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Saturday, September 13, 2003
When comedy becomes reality
Somebody is taking up Homer's offer of making Skittlebrau.
But at least that's someone keeping up with a joke. It's even stranger when the son of the guy who played Huggy Bear turns out to be a notable person (and I've gone nuts about this since his days at Michigan).
posted at 1:05 AM
Friday, September 12, 2003
OK, so I just picked up the first two seasons of 24 on DVD. I wonder if I can pull watching all 48 episodes in one sitting?
posted at 10:36 PM
So much for not tonight, I've got a headache.
posted at 10:06 PM
Zoom zoom
Blogging for the first time with the new cable modem connection, although for the time being, I'm probably going to keep the Mindspring accounts active, however.
The relevance of death
Mark has already pointed out the interesting juxtaposition of the deaths of Johnny Cash and John Ritter. However, the news coverage on CNN this morning was a bit intriguing.
While The Man in Black is the top story right now on CNN.com, he was somewhat shunted coverage on American Morning in favor of Ritter. It was especially more evident on the ticker, where there was plenty of stuff about Ritter, even though Cash got top billing, so to speak.
Surprisingly, I can see how and why the coverage slanted the way it did. The amount of stuff on Cash written, produced, etc. over the years seems to be much easier to digest in the online medium where you can get both immediacy and depth/background. Cash's failing health also seemed to make it easier to have something ready just in case; however, it is interesting to note that he was just released from the hospital on Tuesday for an ailment that caused him to miss the MTV Video Music Awards.
In Ritter's case, the suddenness of his passing, not to mention that it happened overnight and didn't make most morning papers on the East Coast, seemed to play into the hands of the morning news show, or at least the way CNN runs theirs. They trotted out a lot of entertaiment reporters who could either think fondly of him or wonder what the future holds for his TV show that he was in the middle of shooting at the time of his death. Since he was still in mid-career and was at least a moderate star, his death got a lot of coverage and almost on par with Cash. Otherwise, it may not have been a
Cash was a music legend and icon, and was even relevant to today's youth thanks to his recent video. In some ways, I think CNN may have been a bit light on covering his death, especially you'd think they'd have as much stuff in the can as the online folks did. But, the morning show is a lot about the hosts, so the more people they can find to talk about this stuff live, the better for the show. It's probably not as easy trying to find other country legends for a TV interview that quickly. So out goes the prerecorded stuff, and in comes a roundtable discussion of entertainment news editors/reporters who happened to be on their way to work.
One bit I did catch at the end, though, that was a unique, if strange, angle to both deaths was bringing out Dr. Sanjay Gupta to explain the ailments that led to both men's deaths. It made for a solid explainer for some medical issues few would've been able to understand (especially in Ritter's case).
posted at 12:50 PM
Thursday, September 11, 2003
Setting the record straight
Sometimes you'll see corrections to stories made via the letters to the editor, but I dare you to find something as good as this retort (top entry), which then had me thinking of these guys.
posted at 1:12 AM
Exhibit A against marriage
Merge The Osbournes and The Anna Nicole Show and you've got MTV's Newlyweds, the latest on my list of must-see (well, sorta) shows. It's a train wreck on many levels, and you've got to wonder at what point the cameras will be headed for some divorce lawyer's office.
There are few things I've picked up so far:
--I didn't realize Nick Lachey still had a music career. It seems like only the N'Sync guys could find work after the boy-band thing blew over. Then again, I think he's doing a good job of cashing in on the fact that he is married to Jessica Simpson.
--As much as I thought Nick was a prick on I Love the '70s, I think I know now why he is that way. He's got some weird Faustian deal going with this marriage -- get a hot wife who can improve your star power but deal with all the trappings of a married life.
--How many stereotypes of dumb, rich blondes can she fulfill in one shot? From the infamous "Chicken by the Sea" comment to the $750 for two sets of lingerie (including exasperated phone call to hubby at lunch with his dancers), you'd think she came out of central casting, or at least the grotto.
--Her extreme jealousy over Nick's dancers is hilarious. Her cattiness over women who are nowhere in her league provides for plenty of entertainment value.
--I wonder what she'd look like if applied the Shallow Hal treatment?
--Don't bring a spoiled clueless girl to the golf course. Then again, the "my boobs get in the way" remark as she tried to hit the ball was a gem.
posted at 12:44 AM
Return to sender, address unknown
I guess this guy has never heard of AirTran or Southwest. Then again, I'm surprised there aren't more morons shipping themselves across the country instead of the usual ways of transportation. Of course, to pull that off, you'd need at least one accomplice to help pull it off, and I guess the guy had at least one Kramer-esque friend who thought it was a good idea. I think it's time for the guy to find some new friends, huh?
