A brief follow-up to a story I blogged about last month:
No charges will be filed against Tigger.
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, Tiggers are a wonderful thing. On the other hand, I think we have to fight Tiggers there so that we don’t have to fight them here.
This has got to be an embarassment: McDonald’s coffee (the new premium kind) rates better than Starbuck’s, according to Consumer Reports.
Well, we’ve had successful movies chronicling the lives of Richie Valens, Ray Charles, and Johnny Cash, to name a few.
So what’s next?
Yup, a biopic about Milli Vanilli.
I wonder who will dub their voices.
The New York Times is reporting the discovery of several letters from and to Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank, which reflect his desparate attempts to get his family out of the Netherlands after the Nazis invaded. One of the countries he tried to escape to — unsuccessfully — was the United States.
Pictured above: Several people, including what appears to be a sailor, stand around the outside of the John Edwards Election headquarters in Second Life.
Keep in mind, people, you can only vote for him in the real world.
Check your Peter Pan peanut butter. You might want to throw it out:
ConAgra Foods Inc. told consumers to discard certain jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter after the spread was linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened almost 300 people nationwide.
Lids of jars with a product code beginning "2111" can be returned to ConAgra for a refund, the company said.
Speaking of Grammys, the right is all bent out of shape that them lubrul Dixie Chicks swept the awards.
I have some sad news for them: the Grammys have been irrelevant for a loooong time. Here’s when the final nail was put in the Grammy coffin: 1977, when Starland Vocal Band ("Afternoon Delight") beat our Elvis Costello for Best New Artist.
‘Nuff said.
A belated congrats to my childhood friend, Dan Zanes, on his Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children ("Catch That Train").
Here’s Dan performing in a video from an earlier album ("All Around The Kitchen"):
More videos of Dan at the Disney website. I guess he has a show on Disney or something.
Apparently, Dan has found his niche, having had moderate, but fleeting, success as the leader of the Del Fuegos in the 1980’s (Rolling Stone’s "Band Of The Year" in 1984).
Most political comedians are liberal. Political comedy shows (e.g., The Daily Show) have a liberal bent.
Irked by this fact, Fox News has come out with its "answer" to The Daily Show — a weekly show called "The Half Hour News Hour". It premeiers Sunday night, but some previews have been made available.
In this one, the opening of the premiere show, Rush Limbaugh (not an actor, but the Rush Limbaugh) is sitting behind the desk of the Oval Office, speaking to the nation. It’s 2009, and he’s President Rush Limbaugh.
Funny?
Then he introduces the Vice President, who walks into the office. It’s a strange hybrid — a cross between a praying Mantis and something vaguely human. Yup, it’s Ann Coulter.
Funny?
But wait, there’s more. The clip below gives an indication of the format and type of humor to expect. It’s closer to the "Weekend Update" format on Saturday Night Live. Specifically, the "Weekend Update" format of a time in SNL’s history when the show sucked.
And here’s the thing? It’s just not funny. Even the laugh track (no, they wouldn’t dare but this in front of a live audience) is lame. Here, we see the show taking Barack Obama to task, making fun of his initials: B.O.
Get it? Barack Obama’s initials are "B.O.". Like body odor. Isn’t that FUNNY?!?
Now, don’t get me wrong. Being mean-spirited is fine if you are going to do political satire. But you just have to be FUNNY, and these guys forgot the funny.
Not to get too deep in this, but I think this shows the difference between conservatives and liberals. If you take a look at a typical The Daily Show, the humor there relies on actual clips of real events. Jon Stewart often has little to do but show a politician saying something completely stupid, and then waiting for the live studio audience to laugh. In order to generate a (canned) laugh from a laugh track, the producers of this show have to make stuff up.
Or, as Tom Tomorrow quips:
Point is, it makes sense for a comedy network to produce a fake news show. For Fox to do so serves only to underscore what a joke the rest of their supposed “news” operation is.
The show is produced by Joel Surnow, the producer of "24". Apparently, he’s still into torture.
One of the most startling things about "The Half Hour News Hour" (aside from the fact that its name is ripped off from a failed 1980’s show called "The Half Hour Comedy Hour") is that it is on a 24 hour "fair and balanced" news network. I’ll say that again: a news network. How can anyone take Fox News seriously now, assuming they did before?
