Ty: I can do a "Ty's Corner" on e-mails and ask everyone their thoughts and then write it up or I can let people speak for themselves. More and more, we are getting -- at thirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com -- e-mails for people with their own sites. Which is fine. And I'll give you an example by starting with Stan. Penny e-mailed about Stan's Friday movie posts, most recent being "Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet throw The Party" -- and wondered how many films a week does Stan "watch or see"?
Stan: First off, I rarely go to the movies anymore. Sorry. I've got to the point where I can't take the teenagers who throw candy and other things. I'm just not in the mood for it. You spend the whole time telling them to pipe down and have no idea what the movie was about. In 2009, I paid to see the following at the movies: The Proposal, The Hurt Locker, The Blind Side and Avatar. I didn't see anything else at the movies. I watch a ton of DVDs. Easily seven a week. My uncle is in town for two weeks and he's staying with me and he is really not into the Winter Olympics and was afraid I would be. I told him I usually just use my TV as a monitor and the only thing I watch on TV regularly is The NewsHour on PBS. That's not, "I'm too good for TV." That's just I'm usually really busy. I catch The NewsHour probably three times a week. But I watch at least one movie a night. I'll toss something in that I've got and return phone calls and then, when I'm done, toss in a Netflix rental or a Redbox rental or a Blockbuster rental or my own independent, non-chain video store rental. And I get from all of them every week, to give you an idea. I do two films at Netflix and think I need to step that up to three so I can do my own at-home film festivals. Redbox? We were at the grocery store Thursday, my uncle and I, and there was nothing new but we saw The Quick and The Dead and grabbed that from them. So anyway. Easily seven DVDs a week. I only write about one a week. But I see a lot. And I don't watch The New Adventures of Old Christine these days on TV because I can't stand Gary Unmarried coming on off it. Instead, I buy the episode for 99 cents and watch it online. Which is really stupid since I could see it on TV for free but I hate Gary Unmarried.
Jim: You always hated it or you've started hating it?
Stan: I love the show the first season. But -- and Ava and C.I. tackled this in "TV: Gary Unwatchable" -- it changed so much it's not the same show and it's really awful. I can't stand it. And the first season, I really enjoyed it.
Ty: Okay, on TV, Ava, a question regarding TV pieces. Braeden writes that he guesses you and C.I. watch a ton of things each week to figure out what to cover and he's wondering if you could specifically walk through a process?
Ava: Sure. Or I'll try anyway. First, Stan mentioned the Winter Olympics. That's knocked out NBC. And, no, we're not going to watch the Olympics. Now what we mainly do is a lot of work in July and August. We're reading scripts and watching some videos and figuring out how early we want to note this or that? We're talking to friends at the networks to figure out what needs help and what doesn't. Cougar Town is a great show and it's now safe at ABC -- I say that and tomorrow I'll get a call that it's being cancelled -- but when we were trying to figure out which show to open with for our first review of the fall season, we were thinking of The Good Wife -- which we love -- but then we heard a complaint from a friend working on Cougar Town. We followed up on that with ABC friends and found out that ABC was very nervous about the show. How nervous? We were told that they were afraid the way they were of Heather Graham's show -- which was canceled minutes after airing its first show. So we led with Cougar Town. And, I'm talking too much, that show was being attacked like crazy -- by faux feminists. Women who never object that an actress does nothing on this or that show were suddenly attacking Cougar Town -- and from their writing, it was obvious that they hadn't even seen the first episode. It was really, really ugly. Ruth?
Ruth: Yes, it was. I made a point to call out at least two women who were doing attacks on the show and they had not watched the show. They revealed that in their writing. They did not admit it, they just revelead it because they made comments that they would not have made if they had seen the show. But it is a very funny show. It has continued to be involving. There are so many twists and turns. And Courtney Cox's character is in a love triangle of sorts. Her ex-husband is still in love with her and her neighbor across the street is as well. She does not know that. They know it, the two men, and Andy knows it, he's married to Courtney's best friend Ellie. It is a very involving show. I find The New Adventures Of Old Christine to be as well and loved the episode where New Christine had her ultrasound and Old Christine considered getting pregnant again. I could channel flip if it were not for Gary Unmarried. Or if ABC had a show worth watching at that half hour. Instead, I generally watch The New Adventures Of Old Christine and then record Cougar Town and watch it the next day.
