"Great" Television

Today, the fall television season really begins. Oh, a couple shows debuted last week, but most of the ones I'll be watching are still forthcoming. So, Time magazine had their list of Top 100 shows. Really? We'll see about that. Thanks to Tosy and Mary; this was also tackled by Jaquandor.

24
Watched religiously the first season. First 13 shows created as great arc, then it floundered. First episode of the second season really turned me off, but I followed it sporadically. Now, I just read about it, rather than watching it, though I did see part of the great 5th season finale. I discovered recently that the very first monthly post about Lydia, back on May 26, 2005, was about not watching 24.

60 Minutes
Have watched religiously for most of its nearly 40 years(!) Now always recorded, and always have to "tape" the show after it in the fall when CBS has a "4 pm" NFL game, which never starts at 4, and certainly never ends at 7; I also have to be aware of the US Open tennis, or the Masters golf tournament for similar reasons. I don't know why I seldom watched 60 Minutes II, which got folded into the mothership a couple years ago.

The Abbott and Costello Show
Saw occasionally in reruns as a kid; would probably appreciate more now.

ABC's Wide World of Sports
Used to watch in its early years.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents
This was in reruns when I saw it, but Hitch, even more than the stories, scared me to death.

All in the Family
A great show, though it went downhill when the Stivic kid was born, and became largely irrelevant after Mike and Gloria moved to California.
Favorite moment: Archie begin kissed by Sammy Davis, Jr.

An American Family
Watched it at the time - devastating. Wonder how it'd play now.

American Idol
Season 1: saw last 4 weeks.
Season 2: saw whole season.
Season 3: saw whole season.
Season 4: watched after they got to the final 12.
I've given it up. What season are they on now, anyway? The "bad" auditions are unwatchable, because, of the thousands of people who try out, only a relative handful are chosen by the screeners, I think, to humiliate; it's so manipulated. Even if I go back to watching the talent portion some day, I'll pass on the early weeks.

Arrested Development
I tried to watch the first season, which people swore by, couldn't get into it. I tried again for the second season and it clicked. I watched it to the end; maybe I should try the first season DVD.

Battlestar Galactica
I assume this is the current series; have never seen.

The Beavis and Butt-Head Show
I tried to watch, failed.

The Bob Newhart Show
Classic.
I was going to say the best scene was the end, but then I realized it was from Newhart's NEXT show.

Brideshead Revisited
Tried to watch, failed.

Buffalo Bill
As I recall, loved.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Watched very rarely; saw some of the special episodes. Seemed pretty good.

The Carol Burnett Show
Classic.
Favorite scene: Gone with the Wind curtain dress.

The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite
I tended to watch Huntley-Brinkley a bit more, but when they split in 1970, it was Uncle Walter until he retired nearly a decade later.

A Charlie Brown Christmas
Yeah, though I'd argue with it even being on the list, I do watch it.

Cheers
This show not only survived the loss of one of its early stars (Coach), but thrived. I watched a little less when Rebecca replaced Diane and Robin Colcord was around, but yes, a classic.
Favorite moment: Sam is despairing that everything he does, he does to please the ladies. Then he's reminded that he likes the Three Stooges, even though "women hate the Stooges." He does that for himself; he's NOT shallow!

The Cosby Show
Tosy said: "Funnier in the early seasons than you may remember." About right.
Favorite moment: Rudy lipscynching to a Ray Charles song.

The Daily Show
I like it when I watch it, but I seldom watch it.

Dallas
I saw two episodes: "Who Shot J.R." and the resolution, for which I correctly picked the shooter. That was enough.

The Day After
Recall that it was powerful in 1983, or whenever; haven't seen since.

Deadwood
On pay cable. Have never seen.

The Dick Van Dyke Show
Classic. Quite possibly my favorite television show.
Favorite moment: Rob's convinced he and Laura got the wrong child at the hospital.

Dragnet
Really? I've seen at least two iterations of this. The early version was bland, the second, with Harry Morgan, was so corny, it was schtick.

The Ed Sullivan Show
Sure. Saw that Italian mouse WAY too often, though.

The Ernie Kovacs Show
Saw an episode or two as a kid; guess you would have had to have been there.

Felicity
Saw a handful of episodes, pre-haircut, not enough to remember.

Freaks and Geeks
Found this show a quarter of the way through and became a religious convert. I'm not one to say a show went on for too short a time - to everything, there is a season, and all that - but if I were to pick one show that suffered a premature death, it'd be My So-Called Life. Or maybe this.

The French Chef
The Ackroyd parody worked because it was so spot-on. It'd be on at 2 pm on Saturday afternoons, and I found it surreal.

Friends
Watched it for some seasons, gave up on it for a season, get sucked back in, get turned off. I was there at the end.

General Hospital
Never seen.

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
I saw this in reruns as a kid. Actually, as I recall, quite funny, in a corny way.

Gilmore Girls
Loved the core relationship: Rory-Lorelai-Emily. Loved the townspeople. especially loved Mrs. Kim, when she developed as a character. Sure, the show would get off track - Rory's refrain with Dean, e.g. I never believed. But I watched all seven seasons, and we even have Season 1 on DVD, albeit unwatched. The subject of one of my earliest posts, and undoubtedly others.

Gunsmoke
This show was on 20 years, and I probably saw half of them, from Dennis Weaver's Chester, to Burt Reynolds' Quint to Ken Curtis' Festus. Doc was always the same. Matt Dillon (James Arness, the brother of Peter Graves from Mission: Impossible) was larger than life. And what WAS his relationship with Miss Kitty? This was better than Bonanza, that's for certain.

Hill Street Blues
Probably lost it a bit near the end, but out of the gate, a great show.
Favorite moment: the off-screen death of Sgt. Phil Esterhaus.

Homicide: Life on the Street
Great show. Occasionally tough to take, such as the Vincent D'Onofrio episode.

The Honeymooners
I recognize its greatness, yet don't particularly appreciate it.

I, Claudius
Tried; failed.

I Love Lucy
I've seen any number of episodes. (Tosy, this has been in reruns for 50 YEARS and you haven't seen it?) It's of its time, so some of it is still hysterically funny, while other bits are dated. But Lucy WAS a great physical actor.

King of the Hill
Tosy: "I like King of the Hill and yet never, ever watch it (seriously, I think I've seen maybe five episodes). Not sure why that is." I've seen more like 20 episodes, but, no I don't watch it, yet I've appreciated what I've seen.

The Larry Sanders Show
When I had HBO, I watched it and liked it, then I didn't, and I didn't, except for the last episode, which I saw on rerun the night before I was to tape my JEOPARDY! episodes.

Late Night with David Letterman (NBC)
VERY occasional. Don't record it, don't stay up for it. (Though I did see the episode with Oprah, after his surgery, after 9/11...)

Leave It to Beaver
Watched in reruns as a kid. Never engaged me.

Lost
Have never seen, except bits and pieces. Yet follow avidly the storyline in TV Guide, etc.

Married... With Children
I watched one episode, hated it, never saw it again.

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Thought it was very funny, yet wonder if it would age well.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Classic, from "I hate spunk" to the group retrieval of the Kleenex box.

M*A*S*H
A great show for six or seven years. Should have ended with Radar going home, early in season 8 (I think).
Favorite episode, rerun recently: a documentary being filmed.

The Monkees
Watched, liked well enough, didn't love.

Monty Python's Flying Circus
Watched occasionally. When it comes to comedy, I may be a Britophobe.

Moonlighting
The arc of this show has been well-documented; early was great, later was awful. I went to Jump the Shark and fully 2/3s of the voters picked when David and Maddie "did it" that did in the show.

MTV 1981-1992
Eh, this isn't a "show". Yeah, I watched videos a lot for much of that time.


My So-Called Life
Sob. I really liked this show, and it really felt like it was really finding its voice when it was cut off.

Mystery Science Theater 3000
Did people actually WATCH this? I'd flip through the channels, hit upon this for three minutes, laugh (or more often, not), and move on.

The Odd Couple
Classic.
Favorite episode: Password.

The Office [American]
Watch religiously. How has Michael not been fired, I'll never know.

The Office [British]
Haven't seen; I will, I will. I do recall, though, that there was a lot of badmouthing of the U.S. series before it even aired, which have largely gone away.

The Oprah Winfrey Show
I saw Oprah when she had Paul McCartney on, or when the Little Rock black kids who integrated the schools in 1957 and the white kids who taunted them reconciled. That is to say, rarely.

Pee Wee's Playhouse
Watched this. It was weird. Sorta liked it.

Playhouse 90
I probably saw this as a wee kid, but don't remember.

