January 6, 2006

"If you want me to do anything more exciting, just let me know."

I say to the guy who's here right now taking a picture of me blogging for the local newspaper. He set up some lights, he said, to make the photograph interesting with the lighting because, "just a gal sitting at a computer isn't very interesting."

"I'm blogging about the fact that you're taking my picture."

"Oh, my goodness."

...

He requests "a little happiness."

"Just keep doing your thing. I'm not even here."

...

Well, he took about a thousand pictures, but I will only get to see the one that's chosen for publication.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used that on New Year's Eve and only got a slap in return. I am hopeful it worked better for you....

Peter Hoh said...

I'm not even here, either.

SippicanCottage said...
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Icepick said...

It's tough to make pictures of people at a computer interesting.

Clearly you haven't discovered webcam pr0n.

Simon said...

"I used that on New Year's Eve and only got a slap in return. I am hopeful it worked better for you...."

That's what you get for trying to chat up Lauren Bush. She knows what you've been saying about her uncle. ;)

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

For happiness go here:

http://www.thismodernworld.com/

http://www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/war.html

http://www.jameswolcott.com/

then go here:

http://www.impeachbush.org and do the right thing.

You'll be a happier person.

Simon said...

Quxxo, I was being lighthearted, but if you fellows want to make Dick Cheney the President for the next three years, knock yourselves out. Or, you know, you could impeach both of them and presumably Denny Hastert will become President - not my first choice, but a midwesterner is a midwesterner. :p

Oh, and I adore This Modern World! Not only is it very funny, well-written, extremely sharp and clever, his continuing support for Ralph Nader perfectly exemplifies the Democratic party's ability to stab itself in the back while swooning in its own arms.

Sadly, there is no GOP equivalent of TMW. Republicans can't do funny, and Democrats can't do talk radio, it's a fundamental rule of physics. Sad, but true.

Beth said...

Simon, perish the thought of Cheney or Hastert at the top. Thanks for the reminder. But one note: This Modern World's creator is not a Democrat. He routinely lambasts Democrats as spineless. There's little love among Democrats and Nader supporters.

reader_iam said...

Quxxo: Your first post was really funny and prompted me think, wow, Q really does have a sense of humor.

But the back again you go to typical stance in the second.

What a tease ...

reader_iam said...

Ann, it used to be that while subject could pick what pic or pix went with a newspaper article, photo editors would sometimes let subjects see and/or buy unused shots post publication of the particular story in question. Are you sure that's not the case with you local paper? If you're interested, that is.

reader_iam said...

If it didn't matter what computer someone was at, I used to try to find one that either had something interesting stuck to it or was on a desk or against a wall, or whatever, with some visual interest. That does help make this sort of inherently dull shot more interesting.

Ann, it's a shame you didn't think to put, oh, I don't know, a crunched-up acorn shell above your keyboard. Or employ a squirrel-pic screen-saver. Or ... no, I'll stop.

Then again, maybe you did do something like that?

Word verification: gknuugl. A combination of canoodle and nougat? A nuckle kugel?

Ann Althouse said...

ReaderIam: I asked. The answer was no. They have a policy.

reader_iam said...

" ... while a subject couldn't pick"

Simon said...

Oh, and re www.impeachbush.org:
Out of a population of around 299,598,000, which translates to approximately, oh, let's be generous and say 200,000,000 eligible voters, 615,265 -- barely a quarter of one percent -- have signed the petition. This is truly momentous stuff, can't you just feel the Constitutional crisis? As if that weren't small fry enough, 59,028,439 Americans voted for Kerry last year, which means that 58,413,174 of them - 98.95% - have yet to support this impeachment movement.

You're right, Quxxo - I do feel happier! ;)

reader_iam said...

It's a sad day when even noosepaper photogs get all stuffy and policy-oriented.

KCFleming said...

When thinking and typing, one can look interesting in art (think Mona Lisa with a Mac), but one hopes most fervently to avoid appearing like one is merely slack-jawed and drooling, and just watching cartoons.

Not that I'd know.

Word verification ~ ofecjc: The ennui induced by excessive compliance with minor and nonsensical rules.

Blondie said...