Ava: So for the fall, we do a lot of prep work in July and August. For the mid-season, we're generally trying to do prep work in December. It's not always easy. For this week? We haven't written our piece yet. We have a sitcom we may team up with Amy Goodman's increasingly irrelevant program and some others. Friends asked us to consider three PBS shows. When we -- C.I. and I -- break away to start working on the piece, we'll be shuffling through three PBS programs to see if they can be included and also trying to decide whether or not to include the sitcom in it. We will be tackling Goody and her Iraq lies.
Jim: There's also a package of scripts and shows, all the same one hour show, that were delivered to the house on Friday.
Ava: And we don't have time to open that box. We got in on Saturday. It's Sunday morning. We'll take the scripts and recordings with us on the road this week and see if there's anything for a review but we're really tired. I think that's the theme throughout the community, right Kat?
Kat: Exactly.
Ty: Okay, let's move to Kat. John K e-mails to ask about the CD reviews. He notes you promised one this weekend and then pulled it. He wonders why you haven't reviewed Sade's new CD?
Kat: Well, John K., you should have written me. If you'd e-mailed me before Friday, I'd be reviewing Sade's new CD this week. I love that CD. But I've been waiting on a CD. Why? I do think it's a valid criticism that I review major artists and only them. That's not intentional. And in other years, I picked up and trumpeted many smaller artists. However, in those years, I had Tower and I could walk in and grab a wide variety. These days? Downloading really doesn't lend itself to experimentation for me. So I wanted my first review to be of a smaller label artist. I asked around and around and finally C.I. helped me. I say "finally" because I asked many people before C.I. I don't mean that I asked and asked and C.I. just blew me off. So I asked C.I. around -- I think it was January 13th. C.I. said, "Really? There's a great artist who is putting out an album in February." And I get the back story on that artist, recording on a label I've never heard of. C.I. gives me two albums by the artist and I'm blown away by that. Last week, on the road, I'm listening to the new album and planning to review it in a review that would be posted today. But I didn't realize that it was breaking street date. Meaning my review would go up before the album was out. Big deal? Here's the thing, and it should be familiar to you, you go to the store intending to pick up a book. It's a book you just heard about it. You go in, they don't have it. You tell yourself, "Next time." Next time, you're looking for a different book you've just heard of. This is a small label and an artist not known to the degree of, say, Alicia Keyes. So I want my review to go up when the album is available in stores and for download so that no one says, "I'll remember to check that out!" but then forgets. However, I feel awful that I said I'd do a review this weekend and couldn't once I found out I was breaking street date. So if John had written me, I would've written a review of Sade just to keep my word. And I do listen to the new Sade constantly.
Ann: And it's on sale at Borders Books for $9.99.
Jim: That's a great price. I believe that's the price it costs to download. Dona?
Dona: Yeah, that's what I paid for our download.
Jim: So dash into your local Borders Books if you have one to get Sade's Soldier of Love. Ty?
Ty: Isaiah, Jane e-mails very concerned. She thinks that with the comics at The Common Ills and in the community newsletters, you may be overtaxing yourself. She wonders if that's why you didn't do a comic last week?
Isaiah: Thank you, Jane. I mean that. First off, there's a difference in the comics for the newsletters and for TCI. I worry more about TCI. Not worry about the comic I will be drawing but worry before I figure out what to draw. I spend more time worrying. And that's because I know that the community will get my cartoons so the newsletter ones are never a worry. But the ones at TCI are up every where -- other places repost them and I don't just mean in this community -- and I do know C.I. does get flack on them from time to time. I'll usually hear about that from Jim, in fact. Never from C.I. So I spend a lot of time worrying about my comics at TCI. Those are the only stressful ones. In terms of last week? Valentine's Day was on a Sunday. C.I. and Ava were trying to get people to take off from here and enjoy the romantic holiday but everyone wanted to work here. And so C.I. told me it would make her very happy if I didn't do a comic Sunday night. It would make her very happy to know that I was relaxing and having a good Valentine's Day. So I said I'd try to do one on Monday and she said it would be fine not to. And I was off on Monday and slept in. When I woke up, I rushed to do a comic for Hilda's Mix and had no idea for TCI so I just ended up not doing one. I had thought I would. Did I answer the question in any of that? Thank you, Jane, for your concern.
