Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be. – William Hazlitt
23 Oct 2007 No Comments
in Entertainment, Made Me Laugh Tags: comics, funny, nads
Juvenile? Yep. Borderline stupi? Yep. Made me chuckle? You better believe it.
A blog devoted to scenes in comic books where someone is getting a shot to the nads.
29 Sep 2007 No Comments
in Entertainment, Made Me Laugh, Video
Say goodbye to your Saturday.
18 Sep 2007 2 Comments
in Entertainment, Food
I used to be a huge fan of the Food Network. Of the very few hours I would give to TV a week, Food Network used to get a substantial amount of them. But, in the last year or so, FN has become as boring as, well, HGTV; all show and no substance. With the advent of Rachel Ray and a bevy of insipid “personalities” who couldn’t cook their way into a family diner, the Food Network has sacrificed its mantle as a cooking network to become a food entertainment network and, worse, a reality TV network (“America’s Next” + futureShowNameStr + “Star”)
The basic night is now packed with contrived competitions (cause cooking is all about head-to-heads), “celebrity” chefs rehashing the same crap they have for years, and Emeril. Props to Emeril for sticking it out this long because I can’t imagine what a soul-sucking experience it must be when the network you helped make starts tossing talent left and right.
For example, Mario Batali, the oddly fascinating Italian chef didn’t have his contract renewed by Food Network. Must have been hanging with the wrong crowd again. You know, foodies. Which leaves Alton Brown and Emeril (maybe Giada if you’re into her) as the only things worth watching. (Thanks to Ashley for the tip.)
So, my occasional Good Eats viewing will sustain me until someone figures out that what cable really needs is a cooking network. Stars will make themselves if the shows and the cooking are good. Maybe I need to pick up another season of America’s Test Kitchen on DVD. Or Anthony Bourdain could finally get to be the ultimate chef and run a network. Can you imagine?
01 Aug 2007 1 Comment
in Entertainment, Music, Spot the Sarcasm, Uhm... yeah
Elton John wants to shut down the Internet for five years because “[t]he internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff.” Right.
His proof for this?
He said: “In the early Seventies there were at least ten albums released every week that were fantastic.
“Now you’re lucky to find ten albums a year of that quality.
“And there are more albums released each week now than there were then.”
Riiiight. This, of course is the fault of the Internet. You know, that global distribution network that has enabled thousands of artists to find a market they would have previously missed. It’s also pretty dubious to claim that there are 10 albums a year of remarkable quality. That seems… high. Kidding. I think Sir Elton is, finally, too old for the current crop of artists.
Granted, there are some serious gaps in the release of quality albums, but that’s not the fault of the Internet; that’s the fault of music publishers and groups like the RIAA. When the radio is controlled by payola and breakout artists are stuff in the backwater of the, wait for it, Internet, it’s not wonder there aren’t “quality albums.”
So, yes, I totally took the bait for Elton John’s attention whoring, but if he even remotely means what he says, he may finally be irrelevant.
18 Jul 2007 3 Comments
in Ann Arbor, Entertainment, Flickr
Woot! Art Fair Bingo returns for the Ann Arbor Art Fair(s). ($DEITY forbid it be one, unified art fair.)
Art Fair Bingo is a wonderful tradition wherein you, the discerning resident/exile/art-lover voluntarily go to Art Fair and photograph people or things on the bingo card. There are no prizes aside from the admiration of those of us who couldn’t be paid enough to trudge through that idiotic soup of people. Or soup of idiot people.. I forget.
You know, being from Holland, you think I’d be used to huge festivals. Tulip Time was (or is) one of the largest festivals in the country and frankly makes Art Fair look like a cute bongo festival, except one where the bongos have been replaced by iPhones broadcasting Jack Costanzo tracks over $300 speakers.
If you’d like to play Art Fair Bingo and relish your schadenfreude as you watch the usual suspects waddle around downtown Ann Arbor, go nuts.
26 Jun 2007 1 Comment
in Entertainment, Music, Signs of the Horsemen, Technology
Today is a day of silence for Internet radio. Small broadcasters all the way up to Yahoo are shutting down in protest over the outrageous royalty rates approved by the Copyright Royalty Board. Who’s the CRB? Essentially, they are an arm of Congress, tasked with reviewing and setting royalty rates.
How bad are the rates? Instead of a flat fee, broadcasters will have to pay a per performance, per listener rate with a minimum of $500 per channel per year. Of course, they don’t define a channel in terms of the internet, so no one knows what that clause means. Internet broadcasters had proposed a fee structure that allowed for their continued existence and it was soundly rejected in favor of a proposal from SoundExchange, a fee collection body created by, guess who, the RIAA.
What’s the math on this?
Because a typical Internet radio station plays about 16 songs an hour, that’s a royalty obligation in 2006 of about 1.28 cents per listener-hour.
In 2006, a well-run Internet radio station might have been able to sell two radio spots an hour at a $3 net CPM (cost-per-thousand), which would add up to .6 cents per listener-hour. [source]
Effectively, the CRB has adopted a proposal that makes it cost at least twice as much to run an Internet radio station as what you could conceivably make in ad revenue. Oh, and satellite and terrestrial radio don’t pay this rate. Note that this has nothing to do with RIAA-member bands or acts; this is a fee you have to pay if all you did was broadcast music you created yourself. It’s a hit job by the RIAA, plain and simple.
So, what can you do? Call your representative, write a letter (not an email), urging them to support the Internet Radio Equality Act introduced in both the House and Senate. Internet Radio is not dead yet, but today is a preview of what it will be like come July 15th unless something changes.
05 Jun 2007 No Comments
in Entertainment, Made Me Laugh, Music
Ok, not really, but this video from Misheard Lyrics cracked me up.
By the way, according to the font of all knowledge, even Pearl Jam may be unaware of the real lyrics.
01 Jun 2007 No Comments
in Entertainment, Vice
It’s official; the coming season will be the last for BSG. Via the LA Times and SciFi Channel itself, season 4 will end the story arc of one of the best shows on television. Producers Ronald Moore and David Eick said via the press release:
And while we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming, they should brace themselves for a wild ride getting there: We’re going out with a bang.
Woot. Unlike some other shows, Moore and Eick are taking the show out on the highest note they can sustain. I just hope it doesn’t get too out there (yeah yeah, it’s scifi) as with the season finale from this past season.
I, for one, can’t wait for this fourth and final season to get started.
23 Mar 2007 No Comments
in Entertainment, Religion, Video
Funny, funny stuff. Mr. Deity is a series of short vignettes detailing the trials and tribulations of being an all-knowing, all-powerful deity. The Boss has to deal with Larry, his annoying Holy Spirit, his son Jesse, and constant calls for attention from the cast-down Luci.
The show is available via YouTube or iTunes for free (podcast link). I’d recommend the iTunes version as the video quality is extremely high for a video podcast. Good for a chuckle, and not too blasphemous.
20 Mar 2007 No Comments
in Entertainment, Made Me Laugh, Video
Thanks Fark.
RSS
Twitter