The Price Is Right
There was probably a year or two in college when I watched it more than I should have.

Prime Suspect
Saw at least a couple full seasons of this, but not lately. It was excellent.

The Prisoner
Watched religiously. Gordon, are you familiar with this show?

The Real World
Watched maybe three seasons of, I'm afraid to say, before I bailed. Season 3 was he infamous Pedro vs. Puck, with Judd referring.

Rocky and His Friends
Well, yeah! Mr. Peabody,and Sherman, and Fractured Fairy Tales.

Roots
Watched all eight episodes. Appointment TV, good, though occasionally tough to take.

Roseanne
Watched it early on, but it lost me somewhere along the way.

Sanford and Son
I watched it, but I was never sure why.

Saturday Night Live
I happen to think that Phil Hartman was the greatest performer ever on the show, and I was watching it from the beginning. Watch it far less now.

Second City Television
Saw it often after SNL. I liked the characters and actors more than the actual skits ofttimes.

See It Now
Saw, mostly in clips in TV obits.

Seinfeld
Watched for a few years regularly, always recorded -Thursday night is choir night. Pretty much gave up on it after Susan (George's finacee) died, though I'd catch a show here and there. Saw the last few episodes; was not impressed.

Sesame Street
I was in high school when this started. I watched this almost religiously for a couple years while I was in college, along with Electric Company and Zoom.
In fact, I have the 10th Anniversary Album, complete with "12 autographed photos suitable for framing", which I bought only because an earlier album went in the great Album Theft of 1972. Both albums had my theme song. Unfortunately, the early album had, and the latter doesn't have:


Sex and the City
Never saw it on HBO, only on the TNT version. Occasionally too precious, but I got enough enjoyment out of it.

The Shield
Watched big chunks of this the first and second seasons, not so much now. It was great show.

The Simpsons
Watched religious for nine years, off and on for the next nine.

The Singing Detective
Never saw.

Six Feet Under
Never saw. Based on the cast, probably would have liked.

Soap
I was watching the Tonys recently - yes, I know they aired in June - and Jay Johnson, who was on Soap, won a Tony for The Two and Only. A surreal series where Billy Crystal was actually funny. Lost its way at the end, certainly after the character of Benson left, but had a couple good years.

The Sopranos
Never seen, unless you count the last three minutes that I saw on YouTube.

South Park
I watched it three or four times, wanting to like it, but never really did.

SpongeBob SquarePants
Don't know why I don't watch; I like it on the rare times I see it.

SportsCenter
I could watch SportsCenter at least daily, preferably on tape immediately after it ends, so I can miss the lengthy teases and especially dopey segments such as "Who Is More Now?" - who commands the bigger buzz. But I don't, though I've been known to watch a half hour early Monday morning.

Star Trek
My father loved this show. I didn't get it until I started watching it in reruns.

St. Elsewhere
At least at the time I was watching it, my favorite dramatic television show. Have the first season DVD, of which I've seen two episodes that still look good. People are always surprised when I tell them Denzel Washington was on the show for its entire six-year run. One of the great series enders.

The Super Bowl (and the Ads)
Another odd choice - I've seen at least XXXVII of them.

Survivor
Watched the first season, which I rather liked. Saw the second season, which bored me. Saw part of the third season, gave up. May have seen the first and/or last episodes of a couple other seasons, but it's off my radar.

Taxi
Classic. Particularly loved the Reverend Jim.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Saw now and then. Did see the last two episodes.

The Twilight Zone
I'm from Binghamton. I've met Rod Serling. I'm constitutionally required to not only watch Twilight Zone, but to like it.

Twin Peaks
I started watching it, but it got too weird.

The West Wing
I watched first three or four seasons, then lost interest. But did watch the last season, which was a suitable ending.

What's My Line?
Watched it a lot given the fact that I think it was on 10:30 on Sunday nights, as I recall. It was a great game show in its simplicity, so much so that a live version, not on TV, exists.

WKRP in Cincinnati
Classic.
"Oh, the humanity!"

The Wire
HBO show. Never seen.

Wiseguy
Did see at least some of it. Very good show, as I recall.

The X-Files
Saw maybe a half dozen episodes, which I liked and didn't in equal number.

Your Show of Shows
Even I'm not that old.
***
Alice Ghostley and Marcel Marceau both died recently. From her Internet Movie database page, I realize that I'd seen Ms. Ghostley in a LOT of stuff, not just Bewitched, Designing Women and Evening Shade, probably from at least one episode of half the television shows listed. Mr. Marceau I saw mostly in TV variety shows such as Ed Sullivan; sure, he was the "greatest mime ever", but name two others.

ROG

You Ask Me; I Ask You

It's time once again for Ask Roger Anything, this time with a twist. You get to ask me whatever, i.e., anything you want, and I have to answer. But I also am offering to pose questions to you to post on YOUR blog.

Here's one I got actually a month ago:

Thought of you as the only person with whom I could have a discussion about this -- it seems that more and more musicians are "selling out" and allowing their recognizable tunes to be attached to some product or other. In this week alone, I've heard REM selling something I don't remember, which doesn't seem to fit with everything I've read about Michael Stipe. But it really came home to me last evening when I heard the Corrs' "At Your Side" (from "In Blue," which admittedly is a little on the poppy side and not nearly as Irish as I would like) hawking the AARP!!!!

Just had to bring this to your attention, if it hasn't been already.
What's your opinion?

I replied: The evil facts are that it's increasingly difficult to be in the traditional marketplace. Thus, Moby sells most of the songs on his Play album, Macca is sold by a coffee company, JT is sold by a greeting card company, your man Bruuuuce was out there hawking some of his last albums on the Today show. [The Rising in 2002, and Magic this coming Friday.]
The thing specifically about the Corrs is that I don't know exactly how much control they have over their product. If they did "sell out", it'd be a good group to sell out to, since it's those 45-64 year olds who are still actually buying CDs in good numbers.

I found this article in Metroland that also responds to the point:
There's no such thing as selling out, says Duff McKagan of rock supergroup Velvet Revolver. "It gets harder and harder and harder for a rock group to make a living."
...McKagan points out, "Nobody is selling records like they used to. Even [Velvet Revolver's 2004 debut] Contraband sold only 3 million albums. [In the early '90s Guns ['N' Roses] and [Stone Temple Pilots] and Nirvana and Pearl Jam [were selling 8, 9, 10 million. Three million would have been only OK...
the newfound attitude towards "selling out", particularly among rock acts, is the product of this music-industry sea change. He cites licensing opportunities like commercials, movies and ringtones as alternative methods to make money off of tunes..."Since Iggy Pop did it, it's all OK, cause he's the dude," says Kagan. "God bless him, cause he hadn't made any money....

Now, here's the contract: if you give me questions, I promise to answer them within a fortnight, and to let you know that I did. If I give YOU questions, you promise to answer them in a fortnight, and to let me know that you did.

So, ASK me, OK?
***
Snakes on a plane.
***
Fred Hembeck linked to this story, which really got to me.

ROG

The New Television Season QUESTIONS

1. What new shows are you most looking forward to checking out?

For me, it's that nighttime soapy-looking Dirty Sexy Money on Wednesday nights on ABC, not because of the premise, but because of the cast: Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, and Jill Clayburgh.

The show with the most buzz: Pushing Daisies, also on Wednesdays on ABC. Of course, "buzz" doesn't always equal quality.

What else is on Wednesdays on ABC, anyway? Oh, yeah, the Grey's Anatomy spinoff, Private Practice, which has a buzz too, but not such a good one. I'll have to watch it at least once, because of the luminescent Audra McDonald, pictured, before I bail; I'll probably end up watching Bionic Woman on NBC, if anything.

There's a show on Mondays on the CW (The CW?!) called Aliens in America, about a Pakistani Muslim exchange student, which will either be very good or very bad, but which I'll at least try. It has reviewed surprisingly well, so far, and it's got to be better than a show about the Geico Cavemen.

Finally, there's Back to You,b Wednesday on FOX. It actually started last week, and Ken Levine liked it, though Tom the Dog did not. I'll have to at least watch the premiere episode

There are probably others - better check my TV listings for the time and channel in my area.

2. What returning shows are you looking forward to seeing?

NBC Thursday night comedies: Earl, Scrubs, The Office. I'll probably even give 30 Rock another go. Last year I wrote: Watching Tracy Morgan on the second or third episode of 30 Rock doing some jivin' riff, I said, "I don't need this," shut it off in mid-episode, deleted it, deleted the next yet unwatched episode, and removed it from the DVR recording schedule. But I also noted that lots of people whose opinion I respect like it. And it did get some Emmy love.

