It has recently come to the attention of the staff here at Rhodes Media Services (RMS) that we've been most remiss lately when it comes to bringing you, the 10 valued readers of Rambling Rhodes, the news and events deemed unworthy by the bigger, more influential cogs in the media machine.
You see, the bigger media cogs, such as NBC, CBS, The Travel Channel and Bravo are more interested in news and events they think are of the utmost urgency. They tend to gravitate towards stories about something or other going on in Iraq, or how global warming is going to swallow the world sometime next week, or whether Britney Spears is pregnant with Lindsay Lohan's child. These are the types of news items big media cogs obsess over, and that's their right, I suppose. Still, as a journalist by education and profession, I intuitively understand the big media cogs miss a lot of other, equally important news stories that simply must be reported.
Take, for example, a Jan. 24 Reuters news item out of Amsterdam, where a genius of an individual put his mighty brain power to good use to create a beer for dogs.
After a long day hunting, there's nothing like wrapping your paw around a cold bottle of beer. So Terrie Berenden, a pet shop owner in the southern Dutch town of Zelhem, created a beer for her Weimaraners made from beef extract and malt.
As a point of clarification, "Weimaraner," loosely translated, means "Beer Dog." Okay, that may or may not be true. The point is, it SHOULD be true, because everyone would like to own a Beer Dog.
Berenden consigned a local brewery to make and bottle the nonalcoholic beer, branded as Kwispelbier. It was introduced to the market last week and advertised it as "a beer for your best friend." "Kwispel" is the Dutch word for wagging a tail.
In other news, the Dutch have a word for wagging a tail. For some reason, I find that intriguing. I’m trying to imagine a Dutch conversation wherein the word "kwispel" is invoked.
Dutch Person #1: Now there's a happy dog!
Dutch Person #2: How do you know it's a happy dog?
Dutch Person #1: Well, just look at it kwispel. It's kwispelling like crazy! That's not an angry kwispel; that's a darned happy kwispel!
But, this isn’t all about fun and kwispels. As with most entrepreneurial endeavors, there's money to be made:
The beer is fit for human consumption, Berenden said. But at euro1.65 ($2.14) a bottle, it's about four times more expensive than a Heineken."
We turn our attention now away from dog brew to potty news. Last week, I was thinking to myself about the disappointing lack of potty-related news crossing the wires. As if in answer to my silent thoughts, I came across the headline: "Woman Takes Potty Break, Falls in Lake," and I was immediately drawn in to learn more, even though the headline pretty much spelled it out for me.
According to a Jan. 23, Reuters report out of Sandusky, Ohio, a woman going to the bathroom outside lost her balance and fell into Lake Erie, said police, who had to pull her out of the frigid water. Officer Kevin Youskievicz and the woman's friend helped pull her out early Monday and wrapped a blanket around her until an ambulance arrived.
Now, this is the type of hard-hitting, investigative news reporting we need to see more of in today's 24/7 news cycle. News like this can tip an election or win a war. When you read a lead paragraph like that, you just KNOW the rest of the story will be an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Or, maybe not:
She was treated at a hospital and released. The woman's friend told police the woman needed to go to the bathroom and lost her balance near the water. The name of the 25-year-old woman was not released.
I don’t know about you, but I tend to think there's more to the story. More questions need to be asked. Why, for example, was the woman going to the bathroom outside in the middle of winter? Further, why did she feel compelled to go to the bathroom on the banks of Lake Erie? Why did she lose her balance?
Perhaps she fell due to an unstable kwispel?
Posted by Ryan at January 25, 2007 12:01 PM | TrackBackThis is first time in my life when I don’t know what to say. After reading all comments I’m shocked. What has happened with our society, with our young generation? They are commenting terrible information, their lexis sounds terrible. Is that true, that only words they know is “cool”, “cute” and cussing words? What are they thinking of? It’s better not to think about it, it’s too sad
Posted by: darrenh at April 9, 2008 03:50 AM
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