Phil Hendrie has announced on his blog that he is returning to radio on June 25th. He has signed a deal with talk radio network FM. I haven't heard anything on how many/what stations he'll be on, but he'll certainly be syndicated. TRN has AM stations and I guess the FM is a new thing.
I also have no idea what kind of show this will be. When he ended his radio show last year he said he was finished with not only radio but with the type of show he did (character-based satire). He said he was moving on to TV and movies (so much for that). Will he resurrect his old characters? My opinion is no. I'm betting that he will do commentary/politics infused with some satire. His blog has been nothing but politics with the occasional satire piece. He won't take callers--he hates talk radio callers. They are the very people he ridiculed and generally messed with on his old show. No, he'll try to invent some new type of talk show without callers and without his old characters.
The coronation of LeBron James as the next MJ was consumated last night during a fourth quarter performance that ranks among the best pro athlete performances in history. (BTW Rome continues to have egg on his face for declaring that James is no MJ after game one.) Now, I'm basing this on descriptions by my local sports radio hosts, one of whom saw it live in Detroit, and by Mike Tirico, who I heard say "this is the best thing I've ever seen".
The reason I have to rely on outside descriptions is because I, in a monumental act of stupidity, turned the game off with about 8 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. This was right at the time when James took over the game, playing one on five and winning. So I missed one of the great sports moments in history. I just hope ESPN classic replays tonight.
This weeks South Park promises to be awesome for one simple reason--Stan's dad Randy plays a prominent part. Randy has become the show's best and funniest character, leaving Cartman and Butters in his wake. He's already kicked ass this season with his world record defecation (confirmed by a Swiss group that oversees fecal measuring accuracy). This week will follow the much praised Imaginationland Trilogy, which I thought started out great but fizzled at the end of "Episode III". Randy Is The Man.
Al Gore was asked a tough question about someone in the IPCC who disagrees with some of his conclusions regarding climate change. His response--
"He's an outlyer, he's no longer with the IPCC."
Way to confront an opposing view. Just call him an "outlyer" and move on.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1291894,00.html
Jesus, at least when an American goes nuts and kills people they have the ability to finish the suicide portion of the process properly.
The shooter posted a video of himself on Youtube.
So I guess by attempting suicide, he feels that he is unfit and a disgrace to the human race.
This from the Orwellian file:
Holiday Display Task Force in Ft Collins, Co.
An example of some of the policy suggestions: Avoid snowflakes and red and green lighting--these things are too closely relatable to Christmas. My advice, remember this season to 'X' out--Xmas not Christmas!
The founder of the Weather Channel went apeshit over the idea of catastrophic man-made global warming yesterday. Check out this rant:
South Park's new episode wednesday did not disappoint. While Randy was not in the ep as much as I thought he would be, it was great nonetheless. Stan and Kyle play "Guitar Hero", score 100,000 points, and ultimately get dissed by the game in a homophobic finale. Randy had not one, but two classic tighty whitey moments, which has become his trademark.
Phil Hendrie's new show continues to be very good. He has kept the loony "guests" but has dispensed with taking calls from real people. Fine by me, the real callers were boring anyway. He has pissed off many of his fans for doing this and also pissed them off for his pro-Iraq war, pro-Bush stances. They just can't stand that he has these views--of course they had no problem with him when he expressed his very liberal views on his old show, pre-9/11. Besides, he still has a lot of liberal views, but the war thing tends to dominate. Anyway, you go Phil, you're awesome.
Clinton stiffs waitress.
No, no, Hillary....not Bill.
Or did she?
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/...of-the-tip.html
The only thing about this story that has any relevance is that media outlets are using the word "waitress". I thought this word was outmoded, outdated, and otherwise sexist. I guess it's ok since she is from Iowa, and well, you know, those folks out there aren't as sophisticated as the rest of the country.
I've been listening to Dennis Miller's new radio show. It's very entertaining. He does not get in-depth into topics the way that a Rush or Boortz would and he always has 2 guests per hour. I think he's just trying to feel his way through the beginning here, not wanting to do too much monolouge stuff. But the jokes he gets off are classic and hilarious. He of course works in the world of the simile, and they come hard and fast, like a 10-cup-a-day coffee drinker working a gatling gun. I would put the url to his site, but my workplace computer is denying me access due to a filter. This filter is very hit and miss, as evidenced by my ability to post this blog entry right now. In fact it's probably watching my every keystroke....