Oh, and that dysfunctional family - I relate to dysfunctional families - on ABC's Brothers and Sisters Sunday nights. I'm not saying Sally Field deserved the Emmy more than, say, Edie Falco from The Sopranos, but I like her, I really like her in this show.
***
Upright Citizens Brigade on DVD, "The Return of America's Best Sketch Comedy Group".
***
Mr. Brown posed his own three TV questions, one of which hit on one of mine: What show will be canceled first? Entertainment Weekly picked Viva Laughlin, a "musical-dramedy", and I'm thinking it'll go early, but it's not even premiering until October 21, by which time that show with the Geico cavemen, I'm hoping, will have bitten the dust.

ROG

"The Trouble with Islam Today"

I love librarians. They have such interesting people at their conferences. I was flicking through the channels a couple months ago and hit upon the American Libraries Association conference held in late June airing on one of the C-SPAN networks.

Specifically, I was watching a dynamic woman named Irshad Manji who seems to have created a firestorm with her speeches and books, including The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith. It was interesting to see a strong Muslim woman staying within the faith, yet noting its shortcomings.

Rather than trying to recreate her points, I'll link to a blog report here from a "conservative" librarian, and this post, to give you a flavor of the talk.

At the end, she gave this five-minute recitation, from memory, of a poem from Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Oompah Loompahs declaring the evils of television, a short excerpt of which you can see here and/or here.

One of the things I found on Ms. Manji's MySpace page is the notion of ijtihad.

What is ijtihad?

Ijtihad (pronounced "ij-tee-had") is Islam’s lost tradition of independent thinking. In the early centuries of Islam, thanks to the spirit of ijtihad, 135 schools of thought thrived. Inspired by ijtihad, Muslims gave the world inventions from the astrolabe to the university. So much of we consider "western" pop culture came from Muslims: the guitar, mocha coffee, even the ultra-Spanish expression "Ole!" (which has its root in the Arabic word for God, "Allah").

What happened to ijtihad?

Toward the end of the 11th century, the "gates of ijtihad" were closed for entirely political reasons. During this time, the Muslim empire from Iraq in the east to Spain in the west was going through a series of internal upheavals. Dissident denominations were popping up and declaring their own runaway governments, which posed a threat to the main Muslim leader -- the caliph. Based in Baghdad, the caliph cracked down and closed ranks. Remember those 135 schools of thought mentioned above? They were deliberately reduced to four pretty conservative schools of thought. This led to a rigid reading of the Koran as well as to a series of legal opinions -- fatwas -- that scholars could no longer overturn or even question, but could now only imitate. To this very day, imitation of medieval norms has trumped innovation in Islam. It’s time to revive ijtihad to update Islam for the 21st century. That’s why we’ve created Project Ijtihad.

A couple thoughts came to mind when reading that:
* Yes, Islam is more diverse than some people have been telling us
* There are some forms of Christianity that seems to have been captured by politics that could do with some "ijtihad"

I haven't read Irshad Manji's book yet, but if it is as dynamic as she is as a speaker, it should be fascinating.
***
Conversely, Ann Colter has made me an offer I can refuse:
Here is how to tick off a liberal...just subscribe to Human Events today! (And you'll receive a FREE copy of The Truth About Muhammad - a $27.95 value.)
ROG

The ABCs of Music

Tom the Dog made this abecedarian list; actually, he's made at least three recently, and I haven't done one since Thanksgiving 2005, I don't believe.

So, these are songs I like. I think they're a bit goofy, not necessarily in a Weird Al or Dr. Demento sort of way (though one of the artists does appear on a Demento album I own). Some are actually good songs, though a couple are terrible.

ABBA- Waterloo. Yeah, I know, they rule, a top 10 group for Mr. Hembeck. But they're still a guilty pleasure for me.
Bee Gees-Jive Talkin’. Released before Saturday Night Fever, but included on the soundtrack, I find myself walkin' down the street like Tony Manero when I hear it, which really hurts.
Costello, Elvis-Chewing Gum. Elvis' birthday was last month and I was listening to Spike, my favorite EC album (and apparently no one else's). I said to one of my co-workers, "Get that chewing gum out of your ears!" She said, "Why DID you say that to me?" It was this song featuring the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
Doors-Touch Me. I'm not a big Jim Morrison fan; I went out with a woman (briefly) who was. Yet, I'm always waiting around for the "stronger than dirt" line.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer-Nut Rocker. At the end of the excess that was ELP doing Pictures at an Exhibition, the coda on the album was a variation on the Nutcracker Suite; a version is shown here. The song was originally done in 1962 by B. Bumble and the Stingers .
Focus-Hocus Pocus. This is a dopey, yodel-driven song by some Dutch band that was an unlikely hit. I bought the album. Check out a live version here.
Gore, Lesley- Judy's Turn to Cry. Lesley sang, "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to." This is the vengeful follow-up. HA, Judy!
Herman's Hermits-Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter. When I joined the Capitol Records Club when I was 12, I needed to buy 12 albums. Since the Beatles had only a half dozen albums out at the time, one of my selections was The Best of Herman's Hermits. I used to do a fairly good Peter Noone impression.
Ives, Burl-Funny Way of Laughin'. I don't know why, but I've always been fond of those songs in which the protagonist pretends not to be crying, or doesn't want to be seen crying (the Temptations' I Wish it Would Rain comes to mind.)
Jackson Five-Maybe Tomorrow. An overwrought power ballad. I once requested this on a radio station and the DJ took it off before its peak overwroughtness.
Kinks-Skin and Bone. A swing tune about the dangers of dieting. From possibly my favorite Kinks album, Muswell Hillbillies.
Tom Lehrer-the Vatican Rag. This is the artist on a Demento album, the 1950s novelty song Poisoning Pigeons in the Park. But this song is from the great mid-1960s album That Was The Year That Was, which I own on CD. Bizarrely, someone posted on You Tube someone playing the LP on his record player, placing the tonearm on the first track for Part 1, continuing Side 1 and onto Side 2 on Part 2, more of Side 2 on Parts 3 and 4, and finishing up with the theologically incorrect Vatican Rag.
Marcels-Blue Moon. A big doowop hit in 1961.
Napoleon XIV: !Aaah-aH yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT. The backwards B-side version of the annoying They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!, is also an unlisted final track on the CD Second Coming.
Ohio Express-Yummy Yummy Yummy. Is there a lyric so vapid as "Yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, I've got love in my tummy"? Maybe their hit Chewy, Chewy, which has been used on TV commercials. I often confuse this group with the 1910 Fruitgum Company, their bandmates on Buddha, who had hits such as Simon Says; 1, 2, 3, Red Light; and Special Delivery.
Presley, Elvis-Hey Jude. A truly awful, out-of-tune version on a mixed CD that someone gave me. Listening to a train wreck.
Queen-Somebody to Love. It's that dramatic, harmonic beginning that I love.
Rascals-More. Talk about overwrought. From the Groovin' album.
Sinatra-The Lady Is a Tramp. Sometimes, Sinatra is cool (That's Life), and then there are times when Sinatra thinks he's cool; this is the latter.
Thomas, Rufus-Do the Funky Chicken. After doing at least four Dog songs, he moved on from canines to poultry. People will jump fences to do the Funky Chicken.
Utopia-Everything Is Going Wrong. Todd Rundgren's group did this great Beatles parody, Deface the Music; this is the last track, designed in the Strawberry Fields/I Am the Walrus mode.
Van Halen-Happy Trails. The last song on the only Van Halen album I've ever owned, this Dale Evans classic is performed goofily.
Who-Boris the Spider. I just like to say "Boris the spider" in the scariest voice I could muster.
XTC-Your Dictionary. This is not a goofy song, this is a nasty song I first heard on a mixed CD.
Young, Neil-Mr. Soul. Neil must have really liked this song. He first recorded it with Buffalo Springfield. Then a live version is the springboard for Springfield's Broken Arrow. The version I have in mind is the vocoder version on the much-maligned Reactor, which I love.
Zappa, Frank-Cosmic Debris. There are lots of Zappa songs that might have qualified, but this one has the great lyric, "Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?"
***
Teen death songs will never die.


ROG

You Be The Judge

I entered this "How To" Writing Contest recently. I'm supposed to pick the three - I assume not including my own - that I like the best by next Tuesday. So, what I'm requesting is for you to tell me what YOU think is best; I'll compare it with the five I've winnowed it down to. Please let me know what you think by Monday, September 24 at 9 pm Eastern Time. There's only one "lock" in my mind - do you want to guess which one? - so feel free to try to persuade me.