Jim: And I'll jump in here. Sometimes Isaiah has a comic that goes up at TCI early on Sunday morning. Why? Because we'll be talking about some story we're doing here and Isaiah will say he can do an illustration on that and he'll start to draw something and C.I. will find out and say, "No." No to it being an illustration here. If Isaiah wants to do it, she'll say he can do it as a comic and it'll post to TCI and then we can use it. So that's why sometimes Isaiah will have a comic up Sunday morning instead of Sunday night. And, for the record, I do understand. It's not fair to ask Isaiah to create an illustration -- a political one especially -- here when a few hours later he's going to have to turn around and do another one at TCI.
Ty: This is for Trina, Marcia and Ruth. Rhonda notes that you three often highlight the same sources, different topics, but the same in that you highlight Feminist Wire Daily News and the ACLU's Blog of Rights. Rhonda was wondering if that's planned and, if so, why?
Ruth: We are all face to face -- Trina, Marcia and I -- and they are pointing at me so I will go first. The ACLU's Blog of Rights is a newer site and it is one that we like to highlight because we think there is a great deal worth reading there. Marcia and I started using it to promote it and we also found it to be a wonderful resource for LGBT rights and what was taking place in the continued battle for equality. In addition, I enjoy the privacy rights issues they cover. Also true is that the ACLU never drank the Kool-Aid. At the start of 2009, many may have been huge Barack Obama supporters personally. I do not know that they were or that they were not. But they did not let them be driven away from their task. They stayed strong and continued fighting for what they always fight for regardless of who is in the White House so Marcia and I really wanted to highlight them.
Marcia: Trina's pointing at me. As Ruth was saying, there was the fact that they were staying strong. Elaine and C.I. were pointing that out at their sites. We read their sites. We all read each others' sites. And Ruth and I were in the midst of a conversation at that time. We had been for days and weeks discussing how depressed we were by the US Amnesty International and the Center for Constitutional Rights and a host of other organizations that supposedly exist to call out those in power and defend the powerless but were now trying to curry favor with the powerful. It was disgusting. So during that on again, off again conversation Ruth and I were having -- Ruth and I spend about five hours on the phone with each other each week, at least five -- Elaine and C.I. were pointing out that the ACLU wasn't in the midst of make over and because of that, Ruth and I wanted to highlight them. Now Feminist Wire? Trina's really trying to highlight more women -- I don't think she realizes how many women she already highlights -- and I brought Feminist Wire up with her. There are times when one of the three of us or Kat will call or e-mail the others and say, "Hey, let's all highlight something from . . ." and we will. But women remain a huge portion of the US population -- over 50% -- and yet the media and the blogs under-represent them.
Trina: Exactly. I feel like I need to highlight more women. And that's a feeling I always have. I know C.I. highlights women like no other website. And as a woman and a community member, I feel it's my job to follow that lead. But, in addition to that, I've been hearing from a lot of women since December. I'd love for them to take their conversation online and encourage them to do so and if they ever say, "Use my name," I'll write about it and do so. But the attacks on women are not forgotten. In 2008, the left websites and Pacifica Radio, et al, decided it was okay to attack women, it was okay to ridicule them. They decided you didn't call that out. We're doing a feature on Matty Rothschild making an ass out of himself and we need to do that. But he's suddenly worried. He's worried that mega-millionaire Rachel Maddow might be getting threats. She wishes. But women have been run off online due to the bullying and threatening of Barack's little buddies online. I'm averaging three women a week writing me, since the start of December, about how they stopped blogging. Why did they? They stopped because of the bullying, because of the threats. They were Hillary supporters in 2008 and they were attacked and attacked and it did the trick, it silenced them finally. Matthew Rothschild, where was your concern for those women? Do they not matter because they don't have MSNBC shows? You had no concern for those women -- in fact, Matthew Rothschild added to the hostile climate towards women in 2008 -- and so when I hear from them, when another writes me, I just can't -- I just feel like I have to work even harder to highlight women.