Donald Trump is now selling steaks through the mail--kind of like the Omaha Steaks that you can order. In what is certain to be a very good deal, Trump will send you what he calls the greatest steaks in the world. Now, I--oh wait, I just saw the prices--hmm, $999 sounds reasonable for 16 steaks and 24 burgers. Or you can really save a lot of money and get the Classic Collection. The CC features 4 steaks and 12 burgers for $199. Forget Biggs, I'm going exclusively with Trump from now on to meet my meat needs.
George Lucas thinks that Spiderman 3 is "silly" Um, yeah, George, you did alright with those first 3 movies, but a lot of people agree that your next 3 attempts fell a little short. In fact one could make the case they appeal more to the grade school set than the adult world.
So I saw the preview for "I Am Legend" starring Wil Smith. This is based on a Richard Matheson book of the same title and has been made into a film two times previously. You could say the story is about zombie/vampires--the Earth's population is killed by a plague and they turn into these living dead creatures, except for one remaining man....or is he really alone? Hmmm, living dead? Yeah, I think the first film version of this--The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price--was Night of the Living Dead before there was a Night of the Living Dead. Romero's zombie flick borrows a lot from the Price movie. In Last Man On Earth, people die and come back as zombie/vampires. They walk slowly and can be avoided pretty easily. They exist to kill Price. In other words, just like Night of the Living Dead, made three years after LMOE.
The second filmed version is "The Omega Man" starring Charlton Heston. It is really good though a bit dated, having been made in 1971 and is very much a 70s movie.
This new remake will suck. All I needed to see was a CGI deer, a CGI lion, and a central casting vampire snarling 6 inches from Wil Smith's face. Jesus. It will make a reasonably amount of money due to Wil Smith, but nothing spectacular. It will be completely forgotten 6 months from now.
I was semi looking forward to "Hitman", but the reviews have absolutely dogged on it. Apparently it is terrible.
"The Mist"? LOL. A lame excuse for King to preach about the evil that is the U.S. military and Christianity.
That leaves the new Coen brothers movie. HELL YEAH. Cannot wait for this. A dead solid no-brainer. It will be awesome.
A prequel to the excellent TV mini-series "Lonesome Dove" is finally coming to network television in a few weeks. It was filmed a couple years ago and has bounced around in limbo ever since. The title is "Comanche Moon". This is based on the novel by the same author as Lonesome Dove. I saw the previews and I'm afraid this may suck royally. Why? Well, anyone who knows anything about Lonesome Dove knows that the success of the original was due to the great characters of Gus and Woodrow Call. They are the central figures in the story.
So I'm watching the previews--I've seen two different versions--and between the two of them, the character of Gus appears for about 3 seconds and Call does not appear at all. I believe this is because the two actors playing the parts are awful. Awful casting that is, they may be fine actors otherwise. The guy playing Gus, Steve Zahn, (Gus is a hard-ass Texas Ranger of the old west, a traditional western badass) is the same guy who has played such goofball roles as the boyfriend in "Riding in Cars with Boys", Marvin in "Daddy Day Care", and Phoebe's husband on "Friends".
Am I being unfair by type-casting the guy? Maybe, but by any reckoning this is poor casting. I've read the book "Comanche Moon" and lest you think that maybe Gus and Call are not the central figures in the story, I'm here to tell you that they are indeed the most important characters. They are the reason for writing the book; it follows their early career as young Texas Rangers. But of course I'll sit my ass down and watch the whole darn thing anyway. Actually I'll DVR it because it is airing right in the middle of the primetime college bowl games. This is another red flag as to why I fear this will suck--why would CBS air it opposite BCS bowl games unless they are trying to hide it?. The demographic for this series is mainly men 18-50. Precisely the same demographic for college bowl games. I'll report back once I've seen it and admit my error if indeed it turns out to be excellent
Yeah, it was really a Scotsman who would have been first in flight. He would have, nah nah nah. He was working on heavier than air flight before the Wright Brothers. But he died. Darn.
Today is the anniversary of the Wright Brothers flight. Some people just can't give credit to the Yanks where credit is due.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display...irst_to_fly.php
Well, he MAY have, but you can't really say he WOULD have because he uh, DIED. In a GLIDER accident.
24 has been very good in previous seasons. This season it is terrible.
Lost has jumped the shark, really sometime last season.
Heroes jumped the shark on about episode two or three.
First, 24:
1. The writing this season is amateurish. The dialogue is horrible. It is filled with loads and loads of exposition. Maybe the show's producers have received complaints from viewers that are having difficulty following the storyline. Whatever the reason, the whole thing comes across as a show for 9 year olds.
