Best in Blogs: Obama vs. Stewart, #notdeadyet, and Other Halloween Frights Top Stories for the Week of October, 25 - 29. 2010 ![]() "When the most influential man in the world speaks, people take notice. Especially when he interviews the President of the United States," writes The Hollywood Gossip. Ha. That's right - John Stewart got a chance to interview Barack Obama on Wednesday night, and Obama used the appearance to defend his record in office and urge people to vote. Howard Kurtz at the Daily Beast thought the interview was a test for Stewart, who didn't want to appear too friendly with the President, days before the supposedly nonpartisan "Rally To Restore Sanity," which is cast as an "escape from the nuttiness fostered by the extremes of both parties." Kurtz concludes: "I'd say Stewart passed the initial exam, making Obama feel comfortable while also delivering the zinger that "Democrats this year seem to be running on 'please baby one more chance.'"
![]() There were some light jabs, wrapped in velvet. They "gently sparred" says HDLNR, noting that Stew called Obama's legislative approach "timid" compared to those campaign promises of audacity. As Sandra Rose reports: When Obama said, "Jon, I don't want to lump you in with a lot of other pundits," Stewart retorted with an equally cynical jab: "And I don't mean to lump you in with other presidents." Tuned In notes that a comedian has advantages straight reporters don't. "He can call the President 'Dude.' When Obama referred to Larry Summers as having done a 'heckuva job,' directly recalling George W. Bush's unfortunate praise of his FEMA head after Katrina, Stewart pounced, 'Dude, you don't want to use that phrase.' (Obama tried to recover with, "Pun intended." Yeah, I don't think so, and it wasn't actually a pun.) Mediaite got a bit of "behind the scenes" scoop (from an audience member at the show) including Stewart's telling the crowd that Obama was a last resort because every other possible guest was out campaigning. Catch the whole interview here.
![]() Speaking of Stewards on the rampage, another populist hero made an awaited TV appearance too. With his legal issues settled, former flight attendant Steven Slater started giving interviews about his famous " I'm outta here" exit down an inflatable airplane slide that made him a folk hero among job haters everywhere. First on Larry King Live, where "King wasn't afraid of a little turbulence from the get-go, asking Slater if he'd been drinking that day," reports Radar Online. Slater acknowledged he'd become "unhinged at the end of a long work stretch while dealing with an unruly, aggressively passenger." He told Larry: "I call it a perfect storm of bad manners that created the situation, including my own...I saw this golden ray of sunshine just through that little porthole and I thought to myself you know, my car is just right across that ramp. And the - it's a beautiful beach day, and I think it's time to go." On Today, reports Gawker.TV, host Matt Lauer "was on a war path, questioning the veracity of Slater's infamous exit like a boa constrictor strangling a small rodent. Now that he's a pop-culture icon, Jaunted suggests it would be cool to Be Steven Slater for Halloween. "Just when you though the world of Halloween costumes couldn't be any more saturated with sexy stewardess outfits" Slater outfits also make the cut for Daily Beast, which rounds up the 12 best-selling adult costumes this season. Say hello to Lady Gaga, various losers from the Jersey Shore, vampires and Iron Man. Mental Floss has the presence of mind to remember that little kids dress up for this holiday too and has a top 10 of more traditional faves like princesses, Star Wars characters and pirates.
![]() There have been some mildly spooktacular scares in the world of high tech lately. Reports that Microsoft is now a creepy walking corpse may be exaggerated (relax - that's just what CEO Steve Ballmer looks like normally), even if CNNMoney suggests Microsoft is a "dying consumer brand." "Microsoft has been late to the game in crucial modern technologies like mobile, search, media, gaming and tablets. It has even fallen behind in Web browsing, a market it once ruled with an iron fist," the site sez. MS has replies to the accusation with the boldest of retorts, a new hashtag on Twitter, #notdeadyet, where the PR team is "pointing out the areas where the company sees strength or new momentum in its consumer businesses," according to TechFlash. Great, now Microsoft is an underdog we need to root for?
![]() Apparently there is action around Kinect, the forthcoming motion sensor for the Xbox 360 - so somebody at the dormant company must still be moving. Business Insider says Amazon and Best Buy have sold out pre-orders for the Wii- inspired add-on, suggesting "Microsoft has a hit on its hands. Or at least that there are a lot of Xbox 360 users out there who want to extend the lifecycle of the console for another couple of years." Gamesbeat says MS will spend $500 million to market Kinect (wait - what?!) and combined with another half billion dollars to market the Windows Phone 7, that adds up to real money. "You can always tell how badly Microsoft wants to win given the amount of money it's willing to spend." Destructoid observes that Amazon's pre-orders for Kinect jumped 42 percent after Oprah Winfrey endorsed it on her show. "Oprah Winfrey is like some sort of pop culture Roman Emperor," says the site. Hmm, maybe that's the show Obama ought to get on again.
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Keep a civil tongue.