C.I.: Trina's spoken to me about this topic, if I can jump in. I've heard from four women bloggers who haven't written Trina. The issues are remarkably the same. In one case, the woman now is back to political blogging. And in her case, she got slammed all over the place, she got called every name and non-stop threats. That's disgusting. I would love to name her but I can't. Maybe she'll see this and either write about it herself or else she'll e-mail and say I can mention her by name. But more than probably any other woman online, this woman's been a political blogger at a time when the internet was man, man, man, man. And I'm really glad that she's back to doing her political blogging. She predates pretty much everyone and she should not give up her spot, her history, for any reason other than she's just tired of politics. She's carved out her place. If I can name another woman. Delilah Boyd. She did A Scrivener's Lament. I've meant to e-mail her to ask but have never had time. I hope she stopped blogging because she was done with it. But I do know she was being attacked, bullied and threatened. That's what happened to Hillary supporters and that's why there is no healing. There has never been an apology for all of that. There was never anyone stepping up to defend these women -- and some men -- who were being attacked. And that's why the liars like Amy Goodman can go f**k themselves because people do not trust them. They saw themselves attacked and saw Goody not call it out but take part in it. They saw Goody go to Denver and not even consider it newsworthy that a delegate count has just started and Nancy Pelosi's shutting it down. People still don't know that. There was no delegate count at the convention. Pelosi shut it down. So don't whine to me about Florida in 2000. If you didn't give a damn about what happened in Denver in 2008, you don't give a damn about all votes being counted. But women were bullied and were threatened and were attacked and the people who should have defended them did nothing.
Rebecca: Can I jump in on that? I have a buffer in my e-mails in that my husband reads them. That's in part because of my 2005 stalker who stalked me online and then stalked me in person. I would never, if I were starting a blog today, put a last name on it. I wouldn't do that. If I could give women one tip, that would be it. But I'm also the mother of a young girl and so that takes up a lot of time as well. So my husband helps out by reading my e-mails. And I note that from time to time so that does cut down on the abuse factor. A lot of bullies aren't going to threaten if they know (a) I'm not going to read it and (b) it's being read by a man. But I do hear from women who wonder why I keep blogging? They took a lot of threats and suffered a great deal of intimidation -- this is especially true of women who were PUMA bloggers -- or my e-mails are primarily from them -- and they just wonder if it was worth it? Not just because Hillary, obviously, didn't get the nomination. But also because such hatred of women was on display and no one called it out. Amy Goodman didn't call it out, Matthew Rothschild didn't call it out, FAIR and it's radio program CounterSpin didn't call it out, just go down a long list. And the point is, here, that women thought they were part of the left and they thought the left might disagree on certain things and things might even get heated. But they never expected to encounter so much gender hatred and so many gender attacks and that these would take place publicly and that our 'brave' left and 'left' watchdogs wouldn't call it out. There is no healing. The ones who betrayed our core beliefs have refused to take responsibility and to apologize or atone for their actions. It's as though they farted and they think they can blame it on the dog. But everyone in the room knows it was them.
Elaine: I have a buffer too. Sunny, my assistant, reads my e-mails. And Trina, for example, will tell me about the e-mails she receives and I will just marvel over them. I don't get those. I'm referring to both from other women bloggers as well as from threatening men. I'll get an Eric Alterman, for example, going nutso in an e-mail. But these aren't threatening so much as they're humorous. And I think it is the buffer issue. The fact that I'm not the one reading them means that a lot of people who would otherwise write to bully don't even bother. So for any woman who's experiencing threats or attacks in e-mails for her blogging, if it's bothering you, get a friend to read your e-mails and announce that online. I seriously expect you'll see a dip in the number of threatening e-mails.
Jess: I don't know Elaine. I agree if they're doing a site like you or Rebecca does, but if they're posting a great deal, the way C.I. does, I don't know that that helps. It's widely known that C.I. only reads e-mails on the weekends and holidays and an hour in the morning and an hour at night. During those times, she grabs what she can. But it's known that Eli, Martha, Shirley, Heather, Dona, Jim and I read the e-mails the rest of the time and are reading the bulk of the e-mails and yet threatening e-mails still will come in.
Ava: I agree with Elaine's suggestion and think it could cut down on a number of threatening e-mails but, as Jess has noted, there are still problems re: threats to TCI. When those come into the public account, I will either reply or C.I. and I will and that tends to knock a number of threatening men into silence.
Dona: I'm sorry, I have to note something here. At this site, the TV reviews are written by Ava and C.I. It wasn't always that way. For at least the first two weeks, it was group writing. Then it became just Ava and C.I. The e-mails were the same for weeks and weeks. People liked the commentary or didn't, they explained why and the e-mails were lively but they weren't threatening. After several months of Ava and C.I. doing the commentaries, we went ahead and noted that they were doing them, we gave them the credit they were earning -- had earned. And suddenly, threatening e-mails came in, like you wouldn't believe. When it was thought that we were all writing it -- men and women -- no threats. When it was known that two women were covering it, non-stop threats. So let me turn this to Stan, Cedric, Wally and Mike. How many threatening e-mails do you receive?
