Verizon commercial and Trump vs. Rosie, why? - 1.10.2007.2

Before I mention how annoyed I am with the “Trump vs. O’Donnell” garbage, let me ask a question. Have you seen the Verizon Wireless commercial with the Black American family? I like it. It’s funny. In this commercial the father asks his kids (a son and daughter) how they like the Chocolate and EV (I think) phones that he got them. The kids think they are great and are happy. The father asks what they got him, and the daughter mentions “We got you cologne.” The father replies, “No. Dad got hosed.” Now that is funny. One of my best friends mentions similar thoughts every Father’s day, his birthday and Christmas. The way the Black man mentions it, I have to guess he is a dad in real life. Finally a commercial that is not insipid or berating that stars African Americans. There aren’t many, but it’s nice to see it and the reality based humor works too.

But, going from a funny thought to something so stupid it should be funny yet it isn’t. Yes I mean the whole back and forth with Ms. Rosie O’Donnell and Mr. Donald Trump. While I agree that Mr. Trump was wronged first, it’s long past time for it to end. The whole thing is a waste of time, and more importantly a waste of news airtime.

Here is what is annoying me about it. So far this has been going on for about 20 days now. [see my post The odd and dumb before the holiday - 12.21.2006.2] Virtually every day there is commentary and reports on who responded and what they said. There have been debates on who started it (which is obvious) and whether whatever statement is true or not. It’s taken up what I estimate to be about 2 or more hours of news time for almost as many days as it’s been going on. Doesn’t sound like a whole lot, except you may not realize that in a regular day most items only get about 30 minutes of coverage in 30-45 second soundbites.

Think about it, as I estimate, there has been almost 40 hours of time spent on this one story over almost a month. [based on 24-hour news networks] The death of President Ford barely got more coverage, but it was in about ¼ the number of days. And he was a former President. News coverage for the murder of Mr. Sean Bell lasted 2 days and had maybe 6 hours of coverage. The actions of Michael Richards captured all of 4 days and 12 hours of attention. Am I the only one wondering what is being tossed out to cover a battle of words among 2 celebrities that affects nothing.

Seriously, this changes nothing. It’s minor gossip on television. There is nothing that will be improved or affected in the average American’s life, yet this is being covered more than almost any other story. I’ve seen coverage of too many stories in 45 seconds as opposed to the average 3-5 minutes this gets. It’s bad enough that news has been relegated to mere soundbites and partisanship, but now it’s becoming even less interested in actual news.

I’d love to know more than 30 minutes in a single day about why Mr. Al Sharpton is considering a run for President. I’d enjoy more than 2 ½ hours on Senator Obama, and not spending that time on how good he looks for being a smoker and African American. I’d occasionally like to know a bit more on, perhaps. what African American children have been abducted or are missing in the nation. [I’ve seen maybe 3 stories since the beginning of the year about White children that have been abducted. It’s a good use of news time; I’m sure more can be done to cover such stories and perhaps covering some of the other racial groups that are having this done to them as well.]

Television was meant to entertain and educate. It’s evolved to just provide entertainment. News has always been held to be the exception to that rule. Until now. I don’t think I’m the only American with intelligence. I think we all deserve more respect, and should be able to get a full news report on things that matter. I don’t think gossip and ‘drama’ need to be added, life has enough of that. Entertain me when I watch a comedy, or drama, or sci-fi. Inform me when I watch the news. Is that a lot to ask for?

This is what I think, what do you think?

Dennis Miller, Yvonne De Carlo, and Golf changes - 1.10.2007.1

A mixed day of information today. I’ll get into my further thoughts on the debacle that is Mr. Donald Trump vs. Ms. Rosie O’Donnell in a subsequent post. I’ll simply state that at this point it has more attention than it ever deserved.

On a higher note, there is news that Mr. Dennis Miller will be starting a radio show soon. This is a great thing as I find him talented. While I connect more with, and find funnier, Mr. Chris Rock there is no question of the abilities of Mr. Miller. He hits the high ground in an arena of comedy that generally goes for the low-brow. There’s nothing wrong with the comedy of Mr. Ron White (who I think is also funny), or Larry the cable guy. I just like to enjoy a conversation that has a bit more depth from time to time.

Similar to the aforementioned Mr. Rock, and Mr. Steven Wright, having to think about the joke isn’t a bad thing. I like that some comedians respect and expect that there is an audience that can grasp a complex subject and the jokes about it. Those comedians are few these days. Mr. Wright is unseen these days, Mr. Rock is working on other projects more than his stand-up, and Mr. George Carlin is getting up there in age. Mr. Miller is the only choice and it’s not a bad one. If you haven’t seen his work before, you may want to get a tape of his early work on Saturday Night Live. Or just listen to his radio show once it hits the air.

