#emily watches the newsroom

[ofhouseadama]

Yellowstone got me thinking about a Will/Mac ranch AU where he never left Nebraska because he killed his father when he was 14 and she regularly gets arrested for conservation activism

[thousand-miless]

I’ve seen the S1 episodes of The Newsroom many times. It continues to surprise me that each time I notice something new that I had missed before. That amazes me because I’ve never had that before. I’ve had many shows that I’ve loved and still love and episodes that I watched and over again. Yet never did it happen that after a few rewatches I continued to see new things. This is different with The Newsroom. Those first rewatches I notices words that I hadn’t notice before, or moments that I’d missed because I was focusing on something else. Then later I start to see the acting and how good it is. Not that I didn’t think it wasn’t good before. I mean the acting on this show is terrific. I started to see the subtleties in the acting, the decisions the actors apparently made. That is what has left me in awe of this show and these actors and I mean specifically Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer and Sam Waterston. Just this week on the rewatch of the pilot episode I thought, because of something Charlie said, did Charlie know Mackenzie was at Northwestern. Mostly with Charlie and the way Sam Waterston plays him, is that in everything that he does, Charlie takes care of his people and he loves them dearly.

I ship Will McAvoy and Mackenzie McHale which is why I pay a lot of attention to those scenes and those characters. Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer’s performances amaze me. Sure I’ve shipped many other ships and loved and still love them dearly. All hold a special place in my heart. The performances by these two actors just continues to amaze me.

Like this moment, the Rudy hug, the moment just before Will hugs Mackenzie (not my gif, and just borrowing it and you can only see him look at her briefly). All I see in his eyes is this incredibly deep love for Mackenzie, he is so deeply in love with her. I know that, but to see it in his eyes, that’s something so special and I just look at that and think, how do you do that. And yes you can say well that’s acting. That’s true, but from the many ships I ship, that look, to see that love, such deep love and to see it appear in his eyes in those seconds, that I haven’t seen before.

Because that’s also it, Will sometimes glances at Mackenzie even when the scene is about something else or the conversation is being carried by others, there’s suddenly the gift of a glance and in that look there’s still so much going on.

The same with Emily Mortimer and the way she portrays Mackenzie McHale. There’s always so much going on in the way she looks at him. There’s so much in her eyes. Even when she’s angry at Will and boy is she angry because of the non compete clause, and that scene is terrific, she loves him deeply. (Also just borrowing this gif).

And only now rewatching episode 4 again, the final scene which is a close up of Mackenzie I only now realize that the words of the Coldplay song, are for her. She’s trying to fix Will (from the path he’s taken), she’s trying to fix the show, she’s trying to fix the mistake she’s made, she’s trying to fix them. In this case it’s not just the acting (though the look she gives is one that says so much too), but it’s shows how there’s meaning in well everything and every choice they make. That continues to amaze me (yes I know I’ve said that before.

So this was just my sharing my admiration for The Newsroom and the terrific actors. And I don’t mean by this post that the other actors on this show aren’t great. They all are. In this case, my focus is on Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer especially and also on Sam Waterston because I enjoy him more and more with every rewatch. This is just me sharing my love for this show. I love this show so much and these characters so much.

[asmoonlightthroughthepines]

8 Shows To Know Me

Thank you @maplefiasco for tagging me *months* ago 🙈 Do check her post for excellent shows recommendations!

If you see this post on your dash, please consider yourself (no-pressure) tagged, whether we’re in a follower, mutual or complete strangers situation :)

Coming up with "shows to know me" was more challenging that I thought? In the end I chose shows I have often rewatched and that never fail to cheer me up. In no particular order:

Remington Steele

This show is a delight and a half. For years growing up it was on channel 3 in France every summer, and every rewatch makes me feel like the happiest teenager. Expect RayBans and vintage cars, because this is 80s LA with an Old Hollywood, Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn inspiration. Unfortunately it's become impossible to find in Europe/France, and my entire family laments this fact on a monthly basis.

The Newsroom

If you get one thing out of this post, it’s to give The Newsroom a try. Not everyone loves Sorkin, in fact several of my friends hate this show, but I LOVE it. It’s chaotic. It’s fast. It’s idealistic. Everyone is a genius at their job and an idiot in their personal life. And the cast! Emily Mortimer, Jeff Daniels and Sam Waterston are superb! Olivia Munn and Thomas Sadoski are spectacular! Dev Patel and David Harbour are delightful! And the supporting cast - Jane Fonda! Chris Messina! Terry Crews! BJ Novak! Only this show would make me use so many adjectives and exclamation marks.

Hart of Dixie

This is my guilty pleasure, “won’t tell people about it because they’ll think I’m a basic bitch" show. It’s super cozy, the clothes are great, the dudes are hot, there’s a pet alligator called Burt Reynolds, the folksy-country soundtrack is fun, everyone is nice and walks around the WBros PLL and Gilmore Girls lot fake southern town with a pastry and home-baked pie in hand, and nothing really bad ever happens. Truly the happiest of basic bitch shows.

