From The New York Times’ Media Decoder Blog: How the Letterman-Oprah-Leno Super Bowl Ad Came Together

Ok, ok, so far, my favorite Super Bowl advertisement. However, I haven’t yet had the chance to cut that annoying sports thing out of the recording so I can watch all of the commercials as they were meant to be enjoyed.

The Katester took some pictures out the front door of the snow still falling, so I thought I’d share them with my friends in Florida and California who are probably basking in the sun laughing at those of us in the snow-covered northeast.

Just click the thumbnail for a larger version.

	What driveway? Neighbor Larry Landis brings his snowblower into what used to be my driveway...
	Where's the car? Underneath that large lump of snow sits the car.
	More snow Haven't been out to measure yet, but it looks like a bit over a foot.
	The mailbox... ...which I don't think is going to be filled with bills today.
	The car. I think. Katie stepped outside to take a few pics from the porch. That used to be our car.
	The waste toter? I'm assuming she wanted to show the snow on top.
	The steps Buried in snow, the steps leading to the driveway. And someone's sneaker...
	Yet more snow What might be, by April, the front lawn.
	Side yard and neighbor's house Covered with snow. Everything's covered with snow.

I spend a whole lot of time on this blog whining about things that disappoint me…and it seems as one grows older, one is less tolerant of disappointment. But not everything in my life is a bother…some things make me actually smile, or pleasantly surprise me, and I don’t blog about those things nearly often enough. In the spirit of the most wonderful holiday season which I simply cannot let go, I’ve collected a few of them here, after the jump.
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I tend to use computers well past their useful lives…I add on hardware to keep them working and accomplishing the tasks I need, so I don’t purchase computers very often.

So imagine how appalled I am to discover that since I purchased my last computer, both the manufacturers and Microsoft have found seemingly hundreds of annoying ways to try to stick their hands in my pocket. (And don’t get cocky, Macintosh users…iLife+iTunes is even more obnoxious.)

I purchased a refurbished quad-core HP computer after Christmas for a really good price, with plans to use it as my video processing computer…it shipped with (ugh) Vista, but even refurbished qualified for a free upgrade to Windows7, so until I got the upgrade discs I didn’t do much with it (and as an aside, I kinda like Windows7, as embarrassing as that might be to admit). Now that I’ve upgraded the machine, I’m trying to get it straightened out so I can use it, but I keep running into stumbling blocks. Or, more accurately, programs determined to connect me to something I neither want nor need, all designed to take my money.
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In an apparent attempt to get their Live365 radio station canceled, the hosts of Radio Once More, Ken Stockinger and Neal Ellis, have invited Your Obedient Servant and the Worst Voice in Internet Audio to guest on their program this Friday evening, January 22nd, at 9:00pm Eastern Standard Time, 6:00pm in the west (and in Baltimore it’ll be 9:42).

Please join us at that time, when we will attempt to answer the question, “What the heck is he doing here?” Check out http://www.radiooncemore.com/ for complete details and to listen in.

From the New York Times’ TV Watch: Are the Days of Leno, Letterman and O’Brien as Polite Hosts Over?

Interesting article, this…from it: “The Leno-O’Brien fracas is both shocking — an explosion of incivility that burns through late-night bonhomie — and also reassuring. It turns out that the cliché that comics are angry, bitter people deep down is true.”

The blog takes a break from the pressing news of the Jay/Conan/NBC kerfuffle to proudly announce your humble webmaster is somewhat insufferable right now. There is a story to be told, though, before we get to the good stuff.

As my regular readers know, I am a big fan of The Bob Edwards Show. So much so that I created a fan-based site before the show had one of it’s own. The show recently had a very talented artist, Jill Sobule, on the show to talk about the clever way she self-financed her most recent CD.

Now understand, I really pay attention to the show, it’s staff, and it’s website. And I noticed they decided to run a contest where Ms. Sobule was providing five lucky people a theme song of their very own…so of course, I entered, since let’s be real, even an old guy like me needs a theme song. I mean, imagine…he enters the kitchen in the morning, theme song playing in the background, while he makes his morning cappuccino to thunderous applause…

After I entered, I kinda forgot about it. Until I got a note from one of the producers that I was one of the lucky winners! (I have a suspicion that, considering my usual luck, there were only five entries, but hey, I’ll take whatever good fortune I can get.) He asked me to write a paragraph about myself, which considering my natural modesty was almost impossible, but I struggled through and finally completed it. (It won’t surprise anyone who knows me that the paragraph was written considerably tongue-in-cheek, although at the same time every word of it was absolutely true - I don’t know if Jill or the producer believe all of it, but I can provide references to back up every strange event and interest.)

