Blogs Provide Raw Details From Scene of the Disaster

By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: December 28, 2004

For vivid reporting from the enormous zone of tsunami disaster, it was hard to beat the blogs.

The so-called blogosphere, with its personal journals published on the Web, has become best known as a forum for bruising political discussion and media criticism. But the technology proved a ready medium for instant news of the tsunami disaster and for collaboration over ways to help.

There was the simple photo of a startlingly blue boat smashed against a beachside palm in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, at www.thiswayplease.com/extra.html. "Every house and fishing boat has been smashed, the entire length of the east coast," wrote Fred Robart, who posted the photo. "People who know and respect the sea well now talk of it in shock, dismay and fear."

At sumankumar.com, Nanda Kishore, a contributor, offered photos and commentary from Chennai, India: "Some drenched till their hips, some till their chest, some all over and some of them were so drenched that they had already stopped breathing. Men and women, old and young, all were running for lives. It was a horrible site to see. The relief workers could not attend to all the dead and all the alive. The dead were dropped and the half alive were carried to safety." (Read More)
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This article is definitely true, I read actual eye-witness stories from the disaster on blogs before the newspapers had them. Also many sites in the blogging community have listed disaster relief sites for visitors to donate to in order to aid victims.

For outrageous and powerful amateur videos of the tragedy check out this Blog

Fashionistas and Foodies aplenty
OK what is up with the recent weird pop-culture names for people, like Fashionistas and Foodies?

These are not words! Right now my spell check is freaking out and underlining both words in red.


Over the last month I've ordered a fruity vodka drink called fashionista, read articles that referred to women as `fashionistas' and even received an email from Red Herring with a subject that read "laptop fashionista." There are also chick-lit books incorporating the phrase in their titles.

Although many articles, blogs and sites use this term freely, none of them really seem to define it. From the context of how the term is used though, I gather that Fashionista's are people who like designer clothes and the latest fahsion trends, thus most New York women.

According to World Wide Words Fashionista is a gently sarcastic term for a person who is an enthusiast for fashion. It covers not only the dedicated followers of fashion who wear the clothes, but also those who write about them. And it can refer to those who design, make, model and publicize clothes, and the fashion buyers whose decisions determine the success of a collection.

The site says the term goes back to 1993, to a book by Stephen Fried entitled Thing of Beauty: the Tragedy of Supermodel Gia, but became more popular as of late.

I have yet to see men referred to as Fashionista's though, so the term makes me a bit uncomfortable since it labels women as solely fashion minded and materialistic. Yet, I can somewhat deal with the stupid sounding name, because at least it seems fun and trendy if not ditzy and derogatory.


There is also a soup commercial for Cambell's Selects that really annoys me and uses the term Foodies. It is always on the Oxygen Channel and it shows women food shopping when a voice over goes "They squeeze they chop, they sniff they wash, their Foodies!" So just because they select food at the grocery store and seem to take some care in the items they pick, they are foodies? Wouldn't we all be foodies? I know I never select bruised fruit. Plus who does not like to eat and enjoy food? Come on, everyone is a foodie then. Foodie, what a stupid name it sounds like booties.

Even Newsweek has resulted in using the new nickname. In an article about a chef called "A Foodie Unmasks."

My father was an Italian cook all his life, he barely liked the term chef. I know he would have hated it if someone called him a foodie, lol just thinking about it is making me giggle.

Merry Christmas, to whom it may apply

(I stopped the car to take this photo...Where did they find the bow?)

Have you heard the lyrics to the following Stevie Wonder song? They're chilling.

Someday at Christmas

Someday at Christmas men won't be boys
Playing with bombs like kids play with toys
One warm December our hearts will see
A world where men are free

Someday at Christmas there'll be no wars
When we have learned what Christmas is for
When we have found what life's really worth
There'll be peace on earth

Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmastime
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I actually saw Stevie Wonder several years ago at LAX airport, and no he did not see me (insert drum roll here). He looked like he does on tv, the long braids and elaborate wardrobe. He took a picture with me and I still have it. He's actually my favorite male singer and all I could say to him was, "My name is Tara." I was so excited that I saw him that I called my father at a pay phone (pre cell phones) to tell him, but he was like, "did he say you were the most beautiful women he ever saw?" I was soo annoyed with his non plussed attitude that I almost hung up the phone, lol.

I'm off visiting all my Italian Aunts and Uncles today (my dad had 6 brothers and sisters). I'll be collecting boosts and eating lots and lots of yummy food. I make all the same stops I used to make with my father when he was still alive, just by myself now. I even go to relatives houses where no english is spoken and we communicate through hand gestures. I have to eat something at each house, because otherwise would be disrespectful. Meetballs, Pasta Fagoli, chocolate chip cookies, prime rib ... fa la la la la, La la lah!

Newsweek Article: Into each life some really atrocious presents must fall. A how-to guide to re-gifting

A few days off


I spotted actress Karen Allen with her son at Butternut Mountain on Wednesday when I went skiing in Mass. It was her freckles and smile that gave her away. Her hair was in braids, her ski boots had a fur trim around the tops, and she looked great. I smiled but didn't say hello, I didn't want to bother her. You can probably catch her movie Scrooged on TV this week.

Please Drive Safely
My mother's Ford Explorer was rear-ended on our ski trip while we were at a traffic light. Luckily no one was hurt, but the 82-year-old woman who hit us was really shook up. Our rear bumper barely had a scrath, but look at her poor car:

It's Christmas Time in the City
Now Playing: Silver Bells (by Stevie Wonder)
It has finally snowed here in New York City!

My friend and I were just saying that it didn't feel very Christmasy and we blamed it on the lack of snow, but yay, now it's here.

Here is a photo of my snowy balcony (fire escape) that I took when I woke up this morning and then froze my face and other parts of my body off on my walk to the subway. It was 12 degrees out!




My First Christmas in my Apartment


This is my very first Christmas tree on my own. Granted it's tiny and lacks all my Hallmark Gone With The Wind and Star Wars ornaments but there is a bigger tree waiting for me in Connecticut at my mother's home with all that. In the meantime the planted tree and my decorated mantle make my little apartment very cozy and holidayish.

PS: wow I just got a bomb dropped on me... and yet I manage to sing the song "you dropped a bomb on me" repeatedly in my head.