Happy Birthday, Betty!

Highlights from her birthday party

Friday and Potter

Harry Morgan, who worked as an actor for more than 50 years, died in his home yesterday at the age of 96. He played a lot of roles in his time, but two of my favorites were Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H, and Bill Gannon on Dragnet. The former was my favorite show for years, and I remember the latter fondly simply because one of my brothers loved it.*

Here are Jack Webb and Morgan doing a turn in their Dragnet characters on what is supposedly a 1974 Jack Benny Special (Morgan reported has the 'stash because he was working on Gunsmoke at the time).

*Back in those days, we only had one television set in the house and ::gasp!:: the five of us kids had to agree on what to watch. I suppose it was fortunate that there only three channels, as the paltry selection surely minimized the disagreements.

With Regard to this season's DWTS...

Catching up

I had a busy Sunday yesterday, which didn't include watching the Superbowl (or even the Puppybowl, which has been my preference pretty much ever since the Bills lost four straight). There was just too much other stuff going on! But I do like to stay on top of all the hype and silliness, so it was nice this morning to find this quick summary of all that I'd missed.

Update: more here!

Not missing the cable news...

As I've mentioned before, I've been living without cable TV since the end of the summer. I haven't missed it that much, though there have been times when I would have liked to watch the 24-hour news -- but then again, when they're pulling stuff like this, I think I'm better off just reading the internet:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

I do really miss Jon Stewart, though, and with CNN now being Dobbs-free, I'm thinking about getting my cable hooked up again (still not a word from the epb...).

UPDATE:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Apologizes to Jon
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Linkiddy doo dah

And here is yet another hodgepodge from the past week...

• Bottled water. How do you feel about it? Ripped off? Misled? You should. We got some stainless water bottles earlier this year and they are wonderful -- the openings are big enough to add ice, there are no BPAs in the water we drink, there is no waste for the landfill, and they fit in the bike drink holders. We took them with us on our road trip last month and had no trouble refilling them with ice and cold water at gas stations along the way, and, thanks to our cozies and the added ice, it was so nice to have water that stayed cold for hours after a rest stop.

• This may come as a shock to some, but not all low-income housing has to be ugly.

• Anonymous hugging!

• This remembrance from Pam Spaulding (apparently my brother's classmate at Stuyvesant!) is the best post I've seen since Frank McCourt died last week.

• Abraham & Issac retold.

• I admit that I haven't been consuming much media lately (comcast recently cut us down to just a few worthless channels), but I'm still surprised that since the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. story broke, I haven't heard a single person mention the movie Amos and Andrew.

• On health care: we could be doing a LOT better than we are -- certainly better than BCBS is doing (which is maybe the RNC chair's insurance company -- he's not sure, but he's still trying to kill any chance at reform). Why are some of our representatives dragging their feet? Other systems work. Lewis Black shares some thoughts. And so does Bill Maher (best one ever?).

• I've said it before many, many times, but it bears repeating over and over and over again: the only thing abstinence-only education produces is really freakin' stupid teenagers.

• For the record: calorie labeling is a positive thing. As with many things (including sex -- see above), ignorance can be toxic.

• Here's a shocker: the C-Street Cult (oh, Zach!) story shows no sign of slowing down! Why is disgraced Senator Ensign giving Zach Wamp money? Apparently, it's a secret! Unfortunately, in other marriage defender/marriage non-honorer news (AKA republican sexual hypocrites), Tennessee still picks the winners.

• Jimmy Carter is challenging the Southern Baptist Convention's sexism -- but is he making any sense?

• Pat Buchanan: Why do you keep talking? You're making Lou Dobbs look good. Even Rachel, who often refers to you as "Uncle Pat," thinks you're a misinformed douche.

• Today was Sarah Palin's last day. Top Ten observes the occasion.

• Lastly, this just leaves me gasping for air. And Jimmy Carter thought the Baptists were bad! Ha!

• And finally, I posted this on facebook about a week back, but if you missed it there, you might enjoy it here. I apologize to everyone who attended my wedding, because it wasn't this cool. Neither was any wedding I've ever attended. The bar has been raised.

UPDATE:

On TV tonight...

Just a reminder, that Prayers for Bobby is on TV tonight. Andy's got some more info, along with a few reviews (and this link to FOF reaction). Here is the book.

This cracks me up

Every time I watch it. Stephen Root is a brilliant actor -- after his turn at Jimmy James in Newsradio, the Cohens snapped him up, and for good reason. He's got a lot of good work out there. Here's the premise of this particular clip:

Mr. James goes to a book reading to hype his autobiography which was a flop when it was first released but became a hit in Japan. When it was rereleased in America it had been translated to Japanese and then back to English.