Some of the other weirdness of story includes the mother refusing to show her face on TV because she was humiliated by the whole experience. The fact that our friendly flier was busted for completely unrelated crimes, and that officials aren't sure with what to charge him. But at least DA Bill Hill has some perspective on the whole thing: "He violated the law of stupidity if nothing else."
posted at 12:22 AM
I'm sorry, the Ultimate team has the football field between 4:30 and 6:00
There's a lot of symbolism in Vanderbilt's "elimination" of its athletic department, although the sports will go on. It may help reform in some places, although probably at smaller schools or institutions of Vandy's caliber (hmm, wonder if the alma mater will go that way?).
Still, the thought of major intercollegiate athletics falling under the same auspices of intramurals and club sports is somewhat amusing. We were envisioning sign-up sheets for the field, people having to bring the flags and cones. Players not showing up because of a study group. Unexplained absences by teams for major matches -- turns out the captain was sick. An all-star team of intramural players getting spots on the traveling squad, etc.
Granted, most of this won't even matter much given Vanderbilt's status, but some of it actually has the same eerie feelings as CBI-only teams showing up to invitational tournaments these days.
posted at 12:00 AM
Monday, September 08, 2003
The job never ends
First off, might as well as alert folks to my latest column. It seems a lot different working on it at the office as opposed to just sitting at my laptop at home cranking it out.
Anyway, there wasn't much else to my weekend, mostly sports, plus a brief interlude Saturday night.
First off, I can see why many are opposed to a college football playoff -- the regular season takes on that atmosphere, too. That would explain the electricity of the amazing Miami-Florida comeback. Plus, there were a bunch of other upsets and close calls that had me flipping all over the dial during the afternoon. I was hardly even thinking of my pool picks -- I was just enjoying the ride.
However, I wasn't as happy with Northwestern's 22-21 loss to Air Force after the Cats were leading 21-7 heading into the fourth quarter. Three picks in the fourth quarter sealed the Wildcats' fate despite not having to play against Chance Harridge for most of the second half after he was ejected. The defense looked solid again, but have to avoid giving up the big play, which has happened a couple of times already. They did a decent job on the option, at least compared to last year's debacle. The Cats needed to get Jason Wright the ball a little bit more, especially when running out the clock. One last note, I may not have liked NU's road uniforms, but they were passable -- I just didn't like white-on-white. The home get-up doesn't do much for me, either, especially since they ditched the black. The bluish-purple doesn't look as good as the dark purple I've been used to, especially when it's monochromatic, for all intents and purposes.
Also Saturday, I thought CBS was going to have a conniption when Agassi lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero (not to be confused with Juan Carlos Fernandez of cinnamon rolls fame) and Andy Roddick was down two sets and match point to David Nalbandian, best known for making people have to care about him for the first time when he reached the finals of Wimbledon a few years ago. But in an amazing comeback I missed, Roddick somehow won the match, and made people care about the U.S. Open final instead of watching some of the mediocre late NFL games. I didn't even watch the women's final, only catching a glimpse of the trophy ceremony while I was out. Besides, I watched the real final with the three-hour classic semifinal match between Henin-Hardenne and Capriati (now playing the role of Aaron Krickstein).
The men's final was actually a bit of an afterthought for me, since I was working on said column, but there seemed like no way Roddick was going to blow this opportunity when everything else pretty much went his way. The final game was one of the bigger exclamation points on a title in a long way. A couple of things about the victory: We can stop whining about when the next big American will come through, that's happened. And can we please stop calling him A-Rod? It's not that clever with Alex Rodriguez, and it's sillier here.
Onto the NFL, it was a very strange Sunday to say the least, but enjoyable in fits and starts. Some quick observations from Week 1:
-- The Dolphins probably killed a ton of survivor pools by losing to the Texans. I know I got smoked.
-- The Rams looked very bad, and they need to give Marshall Faulk the ball.
-- It'll be a weird year for the Broncos since they won in spite of Jake Plummer.
-- Priest Holmes is just fine, thank you very much.
-- Yes, it's neat Craig Hentrich kicked three field goals relieving Joe Nedney, but remember that Hentrich was a kicker at Notre Dame. The ESPN guys were also impressed with Drew Bennett as a holder. Bennett was a backup QB at UCLA, and I'm sure holding had to be on his list of priorities.
-- Should the Lions-Cardinals stats even count for NFL or fantasy purposes? Anquan Boldin for 217 yards? As much as I praised him in April, does he get 217 yards the rest of the year?
-- Northwestern alums are getting their props: D'Wayne Bates caught a TD pass, Kevin Bentley picked off a Peyton Manning pass, Napoleon Harris had a bunch of tackles for the Raiders and Jeff Roehl ended up in the Giants lineup after Luke Pettigout's injury. BTW, what is it with the Giants and Notre Dame offensive lineman. Mike Rosenthal and Pettigout were alums and Roehl was with the Irish before transferring to Northwestern around the time Zak Kustok did a few years ago.
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