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

I ignored Mrs Maisel for years because I’m not a big stand up or 50s style person, but it turned out to be one of the shows that’s made me laugh the most in the history of shows. It’s funny, it’s warm and it does more for Jewish humour than most pieces of media (The Nanny is the exception) since Annie Hall’s Easter lunch scene. I didn’t care much for s4 (style really took over content for me) and s5 is.. well I just don’t know how they explain a lot of those choices there. But man, s1-2 is something I would (and will) happily rewatch on a regular basis.

Friends It’s not original, it's "90s diverse" but sue me. I’m old enough to have watched it with my siblings when it first came out (VHS, baby!) and it’ll never not feel cozy and fun. I won’t catch it on tv because ad breaks will reduce it to unfunny, memeable catchphrases, but every few years I’ll pop a couple of seasons in the dvd player (DVDs, baby!) and it’ll still make me laugh like it’s my first time watching it.

Arrested Development

Do I need to explain? Yes s4 was half good/half bad when it was released (and somehow made mostly bad when it was re-edited) and I pretend s5 doesn’t exist. But seasons 1-3 are the definition of perfect tv! And in case you didn’t know, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett host a podcast (along with Sean Hayes of Will and Grace) called Smartless; the episode with Tony Hale (Buster) as the guest had me in literal tears.

Chuck

There’s a scene where Chuck’s best friend Morgan says that he’s spent years devising a work system that allows him to do as little as possible at his job, and he’s not about to ruin that by accepting a promotion. My entire family quotes this on a regular basis. I have watched s1-3 at least half a dozen times and just typing that makes me want to watch it again. Love the music, the ridiculous spy adventures and the unhinged background characters. Also Chuck looks exactly like one of my high school best friends which makes it even funnier.

24

LOOK. I did not expect this show to take over my life the way it did, and tbh I don’t really have an 8th show that hits both “will rewatch this many times” and “makes me feel warm and happy”. So I went for the one that currently has 12 drafts sitting in my fic folder. It’s violent and ridiculous and is equally funny (see ridiculous) and angsty. It got me through the 2nd lockdown, on the edge of my seat while live texting all nearly ten seasons of it to friends. But watch s1-4 and tell me you’re normal about Tony x Michelle. I dare you.

[whitecriminalcastle]

Not me slowly watching everything Emily Mortimer has done 😝

The Newsroom started it all

[maraczeks]

lolz

[nicollekidman]

it’s 2018 and mackenzie mchale is hot!!!!!!! 

[theawkwardterrier]

Ship game

Rules: Movie/TV ship questions, no repeats, answer with a gif. (I couldn’t make my own, but I’ve credited below.)

Honored to be tagged for this by the fabulous @nevertothethird and my wonderful meme partner, @lavellenchanted. Let’s talk ships!

1. First Ship ↳ Jack/Sue, Sue Thomas FBEye

This show used to air at random times on my local UPN station and I was - completely inexplicably - wild for it. My best friend and I would call each other frantically if we happened to catch it when it was on. A big part of my interest? This very chaste pair of coworkers who wanted to be something more! (Gif via @suethomasfbeye) 

2. First OTP ↳ Buffy/Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Cannot tell you how completely gone I was for this ship for essentially all of high school. Was it the soulmates aspect? The Yearning™ because they couldn’t be together? Their sweetness and encouragement toward each other, the way they relied on each other despite everything? My enormous thing for David Boreanaz? (It couldn’t have been my total 😍 for the symbolism of the cross burned into Angel’s chest in 1x07 - I was not astute enough to appreciate it until later.) Regardless, I spent much of driver’s ed when I was 16 writing a full on treatise about how they were meant for each other. Still do not drive, but they’re still with me, so I think I took care of the important stuff. (Gif via @buffysummers)

3. Current Fave Ship ↳ Elizabeth/Henry, Madam Secretary

It’s not a huge surprise that I got into this show, considering my love of The West Wing and my past as a college aged Good Wife fan, but I was shocked at how absolutely wonderful this ship was. I’m always here for functional married couples, and they are a prime example of believing in each other, having complementary values, communicating, and sticking together through everything. I’m about it. (Gif via @beautifuldisastr)

4. Your Ship Since the First Minute ↳ Booth/Brennan, Bones

I purposefully picked a gif from the first Bones episode I ever watched (2x04, The Blonde in the Game) because from the second they walked through those woods arguing about the possibility of having a pig for a pet, I was gone for them - and they didn’t even get together for another four seasons. The show shifted tone in later years in a way that I wasn’t totally on board with, but at the core, their bickering and chemistry and rock-solid partnership remained a draw for me. (Gif via @becauseyoulovemebb)

5. Ship You Wish Had Been Endgame ↳ Mary/Marshall, In Plain Sight

Y’all. It makes no sense that these two didn’t end up together. I rewatched somewhat recently and liked Abigail much better this time around, but these two had a best friendship that was extremely obviously a romance, and they passed it over to stick them with random others. (Gif via @browncoatgrl221b)

