Feeding Frenzy

For over a week, it's been all Imus, all the time. This is such a frenzy, and there are so many double standards and such hypocrisy on all sides here, that it's impossible to even make a judgment or know where to start.

While I wouldn't call myself a fan of Imus himself, I am a regular listener of his show. Sure he's a craggy fossil, and often clueless about even his own opinion, but somehow, I find his show entertaining. Hey, I often like Andy Rooney too.

The nappy-headed hoes comment was stupid and offensive, but is it any moreso than the everyday putdowns that drive his, and most other radio talkshows? To me it was just his attempt to be cool. The term is regularly tossed out in hip-hop music, and he probably just threw it out, both to be funny, and to appear more with-it than his resemblance to the Old Man of the Mountain would suggest. As with many radio hosts that are double the age of their listeners, he often uses terms he doesn't fully understand in a pathetic attempt to be relevant.

But with all the offensive language that is regularly heard on the airwaves, whether it's in hip-hop music, talk radio, or on Comedy Central, who would ever guess that this one offhand remark could become a week long, 24-hour news story, and would potentially end his career? In a world where there are often no boundaries, how is one to know when one has been crossed? As William Hurt's character in Broadcast News says: "It's hard not to cross, they keep moving the little sucker, don't they."

The bottom line is that if Imus is fired over this, the real right-wing hate mongers like Rush Limbaugh better be fair game too, as well as the pushers of hate-filled music and comedy.

Sidekick is swallowing my Globe

So today the Sports section from my Globe was missing. Searched everywhere and finally found it inside of Sidekick. Yesterday the same thing happened with the Calendar section.

So what is the deal with Sidekick? It's this silly little section the Globe launched with great fanfare a year or so ago. I never read it or quite get the point of it. On the web, it makes a bit or sense, but in print It's just an annoyance like the Sunday advertising flyers. I guess it's supposed to tell you everything that's happening in town today. But I would expect that to be in the Arts section where all the other arts and entertainment is. It seems to me like a place for them to stuff all the things they don't know what to do with. It has comics and TV listings in it, but I never bother with either. I seem to remember the comic people being pissed in the beginning because they shrunk the comics down to fit them in it. And here's a question: If the TV listings are in it, why aren't the movie listings in it?

My biggest gripe is that it's always printed so badly, that at least the color pages are illegible. I mean, I'm in the publishing business, so I know that newspapers always send the crappy copies as far away from the city as they can-mainly so advertisers don't see them. But how can a big city paper like the Globe regularly have copies that are printed so badly they barely deserve to be put under a birdcage? Hey, maybe I'll send my copy directly to the advertising department of Jordan's Furniture. Their ad in the center of the thing today is so out of register, that's it's illegible. I'm sure Barry and Elliot would like to know what their hard earned advertising dollars are buying them. Mine always looks like this. And not only that, but the section is so thin, and the paper is such shit, that there are always creases across it, so even if the type is in register, you still can't read it.

But printing issues aside, the thing is ridiculous anyways. If it had all the arts and entertainment in it, and was like a mini-Phoenix or something, that would be one thing. But to stick a few listings, some stupid sections like the chess quiz, the "Reflection of the Day" (today's is "One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it") in this pidly little 12 page section & try to make it out to be some big innovation is ridiculous.

Any then to start burying Sports and other legitimate sections inside this joke of a section it is sort of like AOL taking over Time Warner. Look how well that worked out.

Just What I Needed (Not!)

If Ric Okasek decided to get the original Cars back together and tour, the chances that I would go see the show would be about point-five percent.

Like most people who went to college in the 80s, the Cars were certainly a part of the soundtrack of my life. I was never a huge fan, but I owned many of their albums on vinyl, and generally liked most of their songs. But I saw them in concert a couple times, and was underwhemed both times. They were a studio pop band, and to me it just never translated very well to the stage.

