The G is silent

January 19, 2008 1:29 PM

Marta Costello makes a big deal out of explaining why she didn't make a big deal...

...out of what the media perceived as a big deal race thing between Obama and Clinton, which wasn't a big deal though the media insisted that it was. So instead of making a big deal out of it in The Gnooze, Costello made a big deal out of it in her vlog. Meh. However, her choice of words is cool, sincere, wise, refreshing, and a bunch of other positive adjectives, which is why I'm putting it here.

posted by ZachsMind (26 comments total)

She seems a bit dim. Not because of blondeness! More from the talking.
posted by damehex at 1:36 PM on January 19, 2008

That's gnooze to me.
posted by wendell at 1:40 PM on January 19, 2008

Hmm... I suppose the anecdote about the funeral home interview was interesting, but beyond that why is what this girl said almost a week ago supposed to be interesting? If this were a blog post it would be pretty dull.
posted by delmoi at 1:57 PM on January 19, 2008

The G is silent

Blo? As in five minutes of my life watching Marcia Brady rant?
posted by hal9k at 2:21 PM on January 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

hal9k writes "Blo?"

No, all the Gs are silent:

Marta Costello makes a bi deal out of explainin why she didn't make a bi deal...

...out of what the media perceived as a bi deal race thin between Obama and Clinton, which wasn't a bi deal thouh the media insisted that it was. So instead of makin a bi deal out of it in The nooze, Costello made a bi deal out of it in her vlo. Meh. However, her choice of words is cool, sincere, wise, refreshin, and a bunch of other positive adjectives, which is why I'm puttin it here.

posted by Bugbread at 2:37 PM on January 19, 2008

I watched about a minute of it and gave up. Between the jumpy editing and her wild gestures and high-school diction, I couldn't take it any more. I'm sure she had cool, sincere, wise, refreshing things to say, though, if I could just have stuck it out.
posted by languagehat at 2:42 PM on January 19, 2008

You owe me the minute of my life I used up watching that slightly strange woman (until I shut the window). Back to Match of the Day, Luxembourg Champagne & Manali charas...
posted by i_cola at 2:43 PM on January 19, 2008

I believe her when she says she doesn't plan out her blo.

If you're a good whistler, I recommend turning off the sound and pretending to be a theremin that she's playing.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 2:56 PM on January 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

So are bi people ays in denial or do they just have different metabolism?

(arden path sentence)
posted by Free word order! at 3:02 PM on January 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

She gets better at the end when she calls out specific stories that are not being covered, though there were bigger ones than those, actually, virtually ignored so we could hear about Hillary and Obama and "race" becoming an "issue." She's sort of right.

I could imagine this being a good way for some Americans I know to get their (g)nooze. It's dumbed down enough to go down like cough syrup candy water. I bet most people don't have any idea why there was a to-do about "race" between the candidates, let alone that Guatemala elected a leftist president. If this makes some people pay attention and get better informed, more power to her.

But definitely a questionable experience on the aesthetic level as verbal art. Yeah.
posted by fourcheesemac at 3:04 PM on January 19, 2008

I'm gonna go against the grain here and say that I found this enjoyable. Clearly, she doesn't present the news with a Murrow-like gravitas, but I find her quirkiness substantially more appealing than the mock-seriousness that those clowns on the cable news networks feel compelled to employ.

And with respect to the content of this vlog, I think that fourcheesemac is right. She does have something worth saying. And while her critique of the media isn't likely to bowl over any members of the Metafilter community, I think it is a good thing to keep putting out there.
posted by Tullius at 3:17 PM on January 19, 2008

slvoe?
posted by empath at 3:35 PM on January 19, 2008

She seems a bit dim. Not because of blondeness! More from the talking.

Damn, tough crowd. I find her delightful and intelligent. I enjoy her enthusiasm and find her to have a lot of valid commentary on current news.

As for the style of her "show," it's done very tongue in cheek, but maybe you didn't get that, due to you know, the blondeness (which you obviously did notice).
posted by The Light Fantastic at 4:19 PM on January 19, 2008

Somebody's eye is gonna get poked out if she keeps that up.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 4:42 PM on January 19, 2008

That video reminds me of the ending to every episode of Clarissa Explains It All.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 5:00 PM on January 19, 2008

Is she dumber than CNN? Can she possibly be dumber than Fox News for God's sake?

I don't think the point is that she isn't raising the discussion to some rarefied intellectual level. The news, as opposed to more deliberate analysis, is necessarily kind of a simple overflight of the facts on the ground. The point is that the news these days only gives you that simple overview of a couple of things - often things that don't really matter - and ignores the rest.

How much raw intellectual horsepower needs to be applied to "poll shows the Saudi people overwhelmingly hate America and George Bush" or "Guatemala elects first leftist president in 50 years?" Sure it might be possible to analyze either of those to a much higher level if you're interested and you've got the time, but just those sentences give you the low hanging fruit. You at least know those facts now, and you didn't hear them from the news. You heard them from this chick on her vlog. So good for her. It might not be a heroic effort, but the bar is so low right now that anything is a step up.
posted by Naberius at 5:02 PM on January 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

PWally: "Hey ZachsMind... that should be a fpp. Haha what I posted should not. I think we got this backwards. That is all."

Well PWally, I took that and turned it into a FPP essentially to disprove your theory, and the general concensus appears to be that my first assessment was more astute. It wasn't good enough for a front page post. Whereas your FPP is still going strong.

What makes for a good FPP? I been here almost eight years. I haven't a clue.

When The Second Coming happens, and someone posts about it in MetaFilter, there'll be people saying it makes for a suck FPP. There's just no pleasing some people. =)
posted by ZachsMind at 5:19 PM on January 19, 2008

She reminds me of Lilly a little bit - enthusiastic about her work.
posted by DenOfSizer at 5:20 PM on January 19, 2008

She seems very enthusiastic, it was the video editing that did my head is all.
posted by liquorice at 5:33 PM on January 19, 2008

This is exactly what I've been trying to tell my political-cable-tv-head friends. What is covered as "news" is frequently as far from the real thing as possible. Marta brings her refreshingly enthusiastic presence to bear on the huge vacuities in "political" coverage. Anyone remember the "boxers vs. briefs" issue in the '92 elections? OK, bad example. How about "who would you rather have a beer with" in 2000? No doubt we'll see more of the same absurdities this time around.
posted by telstar at 7:44 PM on January 19, 2008

she gets around to making a good point.
in the meantime, I was enjoying the view.
posted by I, Credulous at 10:00 PM on January 19, 2008

in the meantime, I was enjoying the view.

i.e, you wanted to see her gnude.
posted by jayder at 10:31 PM on January 19, 2008

The "g" is silent?

After viewing the clip, I'm almost positive it's pronounced "s"
posted by louche mustachio at 11:16 PM on January 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

"political" coverage

In a first glance at telstar's comment, I read that as "political cleavage."
posted by jayder at 12:47 AM on January 20, 2008

I would rather pronounce the 'g'.
posted by JT at 12:08 PM on January 20, 2008

This is better with Rock Lobster in the background.
posted by dirigibleman at 8:33 PM on January 20, 2008