Morning read

[fruzicle]

alexpgp  recently wrote about the benefits of listening to foreign radio online. I have long been a proponent of reading international newspapers online, so I readily agreed with this idea.

So I went to listen to a Norwegian radio. Drat, it seems to require some fiddling with my computer that I wasn't able to bring about. Then Eric tried for ten minutes and he gave up, too.

Finally, this morning, I decided I would simply read the Norwegian newspaper. Of course there were lots of stories about Iraq, etc, but I went straight for the human interest story. There was one about this little girl whose dying wish was to see a particular movie by Pixar called "Up." I was half way through reading the story when I realized that the girl lived in Huntington Beach, California, about 20 miles from here. Shortly, I also noticed that the Norwegian story provided a link to the Orange County Register, our local (not very good) newspaper. When I finished reading the Norwegian story, I clicked on the link and then read it again in English. Weird.

Eventually, I finally went outside to get today's newspaper. I picked it up and thumbed through it. What do you know, there is the story I just read an hour previously on the girl who had to see that movie before she died. (And BTW, she did die, about 6 hours after viewing the movie. I guess it did her in!)

To quote current lingo, how weird is that? I first read a local story written ten thousand miles away. I figure it probably should be chalked up to an agressive marketing campaign by the good folks at Pixar. Just think of all the warm fuzzies contained in a story about a girl who has to see a particular movie before she dies.

Unless they push the point of view that watching it can kill you.

Comments

[nibot.livejournal.com]

I like http://radio.af.lu.se/

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

I keep getting the message that "additional plugins are required to run this program." Then I try to install the plugins and get nowhere. hummph.

[indomitable-one.livejournal.com]

My grandpa had a series of world band radios that he'd use to listen to Norwegian radio. If he'd made it to really experience the internet age, he would have been all over reading and listening to stuff online. Thanks for the good memory. :-)

My attempt to combat the cynics

[rosiedee.livejournal.com]

It really didn't seem to be an aggressive marketing campaign on the part of Pixar at all. They've refused to comment on it or name the employees directly involved, anyway. I feel quite certain that it wasn't a PR campaign at all, and the push for publicity seems to come from the girl's immensely grateful family, which I think is quite sweet. The story's got legs because it's such an incredibly touching story that's making the internet rounds, not because Pixar is pushing it into Norwegian newspapers.

Up

[bensdiorama.livejournal.com]

Bev and I went to see Up a few nights ago and we thought it was a really good film. I (we) couldn't help but think largely of Roger in the main character. Roger would likely enjoy the movie, but (if you're reading this Roger), it will cut a little close to the bone -- the dearness of your mairrage, to be a bit more clear -- and I would hope you'd see it with someone else. You'd enjoy it more that way anyway. ps: It's big on true love, dirigibles, dogs, 1920s flying heros, boy scouts, and mentoring. What more could you ask for?