Rabble Rabble

Did you know that the creation of the Happy Meal was in response to the Iranian Hostage Crisis?


The Colbert Report

.... And, they're back, Dingbats!

Yeah, I know I'm late to the game on this, but some of the late night talkers (Dave, Conan, Jay) went back on the air last week... Colbert and Stewart back tonight.

Didn't catch Jay sans WGA, but saw Dave (not bad, good Top 10 List), and Conan was excellent. Haven't watched him in awhile, but he was in TOP form on his return night. People seem to forget that he wrote for the Simpsons for years, and was an SNL writer too.

This video clip was pretty outstanding... Dig Big Red singing the Beastie's Sabotage as Edith Bunker from All In the Family. Awesome.

(if I had some time on my hands, I'd PhotoShop something cool like Edith as Conan or a Beastie, but I don't have any time on my hands)

YouTube,

via Gawker

My Obsession: Yo Gabba Gabba!

Okay, not sure if this counts yet, but it finally occurred to me that I should set the TiVo to record Yo Gabba Gabba! It's the show that features this awesome video.

I've also decided that I might need this:


It could be so yummy, so yummy.

LIVEBLOGGING: American Gladiators (Hour 1)

After a 20-year absence, American Gladiators has returned to the airwaves. I used to love watching it on Saturday mornings as a kid... Let's see how this one goes...

9pm: Opening montage and 'history' of the American Gladiators. Nice to see a sense of history.

9:01 pm: Hosted by the Hulkster and Laila Ali! Funny how Hulk Hogan and his compatriots of the day (Iron Sheik, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, Junkyard Dog ("Grab Them Cakes!") "Rowdy" Roddy Piper) used to bodyslam in the same timeframe during the Saturday mornings of my youth.

9:04 pm: Chick contestants introduced with short piece on their lives. First sob story of series achieved by divorcee avec kids contestant competing against Life Coach.

9:06: POWERBALL (Chicks)! Divorcee Avec Kids sob story is down about 40 secs in, and eliminated in the Powerball event after injury.

9:10: Familiarity grabs my attention as I scan through commercials with the TiVo... Hold on... Quick replay. KNIGHT RIDER promo with the voice of K.I.T.T. by G.O.B. from Arrested Development (is he always going to play acronymical characters?). That's freakin' HUGE. Now, I'm always open to a good remake (Charlie's Angels, Fugitive, Brady Bunch Movie)... Hope it doesn't suck like Bionic Woman. NBC? Can you hear me? Can you create something new? Or can you bring back The Greatest American Hero? Realize I'm thinking this while watching American Gladiators, and decide to move on.

(UPDATE: It's here!)

9:11p Tattooed pro skateboarder DAD Chad and Little Italian NY Firefighter introduced.

9:14 Little NY Firefighter dude freakin' RULES at Powerball! Watch them moves... Scrappy! Kicks Skater Dad's ass, 12-2.

9:16p Rehab Doc replaces Divorcee, gets whupped in JOUST.

9:18p Life Coach survives JOUST but doesn't get the knockdown. A Walk's as good as a Hit, I suppose.

9:23 HANG TOUGH. Firefighter is slick and spry, and Gladiator Militia doesn't even make contact.

9:24p Militia is eliminated because of injury (they don't make Gladiators like they used to, apparently... Nitro NEVER missed an event, yo.).

9:25p The Wolf, a Wolverine knockoff, is introduced to replace Militia against Skater Dad Chad. SKD talks smack.

9:25p Wolfman ensnares him, and into the drink they go. Crowd sings along to "Hey Hey, Goodbye"... This is looking more and more like Running Man.

9:27p EARTHQUAKE. Rehab Doc against Gladiator Fury on a swinging disc of Lucite, kinda like the spiky platform in Flash Gordon. RD survives by contrition.

9:32p Life Coach makes a strong move against Fury, but overshoots, and dumps off the platform.

9:33p HIT AND RUN Scrappy Firefighter makes obligatory 'back in the 'hood of the LES NYC' event allegory, to adoring fans. Once again sails through.

9:35p Skate Dad Chad tries his luck, and makes some anti-establishment comment about why he will be triumphant. Dumps into the water 30 secs in. Oops.

9:38p Both chicks in the PYRAMID. Rehab takes a fall from the top, and then Life Coach follows. Rehab makes a scramble for the top, but doesn't make it. Rehab wins the event with 5 pts, and taking the lead in the competition.

9:44p WNBC WxGuy says we'll be 'flirting with 60' this week... Sweet.

9:45p Scrappy McFirefighter busts his ass, gets a lucky break, and takes the PYRAMID. He leads in the competition, 37-2. Oh snap! Get ready for THE ELIMINATOR!

9:47p Over a wall, 20 foot underwater/under fire swim, rope cargo net climb, barrel roll, windy-up thing, balance beam, pyramid, zip line, travelator (both contestants are barely making it through the course). Rehab is making a comeback! Life Coach can't get up, and she passes her for the win at the breakthrough wall! So much for mind over matter, Life Coachy.

