Joyrides for Shut-ins

The Final Obama/Clinton Debate at CSU

I had the great fortune of being able to cover the last of the 20 Democratic Debates at Cleveland State University last night for coolcleveland.com. You can find my coverage here. With press from all across the country hanging on every word of Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the mood in the two giant press rooms and the "Spin Room" (home to Chris Matthews of MSNBC's "Hardball" and countless others) was of a decisive nature. Because it was the end of the road for these debates -- and arguably for Clinton as well -- there was a full-court press from the journos and pundits on who came out of the action as the winner.

Most of the answers are in my piece. I will say this much: I've never seen Clinton that angry... she seemed ready to boil over just leering at Obama from across the table. She did not come off very well in this pundit's opinion. Which is too bad. I think the only person who has been given that stare-down with greater effect than Obama is Clinton's husband during his well-publicized personal relationship scandal. It was a "low-scoring debate," but with Obama on-point with his message and not getting roped into Clinton's drama(tic) tailspin, he came off as a clear winner.

In my short tenure last night at the CSU Wolstein Center (home to the last Hillary appearance in 1996) I had an opportunity to connect with a great number of political leaders, from the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio, to Senator Sherrod Brown, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones and the Ohio Democratic Party's Chris Redfern. I also met a number of political journalists, all of whom I greatly admire: Richard Wolffe and Jonathan Alter of Newsweek and MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell of NBC, Candy Crowley of CNN (pictured here). I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the others. I slept for 3 hours last night, so I am a bit rusty... forgive me.

Anyway, the concept of the Spin Room is absolutely fascinating; the pace lightning-quick. Each participant makes their case for their candidate to a legion of media-types. If you ever get the chance (read: lifetime opportunity) to do likewise in an important political year such as this one, I highly recommend it.

Come to think of it, you probably won't get an opportunity that was quite like this one. This is clearly the election of a generation. It was truly a fortunate opportunity for me and I can't help but thank the fine folks at NBC and Cleveland State University for helping hook it up for me. We may not see the likes of such a debate again for a long time; I'm convinced that if either Clinton or Obama (the winner of the debate IMHO) are elected, and you are around my age or younger, you will likely live to see that person's face on some U.S. monetary denomination.

Think I'm being dramatic? Just wait.

I'm sure there's more I want to say on this subject, so if you see me, ask me. I'm likely to remember more then. I had decided long ago to personally endorse Barack Obama, I just never got around to saying so; we at coolcleveland.com have decided to do the same as a publication. But for now, that's all I've got to write here. Much, much more to do. So, it's a refill on green tea and back to work on the book (T-minus 40 days until the first draft is due) and getting interviews lined up for next week's issue.

Thanks to Bill Rieter of the CSU News Bureau for providing the third photo of this series... it was good to reconnect with him after nearly a decade.

PCHQ

P.S. Total non-sequitur here, but if you'd like to read my recent interview with the Verve Pipe's Brian Vander Ark, you can find it by clicking here. I think it turned out pretty good... and from what I understand from his camp, they were pretty pleased with it as well.

I guess nothing is supposed to happen on Friday

http://astrology.yahoo.com/astrology/general/dailyextended/gemini/20080229

Think I'll just take it easy. LOL!

PCHQ

Terry's Talkin' and PDQ's They Love...

I spent an evening a couple of weeks back hanging out with a really cool group of guys in my hometown. They invited one Mr. Terry Egger, publisher of the Plain Dealer, to speak as a part of the group's monthly festivities and he decided to come, hang out and talk to us. Turns out Egger, who also lives in my hometown, was refreshing in a forum situation. He spoke first about the state of the newspaper industry (his biggest observation by far was that the talk about online resources destroying newspapers was actually destroying them, not the online resources themselves).

He also shared that, as a non-Northeast Ohio native, that we are far more hard (and critical) on the region than others like him, who see the region as a bountiful wealth of resources and talent.

At the end of his 30 minutes, we were given an opportunity to quiz him with a Q&A. A lot of people had suggestions for the paper, or wanted to know about specific writers and their angles. I was the last person to get a question in and asked him about why the PD Arts section was so light on the local arts, and so heavy on the tabloid gossip and Britney Spears, and explained that this approach does a great disservice to Northeast Ohio -- a region which has one of the single greatest arts communities in all of North America.

He responded rather surprisingly that (and I'm paraphrasing) there was work to be done with the Arts section and that he had some idea that there would be some changes in approach coming soon. It was really cool to hear him say that there was work to be done in that regard. Because, as I'm sure you local folks know, there really is.

I'm guessing that, after such a criticism, I'll probably never get my "They Love" into the PDQ section of the newspaper... that Pop Culturesque arts page which now appears on Monday mornings. But heck, I was being honest. So, anyway, with that in mind, here is my "They Love" PDQ submission:

Peter Chakerian, 35, Writer/Author/Editor

First Song You’re Singing on Karaoke Night
“Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” by Crash Test Dummies. It usually disrupts everything.

Books Everyone Should Read
The Audicity of Hope by Barack Obama, The Disappointment Artist by Jonathan Letham, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer… and mine, of course... when it comes out.

Favorite Shows
“Countdown with Keith Olbermann” and “Family Guy.”

What are your greatest traits?
Earnest. Creative. Sensible.

What are your worst?
Indecisive. A procrastinator.