Thanks to a screw-up in my spam filters, this theme languished in a filter file until I rescued it this evening. My wife and daughter are trying to decide what to do with me now, since I now refuse to enter a room until my theme is played.

All (or at least most) kidding aside, please listen to the theme at the bottom of this post - and yeah, plan on hearing this, or at least pieces of this, frequently here on the blog. And after you do, head on over to Jill’s website and listen to some of her songs - she makes a rotating selection of her work freely available to enjoy. I think you’ll agree with me that she’s well worth the listen, and if you do purchasing a CD would be a great way to help me thank her for this silly yet deeply personal theme song. I am grateful, and a little humbled, by this. Doesn’t hurt that it makes me laugh every time I hear it, either.

And before I let you get to the song, a special thanks to Senior Producer Chad Campbell. He doesn’t realize how in awe of him I am…I mean, the guy has people like Jill and Carl Kasell on his speed dial, for heaven’s sake. How cool is that?

 Charlie's Theme, by Jill Sobule [0:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From The New York Times’ ArtsBeat: Don’t Cry for Me, Downtown Burbank

From this highly-recommended comment piece: “…amid all the public vilification of Jay Leno and the NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker, no one seems to want to trace this slap fight back to where it began: the 2004 deal in which Mr. Leno agreed to step aside as “Tonight Show” host in five years.”

Indeed, Leno acted (as I mentioned in a previous post) as a lame duck for five years, and still maintained the number-one position in late night, something O’Brien couldn’t maintain. Blaming Leno for this disaster is foolhardy…blame the morons at NBC instead.

From The New York Times: Op-Ed Columnist - The Biggest Loser

From this opinion piece by Maureen Dowd: “In a town where nobody makes less than they’re worth, and most people pull in an obscene amount more, there has been a single topic of discussion: How does Jeff Zucker keep rising and rising while the fortunes of NBC keep falling and falling?”

Morons, I tell you. Morons.

Like the rest of America, I am staring transfixed at the most recent NBC blow-up, a real-life drama vastly better than any “reality” program or scripted drama could possibly be and something closer to a train-wreck than a programming decision. And all of this is caused by a combination of simple factors…apparently every NBC executive is a complete and utter moron who thought the network could have it all.

It’s important to remember the seeds for this started five years ago, when Conan O’Brien’s contract was up for renewal. It was decided by the network to keep him from jumping to another network (FOX, ABC) by promising him the crown jewel of The Tonight Show that early, and kicking down-the-road what to do about the now-lame-duck Jay Leno, who accepted the firing (yeah, although he had one helluva long severance period) with barely-contained grace. Leno pushed the Sisyphean bolder to the top of the late-night hill, and it was clear to everyone he was being slapped in the chin as a thank-you.

Last year, when the end was clearly near, NBC had to deal with that can they kicked, and decided to bump Leno to prime time to keep him from bolting to another network (ABC, FOX) while the untested and untried O’Brien faced his toughest battle, one he has yet in seven months to win. Unlike a whole lot of people, I did not hate the idea of a prime-time Leno show; the pseudo-reality garbage cluttering up the airwaves runs a whole lot more than five hours a week, so blaming Leno for the lack of scripted television is idiotic. I admit after watching the first few programs, realizing it was nothing more than The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno in prime time was a little disappointing, since I figured something leaning more toward the variety shows of the past would work better, but I am also smart enough never to bet against Leno, whose work ethic and solid focus has consistently triumphed over those supposedly smarter, hipper, and funner than he. (Sorry, Dave, but you were supposed to win that battle handily and never really could. O’Brien must have been a refreshing change…someone who presumed to be hipper than you, yet someone you could handily knock off first place.)
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I realize this is a little early to be thinking about next October 21-24 Friends of Old-Time Radio Convention, but if you’ve considered attending (and you really should), now would be a great time to make hotel reservations.

Louise at the Ramada Plaza (formerly the Holiday Inn) tipped Jay Hickerson off to a great deal…don’t know whether it’s a typo, they are treating the seperate wings of the hotel (old and new) as different or what, but…

Head to the Ramada web-based reservation system and do a hotel search for Newark, NJ. You will find two listings for the Ramada Plaza…one that lists at $79.00/night, and another for the same building that lists for $49.00/night. Obviously, pick that latter one, which is the best price on this hotel I think I’ve ever seen! No pre-pay is required, and reservations can be canceled up to 6:00pm the first night.

