UP LATE

It's 1:46 a.m. Still up. Not really doing much though. I wrote a bit, but I worked a lot today and my eyes are kinda blurry. But my mind seems to be awake. I could write about all sorts of world events, but that would require thinking and I don't want any of that right now.

I'm excited to announce I am going to San Francisco next week -- on someone else's dime! That's right, Jim Hall is taking this show on the road. I am meeting my cousin and we are gonna party. I hope to chow down on all sorts of vegan food and maybe smoke a lil SF herb. I hear their stuff is pretty good. I'll be the judge of that.

I caught some of that presidential debate last night. Boy, are we fucked.
"Who you gonna vote for?"
"Geez, I don't know. I'm thinking robot zombie number one."
"But robot zombie number two is just as good."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. They're both pretty good at being robot zombies. It's a tough call."
"Well, they are the cream of the crop. No one avoids answering questions like they do."
"Don't forget their near equal ability to have lots of words come out of their mouths without actually saying anything."
"Duh. That's my favorite part."

I gotta be honest...the Democractic candidates are boring, but their spouses are where it's at. First, we got Bill Clinton. He's a thump-pointing party on wheels. And then there's Michelle Obama. Pardon my French, but va va voom. For a potential first lady, she's pretty hot. So let's see...four more years of Bill of four years of presidential eye candy? Ugh. This isn't easy. I'm gonna flip a coin. Heads, Bill. Tails, Michelle.

Speaking of Obama (OBAMA! or Obama's a long legged mack daddy!), did anyone catch the video of World's Second Biggest Asshole (and the award for World's Biggest Asshole goes to...George W. Bush) William Dean Singleton calling Obama "Obama bin Laden." To his face? This guy's in charge of the Associated Press. Wow. Here's linky link if you are interested in seeing why the state of American journalism is as potent as my dead grandfather's dick. http://youtube.com/watch?v=7Zy08STIQwM

I almost never, ever, ever, ever re-read books. There are just far too many out there to waste my time reading something I've ever read. That being said, I picked up John Fante's West of Rome last night thinking it would be a good way to kill a few minutes. A few hours later and I was done. That's the second time this year I've re-read one of his books. The first was Ask the Dust. Reading Fante the first time changed my life. I know how lame that sounds, but it's true. Reading him a second time is just as exhilarating for different reasons. It gives me hope and the promise of a better future for my writing. He re-sets my meter, shows me which way is up and reminds me what real writing is. If anyone reading this wants to talk Fante, shoot me an email. I can go on for days.

When I started this blog, I posted some poems. They got zero response, so I stopped. But now I see people are searching the Internets for them. So I'm gonna throw so more back up and see what sticks. Maybe even a slice of a short story or two. I'm working hard on a few things at Casa de Hall. Perhaps it's high time to release some of these to the world. But only if you're good.

I've also got a killer interview with Greg Ginn that I'll be posting sooner than later. That's such a lame cliche. Who the hell invented sooner than later? I'd love to try to do something later than sooner. That'll be my thing. Jim Hall, the man who gets things done later than sooner. Maybe I'll print that on my business card.

Lakers in the playoffs! Number one seed! Here comes Denver! Too many exclamation points! Prediction...Lakers whoop on Denver real bad. Five games if the Nuggets are lucky.

This weekend is the Long Beach Grand Prix. That means lots of annoying "vrooooooom" noises for the next few days. I never understood the race until I saw it in person. It's actually much more exciting than I thought. Last year I went a week early to catch the trials. I didn't have time this year. Oh well. If anyone reading this is going down there, look for me. I'll be the guy standing at Pine and Ocean too cheap to buy a ticket looking down at the cars as they fly past me.

Scary news to report...There are talks of me teaching a few classes at Southern California community colleges. Maybe I shouldn't say that for fear of jinxing it. As frightening as that sounds, I will be very excited and honored if I get these positions. But I'm not holding my breath. For now, it's just talk.

Sunday is stoner Christmas. I'd better re-fill.

What else can I say? Oh, howzabout Italy Fuck Beach?

And I'm out.

LAST DAYS OF THE PRESS-TELEGRAM or EAT MY CORN-FILLED SHIT WILLIAM DEAN SINGLETON

Well, anyone who was interested enough in listening to me would known Long Beach's daily paper, the Press-Telegram, has been a sinking ship for at least the past four years. How would I know, you ask? Simple. I worked there for three of the most painful, agonizing and downright miserable years of my life. I've avoided commenting publicly about this (I know so many of you are dying to know what I think, sorry for the delay) for a slew of reasons, the most important being I still consider a few (see: two) people employed there friends and I don't want to say anything that might come off as intended for them. Like I suspect others at the PT, these two are good people who happen to work for a shitty company. Wait, that's it. I can talk about the company.

