Michael Jackson quotes

I'm never pleased with anything. I'm a perfectionist. It's part of who I am.

I was a veteran before I was a teenager.

Let us dream of tomorrow where we can truly love from the soul, and know love as the ultimate truth at the heart of all creation.

If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.

Examining the changing book industry

The book industry as we know it is changing. Google, the latest contender, seems to possess the clout to give the Amazon Kindle a run for its money.

The Kindle is a compact, electronic book with instant wireless access to tens of thousands of books sold by Amazon, an audiobook player, and a wireless Web browser. Kindle uses a cellular data network to deliver books, newspapers, magazines and weblogs to you immediately.

Amazon sells e-books specifically formatted to work with Kindle. A few days ago, the company started shipping the Kindle DX, the large-screen version of its line of e-book readers.

Meanwhile, Google announced plans to launch a program that will let publishers sell digital versions of their books directly to consumers. The Internet search giant plans to let Google Book Search users "buy access" to copyrighted books with any Web-enabled computer, e-reader or mobile phone.

National Public Radio explores the e-book challenge.


Tags: E-Books, Amazon Kindle, Google Reader, Media by Sistrunk

Resisting the seduction of clichés

(This post first appeared here in August of 2005.)


Public relations writers fall for them. Reporters are lured by them. Communications veterans across the spectrum succumb to the sweet talk of the ever-present, easily accessible cliché. No writing style is immune to these overused phrases, even fiction. The media biz coined a term for these expressions - "groaners". If you're looking for a surefire way to annoy your audience, take the easy way out and slip a series of groaners into your copy.

Newswriting.com describes a groaner as "a hackneyed, overblown, stuffy or just plain silly cliché that turns up time after time in news scripts. Groaners show laziness on the part of writers, disrespect for the folks watching, and a general contempt for lively English." I agree. When it comes to many of these euphemisms, I believe in taking quick corrective action. Arrest these overused phrases. Blindfold them, give them a cigarette and place them before a firing squad.

When it comes to groaners, seasoned journalist Abe Rosenberg does a great job of identifying some of the worst offenders, often heard in TV news broadcasts. Here is a sampling of groaners from Newswriting.com:

Area residents - “Shhh, Tommy, don’t play the drums so loud. You’ll wake the area residents!” Normal people don’t refer to their neighbors this way. Why should we?

Famed - “Mommy, mommy, I just saw somebody famed over there!” When did “famous” become a dirty word?

Lay the Groundwork - Doesn’t anybody “prepare” anymore? Too many writers cling to these phrases (“Set The Stage” is another example) when talking about politics, foreign policy, war and peace, etc., as if big phrases made a story important. Important facts make a story important. References to theater and construction belong in stories about theater and construction.

Motorists - Where have all the drivers gone? Don’t fall into the DMV Handbook trap.

Somewhere, some wordsmith is hoping that I'll ease up on folks who like to incorporate clichés into their copy. I'm not completely heartless. As a journalist and PR practitioner, I have fallen into the same trap.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. If you want your copy to "sing," write as if you're holding a conversation with someone. Put your best foot forward. Work like a dog. Leave a lasting impression. In the end, your copy will be the best thing since sliced bread. Just do it.


Tags: Cliches, Writing, Journalism, Public Relations, PR, Media by Sistrunk

Michelle Obama

First Lady Michelle Obama is a much-sought-after speaker. Of course, it goes with the job. Still, her popularity rivals her husband’s. A recent letter to the editor in Time magazine described Mrs. Obama in two words -- "national treasure".

The first lady often talks about her humble beginnings.

"I am an example of what's possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by the people around them," she recently told an audience at an all-girls school in London.

Mrs. Obama added that as a girl, she was surrounded by many encouraging influences – family members, teachers, and neighbors. She believes that she would not be the woman she is today without the nurturing she received as a child.

The girl who grew up in a small home on the South Side of Chicago would grow up to be, among other things, an attorney, an associate dean at the University of Chicago, and a vice president at University of Chicago Hospitals.

Tags: Michelle Obama, Media by Sistrunk

Dangerous little hands

Any parent knows that toddlers and fancy cell phones are a dangerous combo. This is especially true if you're talking about smartphones, such as the iPhone or the BlackBerry.

Children who fiddle with keys can easily delete important e-mails, dial 911 or break a fancy phone. As I was driving home recently, I heard a delightful interview on this issue on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.

(By the way, if you click on the darling image above, it will take you to the NPR blog, All Tech Considered.)


Tags: Smartphones, Cell Phones, Technology, Children, Media by Sistrunk

Political humor

Here are some gems from late-night comedians.

Conan O'Brien: "Did everyone see Brian Williams' special with President Obama that was on? Yeah? ... Anyway, there's this big NBC News special with Brian Williams, and in the special, President Obama showed Brian Williams what tricks his new puppy, Bo, could do. Isn't that cool? Yeah, in fact, Bo has already learned to sit up and beg for Federal bailout money."

David Letterman: "Think about this. Obama is in the Middle East trying to straighten out the world, trying to make things better than they were. And talk about pressure, talk about a guy who's being busy, talk about a guy, every move is being scrutinized. Meanwhile, on the other hand, you have John McCain. He's at a bakery waiting for his number to be called."

Jimmy Fallon: "President Obama used the word shukran, the Arabic word for thank you, in response to a compliment from the king today. The compliment, 'I appreciate that you didn't bring Joe Biden.'"


Source: U.S. News & World Report

Obama: 'I have come here to seek a new beginning'

So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, and who promote conflict rather than the cooperation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity. This cycle of suspicion and discord must end.

I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.
-- President Obama, speaking Thursday at Cairo University

Text of Obama's address at Cairo University on June 4, 2009

To view President Obama's speech, click here.

Obama to seek reconciliation in Egypt

In his column for Newsweek, Howard Fineman writes about President Obama's scheduled visit to Cairo:

Barack Obama believes in his voice and his life story. Autobiographical speeches powered his campaign. ... Now comes the ultimate test of autobiographical speechmaking. Obama this week speaks at Cairo University, in the hub of Muslim-Arab culture. Obama "has privately told friends that his goal is far higher: nothing less than to help 'reconcile Islam and modernity.' ...

He will pay homage to the Golden Age of that culture—its glorious achievements in mathematics, science, literature and diplomacy—and note that Muslim scholars rescued from oblivion the Greek and Roman (i.e., the "Western") canon. He also will draw on the by-now-familiar story of his own life. A Christian son of an African-Muslim father, he spent years in Muslim-majority Indonesia, attending a public school run by, but not suffused with, the teachings of Islam. All of this, Obama thinks, not only allows him, but obliges him, to play a grand role as bridge builder.

The world will be watching as the president seeks reconciliation.


Tags: Obama, Egypt, Muslims, Reconciliation, Media by Sistrunk