Disqus - Latest Comments for AnneMac

Re: NBC Pulls Allegiance from Schedule, Introduces Dateline: The Real Blacklist Instead

AnneMac — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 14:28:21 -0000

I am appalled by this decision. I was an instant fan of the deep character development, snappy writing, action scenes and wonderful sustained suspense. I also adore Scott Cohen, and have come to really admire Gavin Stenhouse and Hope Davis. I don't think NBC counts the viewers who work for a living and can't stay up all night. I religiously watched this on DVR. Why won't NBC count that? Are they afraid we're not watching the commercials or something? C'mon! This one needs to stay on the schedule. Even if they move it to another night, I will follow it and record it and watch it, and the commercials. I have no interest in the Slap. NBC has lost me on Thursday nights.

Re: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/07/victim-descibes-la-jolla-home-invastion-robbery/

AnneMac — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:27:36 -0000

It's a sad world when we have to spend $2K on a video surveillance system or answer the door to all delivery people with a weapon pointed at their heads to deter their accomplices from rushing the door.

Re: Suicide try fails on eve of hearing - SignOnSanDiego.com

AnneMac — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:20:25 -0000

Seems like the guy is too cowardly to face the consequences of his actions. He was dumb enough to get caught. His co-conspirator plead guilty to 50 counts, probably as a result of a deal to testify against Brooks. His one good quality was his desire to save the taxpayers millions of dollars to house and appeal for him by shortcutting the whole process and finding himself guilty, then imposing the death penalty on himself. It would be interesting if our legal system allowed for the accused to waive due process and just skip right to the sentence.

Re: Obama's fall

AnneMac — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:36:54 -0000

I disagree that making peace with independents should be any kind of goal. The real goal is for Obama to keep pushing to implement the promises we elected him for. Some of us can't get health coverage due to pre-existing conditions, and we do not deserve to be bankrupted or neglected by the cherry-picking insurance industry because of it. I am sick of Republicans making up lies and whipping their ignorant followers into a frenzy (death squads? SERIOUSLY! what do they think we have NOW!)

And the flag-waving of the Right, claiming themselves to be superior patriots throughout the election season, was all a big lie. To object to the President of the United States taking an opportunity to speak to children and inspire them to take personal responsibility for their education is hypocritical at best. The GOP is becoming the party of hatred, prejudice, discrimination, ignorance and fear. Shame on the GOP.

Re: Tone-deaf

AnneMac — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:22:49 -0000

This editorial author is clearly a puppet of the right wing. The very right wing that derided the "intellectuals" with advanced degrees and national and international experience in the Democratic party, and glorified Palin, a woman who barely graduated from college, barely left the state of Alaska, and barely governed a statewide population half the size of San Diego. No matter how you try to spin it based on an early draft of lesson plans, Obama's intention has always clearly been to inspire kids to take their education seriously, and to take personal responsibility for their successes. The Bush administration managed only to layer on additional administration of testing, but nothing to actually inspire learning anything beyond what it takes to pass that stupid test. Pardon me, but the GOP's disdain for educated people, and deceptive pandering to the less educated people in the "red states," has earned the reputation of being SOFT on education. Every time the President of the United States tries to do anything positive, your evil spinmeisters go out of their way to tear it down for your own political gain. The GOP has embraced this fear-mongering, negative philosophy so fiercely. If you think you're better, then BE BETTER. Don't just tear down the people who are at least trying to do something positive for this nation.

Re: Nix the pay hike

AnneMac — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:26:53 -0000

I think common sense would dictate that anyone who contracts with the city/county/state right now should be extra sensitive to this budget crisis, and not grant any kinds of raises.

In good faith, they should be lowering their pay and salaries in the same measure as the government agencies from whom they receive monies, and they should be lowering their billings to the government as well.

If we are not all in this together, that means certain agencies/contractors are enriching themselves at the expense of the rest of us, and although it's technically legal according to the terms of their contracts, it's certainly not the spirit of cooperation that will help bring this economy back into shape.

Re: Job-loss posting divides Web world

AnneMac — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:30:03 -0000

I think feeling "awkward" is a choice made by people who simply don't know what to say when someone else is being truthful. My last 2 months have been marked by one tragedy after the other. I could have gone underground and refused to "whine" about it, pretending all was well, graciously declining all invitations. Instead, I respect my friends and acquaintances enough to let them in on the truth. Some feel pity, most feel empathy, and I have friends who really know and understand the real me. I feel sorry for that Abraham guy, who appears to be trapped in that same cultural artifice that any showing of job loss is a weakness to be suffered in private, alone. Too bad he doesn't understand that social networks are NETWORKING, and your next gig can really come from putting it out there that you are available.

