Breaking Into TV!

This happened last Sunday night, December 23. The driver of a minivan drove his car through a downtown Chicago window onto the set of WLS-TV. This happened during the live broadcast of the 10 PM news.

The driver was arrested for reckless driving and for driving with no insurance.
No one was injured.
The news anchor is Ravi Baichwal. He did a wonderful job of keeping his cool and reporting the "breaking news."

NFL: Everywhere!

Can the Patriots go 16-0? Until recently, you'd have to have access to the NFL network to see (live) if this would happen as they play the Giants in East Rutherford, NJ on Saturday night. The game was to be an NFL Network exclusive. The NFL has agreed to let NBC and CBS broadcast the game, along with the NFL network. This is being done so fans can actually see the game. 60% of American households with televisions cannot receive the NFL network. Why? Because the NFL is too greedy in their negotiations with major cable companies like Time Warner and COMCAST. Until this recent, one time decision was made, who was the loser? The fan, of course. Now that two major networks will broadcast the game, side-by-side with NFL network, what about the NFL Network sponsors? They are set to lose whatever audience they would have had on Saturday night as NBC and CBS waters down their captive audience.

NFL fumbles, again.

Except for the 16-0 regular season milestone, the game is meaningless. Both teams are already in the playoffs. Neither has anything to gain with a win. The Super Bowl is the only prize that either of them wants. So, tune in on Saturday night and watch as both teams replace their starters, early in the game.

If you want NFL Network, I'd suggest Dish Network or DirecTv. I have Dish Network which is great, except when it rains. Oh, and they raise their prices, every month.

What all this means is that, after paying for the NFL Network, I have to live with my wife on a Saturday night with no "CBS Mystery." Thanks, NFL.

Toyota, Insurance Fraud?

The current Toyotathon Television Advertising Campaign has got me scratching my head. There are a number of different commercials in the series. Yesterday I saw two. In the first one, a litle Japanese lady has a chainsaw and is cutting down a large tree that lands on her American made car. The other commercial shows a black man pushing his American made SUV off the top level of a parking garage. I mentioned the ethnicity of the models in the commercials. I did not put them there, Toyota did. What are these commercials saying? That you'd be better off sabotaging your current vehicle and collecting the insurance money than you would be trading your vehicle in on a new Toyota. Does this mean that Toyota dealerships are less than fair in appraising trade-in's? Does it mean that Blacks and Asians should commit insurance fraud as the best and most economical way to buy a new Toyota? Or, is this supposed to be funny? Sometimes I "don't get" Madison Avenue Humor.

Eddie/Valarie Split

Not much of a surprise, here. Eddie Van Halen and Valarie Bertinelli have been seperated for 7 years. She filed for divorce two years ago. The divorce in now final. He's 52, she's 47. She cited the usual irreconcilable differences for the split, which her publicist described as amicable. Assents have already been divided. Like I say, no surprise, here. They have on son, 16 year old Wolfgang had been living with mommy, probably will continue, there.

Chuck Norris - "Fightin' Mad!"

Chuck Norris is suing publisher Penguin over the book which I have pictured on the left. It looks like it could be a funny read, having watched him for years on "Walker, Texas Ranger."
Here's the deal - The book pokes fun at Norris' movie and TV characters. They say things like, "Chuck Norris recharges his cell phone by rubbing it on his beard." You know, stupid stuff like that. I would think that Norris would have a sense of humor abbout all of this, but there's one problem! Chuck stands to make no money on this project. This, alone seems un-American. Lawsuits are very American. And Chuck Norris is famous for being an American. So this development really isn't that unusual.
Never mind.
Oh...Chuck will win this one. It may take him more than 58 minutes, but, he'll win.

Congratulations, Jamie Lynn!

I told myself that I would ignore this...but I can't. Britney Spears little sister, Jamie Lynn, says she's pregnant! She's 16.
He?
She says she met him in church!
This is actually a smart move on Jamie Lynn's part. She can get all of the child bearing out of the way, you know, popping out a couple of kids and still have time to be a teenage pop star!

You know, I was 16 during the "Summer Of Love," 1967 and.....................oh never mind.

Why?

A friend recently asked why I blog?

What is it?