Tuesday hodge-podge

I've been reading these internets today and have a random sampling of interesting tidbits found in these here tubes:

• Hello. I'm Billy Blades. And so are you.
• Today the Iraqi government says that they want the US out of Iraq -- including our military bases. This flies in the face of all of John McCain's plans for permanent bases in Iraq and a 100-years war. What will he doooo?!?
• Speaking of John McCain, the old coot thinks that he's much more highly regarded among vets than he really is. And btw, only people who have served have the right to question McCain's judgment -- oops! Make that: only people who have served AND who also agree with John McCain! And he doesn't want to talk about being a POW -- unless it's in a freakin' campaign commercial. Seriously?
• You've probably heard that those inbred polygamists who got busted earlier this year for letting old men knock up their daughters while they're still little girls have their own clothing line. It turns out they let their daughters dress like flashy harlots.
• Remember when there were only 3 channels on TV (well, four if you were lucky enough to live in an area with a PBS station)? Have things changed all that much? Not really.
• Now here are a couple of stories that made me laugh out loud today: 1) That the man who never read a book might pretend to write one. and 2) That there are people out there who would consider it appropriate to put the same clueless moron, who can't even quote Jefferson properly, in a classroom. With children.
• And speaking of George Bush, his buddy John McCain hates bloggers. Yeah, that whole free-flowing information thing sure does put a real crimp in the old bullshit spewer, don't it?
• Those wacky internetizens are not done with Jesse Helms yet. They're questioning his patriotism, calling him irrelevant and defeated, and remembering when his house was condemed! Oh, and Mike Huckabee loved and admired him.
• Charlie "110% Heterosexual" Crist is still in the news and Chris Matthews doesn't love him.
• Are you a quilter? How about quilting for our nation's wounded heroes?
• A guy in Cleveland, TN has figured out how to run a car on Chattanooga's greatest natural resource (more here)!
• A Norwich woman spent the morning with a bat in her bra (via BoingBoing).
• Are you ready to wear a bracelet when you get on a plane? One that zaps you with a shock if you don't behave?
• Here's the latest from the awesome Improv Everywhere troupe!
• Worst. President. Ever.
• six-course lunch and 18-course dinner?!? Sheesh!

More best of...

Nerve.com has compiled a list -- with accompanying video clips -- of the 50 Greatest Commercial Parodies. There's some great stuff on this list, which is, rightfully, dominated by the efforts of the SNL cast over the years.

Hulu Goes Public

I've been watching Hulu for a few months now and it's definitely very cool (especially when I use my TV as a monitor!). It's going public tomorrow. You might want to check it out.

And on the next day...

...primary fatigue set in.

Here's a sobering thought: the Iowa caucuses (the first contest in this race) took place on January 3rd. That was nine weeks ago. The Pennsylvania primary, which holds our next hope for a resolution to this contest, is on April 22nd. That's seven weeks away.

We're only a little over half way through this fight (and that's being optimistic!).

Sadly, this could get really ugly before it's over.

Lewis Black: Leave Huck Alone!

Christmas Classics

There are a lot of great blasts from Christmases past over on the Classic Television Showbiz blog, including reruns of All In the Family, The Honeymooners, Brady Bunch and the Dragnet radio show holiday episodes. I don't know how long they'll stay up on YouTube, but they are still up right now!

Best Trailer Ever!

This is the first trailer for the "Dead Like Me" DVD movie (hopefully the first of many), which is supposed to be released in 2008.

Sunday YouTube Links

•Remember that viral video from a few years ago that had the Christmas lights synched to the song by the TSO (apparently by a guy in Ohio named Carson Williams)? Well, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra has struck again!

•Everyone knows that Americans are stupid, right? I'm sure by now you've seen Miss South Carolina, but did you catch Kelli Pickler trying (and failing, miserably) to outsmart a 3rd grader? I thought maybe it was fake, but I looked her up in wikipedia and she's a real person!

•On the more positive side of things, that holiday classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas never goes out of style. You can watch it on YouTube -- both the original and last year's Scrubs version.

•And since it's that time of year, let's get the 2007 Top Ten Listing started: Time's Top 10 Ten Viral Videos!

Quick Links

Here's are just a few things I've run across recently:

Apparently Shrub is enrolled some sort of remedial speech reading for dummies.

The Episcopalians don't want to be out in front quite that far!

And here's an interesting video of one of Jack Cafferty's many cogent commentaries. It apparently was just uploaded to YouTube, because even though it's quite dated, it's only just suddenly got legs all across the internet.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

Oh, my!

I know what I want for Christmahanakwanzaka!

From TV Shows on DVD:

Our hip friends in the retail world are stickin' it to the man, and sending us an exclusive first look at the DVD box art for CBS/Paramount's December 18th release of The Mod Squad: The 1st Season, Volume 1. It's still subject to change, which would be bogus 'cuz this is totally awesome. They've also got the skinny that this 4-disc set will for-sure have 13 episodes, from the first half of the first season. Here's the totally tubular pic:

G-Dog is worried that I will be disappointed because "I've forgotten how much it sucks," but I think it will be completely happenin'! It just doesn't get any more groovy than this, man! I've got just four words for you: Clarence Williams the Third. The real Linc, Julie and Pete back together again (and not those posers from the movie)!

Solid!

I'm Watching the Emmys

I have no idea who most of the people/shows are.

Apparently, I need to watch more TV.