Scenes from Miami

I think that CSI:Miami is a rather silly show. Fun to watch, yes, but the storylines are rather simplistic. What I love though is the filming. Never before on television have I seen such lush, vibrant colour. I'm guessing they must run it through some sort of computerized process.

Having lived down there for 2 months not too long ago, I'm very familiar with many of the buildings, especially the exceptionally colourful ones in the Brickell area, which sits directly south of downtown. Here are some screen captures from a recent episode.

Bias at CKNW?

Letter sent to CKNW News this evening:

To Whom It May Concern:

On your 5:00pm newscast this afternoon, your news reader said the following:

Looking at politics south of the border, Sarah Palin played it safe today on her first trip as John McCain's running mate to the battleground state of Florida. She went to perhaps the easiest place in Florida to get a large Republican turnout, stuck mostly to the themes that she's hit since the Republican convention and then took no questions from reporters or the crowd. But she was welcomed like a star with tens of thousands cramming into a plaza and nearby streets in this enormous retirement community about an hour north of Orlando. Some waited more than 5 hours to see her speak for 23 minutes.

I am an absolute believer that news should be "news" and editorial comment completely left out of it. Yet what is one to infer from the way your station presented this piece? In just the first two sentences there are 4 occurrences where an editorial spin was added that would be most fitting if it came directly out of the mouth of a Democrat Party pundit. Would it be too bold to ask if your news writer has come from the CBC?

Please know that many listeners such as myself take very seriously the work that your station does. If this lack of professionalism is now going to become standard practice at CKNW then I will most likely take my listening habits to another location on the dial.

For comparison purposes, here are some other stories of the event:

• http://news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080921/NEWS0107/80921022
• http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/21/palins-florida-debut-draws-thousands

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Update: I did receive a very nice e-mail back from Brett Mineer of CKNW. I don't have his permission to reprint it but suffice to say, he defended himself admirably. I will now pay close attention to his coverage of Democrat rallies.

Speaking of which, here's a photo of a Michelle Obama rally this past weekend:
While it's true that she's not running for anything, it still provides an interesting contrast, doesn't it?

John Travolta: Environmental Crusader ... or Cruiser?

While promoting his latest film, John Travolta took a little time out to preach about the dangers of global warming and how we each must do more to reduce our carbon footprint. What he wasn't so keen to talk about was that fact that at his Florida mansion he owns several jets AND HIS OWN PRIVATE RUNWAY!!! I think you'll delight in the hypocrisy here.

If you'd like to see a closeup of his house then click here. Let me be clear: I don't begrudge him for his wealth nor the fact that he owns 5 jets. But perhaps he should learn to just keep his mouth closed rather than opening it and preaching to the rest of us about how to run our lives!

Strange Ducks

Can someone tell me what breed of ducks these are? I've never seen them anywhere except South Florida.

Publix, the King of Supermarkets in South Florida

In most larger communities there are a variety of supermarkets to choose from. Down here there's one that dominates the market: Publix. They're clean, well stocked, and the staff are generally friendly, with a few exceptions. There's one close by in Brickell that I walk to every couple of days. Best to go shopping there between 5 - 7pm on weekdays for reasons I can't mention publicly!!! :-)

Crazy Weather in South Florida

The weather here is unlike anything I've ever experienced. Back home in Vancouver weather changes are slow & steady. But here it seems that most anything can happen anytime. Today, though it was about 75 F today, there was hail and a tornado, just a bit north of here near Ft. Lauderdale. For more info click here.