Re: Ryan Leaf arrested trying to enter U.S.

AnneMac — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:40:25 -0000

Ryan Leaf just keeps going from bad to worse. Too bad he didn't get a serious ATTITUDE adjustment in rehab. It seems that his attitude has been destroying his life. When will he finally learn?

Re: Health insurers quietly keep blacklist

AnneMac — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:04:12 -0000

I agree with the outrage expressed in this article. By the way, being too fat = automatic denial as well. I'm lucky to have stuck with my COBRA insurance from a previous employer for 18 months, and then the state-mandated 18 month extension. That made me eligible for the state's high risk pool, where coverage costs triple what any other person my age would pay, but at least I am not facing medical bankruptcy... for now. I just lost my job, and paying my premium has to come second to not losing my home. And so it begins.

Re: A civic eyesore

AnneMac — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:43:25 -0000

In the middle of an economic crisis, it seems we all slip down to the bottom of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: we're desperately surviving by any means possible, from day to day, even if that means we're spending MUCH more than we would if we were in planning mode instead of reacting mode. It reminds me of the plight of the poor, who use check cashing joints and lose 2-15% of their meager paychecks, rather than using that sum to pay a bank to store their funds for them in the long term. I know it's hard, but I agree: we have to be able to look at infrastructure issues as LONG TERM investments, even while we're fighting our urgent, short term fires like homelessness, potholes, etc. I support long range thinking for big projects like City Hall, water, power, and transportation.

Re: Your Dated Impressions.

AnneMac — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:19:05 -0000

I would add Arnold Schwarzenegger to the list of dealbreakers. And Nixon. DONE. They've been DONE. Done. done.

Re: Property taxes to increase despite falling home values

AnneMac — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:50:43 -0000

I remember how often property taxes increased before Prop 13, and how many seniors were losing their homes when taxes were rising out of anyone's control. It hurts to raise taxes "automatically" during such a severe economic downturn. However, it hurts more when fire and police officers have to be laid off, right when the number of crimes of desperation are increasing.

Re: Film school 'gave us false hope'

AnneMac — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:13:57 -0000

WOW! I only had to pay $9,000/year for law school. At least I'd be eligible for more than a film loader job when I graduated!!! Holy cow! That's highway robbery for a school that isn't granting at least a Bachelor's degree in fine arts. Use the Community Colleges, folks. It's only $20 a unit and they have a reputation and established relationships with local media for job leads.

Re: Never too Late to Say “Thank You”

AnneMac — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:51:25 -0000

I heard a bit on Jeff and Jer a few years ago where they reached out and thanked the teachers who had influenced them so many years ago. Also retired, those teachers were overjoyed to hear from their students, and to have a chance to glimpse the impact they had on the souls who had streamed through their classrooms over the years. So, I reached out to my high school geometry/trigonometry teacher, whose encouragement in the late 70's led me to seek out a career in computers at a time when girls were still being encouraged to take shorthand classes so they could fall back on secretarial work in case the whole Mrs. degree thing didn't work out. Imagine that: a math teacher who says girls can amount to something after all! He changed my life, and I got a chance to thank him for it before he retired from teaching. He was so grateful to hear how well things had worked out for me. I encourage everyone to reach out to people who affected you years ago. Gratitude fills up your soul in ways that are so valuable.

Re: Literal Video Versions on Funny or Die

AnneMac — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:53:31 -0000

I think it's amazing how well they match the "new" lyrics to the mouth movements of the singer. I especially loved the floating in the library, the rabbi and the monkey. I guess they did a lot of coke in the 80's.

Re: What do you think? Tropic Thunder PSA a bit - um - “Intellectually Disabled”?

AnneMac — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:09:53 -0000

Actually, you CAN sue anyone in the country for anything you like. Most times you don't hear about the suits because they are settled out of court, bound up by confidentiality agreements. But even without a lawsuit, the distributors put disclaimers all over the DVDs these days, carefully stating that the commentary doesn't reflect the opinion of [distributor], etc. The purpose of those, and any other methods of mitigating the offense, is to ward off lawsuits. But that's not the point at all.