If you don't know, here are some links to what's going on with what was formerly known as the Press-Telegram.

http://lbpost.com/specialreport.php?id=1&where=#865
http://www.lbreport.com/news/feb08/ptchang.htm
http://www.laobserved.com/biz/2008/03/glossing_over_bloodb.php
http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/02/presstelegram_essentially_1.php
http://thedistrictweekly.com/daily/writing-shotgun/more-amputations-at-press-telegram-to-turn-lb-daily-into-corporate-bureau/

But my favorite link, the one everyone should read, is the PT's. Naturally, they gloss over little facts such as laying off entire departments and then allowing 21 of those people to re-apply for 12 positions. Oh yeah, they also told a publisher and a managing editor to kick rocks. But their angle is how they got a new publisher.
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_8414986

Seriously folks, there's so much for me to say that I don't even know where to begin. I feel like not saying anything at all only because whatever clever story I can come up with won't even tell a portion of how shitty this company is. Which reminds me, those looking to take shots at the PT (myself included) need to remember why all of this is happening. There's an greedy asshole businessman named Willian Dean Singleton. He's the guy who runs MediaNews Group, the company that owns the PT. MNG is based out of Colorado. It doesn't take a genius to see how that can be a problem for a local paper like the PT. This guy was attributed as saying if he had a choice between pleasing a banker or 1,000 journalists, he'd go with the banker.

Fuck, I get pissed just writing this stuff. That's why I can't say anything. This guy's the reason behind the PT's decline, not the people who work there. That's not to say I'm 100 percent on their side either, but like all corporations, the problems start at the top.

I hope you read this William Dean Singleton. Fuck you for paying me $9.90 for THREE FUCKING YEARS and give me a raise up to $10.10. Fuck you for making me go to the union for health insurance after two years because the company policy is to pay for insurance for full-time employees, ie those who work 30 hours a week. Wouldn't you know, my contract was written for 29 although I never worked that many hours in three fucking years. Shit, I was working more than 40 for most of that time, taking work home many nights because I couldn't techincally work overtime. Fuck you and your bullshit company. If bad things haven't happened to you, I hope they do. Wait, don't you have some crippling disease like Parkinson's or something? It's hard to know because you're pretty good at keeping a tight lip on things. Whatever it is you have, I feel no mercy for you at all. You're a goddamn asshole who's making a shit-ton of money at the expense of others. Yeah, we live in capitalist society, but that doesn't give anyone the right to be a money-hungry prick who doesn't care about people's livelihoods. Good fuck yourself and the horse you rode in on.

Fuck, now I'm mad and I didn't want that. You see why I don't talk about this? But I have another thought. The PT staff has a blog called the Stress Telegram. I'm all in favor of people bettering themselves, especially when it's people vs. a corporation, but I think I've had enough whining from these people. If things are that bad, then fucking quit. I did. And I didn't have a goddamn cent to my name when I left thanks to the aforementioned reasons. You want a better job, go find one. Or do what I did and create one. Maybe start your own paper. Shit, the District did. Some of the people making noise over there were rude, shitty, selfish people who never bothered to ask my name. And a Union rep? He's probably the biggest waste of flesh on the planet. The guy couldn't remember my name or my boss' (she'd been there for, oh, maybe 15 years). But he's really good at mumbling, putting his forehead in his palm and starig into space. I get it. You people want to save your jobs. But shut the fuck up about it already. It's over. You lost. They won. Move on. Check out their blog for their side of the story, which I might add, is pretty lame. I mean, this ain't the PT and there aren't any names on this site. Why not let loose and tell Long Beach what's really happening? Trying to play it cool only makes this blog look like they're afraid. They probably are, but that's no way to win people over. You're already fucked, you might as well act like real journalists and say something for once. During my time there, I saw fucked up shit on a daily basis and it was always much worse than the version that hit the streets. Hey Stress Telegram, call a spade a spade and start naming names. Quit linking to other sites and OPEN YOUR FUCKING MOUTH AND SAY SOMETHING SOMEONE IN THIS TOWN MIGHT ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT! If the rest of the city knew had bad it really was, and not just the version that gets reported by every media outlet except yours, you might have a stronger case. But what do I know? http://lbguild9400.blogspot.com/

Maybe I'll comment more as this transpires. Believe me, I got an encyclopedia to fill with info about the PT.