, Ed "Thunder" Sunder, forwarded me the RSS code so that I could post their top stories on both this site, and The Pulse site. Well, I'm gonna TRY to get that accomplished. No promises, though. I am code challenged, you see. Until then, you can always just click on their link under my NEWS header to see the latest from our anticlimactic town.

Aside from the inflamed (and PAINFULLY swollen) gum underneath the crown I recently had installed in my mouth (I'm getting my dentist to look at it on Thursday), the last few weeks of my life have been exhilaratingly fun. Oh, and the first of my THREE scheduled 2005 softball seasons starts in but a month. I'll be playing shortstop for the first team (headed up by Melissa's cousin and her other cousin's husband), which will play its games at Warner Park. Looking forward to playing there, as Camp Jordan's lighting situation is blinding AND dangerous, which is not good for a league that plays 98% of its games at night...and contains a team full of ENORMOUS Chattanooga cops who can literally knock the cover off the ball. The fact that I only comitted three errors at third base last year is quite an anomaly. It's usually quiet hard to catch the ball if you can't see the ball. (A RELATED NOTE: My knee and foot seem to have healed, though I AM going to get them checked. I was afraid that I tore something in my knee and fractured something in my foot, but i'm guessing that I just strained both of them. It'll be interesting to see how they react the first time I have to take a hard turn around first base...)

I'm gonna pass out one of these days.

Posted by colrus at 12:10 AM | TrackBack

February 21, 2005

Pulse Column: The Terrorism of the Death Penalty

You never know where you’ll find inspiration, and I never expected to find it at 9 a.m. in a hotel ballroom.

Last week, I attended an Association of Alternative Newsweeklies conference in Washington, D.C. One of the conference’s keynote speakers was Bill Moushey, a longtime newspaper reporter and the executive director for the Innocence Institute of Western Pennsylvania. Moushey hit upon a nerve in me that had already been repeatedly hit upon in recent months.

Continue reading "Pulse Column: The Terrorism of the Death Penalty"

Posted by colrus at 07:06 PM | TrackBack

February 20, 2005

Dispatches from the District: Day Three

Well, I'm actually already home but since I was travelling back to Chattanooga all night last night, and then had to sleep, I haven't been able to post about day three until now. So here goes...

Saturday was an action packed day, full of fun and oodles of great information. The day started at 9 a.m. for me with a lecture from Bill Moushey, a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter and the executive director of The Innocence Institute of Western Pennsylvania. Moushey gave specific examples from his own career to instruct journalists on how they can work to overturn wrongful convictions. It was quite mindblowing stuff. You can find numerous examples of his written work by clicking the above link.

The next lecture I attended was entitled "Giving a Voice to the Voiceless," and was given by Jennifer Gonnerman, a staff writer for The Village Voice. She talked at length about writing her award-winning book, Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett, which I will be buying as soon as possible. She also gave great tips on getting really personal stories from your subjects.

Duncan Black, better known as the blogger "Atrios" from his blog, Eschaton, was the featured speaker at lunch. While I appreciated what Black had to say, it was evident, even amongst the hip AAN crowd, that blogging still isn't all that understood of a medium.

Dave Mann, the associate editor from The Texas Observer, gave the first post-lunch lecture -- a session on following the money to a good political story, which was very helpful and which left me even MORE confident in our recent decision to endorse a candidate. Mann talked at length about some recent scandals in Texas, and gave some really great tips on finding out what's really going on in and around elections.

The last lecture of the conference was conducted by Tim Redmond, the executive editor of The San Francsico Bay Guardian, and dealt with teaching writers to think like investigative journalists -- and not just rely on interviewing skills and public records research. We traced a few stories where the facts just didn't add up, and he quizzed us as we went as to what we would do to find the information we needed. It might've been the best lecture of the conference.

I'm a scavenger: During our stay, I grabbed (often multiple) copies of over 40 different papers, as well as copies of the nice spiral-bound AAN award books from each of the last three years. It'll be a fun week of reading for yours truly.

Nice Sight: In the main hall, all the visiting papers (including us) left copies of their issues on a long banquet table. Upon exiting one of the lectures, I saw four newspaper folks gathered around our paper and reading ALOUD our Wu Tang Clan Fantasy Camp story. They were laughing uncontrollably. I stood there motionless, probably smiling like an idiot as it caught me WAY off guard.

Our trip home was uneventful. I slept most of the way. I did see a hilarious "Grandma's Little Sidekick" bib in a convenience store in Virgina, though. Almost bought it.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip. I garnered priceless advice and information, networked HEAVILY, and had a blast hanging out with so many super-kind, super-talented people. I can't wait to go again next year.