The official name of the little guy has now been declared. While Kate didn’t enunciate her reasons, I have the following theories:

1. He’s grey and white. He sorta looks like a partially-burned charcoal chunk.
    
2. He has a charcoal-like smudge. Underneath his chin, he has a smudge of grey in the white of his bib.
    
3. His first action. This is, I think, the main reason for the name. When Katie was opening gifts Christmas morning, she heard a soft mew. She thought it was coming from a bag, so she opened it up only to find therein some cat toys. She then heard another soft mew, and decided it was in a box with a removable lid…when she opened that, a little grey-and-white head popped out. She jumped and leaned backwards, and the kitten immediately hopped out of the box and ran directly to the opened fireplace (yes, I always leave the glass doors and damper open Christmas eve…why increase the difficulty for the big guy?) and jumped in - my wife needed to use wet paper towel to get the soot and cinders off of the little guy so he wouldn’t make himself sick cleaning. It is the concerted opinion of the household that the only conceivable reason he would do this so immediately is that since this was the way he came in, he thought he might be able to go home the same way, not realizing this was his home.

Yes, this actually happened (we have the video)…so Cinders it is.

 
…the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor, I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says “If you see it in The Sun it’s so.”
Please tell me the truth. Is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
115 West Ninety-fifth St.

VIRGINIA, Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, not even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

— Editorial page of the New York Sun, September 21, 1897

From our entire family to yours - Annie, Katie (who knows perfectly well there is a Santa Claus), and yours truly; no matter what you are celebrating at this truly amazing time of the year, Happy Holidays!

From The New York Times: Editorial - Twitter Tapping

From the article: “The government is increasingly monitoring Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites for tax delinquents, copyright infringers and political protesters. A public interest group has filed a lawsuit to learn more about this monitoring, in the hope of starting a national discussion and modifying privacy laws as necessary for the online era.”

That “friend” request might be from someone who wants to monitor you for a different reason altogether…

From The New York Times: Gene Barry, Who Portrayed Suave Lawmen on TV, Dies at 90

From the article: “Gene Barry, who portrayed debonair lawmen on television but whose career of more than 60 years ranged from song and dance on Broadway to science fiction, died Wednesday in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 90 and lived in Beverly Hills until about a year ago.”

He portrayed many roles, but for me he will always be Amos Burke.

From the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: Public barred from federal program on government openness

From the article: “The public and the news media are barred from attending a workshop designed to teach federal employees about a new government office that resolves open records disputes, The Associated Press reports.”

Dear Feds; Thank you for demonstrating once again the meaning of irony. Love, me.

In my continuing quest for an MP3 player to replace the XM Satellite Radio in the car, I received delivered to me…a 2G SanDisk Sansa Fuze MP3 player.

So why buy another copy of the exact same player? Well, if you check the comments in my review of the first 2G Fuze, you’ll find from ilamfan a suggestion I look at Rockbox, a free (as in beer and as in speech) replacement firmware for many MP3 players, including the V1 Fuze. I got a really good deal on a reconditioned 2G Fuze at an Internet store (which, for whatever it’s worth, came in looking every bit as shiny and “new” as the first one I purchased, complete with SanDisk earbuds and a charging cable). I figure, if I brick it with Rockbox, I’m not out much cash, and no warranty to speak of…I admit I did get lucky and receive a V1 unit (the software for V1 is “Unstable,” where the software for V2 is “Unusuable”), but I figured my odds were pretty good since the V2 units are relatively new and wouldn’t be in the refurbished bin in the quantities the V1 units would be. I am leaving the original Fuze untouched, so even if this one blows up, I still have something to use to listen to The Bob Edwards Show on my morning walks, even if it is kinda worthless for the intended use in the car.

This one shipped with v01.01.15a of the firmware (check this website for an archive of all the different firmware versions), which while not the most recent does have the silly “exploding SanDisk.” I’m not perfectly clear if I should update the firmware in the Fuze before I install Rockbox (one of the fun, and maddening, things about open-source software is that there generally aren’t a whole lot of instructions), but since I can always replace the dual-loader by installing a fresh version of the SanDisk firmware (I think), I’m going to leave it go for now.
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We’re currently experiencing a BOTNET dictionary attack on the mail server…it’s been going on for a few days now, and I’m getting a little weary of it. So I’ve shut down the mail server for a bit; if you’ve sent mail to the Internet OTR Digest or to me, you may get a temporary error. Don’t worry, any well-behaved mail server should handle it and queue your mail for later delivery. With luck, the infected machines will move on to another target.

It’s frustrating, though…why don’t people keep their antivirus software up-to-date so those of us who are “innocents” don’t have to deal with their garbage?