what's so funny?

Sumi (Das) was reporting from Florida the other day. Someone's making her way through the CNN ladder, yes?


Not much, except to share Hala being the clueless female when it came to American baseball: After sharing the baseball headline, to which Michael (Holmes) and Terry (Baddoo) were laughing among themselves, Hala, ever defensive, asked:
"Why are you laughing? What's so funny about that?"

Hala.

Then later asking Michael to repeat his statement on "following (you) up even if you don't care" about the baseball results.

Hala: "What's that?"
Michael: (repeating) "Even if you don't care."

Hala, Hala, Hala. Let it go.


And, to Anonymous: We know she's Arab in origin, and she's gone to the Hajj where only Muslims are allowed, but whether or not she's a devout religious individual, I personally don't know.

Dear CNN International

Dear CNN,

Thank you for giving Becky Anderson and Paula Hancocks something else to do. Yes, Becky hosts Global Office, but seeing her in Pakistan confirms that somewhere in her usually-formal demeanor, is a thriving field reporter who can rough it out. And Paula Hancocks, she really likes the color pink, doesn't she?

I like Robyn Curnow. I do. But her move to hosting MainSail only means one thing, and that's Liz George has moved on. I have always adored Liz, she has that great personality that translates well even when she's being a talking head. I'm not a fan of sailing, but I toiled through MainSail for any dose of Liz, because she can brighten anyone's day with her enthusiasm, even for sailing. The fact that she was getting a great tan was another point of amusement for myself. It will take a while, but I'm sure I'll move on and accept Robyn Curnow as MainSail host. After all, sometimes when they do that instant-replacement trick on TV or film, people accept it. So I'll try, and maybe in time that tiny voice will shut up from calling her a Liz George replacement.

Please tell Hala to stop wearing yesterday's outfit. The white buttons, the distracting belt buckle... Please tell Hala she usually a much better dresser. But I still adore her, anyway. And please also tell her to get more frames for her specs, as those bulky ones sometimes gets distracting. Pretty eyes, though.

Oh, and CNN: thank you for not overplaying Christiane Amanpour's interview with Bashar Al-Assad to death.



Now that that's out of the way:
Speaking of Liz and Hala (and please get the segue, or...), Liz has declared on the dotorg that she might be shutting down part of the fansite, the gallery. Which is fine, considering she has her photobucket account anyway. Although... what about all those other pix that aren't on photobucket? But, heck, if it's too tedious and not fun anymore, by all means stop. OR, Liz, you can just stop updating the page, but keep it online anyway. You can just update photobucket as you wish. How's that?

Eye on the Middle East. Hee.

stay with CNN

Ohh, Hala. Who knew you had nice feet.

What?

So Inside the Middle East was in Egypt. And, as I have come to expect when Hala is out of the studio, in her blue jeans.

By the way, Hala looks rather comfortable there, speaking with the women of Gaza. Anyway.

Hala on a horse-drawn carriage? awww. Where's your Prince Charming, Hala?


Other random notes:
Robyn Curnow is really earning her CNN keep, isn't she? She was on ITME, a report on Spark, and I didn't watch Design 360, but she was probably on it, too. The rerun of MainSail (get out of there, Robyn, I miss Liz George). By the way, proof of Robyn's over exposure? Her top during her ITME report -- seen it.

And Andrea Sanke on that ecological car featured on Spark? Ahh, cute.

By the way, Kristie Lu Stout should be replaced by Sumi Das on Spark. I doubt Kristie has a clear idea what she's talking about.

And before I forget: the other week I waxed rhapsodic over Richard and Hala sharing screen time.


But Richard was very cool towards the more enthusiastic Atlanta duo. And by Wednesday Hala was ignoring him, too. Say it with me, Hala: "I won't be ignored, Quest."(well, I wish she'd said that.) Anyway. Still cute.


*When Hala tells you to "stay with CNN" and you agree to do so, you know you're losing your mind. When Hala tells you that this is it for Inside the Middle East, and she hopes to see you next month and you promise to do so, you know you have lost your mind.
Yes, I did that. I need a life.


pictures, as usual, from Tina/Liz.