It's always sunny in philadelphia

It's been a slow blogging week for me, so a good fall back topic is what's on TV...
A NEW comedy that's what.
It's always sunny in Philadelphia.
It's a bit on the crude side, and there are things they say and do that you know is "not right" and you should not be laughing at, but it's just one of those things that is funny none-the-less. I was actually surprised that they are allowed to curse like they did on TV. I guess because it's a cable show? But it's not a "premium" channel like HBO - not sure how they get away with that.
So, if you can take the crude language, the politically INcorrect humor, I would say to check this out. Oh.. it also stars Danny DeVito who is funny too. My favorite character though is Charlie. Something about his high pitched voice and the yelling just cracks me up.
Makes me want to go out and buy a gun and shoot at a log in my basement.

News Corporation

Did you ever stop to think who owns the newspaper you read? The magazine where you get your entertainment news from? What about the TV shows or channels you watch? Chances are high that one of these media outlets is owned by The News Corporation. Perhaps their biggest piece of property now is "faux" news... Er, I mean Fox News.
For a list of their holdings check this out:
http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/newscorp.asp

For a bio of the News Corp:
http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=358

And to find out more about the man of charge of it all:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch

Technorati Tags:
Rupert Murdoch
News Corporation
Media

LibraryThing.com

Just a quick post...
I found this neat website yesterday.
http://www.librarything.com/
I know there are some stand-alone programs that will let you keep a list of books on your computer, but this is a good idea for a website because of it's social and sharing abilities.
I added just a handfull of books to my list (5) and was surprised to see another person had all of the same books.
It would also be neat to go in with a group of people and make a "joint" account where you could share books with your friends.
check it out.

Technorati Tags:
social
books
library
library thing

Broken Trail

I finished watchin' part two last night of this really good TV show called "Broken Trail" on the AMC channel. It was a two part series starting on Sunday night with "limited" commercials (which was nice). I highly recommend this TV western. Not your typical western of shoot-em-ups (though there are some), but a real story telling experience. Turns out some of it is based on historical events too, which I did not know until the end of the show.
One of the things I liked about the show was the cinematography. Some of the filters they used to get the "golden sunsets" were a bit too much, but some of the scenes were very nicely filmed. There was one scene in particular that looked like an early morning shot with a golden glow of a bunch of horses roaming in a field of hay with their breath showing in the cold morning air. Nice.
The acting was terrific, with Robert Duval stealing the spotlight (well earned too). Thomas Hayden Church also did a great job, but his character was a bit flat and one-sided. But in the moments where he took charge he did a great job.
AMC is going to re-broadcast this (probably more than once) on July 6th (mark your calendars) and I highly recommend it. It's not just another "Clint Eastwood" western. Duval was Duval, a hard nosed tough guy with a heart of gold. I have one criticism though... the "showdown" with the bad guy was a bit anticlimactic and short.
What I don't understand is how this quality show was headed right for TV. This should have been on the big screen.

Here's the official website on AMC

Dem's Fightin' words

I was over at Technorati looking at the "what's popular" when I saw my friend Jon Stewart's name mentioned. (I don't really know him, I just feel like I do because I watch his show on a regular basis.)
The headline is what will capture the readers attention...
"Jon Stewart, Enemy of Democracy?"
What?! Enemy?!
What kind of wording is this?
Well, the headline did it's job... It got me to read the article to find out what's going on.
Turns out... nothing. It's a very misleading headline (perhaps this is 'tongue-in-cheek' sarcasim?) I'm not familiar with the author of this article Richard Morin - So I can't tell if this is meant to be funny (it doesn't sound like it to me).
He seems to be reporting on two different items...
1) a study by "political scientists" What does that mean!? that says that people who watch the Daily Show, "MIGHT" become more cynical and "MAYBE" will not vote.
2) It then goes way off the subject and talks about how Democrats who donate to Katrina victims apparently make donations based on race... and Republicans are over-all stingy in their donations, and don't give as much as Democrats. What does this have to do with Jon Stewart?

Mr. Morin, I am torn... on one hand I hope that on Monday's show, Mr. Stewart responds to your article and puts you in your place like only Mr. Stewart can. But... the other part of me hopes that this item is just lost in the shuffle because it's just a blatant attempt for attention, with no real value, and like a little kid screaming for attention, it's best just to ignore them.

I was going to post the full article on my blog, but the "permission rights" on the Washington post.com does not allow this. So You'll have to go to the link to read it yourself...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

What cracks me up is that the "politcal scientists" found that the views of the Daily Show "develop cynical views about politics and politicians..."
I just looked up the meaning of "cynical" -

cynical [sinik?l] adjective 1 believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity

Come on! What normal sane person is not cynical of politicians and politics?
So when Mr. Stewart points out the lies, mistakes, and often times idiocy of politics and politicians, then that makes Mr. Stewart the "enemy of democracy?"

Sorry, I've ranted about this too much now. But Mr. Morin struck a nerve with me, and I had to sound off. That's what a BLOG is for :)

Technorati Tags:
[politics]
[jonstewart]
[dailyshow]

Macro photography

Wow! Look at these incredible macro photographs!
I hope someday I can take photos like these...
http://pishmo.com/macro/

Coffee Art

Wow! Took me a second to figure out what these were, or were intended to be used for, but upon figuring it out I just had to smile. These things would work GREAT at a local Diner, where the waitress almost always spills your coffee into the saucer as she's bringing it to you. Then you have the paper placemats to use as a canvas. Genius! :)
I could also see these being used as a marketing "gimick" at the local coffee shop...

http://www.gnr8.biz/product_info.php?products_id=182

ouch... what a STEEP price tag ($59!) for a couple of mugs! Soon these will be at Walmart for $4 a piece.