So add 25 years, and how does their music hold up? Not very well. You know how I know this? It's the age of the IPod. I have 1000+ songs on my IPod. I have made quite the effort to round out my primary music of choice (postpunk, power pop, and alternative country) with good tunes and even guilty pleasures from every other genre. So in addition to The Replacements, Old-97's, and Fountains of Wayne, my IPod contains everything from Dean Martin to the Monkees to Duran Duran. I even have a Tom Jones song, a Tony Orlando and Dawn song and a couple Neil Diamond songs. Yet I have not a single Cars song.

Now to some degree that is probably an oversight, but their stuff just does not hold up very well.

So what would be less interesting than a reuinted Cars tour? How about The New Cars. What a ridiculous concept! Ric Okasek was smart enough to sit this one out, but original guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes must have needed some cash bad, so they hooked up with Todd Rundgren, a relic of an even earlier era, and a couple other members of his band to go on tour as The New Cars.

Now who the hell would go to see this? If there were still any diehard Cars fans, why would they go to a show without Ric Okasek? It's friggin crazy. The best people could hope for, I guess, would be for them to roll out Todd's one hit "Hello It's Me" a song that probably actually holds up better than any of the Cars songs.

Stupid Naming Rights

There are always ridiculous examples of event naming rights: The Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl, The AutoZone Liberty Bowl etc. But having a kids breakfast food (an admission here: I've had a bit of a renewed Pop-Tart jones ever since I bought a box for my kids on vacation last summer) sponsor even a horrendous tour like this is just weird. Will fans of the show be more apt to buy Pop-Tarts? Will people be more apt to go to the show if the see it advertised on their Pop-Tart box. What's next: Captain Crunch presents the America's Next Top Model road tour?

[entertainment] [kids stuff] [marketing] [pop culture] [television]

Roll Over Ed Murrow

So Katie Couric is going to become anchor of the CBS Evening News. One more step toward the cellar for television news. Obviously CBS learned nothing from the Connie Chung debacle of a dozen years ago. Success as a ditzy early morning infotainment show host, doesn't translate to success as anchor of a network newscast. Not that the network newscast is what it used to be, but whatever form the "newscast" ultimately takes, Katie certainly is not the answer.

What is the audience for a 6:30 PM newscast anyways? If anybody is watching TV at that hour, it would seem to me to be more likely someone of Bob Schieffer's generation, than someone wanting to watch Katie Couric. I'm somewhat of a news junkie, and I can't remember the last time I've seen more than five minutes of a network newscast. I'm lucky if I can get settled by 8:00 in time to watch Olbermann.

If I watch any, it is generally NBC. Brian Williams is about as bland as Wonder Bread, yet still somehow fits in the anchor chair, and carries on the tradition of the network news about as good as is possible these days. The little I've seen of CBS since What's the Frequecy Kenneth left, it seemed that at least Schieffer was watchable, and carried some of the authority of what was once the most respected news business in the world. Why CBS didn't replace Rather with Schieffer a decade ago, I don't get. Rather was just friggin weird. And all I know about Elizabeth Vargas at ABC, is that her face bugs me too much to watch. She always looks pained.

Katie would be fine to go up against Diane Sawyer or Bawbwa Wawa on the prime time crime and celebrity watch shows like 48 hours and 20/20. Those shows have already given up the right to be called news shows. That's the league she's in. She may even be slightly more tolerable than either of Diane or Bawbwa. But CBS News? Any of these proposed reinventions of the news will surely fail, and further tarnish what little is left of the network's reputation as a news business.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in

So just in time for the Sopranos return on Sunday, I had to up the cable bill to near $100 bucks a month. That's just nuts. We cancelled HBO last year since we weren't really watching it that much, and the cable bill was getting ridiculous. Only ended up saving about $14 a month. In the year since, the cable bill has crept back up to almost where it was. Today I call to see how much its going to cost to add it back, and after a 3 month "special offer" it's $26 bucks a month to add HBO. So $14 a month to cancel it. $26 a month to get it back. What's the deal with that!

The Apprentice has Jumped the Shark

Many of you will find it odd that I ever liked The Apprentice, but for some reason I did. I ragged on my wife when she wanted to watch the very first episode, then became hooked on it. It's the only reality show I've ever watched other than the original Real World. And even back when I was REALLY an anti-business liberal, there was something about Trump that fascinated me.