6. Ship You Wish Was Canon ↳ Sam/Ainsley, The West Wing

The idea of the principled Republican doesn’t exactly carry the same meaning these days, but I’m with Aaron Sorkin: not keeping Emily Proctor on West Wing was a huge mistake. Watching these two characters walk and talk through disagreeing on nearly everything and still managing to be friends of a sort is an unexpected joy of any rewatch. (Gif via @donnajosh)

7. Ship that Most of the Fandom Hates, but You Love ↳ Rory/Logan, Gilmore Girls

I’m not completely alone in shipping them, but Jess is definitely the more popular Rory boyfriend and Logan gets a LOT of hate. And in some ways I get it, but my heart belongs to these two beautiful messes who filled my life with adorable moments of banter and affection as they learned to be in a relationship. (They were also a candidate for “different storyline” - where was my revival non-cheating media power couple, Palladinos? Where was it?????????) (Gif via @rosedatlantis)

8. You Don’t Even Watch the Show, but You Ship It ↳ Jim/Pam, The Office

Mike Schur is my guy, but The Office has always been too awkward for me to handle. Still, if I ever force myself to watch, getting to see these two will have been a big factor in the decision. They look adorable, and history has shown that I’m wild for a sweet Schur relationship! (Gif via @bymine)

9. Ship That You Wish Had a Different Storyline ↳ Dawson/Casey, Chicago Fire

Part of the reason their relationship turned out the way it did was because of behind the scenes real world stuff, but I would have absolutely loved for Dawson to stick around and for them to figure out their issues (and maybe even eventually build a family). Also for them to have gone through just a touch less Drama™! My brother was recently binging the show and as I watched over his shoulder I found that I didn’t remember about 400 fairly large obstacles and random soap opera plots they added in for them. (Gif via @jayhalsstead)

10. Fave Ship That’s Endgame ↳ Steve/Peggy, MCU

It’s gotta be them, ya know? It was in the prompt. I’ve been extremely #blessed to have a lot of endgame or at least canon ships (Ben/Leslie from Parks and Rec? Matt/Julie from Friday Night Lights? Parker/Hardison on Leverage? Logan/Veronica on Veronica Mars since they got married and lived happily ever after and nothing else? Jake/Amy from Brooklyn 99? DON/SLOAN ON THE NEWSROOM??????), but the surprise and delight of these two finding their way back to each other? Unparalleled. A joy. 10000/10. (Gif via @onscreenkisses)

I’ll tag @mediocre-mee, @sisforsammi, @nightlocktime, @thesokovianaccords, and anyone else who wants to do it!

[wejustdecidedto]

It's your last anon back again! I've been talking to my cousin (who has also just finished watching newsroom) and she said she thought Mac was Emily Mortimer's age (39 when the series began) but Jim says that Mac is American because her father was working for Thatcher in the US. If you say that Mac was born in the very first year of Thatcher's term then not only would it make her 31 in the first episode but it would mean that she started dating Will when he was 50 and she was 26. Which is.. hmm.

[leighlim]

It was only after rewatching this film....that I realised that I was looking at Mac and Brian.

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(Hopefully by this point you’ve finished all 106 minutes of 'Lars and the Real Girl’, the kind of person who isn’t bothered by spoilers, or are just deciding if you still want to keep watching.)

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Which is a testament to Emily Mortimer and Paul Schneider that I believed that they have the right chemistry in this and the the wrong one while in The Newsroom.

--------

HIGHLIGHT:

EXT. THE LINDSTROM HOUSE (BACKYARD) - NIGHT

LARS angrily walks to the woodpile and shrugs off his jacket. KARIN approaches.

KARIN Are you okay?

He puts a log on the stump and picks up the axe.

LARS How would she feel if I just left her?

KARIN shakes her head, confused.

LARS If I just abandoned her like that.

WHACK! The log splits in two.

KARIN Whoa, wait. She didn't abandon you. She'll be back.

He puts the next victim---err...log---on the stump.

LARS How do I know that, huh?

He pulls the axe from the stump but causes the log to topple over.

KARIN takes a couple of steps back.

LARS People do whatever they want.

He picks up the runaway log and positions it. WHACK!

LARS They don't care.

KARIN No, we all care.

A new log takes its place.

KARIN Lars, we do care.

LARS No, you don't.

WHACK!

KARIN shakes her head.

KARIN That is... (voice rising) That is just not true! God!

She starts walking off but turns back.

KARIN Every person in this town bends over backwards to make Bianca feel at home.

LARS grabs another log.

KARIN Why do you think she has so many places to go and so much to do, huh? Huh?

LARS I don't know.

KARIN Because of you!! Because all these people love you! We push her wheelchair. We drive her to work. We drive her home. We wash her. We dress her. We get her up, we put her to bed.

LARS looks at KARIN, eyes welling up.

