I was talking to my wife on the new cell phone the other day, and switched it to speakerphone mode. I suddenly felt an odd sense of deja vu, and it took me a moment to realize my hand and arm had assumed the position I had seen so very many times in my youth…

I was talking to my wife on a Communicator. It took everything I had not to say, “Beam me up, Annie…”

From CNN/Money: Judge to lawyers: Play the game

More judges should treat childish attorneys this way. Come to think of it, there are some politicians I wouldn’t mind seeing standing on the steps of the Capital with a Supreme Court Justice officiating over the game…

From the press release available at U.S. Newswire:

XM Satellite Radio, the nation’s leading satellite radio provider, and the National Press Club today announced the launch of a weekly news and current events program. “FROM THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB” will feature broadcasts from international and national guest speakers, high- profile press conferences and other newsworthy events taking place at the National Press Club. The hour-long show will debut in its regular weekly timeslot on Saturday, July 1 at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT) on XM Public Radio (XM channel 133).

Having recently noted in this space that XMPR is getting a little stale, this is at least a little good news even if it is relegated to Saturday evening.

Episode #10 - Jonathan Thomas in the Witch’s Dream Cave.

(Thanks to Kermyt Anderson for the one-line episode descriptions!)

Edit: Inline player added October 15, 2009.

 Episode #10 - Jonathan Thomas in the Witch's Dream Cave. [12:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Beer ad prompts resort evacuation

Is that a bomb? Nope, just an ad suction-cupped to a window.

From the Associated Press via Yahoo: R.I.P., “Frasier” Eddie

Ok, everybody together now; “Awwwww…”

I was looking for a tee-shirt for Katie to wear (she was having homemade french toast sticks for breakfast, and trust me, you really want to cover an eight-year-old when she’s snarfing down syrup-covered bread), and found this in a drawer:

From the AP via Yahoo: Chertoff says Homeland Security no ‘24′

This is too sureal even for me…cast members from “24,” Michael Chertoff, and Rush Limbaugh.

From Ars Technica: Tim Berners-Lee on Net Neutrality: “This is serious.”

The best line of the article: “Don’t let the telcos break the Internet.”

I have to tell you, I love this time of year. There is nothing more fun than, first thing in the morning, heading outside with the Katester to the side of the garage, where the volunteer raspberries are ripening in their thorniest goodness, and grabbing a sweet snack straight off the stalk.

She, clearly, loves the things. I have to practically sand-blast her face to get the purple stains off, yet she cheerfully goes back for more at the next opportunity. We’re getting quite a harvest this year considering these plants aren’t particularly maintained (I am diverting the water from the air conditioner unit into buckets and carting it up to give the berries a little extra plumpness), and she’s hitting them two or three times a day to enjoy. Yesterday, we saw a baby praying mantis, no more than an inch-and-half high sitting on one of the leaves…between that little guy and a few spiders scattered among the thorns, the plants are well-protected from any nasty little bugs that might want to eat our fruit.

They only last a few weeks, of course, and then it’ll be time to cut out the old plants and look forward to next year. But while the plants are bearing, you can bet we’re enjoying every morning and taking none of them for granted…

Episode #9 - Jonathan Thomas has fallen under the Witch’s spell.

(Thanks to Kermyt Anderson for the one-line episode descriptions!)

Edit: Inline player added October 15, 2009.

 Episode #9 - Jonathan Thomas has fallen under the Witch's spell. [11:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ah, out with the old, in with the new. The television season is dead, long live the next television season. And to prepare for it, I’m going to review new shows as the pilots become available.

Rules of Engagement; CBS, TBD (Midseason Program)

The press release calls this, “a comedy starring Patrick Warburton from Adam Sandler’s production company that follows two couples and a single guy as they navigate the jungles of dating, engagement and marriage.” I call it average.

That’s a shame, too; Patrick Warburton is one of my favorite actors. From Dave’s World to The Tick, this character actor always delivers (yeah, it’s always the same character, but it’s a great character). In this show, though, he’s left to fend for himself most of the time.

Paulo Costanzo, Patrick Warburton, and [unknown]

We first meet Adam (Paulo Costanzo, “Michael” on the ill-fated Joey and listed in press releases as “Chris”) and Russell (can’t find a credit, which usually means the actor is scheduled for replacement) in a diner, where Adam announces to his confirmed-bachelor friend that he’s moved in with Jennifer, and proposed. Insert standard, “are you nuts?” scene here; yeah, you can write this one yourself and have it as least as funny.

Next we cut to the older married couple; Jeff (Patrick Warburton, “David Puddy” in Seinfeld) is trying to balance the checkbook, and it seems Audrey (Megyn Price, “Claudia Finnerty” in Grounded for Life) forgets to put her checks in, “the thing,” which requires it to be, “balanced…ish.” Then there’s forgettable domestic stuff, and we switch back to the newly-engaged couple.

