Her Little Black Database

To many, describing Paris Hilton as an ignorant, air-headed, uneducated party girl would be too kind.

I've marvelled at how her family could be so shrewd and wealthy and, apparently, never have had anyone take her aside and say, "Listen, you're gonna have to hunker down and get some kind of an education, so you don't make a fool of us and - more importantly - yourself."

She made the news this past week after someone hacked the account she has for her T-Mobile Sidekick2 phone/PDA and published her contact list/addressbook on the Web.

First off, let me say that I bought the original T-Mobile Sidekick in October of '02, the day it was released. I thought it's Web interface (a *real* browser) was cool, GSM (like they use in Europe) call quality was excellent, and QWERTY keypad was great, all at a price much less than comparable products.

My opinion abruptly changed about a year ago, when I looked at the phone and saw just a thick black line where the display used to be. T-Mobile customer service was terrible and incredibly uncaring. One person said they'd replace the phone for $70. When I said I would cancel my service, the presumable customer retention specialist I spoke with magically dropped the figure to $40. My warm, thoughtful, reasoned response was that they could go fuck themselves.

They ain't perfect either, but I'm much happier with Verizon.

Okay, back to Paris.
I've seen her contact list. She has many famous friends. I'll assume all the male friends are there in hopes of getting into bed with her. I'm not sure what's up with the women on the list.

I see many email addresses and phone numbers that have probably been compromised by their publication and now must be changed...but I'm not sure why. What would I possibly say or write to Christina Aguilera or some of the others on the list? What would anyone who doesn't know them say?

-M!

Oscar

I don't think I have turned on my TV once since election nite. Maybe not even then. I know I watched the debates before the election.

I might actually turn on the TV tomorrow nite for the Oscars.

I haven't seen one of the nominated movies and don't care a whit about the stars. The reason I'd consider watching: host Chris Rock. I don't know about you, but I think the guy is absolutely hilarious. Even before y'get to what he says, his inflection, the way he says anything makes me laugh. He could stand up there and read the phone book and I'd laugh.

He's a pretty controversial choice for hosting such a stodgy affair in a room full of egomniacal, overpaid, over-pampered people who go to work and play dress-up. I hope he does well.

-M!

Because They're Hypocrites

Guess who's erected a wall of silence - a really big erection - around the Gannon scandal?

-M!

No Sex, Please...

...We're Liberals!

Excellent article by Dan Kennedy in The Boston Phoenix.

Fave part:

"...if, say, a Gore or Kerry administration had brought in a gay hooker to act as a ringer at news conferences, it would have quickly exploded into the biggest story in the country. Fox News would devote hours upon hours to it. So would Rush Limbaugh. So would the Pat Robertsons and the Jerry Falwells and the James Dobsons. Needless to say, so would the Republican Party. And here’s where the difference between liberal and conservative sex scandals, and how the mainstream media handle them, becomes clearly visible. When there’s a scandal on the left, there is a built-in machine, already in place, to spew shock and outrage on a 24-hour-a-day basis, and the mainstream media naturally cover that. But when there’s a sex scandal on the right, there’s really no one to speak out."

There so should be.

-M!

This is Brotherly Love???

From Philadelphia comes word that, in the birthplace of the Consititution...and really, the whole nation, Elliot Shelkrot is selling-out the library profession and the entire community.

He must be mighty proud.

-M!