CNN Flashback: The Hong Kong Rock Band

14 months ago (aka September 2009), Kristie Lu Stout did a piece on the worldwide release of the Beatles Rock Band game. She and 5 of her colleagues tried out the game as part of the story. Did we all...

A) believe that what Anna Coren lacked in dancing, she made up for in singing

B) thought Kristie Lu Stout and Eunice Yoon rocked out the guitars (but are mixed as to who's better)

or

C) felt captivated by Andrew Stevens playing the drums like a kid

If you answered C, you can't get that smile off your faces.



Anyway, since it was 14 months ago, this would be long and gone, but sometimes, we like to look back on some of the favorite moments of CNN and this happens to be one of them.

GO STEVENS!!!!

Oh dear, is that what they called him? For real?

I've watched this video, like, 40 times in the past few weeks, and each time, I couldn't help but to laugh, not because of the hilarity that have ensued, but because of the egging (not literally). Once again, Andrew is a guinea pig.

First 30 min IDESK... not the same

I missed most of the first weekday 30 min IDESK cuz I went to the library, but I did catch the ending. John Vause (for those that don't know, he used to be one of the Beijing guys) filled in for Hala. Which kinda makes me think that Hala is still pissed by the shortened IDESK that she didn't go on air today. Understandable.

Some of my friends have seen it, and they said it's not the same. Which it wasn't because when I came home, African Voices had started.

And of course, we also floated around the issue that Jim Clancy deserves more than 30 minutes... which is so true. He's been at CNN for nearly 30 years now, he's worth MUCH more than 30 minutes.

Anyway, back to the IDESK issue, many scenarios have been floating around, from how Hala was possibly informed to a possible resignation. While I'm more interested in the first issue, the latter one to me seemed likely. The only other option will be that she's taking over Prism (which has extended to an hour, placing the canned programming to the other half of IDESK... you see where we're going) since she was in Abu Dhabi last week. Only time (and chain of events) will tell.

And as for the last post I made, I want to thank everyone who read it, and thanks to Pol Henrotte from Luxembourg (who started this facebook page) for reposting it on the page I just mentioned.

A 30 minute International Desk? Are You Effing Serious?

Here's the story...CNN Management extended "Prism" to an hour. They need to find a spot for those taped programs that usually came after. Did they...

A) Cancel "The Brief", put "World Sport" at 11am EST, put "Prism" at 11:30am EST, and keep the canned programs at 12:30pm EST

B) Put "World Sport" at 10:30am EST (thus cutting Isha Sesay's IDESK to 30 minutes), keep "The Brief" at 11am, move "Prism" to 11:30am EST and keep the canned programs at 12:30pm EST

or

C) Keep Isha's IDESK at 10am EST, "The Brief" at 11am EST, "World Sport" at 11:30am EST, and "Prism" at 12 Noon EST, and cut Hala Gorani's IDESK to 30 minutes to put the canned programs at 1:30pm EST

If you answered C, you're just as outraged as I am.

CNN Management, who obviously doesn't care about the viewer's likes and dislikes of programming, decided to cut a show that is actually worth watching. We're talking about the European primetime edition of IDESK, hosted by one of the best anchors in town, Hala Gorani. She has been at CNN for the past 12 years, starting in London for many years before settling in Atlanta some years ago. She was named anchor of this show in February 2009 (that's nearly two years ago). So I'm not surprised by the reaction from most of my friends, especially those in Europe, when they heard about this. But for some of you, it's no big deal...

Uh, yeah, it is. It's affecting one of the best anchors and one of the best shows, of course it's a big deal.

So I urge everyone reading this to send an emial to idesk@cnn.com and tell them how you feel about this.

And also go to the facebook page set up in protest of this decision.

We want 60 minutes of Hala, not 30. I can only appeal to reverse this.