Obituary example

Jenna Suhl, a producer and director of the world's most powerful documentaries, passed away painlessly in her sleep at her San Diego beach house on Tuesday. She was 98.

The cause is unknown. 

Suhl spent more than 40 years filming worldwide documentaries, giving her the recognition as the "World's Story Teller." 

Suhl's career didn't start until after a few small, unpublicized accomplishments, such as being a bathroom designer and the 49ers mascot Sourdough Sam. 

After her time as Sourdough Sam, Suhl became a freelance children's books illustrator. 

She fell in love with story telling and began to shoot small, local documentaries with the support of her husband. 

Suhl is known to have contributed to global music festivals for more than 10 years since her 30s and preached that a life without music is no life at all.

"She was always full of life," Her husband said. "She found inspiration in almost anything around her. It was beautiful." 

Suhl met her husband at 25 and the two married when she was 28. 

Five of her children will be hosting the memorial service dance party Suhl had wished for in her will, this Saturday at her beach house. 

Obituary example

Jenna Suhl, a producer and director of the world's most powerful documentaries, passed away painlessly in her sleep at her San Diego beach house on Tuesday. She was 98.

The cause is unknown. 

Suhl spent more than 40 years filming worldwide documentaries, giving her the recognition as the "World's Story Teller." 

Suhl's career didn't start until after a few small, unpublicized accomplishments, such as being a bathroom designer and the 49ers mascot Sourdough Sam. 

After her time as Sourdough Sam, Suhl became a freelance children's books illustrator. 

She fell in love with story telling and began to shoot small, local documentaries with the support of her husband. 

Suhl is known to have contributed to global music festivals for more than 10 years since her 30s and preached that a life without music is no life at all.

"She was always full of life," Her husband said. "She found inspiration in almost anything around her. It was beautiful." 

Suhl met her husband at 25 and the two married when she was 28. 

Five of her children will be hosting the memorial service dance party Suhl had wished for in her will, this Saturday at her beach house. 

(Emerging) trend feature example

Zane Rizvi swiped across his phone and curled his lips in a fit of revulsion. The 19-year-old student at Cal State Long Beach, who identifies as bisexual, shared a bit of what his life is like on the smartphone dating app Tinder.

“OK, these guys are all pretty ugly right now,” he said.

A devoted Tinder user for about a year, Rizvi uses the dating app to meet men and women, or entertain himself by engaging in lengthy messaging with people he matches with, which happens when each user swipes right on the other’s profile, to show they’re interested.

Though not a new trend, finding dates online or through smartphone apps is rising steadily. A recent Pew Research Center survey of 2,001 adults in the U.S. shows that 27 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 have used online or app dating, a number that has tripled in the last two years.

Fifteen percent of American adults overall report they have used online dating sites or mobile dating apps, up from 11 percent in early 2013, according to a February study in Pew.

And it’s not just a Millennial thing. The percentage of adults between 55 and 64 years old who have used online dating doubled during the same time period, from 6 percent to 12 percent.

Forty-one percent of Americans know someone who uses online dating, with 29 percent knowing someone who has met a spouse or longtime partner in the digital world, according to Pew.

Apps for every romantic appetite abound. There’s JSwipe for Jewish people. Bumble, which makes women make the first move. Grindr and Scruff are apps for gays.

While eight in 10 Americans who have used online dating say it’s a good way to meet people, and 62 percent agree that it allows people to find a better match, close to half (45 percent) say the Internet and apps are more dangerous ways to meet people than other means.

Another negative, or positive depending on one’s perspective: 31 percent agree that online dating gives people options and therefore causes them to delay settling down, according to Pew.

In some cases, dating apps and online sites might be fun at first, but like other novelties, the thrill wears off.

“Every new match, it’s the same questions,” said Mariah Garcia, a 20-year-old student at CSULB.

She described the tedium of messaging with guys who seem to buy discount pickup lines from the flirt factory. What’s a woman to do when all she reads is “Hey,” “What’s up?” or “You’re so beautiful”?

Garcia said men need to make an effort to set themselves apart on dating apps.

“I’m more likely to like them more if they show personality or if they say something funny,” she said.

Garcia dated a couple of men she met on Tinder. One didn’t go anywhere. The other?

“We dated for a hot minute,” Garcia said, laughing.

Mark Carrier, a psychology professor at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson, said online dating is a rational endeavor for those who want to find a partner.

It requires little effort and offers convenience, especially in a world where people are accustomed to using apps and websites as a way to quickly get things done.

“Looking for other people and portraying yourself are all easier to do through the apps,” Carrier said.

But finding people this way is not without its pitfalls. Sixteen percent of American adults say people who use online dating sites are desperate, according to Pew.

