Bangor Daily News expanding?

I read this post on Media Mutt, a blog on Down East Magazine's site written by Al Diamon, with some skepticism. A new weekly paper? Really? I've been ranting for over a year now about how daily papers are doing down the tubes and weekly publications will be taking over...but I never expected the BDN to be looking into such things.

For one thing, they keep losing their reporters! Business reporter Anne Ravana went to MPBN and feature writers Kristin Andresen and Amy Doloff both jumped ship for UMaine and their print publications. For another thing their The Weekly publication is crap. When I get it in the mail each week I actually get angry. Then I promptly put it in my recycling. I wish they would stop delivering it to me, but I'm not sure who to call about it.

I understand looking for new ad revenues. Everyone is doing it these days. But if your primary publications aren't all that wonderful, adding a new one to the mix might not be the best idea. How about more local coverage and less stories from the Associated Press? A few weeks ago I looked at the front page and the only story from a BDN staff writer was by Abby Curtis and it was in the lower left hand corner.

So good luck, BDN. No offense but I'm not holding my breath.

BUST's portrait of Amber Tamblyn

This is a really pretty magazine cover. Amber Tamblyn looks like she's got a secret. Upon a closer look at her mouth I notice that the make up person drew Tamblyn's lipstick WAY outside of her actual lip line. I realize this is supposed to make her lips look fuller -- but I think it's weird.

I didn't expect BUST, the magazine "for women with something to get off their chests" to use such a standard women's magazine style for this article. The traditional "what is the subject wearing" always makes me mad and I thought BUST would be above it, but I was wrong....

Tamblyn returns, tossing her bag on the floor, shedding her long, hooded sweater, and unwrapping a color scarf from around her neck. She's wearing black leggings, black boots, and a big gray T-shirt that says "Write Bloody" over a bird-on-a-typewriter graphic. I notice her black-painted fingernails as she whips her long brown hair back into a messy ponytail...

Oh author Lisa Butterworth, why oh why is it necessary to include such details. I know, I know, you're painting a picture, but it's become such a cliche.

And it's also a cliche for a young starlet, like Tamblyn, to be involved with a man 20 years her senior (David Cross) and luck for us, readers, Butterworth doesn't gush over it. She does, however, do some namedropping...letting us be aware that Tamblyn isn't only best friends with her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costar, Alexis Bledel, she's also friends with the likes of Tilda Swinton, Amy Poehler, and Parker Posey! This proves she is mature beyond her years.

What really got my goat in reading this article was this ridiculous photo taken by Michael Lavine. What a dumb pose to put Tamblyn in. Who in their right mind would wear too-big-for-them high heels while standing on a piano bench? And tapping the keys with their toes? Fetish-much? And what the hell is she looking at? Ug. it annoys me. The dress is really cute, too, but the pose ruins it for me. Thanks a lot, Lavine.

My first Tamblyn experience was when she was on General Hospital. The summer before I went away to college I saw her wearing these cute little pedal pushers on the show. They were gray, straight legged and a little form fitting. They ended right below her knees. No one was wearing capris at the time and I was going to bust the trend out on New England. I found a stretchy pair of severely bell bottomed jeans at TJ Maxx and had my grandmother cut them off below my knees and turn them into pants. She then turned the bell bottoms into a too-cute skirt that fit my teenage body perfectly.

I wore the pants to a party and everyone kept looking at me and saying "ARG!" like a pirate. Apparently Maine wasn't ready for the trend. I felt silly and didn't wear them again. The skirt, however, got a different reaction all together....

Writer Spotlight: ME!

Nicole at Breaking Even, Inc. asked me some questions about being a journalist. Not to toot my own horn but here it is.

Shamless self promotion. Forgive me!

Weird News Wednesday

Boy pleads innocent to impersonating officer

Police: 14-year-old went on patrol for 5 hours before ruse discovered

CHICAGO - A 14-year-old boy accused of impersonating a police officer and going on patrol has pleaded not guilty.

The teenager appeared in a juvenile courtroom on Monday with his hands cuffed behind his back. A judge ordered that he be held at the juvenile center because he could pose a danger to himself.

On Saturday the teen, wearing an officer's uniform, walked into a police station and was assigned to go on patrol. He partnered with another officer for about five hours before the ruse was discovered.

The boy did not have a gun, never issued any tickets and didn't drive the squad car, Deputy Superintendent Daniel Dugan said.

Assistant Superintendent James Jackson said the ruse was discovered only after the boy's patrol with an actual officer ended Saturday. Officers noticed his uniform lacked a star that is part of the regulation uniform.

Police said they were investigating how the deception went undetected for so long in what they described as a serious security breach.

Police didn't identify the boy because of his age. He has been charged as a juvenile.

Dugan said the boy looks older than 14 and was motivated by a desire to be an officer, not malice or "ill intent."

The boy once took part in a Chicago program for youth interested in policing, so he would have been familiar with some procedures, perhaps helping him blend in, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

The Rev. Roosevelt Watkins said the boy had lived with him for much of the past year and is fascinated by police work.

More Headlines

La. woman allegedly shoots boyfriend over sleep

Police find over 100 feral animals at mobile home

Woman runs stop sign, crashes during driving test

Nicole's Too Cute Tuesday

My friend Nicole blogs daily on her site, Breaking Even, Inc. and every Tuesday she does a different craft project. I'm not sure where she comes up with them but they're usually pretty cool.

This one, however, is one of my favorites. Nicole shows us how to make earrings and magnets out of clear aquarium rocks and fancy paper. It's so easy I can't wait to make some magnets for myself!

A new year, a new calendar

Just like Brooke Hodge, a New York Times Magazine blogger, I too look forward to getting a new calendar each year.

I like to start the New Year with a new calendar. But this year — as I resolved, yet again, to get organized — I decided to adopt a multi-calendar approach. I embarked on a quest to find well-designed calendars for home, office and home office. At work I need something that I can glance at quickly to determine schedules and deadlines.

This Christmas my mother bought me the Abacus Calendar by Dana Heacock that I had been asking for, over and over again, since August. Heacock makes a new one each year and they are just beautiful. I also got a Heacock print to hang on my wall, so I consider myself double lucky to have such a chic mom. The colors are so bright and the subjects so Maine that I want to collect them all!

Each month is a different print that I put into a simple box frame. There's no room to write but that's ok, as I use my iCal on my mac at work to keep appointments and interviews scheduled.

My friend Heather sent me this adorable desk calendar with stationery for my birthday in October and it has come in quite handy. Again, no place to write but when I need to know a quick date all I have to do is glance to my right.

Red Leather Diary

Last night I finished reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and I think I am going to request the movie from Netflix. I'm usually disappointed in the movie version of a good book but I'll give it a try.

I was anxious to finish because I picked up a new book from the library yesterday, Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel. I read the first few chapters and put the book down in sheer jealousy.

I am jealous of Koppel. I'm jealous she graduated from Barnard, that she lived on the Upper West Side, that she writes for the New York Times, that she's in her early 20s, that she got the opportunity to rifle through dozens of steamer trunks from the early 1900s on her very sidewalk, and, most of all, that she got ahold of this amazing diary and wrote a book about it.

I'm not going to lie -- I threw myself a little pity party for awhile thinking, "That should be ME! I want to find something so special! I want a plethora of steamer trunks to rifle through!"

I'll get over it. I'm already intrigued by the story and Koppel's writing style. The book, which already seems to have a life of it's own, is being turned into a movie. Check it all out here.