9:51p Hulkster declares Rehab the Winner of this round, and a spot in the Final Eight. Cut to commercial. Hope they run another Knight Rider promo. :)

9:56p Dudes in the ELIMINATOR. This one's a bit more evenly matched, as Skater Dad Chad seems better at obstacle courses than against the Gladiators. Scrappy McFirefighter struggles, but takes the win to get his place in the Eight. NYC! NYC! Woo hooo!!

My Obsession: Top Gear

What happens when you combine the Beeb’s (that’s “the BBC”, for you Yanks) big budget, the attitude of MTV’s Jackass, MythBusters, Car & Driver magazine, some celeb guests, shake it up in your cable box and let fly? Top Gear.

I’ve been getting digital downloads via ‘unauthorized sources’ (cough cough, BitTorrent) for years (though they’ve been showing up on YouTube recently), but it’s kindof sucked having to watch it all jaggy on my computer monitor. Anyway, the cable gods have smiled upon Time Warner’s NYC viewers – BBC-A (a.k.a., “BBC America”) has been playing double shots of the show for the past few weeks, and my TiVo has been working overtime (see previous sleep-deprived post). Whoo hoo!

So what’s it all about? Hmmm… Not even sure where to start. The show follows the Top Gear boys, the crotchety Jeremy Clarkson, vertically challenged (I only mention it because Clarkson does constantly) Richard “Hamster” Hammond, James “Captain Slow” May on various adventures, both on and off the racetrack. They put all sorts of motoring machines to the test, from supercars (think Ferraris and Bugattis) to crapmobiles (like the ones I rent all the time).

Speaking of the crap cars, there’s a fun recurring segment referred to as “Star in a Reasonably Priced Car” where a celeb is interviewed on-set by the Top Gear guys, and then video of the celeb is shown of their top-speed run around the Top Gear track in a low-end machine. It’s tons of fun watching someone like Ewan MacGregor cursing and grinding the gearbox as he pushes the car’s limits around the track.

Keep a lookout for the episodes where the boys do stupid things that almost get them dead. One’s a road trip in America below the Mason-Dixon line, almost getting killed by pissed off locals, and the one where Hammond almost kills himself by crashing a rocket car at 300 mph. At least he set an ‘unofficial’ UK land speed record with that one.

What's Copyrighted and What's Public Domain?

You know how you always hear -- a number of times-- during a sports event on TV, "This broadcast is the sole copyright of Fox (or ABC/CBS/NBC/etc.), the NFL (or MLB/NBA/etc.), and any rebroadcast..." blah blah blah... Well, there's an interesting twist to that tonight. A blogger and her husband were surprised to see a (slightly modified) photo of their dog appear in the FOX network's "Happy Holiday" ticker during a football game. She says that someone from Fox nicked the pic from either her blog or her Flikr photostream.

And let's not forget that this is the corporation who SUED YouTube over streaming FOX content (full disclosure: I was in the employ of the House of Murdoch on the broadcast side for about 8 or so years).

Now, you and I all repurpose images that we find via Google each and every day-- and that's what these guys did. But it wasn't theirs, so they should be remunerating someone, at least according to their own rules for not allowing others to utilize their content.

Another thought: ever think of where your photos might be ending up?

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/12/25/fox-helps-itself-to.html
http://www.sweetney.com/001944.html

For my Jewish Bruthas and Sistahs...

Well, it's Christmas Eve (I think -- I always get confused with Christmas Day and Eve and crap-- I know, ridiculous...), so here's one for the Jews... Perhaps some inspiration for this evening's activities... To quote Adam Sandler:

"There's a lot of Christmas songs out there, but not too many about Hanukkah, so I wrote a song for all those nice little Jewish kids who don't get to hear any Hanukkah songs-- here we go..."

Star Trek DIY: Fans make their own 'Webisodes'

To quote my colleague Dave, "The future of CGM and TV are here in full effect."

This is really really cool -- not just 'cause I'm a geek for this stuff (yes, including the Star Trek angle), but because it was done COMPLETELY with consumer-grade hardware and software. I estimate it was done for about $3K for all the equipment involved. In addition, it was worked on by remote teams, who communicated via Skype and email (free).

From a public relations / media relations standpoint, it's a great example of consumers taking a piece of pop culture into their hands and creating something for mass consumption... Much like we're about to do with Swiffer/You Tube in January.

I realize that this was produced by an IT guy and a printing shop guy, but this is an extreme example. But think about it: media editing technology is getting simpler everyday, and the digital cameras we all have are getting better video quality by leaps and bounds (aka, 'you don't need a special camera'). Engaging consumers like this will explode soon. Have you seen the material out there that's been done by WGA Letterman strikers?

The moms we're targeting for Swiffer/YT are just the tip of where this can go... Just think of all the new tech-savvy moms we have around here, who have the technology and the skill to do it....

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/20/star.trek.podcast/index.html