KARIN We carry her. And she is not petite, Lars. Bianca is a big, big girl. None of this is easy for any of us, but we do it.

KARIN growls in frustration.

KARIN We do it for you! So don't you dare tell me how we don't care.

--------

My verdict of the film: 10/10

Link to the timestamp commentary: None

[freddiesaysalright]

Catching Up

A Joe Mazzello x Reader Fic

Summary: Reader is a writer for an entertainment news station and unexpectedly has to do an interview of the BoRhap cast.

Word Count: 1.4K

A/N: I wrote this as a one shot, but idk I feel like it has potential? Would you guys like me to continue this as a multi-part story? Let me know! Also tell me if you’d like to be tagged should I continue it!

Enjoy :)

“Y/N, could you come into my office please?” your executive producer, Don, requested.

“Oh, yeah, sure,” you agreed, and stood from your desk to follow him across the newsroom into his office.

“He closed the door behind you. “Would you be able to fill in for Emily? She’s sick and won’t be able to do the Bohemian Rhapsody interview.”

“Me? On camera?” you questioned. “That’s not part of my job.”

“Please, we’re really in a pinch here,” he said.

“There are plenty of other anchors who work for this network,” you reminded him. “Can’t any of them do it?”

“Will’s shooting for prime time, Elliot’s wife is having surgery, Sloan is in the field today,” he rattled off. “I’ll prep you for it, so you don’t have to be nervous. And it’s not live, so if something does go wrong, it can be edited out.”

Your heart raced in your chest at the thought of hosting a segment that would air on TV. You were a writer, you didn’t do this sort of thing. And not with anyone as famous as the cast of Bohemian Rhapsody.

“Please, Y/N,” he said again. “I promise you it’ll be fine. I’ve heard they’re all very nice. And I’ll be right there.”

Your stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch as you considered it.

“I guess I could,” you said quietly.

“Great,” Don replied. “Head over to Emily’s desk and get her notes. Then to hair and makeup and Ralph Lauren is sending over a rack of clothes for you choose from.”

“O-okay,” you stammered and left his office.

You stood for a moment outside the door and mentally kicked yourself for agreeing. You hated being on camera and now you’d have to go on and interview very handsome and talented actors. Your article on up and coming women directors was going to have to wait now, and you were really excited about the topic.

The interview took place in the afternoon. You saw the four stars come into the newsroom, looking more glamorous than you had even imagined. Your eyes were glued to them as the intern led them to the green room to wait, and you briefly caught Joe Mazzello’s eye. You looked away sharply, hoping he wouldn’t remember you.

You remembered him, though. True, it was elementary school, but you had sort of been friends. Then your family moved away and you lost touch. Weirdly enough, you always considered him your first crush, but  you never told anyone, afraid they wouldn’t believe you. You were only slightly relieved when Don came to your desk and told you he would go in with you. Your stomach felt like it was doing flips inside you and your heart thundered so loud you felt sure everyone around you could hear it. Actually your fingers began to tingle. You knew it was more than nerves now. That was a signature part of your anxiety attacks.

You took a deep breath, but it came out shaky. You had to get a grip. Only, you couldn’t help when this happened. It hit you at the worst of times, of course. You barely heard Don introduce the actors to you and he gave them your name as he explained the change in who was interviewing.

“Y/N, you ready?” Don asked.

You gave a nervous nod and followed them into the studio. They all took seats in front of the main cameras. Your chair was slightly off center and there was one camera on you, just in case. Your eyes lingered on it and it felt like you were looking at your doom.

Don gave a few more instructions to the camera guys and you tried to take another breath. It didn’t work. Your chest felt heavy and constricted. Your body was beginning to get stiff with nerves. You looked at Emily’s notes in your trembling hand.

“Are you alright?” Gwilym asked, and it took you a moment to register he was speaking to you.

“Yeah, yeah, just nervous,” you said, but you didn’t sound sure.

“Y/N, take it easy,” Don said.

You wanted to scream. Of course it seemed that easy to him. You swallowed hard.

“Alright, let’s begin,” Don said.

You cleared your throat to force yourself to speak.

“Hey there and welcome to a special segment of Everything Entertainment,” you began, a little impressed at yourself for getting the intro right. “I’m Y/N Y/L/N and I’m here with the cast of - um,” you had to stop and clear your throat again. Dammit. You already screwed up. “Um, yeah, Bohemian Rhapsody. Welcome, guys.”

They all gave small waves and smiled politely.

“So, Rami,” you said. “Let’s start with you. How - ahem - uh, how did you prepare emotionally to portray someone as - as, um, iconic as Freddie?”

The four actors all had concerned eyes on you. It only made you even more nervous.

“Well, I think it was a little impossible to be fully prepared to play Freddie Mercury,” Rami said, still eyeing you as if you might explode. “He was a man who encompassed a wide range of feelings and personalities even…”

He kept talking but you couldn’t focus on his words. Your vision was going blurry. Beads of sweat formed on your forehead. You tried to wipe them away, and your hand felt clammy against your face.

