Dennis, Come to Vancouver

We need you. Dennis, I implore you, come out of retirement and come to the Great White North. We don't know what's happening or why.

Some examples:

Recently in the news was the trial of five individuals charged with the kidnapping of a guy - they held him for about a week before police raided a number of homes in the area and finally found him.

At no time have the reporters (or online content) offered up a possible motive or explained they could not learn of a motive. There was no ransom note and no explanation from the accused, the victim or the victim's family. WTF?

A guy disappeared after a truck rally and they found his truck by the bank of a river, still running. He'd been missing for a year and they just found his body. No one's offered any sort of scenario as to what might have happened. Not even a guess.

Am I just too used to Bay Area news that tells us more than we thought we ever wanted to know about every little thing? Am I just a nosy American?

I don't think that's it. I think if a kid gets kidnapped at gunpoint and held for 8 days before he's found, alive, we should get some information as to why it happened.

The weather forecasting isn't much better than the reporting. The sun was supposed to come out today. Didn't see it once. Grrr.

Fun with Newsreaders

Earlier this week we were watching the news on KTVU, as we do most nights, when I heard something that didn't sound right. I rewound the live broadcast on the DVR to be sure. Yup, that's what she'd said.

And just that day I'd seen a posting on their website for a news writer, but didn't pursue it because I don't have a journalism degree (nor do I know the first thing about being a news writer).

Now I doubt that a degree is required and instead, just the ability to read AND think at the same time. So below is what I sent to KTVU. They've not written me back.

---

From: [me]
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 10:56 PM
To: news [at] ktvu [dot] com
Subject: "as we say goodbye to 2005"?

Dear KTVU News,
We love the 10 O’clock News and watch it every night – the highly professional reporting and in-depth stories make the other stations look like amateur shows.

But on tonight’s show when Gasia said, “as we say goodbye to 2005…” we had to wonder – when we took that afternoon nap, had we actually traveled back in time?

I hope it’s not actually about to be 2006, because that was not a particularly good year and I wouldn’t enjoy repeating it.

However, I suppose if we are about to relive 2006, we could make sure the pigs don’t get into the spinach, tell Harry Whittington to avoid hunting trips, and I could put all my money on the Steelers to win the championship.

Your Loyal Fans,
Jennifer & David

Ooh! Newsreading!

Last night while watching my favorite local newscast the lead story was the *shocking* announcement that Katy Couric would be leaving the Today Show to become the first solo female anchor of a network news broadcast.

Isn't that amazing!? A solo female anchor on a network broadcast! Aren't you excited!? Isn't it fantastic!? Is anyone else aware of what year it is? Is anyone else wondering why it's taken this long for a woman to hold this job?

Every now & then something reminds me that it wasn't until 1984 that women were allowed to run the marathon in the Olympics. 1984. I'll never understand it. What a joke.