Radio Sweethearts

Seriously. How much Rambo can one society take? A friend of mine is really–I mean really–pulling for the new movie to be just one explosion, lasting for two hours. I’ve seen the trailer, and I don’t know how to break it to Joey, but it’s not just one constantly combusting gasoline fire. However, Sylvester Stallone totally chops some dude’s head off–for Jesus. I’m not kidding. For Jesus. While someone in the background is reciting the Sinner’s Prayer.

Have you seen the trailer? It’s intense. And fairly offensive to my sensibilities.

So why start On the Media with Rambo? Because, obviously, Rambo is a Vietnam vet. And Vietnam vets are crazy, according to the stereotype. Did they start this way because stereotypes in movies are a part of the media worth talking about?

Actually, they began with Rambo because, according to Brooke, “some veterans fear that the Hollywood depiction of the depressed or deranged vet could reassert itself. It’s that fear that may underlie the rage generated in some precincts of the military blogosphere by a piece in The New York Times earlier this month.”

Right. Today’s episode will not be one hour-long explosion disguised as media commentary. Sorry Joey.

Seems that The New York Times series “The War at Home” really upset some veterans and milbloggers for what they claim is its de-contextualization of the stories of 121 Iraqi war veterans who have committed–or been accussed of committing–murder since returning home. Part of the problem seems to be that the piece doesn’t compare that number–121–with the number of well-adjusted vets–one guy said 700,000, but I can’t, off the top of my head, verify that.

This story raises more question than it asks.

The biggest question raised for me however, is why they transition out of this story with Elliot Smith’s “Southern Belle.” I mean, the narrator of the song commands the listener to “kill the southern belle.” Bad taste? Or is the song too good to allow that to matter?

Doesn’t matter. Talk about what comes next on the program. Bob wants to announce that French President Nicolas Sarcozy is in love with a model–while hiding his own love. Brooke says that he’s in love with the media and should get a room. I think she meant Sarcozy.

Next, we get to cover Bob’s coverage of the coverage of the death of Heath Ledger. How the news cycle creates a vacuum of information, and the voyeuristic attitudes of human nature abhor a vacuum.

This informational osmosis explains how minor details (prescription drugs, rolled up 20 dollar bill) led to wild speculation as to the causes of death, what happened in the days preceeding, and members of his inner circle revealing the details of his private life in British tabloids. Ledger hasn’t even been dead a week.

But the thing is, as Bob points out, the AP already has over 1000 obits prepared and ready to go, because in a world where the news cycle is increasingly measured in minutes more than hours, every second lost in the race to be the first to announce the news has a monetary cost.

Bob thinks that the AP is merely ‘glomming onto’ the thrill of watching young celebrities self-destruct, but, as AP Entertainment Editor Jesse Washington points out, the AP doesn’t ‘glom.’

Brooke, the erstwhile Jane Birkin to Bob’s Serge Gainsbourg, picks up the next story, about French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his very public, steamy love affair with the model Carla Bruni.

Brooke, along with the opinion editor of Lebanon’s Daily Star, speaks very highly of Sarkozy’s ability to manipulate the media to his advantage. It is as though the love affair is less with Bruni and more with the media.

Meanwhile, Bob is enamored with the fact that FBI’s most wanted is now a multi-media campaign, even if it makes it harder for him to Photoshop up a “Bob’s 10 Most Wanted” poster, consisting of the following criminals:

1. Brooke.
2. Brooke.
3. Brooke.
4. Brooke.
5. Michele Norris.
6. Brooke.
7. Brooke.
8. Bjork.
9. Brooke.
10. Brooke.

Next story — Here’s something more interesting: As a personal note, I keep my iTunes library, and backed up movies, on an external hard drive. I keep my computer backed up fairly regularly, because I type up my homework and class notes whereever possible. I’m no lifeblogger, but my hard drive? DEFINITELY an extension of my brain. (A much more organized extension of my brain, at that.)

The thing is, if it’s an encrypted hard drive, which you have to hand over a password to… courts are deciding that it’s akin to the combination to a combination lock–because it’s a combination stored in the brain, rather than a physical key you can hand over–and therefore, you don’t have to hand it over! This is fantastic! They need some serious just cause to make you do it, because not only do the contents constitute the “persons, houses, papers, and effects” that the Fourth Amendment protects, but having a password to access those contents grants you you Fifth Amendment protection, owing to the fact that you could be incriminating yourself.

We began the episode with Rambo, and we wrap it up with Bobby Fischer, the John Rambo of chess club geeks everywhere. He’s a complex character, and this is a pretty interesting story, but, uh, I can’t be bothered to recap this, because chess is the kind of game I can be taught and re-taught (usually eight-year olds who proceed to cream me), but never retain. It is personal bias, and personal bias alone, that keeps me from going more in depth.

“Radio Sweethearts” is brought to you each week by Matthew and Kerry, the “Radio Sweethearts” team. This week’s recap written by Matthew and edited, well, pretty much just by–lonely sigh–me. Until now. Because she’s holding the Stylebook.