Monday, Monday: Chock Full 'O News
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"Morning Meeting" is a recap of our daily editorial meeting. If we had a show today, these are some of the stories you would probably hear.
Credit: AP
This dog was crowned World's Ugliest Dog on Friday. We didn't see the other contestants, but we're pretty sure the judges got it right.
The BPP crew is back from a well-deserved weekend off, after breaking our own record for most blog posts in a day on Friday. (In case you missed some of them, check 'em out!) We had an editorial meeting chock full of pitches today, covering everything from Dick Cheney to David Beckham to a guy who killed a bear with a log. Read it all below the fold...
NEWSCAST: North Korea to shut down main nuke facility (for a measly $25 million), Mideast leaders meet in Egypt today, Iran cracking down on everything, Cheney on the hot seat (thanks in part to a big WaPo series), Abducted BBC reporter on video, Fire rages near Lake Tahoe, Elizabeth Edwards 'comfortable' with gay marriage, Evan Almighty--one of the priciest Hollywood comedies ever--not so hot at box office.
WHILE YOU WERE OUT, POSSIBLY DRINKING (Our Monday roundup of weekend news you may have missed): Nine US troops killed in Iraq, Iraq's "Chemical Ali" to hang, Religious groups take lead at NY Gay Pride Parade, Ugly dog crowned world's ugliest.
BUSH MAY SEEK TRUCE ON IRAQ: The LA Times is reporting that President Bush has instructed aides to quietly explore a compromise deal on Iraq policy with Democratic leaders. The White House realizes support for the war is declining, and that they "can't keep fighting this over and over," according to the article. This seems to be an LA Times exclusive, so we'd have to do some of our own confirming, but if this turns out to be true, it's an important story and a stark change of direction for the Bush administration's Iraq policy.
MURDOCH'S INFLUENCE: Gazillionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch has offered to buy Dow Jones, parent company of The Wall Street Journal. Our first question is, why should we care? And what's the big deal with Rupert Murdoch anyway? We'd do a Rupert Murdoch explainer about who he is, how he came to be so rich and powerful, and what his purchase of Dow Jones would mean for you and me.
WEB SITE OF THE DAY: Crazy hotel workers! It's basically a site where workers from the hospitality industry get together to exchange horror stories and complaints about their jobs and the people they deal with on a daily basis. In other words, reading this site will tell you exactly what the people at reception thought of you when you asked for a new room because there was blood on your mattress.
THE CYCLONE TURNS 80: The legendary Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island in Brooklyn turns 80 this week. To celebrate, they're going to fill the ride with a bunch of 80-year-olds and send it out for a spin. (I love the Cyclone, but this seems like a bad 20/20 investigation waiting to happen.) We're considering taking the video camera down to Coney Island ourselves to talk to some of these oldtimers and to capture a ride on the Cyclone firsthand. (We might even go for the full Coney Island experience, which would require us to eat chili cheese dogs from Nathan's before getting on the ride.)
YOUTUBE OPENS UP ITS WALLET: YouTube announced a while back that they'd begin sharing revenue with users who create original content, and now they're putting their money where their mouth is. Although they've been talking to bigtime TV networks, their first contract is with 20-year-old Brandon Fletcher, who showed up at YouTube HQ in California nine weeks ago--without an appointment. Security wouldn't let him off the elevator, but he got someone's attention, possibly by showing a video of his toilet trained cat. Now he's hit the big time.
BLOOMBERG AS KINGMAKER: An interesting piece in the NY Times floats the idea that rather than trying to win the presidency, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg could just try to win one state. If the state--New York, for instance--had enough electoral votes, he could prevent either major party candidate from getting the requisite 270 electoral votes. He would then be able to throw his support behind one of those candidates, possibly in exchange for a king's ransom in political power. At this point that's just another layer of speculation upon a foundation of conjecture, since Bloomberg isn't even running right now. But it's fun to think about it.
Did I just call speculating about a theoretical presidential candidate 16 months before an election "fun?" Yes I did.
THE RAMBLE: Some Japanese restaurants are dealing with a tuna shortage by putting deer and horse in sushi. This is the equivalent of an American ballpark serving nothing but tofu dogs. The Japanese are freaking out...England's legendary Glastonbury Music Festival wrapped up after another rain-soaked affair...Do you know who this guy is yet? If not, you will soon...A father and his sons went camping, and a 300-pound bear showed up after he smelled food. One kid threw something at the bear (dumb), so the bear attacked. The father threw a single log at the bear (dumber?) and he killed it. The kicker is that the father got a ticket for failing to store food properly...Cameron Diaz has apologized for wearing a bag with a famous Mao slogan on it in Peru.
10:17 AM ET | 06-25-2007 | permalink