2. Absurb, implausible goings-on. I'm not talking about Jack getting across LA freeways in 3 and a half minutes--the show has always had over the top storylines and that's OK. I'm talking about little things such as: Jack's brother being left alone with his father. There is no way Jack's brother would be left alone in a room with the IV still attached to his arm, let alone with another person present, even his own father. And the repetitive nature of the general plot is getting old. Same thing all over again. A couple hours and a new layer of the bad guy hierarchy is revealed; last hour's top bad guy is shown getting a cell phone call from yet another, different bad guy who is above him, and so on.
Second, Lost:
Lost is a....lost cause. It started to suck last year. The spiraling plots are just a bunch of tangents going nowhere. Nefarious plot tangents brought up last year have never been resolved. You can't do that to an audience.
Third, Heroes:
Never got going. Great potential, jumped the shark right out of the gate. The cheerleader's father sucks and is a lousy character. The chick with the evil twin sucks--horrible storyline, horrible character. Everytime the bitch comes on, either one of them, the show grinds to a halt. Same with the cheerleader. Fucking awful character, the shows grinds to a halt every second she is on screen. Getting through each fucking episode is like wading through molasses. The dumbasses writing the show have no idea how to keep the audience interested. Just because you through in a twist 58 minutes into the show means nothing.
There will be an open auction in France in September to sell off parts of the famous Concord airplane. I'm sure 99.9% of the parts will be out of my price range, but I'd love to get my hands on an emblem or maybe something from the instrument panel. Of course, I won't be in France in September, so this post is very rapidly becoming irrelevant. Yes, in fact it was irrelevant after the first word was typed, but there you go.
And, in an attempt to rescue this post, here's a creepy anecdote regarding the Concord, or rather, the Russian version:
Russia was developing its own version of the Concord the same time as France, known as "Concordia" (very original Russia). An early prototype crashed in a populated area and a part of the plane which had sheered off decapitated a child playing in his yard about a mile away from the crash. I wonder what that part would bring at auction?
A normally reasonable and level-headed local talk show host in Cincinnati, Mike MCconnell, put his foot in his mouth this morning. He was railing against various news headlines that read basically "Putin surprises Bush with offer", (about a alternate site in Europe for the missile defense shield that Putin has been angry over). Mike was claiming that was misleading and that it was actually Bush's idea, not Putin's. Well, I looked into the story and it WAS Putin's idea, based on what I read in the articles shown below.
I emailed his show (he's read my emails on the air before) but so far he hasn't addressed the issue. I pretty sure he won't return to the topic to correct himself--it was too large a gaffe to admit to. Most listeners will never know he was wrong. I'm guessing this is how hosts deal with a situation when they go out on a limb on an issue and they're wrong--IGNORE IT.
sfgate article:
From the caycompass (Ap story):
Remember when you screwed around in your yard or your friend's yard, doing kid things like playing fort, setting paper airplanes on fire, maybe the odd cherry bomb here and there? Well, things have progressed since those olden times. Like making an explosive device powerful enough to blow up a backyard playset and killing someone in the process.
cincinnati.com
What is the psychology at work where we have changed the way we say the year? New Years resolution: saying "twenty oh eight" instead of "two thousand eight", as in "nineteen oh eight" instead of "one thousand nine hundred eight".
The Ohio State Buckeyes are preparing for the title game on Monday night (the end of which I'll surely miss because I'll be asleep--play the damn game on a Saturday afternoon for crissakes). They are in the exact opposite position this year as they were in last year. Last year they were annointed the champions prior to the game; this time they are a non-entity and are said to be not deserving of playing for the BCS championship. There are plenty of criticisms, and yes insults, directed at the OSU team for their lackluster schedule and perceived slow, lumbering nature (how did lumbering Michigan do against speedy SEC Florida?). And those criticisms are reaching the eyes and ears of the players, courtesy of a DVD given to them that contains clips of various pundits and others pontificating on why they are so bad.
USA Today
I think the underdog has won every BCS title game, save one. I think that's the case and if so perhaps it bodes well for the Buckeyes. One thing is for certain--if the Buckeyes lose this game, it will harm their reputation for a long, long time. In this case the answer to the question "Is it better to have gotten to the championship and lost, or not gotten there at all?" is clearly that they would have better off to have not gotten there.