“Y/N,” Don said, but he sounded far away. “Y/N, ask the follow up.”

You looked at him and tried to form words.

“Jesus Christ, just ask the goddamn follow up,” he urged.

“Hey, there’s no need for that,” Gwilym interjected.

“She’s just having a hard time,” Ben agreed.

“It’s more than that,” said Joe, getting up from his chair and approaching you. “Can I feel your pulse?”

You nodded. He pressed his fingers to your neck and looked at his watch, but he didn’t have to count long to know something was up. Your heart was beating like a jackhammer.

“This looks more like an anxiety attack,” he said. “Have you had one before?”

You nodded again.

“Come on, let’s get you some fresh air,” he went on, offering you his hand.

You reached out to take it, but you couldn’t stand because your legs were numb. He instead pulled you into his arms and carried you out of the studio. He took you out to the balcony. The wind cooled your hot face as he set you down. You were sitting on the ground and leaning against the wall.

“Do you take anything for your anxiety?” Joe asked.

“No,” you finally managed to say.

He sat beside you and took your hand.

“Was it us?” he wondered.

“No,” you said again. “Camera.”

“Ah, I see. Well, I’m glad it wasn’t us. I didn’t used to make you nervous.”

“You - you remember me?”

“‘Course I do,” he said. “We had so much fun in...was it fourth grade? Fifth?”

“Fourth,” you told him and you smiled.

“You sure grew up to be beautiful.”

You stared at him, stunned. He thought you were beautiful? When you were this red, hot, sweaty, shivery mess?

“Thank you,” you whispered.

“You wanna watch a stupid YouTube video?” he offered, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

You agreed and he pulled up a random video. It was dogs making babies laugh. You giggled and rested your head on Joe’s shoulder as you watched. Finally, your body began to relax. When the video ended, you sat up.

“Sorry I screwed up the interview,” you said.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied. “I’m sorry your producer’s such a dill hole.”

“Pft, yeah,” you sighed. “Don’s just...I dunno, he doesn’t think I’m very smart.”

“Well, that makes him an idiot,” he said matter-of-factly. “Your breathing is evening out. Can I check your pulse again?”

You allowed him and once again, he put his fingers to your neck. Your eyes roved over his face and you took in the details. His furrowed brow, his deep brown eyes, the unique shape of his lips. He was so handsome.

“It’s much better,” he said. “A minute ago it was like you were in a war zone.”

“You’re not hard to look at,” you blurted out.

He blinked, surprised, and then laughed. “I’ll take that.”

You blushed, but it hardly showed against your already warm skin.

“Would like to get dinner tonight?” he asked. “We can catch up after, what is it, like, twenty years?”

“I’d love to.”

[ofhouseadama]

*skids into Ask Box* IS EMILY ADAMA BACK ON HER NEWSROOM BULLSHIT???

[bartletforamerica]

When Maggie Met Donna

The West Wing-The Newsroom Crossover Post both Season Finales, in a world where somehow all of the show that takes place under Obama actually takes place under Santos. 

Canon Ships, mainly MaggiexJim, JoshxDonna, 

Normally I wouldn’t write fanfiction for either of these, but the plot bunny kicked me hard on the Metro this morning and wouldn’t shut up until I wrote my way through class and knocked it out. It’s not perfect, but it needs to get out of my brain and away where I can’t fuss over it anymore. 

Oh, also, Happy Birthday Janel Moloney!

Maggie Jordan fights to be the one to cover the primary race for the Maryland 5th. Normally someone at her level wouldn’t be assigned to a single non-presidential campaign, but this one is going to be intense, with eyes across the nation on the district.

The incumbent, Congresswoman Andrea Wyatt, is running for the U.S. Senate. That too is going to be an amazing race. Congresswoman Wyatt is, after all, a badass.

The seat is heavily democratic. The congresswoman repeatedly won reelection with 80-85% of the vote. Her constituents loved her. Even if Republicans would do better than average, they weren’t going to make up 35% in one election.

So the focus is on the democratic primary. There’s a moderate democrat, the son of a former congressman, middle-aged and bland, but well-funded. There’s a so-far-left-as-to-practically-be-green democrat, who has broad sweeping plans, very little funding, and very little solid understanding of politics or how to pay for any of their ideas. And then there’s the reason Maggie wants to cover this race.

Then there’s Donna Lyman.

Donna Lyman is one of Maggie’s personal heroes. The woman is just about to hit middle age and has been more involved in politics over the last almost two decades than anyone at that age has a right to have been. She’d been part of the Bartlet administration dating back to the campaign, spent years as Josh Lyman’s assistant, been injured on a trip to Gaza, come back, recovered, and then jumped onto the Russell campaign. When Josh Lyman had led Matt Santos to victory at a contested convention, she’d been brought on and done some wonders with media strategy.  She’d then spent the next eight years as chief of staff to the first lady, a first lady who hadn’t been content to let her husband run all of the legislative policy, who had fought hard to have her own policy goals legitimized and legislated. Donna Moss (who’d become Lyman after the first midterms) had been at the head of that push.