What do you value most in others?
Flexibility. Passion.

Favorite Website?
Probably eBay.

Best thing about Cleveland?
It has everything that people say only exists in New York, L.A. and Chicago. You just have to look for it. So quit pining away for other places and don’t be lazy. And LeBron, for as long as we have him...

What Do You Always Have in the Fridge?
Miller Lite. Revive Vitaminwater. Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise. Green Tea.

If You Went to Hell, What Song(s) Would be Playing Over and Over?
Anything by Sean Preston and Jayden James’ parents.

Celebrity You’re Said to Most Resemble
With a fresh haircut, I get David Cross a lot. Maybe it’s the glasses.

Favorite Piece of Clothing?
My olive corduroy jacket.

Your Last Meal on Earth?
Johnny Mango’s Caribbean French Fries, Pad Thai and a Mojito. Or a Five Guys bacon cheeseburger, large fries and Miller Lite.

A Bit of Monday Political Humor

This gave me quite a laugh this morning. I know it's old, and probably outdated (these jokes tend to regenerate themselves when world events take place). But couldn't help but share. Seems appropriate given all of the political rhetoric that's beind bandied about. Look for a real post in a bit...

PCHQ

PCHQ Shares: The Big Lebowski

Me and the SZQ do pretty well at meeting in the middle on a lot of stuff... pop culture is not always one of those things. I suspect we’ll never agree on The White Stripes (who I came around to loving a few years ago, after suggesting in print they were the Emperor’s New Clothes). Science Fiction film is a little less divisive, and Family Guy even a little less so. And then there’s the matter of The Coen Brothers. We watched Fargo while we were dating and (dare I say) she was repulsed. She all but swore off the Coen Brothers. I thought sure that months later, I picked The Big Lebowski. the perfect “masterful farce,” for our movie night thinking it would change her opinion of the Coens. It did. Odds are O Brother Where Art Thou? and No Country For Old Men will only screen here when I’m on my own for the evening.

As for Lebowski, it’s one of my Top 10 all-time favorite films. In it, a pot-smoking, White Russian-swilling bowler who goes by “The Dude” finds himself in the middle of a Chandler-esque circus – a resplendent script where kidnapping, mistaken identity, misappropriation of funds and double-crossers abound. It’s a cult classic; clarity becomes The Dude, brilliantly played by Jeff Bridges, a favorite actor of mine. As a Pacifist, his dealings with “nihilists, pornographers, feminist artists and aquatic marmots," all while trying to make his bowling league’s finals through acid flashbacks, are simply hilarious... incredibly crass (the word f*** is used 281 times in the movie, though not so in a Tarantino way) and... in the end... one of my favorite larks in all of cinema. As for SZQ? Remind me to tell you how P.T. Anderson's three-hour epic Magnolia went over someday.

I'll leave it at this: There Will Be Blood, indeed.

PCHQ

Hiatus? Brushing off the Blogwebs, Cubanos and Brownie Helmets

Well, it's the dead of winter, people, but let's be clear. I didn't wander up into the mountains, talk to the ghosts of Henry Hudson's nine-pin playing crew or settle down under a shady tree after pounding back some liquor. It feels like I blinked and some 7-8 weeks went by. So, I haven't been on the blogging bandwagon recently. It's not like the ongoing writer's strike has impacted me the way it has, say, Stewart and Colbert. But I feel a little bad about the gap – perhaps even a bit remorseful – because you, my 37 faithful readers have probably been wondering, “What gives?” Maybe not. In turn, I've been wondering, "What would Keith Olbermann do?"

I’m not sure I’d call this two-month lull a “hiatus,” because I was hardly taking a break from writing. To the contrary, over the past couple months I’ve been writing up a storm: in addition to working feverishly on a first draft of my book manuscript (due at the end of March) I’m researching a second book that some serious interest has been expressed about. Add CC.com, freelance, the L’il Man, the SZQ and family and friends and the hour’s worth of tube and/or book reading -- which I fight like mad to stay awake for, I might add -- and you pretty well know what my typical day looks like. This says nothing of when I’m going to exercise, do yoga or my eat my next Cuban sandwich @ Lelolai. Something, as they say, had to give… it just so happened to be blogging... that and keeping up with all the newsgroups and message boards I’ve subscribed to over the years.

I just wanted to check in and let you readers know that, with the J4S 1 year anniversary imminent (this weekend, actually), I plan on returning to my more regularly blogging ways starting this week. I figured I had better after receiving the "I'm Blogging This" t-shirt @ Xmas. Turns out, I’ve got a lot of ground to cover: my writing projects; the new Sirius satellite radio I received over the holidays, the ramping up of L’il Man’s insomnia (or, perhaps more appropriately, his separation anxiety that happens at night); my political endorsement for the 2008 presidential election; the genius that is The Big Lebowski, my Dadditude, the Fantasy Real Estate Game (still sorting out the rules to this, which I promised a while back).

And a lot more. Feel free to get in touch with me about any topics that you’d like to read about or feel as though are worthy of some attention. Until then, feel free to use this as an open thread. I'll give you a topic: The Cleveland Browns should abandon the plain helmet and put the Elf (seen here) on the sides. It's got a championship aura to it, representing their near-absolute domination of the AAFC and early entry into the NFL. Thoughts?

PCHQ