The Orlando Sentinel has one of the first reviews of the Fox News "comedy" show:
Jon Stewart knows how to do slashing comical commentary. He weighs in on what’s happening, such as the media’s bizarre coverage of Anna Nicole Smith’s death.
Fox News Channel does not know how to do slashing comical commentary. This show was meant to be a conservative version of “The Daily Show.” It is a botch.
“The 1/2 Hour News Hour” does not comment on what is happening; it simply takes swipes at people. These people include Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Ed Begley Jr. Other joke topics are the ACLU, Time magazine, children’s books and global warming.
Laughter, of an awfully canned variety, greets all the gags. Nothing happening on screen justifies these outbursts.
Fox News Channel will offer a second episode at 10 p.m. March 4. If we’re lucky, we’ll never hear of this dreadful show again.
Remember, the embedded clip above was leaked by Fox News to generate buzz about the show, so it is — one can presume — one of the first episode’s best moments. Yikes.
UPDATE: Bob Cesca detects a bit of racism in the show as well:
The attempted joke in which the white male host compares Senator Obama to former Washington, DC mayor Marion Barry was weird and awful, especially considering the wide variety of, say, white politicians and public figures who have used cocaine. Like the president.
The coverage of the Libby trial represents a milestone in the history of blogging. For the first time in a major new event, bloggers are ahead of the mainstream media, as even the Washington Post acknowledges:
The perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr., former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, has drawn every major news organization in the country to the federal courthouse in Washington. But none has fielded a bigger team — or was more openly crushed by the defense decision this week not to put Mr. Cheney and Mr. Libby on the stand — than Firedoglake.com.
Even the Web-savvy may ask, Fire dog what? A collective of liberal bloggers, fueled by online donations and a fanatical devotion to the intricacies of the Libby case, Firedoglake has offered intensive trial coverage, using some six contributors in rotation. They include a former prosecutor, a current defense lawyer, a Ph.D. business consultant and a movie producer, all of whom lodge at a Washington apartment rented for the duration of the trial.
All day long during the trial, one Firedoglake blogger is on duty to beam to the Web from the courthouse media room a rough, real-time transcript of the testimony. With no audio or video feed permitted, the Firedoglake “live blog” has offered the fullest, fastest public report available. Many mainstream journalists use it to check on the trial.
For blogs, the Libby trial marks a courthouse coming of age. It is the first federal case for which independent bloggers have been given official credentials along with reporters from the traditional news media, said Robert A. Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association. Mr. Cox negotiated access for the bloggers.
And FDL has been doing an amazing job.
I should go home to Concord, NH and run for political office as the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Hell, everybody else there is.
Born March 28, 1829 in Smithfield, R.I., Sullivan Ballou was educated at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.; Brown University in Providence, R.I. and the National Law School in Ballston, N.Y. He was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar in 1853.
Ballou devoted his brief life to public service. He was elected in 1854 as clerk of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, later serving as its speaker.
He married Sarah Hart Shumway on October 15, 1855, and the following year saw the birth of their first child, Edgar. A second son, William, was born in 1859.
Ballou immediately entered the military in 1861 after the Civil War broke out. He became judge advocate of the Rhode Island militia and was 32 when he wrote the following, just before the Battle of Bull Run:
July 14, 1861
Camp Clark, WashingtonMy very dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more . . .I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt . . .
Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field.
The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood, around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness . . .
But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights . . . always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again . . .
Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the first Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861.
Ironically, Sullivan Ballou’s letter was never mailed. Although Sarah would receive other, decidedly more upbeat letters, dated after the now-famous letter from the battlefield, the letter in question would be found among Sullivan Ballou’s effects when Gov. William Sprague of Rhode Island traveled to Virginia to retrieve the remains of his state’s sons who had fallen in battle.
As predicited, former Saturday Night Live writer/performer, actor ("Stuart Smiley"), and liberal talk show host Al Franken is running for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota.
Good chance of winning, too. And why?
Because he’s good enough, he’s smart enough, and doggone it — people like him.
There’s a lot of pretty amazing video out there on the Internet, but this video is among the most amazing.
British skydiver Michael Holmes plummeted 12,000 feet, hitting the ground at 80 mph when his chutes failed to open properly. The camera mounted on his helmet caught the entire event (including his breathless "goodbye" to the world just seconds before he hit.
His friend, a fellow skydiver, also filmed the event.
Michael survived.
I think Google screwed up their Valentine’s Day logo. (Obviously, this link will look different tomorrow, so click it now)