An unrelated note: Upon checking the web, with eight days still left in the month, traffic to our website has QUADRUPLED from what it was for the whole month of January. Thank you to all who've visited our site, talked about our site and sent people there.

Posted by colrus at 04:08 PM | TrackBack

February 19, 2005

Dispatches from the District: Day Two

Seldom have I ever been this tired. After getting to bed last night at about 3 a.m., we got up at 7:45 this morning and went to grab some breakfast. We spent a couple of hours walking around D.C. before picking up our registration packets a little past noon.

At 2:00, I went to a fantastic writing workshop with writing coach Jim Stasiowski. In the class were several great writers, many of whom I met during the break and during the meet and greet afterwards. Chris Shott from the Washington City Paper, Tom Robotham from the Port Folio Weekly and Jim Phillips from the Athens News were among several writers whose stellar work was mentioned and whom had great tips, insights and comments to share with the group. Stasiowski's tips were unbelieveably helpful, and it was somewhat hilarious to watch some of the younger writers try to wrap their heads around the concept of a "central conflict."

After the meeting, I met the managing editor of the New Haven Advocate, the Alt Weekly from my home turf that I've been reading since I was ten years old. Nice guy.

Later on, I had a lenghty discussion with the associate publisher of the Portland Phoenix. He relayed some hilarious stories about his paper, and talked at length about his paper's purchase of one of its rivals. He was also a fellow Red Sox fan, which was swell...

Had a nice discussion on blogging with a couple writers from the Independent Weekly and Seven Days.

After going for a walk for a while by myself, we trekked at least two miles across town in the cold with staffers from the Baltimore Weekly, as they took us out to (a great) dinner at Mama Ayesha's. The restaurant is a favorite of Madeline Albright and legendary White House reporter Helen Thomas. A chilling note: On the way to the restaurant, we passed by the spot where Chandra Levy's body was found.

One final note: We took a cab back to the hotel, which was driven by an oriental cabbie who didn't talk to us at all, but who made motorcycle noises when navigating around every tight corner and every crowded lane of traffic. It was quite hilarious.

Posted by colrus at 01:34 AM | TrackBack

February 18, 2005

Dispatches from the District: Day One

So, after an 11-hour drive, we have safely arrived at The Mayflower Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. The hotel is very nice and is six blocks from the White House. It is also across the street from ABC's Washington bureau. Upon walking into the lobby, I spied five veteran newspaper men sitting around a table adorned with numerous empty Budweiser bottles. They were discussing the finer points of obtaining and working with interpreters in Fallujah. And this is a WEEKLY paper conference. Immediately, Chattanooga seems incredibly small.

This will be a fun trip...
...especially since the powers-that-be have done extensive and much-needed paving since I last travelled the city's streets.

Tomorrow at noon starts the first day of the AAN East conference, and I'll be spending the bulk of the day in a writing seminar with Jim Stasiowski. It should be pretty informative. The conference runs Friday and Saturday, and I'll post updates/highlights while I'm gone.

I jokingly (though I would like to visit it sometime) suggested that we kick off our trip tomorrow by getting up early and making an uplifting morning visit to the Holocaust Museum (also close by). I doubt we'll be getting up that early, though.

Posted by colrus at 02:20 AM | TrackBack

February 16, 2005

Quickies: February 16, 2005

My family's shop (the same one that got robbed) up in Connecticut now has a website. My sister and her custom furniture work is featured on the furniture and home accessories page.

I have digitzed my January 28 appearance on WGOW with Max Hackett. I am in the process of editing shortened, easy-to-handle clips for your listening pleasure. (Well, maybe pleasure is too strong a word.) I don't know when, if ever, I'll get around to posting clips from the Channel 9 Mayoral Forum.

...Speaking on the mayor's race, The Pulse's endorsement of Ann Coulter is now online. Yes, we expect some flack.

Zack, Michael and I will be travelling to Washington, D.C. tomorrow for the AAN East Conference. It'll be a swell time to meet Alt Weekly folks from all across the nation. I'll be attending lectures on writing, editing, publication design, etc. The only drawback is the drive through Virginia, which is ALWAYS tedious.

Posted by colrus at 10:54 AM | TrackBack

February 14, 2005

Remember when Tony Campbell would let you post comments on his blog?

Man, those were fun times. I mean, today's post is worthy of much comment. Tony leaves me numerous phone messages at 3 a.m., why can't we at least post on his blog? C'mon, Tony! Be a sport!