Ann -

If it was a photog from the Cap Times or State Journal, the published photo will eventually be here: http://www.merlin-net.com/default.asp?CategoryName=MADISON. In a few days, run a search for yourself and you should be able to both use it on the web (unfortunately with the watermark) or purchase the photo if you like it. Just a thought ... really like your blog, by the way.

Ron said...

Ann, you've become the Lindsey Lohan o f Madison! err...if that's a good thing.

Beth said...

Aolas, for someone who's not a Republican, Ann sure gets a lot of posts from people who are. What does that prove?

Beth said...

Ann,

Is this the local paper that you don't read? That makes this all the more fun. Did you have a folded NYT next to your iBook?

This makes me think of your recent topic on biopics. Biopics of writers would be really boring if they focused on the writing.

Ann Althouse said...
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Ann Althouse said...

Elizabeth: Yes! I had the NYT right by me. And I told the photographer I didn't read the local paper, except on the web.

He did establish rapport by the way. And I didn't have to sign anything.

Blondie: Thanks.

tiggeril said...

Is this where I make a stale pajama-related joke?

Eli Blake said...

I have a subscription to my local paper.

At least it gives me a small piece of ammunition. If they ever do something I think is really outrageous, then I can call and cancel it.

Beth said...

Nunzio---

That brings to mind The Master Thespian on SNL--"ACTING!"

Mark said...

Here's some Modern Life for you, Quxxo...

http://tinyurl.com/clnha

J. Cricket said...

If you are still buzzing from the incredible honor of having your local newspaper take your picture -- oh my, I can almost feel the excitement out here! -- perhaps this story will bring you back to earth:

Updated: 7:14 p.m. ET Jan. 6, 2006

WASHINGTON - In an ominous election-year sign for Republicans, Americans are leaning sharply toward giving Democrats control of Congress, an AP-Ipsos poll finds. Democrats are favored 49 percent to 36 percent.

SippicanCottage said...
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tiggeril said...

Anyone who's taken even a basic statistics course knows that polls aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

And yes, I'd be saying that even if it said the opposite.

reader_iam said...

Mark Twain, anyone?

(That said, geoduck2 has a good point. The critical issue, of course is here: Given that the assumptions used in designing the poll are correct, then 1 out of 20 polls are wrong.)

Finn Alexander Kristiansen said...

"If you want me to do anything more exciting, just let me know."


Somehow, I recall several porn films starting this way.

That whole exchange was very porno. Not that I have seen any.

SippicanCottage said...
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Thers said...


--three area codes and four counties to ensure Barney Frank is never, pardon the expression -- unseated


Heh heh. He said "unseated," and that's funny, 'cause Barney Frank is Teh Gay.

Heh.

Eli Blake said...

sippancottage

It would be a good thing if every state in the nation got an independent redistricting commission. We have one here in Arizona. At first they didn't think it worked as advertised-- they said we got five safe Republican districts, two safe Democratic district and one that had competitive party registration. The competitive one is now a strong advantage for the Republicans due to the financial strength of the incumbent (even though he actually lives in Virginia and only bought a house in Flagstaff to run-- but he is fairly well entrenched anyway).

However, it turns out that 'safe' may only mean 'safe with the incumbent.' Everyone has been counting the eighth district (east Tucson and SE Arizona) as safe Republican, but with rep. Jim Kolbe unexpectedly announcing his retirement, it is suddenly very competitive.

The problem with getting to a redistricting commission is that the dominant party in each state doesn't want it. So they spend a great deal of money and effort to defeat it. That is why redistricting commissions were defeated in Ohio (Republicans running the state) and California (Democrats running the state). I will say it was entertaining to listen to some national right wing radio jocks--yes, I do listen to them-- telling people in Ohio to vote against their commission, but then telling people in California to vote for theirs (the measures were virtually identical, so they had to really split hairs, and it was painfully obvious).

But the problems we see with Gerrymandered districts are national, so the solution is to uniformly push for an independent redistricting commission in every state that has more than one congressperson.

nina said...

Not to stray to the topic of the post, but will you tell us which paper and when?

MadisonMan said...
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MadisonMan said...

Did the picture make the paper? I found a story on line here. But it's photoless. Oh, the date stamp is Saturday night -- no wonder I didn't see it in the paper this morning. Guess I'll check in the AM.

Ann Althouse said...

MadisonMan: Funny, I forgot to look for it. You can get to the picture on this PDF tearsheet. It's at the bottom of the page.