Ok, let me skip a whole lot of expected scenes where the older couple tells the younger couple how things are going to be, the younger couple begins to have doubts, which are of course resolved by the end of the episode (with a possible problem manifesting itself as David Letterman). There are some funny lines (although not as funny as the laugh track thinks they are), and as I mentioned any time I can watch Warburton wry-dry his way through a scene (”No cake…”) is a good time, but the situations are contrived and the characters just aren’t very interesting. I wasn’t a fan of Costanzo on Joey (although in his defense I wasn’t a fan of Matt LeBlanc’s by the time this embarrassing excuse for a sitcom was finally put out of its misery, either), and don’t like him much more here. The “doe-eyed” takes work even less well here than on the old show. And the rest of the cast, no matter how hard they try, simply cannot elevate the writing above the painfully average. Like I said, there are some laugh lines here, but none we haven’t heard before, written and performed much better.

Bottom line, this show, while unoffensive enough, isn’t going to revive the moribund sitcom genre. After a few weeks of the same-old-same-old, I’m afraid this show is headed to that great laugh track in the sky.

From CNN: Goldilocks in reverse

Woman finds bear eating her oatmeal. No, really.

Episode #8 - Whiskery Bill the Squirrel.

(Thanks to Kermyt Anderson for the one-line episode descriptions!)

Edit: Inline player added October 15, 2009.

 Episode #8 - Whiskery Bill the Squirrel. [12:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Regular readers of this space know I am a strong proponent of public radio (although not a fan of the sanctimonious National Public Radio, where the executives don’t give a rat’s tail what the listener wants), and a stronger proponent of the concept of commercial public radio…I honestly believe a commercial, for-profit model can be constructed for public radio-style programs, just as cable channels have profited from PBS-style programming. XMPR, the public radio station on XM Satellite Radio, was the first legitimate attempt to create a for-profit public radio station. But it’s more and more apparent that it is failing.

The problem is, there were from the outset a whole bunch of problems. XM channel websites are something of a laughing stock; next to “Customer Care,” the pitiful system of websites, with their outdated information, is a main complaint against the system. The sites are actually set up in-house to promote not changing the information there, since it is not under the direct control of the channel directors but rather must go through the MIS department. It’s a hassle to get information updated, so channel directors are conditioned not to bother. Looking specifically at XMPR, it becomes impossible for the channel to promote anything well; consider the channel’s airing of The Kalb Report; not only must the station delay the broadcast an hour (I’d frankly prefer this program to be live, but I can certainly understand why the delay), but there’s simply no good way to advertise it, other than on-air. That’s fine, but as someone who daily listens to The Bob Edwards Show and Here and Now (sorry, I cannot stand Tom Ashbrook, so I only listen to On Point when he’s away and a replacement host’s guests can get a word in edgewise, and there are few programs over the weekend I’m interested in hearing…and even those few I record on the XM2Go and listen later in the week), there have been times I haven’t heard any announcements for the show.

Other specials fair even worse; there are occasionally special programs I’ve accidentally stumbled over over the weekends where there have been no mention whatsoever that anyone I’ve talked to has heard. The painful truth is, if you don’t tell people a program is going to air, no one is going to listen to it.
(more…)

From CNN: L.A. hopes to see Reggie later, alligator

According to Tim Williams, an expert from Gatorland in Florida, “They’re not dumb. These animals have been around 20 million years and you’re not around that length of time by being stupid.”

As some of you might remember, early last year I got seriously miffed at Verizon deciding they wanted me to do their clerical work for them so I left, heading to Cingular and a GoPhone. I liked that little Sony Ericsson phone so much, when I finally changed plans and picked up a new phone, I decided to stick with SE, so I now have a brand-spankin’-new Z520a camera phone.

This phone is seriously cool…photo/movie camera, media player, all the bells and whistles including Bluetooth and Infrared which makes connecting to wireless headsets or computers a snap. (Remind me to tell you sometime about the $16 Bluetooth headset I picked up at The Geeks, only requiring a bit of engineering to the power supply.)
(more…)

From The Washington Post: U.S. Joins Industry in Piracy War

From the article: “The U.S. government has joined forces with the entertainment industry to stop the freewheeling global bazaar in pirated movies and music, pressuring foreign governments to crack down or risk incurring trade barriers.”

English Translation: The **AA have bought off enough politicians that they are willing to interfere with the internal matters of other sovereign nations to make sure the industries get everything they want.

Episode #7 - Dragon with the 13 Tails.

(Thanks to Kermyt Anderson for the one-line episode descriptions!)

Edit: Inline player added October 15, 2009.

 Episode #7 - Dragon with the 13 Tails. [11:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From the EFF: The Corruptibles

This is a really funny, terrifyingly accurate look at the future, if the RIAA/MPAA get their way and shove through the terrible anti-consumer laws they keep pushing through their purchased representatives. Watch this little film, then send all your friends to watch it. And after you stop laughing, call your CongressCritter and tell them to stop The Corruptables in their tracks!