Think you’re addicted to Starbucks?

June 20, 2007 by 1 Comment

Washington, D.C.

Starbucks Closings

Last year, while doing research for a People story on “obsessed fans,” I heard about a man named Winter. In 1997, he quit his job as a computer programmer and decided to try and visit every Starbucks in the world.

With ten years of crisscrossing the country and 6,959 domestic stores under his belt now, he’s 96.8% of the way there. (Winter has also visited 457 stores worldwide.) The problem is, Starbucks is opening stores faster than Winter can hit them up – so he stays on the road, sleeping in his car, fighting tirelessly to meet his goal of having a cup of Joe at every licensed, corporate-owned store.

Winter has come through DC a couple of times. After the jump, his candid thoughts on a few of the Bucks we’ve got here in the District. [Read more…]

Filed Under: dc, dupont, grub, journalism

How do you spell f-o-o-l?

June 1, 2007 by 1 Comment

Washington, D.C.

Kiran Chetry, the co-anchor of CNN’s American Morning, got painfully shook this morning during what should have been a pretty easy interview. Her subject was Evan O’Dorney, the 13-year-old eighth-grader from Danville, Calif. who won the Scripps National Spelling Bee yesterday after nailing “serrefine.” Unfortunately, there’s no YouTube video of this train wreck, but I’ve been able to hunt down a transcript. Some of the highlights:

Chetry gets off to a great start, by mispronouncing the kid’s name:

CHETRY: Evan, thanks for being with us.

O’DORNEY: Did you say my name wrong? My name is Evan O’Dorney.

CHETRY: Evan O’Dorney. I am sorry if I said it wrong.

Then, the well-researched questions and every broadcast journalist’s nightmare — zero elaboration on answers — begin:

CHETRY: Were you surprises that you won?

O’DORNEY: Not really.

And:

CHETRY: What did your mom say when you finally won?

O’DORNEY: Well, I don’t know what my mom said. You better ask my mom if you want the answer to that question.

CHETRY: All right, let me ask your mom. You’re making this tough for me today, Evan.

Fed some random fodder from a producer, she continues:

CHETRY: Well, here’s one thing I hope I’m right about. You like to eat a Subway tuna fish sub before every competition? You didn’t get to do that yesterday.

O’DORNEY: What did you just say?

CHETRY: I said you didn’t get to do that yesterday?

O’DORNEY: No.

CHETRY: Why not?

O’DORNEY: I’m not sure. We just — well, they had the — they had a special dinner before the bee.

But the real magic happens at the end, when Chetry attemps to give O’Dorney a word to spell (why does every interview with these champs have to include some futile attempt to trip them up?). Check out the brutality after the jump.

UPDATE: There’s video available. And, Best Week Ever has just discovered the mess, too.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: journalism, thoughts