Why would I want to take the time to send thoughts up to the great wasteland of cyber space?

Well, here's the answer. It's like...uh...a...you know...a hobby. This blog has a counter. I know that nobody reads it, except, maybe, you. That's OK with me. Everyone who really knows me knows that I've always been more interested in quality rather than quantity. Quality is genuine. Quantity involves clutter, including the unworthy.

So there you go! I blog because I like to. I like to express a thought or thoughts clearly within a short period of time or space. Thoughts which ironically are available to millions but read by less than a handful. You could consider this a newspaper column in search of a newspaper.

Wham - Bam, Thank You Pam!

Rick Salomon and Pammie Anderson have been married since October 6th (of this year). She filed for divorce, Friday. This all sounds so Hollywood! I'm wondering what kind of a pre-nup these two had? The way things are going for Pammie, she might want to carry around a "fill-in-the-blanks" pre-nuptial agreement. The photo that I selected for this entry is a candid one. I wanted you guys to see what kind of a physical stud it takes to do a sex video with Paris Hilton and to get Pamela Anderson to say "yes"...to marriage. BTW, did you know that Salomon netted more than $8 million from the sales of his little video with Miss Paris?

As for you, Pammie, since I know that you read my blog often, I'll tell you what you need. You need a man. Not a boy. You've walked down the aisle 4 times with 3 different boys. Now that you know that you need a man, maybe a man who has a regular job? You know, like 9-5, Monday - Friday. I know that you lika-da-bad-boys, but Pammie, get real! You're 40 years old and you've got two kids at home! It's time to play grown-up...for real!

Oh, Pam, one more thing, I'm damn sorry, but, how should I put this? Uh...I am not available...hey...don't any of you gavones laugh! She's done a lot worse, already!

UPDATE: The divorce petition was filed on Friday. It was withdrawn today. Apparently the two "saw eye-to-eye" over the weekend..."
Stay tuned, this ain't over....

Remembering Who I used To Be

I got an e-mail last night from an old Army buddy. My roommate, in fact. His name is Benny Brown. I mention his name because he made it BIG in broadcasting, in Europe. I hadn't heard from Benny in over 30 years, so the e-mail was kinda haunting. We were both working (and living) at the American Forces Radio Network in Frankfurt. Benny was a lot more serious about his work than the rest of us. Don't get me wrong, all of us who were on the air at AFN in the 70's tried our best and I think we did a pretty good job. Benny was a bit more of a "radio rat" than the rest of us. It paid off for him. He's been recognized by Billboard Magazine as "International Radio Air Personality Of The Year" on a number of occasions. More importantly he's hosted syndicated shows in Italy & the UK. Awesome! I knew that one of us at AFN, during that era, had a shot at making it in the radio business. I'm really not surprised that it's Benny. He's on the air - 7 days a week - on Radio Luxembourg. The adjacent picture is an old one of Benny on the air at Radio Luxembourg, circa 1982. At that time doing a two man show with Rob Jones, sponsored by Cuticura Soap.

All of this makes me wonder if I should have stayed in radio. Maybe I should have stayed in Europe? Ah, but that was such a long, long time ago! Think of all the rednecks I never would have met. A popular radio air personality from Detroit once told me that it doesn't matter where you live and it doesn't matter what you're doing. What matters is if you are happy or not. I should add "healthy", too. After all, some people my age are dead!

Congratulations Benny. You worked for it. I knew it would happen for you! BTW, that's me, in in Terre Haute, listening to the "Classic Rock" and Benny Brown on Radio Luxembourg on the internet at http://www.radioluxembourg.co.uk.

Jessica Alba To Join H'Wood Single Mothers' Club

Jessica Alba has just become a cliche. That's right! She's announced that she is pregnant. Male contributor to this development is Cash Warren. Who? Doesn't matter. Marriage plans? Doesn't matter! Mommy is a millionaire. I should point out that Jessica's acting success and money make here different than the typical trailer park trash single mommies who smother the American welefare system. Good example, JA! I thought you were classy enough to start a family with a husband. But, I'm old fashioned. Women of child bearing age are not interested in what old fashioned guys think. Too bad, Jessica - you're cheating your kid out of having a real daddy.

Now, If The NFL Really Wants To Make Some Money!