So anyway, I've watched just about every episode (except the Martha version that was completely unwatchable). Every year, the formula becomes ever more transparent, yet I kept watching. There was always someone to root for, and someone to root against. In the beginning you actually learned something about business, and it was intriguing to see how really smart people in business made decisions.

But more and more it has just become about The Boardroom. Sure it's scripted as hell, but there was always some intriguing drama that would play out in the boardroom, and it was fun to see how Trump would react to things that unfolded.

But last night, it took me only five minutes to shut it off, and declare that it had jumped the shark. I couldn't even stick around to see how hot Trump's daughter was. It's so clear every year that there are at least a few goons put there by the producers just to annoy people and cause conflict. The fat guy in this episode is obviously the one this time. The show this week immediately devolved into a fight between him, and the obligatory blond bitch. I didn't even hear who was fired. I don't care. OK, I just looked, and it seems two of them were fired, and it was not the fat guy. Guess they need him for more conflict in later episodes.

But its not just the obvious manipulative casting. The tasks have become just stupid blatant ads for whatever client is paying for that week's episode. Trump's intro to the task is just a bad commercial. There is product placement more obvious than on The Price is Right. And the tasks show nothing about the contestants' business skills.

The first year, they would actually have to do tasks that would show how much business savvy they had. It was interesting to watch how things developed, where people made mistakes, where they made smart moves. Last night was some stupid text-messaging ad campaign to sell Gillette razors.

So it's over for The Apprentice. It will have to come off my Guilty Pleasures list. Now I'll have to be subjected by the wife to watching Supernanny. Expect a post on that soon.

Channel 7 is the No News Zone

Rather than continuing to post about individual reasons why Channel 7 news sucks, I'll point to John Carroll's conclusion on last week's Beat the Press. After a report on Channel 7's recent fascination with stories on the occult, Carroll concluded that "Channel 7 is out of the news business. Carroll is great at getting to the core of issues of media stupidity, one of my favorite topics. Essentially that is the case, although I would argue that every local station except NECN is out of the news business.

They are in the "promote our own shows" business. They are in the "promote fear of everything" business. They are in the "whatever it takes to increase our ratings" business. But they are certainly not in the news business.

UPDATE 3/8

OK, If you need further proof that Channel 7 is out of the news business look no further than political reporter Andy Hiller's hard hitting interview with Gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos last night. This was pathetic even for Channel 7. Sounded like one of those sarcastic Q&A's in the Improper Bostonian. Expect a report on Boston's Beloved Bartenders to lead the Channel 7 news tonight. How's this for The Hiller Instinct.

Hiller:"What is the correct pronunciation?
Christy Mihos "Actually, Mihos."

"What percentage of people get it right?"
"About 25 percent at best."

"Tell me three words to describe you."
"Tenacious… Oh, can I take that one back? Junkyard dog. That's three. Tenacious and junkyard dog."

"Did you make your millions, or were they given to you?"
"I made them."

"If you were a car, what kind of car would you be?"
"Boy I would really like to be a 1960 Ferrari Spyder convertible."

"If you could have any vanity license plate, what would it say?"
"No tolls."

"What's your favorite saying or quotation?"
"Andrew Jackson: 'One man with courage makes a majority.'"

"What's you favorite movie?"
"Forrest Gump."

"When's the last time you were drunk?"
"The last time I was drunk, I think I had a lot of wine on the millenium that night."

"Ever get high?"
"High, on what?"

"Drugs, marijuana…"
"Yeah, on marijuana. I can't smoke it but…"

"But you can inhale?"
"I can inhale, yeah."

"And when was the last time you inhaled?"
"I think 1972, my senior year in college."

The wise guys are already dismissing Mihos, insisting he can't win, but I'm not convinced. Mihos has money and a message: Politics as unusual. With so many voters here dissatisfied, he could be the next Governor. I'm Andy Hiller, and that's my Instinct.

Blogging the Oscars

Here's a post of random thoughts while watching the Oscars.