ROG

Talk Like a Pirate Day '07

Ahoy, ye mateys! Jolly Roger Green here with another Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Here ye find some Pirate quotes. Yo ho ho.

Some Willie Stargell quotes. (He be the pirate pictured.)

Pirates of the Atlantic game. Drink a bottle of rum, for I have not tried it meself.

And here's the account of the great pirate Roberto Clemente and his 3000th flogging:


If ye be looking for more Roberto Clemente quotes, I hoisted those last year. And I see that I never mentioned Clemente by name, yet that Scott sussed it out anyway, that scurvy dog.
***
Which brings me to my new favorite project: retrospectively labeling my posts. It's a tedious process, and I figure it'll take weeks or months, betwixt and between. But then I'll be able - and YOU'LL be able - to find articles on topics more easily than by search. At this writing, I've only labeled the pieces from from May 2 to July 12, 2005 and from January 18, 2007 forward; my goal is to be finished by my birthday in March.

ARRRROG

Pigskin musings

I try not to follow football until the baseball season's over. There are pennant races to follow - boy, I hope the Phillies aren't the wild card and end up playing the Mets in the playoffs, because they seem to have the Mets' number - and milestones to reach - last night, Jim Thome is the third person THIS SEASON, after Alex Rodriguez and Frank Thomas, to reach 500 career home runs.

Still, I can't help but notice that, after two weeks, the three NY/NJ NFL teams are a combined 0-6, losing by an average of double digits, while the former dregs of the league, the Detroit Lions and the Houston Oilers, I mean, Texans, are each 2-0. Even the lowly Arizona Cardinals have managed to win a game. It's gonna be a LOOOONG season.

But there were three stories that caught my attention, all involving teams in the AFC East, sorta. One was the New England coach Bill Belichick spying story. I think I was more annoyed by the "It’s over, and we’re moving on" comment than the actual cheating. "Moving on", without acknowledging responsibility, is hollow. The one silly thing that came from this is this video that someone found called Leave Belichick Alone. It's based on Leave Britney Alone. (And if you haven't seen THAT classic, or its many imitators, go to YouTube and search Leave Britney Alone (or Leave Brittany Alone - spelling doesn't seem to matter.)

The second is the continuing saga of former Buffalo Bills running back Orenthal James Simpson, accused of stealing sports memorabilia that may or may not have been his. Someone commented, "You know, if he's convicted, it'll be a first offense." That boggled my mind, but as far as I know, the only judgments against him so far are of the civil, not criminal, variety.

The final story is that ultimately heartwarming story of current Bills running back Kevin Everett, who suffered a potentially life-threatening spine fracture in a game last week. But thanks to innovative treatment involving the cooling of the body temperature, Everett, doctors are encouraged that, instead of being a paraplegic, he may actually actually walk again. Damn, I love this story.
***
The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web site, effective at midnight tonight.

ROG

Going for a Constitutional

Today is Constitution Day. Monday, September 17, 1787, 220 years ago, was the last day of the Constitutional Convention. Ben Franklin, by proxy, gave this speech about the flaws of the Constitution. yet, his address fit into the "let not the perfect be the enemy of the good" theorem.

I double-checked the Constitution, and yes, I remembered correctly: the legislature is discussed in Article I and the executive branch in Article II, suggesting that Congress should have important role in the governance of the country. Guess some folks have forgot.

Here's something that totally slipped my mind - There are TWO ways to amend the U.S. Constitution:
1. Both houses of Congress approve by a two-thirds vote a resolution calling for the amendment; this does NOT require the president's signature. To become effective, the proposed amendment then must then be "ratified" or approved by the legislatures of three-fourths (currently 38) of the states . Usually, but not always, Congress places a time limit of seven years for ratification by the states.
2. The legislatures of two-thirds of the states (currently 34) vote to call for a convention at which constitutional amendments can be proposed. Amendments proposed by the convention would again require ratification by three-fourths of the states.
I'd forgotten about the second way because the Constitution has never been amended by that method, though there has been conversation about such an event, e.g. for a balanced budget amendment. The Constitution has been amended 27 times; the Bill of Rights are the first ten, and the 18th and 21st, concerning prohibition, canceled each other out.

Of course, the interpretation of the Constitution falls to the judiciary, established fairly early on. The notions of "legislating from the bench" or "strict constructionist" have been so mangled in this politicized era as to be rendered nearly meaningless.

Still, I hold a (cautious) hope that the rights long established, fought and died for - including the right of dissent - will survive the current attacks, cockeyed optimist that I am. Here's another view.

ROG

How To Ride a Bicycle in the City

I ride my bicycle in the city of Albany, New York at least seven months out of the year. I tend to ride when the ground is free of ice and snow. I've developed some rules for riding, based on my experiences.

1. Wear a helmet.
If you're over 14, you may (edit: WILL) be mocked - "What, do you think you're riding a motorcycle or something?" My advice: wear a helmet anyway.

2. Signal.
I get amazing amount of yielding by cars because they actually know my intentions. Or maybe it's just the shock of seeing a bicyclist actually following the motor vehicle rules. Do this in spite of the fact that:
* Other bikes don't signal.
* Cars often don't signal, especially when they are turning right.

3. Keep right. Go WITH the traffic.
I've actually had debates about this from drivers and bicyclists, who think I should go against traffic like a pedestrian on a country road. Read the manual.
What I've learned from trial and error, though, is that when you're riding to the right when there are no parked cars, and parked cars are coming up ahead, you need to be out from the curb at a suitable distance as though a parked car WERE there, moving out at least a car length before reaching the parked car. Otherwise, you may appear to be lurching into traffic.
One of my favorite moments is when I'm riding, and a bike, obviously NOT keeping right, is heading toward me. My solution: keep right. But be prepared to stop. (Not so incidentally, this is also the rule when two people are walking towards each other - keep right - unless you are in England.)

4. Use lights, front and back, not only when it's dark, but at dusk, dawn and when it's foggy. Reflective clothes and other items are a good idea as well.
If a large percentage of cars have their lights on, that's usually a good signal to do likewise.
Since most lights are only useful to be seen, rather than for seeing, I've opted that if I only have one light available, to put it on the back if possible.
I also suggest that you get a removable front light. Not only does that keep it from "disappearing", but you can use it as a flashlight if you're walking from a dark garage to a building.

5. Follow the rules of the road, but not at your peril.
I stay on the road, as opposed to the sidewalk, except in those places where the road is too narrow to feel safe. If I do ride on the sidewalk, I yield to the pedestrian.

6. Focus.
I don't recommend headphones, because I think you need to hear what's going around you. Suffice to say, I don't suggest cellphone use, either.

7. Maintain your bike.
Put air in the tires. I'm not mechanically inclined, so I take it to the bike shop at least once a year to be checked out, especially my brakes.
My personal experience is that I like the bikes with the wider tires. They're not as fast, but they are less likely to blow out from broken glass and other debris than the bikes with thin tires.

8. People are unpredictable.
I now expect people to walk in front of my bike at an intersection where I have the right of way, and for cars coming out of driveways to pull right in front of me, where I also have the right of way. I still need to be vigilant about:
* people coming from between parked cars
* drivers opening car doors
* people chatting on the driver's side of the car
* people and cars turning around in the middle of the street and coming back from whence they came

9. You probably can't outrace a dog.
Even back in high school, I'd ride down some dead-end street, seeing no canines, and yet, seconds later, they'd be about a half dozen, barking at my tires. I've found stopping, then walking the bike to be a useful response.
Some people recommend squirting dogs with water or pepper spray. I have used neither, so I cannot speak to this point. I HAVE heard stories, though, about people using pepper spray and have the wind shift, so that they become the victim of the spray.

10. Some people are just hostile to bicyclists.
At least twice a year, some yahoo in a car, usually in the passenger seat, will make some untoward comment. You have two options: ignore it, or be prepared with some pithy retort; they're driving away, so make it short.
On at least two occasions, I've received the insult, and they've driven off, only to catch the traffic light, allowing me to pull along side of the truant. "Ha, ha, only kidding!", they always reply, nervously.
Still my favorite insult was from someone sitting on his front porch, who yelled out as I was riding by, apparently without irony, "Get a car!"

(Graphic from here.)
***
"Let me tell you what I think of bicycling.
I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.
It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance.
I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood."
-- Susan B. Anthony

ROG

The Theological Implications of Doris Day QUESTION

My racquetball buddies and I were in the locker room, and someone said, innocently, "Que sera, sera." Somehow, this led to some great theological/philosophical debate. One person suggested that the line of "whatever will be, will be" was a position of those Christians who believe that "everything is fixed, and you can't change it", while another opined that it was antithetical to the Christian tradition, because God is an active God. The fatalism of Nietzsche was invoked in the conversation, as were the impersonal gods of the ancient Greeks.