Posted by colrus at 01:05 PM | TrackBack

February 11, 2005

Go to this site. Be happy.

I'd like to take a moment to offer a heartfelt-yet-shameless plug for Lazy Bear Productions, a small group (well, it's really just two guys) of local filmmakin', TV show helpin' and dorm radio show producin' folks. Their work is endlessly entertaining, and a simple visit to their website will bring a smile to even the chilliest of eskimos.

You MUST, I repeat, MUST watch their short film entitled, The Package. It's a brilliant piece of infectiously absurdist humor.

Oh, and did I mention that they're local?

Posted by colrus at 02:58 AM | TrackBack

February 10, 2005

Quickies: February 10, 2005

One of our columnists, John Bailes, appeared on WGOW with Max Hackett yesterday. They spent the first (interesting) hour talking about literature and the last hour talking about local news and some of the stuff John's written for us. It's good to have John on board. He was (briefly) the editor of The Chattanooga Outlook (until he realized that it was doomed), and upon its demise, he and I (briefly) discussed exploring some projects together, but they didn't pan out. I'm glad I found him again, as he does great work.

I think I'm coming out of this flu funk. Which is good, as I have a lot of work to do...

The "Right To The Chin" archives are slowly being incorporated into this site. I am cleaning some of them up, deleting some of them, and devising new categories for your (if you have ABSOLUTELY nothing else to do) reading pleasure. I second Noel's preference to de-emphasize dates, and might delete the month-based archive listing from the site, as well.

Must-See Site: This guy has a bizarre obsession with a girl that appeared in a Pepsi commerical for about 8 seconds.

Coming Soon: An in-depth look at the theology (or lack thereof) behind MercyMe's hit-single-turned-praise-and-worship-staple, "I Can Only Imagine." Ooooh. I am SOOO gonna get comments on this one...

Posted by colrus at 11:44 AM | TrackBack

February 08, 2005

Signs that we are getting closer to becoming a TRUE alt weekly...

The alt weekly industry is full of -- for the most part -- young folks. Many of these young folks are (how do I put this...) unique.

As I was blowing my nose in the men's room (I think the flu has entered my vessel), I looked out the window and saw the two extremes of our youthful staff:

1. Steven, our listings editor, was walking briskly back to the office in a shirt and tie, carrying his lunch to eat at his desk. Steven also made an EXACT WOODEN REPLICA of our logo -- complete with lights -- while he was at his parents' house last weekend. Simply put, the boy is driven.

2. At the same exact time, Will, one of our distribution guys and a part-time employee at a local record store, was skateboarding around the parking lot before setting off to do his route. Will is also quite driven, albeit in a different way.

...And then there's Mesh. He smokes a lot.

Posted by colrus at 02:57 PM | TrackBack

California Town May Ban Cosmetic Pet Surgery

On the surface, it seems like a sensible idea...

...but what about the animals' self-esteem and vanity? And how will they get a younger mate?

Posted by colrus at 10:12 AM | TrackBack

February 07, 2005

Quickies: February 7, 2005

So, some folks are still wanting to leave in the wake of the Bush victory. Go ahead, folks. It'll take a lot more than any single man to make me want to leave the greatest country in world history.

The Patriots won the Super Bowl. Yay. I watched exactly one play. It hit me tonight that my near loathing of college football has somehow eroded my former interest in pro football, as well. My fanatic love of baseball remains intact, however.

So, all of our mayoral candidate interviews are complete. Oh, how I despise transcribing audiotape. Thomas Smith, II, talked the longest: one solid hour. His interview, along with Dan Johnson's, Ron Littlefield's and Ann Coulter's will run in this week's issue. The other candidates' interviews have already run in our paper, and are currently available to read on our website.

In related news: I have been inundated with "information" -- from readers, callers, e-mailers, people on the street -- linking current Chattanooga mayoral candidate Ann Coulter to everything from the evil domination of Chattanooga at the hands of The River City Company to her being unqualified for her previous jobs to her "flip-flopping" on the Coolidge Hotel (non)issue. Trouble is, none of this information is very convincing, and I've received virtually NO information critical of any of the other candidates. All of this paranoid finger pointing leads me to believe that Ms. Coulter is far ahead in the polls, and other folks are panicking. As far as DOING THE JOB OF MAYOR IS ACTUALLY CONCERNED, Ms. Coulter seems more than qualified. But it's okay. I get it. You can stop sending me stuff now.

Posted by colrus at 12:25 AM | TrackBack

February 04, 2005

Quickies: February 4, 2005

My new Pulse column is online. It's been several weeks since I actually wrote one due to my decision to spend more time aiding/developing other areas of the paper. I'll probably write on a semi-regular basis from now on...