Going into it, here are my thoughts. With two little kids, I don't get out to the movies as often as I used to, although this year, I have seen a decent number of the films nominated. Walk the Line was the best movie I've seen this year, so will root for both Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix, both of whom were awesome. I saw Brokeback Mountain, and thought it was good, but far from great. I really didn't buy the relationships in the film at all. I saw Munich last night, and thought it was good. I saw Crash several months ago, and thought it was pretty good. Certainly better than expected for a Sandra Bullock movie, but I was surprised when I heard it was nominated for Best Picture. I don't know about that. Saw Junebug earlier this week, thought it was a good film, and that Amy Adams was much more worthy of Best Supporting Actress than Michelle Williams in Brokeback.

• Hope the show starts soon. I really can't take this mindless interviewing of celebs on the red carpet by dopes.


• They aren't gay cowboys, they were hearding sheep. They were fucking shepherds.


• Cute intro with all the ex-hosts.


• This may be a long night for Jon Stewart.


• Nicole Kidman is hot.


• How old is Dolly Parton? Should I insert a plastic surgury joke here, or say she still looks amazing.


• Funniest moment so far: Will Ferrell and Steve Carell decked out in bad makeup to introduce the makeup category. Runner up: Ben Stiller in green suit sketch.


• How come Don Knotts wasn't included in the sequence of stars that died this year. Sure he was mainly a television guy, but there were the classics The Reluctant Astronaut and The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Certainly should have been a mention.


• OK, too many lame awards eating up air time. I'm not going to make it to the big ones.

Postscript. I'm really tired of Billy Crystal, so Jon Stewart was a good change, but I think he's going to be a one-termer like Letterman. He seemed to fall kind of flat. Glad Brokeback Mountain didn't win Best Picture. It just wasn't that good. But Crash? Glad to see Reese Witherspoon won Best Actress. Must see Capote soon.

Still to come, Ricky Martin

OK, that's my cue to go to bed. I've been sitting here working on the computer with the Olympic closing ceremonies on. Not really paying much attention, just noting periodic cheesiness. A band of marching clowns playing YMCA. Some ridiculous looking ice fishing skecth. I missed the guy who ran on stage during some speech when I went to the bathroom. But hearing Still to come, Rickie Martin just before a commercial break, finally has made me turn it off & go to bed.

G'night.

Prime time lineup as news

This bugs the shit out of me. Local TV news, doing news reports on their network's prime time lineup. Channel 4 just did a story on Boston connections to the new season of Survivor, which of course just had its season premier tonight on CBS. The Apprentice is always news on Channel 7. Ed Harding gets all giddy talking about the happenings on Desperate Housewives. When Barbara Walters has done some lame interview on 20/20, it's news at 11 on Channel 5. And of course there is always something important happening on American Idol that Channel 25 needs to waste five minutes of news time on. Hardly a day goes by when there is not a least one story that is nothing more than a shameless plug for the network.

It's just such an annoying, obvious attempt to plug the prime time lineup, as well as get "lead-in" ratings by advertising the story about the show during the show. It also costs them nothing to do, compared to the cost of sending a reporter out to get news.
Whenever one of these things come on, I just switch the station immediately.

Honey I squished the picture

No this post isn't about Howard Dean, although there will be plenty of time to comment on that latest attempt at self-destruction by the Democrats. This gripe is about wide-screen TVs, and how people watch regular formatted TV stretched-to-fit a wide screen. It doesn't seem to bother anyone but me.

You go into a bar, and unless it's a sporting event, the TV is always stretch-to-fit. They'll have the news, or an old movie on, and everyone looks like Oomp-Loompas. And nobody is bothered by it. It's the main reason I haven't bought a widescreen TV yet.

Hey, I'm a little anal, but I refuse to even watch the news on certain channels in the winter, because they squish the picture to put the no school announcements at the bottom of the screen. Would much rather they chop off Ed Harding's neck, than to make his head any fatter.

Isn't there anyone else bothered by watching TV like this?

Dumbfucks

This blog isn't meant to be overtly political, but when you are talking about things that suck, how can you resist posting this. Just came at me today by email. Not sure of the source, but it's brilliant.