So, a simple question, and a more complex one. Please respond to either, or both:

1. What other purely popular songs suggest theological or philosophical meanings to you, and in what way?
Example: "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin may evoke the "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin" of Matthew 6:28.
Example: "The Word" by the Beatles. John 1:1, "the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Lennon/McCartney, "Now I've got it, the word is good." The song also notes "That the word is just the way"; John 14:6, Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life." Note also, John 1:1 and the first verse in the song start, "in the beginning."

2. To what theology/philosophy do you think Que Sera, Sera belong? Does it belong to yours?
***
Anyone else, when they hear his name, sing "Dave Petraeus, Dave Petraus" to the tune of "Doctor Zaius" from the Simpsons? I thought not.
"The general came to shed some light
On why we needed to keep the fight."
Of course, you can color the couplet to your personal political preferences.

ROG

Insurance Blues

A couple weeks ago, I was telling someone about the movie Sicko, and I'm relating it to my tenure in 1989-1990 as a customer service representative for an insurance company. I get animated, and, apparently, loud, so much so that I was asked whether I have high blood pressure. (No, my bp, when it was checked five weeks ago was 124/78, thank you very much.)

What it does mean, though, is, to paraphrase Paul Simon, that I am Still Ticked Off After All These Years. And it wasn't until this recent iteration of the story that I realized that it wasn't just that I felt I (and others) who worked there were treated badly; I recognized, more fully than ever before, just how poorly their customers were treated as well.

This was the job I took after FantaCo. There were perhaps 16 of us in the training class, learning about medical prefixes and suffixes for eight weeks, which was actually cool. Then we got on the floor, already diminished by four, but adding to the five people already on the job. Soon, the 12 became eight as the tedium and/or the low pay - I was making $5000 less than I did at FantaCo - wore on people.

Yes, it was 1989, but how could it be that EVERY single claim for the use of an MRI was initially rejected as "medically unnecessary?

There is a condition called TMJ disorder, which involves the jaw. Routinely, people with medical coverage were rejected, saying it was a dental issue. People with dental coverage were rejected, saying it was a medical issue. EVENTUALLY, people with both coverages would get their claims paid, but it was, I realize now, a stall tactic.

When I started, we had what seemed to be a perfectly good dental claims customer service interface on our computers. It was changed during my tenure to some illogical, incomprehensible product, which, as it turned out, was ordered because someone's brother or cousin developed it. Grrrr.

There were huge layoffs right before Christmas. The organization WAS middle-management heavy, and several of those folks went. But so did the clerks, who were runners to find files for the customer service reps on the phones. Never have I been more disappointed than when I WASN'T laid off.

What they say: You are now empowered to take care of these problems.
What they mean: We have systemic problems, and when they inevitably happen, you'll be the fall guy.

The single most egregiously stupid decision made by this insurance company was the timing of the changeover from one medical claims billing processing system to another. The actual change in product was fine, but the time frame was ridiculous. The old system went down around Christmas. The new system was supposed to be up in two weeks; it took six.

If it were up to the customer service representatives, the switch would have taken place after the third or fourth week in January. People really cared about their 1989 claims for income tax purposes; less so about their 1990 claims. They could/should have announced that the 1989 claims were received by date certain in early 1990 would be processed on the old system and all others on the new. But no.

During this period in early 1990, some people wanted to know, not when the claims would be paid, but if it had even been received. Since the new system was batch processing, nothing was being entered at all. While I wasn't supposed to tell the customers, we were told there were 40,000 claims in the basement, so I literally couldn't find out the answer to their question. The official answer to the query, "Should I just send it in again?", was "no." But I'm told some at least a couple of the more irate customers "all right; if it's duplicate, the system will kick it out." This was true. But you know how some phone calls "may be monitored for quality assurance"? Got raked over the coals a couple times over that.

FINALLY, the new system was up. Claims were being processed, and far more quickly than before. But wait! Many of the policies had deductibles. The AMOUNT of the deductibles (e.g., $50 before a claim would be paid) were programmed into the new system, but the amount of the deductible ALREADY MET so far for those 1989 claims was not. So, customers who had met their deductible were getting letters saying "The claim was applied to your deductible."

These people were now FURIOUS. And rightly so. The insurance company had a policy that the third call on the same claim would be a supervisor callback. By this point, EVERY OTHER CALL was a supervisor call. And here's the source of my 2007 rage; for years, I had attributed this situation to an incompetent management of ignorant rubes. I now firmly believe, after seeing the movie Sicko, that not putting in the 1989 deductibles that were met into the new computer system was a deliberate attempt by the company to save money, hoping that the customers didn't notice. And I'm sure that there were customers who DIDN'T notice, especially those who had separate deductibles for each member of the family. I'm now convinced the company put profits in front of the well-being of their customers and their beleaguered employees.

The last straw: we were scheduled to move into a new building in Corporate Woods. Two weeks before the move, I notice an ambulance at the new building. Then another. Then another. Then a school bus. It turned out that thirteen people went to the hospital because of something in the air ducts, a problem which, we were assured, was "rectified". A fortnight later, we moved in, and at the end of that week, I gave my two-week notice.

I didn't have another job. I didn't have any savings. Since my last day was March 1, 1990, I did have health insurance through April 30; if I had left the day before, it would have run out on March 31. I just didn't want to be working there on my birthday. Looking around, of the 16 people in that training class, after I left, only three of them were left, one in a different location. Interestingly, the five customer service reps who were there when I started were STILL there; hearty folks.

After that, I worked on the census for five months, then, having nothing better to do, went to library school; that seems to have worked out.

Oh, the pictures of the turkeys: taken a couple days ago from the third floor on a cellphone, looking at just outside my building, which, like the insurance company, is in Corporate Woods. Representative of the turkeys I used to work for.


ROG

Underplayed Vinyl: Chicago

I had to buy a record player, and it's all Fred Hembeck's fault. O.K., not really. But he was the inspiration.

I was visiting Fred Hembeck's MySpace page. This is actually fairly unusual in that I generally spend my time at his Fred Sez page instead. I must have wanted to leave a comment wishing his daughter a happy birthday, so I went to the that day's post. The other thing the MySpace page has that FredSez doesn't is an indication of Fred's mood and his current musical excursion. For that particular day, the selection was Chicago, the second album of the group formerly known as the Chicago Transit Authority. I hadn't listened to that album in ages!

So, at the next opportunity, I pulled out my double album, put the first LP on the turntable, and...NOTHING. It had been cranky of late, with me having to start it up manually before it would take hold, but this time - nothing at all. The turntable was probably fixable, but for how much?

Then I remembered one of my former interns at work had purchased a record player at Target for $70 or $80 this past summer. I attempted to see if it was still available at the local store; the website said it was, but the person at the store assured me that it was not. Then I went to Amazon and found a Memorex® Nostalgia Turntable and Stereo, for $39.97, plus $8 shipping, provided by one of their vendors, Bargain Outfitters. I ordered it, and it came within a week.

The assembly was minimal, and so I finally got to play that Chicago album that I received for Christmas in 1970; I don't remember this, I had marked the album 12-25-70 ROG, as was my wont at the time.

So what did I think?

Well, much of it lyrically is a bit earnest, especially It Better End Soon, which dominates Side 4 (oh, I miss the notion of Side 4). But I really enjoyed the album all over again. I recognized some really interesting musicality. Fancy Colours, which starts Side 3, starts off in a very slow 4/4, then switches to a fast 3/4 (or 6/8), and ends with those discordant horns that made me think originally, and again recently, that the record was skipping.

Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon, which takes up much of Side 2, to be punny, made me smile. Even Colour My World, which I've disliked since it was the the theme song for my high school girlfriend's prom, I seem to have lost my loathing for.

I have no rational thought about this Chicago album, except that this one and its predecessor were as good as this group ever got musically, though greater commercial success came later (Chicago V through IX each went to #1.) And i am really enjoying my record player.

One annoyance about Columbia Records at the time; they never had a copyright date, either on the LP or on the package; maddening.

Today is former Chicago singer Peter Cetera's 63rd birthday. Coincidentally, David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat and Tears, another horn-based rock band on Columbia, is celebrating his 66th birthday today.
ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: Sicko

I like Michael Moore. He was kind enough to put my name on his first film, the flinty Roger and Me, which I enjoyed, except for the bunny scene. I also watched his television show, TV Nation and even own a video of it. The cartoon sequence in Bowling for Columbine I thought showed a fascinating breakdown about race in America. And, of course, there was Fahrenheit 9/11, which people particularly loved or hated.