The point is that the fictional Simple Jack in the movie-within-a-movie turned out to be a beloved character, and the actor was able to save the day by portraying him for the benefit of the captors, saving his friends. Modeling Simple Jack isn't modeling a person with a disability: it's modeling a self-absorbed, shallow, empty-headed actor who has developed an outrageous character.

It's like if Tom Hanks got stuck on the Castaway island, and the only movie they had was Forrest Gump, so he survived by portraying Forrest Gump for the the island natives so they wouldn't cook him in the pot that night.

I get your point that this particular group is defenseless, so when knuckledraggers on the street choose to be abusive to people with real intellectual disabilities, they can't fight back. But where do we draw the line? Do we outlaw all parody and satire because some group is going to take it personally and be offended?

There will always be ignorant, mean-spirited people who might take it wrong and act out their baser natures.

Do you really think anyone actually DESERVES mockery... like there is an acceptable blame factor? No, I just know that some people will continue to attack and abuse fat people like Buddy Love in Eddie Murphy's Nutty Professor, and others will be more sensitive like Shallow Hal. People think that's perfectly fine because they blame fat people for their condition, and therefore believe any amount of mockery and abuse is deserved.

I got a clue for you. NO mockery or abuse is deserved.

But modeling characters from movies in Halloween costumes is not mockery. It's a celebration. So, smack around the mean kids who are being vicious, and let the kids who are just adoring the character have their fun. We need thicker skin. And we don't need to be getting offended on behalf of others.

Re: What do you think? Tropic Thunder PSA a bit - um - “Intellectually Disabled”?

AnneMac — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:55:54 -0000

There is a distinction here that has been misapplied by the movie studios, who are really just going overboard to avoid lawsuits from anti-Defamation leagues of all ilks. First, it's truly a problem if a major character is using a term like "retard" as an insult to injure or intimidate another character, which would be closer to "modeling behavior" that kids might use in real life. Here, however, the characters are specifically presenting a parody of the kind of selfishness and ignorance that "major characters" often play, in order to call out that kind of behavior. Likewise, RDJr's portrayal of an Australian guy playing a black dude who is hypersensitive to all racial slurs is a similar way to handle this kind of thing.

I am so sick of people missing the joke and filing lawsuits, causing inane PSA's to be placed in films by cowering lawyers. Aaaaaaugh!

It's a parody, people!!! Come ON!

Re: My Soapbox: Reacting to Nonprofits? Not a Recessionary Refuge for Job Seekers | The Fearless Blogger

AnneMac — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:44:11 -0000

I felt really similarly to you. Here is what I posted on her site:

I have spent most of my career in startups, but for 2 years I was the IT manager for a not-for-profit social services agency in Chula Vista. They do amazing work there and pay their people well, and their grant writers are aces at getting grant support for modernizing IT equipment. I don't see any distinction among my work environments: both for-profit and not-for-profit groups drove their teams with clearly-defined mission statements and the kind of visionary leadership that inspired their teams to put in mega hours and tons of dedication with nearly zero budgets and massive creativity. Most of us had Master's degrees and very specific skills that were developed from our time in the trenches. However, the kind of bitterness you are experiencing here seems extreme. I was really put off by your condescending tone. In reality, good candidates come from all walks of life and pedigrees, as do poor candidates. I would hope you would put general postings on your sites that were helpful, reminding people to pick up a copy of "What Color is My Parachute?" or something to get back to basics, and to approach any potential job with the same zeal they did when they were 22, working feverishly in the career center at college, desperately practicing how to package themselves for the career of their dreams. Basically, with a lot less contempt, you can still get it across that these people who were high-fliers until their recent layoff just need to jettison the ego-identity they indulged at the top, and remind themselves that now that they are out, they are back at ground zero. Anyone who has ever done customer service knows that you have to please the customer, and rattling off their pedigree-laden resume will never do that. Any job hunter needs to remind themselves that the hiring manager is like a customer, always thinking, "What's In It for Me?" (Remember everyone's favorite radio station is WIIFM.) You can deflate their outsize egos with kindness and leadership. The bitterness and condescension smacks of someone who has allowed her frustration to escape prematurely and unpackaged. I wish you joy and balance and peace, and a return to your generous spirit. Put some nice suggestions on your facebook and delegate to your assistant the task of responding to repetitive banal or lazy questions, or set up an autoresponder. But don't let the pressure get you down. Best of luck to you!