Mike: I do not ever remember receiving an e-mail that threatened me with bodily harm. Dave Zirin might have written one like that but I never took it seriously if he did because he's so emotional.
Wally: That's funny because I was thinking of the emotional Tom Hayden and his e-mail. But no, not any threats. Cedric's got a different story, however.
Cedric: I did get some threats. Is it because I'm African-American? It may be. I was threatened for comments supporting Jake Kovco and his parents efforts to get the truth about his death. He was an Australian soldier who died in Iraq. I got so many threatening e-mails on that.
Marcia: When I wrote about Kovco in 2008, those bullies were comfortable leaving threatening comments on my post.
Cedric: I don't know what it is. But Wally and I teamed up when we were both working on registering people to vote in the 2006 mid-terms and campaigning for Democrats in those races and since we teamed up I really haven't gotten any real threats. Not any that I remember.
Dona: Stan?
Stan: I did. I was bothered by it and I sent texts to everyone. Ava was the first to respond and she texted back, "Hit reply and write F**K YOU." Which I did. And I never heard from him again. And I've followed that tip from Ava and that usually ends their threats.
Ava: That's a technique I developed while replying to New York Times staff e-mailing The Common Ills. A good "F**K YOU" and they never whined again.
Jess: If I could clear up something because there may be confusion for a reader or two, when we say threats, we're talking threats. We do not mean someone doesn't like you or they say shut up or they wish you would die. We're talking direct threats. Betty got them almost instantly after she started her website. And she finally had to just read her e-mails once a month. She'd go in and she'd read what she could or what she wanted to for a bit and then she'd delete the rest unread.
Betty: That's true. They do threatening e-mails to women that they don't do to men. I think it's because a bully sees a woman as weaker or maybe he's intimidated by men. But with women, they will immediately fire off an e-mail to them full of threats.
Ty: Okay, Betty and Stan, you both highlight Hillary Is 44. Sometimes you will expand upon something from that site, other times you'll just note it with a link and excerpt and then write about something else. So Susannah e-mails wondering if that's your favorite website?
Betty: Outside of the community websites, Hillary Is 44 is my favorite website. It's never embarrassed itself. I'm sure you can think of several Hillary supporting websites that feel the need to act ass stupid and insist, "Barack's actually done a good thing." They'll say that, for instance, after his State of the Union address and you'll think, "Nuclear power is a good thing?" No, it's not. So they need to stop it. But they live to embarrass themselves and a lot of them blog like they're desperate to be let in the club house. I don't want in that club house -- that club house is filled with men and with women who hate women. I'm not interested. My life is better -- and certainly my blog is better -- not lusting after that club house.
Stan: Yeah, I agree with Betty. We generally talk on the phone before we blog. Sometimes she'll have something else she wants to write about and sometimes I will. We try to make it so that at least one of us expands on the excerpt from Hillary Is 44. So if she's got something on another topic she wants to cover, I'll expand on Hillary Is 44 and vice versa. It's interesting because most of us who blog at night are in contact with one another. We all are, actually. I may not speak to everyone blogging that night, but I'll speak to Betty and maybe my cousin or maybe Mike or someone and they'll have spoken to two other people, so we all generally have an idea of the topics each other is grabbing.
Ty: Does that mean, for example, if Mike's grabbing X, you won't write about X?
Stan: Yes and no. If it's a topic we all care about, we may all write about it. But if it's a topic that is something I don't really know that much about or am not that passionate about, I'll let Mike, for example, write about it and if I get an e-mail of "Why didn't you cover?" I'll just refer them to Mike's post.
Jim: Ty, do you have an e-mail regarding Ann because we need to wind down. Dona just handed me a note.
Ty: Yeah, I do. Jean wonders if Ann's planning to cover Fresh Air for the foreseeable future?
Ann: I don't know. I feel kind of bad because I know Betty often listens to the show. I'll call her before I blog to make sure she's not planning on writing about it and I also do it the day after. I do that so I can confirm what I heard -- or that what I think I heard is what I heard -- but also because if Betty does write about it, she'll write night of and next day when I write, I can link to her. I do want to do audio because I don't want that to just fall on Ruth. Or Ruth and C.I. But I'm not sure if Fresh Air will be the one I stay with.
Jim: Okay, so that was the roundtable and it was a low key one. Rush transcript.