When Carol and I were about to see his latest film, Sicko in late July, I mentioned this to a lunch buddy of mine, who is considerably more right-of-center than I (she voted for GWB twice more than I did, because "he's a Christian"). She replied, "HE (Moore) is a sicko!" I was reminded yet again what a polarizing character Michael Moore is for some people.

Yet, if she gave it a try, I think she might find the new movie Sicko compelling, in spite of herself. Certainly, I think Moore made a deft move by concentrating on the 250 million people who (allegedly) have health coverage, rather than the 50 million that don't. You'll laugh at the absurdity of the system we've been saddled with - one more thing to blame on Richard Nixon, I discovered. You'll cry with the insurance company official whose decision not to treat lead to a man's death (yes, I saw it in the previews, and it still got to me). You'll get more than a little ticked off. This is propaganda, of course, but persuasive propaganda.

Certainly, my view of the upcoming (ongoing) Presidential race has been colored by seeing this film. I want to see what solutions the candidates have to address a system that, it seems, can't be easily fixed by more money being poured into the pockets of the insurance industry.

I worked as a customer service rep for an insurance company back in the late 1980s, so I believe these horror stories. I will write on this soon.
***
Lefty Brown's podcast on Sicko and our political process. And Gordon's podcast on Sicko.
***
Video:
At the Variety screening of the docu "Sicko," director Michael Moore chats about bringing Americans together to fight a common enemy: the nation's declining health care system. (And if that link doesn't work, try this one).

More videos at Brightcove.com
***

When Jane Wyatt died last year, a surprising number of people said to me, "I heard Ronald Reagan's first wife died." And I had to correct them.

NOW, Jane WYMAN, Ronald Reagan's first wife has died.

Incidentally, the location I found the picture indicated that it is in the public domain.
ROG

The Wrong Way

When I first voted in an election primary, back in 1972, the New York State primary day was in June. There was one primary date for President, and for other offices. This was about the right length for the campaign.

Because of the nature of Presidential politics, though, the Presidential primary was moved to April, while the other primaries moved to September, creating, not so incidentally, greater expense. In subsequent years, the Presidential primary moved back into March, and in 2008, will move to February 5, where it will be on Supa Dupa Lollapalooza Tuesday. Meanwhile, the September primary has been moved this year from September 11 to September 18, out of "respect" for 9/11. You may recall, especially if you lived in New York State at the time, that 9/11 was Primary Day in the state six years ago. The primary was postponed at the time for a couple weeks.

The early Presidential primary bothers me because we could have a protracted, undoubtedly nasty, nine-month race for the White House, which will almost certainly generate a situation in which most voters will say, "A pox on both houses."

The later non-Presidential primary bothers me too, because usually there is an incumbent in the race. Running against two or more challengers who aren't winnowed out until eight weeks before the general election, gives even more advantage to the current officeholder. Moving the Primary from September 11 to the 18th just worsens that.

More to the point, I think voting on September 11 honors the victims of 9/11. Democracy is not postponed; the terrorists haven't won, or whatever.

Expect this never to happen.
***
Shock Doctrine, a short (less than seven minutes) film by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein, directed by Jonás Cuarón, on Klein's book.
***
While working on a reference question last week, I discovered, to my surprise, that most Arab-Americans identify as Christians.

ROG

Eight things

It was undoubtedly Lefty who semi-tagged me to write eight (more) things about myself.

1. I have gone out with two different women who had lost children in car accidents, before I met them. I think - check that, I'm certain - that I didn't understand their deep-seated devastation at the time.

2. I recently finished listening to a disc that someone compiled of the 500 best songs. Of the 500, I downloaded 128. Of the 128, the vast majority I already own on vinyl - six by Chuck Berry, four by Little Richard, three each by Queen and Buddy Holly; I also grabbed Buddy Holly by Weezer, which I had never owned before.

3. I worked as a bank teller for less than a month in 1978. My first day solo, I was off by five cents, and I was required to spend an hour looking for it; not worth it.

4. I've received Hess trucks for Christmas the last seven years. I actually play with them on those rare occasions when neither my wife or daughter are home.

5. The sound of a power lawn mower, vacuum cleaner, or washing machine could put me to sleep, given the opportunity.

6. I've shaken Nelson Rockefeller's hand twice.

7. I used to be in a volleyball league. I served well.

8. I never took the SATs.
***
What Is Art?

ROG

Wind Energy

The last post about our vacation week in June. Although, if I find that picture of my wife in Shaker garb that she dressed up in at Hancock Shaker Village on the Friday of that week, I'll have to show you. As a family outing, it was probably the most successful, for Lydia could look at the animals, and there was a kid's exploration building, where they could draw, milk a faux cow, as well as see real bees making honey.


Meanwhile, the big deal at the timeshare was that much of the parking would be blocked off the accommodate a wind turbine passing through on the way to the top of the mountain. It came in by ship to the Port of Albany, it was announced on the news, and I knew it by the description that it couldn't come where we were via either of the routes we took. Route 43 has a nasty turn which would not accommodate sections that long. I was right; they came a more circuitous, but straighter path (on Route 20).

I'm sure I was more interested in these things because I had just done a reference question about wind farms. It seemed like an easy alternative to other forms of energy, and it may be. But the people opposing then complain about a constant low hum, the destruction of birds and bats that run into them, and the evolutionary nature of the technology whereby 30 windmills five years from now may generate as much power as 60 windmills today, as well as the aesthetic considerations. One also needs to look at wind maps to maximize the effectiveness of the items.

Still, I'm extremely curious about them.
***
I was going to write about this disturbing, and somewhat bizarre racial story in Jena, LA, but Thom beat me to it. The nooses in the story disturbed me viscerally, just reading about it; "strange fruit", indeed. Read more here.





ROG

When the Cat's Away QUESTION

Unusually, my wife and my daughter were both away for a week last month. This meant I got to do all the laundry the day before my wife returns, which is a good thing. I got deeper into my T-shirt collection, as usually the same three or four shirts get washed and end up on top, so that those other shirts don't get the love they deserve.

I'm hoping Tosy or Jaquandor can remind me of the particulars of this scene from the excellent, but short-lived, TV series Once and Again: Karen Sammler is sorting her (underwear?) drawer so that those pieces that hadn't gotten worn recently got put on the top. I'm sure I saw this scene, and since I almost certainly watched it on tape, I rewound it and showed it to my wife (who seldom watched the show). "See? See?", I told Carol.

Anyway, I did things such as all of the dishes at once. I stacked all my reading material on the living room floor one day, and cleaned it up en masse the next. My wife's more incrementalist.

So, here's the question: what things do you do when your boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, roommate is away that you would never do when he/she's there? If you're living alone now, or have lived alone in the past, post-roomie, what did/do you do solo that would have driven your exes nuts? Conversely, what did they do when you were away that would drive you nuts? (My wife would tidy up, then I'd ask her where so-and-so was that had been sitting on the kitchen table for weeks, and she had no idea - sure it LOOKED good, but some Thomas Dolby quote would come to mind.)
***
How to: Be an uber blogger, by Cory Doctorow

ROG

Things I Don't Know

Today is my half birthday. That seems appropriate, in that I have some half-developed thoughts today:

1. I can't tell if an operatic star is really good. The title of a Luciano Pavarotti obit Charisma, hype and that incredible voice - with a link to a performance - seems to be true in many performing arts, but in rock and roll, for instance, I'm versed enough in it that I can usually make an informed opinion about it. It's even more true of Beverly Sills, who died earlier this year; maybe not the greatest opera soprano, but she popularized the genre. Couldn't tell one way or the other by me.

2. I'm confounded by that guy from Idaho. Larry Craig gets arrested, pleads guilty. The story gets out, he resigns, he makes noises about reneging on his resignation.
Why are the Repubs SO willing to throw him to the wolves so quickly? The video of Democratic operative James Carville here, with the transcript here sort of encapsulates the thing for me:
What I found extraordinary about this is nobody came out and defended this guy. I mean, nobody said, "He’s a good man, done a bad thing." "Here’s a decent guy who’s obviously been struggling with a problem." "Here’s somebody who" —I mean, nobody. No Republican, no, no, no, no operative, no journalist. Nobody said, "Well, Larry Craig’s got nothing." And I mean, they didn’t throw him under the bus, they hit him with the bus. I mean, he’s like, boom! Flattened him.
So, what, exactly, were the Republicans running from? What is the subtext?