In sad news, which there has been too much of lately, I send condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Yvonne De Carlo. Many of the younger readers may not realize who this is, but I think TVland or Nick at Nite carries a show that they may recognize her face from. Ms. De Carlo played the character Lilly Munster on the show The Munsters. While this may be her most immediately recognizable role she had many others. Ms. De Carlo was a Canadian that played a Hebrew wife to Moses (Mr. Charleston Heston) in the classic and impressive The Ten Commandments. Her career started in 1941 and continued until 1995 including many roles in westerns including a favorite of mine McLintock! [Yes I am a fan of Mr. John Wayne] I’m sorry to know that she has passed but glad that she has a body of work that will live on for many more generations to come.

For the golfers out there some news that may have been missed. It seems the PGA thinks that instituting a points program similar to the one in NASCAR will help draw more interest to the game. It seems that the 4 big majors are not enough of a draw, and the multiple other matches are not interesting enough. It’s pure money talking, which will screw up the game without a question in my mind. Going for the ratings may be great for physical competition sports but I don’t see it for golf. It’s a sport of individuals, with the majors being the reward. A points competition should not be more important than a major, nor equal to it. If joe average isn’t watching I doubt if a 37 match scoreboard will be a draw. It may help Vegas, a whole new thing to put odds on, but that’s about it.

Some things shouldn’t be about the profit. Profit is a good thing and it’s great as a secondary goal, but it shouldn’t be the drive. Mr. Tiger Woods is after the legacy of a legend, not the money. Many newer or younger players are out to become Mr. Woods or try to surpass him. It’s not about money. When kids say they “want to be like Mike” they mean the ability of Mr. Jordan, not his money.
The focus on money always trickles down to the players. It always dilutes the game and lessens the quality. Baseball used to be a game of greats, now I find it a battle of businesses. The same can be said of basketball, players forsaking educations and self-discipline for a grab at the cash. Golf would be unwatchable if it forgets it’s a gentlemen’s game. Even worse it could be unplayable as etiquette-less players storm courses with dreams of cash. Profit isn’t worth that to me.

This is what I think, what do you think?

The odd and dumb before the holiday - 12.21.2006.2

Usually I have found that the odd and bizarre tends to appear throughout the weekend, but last weekend there really wasn’t anything. Now this week seems to be making up for that and may well take care of the holiday weekend as well. The odd and dumb are in abundance, so much so that I’m not sure where I will start.

Well perhaps the news that a Komodo dragon is capable of virgin births. Yes it’s true; the big lizards can reproduce without any help from a mate. Nature is just way smarter than us, as scientist had no clue this was possible. But like it was said in Jurassic Park Nature always finds a way. I doubt this spontaneous birthing is as big a deal for Komodo dragons though, and I’d imagine a whole lot less fun.

With the pleasant news done, Miss USA is up. The thing I don’t understand is how this took up so much time. Coverage by news stations was enormous. Almost as much time was given to whether this girl would lose her title as was given to cover several forest fires. Seriously, this was a full day of news with coverage of Mr. Donald Trump giving the girl a second chance. Now compare that to how much attention is being to the letter by Rep. Goode about Muslims. If that’s not odd and sad I’m not sure what is.

For the record, Mr. Trump should have removed her. All this has proven is that if you can bat your eyes enough and cry well you can get away with anything. That is if you are a pretty girl. Not drop dead gorgeous just pretty and young. Try that in the real world and see what happens. It’s not like she did anything to deserve a second chance. All she had to do was show up at events and look pretty, maybe say a couple of words. Tough job.

Millions of women (maybe not that many) move to the city every year. Many are form smaller, well all of them are from smaller cities now that I think about it and they don’t go berserk drinking and allegedly doing drugs and missing work. At least they don’t if they expect to keep their places and have food to eat. She made the choices; she should have reaped the consequences.

Before I mentioned that the attention given Miss USA was sad and what could be worse. I thought about it. The ongoing name calling by Ms. Rosie O’Donnell and Mr. Trump is worse. It deserves even less time that the Miss USA slap on the wrist that sparked it. This is simple, Ms. O’Donnell is wrong. She attacked Mr. Trump on a personal level. She questioned his morality (which was never an issue nor involved in what he was doing) and fidelity (also totally off subject). There was no call for it.

Mr. Trump responded more harshly than needed. But I can understand. She made a personal attack and it hit him. I wouldn’t stand for something like that myself, if I were a celebrity or entertainer. And of course she had to respond. Do we really need hourly reports on this? Is this so important that it all couldn’t be summed up during the evening news?

I’ll say it again, where is the coverage of important items? If the news about a politician essentially claiming that only certain religions should be allowed in the nation, and that only European immigrants should be allowed in this nation, is too real or serious perhaps something else could be covered in this time. There’s always the news that Mr. Stephen Colbert ‘won’ the guitar solo greenscreen battle against the Decemberists. Of course he got a bit of help from Mr. Peter Frampton, but I feel the truthiness of it was all the vindication Mr. Colbert needed. And there would be enough time left over to mull the impact of a tell-all book on Oprah, like it really matters. Or maybe another chance to view the basketball fight and mention the pitiful ‘penalty’ issued to the irresponsible NBA players. Or is that too serious again?

This is what I think, what do you think?