She and her husband had been THE D.C. Power Couple for eight years. When the Santos Administration had come to an end, they’d bowed out to take a break after 16 years of service and plan for what was next.

Apparently, it had been decided that they weren’t ready to be done with politics.

Joshua Lyman was white haired, with a full beard and glasses. No longer the suave swashbuckler of his youth, he’d gained an air of gravitas—so long as he wasn’t speaking. But he was, undeniably, seen as a kingmaker and the top political mind of his generation. But he’d never shown aspirations of being the one running for office, preferring to work behind the scenes. He’d helped countless democrats get elected at all levels, including his deputy, Sam Seaborn, who had rerun for the California 47th and won in the last election.

Democrats had done surprisingly well in the house and senate considering they’d lost the White House.

A right-wing old white Republican had won, a seemingly reactionary step after 16 years of democratic rule. The man was considered a joke and the potential democratic slate to take him on in the next election was longer than Maggie’s forearm. But covering his administration—covering the White House—had lost a bit of the shine it had once had.

Donna Lyman had announced her candidacy with a year until the midterm elections and a list of endorsements. She had the backing of the Santos family and the Bartlets. President Bartlet didn’t get around much anymore, but he and Abbey hosted house parties at the farm in New Hampshire. Emily’s List had backed her, as had N.O.W., and Planned Parenthood. Amy Gardner was on board as Fundraising Director in an instant. Josh Lyman was Campaign Director, though a muzzle had to be placed on him. C.J. Cregg-Concannon had given her backing, though being married to a journalist made it too difficult for her to be Media Director. And Andrea Wyatt had given her seal of approval as well.

It’s not a lock in for her, however. Donna’s political stances put her firmly in a ‘progressive’ column.

The main question of the campaign, the reason that this is the campaign that’s going to attract attention, is that of the voters’ desires. What does the democratic base want in a candidate? Do they want a moderate to bring them back to center? Or are they ready for another progressive to push the country onward? The challengers are all watching, trying to see if they are what the democratic base is looking for. With the strength of the democratic party in the district, it makes it an ideal test case. A democrat is guaranteed to win, but what kind?

Maggie’s practically bouncing out of her seat when she finds out she has an interview with Ms. Lyman. This is a woman who has gone from working for powerful men, to working with them as an equal, to now having them working for her (including her husband, which is a lovely bit of symmetry). She’d come from the Midwest and built herself up out of nothing, taking whatever opportunities had be offered to her and she’d succeeded. Donna Lyman gives Maggie hope. Hope for herself, and for her future, that one day she and Jim will figure out how to be in the same place at the same time and not just keep carrying on long distance. Hope that she’ll make it as a producer and maybe get to do more segments. And maybe, maybe, one day she’ll even be an anchor in her own right (though that dream is kept in the deepest corners of her soul, a dream of her at the desk and Jim in her ear, Mac watching like Charlie used to, backing them up as they take on the world).

Maggie sits down across from the older blonde, whose energy is palpable. There’s doing to be done and the gleam in her eyes makes it clear that she’s eager to be doing it.

Maggie knocks her water over within the first thirty seconds and spends the next minute apologizing. Thank god this is a print article she’ll be writing and not a tv interview. Donna smiles and helps her clean up and retells the story (printed once in a book, otherwise Maggie’s sure this wouldn’t have been said) of the time she left her underwear at an art gallery. By the time the table’s clean they’re laughing together.

Maggie leaves the interview an hour later with a full sound recording and pages of notes on policy positions and various anecdotes and fun facts. She’s smiling broadly as she rushes back to the D.C. bureau to write before the impressions fade from her mind.

Before she starts, however, she pulls a little reporter’s pad from her desk and flips it open. She shifts through a few pages and comes to number 34. With a black pen she strikes out ’34: Meet Donna Lyman’ from her bucket list.

With a grin, Maggie puts it back in the desk and opens her laptop. Time to tell the public about the time Donna pulled a fast one on her husband to ensure the First Lady’s child poverty program made it into the budget. She’s sure she can come to a reason the voters need to know about this in the voting booth.

[safflowerseason]

Have you seen The Newsroom?

Yes, I have seen the Newsroom, Anon! Do you want to talk about it?! Do you want to talk about how it was weirdly prescient and also how terribly flawed it was?!

Let me tell you, a television show about the fundamental structural problems of the news media in the United States would be far better received in 2019 than it was in 2012. One of Sorkin’s fundamental critiques with The Newsroom is that reporting the news for ratings is a democratically irresponsible idea and guess what…he was correct. 

But in spite of that, the show had some fundamental hurdles it just never overcame. I love Aaron Sorkin’s writing, but I don’t think he’s particularly well-equipped to write in the age of the “binge watch”, not to mention he needs to take Feminist Studies 101. Especially in the first season, the sexism is truly rampant.