I was interested to see that Larry Craig believed he was implicated in this 1982 Congressional page scandal.

So is this homophobia, hubris, hagiography, haiku, or what?

3. What the heck DID Jerry Lewis say in the waning hours of the MDA telethon? Given the fact that Jerry has apologized, I assume he used the word Isaiah Washington has been known to use. But honestly, I've watched the tape, and I wouldn't know WHAT he said.

4. I'm afraid I may know the answer to this one:
Did the country REALLY need Mario Cuomo, the Hamlet on the Hudson who should have taken that Supreme Court job rather run unsuccessfully for a fourth term as governor of New York to remind us that according to the Constitution, Congress has the right to declare war? (Answer: probably.)

5. If I got one of these, Les Newsman would be proud, but would it alienate my co-workers?

6. I saw this license plate last night: THEREVS. Was it supposed to mean THE REVS (a pair of ministers) or THE REV S (a specific minister) or THERE VS (a "them versus us" scenario that I gave more credence to for good cause).
***
Happy birthday this week to Cecily and Susan.


ROG

MOVIE REVIEWS: Knocked Up and The Simpsons Movie

Sometimes, after eight years of marriage, my wife can still surprise me. In late July, the movie Knocked Up was showing only twice a day at the Spectrum Theater, at 1:10 and 9:40 pm, and I figured we'd just have to write the film off. No, she said, why don't we get a babysitter and see the 9:40 pm show? On a Tuesday, a school night. This from a woman who generally wants to be in bed by 9:40 pm.

I was recounting that story to one of my racquetball mates. He told me that he had gone into the theater, watched Knocked Up for ten minutes, then walked out, disgusted.

Well, yeah, it IS one of that type of movies. Yet at its core, Judd Apatow's film is VERY traditional - talk about "do the right thing" - and very sweet. Seth Rogan, who I've been following since the late, lamented Freaks and Geeks TV show, plays stoner Ben Stone, who, on a one-night stand, impregnates TV anchor Alison Scott, played by Grey's Anatomy's Katherine Heigl. Leslie Mann is Debbie, Alison's sister, and Paul Rudd is Pete, Debbie's somewhat beleaguered husband.

Ultimately, the drug-induced humor wore thin for me, but the relationship humor was often dead on. We laughed a lot, cringed a bit, but the funny stuff ultimately won out. My favorite line in the movie is when Alison says to her doctor, "But we have a birth plan!" which may not have the same effect if you haven't been in a delivery room lately.

I was surprised what didn't bother me: Heigl's character bedding the nerdy guy here, just like Heigl's Izzy Stevens slept with insecure George on Grey's Anatomy.

Even more raucous than The 40-Year Old Virgin, which I liked a bit more, I'd recommend the film, but not to those easily grossed out.
***
As for the Simpsons Movie, which I saw alone in mid-August at the Madison Theater (because my wife was out of town, and not interested anyway), it was what many people have already said; a pretty good extra long episode of the show. I did like Bart and Flanders' relationship and Grandpa's religious experience. I know a couple people who've worked for the EPA, so thought it rather funny that the agency could be so efficient. It was a knowing touch to make the current governor of California the President, since, constitutionally, he cannot be. But my favorite scene was Homer and Marge, alone save for those Disney animals; I laughed out loud.
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Note to Lefty: This is the real question:

ROG

Metablogging about Someone Else's Metablogging

I read Thirteen Blog Clichés last month, and thought I'd discover how many sins I'm "guilty" of, and whether I care.

1. The Useless Calendar Widget - don't have one. I do have a clock, mostly because I don't trust my computer clock which tends to run faster and faster.

2. Random Images Arbitrarily Inserted In Text - never thought to do that, but hey, maybe I'll start!


3. No Information on the Author - well, you got my name, my city, my hometown, my profession, and more. What else would you like to know?

4. Excess Flair - not likely to happen, not by my discipline, but from the fact that I'm too technologically deficient to add a lot of widgets.

5. The Giant Blogroll - Some of the author's readers really fussed over this one. As someone else once recommended to me, my blog I do initially for me. I refer to those links. Some I read regularly, some I use as bookmarks (Major League Baseball, e.g.) Yes, I could RSS most of them, but then I'd miss that random nature of wanting to check out Lefty on Friday when he's going to post his questions, e.g.

In fact, I added a couple new links yesterday, first-time bloggers, each of whom I've known for over a quarter century: Joe Fludd, an old FantaCo artist and customer, and CD, with whom I shared a boarding house, along with nine other people, in New Paltz in the mid 1970s.

Philosophically, it's like how I sometimes would pull out my address book, leaf through it and realize I hadn't checked in with someone for a while, and I would give him or her a call. (Some girlfriend of mine at the time complained about me doing that; she thought I should just know who I wanted to call, and call them. I thought her complaint was nonsensical.)

6. The Nebulous Tag Cloud - don't even know HOW to do this. I'm/you're safe.

7. Excessive Advertisements - I resisted having any ads at all. Think I'm OK. I'm utterly fascinated, BTW, what topic my ad (that I can't mention) will read, based on the varied topics on my blog.

8. This Ain't Your Diary - yes, it sorta is. But generally, I leave a lot out.

9. Sorry I Haven't Written in a While - Well, since I haven't missed a day yet, not applicable. But I agree with the general point.

10. Blogging About Blogging - the obvious irony of the author noting that one. Occasionally guilty. Like now.

And while I'm thinking about it, how does Technorati actually work? A story about a recent post that appeared in Journalista!, but not the initial referral that ADD made. Yet other ADD stories have shown up.

11. Mindless Link Propagation - never! Only MINDFUL Link Propagation. For instance, H.R. 811, expected to be voted on today, is bad legislation. There's this link about kissing is a story from Australia quoting a UAlbany professor. How about a baseball league with only one team with a winning record? I hadn't read about Turkey's previous incursions into northern Iraq in the MSM. Someone asked me to pass along this Snopes story about a virus posing as a postcard.

12. Top (n) Lists - I like them. It's one of my favorite features in Tosy's page, e.g.

13. No Comments Allowed - I agree with this complaint, and I am open for comments. In fact, I would like to get more comments. More, MORE, MORE.
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Blogging Success Study.
***
Oh, the "random picture" is of Ana Ivanovic, the tennis player who lost to Venus Williams at the U.S. Open this past weekend.
***
My latest poll asked:
Do you know the source of the line, "Vote for me and I'll set you free"?
19 of you said, "Of course!"
9 pf you said, "It sounds familiar but I can't place it."
4 of you said, "I have no clue."
the answer is the song Ball of Confusion, originally made famous by the Temptations in 1970, and covered by Edwin Starr (1971), Undisputed Truth (1971), Love & Rockets (1986), and Duran Duran (1995). I've also heard the Neville Brothers perform it live a couple years ago.

ROG

TV REVIEW: The Bronx Is Burning

Because I'd finally caught up with almost everything else, over a two and a half week stretch recently, I managed to watch all eight segments of the ESPN miniseries The Bronx Is Burning, ostensibly about the New York Yankees' 1977 World Series win, their first since 1962, despite the tension among Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, manager Billy Martin and outfielder Reggie Jackson. It was also about the .44-caliber killer known as Son of Sam, and the general decay of New York City.

I had a personal interest in this story, for I was living in Jamaica, Queens from May to September. I was hanging out partying late at night and was just a tad paranoid about Son of Sam, and I remember the screaming red-letter headlines on the New York Post when David Berkowitz was caught in August of 1977.

The production featured the actors in scenes, interspersed with footage of the era, both in the baseball scenes, and in the atmospheric segments about the blackout, the mayoral race between Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo (I voted for Cuomo, BTW).

The good things about this production: John Turturro as the Billy Martin, and I say that not because Turturro graduated from my alma mater of New Paltz, but because he seemed to embody, rather than imitate, the fiery manager. Erik Jensen as Yankee captain and catcher Thurman Munson. Kevin Conway, who plays Yankees Prez and GM, Gabe Paul; he doesn't really look like Paul, but his caught-in-the-middle performance rang true. The great background pieces at the end of each episode featuring Jackson, Steinbrenner, Yankees Chris Chambliss and Fran Healey, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, and Billy Martin's son, Bill Jr. (Martin was killed in a one-car crash in Binghamton, NY - my hometown - on December 25, 1989.)

