I wish people would stop creating elaborate marriage proposals and posting them to YouTube.
I'm not a soulless monster, so, sure, I was somewhat charmed by the video going around Facebook this week: A boyfriend set up a lip-synched event ("Isaac's Live Lip-Dub Proposal") with family and friends to Bruno Mars' ode to eloping, "Marry You." The girlfriend is happy; everyone likes love, etc. However, is it possible for people to have honest emotional moments anymore without turning something simple and beautiful into a YouTube-able meme-ready moment?
Did this start with the wedding that featured people walking down the aisle to Chris Brown's (ick) song "Forever," later copied on The Office? I feel like I currently see at least one proposal, wedding, father/bride dance or something of the sort each week—something that clearly took weeks to set up, and was then performed with cameras in place, ready to be uploaded and spread across social networks to rack up traffic. Yes, these things are fun to watch, but now there's a weird drive for people to create something memorable in a media sense instead of actually just experiencing something.
If you're getting ready to get on one knee, don't start scouting locations. It'll be OK. You don't need an online video clip in order to have a moment worth sharing with your kids someday.
The week on The Range
We tried to figure out what office Frank Antenori is really seeking; kept up with the flood of early ballots in the Congressional District 8 special election; spent some time thinking about the future of the newspaper biz after New Orleans' Times-Picayune announced it was moving away from a daily printed product; realized Jesse Kelly doesn't really like answering questions; noted that Mitt Romney leads President Obama in Arizona, unless he picks a certain Arizonan as a running mate; and discussed the highlights of the week's political events with Pete Hershberger, Trent Humphries and Jeff Rogers on Arizona Illustrated's Political Roundtable, with your host, Jim Nintzel.
We enjoyed some pressed sandwiches in the latest installment of the Food Truck Diaries; headed to the grocery store to pick up some locally made ice cream; whet our whistle at Whiskey Wednesday; and cooled down with a refreshing horchata.
We shared local comic author (and Tucson Weekly contributor) Eric Esquivel's photos from the Phoenix Comicon (although they were shockingly Star Trek-free); suggested you check out music by Australian garage-rock band Royal Headache; asked you to check out a Tucson Padres game (and reminded you that we often give away tickets to the Tucson Weekly-sponsored Thirsty Thursday games on our Facebook page); kept up with the changes happening in the KVOA newsroom; shared our medical-marijuana columnist's Web-browser bookmarks; basked in the glory of Morrissey in photo form at his show in Tucson; stirred up some controversy by mentioning an underwear party coming to Club Congress; grimaced as The Daily Caller website decided to give away guns online; looked at photos of some new species on our planet, including a weird-looking worm; got our markers ready for a new weekly bingo event; and congratulated Renée Downing for her AltWeekly Award nomination.
Comment of the week
"If the Arizona Daily Czar is any example of why 'news'papers are dying away, then other liberal group-hugs like the WEAKLY Reader can't be collapsing far behind."
—TucsonWeekly.com commenter and quotation-mark-aficionado "Colt Cassidy" "cleverly" turns the frequency portion of our publication name into a homophonic insult ("Yep, Newspapers Are Screwed," The Range, May 24).
Best of WWW
We briefly mention it in "The Week on The Range," but it's worth repeating: If you have not "liked" our Facebook page yet (and why haven't you, other than your desire to hurt our feelings?), you've been missing out on the opportunity to win tickets to Thirsty Thursdays with the Tucson Padres at Kino Stadium. Sure, you'll need to be on your virtual toes, since we've generally gone through 20 tickets in less than 10 minutes, but if you're fast enough, you could be enjoying heavily discounted beer for free, courtesy of the Tucson Weekly.