The research center also found that among those who have used online dating, 53 percent of women say it’s more dangerous than other ways of meeting people, with 38 percent of men saying such.

And the danger isn’t just in meeting a weirdo.

Carrier said on dating apps and websites, people let their guards down and freely offer bits of information that could come back to haunt them.

Screenshots of lurid conversations could be posted online, or perhaps if the relationship sours, a vengeful person takes the information you shared and uses it against you.

“Disinhibition is a mechanism by which people are much more willing to disclose personal information, and that alters the dating experience by the using the device, for the better or the worse,” Carrier said. “The problem with disinhibition is you are more likely to behave in ways that are detrimental to your long-term goals.”

And in the early formation of relationships, the chemistry between two people online or through a dating app can quickly dissolve when they meet in the flesh.

Such was the case once for Rizvi, who met a woman in Vancouver he found on Tinder. All the fun bantering through messages suddenly disappeared when they first saw each other.

“It was pretty awkward,” Rizvi said.

It’s a common occurrence. Mainly, because when people portray themselves through texts or emails, they are only offering slices of themselves that project an image of what they want other people to have of them.

The person receiving the messages is forming an impression of you with limited information, so the brain starts to fill in the rest of a personality profile, Carrier said.

This starts when they see your photo on a dating site or app. Carrier said people will look at photographs and immediately draw up mental images of a stranger’s characteristics, like intelligence or integrity.

“So when you meet the person, that impression can change, and the reality doesn’t match,” Carrier said.

His advice to dating app users is be cautious before sharing personal information, and pause to consider how what you type can be used against you later. Slow down and don’t be impulsive, he said.

Column example

I find it really hard to watch any awards shows.

My mom loves all the awards shows. Always has. 

She and my sister will be plopped on the couch this Sunday starting around 5 a.m. scouring the television for anything relating to it.

My dad hates the awards shows. He comes by it honestly.

Back in the day — you know, the 1970s, when I was a lad and we had four TV stations and no Netflix — the entire family would huddle up together around the fuzzy, 18-inch color TV set with the rabbit ears on top. We sat with rapt attention and watched the Academy Awards.

To be honest, there really wasn’t a whole lot else to do.

I enjoyed the Oscars in those days for one reason: Johnny Carson was the host. To me, he’s still the only five-tool guy to ever grace an industry where one-tool and a good publicist can get somebody his or her very own late night talk show.

Ralph Strangis Sr. is a world-class corporate attorney. Anyone who knows him will tell you that, despite the teddy-bear countenance and occasional untied shoe, untucked shirt or visible ice cream stain on the jacket, he’s as slick and smart as they come. 

His well-reasoned opinions and well-articulated positions on all matters are compelling, thought-provoking, and in almost all cases correct.

It was during one of these annual golden-statue award show viewings that my father, while taking his annual beating at the hands of the glamorous and largely brain dead, became unable to take it for even another minute. After the fifth or sixth acceptance speech that night, Ralph Sr. snapped.

“Ralphie, go turn down the volume,” he belched.

Remember that these were very primitive times. In this barbaric world, there are no such things as remote control devices.

But if you were Ralph Sr. and you had a wife and four children in the room with you, your remote control was the command of your voice and the quick participation of your subordinates. Ralph Jr. was your go-to for all things TV.

Up I jumped and took the three strides to the knob on the front of the set and made the room quiet.

“I got a new rule …”

Now, we were perhaps concerned that this would be something that would affect us all directly, but very quickly he got to the point.

“Here’s the rule. And the rule is not only for the Academy Awards but for every single awards show, and in fact for every single ceremony whereby anybody is presenting any award for anything ...”

Seriously, that’s how he talks.

“The rule is, that for every award presented, the recipient of the award, upon receiving the award and moving to the podium, has only 60 seconds to make the speech. 

And here is the important part of the rule: the recipient can say anything he or she wants, on any topic he or she likes, but THEY CAN’T THANK ANYBODY.”

Genius.

Imagine removing from every awards show all the things we know they’re all going to say when they get up there. 

No more “I want to thank my team and my agent and my director and my cast and the best crew anywhere and my publicist and stylist and the catering guy …”

Instead, maybe we get a story from Leo about where he was when he first read “The Revenant.” Or who it was early in life that got him started. 

Or maybe why this part appealed to him in the first place. Or a funny or sincere story about something that happened during production.

But that ain’t gonna happen — unless I win an Academy award. Which is admittedly very doubtful.

I promise, if I ever win I’ll adhere to the rule. I tell a good story. I’ll talk about something funny and interesting. I’ll hit the time limit perfectly.

And at the very end, I’ll say, “I’m so happy to have been able to share these words with you. And for the realization of what kind of speech I would make here tonight ... I have to thank my father.”