I Heart Roger Clark

Other than the fact that Israel and Lebanon are destroying each other, it was a slow news day today and Roger Clark took the opportunity to report on the budding heat wave from Manhattan Beach. No, he wasn't wearing a wetsuit or Speedos, but rather his ubiquitous polo shirt. And no, there wasn't anyone at the beach yet, save for an old guy with Coke bottle glasses and a metal detector and a chubby fellow in a baseball cap who was just bobbing aimlessly in the water. Roger opened his piece with his hand slapped against his head in a demonstration of the unbearable heat (though it was about 7am and the temperature was only in the mid-70s). Kristen Shaughnessy was manning the home desk and commented on Clark's Victorian posturing to which Rog, God bless him, chuckled in a way that only he can. After a brief interview with a Russian woman who commented that she hates the heat and prefers "cold" (as in War?), Roger took it to the sand and interviewed the only person there to talk to (if you discount the guy floating around like a buoy in a baseball cap), the guy with the metal detector, who commented that Roger was "annoying" him. Later, Roger explained he endeared himself to the guy when he told him that he reminded him of his Uncle Irving who used to own a "soda shop." A trick we should all employ whenever someone essentially tells us to get lost.

On a scale of 1-10 on the Clark-o-Meter, this one was an 8.

Well, even Roger has his serious days. This past Friday, sporting a brown buttoned up polo shirt and undoubtedly relieved to be off Queens power outage duty, he was on the Lower East Side reporting on a protest in progress to save St. Brigid's Church which was constructed in the wake of the Potato Famine by Irish shipbuilders for recent immigrants. In NYC, protests to save anything involving landmarks and especially endangered species (remember Pale Male?), are sure to bring out the most endearingly wacky that this city has to offer. In the case of St. Brigid's, there were the usuals wearing signs, beads and Birkenstocks. Rog interviewed a gentleman in a torn blue shirt, who protested the demolition by climbing to the top of the church and waving his hands in the air until he was handcuffed and issued a summons. In his interview with Clark, he reminded all Americans that we're still free to protest in such a way. Somehow I knew Rog wouldn't be joining him in any climbing. But Clark's report may have done some good. Demolition was stopped by a court until at least the end of August. That's our Roger!

He's got some rhymes in his interior.

One dreary morning I was sitting on my couch, drinking my coffee, dreading the moment I had to head out the door to go to work. As usual, I turned on NY1, a channel only known to New Yorkers and primarily those who a) REALLY want to know the weather (it's always posted in the lower left hand corner of the screen) and b) like their newspapers read for them. Up until that one important morning on my couch, I had simply been a devotee of "Weather On the Ones" and "In the Papers." That day I was introduced to someone, something entirely new: a reporter named Roger Clark who clearly didn't mind making an ass out of himself in front of all five boroughs and coming up against his well-coiffed foil: Pat Kiernan. Who is this madman I thought as I watched Clark hurl himself to the ground for an awkwardly long game of paintball. Well that morning I learned. As you can see from his NY1 bio, Clark's been around for awhile. But the world can't go on without some type of dedication to the man who makes all of us feel better about ourselves. I give you...The World's First Roger Clark Fansite.
BELIEVE