...This column, by the way, is just one of many pieces that have run in the paper in recent weeks (pretty much since our Corker interview) that have lit a fire under Chattanoogans to write us letters, send us faxes and call us with their feedback. I've always thought that this city was lethargic in this area, but they are (thankfully) proving me wrong.

Chatted briefly yesterday with WGOW's Bill Lockhart, Jim Reynolds and Max Hackett. Here's the deal: Aaron Mesh will appear on the air with Max TODAY at 3 p.m. to discuss the Oscars. Starting next Wednesday, a regular rotation of writers from The Pulse will be appearing on his show each Wednesday to take part in issues-based discussions, based both directly and indirectly, on material from our paper. Right now, we have a pool of five Pulsers who will be regularly appearing including, yes, Mr. L'Vander "Action" Jackson. John Bailes appeared on Max's show today, although Max was feeling ill and had to leave. Maggie McGarr filled in for the last hour with John staying to hang out, as well.

In related news: I secured a CD of the audio from last week's Mayoral Forum, and will be posting selected audio clips from the event in the (I hope) coming week. I am also in the process of digitzing (and editing for size) my appearance on Max's show last week, which I will also be posting on this site within a week.

Chris Willis' blog has an interesting tidbit about a new comedy show that's being produced at the UTC Video Production Center. Speaking as someone who has authored some often dreadful programming via that studio, I wish them the absolute best. I can't wait to see the show...

Posted by colrus at 03:33 AM | TrackBack

February 03, 2005

Wading Through The Partisanship

I don't know about you, but I am sick of partisan politics. In recent months, I've been looking for a reason to be truly proud of our current government. Unfortunately, every time I get ready to say, "good job," the cries of dissent from dissenters overtake my brain and I find myself questioning even the things I know to be true. Last night's embrace of an Iraqi woman (whose father was killed by Saddam Hussein's murderous regime) and the mother of a fallen U.S. soldier (who died helping to free the people of Iraq) should reset everybody's cynicism buttons and cause us to think for a moment that, yes, there are some things worth fighting -- and, unfortunately, dying -- for. In our cynical and insulated U.S. bubble culture, we often lose touch with how the world really is. We overemotinally and irrationally overreact to the things that we should come to expect and grow callous to the things that we should applaud, and regardless of the content of Bush's speech last night -- which had severe ups and downs and was coolly calculated -- what that soldier (and all of our soldiers) sacrificed for that country should be applauded with introspective reverence. Was this a staged moment? A photo op? To some extent. Was the soldier's sacrifice? Certainly not.

Posted by colrus at 09:57 AM | TrackBack

February 02, 2005

Gas actually a bargain?

I like John Stossel from ABC's 20/20. A lot of people don't. Whatever. Anyway, on Friday night, the title of his special was Myths, Lies and Nasty Behavior. Though my wallet might want to disagree, he makes perfect sense when talking about gas prices.

No. 7 — MYTH — Gas Prices Are Higher Than Ever

"Record high gas prices," has been the refrain of many in the media this past year while talking about the price at the pump. Jay Leno even said, "They don't even put the price on the sign anymore — it just says, 'If you have to ask, you can't afford it.'"

Continue reading "Gas actually a bargain?"

Posted by colrus at 09:30 AM | TrackBack

Epperson vs. Smith

Tonight was the big mayoral forum on Channel 9. At this point, all but one of the candidates has done a sit-down interview in our offices, and after watching a few other forums and listening to the candidates over the course of a month or so, I am now actually able to step back and enjoy their banter for, if nothing else, the great entertainment value it provides.

My two favorite candidates in this regard are Karl Epperson and Thomas Smith II.

Epperson has called me, personally, on a few occasions to talk about the race and it's truly fun to hear his enthusiasm. He doesn't expect to win, but he's campaigning like he does. He's literally jumped out of the screen on the televised forums, and some of his ideas/answers are actually more intriguing than anyone else's.

Smith, with his imposing sunglasses, is very passionate and dedicated to his platform, but is way off base when he repeatedly cites racism as the root cause for majority of the city's problems. No matter. He's still great to watch. After a while, Smith's comments become so predictable that he becomes a caricature of himself. It's like he's Ike and he's gonna tell Tina to get back in the car at any moment. Smith's closing statement tonight was great, though, and was rivaled only by Ann Coulter's.

I'll comment further on the election in the coming days and weeks.

Posted by colrus at 02:04 AM | TrackBack