The so-so parts: Oliver Platt as Steinbrenner; he looked like Oliver Platt playing Steinbrenner. Joe Grifasi as Yogi Berra, who didn't seem all that bright and was there to share Italian-American insults with Martin. Leonard Armond Robinson as Mickey Rivers, and whoever played Fran Healey were OK. The guys playing the cops in the Son of Sam investigation, featuring Dan Lauria (Wonder Years). The use of the real video, although seeing the cheesy ABC Sports logo was a hoot.

The not so hot parts: Daniel Sunjata as Reggie Jackson; it wasn't just the look, it was the feel of the character. Most of the other supporting players, especially the women, were ciphers. The guy playing Lou Pinella looks nothing like him, while a press guy reminded me of Yankee pitcher Catfish Hunter. And most of all, the Son of Sam killings, which almost all involved a couple of Noo Yawkers babbling something to each other before they were shot by Berkowitz; they all felt the same.

So, it wasn't great, it wasn't awful. I'm glad I saw it because it was a good reminder of the era. If you rent the DVD, which will be out later this month, I have the sense that the extras will be more enjoyable than the core item.
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Here's a weird TV thing: I was watching a rerun of Scrubs recently. The original episode aired on May 10, and was 40 minutes (more like 38). But when it was rerun in the last week or two, it was in the 30 minute slot. How did this work? Cuts. J.D. and Turk's voice-over dialogue as they were driving away. Kelso's dis of a woman his age or younger at a convention as too old. But mostly, the whole scene with J.D. and Turk at a lecture conducted by J.D.'s pregnant ex-girlfriend was broken in half in the original, with a "Busta move" piece of verbiage, but continuous in the repeat, sans "Busta move". I wonder if both versions will show up on the DVD?

ROG

French military victories in the Arabian Gulf

You may recall that Google was, for a time, "fooled", when typing in miserable failure, into linking to George W. Bush's biography; now it links to the controversy over that Google bomb.

I have learned recently that the first site that loads on Google when you plug in the term French military victories is a faked Google page offering a "did you mean?" option. Searching for Arabian gulf gives you a site similar to the defused "cannot find weapons of mass destruction" fake IE error page. (Thanks, Amanda from Charleston.)
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Wonder Woman shows that fighting crime is not always easy.

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I went into a comic book store last week and actually bought two items: the Overstreet Price Guide (do people still call it the Overpriced Street Guide?), because my boss has started asking me about prices of old comics; and the magazine Alter Ego (July 2007), featuring a long interview with '70s Marvel editor, and Alter Ego founder, Roy Thomas. His ascent to editor pretty much corresponded to the time I first started looking at comics again after a large gap when I had "outgrown" them; big-time nostalgia for me, I was surprised to discover.
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There's a new reality show being developed and I know all about it.
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Numbers lie: I'm loving the Wall Street Journal blog, The Numbers Guy, which I write about here.
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My monthly plug about the Underground Railroad conference here.

Yeah, I'm repositioning my own pieces from my other blogs for this post. Hey, it's Labor Day weekend; cut me some slack!
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Instead of watching Pedro Martinez's pitching debut for his beloved Mets, what Fred Hembeck will be viewing (September 2). I'll be alternating between the Mets and the U.S. Open (tennis), bumped from the local our CBS affiliate by what Fred is watching, but showing up on our CW affiliate.

ROG

Jackie Kennedy and falling apples

During our Berkshires vacation in June, we went to a place called MASS MoCA, which is the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, located in North Adams, MA. Actually, we went there twice. On a Monday afternoon, we drove towards there, but , following one of those ad maps that were not to scale, thought that we had passed it, when in fact we had not. The direction "drive through a cemetery" was correct; the way we came, we passed a graveyard that was on one side of us, then another cemetery that was on one side, then on BOTH sides of us. So, by the time we got there on Monday, it was really too late to go in and get our money's worth; the hours were 11-5 that week, though they would change to 10-6 for the summer the following week. We did, however, consume some of the ice cream made on location.

The idea of MASS MoCA really appeals to me: a bunch of old factory buildings converted into an art museum. So we returned on Wednesday, eavesdropped as a trainee described some Dutch fabric artist's work, then went on our own.

The bulk of the time, we looked at the works of Spencer Finch, which will be on exhibit through Spring 2008, not so incidentally. The display was called Spencer Finch: What Time Is It On the Sun? Most of the pieces are very, mechanical, and I would not have "gotten" them had I not read the brochure.

For instance, for Night Sky (Over the Painted Desert, Arizona, January 11, 2004), Finch mixed a variety of paints to match the color of the night sky. After weighing the physical mass of each pigment...the artist calculated the molecular ratio of each color in the combination. With 401 incandescent bulbs of various sizes, each bulb represents a particular atom... Well, all right, then.

Here's a paragraph from this New York Times article, that described one piece for me:
Often the work promises poetry but doesn’t deliver it, as in "Two Hours, Two Minutes, Two Seconds (Wind at Walden Pond, March 12, 2007)," a bank of ordinary white window fans stacked on top of one another. Arranged in a semicircle, the fans emit a steady breeze and an occasional gust over the time period specified by the work’s title. Mr. Finch experienced and measured these winds, using a weathervane and an anemometer, at the famous pond. It’s an interesting idea that falls flat in realization.

Lydia was getting bored. The one piece that might have been her, and thus our, salvation was the piece described here:
you first saw a square piece of green AstroTurf on the floor, upon which were scattered several red apples. Every five minutes, an apple thudded to the floor from an overhead apparatus, to make a vivid red-and-green sculpture that had a distinctly painterly appeal. Each night the apples were cleared away, so that the next day yielded a new chance pattern. Call Finch's Composition in Red and Green a Newton machine or a mechanized rendition of an orchard in the fall, but it was surprisingly appealing to the eye. This would have captured Lydia's attention for at least a little while, but the apple-dropping mechanism failed to drop the apples!

The one piece that worked best for both Carol and me, in spite of the impatient three-year-old, was Trying to Remember the Color of Jackie Kennedy's Pillbox Hat. Described here, it was in one small room, 100 paintings of ovals of varying hues of pink. The whole perception and memory thing came out with just the art and the title.

It wasn't a terrible experience, as many of the pieces were intriguing. And we had ice cream again. Perhaps the adults should try to visit it again.
ROG

Next Post QUESTION

I'm curious how you folks who look at other blogs actually find them. Initially, I went through the links of the handful of bloggers I knew then, but I soon found a certain redundancy of common sites.

So, my favorite thing to do became using the Next Blog feature on the Blogger sites. However, I've been trying it recently and finding it increasingly unsatisfactory. I keep finding, every fourth or fifth hit, a sex site. And not just a sex site, but one site nearly identical in spite of mild permutations. It's always a white background with a title of the video, which may be fairly innocuous - "David Beckham's first MLS goal". But on the right is a list of:
Related Top Posts that include - and I've eliminated more than a few:
# PAMELA ANDERSON AND JENNA JAMESON BOTH IN ONE SCENE!!!!(772)
# Sexy Chopper Biker Girls Naked(708)
# hot girls part 3 - the russian(445)

Of course, the non-sex sites I find are uneven. Either, I can't understand the language or it contains information such as: "Well let me just say this, Zac Efron totally hotty! Danngg!" What's a Zac Efron? (OK, I DO know about High School Musical.)

I do find some interesting places, but, where it used to take me about 10 minutes to find three commentable sites via Next Blog, now it takes a half hour, because among other things, the porn sites have disabled the Next Post button, so I have to go back before going forward. (They've also taken out the Flag Blog feature, not surprisingly - is there a way to report them to Blogger some other way?)

So, as I asked initially, what do YOU do to seek out new sites?
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And speaking of Disney and sex, Mark Evanier, writing about the demise of a Disney digest, writes: Once upon a time, Playboy sold seven million copies per issue and now it sells three million. This is not because of a declining male interest in beautiful nude women or because the women aren't as beautiful or as nude as they used to be. The phraseology, for whatever reason, cracked me up.
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Geico Uncovers Secrets About Flintstones, Clampetts - the commercials will almost certainly be better than the upcoming Caveman series.
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Starting this Monday: Changes in the comic strip For Better or Worse.
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Two guys named Ken:
Levine - and his readers - on movie theater etiquette (or the lack of same)
Jennings (August 30) on separated at birth
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I had asked who won the Democratic debate in Iowa on ABC-TV's This week a couple weeks ago. I got five voters, four of whom picked Dennis Kucinich, and one who selected Barack Obama.
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Karl Rove and now Alberto Gonzalez are both gone, and I'm not feeling the happiness I thought I would. It's like the letdown I got when I would rehearse for a choir piece or a play; the event would go off well, but I'd be left with a mild melancholy. At least now I know why they left when they did.

ROG