Quote of the day

"I feel goofy up here, 'cause I don't be winning stuff." -- Eddie Murphy, accepting his SAG award for "Dreamgirls"

Murphy's speech, though not very sophisticated, was kind of endearing, I thought. He showed some gratitude, and also acknowledged that he's fairly out of place on the podium. He was, however, pretty fantastic in "Dreamgirls," and very deserving of all the attention he's getting.

Speaking of SAG speeches, though, did anyone see Forrest Whitaker on the podium? I understand being speechless and all, but his mumbling was pretty unbelievable. It's not as if he shouldn't have expected to win -- he already won the Golden Globe and virtually every other critic's award. It's sweet that he was overcome with emotion, but really ... he better polish his act up before the Oscars.

Here is the NY Times' take on Whitaker's speech: " It seemed the soft-spoken Whitaker was struck speechless, rambling through some awkward words of gratitude."

Quote of the day

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with both "The O'Reilly Factor" and "The Colbert Report" last night -- during which O'Reilly and Colbert appeared on each other's shows, but Colbert did manage to get off a great line that is a perfect assessment of O'Reilly. I'll refrain from saying any more, but here it is ...

"You know what I hate about people who criticize you? They criticize what you say, but they never give you any credit for how loud you say it."
-- Stephen Colbert, after O'Reilly inexplicably began screaming in a rage fit about the pronunciation of Colbert's last name

At least I'm not Sara Ahmadinejad

I've always considered my last name to be relatively uncommon -- as evidenced by the fact that when someone asks for it, they usually respond with "No, I need your LAST name." But now that I. Lewis Libby is about to go on trial, it's really interesting to see my last name plastered across headlines all the time. Even though I know they're not about me, it's hard not to do a double take when you read stuff like this all day:
"Libby Seeks Jurors Who Trust Cheney"
"Embarrassing quiries for all in Libby trial"
"Libby defense in CIA leak case to hinge on 'faulty memory'"

Late, but still good

So the day after the midterm election, Stephen Colbert unleashed one of the most hilarious diatribes I've ever heard -- even for him. I wrote it down at the time, and always meant to post it, but never did. So, at long last, here it is. Still appropriate. Still funny:

"You know what really gets me? Democrats didn't really win this thing, the Republicans lost it. They ran away from the president. 'Hey, the ship's in trouble, quick, let's drown the captain!' We were this close to Jesus coming back.

You Republicans who turned your back on the president are going to wander in the desert for the next two years. Literally. Someone's going to have to replace those troops in Iraq. And don't think you're off the hook, voters. You made this bed, and now you're the ones who are going to have to move over so a gay couple can sleep in it.

Tomorrow you're all going to wake up in a brave new world. A world where the Constitution gets trampled by an army of terrorist clones created in a stem cell research lab by homosexual doctors who sterilize their instruments over a burning American flag. Where tax-and-spend Democrats take all your hard-earned money and use it to buy electric cars for National Public Radio and teach evolution to illegal immigrants."

None of you should be from Rolling Stone

So, being the addict that I am, I of course caught the premiere episode of MTV's new show, "I'm From Rolling Stone," in which young writers square off to become a contributing editor at the famed music mag. But aside from my unabashed love for all things MTV puts out, I actually have more than one reason to be interested in this one: Not only did I apply for this internship (I received an e-mail encouraging me to apply after I'd sent in my resume, but I ran the other direction when the recruiter mentioned it would also be filmed as a reality show), but also, one of the contestants who did make it onto the show was one of my writers at the Daily Trojan, when I was Lifestyle Editor. He also happens to be from Eugene, Oregon, so we share that connection as well.

Despite the fact that I think pretty highly of Colin as a writer, the first episode was a disaster. As a young journalist in the beginning of my career, I can't imagine anything more frustrating than watching these kids, one by one, make absolute idiots of themselves while being handed this unimaginable opportunity on a silver platter.

When the editor of Rolling Stone calls Khristine, a wannabe Bay Area hip-hopper (those fake gold teeth inserts are the definition of professional attire, girl), she answers his invitation to work with a giggly "for reals?"

Similarly, juvenile hall alumni Richard tells the editor that he's re-thought the job, and it's not really for him, only to tell him, after a long, awkward pause, that he was joking.

None of these are as bad as Peter, who seems to have absolutely no writing experience under his belt, who is too busy getting drunk to even answer the editor's repeated calls. When he turns in his first assignment, he flat-out admits to being drunk when he wrote it.

I understand that all of this makes for instant entertainment. But to someone who got into a top-ranked journalism school, graduated at the top of her class, ran one of the country's best college newspapers, and STILL had trouble finding even an entry-level job, seeing these disasters running around with such a prestigious internship is, at best, a slap in the face.