Progressive media in national OCD clinical study
BETHESDA, Md. — The National Institute of Mental Health announced today a $7.7
million grant to fund a collaborative study with the University of North Carolina’s School
of Medicine and Georgetown University’s Center for the Study of Media and Politics to
examine a widespread strain of obsessive-compulsive disorder which is especially
prevalent among progressives in the media. Researchers have dubbed the syndrome
SPOB, or Sarah Palin on the Brain.
The genesis of the study was a report that estimated that 58% of Palin’s Twitter
account readers are left-leaning journalists and progressive political consultants who
are trying to figure out why apparently educated people would be so stupid as to
spend their days reading a political non-entity’s every frivolous thought. This study
hopes to answer that question.
The OCD/SPOB study will be a double-blind study in which both the progressive media
and Sarah Palin will be unaware of their status.
Being Marvin Austin! The first Twitter-based musical
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — University of North Carolina football player Marvin Austin, who
is unable to play football while various allegations regarding activities which may have
rendered him ineligible for play in NCAA-sanctioned sporting contests are being
resolved, is making the most of his new-found freedom, teaming up with rapper Rick
Ross to create the what is thought to be the first Twitter-based musical: “Being Marvin
Austin!”
Known for his nimble footwork and prolific tweeting, Austin will star in the musical,
which will feature extended sequences of mime as well as song and dance. “Being
Marvin Austin!” is slated for opening during the PlayMakers Repertory Company’s
spring season.
Law & Order SVU/SBI to come to NC
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue announced on Thursday
that the North Carolina Film Office’s Film Incentives Program will be providing tax
inducements to Universal Media Studios, which produces the Law & Order franchise,
to bring production of a new television series “Law & Order SVU/SBI” to North
Carolina.
The dramatic series will cover the special victims of the State Bureau of Investigation’s
crime lab unit.
“We were going to be re-doing dozens if not hundreds of criminal trials because of the
SBI crime lab unit’s malfeasance and fraud anyway so we thought we might get a little
mileage out of them,” said state Attorney General Roy Cooper.
Even though the Law & Order SVU/SBI series will incorporate factual content,
Governor Perdue said that she believes that this tax incentive will not fall under the
program’s exception for news broadcasts since recurring reports of corruption,
incompetence and cronyism in North Carolina state government are no longer
considered news.
GARY GADDY WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE for being unable, again, to produce
his weekly column due to his busy schedule last week at the Solatido Workshop,
a five-day retreat for aspiring and seasoned songwriters, held at beautiful
Wildacres near Little Switzerland. In its stead, his crack staff has collected
several media-related news stories even his attentive reader(s) may have missed.
His regular column should return shortly. [For those who think that Dr. Gaddy is
spending too much time in frivolous pursuits should consider that Solatido is a lot
like college only with less drinking and more singing.]
Gary D. Gaddy has a doctorate in Mass Communication Research, otherwise known as
a Ph.D. in TV.
A version of this story was published in the Chapel Hill Herald on Friday October 1,
2010.
Copyright 2010 Gary D. Gaddy
garygaddy.com 