Also, the show suffered from some major miscasting. Half the reason Sorkin shows work is because the actors imbue their characters with tons of charisma, even if they aren’t *really* supposed to have that charisma (okay, it’s not the only reason, but it’s one of them.) For example, Sam is constantly telling us that he’s awkward, for example…but he’s played by Rob Lowe, so his awkwardness comes off charming. John Gallagher Jr. did not play Jim nearly as charismatic as he needs to be for me to put up with how much of a know-it-all dick he is to every single woman he meets. Only an actor with Bradley Whitford’s unique combination of vulnerability and arrogance can pull off that kind of assholery.

As for Mackenzie McHale…we’re supposed to believe this woman took a knife in the stomach in the pursuit of good reporting, but with Emily Mortimer in the role, I just..do not believe it. She projects uncertainty and even anxiety, not stone-cold, confident command. Some of the sexist writing is to blame here, obviously, but with an actress more suited to the character, I could maybe overlook that disconnect. (I read somewhere originally, they were going to cast Marisa Tomei in the role…and Emily Mortimer is great, but not for this particular part.)

The things I do love about the Newsroom: the Sloan/Don storyline, the fact tht the show managed to get both JANE FONDA and MARCIA GAY HARDEN as kick-ass women, David Harbour as Elliott Hirsch. 

Anyway to sum up, I think The Newsroom we saw on our screens was the first draft with something really good hidden underneath, and it would have done much better with some subsequent rewrites (by a non-Sorkin writer) and some re-casting.

[jkottke]

Big News Orgs Get New Public Editors (Against Their Wishes)

This fits into the burgeoning category of "this is cool but I wish it weren't necessary": the Columbia Journalism Review has appointed public editors for a group of four news organizations because they won't do it themselves.

Public editors and ombudsmen have historically stood as critical advocates for consumers of news, identifying blind spots the outlets can't see themselves and operating as collectors of critical opinion when decisions go awry. The flameout of public editors in the US, which reached a point of despair in 2017, when The New York Times sent its last public editor packing, is the most visible sign of the growing distance between news organizations and the people they serve. As attacks on the media have increased under the presidency of Donald Trump, the response of newsrooms has, more often than not, been to form a defensive huddle.

That stance is particularly dangerous now, as the nation braces for another presidential election, one that is almost certain to be more partisan, more vicious, and more focused on the perceived failings of the press than any other in the history of the country. It's a bad time for newsrooms to retreat from their readers.

And what great choices for editors: Gabriel Snyder (NY Times), Ana Marie Cox (Washington Post), Maria Bustillos (MSNBC), and Emily Tamkin (CNN). Here's CJR editor-in-chief Kyle Pope answering some questions about the project. And here's Tamkin's first piece, on CNN's practice of regularly interviewing people without expertise or responsibility.

Guilfoyle has not worked as an economist. She has not crafted foreign or immigration policy. She is not an expert on Central America. What possible value, I wondered, were CNN's viewers getting from watching Guilfoyle speak about this subject? If Cuomo wanted Trump talking points, couldn't he have just played a clip of Trump himself? If Cuomo wanted someone behind Trump's immigration policy to explain it, shouldn't he have brought in a member of the administration?

But again, it's a bummer that a small organization like CJR has to foot the bill for this on behalf of these media organizations' readers and, you know, democracy.

[inhandnetworks-blog]

Br industrial IoT router  ain Regions Associated With the Successful Spread of Ideas Identified

www.inhandnetworks.com

Psychologists report for the first time that the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) brain regions are associated with the successful spread of ideas, often called ‘buzz.’

UCLA scientists have identified for the first time the brain regions associated with the successful spread of ideas.

How do ideas spread? What messages will go viral on social media, and can this be predicted?

UCLA psychologists have taken a significant step toward answering these questions, identifying for the first time the brain regions associated with the successful spread of ideas, often called “buzz.”

The research has a broad range of implications, the study authors say, and could lead to more effective public health campaigns, more persuasive advertisements and better ways for teachers to communicate with students.

“Our study suggests that people are regularly attuned to how the things they’re seeing will be useful and interesting, not just to themselves but to other people,” said the study’s senior author, Matthew Lieberman, a UCLA professor of psychology and of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences and author of the forthcoming book “Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect.” “We always seem to be on the lookout for who else will find this helpful, amusing or interesting, and our brain data are showing evidence of that. At the first encounter with information, people are already using the brain network involved in thinking about how this can be interesting to other people. We’re wired to want to share information with other people. I think that is a profound statement about the social nature of our minds.”

The study findings are published in the online edition of the journal Psychological Science, with print publication to follow later this summer.

“Befor Dual SIM M2M router e this study, we didn’t know what brain regions were associated with ideas that become contagious, and we didn’t know what regions were associated with being an effective communicator of ideas,” said lead author Emily Falk, who conducted the research as a UCLA doctoral student in Lieberman’s lab and is currently a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. “Now we have mapped the brain regions associated with ideas that are likely to be contagious and are associated with being a good ‘idea salesperson.’ In the future, we would like to be able to use these brain maps to forecast what ideas are likely to be successful and who is likely to be effective at spreading them.”

