Category: media

C'mon, CNN

CNN asks the tough questions

From a while ago, but I’ve only just re-discovered it on my drive.

I think CNN should have really dug to the real questions for the article: Should your wife have any friends? Should your wife speak unless spoken to? Should your wife spend so long in the kitchen “cleaning” in an attempt to throw you off about how many Bloody Marys she’s had to slam to be able to sit through your tedious hawing at According To Jim reruns?

The first actual question that comes to mind is: Should CNN allow people suffering from marital uncertainty to post news articles on their front page?

More Wild Things

CNN has an article up reporting that some parents are complaining about the Where The Wild Things Are movie.

Might I suggest they stick to watching things more their speed, and leave the good movies for the kids smart enough to understand them.

Here’s something they can get excited about:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67OH2qmxz20]

[If I wasn’t clear enough in my last post, I thought the film was fantastic, and so did the two six year olds I brought with me.]

Top Go Go Putt Putt

As I’ve mentioned previously, we’ve recently plugged the TV back into the feeding tubes. It’s definitely had me thinking about the entertainments I blow time on, and a post earlier today by Warren Ellis – regarding the BBC show Top Gear – reminded me of a thought I wanted to follow through.

First though, Ellis’ statement:

Does it not bother anyone that the most beautifully and ambitiously shot (and soundtracked) programme on BBC television is in fact TOP GEAR? – more

He later adds that he’s a fan of the show, and I should mention that I am as well, but I shouldn’t be. I’m not a big car guy – sure, cars are a neat technology that I appreciate for getting me places, but I couldn’t identify 95% of the cars I pass on the road, nor do I spend Friday nights watching Cannonball Run. Still, if I pass an episode of Top Gear while flipping through the guide, I can’t help but stop.

Why?

First a sample to demonstrate:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hovbx6rvBaA]

It’s a four wheeled box, but how can you not take on Jeremy Clarkson’s enthusiasm?

More importantly though: the huge industrial set (watch for the wrecked truck in the background), the kinetic camera movement and editing, the soundtrack, and of course the ridiculously expensive, high speed appliances – everything on the show feels crafted to the hilt – it’s design fetishism, top to bottom.

notes from break time

Family Feud w/ Richard Dawson – Season 8, ep. 01

Question: “Crimes everyone considers committing.”

Answers already up: 1) Shoplifting 2) Murder

Creepy guy in the dark suit, after much deliberation: “I hate to admit it, but sometimes I consider rape?”

C’mon ’80s, what the..?

Send Me A Kiss By Wire

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhq0N4ORYjM]

A classic tale of denial and failure, but what I’ve always wondered about is how short sighted the construction worker is – not only is Michigan’s lifespan massive, he doesn’t need to eat or breath for vast stretches of time – he’s essentially uncovered an immortal frog. Forget the showtunes, dissect the bugger.

[Also, doesn’t this gag share a lot of DNA with Python’s “Man With A Tape Recorder Up His Nose”?]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0gzQS4w1sc]

Archfarm and the greenest pasture

This is stolen from Warren Ellis, but I find the idea very interesting; a ready-to-print gilded-hipster PDF architecture mag/zine with embedded video in the digital version.

It does leave me with a feeling that Amazon’s Kindle is a bit lost in the wilderness though. I surely understand the lure of plain text in the classic style, but while I often want to pick up a solid novel, sometimes I want to leaf through a colour drenched, excessively-laid-out magazine. I can’t get excited about a device that can’t do both.

As an afterthought, I wonder what effect the Apple tablet might have on the scene.

Webcomics Weekly

Webcomics Weekly Guys

It’s one of those days where I’d rather be napping through old episodes of Good Eats than trying to muster some brain juice.

More specifically, I’ve recently come up with a brilliant (says I) methodology for reworking a project that I’d previously left for dead. The problem is that when the moment is inappropriate – usually while my brain is trying to escape work – I’m full of creative momentum, and by the time the necessaries are out of the way, my brain is flat.

I have a small bag of tricks for days like today, and one of my favourites* is a podcast called Webcomics Weekly. Featuring four webcomic guys (Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub, Dave Kellet and Brad Guigar), the format is supposed to revolve around the mechanics of making a webcomic (and a profit for your labour if you should get that far), but even a non-webcomic fellow such as myself finds a lot to enjoy in the patter and broad approach to creative topics.

Like bacon cooking in a nearby room, the fumes of their creativity are often enough to get me up and about looking for my own meal.

Partially as a favour to myself, and partially for the good of anyone who stumbles across this post, I should also mention that many of the people involved in WW have also been involved in previous podcasts that are just as entertaining, and compile those links as follows:

Webcomics Weekly actually has a longer archive than what is provided on their libsyn page, and the rest of the episodes can be found on their old talkshoe page.

Kris sometimes does a show with his girlfriend Erica, known as The Program.

Before they did Webcomics Weekly, Scott and Kris had a two man show known as The Daily Affirmation, which has a wider range of topics, and a large pile of funny. Old episodes can be found on odeo, but it seems like new episodes will be available on libsyn.

Before they did The Daily Affirmation, Scott and Kris did a show called The Power Hour, which was sort of Daily Affirmation-y, but more of a ‘radio talk show’ influence. You can find that on Odeo too.

Before teaming up with Scott to do the power hour, Kris actually did another podcast with Dave Kellett, The Blanklabel Podcast.

Finally, occasionally both Scott and Kris post items to their youtube channels.

I may have missed other projects by the WW guys – especially possibly Brad Guigar who has a radio-ready voice, but whom I apparently have no audio history for.

The sheer number of hours of quality content on hand is actually a little surprising now that I’ve lined up a few years of listening into a single post. My only regret is that the WW fellows haven’t found a better way to better turn a bit of profit from their podcasts, as I think they might stick to a more regular schedule if they did.

Or feasibly they just need to find their own WW to get things going.

(*Another is to pull an informational blog post from my brain’s back burner,  just to get the gears greased.)

It's Winter. It's Cold.

The CNN Headline Generator is on the case once again.

Ugh
The snow, it burns!

I refuse to take the “Canadians smirk” or an SNL style “Oh Really?” tact on this, mostly because I love the almost mad lib aspect of it:

Frankenstein’s Monster: Fire hurts, makes ‘skin burn’

or

Child: Grandma’s boring, makes ‘sucky afternoon’

or

Iowan: Hamburger Helper, makes ‘a great meal’