Like many American men, and more and more women, I watch a lot of football on Sunday. Not just any football, the NFL! I've noticed that it takes more than 3 hours to play a game. A game with 4 fifteen minute quarters! So for each game thet we watch, we are seeing 2 hours of stuff that we did not tune-in to see. Most of it is commercials. Now, I know the importance of commercials. They bring money to the commercial networks so they can afford to pay the NFL for the rights to carry the games. This is free enterprise at its best! Or is it?

The NFL has its own network, right? Many of us can't see it because our cable companies are too cheap to fork over the money to the NFL to carry the network. This is a side issue and it can take care of itself.

What the NFL should do is broadcast all of its games on it's own network. This eliminates the networks, who in this case are simply "middlemen." Therefore we can cut the commercial time within the football broadcast so that a game will last, say 2 1/2 hours instead of 3+ hours. Schedule two games a day, one at 6PM EST and the next at 8:30 or 9PM EST, Monday thru Friday. This makes 10 games during the week. The other six games would be broadcast as tripleheaders on Saturday & Sunday. This way it would be possible for NFL fans to see every game. The NFL makes more money - each game is nationally televised - and we don't have to watch reruns. So many people would be watching the NFL network on a daily basis that it could be made available to any cable company for little or no charge at all! As for the teams, with games being played every day, it might even be possible for teams to have more than 6 days to recuperate and prepare between games.

Like the idea, NFL? You can use it - for free. Well, OK, if you must compensate me, I'll settle for a sandwich to be named after me. Available at all NFL venues "The General Tom" - a toasted baloney and cheese sandwich. The way you guys charge for food you could easily get 8 bucks a pop!

The World Is Searching For...Britney!

That's right! For some rason we can't get enough of Britney Spears! This makes 6 of the past 7 years that "Unfittney" has graced the top spot on Yahoo's annual list of the top searches. In 2006 Paris Hilton was #1, she's number 3 on '07. Number 2 at Yahoo was WWE. Number 4 is Naruto - a Japanese thing. #5 is Beyonce - she could do better with some legal convictions, maybe a half dozen rehab attempts would help. Let's face it, talent ain't enough to edge past Britney. #6 is Lindsay Lohan. Missing from this year's top ten are Jessica Simpson and Pamela Anderson.
I was watching Game Show Network during the wee hours of Sunday night/early Monday morning and I saw a rare episode of the first Goodson-Toddman Quiz Shows. It was called "Winner Take All." This particular episode aired on CBS TV in 1951. It was hosted by a young Barry Gray. This is the same Barry Gray who is idolized by Larry King as the "father of talk radio." Well, anyway, the show was awlful. Gray tried to be funny and was so flat that it was hard to watch. The prizes were household appliances made by companies that I've never heard of. That's odd since I'm old enough to remember when they invented rope. But I digress. 56 years after "Winner Take All" aired we see how much network TV has changed. Aside from the technical advances, we see that people acted, or carried themselves, differently back in the Black & White days of the early '50s. What I'm saying is that I'd rather watch bad '50s TV than bad '00s TV.
I can't help wondering what Yahoo's top 10 searches would have been for 1951?

Brad Pitt: Good Idea, Bad math

Here's something good coming out of Hollywierd. Actor Brad Bitt, you know, Angelina Jolie's boyfriend, wants to build 150 new homes withinn the ninth ward of New Orleans.

Great Idea!

He says that he will put up a maximum of $5 Million to match donations to Global Green USA. The houses would be environmentally friendly and cost an average of $150,000 to build. Lets see $5 Million matched with another $5 Million comes out to $10 Million. If you divide $10 Million by $150,000 you come up with 66. Brad, we applaud your efforts...but your math? I guess Brad is better at "Multiplying" than he is at division.

Banned Commercials

Here's an early holiday gift to boost the value of this blog. Value? That's right! There's an internet site that places a dollar value on blogs. This blog is valued at $24 and change.

Here's what we do to increase the value of this page, click on the following picture and enjoy four commericals that you'll never see on TV. These are supposed to be banned commercials, but they were broadcast on NBC. Go figure? Anyway, then bookmark this blog within your favorites and visit us a couple of times a week.

Enjoy: