Ben Stein gives me fifteen minutes of fame

Fifteen minutes, just about literally.

Yesterday I was able to stalk Ben Stein (with the rest of the media) as he walked around the Missouri State Capitol, after he was featured in a press conference promoting his new film about Intelligent Design. As one of the missourinet reporters (Brent) and I worked in our office in the Capitol later that morning, Brent asked me if I would write the story, as well as edit and publish the video I'd taken (something I do regularly). I was excited to accept. I had written several stories for the missourinet website previously, but they were mostly just turning already broadcasted stories into prose for the site. This was to be my own story. Had I known I was going to actually write the story, I might have covered Stein differently, but, luckily, as lovable as Ben Stein is, I was spellbound by just about everything he did and said; so, I was prepared to write it. My story was completed and published at 7pm last night (much later than intended) as the top story on the website, a place it held for about four minutes, when it was then kicked out of the top spot by a story about superdelegates.
I had begun to edit the video at around noon, but through a series of technological mishaps (through no fault of my macbook, as it never is. my precious...) the video wasn't ready to be embedded until 7. The day turned from a jovial morning into a tight-fisted, teeth-clenched , "serenity now" afternoon.
Hopefully, this won't mean "insanity later."

I didn't make the connection until after about an hour of watching legislator after legislator get their pictures taken with Stein; I carry Clear Eyes with me everywhere I go:

As he walked by me (and out of my life) in the hallway he said, "bye bye" like a little kid. Down the hall he turned around and said, "Keep using the Clear Eyes!"

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My video was quickly found and embedded on the blog Upright Alice. I don't think they like Ben Stein anymore over at Upright Alice, just a feeling.

The contrast between Upright Alice's take on Ben Stein's press conference and my story exhibits the differences between mainstream media and the blogosphere. Missourinet's own Steve Walsh blogged about these differences on the official Missourinet blog, citing sources from all over the spectrum. One particular agenda-driven blog named Fired Up! Missouri didn't take kindly to Steve's assertions and so began the blog-battle. They accused Steve of being just like them, citing a pretty minor cases in his writing (even showing a picture of Steve). Steve responded by asking the writer of the Fired Up! Missouri blog to reveal his identity. Fired Up! toned the hostility down in their response, well aware that they had to maintain anonymity.

The comments could be the most fun part of the blog-battle. (see Steve's first post again)