Finalist: Toughest Man Alive, 20th Century: William H. Rankin, Marine Corps pilot
Book
Rankin survived a "fall" (he had a parachute) from 44,000 feet in the 1950s. The engines on his plane seized, he ejected, but his chute opened too soon. It so happened that he was above a thunderstorm at the time. He spent 40 minutes WITHIN the storm clouds being buffeted around. Finally he fell to Earth, still alive. He is the only known human being to have been inside the clouds of a thunderstorm.
Finalist: Toughest Man Alive, 21st Century: Alcides Moreno, New York City window washer
AP story
Moreno fell an incredible 47 floors from a NYC skyscraper when his scaffolding fell. When the scaffolding gave way, he laid down flat against bottom of the platform, an action which probably resulted in his surviving the eventual impact.
Sir Edmund Hillary died yesterday. He reached the top of Mount Everest seconds before his Sherpa companion in 1953. Chalk another victory/oppression up for the white man. Couldn't he simply have let Norgay go ahead of him, in the interest of political correctness?
This study is creating a buzz about perceptions of high-priced wines versus low-priced wines. Everybody is talking about this, man they are just goo-goo over this story. People in the study were more satisfied with wines labeled at a high-price over the same wine labeled with a low price. So what? How is this not a no-brainer to everyone? Of course people are influenced by price, not to mention product labeling in terms of looks and packaging. The perception is, high price means better and we all fall into that trap more often than not.
Now I will say that lower priced generics or store brand products at the grocery store are, by and large, crap. There are certain products that I will always pay more for the brand because the brand name product is just plain better. But for other products, the generic version is fine.
My No-Generic-Ever list:
peanut butter (Jiff)
barbeque sauce (no store brand ever, may try an unknown premium brand)
salad dressing (same as BBQ sauce)
spaghetti sauce (same as BBQ sauce)
cookie dough (only Pillsbury or Nestle)
Nutri-grain bars
Quaker oatmeal (the kind you add hot water)
baked beans (Bushs)
orange juice
Generic Ok list:
bread
100% fruit juice, e.g. cranberry/apple juice
ice cream
some cereals
Stephen A Smith went off on Rudy Giuliani while on Hardball. On the face of it, it doesn't bother me, but what does bother me is that he gave no real reason for why he thinks Rudy would be a dictator (LMAO). Just another Wilbon with a louder mouth.
There'd be "no foreign relations"? Nice train of thought, Smith, well spoken.
In kkk's 8pm post I asked what his new job was. So in fairness, I'll partially spill the beans as to what I do.
I write greeting cards.
Just kidding.
I work on technical documents for Industrial Gas Turbines and Gas Generators. What are those? Do a search I don't feel like explaining it. I work for a giant (evil) defense contractor. I have to deal with people in a foreign country on a daily basis, which is just so much fun. I'm kind of both an editor and writer of technical documents.
Speaking of working on technical manuals, I recently came across a typo that resulted in a particularly hilarious sexual inuendo. There was a sentence in a document dealing with applying torque to a nut (tightening a nut on a bolt). In this case the word "torquing" became "tonguing".
This resulted in: "Hold nut stationary during tonguing".
Honorable Mention, Toughest Man Alive, 21st Century: John Coward
Link
This British Airways co-pilot successfully landed a Boeing 777 after the plane experienced a complete, catastrophic failure of both engines and the plane's electrical systems. This occurred seconds before the landing approach. Only a handful of people were hurt.
Actor Heath Ledger died. Nothing against the guy, but he's just an actor. Not a big deal really. But I expect a lot of hyperbolic praise will be forthcoming from the media, giving him near saint status.
So I decided to watch Jericho last night to see what all the hubub is about. I wanted to find out what the deal was with the nuclear attacks, who was behind it, etc. Turns out that it was an inside job. Yep, forces in the U.S. government and/or U.S. military were behind the attack. Sound familiar? Is Alex Jones and other 911 truthers creative consultants on this show? I regret the space wasted on my DVR.
I made the mistake of turning on Rome today and of course he commented on the Quinn thing. "It better not be true." "I know you're smarter than that Brady." Yeah Jim, it's a real surprise a football player would rip on gays. Am I the only one who knows that there is a bigtime culture in football that is not hardcore anti-gay but is in fact steeped in gay jokes and the like. John Feinstein acknowledged this when he wrote his book on the Army Navy football rivalry. He encountered it while traveling with the teams for his book.
The real story here is not what Quinn did or didn't say, it is rather the ridiculous overreaction of the ghey guy. Calling 911 emergency over a verbal insult? You're foolish, sir.