In the first part of the study, 19 UCLA students (average age 21), underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans at UCLA’s Ahmanson–Lovelace Brain Mapping Center as they saw and heard information about 24 potential television pilot ideas. Among the fictitious pilots — which were presented by a separate group of students — were a show about former beauty-queen mothers who want their daughters to follow in their footsteps; a Spanish soap opera about a young woman and her relationships; a reality show in which contestants travel to countries with harsh environments; a program about teenage vampires and werewolves; and a show about best friends and rivals in a crime family.

The students exposed to these TV pilot ideas were asked to envision themselves as television studio interns who would decide whether or not they would recommend each idea to their “producers.” These students made videotaped assessments of each pilot.

Another group of 79 UCLA undergraduates (average age 21) was asked to act as the “producers.” These students watched the interns’ videos assessments of the pilots and then made their own ratings about the pilot ideas based on those assessments.

Lieberman and Falk wanted to learn which brain regions were activated when the interns were first exposed to information they would later pass on to others.

“We’re constantly being exposed to information on Facebook, Twitter and so on,” said Lieberman. “Some of it we pass on, and a lot of it we don’t. Is there something that happens in the moment we first see it — maybe before we even realize we might pass it on — that is different for those things that we will pass on successfully versus those that we won’t?”

It turns ou cashless payment t, there is. The psychologists found that the interns who were especially good at persuading the producers showed significantly more activation in a brain region known as the temporoparietal junction, or TPJ, at the time they were first exposed to the pilot ideas they would later recommend. They had more activation in this region than the interns who were less persuasive and more activation than they themselves had when exposed to pilot ideas they didn’t like. The psychologists call this the “salesperson effect.”

“It was the only region in the brain that showed this effect,” Lieberman said. One might have thought brain regions associated with memory would show more activation, but that was not the case, he said.

“We wanted to explore what differentiates ideas that bomb from ideas that go viral,” Falk said. “We found that increased activity in the TPJ was associated with an increased ability to convince others to get on board with their favorite ideas. Nobody had looked before at which brain regions are associated with the successful spread of ideas. You might expect people to be most enthusiastic and opinionated about ideas that they themselves are excited about, but our research suggests that’s not the whole story. Thinking about what appeals to others may be even more important.”

The TPJ, located on the outer surface of the brain, is part of what is known as the brain’s “mentalizing network,” which is involved in thinking about what other people think and feel. The network also includes the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, located in the middle of the brain.

“When we read fiction or watch a movie, we’re entering the minds of the characters — that’s mentalizing,” Lieberman said. “As soon as you hear a good joke, you think, ‘Who can I tell this to and who can’t I tell?’ Making this judgment will activate these two brain regions. If we’re playing poker and I’m trying to figure out if you’re bluffing, that’s going to invoke this network. And when I see someone on Capitol Hill testifying and I’m thinking whether they are lying or telling the truth, that’s going to invoke these two brain regions.

“Good ideas turn on the mentalizing system,” he said. “They make us want to tell other people.”

The interns who showed more activity in their mentalizing system when they saw the pilots they intended to recommend were then more successful in convincing the producers to also recommend those pilots, the psychologists found.

“As I’m looking at an idea, I might be thinking about what other people are likely to value, and that might make me a better idea salesperson later,” Falk said.

By further studying the neural activity in these brain regions to see what information and ideas activate these regions more, psychologists potentially could predict which advertisements are most likely to spread and go viral and which will be most effective, Lieberman and Falk said.

Such knowledge could also benefit public health campaigns aimed at everything from reducing risky behaviors among teenagers to combating cancer, smoking and obesity.

“The explosion of new communication technologies, combined with novel analytic tools, promises to dramatically expand our understanding of how ideas spread,” Falk said. “We’re laying basic science foundations to addressimportant public health questions that are difficult to answer otherwise — about what makes campaigns successful and how we can improve their impact.”

As we may like particular radio DJs who play music we enjoy, the Internet has led us to act as “information DJs” who share things that we think will be of interest to people in our networks, Lieberman said.

“What is new about our study is the finding that the mentalizing network is involved when I read something and decide who else migh cashless vending  t be interested in it,” he said. “This is similar to what an advertiser has to do. It’s not enough to have a product that people should like.”

Co-authors of the study are Sylvia Morelli, a former graduate student in Lieberman’s lab who is now a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University; Locke Welbourn, a UCLA graduate student in Lieberman’s laboratory; and Karl Dambacher, a former UCLA undergraduate research assistant.

Publication: Emily B. Falk, et al., “Creating Buzz – The Neural Correlates of Effective Message Propagation,” Psychological Science, May 30, 2013; doi: 10.1177/0956797612474670

Image: UCLA Newsroom

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[maraczeks]

our idiot brother thread pt 4