I’m not exactly losing sleep over this stuff but here are a few news items currently residing in my “Annoying” file.

Kathy Griffin returns to co-host CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live.  Annoying because the woman often seems to go out of her way to gratuitously offend Christians. I doubt she’d be back if she engaged in, say, Muslim or gay baiting. Not calling for a boycott or anything here just noting a double standard.

Lost snubbed by the Golden Globes. Annoying because Dexter, the serial-killer-as-protagonist Showtime series made the cut (as it were) in the Best Drama Series category but an essentially life-affirming show featuring interesting and complex characters as well as a serious reflection on faith that held viewers rapt for six seasons gets shut out (as in not a single nomination). Of course, in the end, it’s just a statue representing the opinions of people with questionable taste.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin unloads on Sarah Palin. Annoying because, while the politician/hunting enthusiast is perfectly fair game (as it were) for critics, his comments in the Huffington Post equating her hunting of caribou on TLC’s Sarah Palin’s Alaska with a snuff film or with NFL star Michael Vick’s previous participation in a dog-fighting ring are really over the top. I personally hope she doesn’t run for president and I don’t like hunting either but a little perspective is in order. Why is it that when it comes to anything Palin anything goes in the way of nasty rhetoric?

Sorkin is a gifted writer. His script for The Social Network is excellent. While I have no idea how accurate it actually is, it’s witty and dramatically riveting. It’s also nuanced and  non-judgmental in its treatment of Mark Zuckerberg and others involved in the founding of Facebook. In my view, Sorkin demeans his own considerable talent when he lets his apparent visceral hatred of a woman whose opinions he disagrees with get the better of him.       

BTW, Vick has apparently reformed, telling NBC News  reporter Mara Schiavocampo this:

This entire situation has changed my life dramatically. Better player, better
person. More patience, more persistence, and the willingness to, like I said
earlier, set high goals and high standards not only on the football field but in
life. And in so many ways I thank God for changing my life and keeping me
healthy and putting me on the path to where I can redeem myself and make a great
comeback.

I wish him well.