Make Them Laugh

A tribute to some of Christopher Guest's creations at Media Del Arte.

Dining Out With The Joneses

Top Chef and Indiana Jones reviewed at Media Del Arte.

Beware The Blog!

I'll be putting my radio/tv/movie posts here "Media Del Arte"

Bad Sports

When it comes to sports radio, I mostly listen to ESPN radio and WGR550 out of Buffalo. ESPN has a mix of personalities on the air who seem to mostly favor the big three of MLB, NFL and NBA. WGR's hosts focus mostly on Sabres hockey and Buffalo Bills football. The emphasis at ESPN seems to be on the personality and the power of any given host to offer his/her opinion on what's going on in the sporting world and occassionally talk about pop culture. In Colin Cowherd's case, we find a host who makes a lot of analogies between sports and what a "normal" person might experience. He repeats a lot of his points within minutes of offering them (supposedly in case a new listener tunes in) and makes sure everyone knows he's a guy's guy. Whatever that means. Basically he treats his audience like two year olds. He does have one thing going for him over Jim Rome (the closest sports radio guy to him in terms of personality) and that is a lack of dead air. I applaud you for that Colin. Jim, do more thinking before the show, write it down and then perform. Just a tip.

The guys at WGR are mostly easy on the ears. They are informed fans, passionate about their local teams and do not toe the line when it comes to respecting a franchise or league. They truly air it out when broadcasting. I love them for it. Which brings me to this...

What the hell is going on with coverage of Spygate? This scandal centers around the New England Patriots videotaping opposing teams' defensive signals. Allegations came out at the beginning of the season with a former Patriot employee singing to the media. I'm not entirely sure of the timeline of who said what, but this drama popped up its head throughout the season, but had little effect on the Patriots. The folks at ESPN seemed to want to quash the story there and then, with various personalities saying, essentially, "If the tapes mattered so much, why are the Patriots dominating their games?".

As most of you know, the Pats almost went undefeated and had a stellar season. The Pats were fined and lost a first round draft pick. Walsh, the former Pats employee, spoke with the head of the NFL. Arlen Spector (sp?) demanded answers from the NFL. What bugs the guys at WGR (and me, the more I think about it), is that the Pats taped other teams from 2000 to the fall of 2007. Seems to me that 3 super bowl wins and several winning seasons might have benefited from having those tapes. My beloved Bills haven't had the greatest teams since I've moved to their region. However, I gotta believe that the Pats cheating ways may have had a little to do with the Bills losing to them 14 out of the last 15 matchups. But ESPN hosts don't seem to want to talk about this. Like the worst politicians and tv talk show hosts, they'd rather attack the whistleblower and Senator than the issue. One of my favorite ESPN guys, Tony Kornheiser intimated that both should sit down and shut up.

I'm not sure if the U.S. Government should get involved here, but I sure wish the NFL would do more. My gut feeling? More teams have been doing this and the Pats have taken the fall for the league. If that isn't the case, I think there is more to this story.

"I Like Pie."

Last night's season finale of "The Office" was pretty damn good in my humble opinion. All of the characters seemed to be back in their comfort zones and the extension to an hour didn't feel like it. I won't spoil for those who haven't watched yet, but Kevin's relatively small subplot practically had me on the floor. I'm glad the producers didn't try to tie up all of the loose ends, despite the writer's strike. Some of the plots this year felt forced, but this season-ender didn't.

The Producers

Watching "Top Chef"'s judges table last night, I had the feeling the producers of the show were bending rules to get a rivalry going between two of the contestants. For the sake of those who haven't seen it yet, we'll call these people Chef A, Chef B, and Chef C. All three were on the chopping block of last night's challenge for food that wasn't up to snuff. Chef B, however, completely missed one required ingredient. In season one, the third finalist was eliminated simply for omitting a required ingredient, despite the quality of his dish. The producers set their own standards then and there.

On last night's show, the judges mentioned B's omission while dining, but failed to bring it up at the judge's table. A red flag went up in my mind. Chef C, instead, brought it up at the table. B called C out because of the help he/she(B) he gave to him/her(C) earlier in the competition. Seemed to me that the producers wanted B's omission to not be considered. This way, A would be cut and B and C would be left to create some drama. Of course, I can't prove any of this, but it seemed fishy to me.

IPod-adise Found

I returned home tonight with the kiddoes in tow, tried the numerology thing again and hit the garage for one more look-around. I first checked our newspaper bin, in case it had fallen in. Then I checked in some darker corners of the garage. Still nothing. I decided to come back in. On the garage stairs landing were my old running shoes which I wear for yard work. I checked inside each. Nothing. I then retraced my steps in putting the shoes on. I hadn't sat on the steps to do it the last time. No, I'd sat in the back of the minivan because I had unloaded our new mower from it moments before. I opened the back hatch and there it was on the floor of the vehicle. Bingo.

Oh Yenta, My Yenta...

I've updated my relatively new blog, The People I Know. Didn't know about it before? Now you do. Keep reading and you just might be the subject of a post...

Little Lost IPod

So, I can't find the IPod. I hadn't used it for most of the last week. However, I was considering using it while doing some yard work. I never did though. Last I recall, it was on a table near the door leading to the garage.

So far I've prayed to Saints Anthony and Jude. Then I tried numerology. Basically I thought of the IPod while randomly typing numbers into a database. The first results stated that the object was near water or where we keep our alcohol. I checked. Nothing in the kitchen. The next try came up with the object being where we kept our Christmas decorations. They're up in the attic and I had put some coats up there before doing the yard work. I checked. Nothing doing. Finally, the last try yielded a suggestion of a dirty place. I checked the garage. Nope.

Still looking...

Squeezing The Tube...

The DVR is loading up with a lot of TV programs. PGirl and I have been catching up after the kids are asleep, but we have a ways to go....

Top Chef is in fine form this season. Clever challenges, less character-driven drama and an emphasis on the food! Finally. Food is what it is all about. Two of the chefs are lesbian partners...and I don't care. One of the chefs is a spastic white homeslice...and I don't care. Another chef has a faux-hawk hairstyle similar to one of the lesbians...and I don't care. Food, food, food.

Dexter finished it's run on CBS. I'm looking forward to catching season 2 on DVD. Funny and creepy. I don't care how watered down it came from being unrated on Showtime. Character and story are what counts for me.

Little People Big World rocks my world. Patriarch Matt Roloff still drives me nuts with his half-assed (no pun) planning of his family's lives and Matriarch Amy continues to live in the fantasy world of stereotyping boys, girls and store gawkers. Despite character flaws, they love each other and their kids. Fascinating stuff.

Battlestar Galactica is piling up on me. I have to make some frakkin' time late at night to catch up.

Jesus Saves....And Collects The Whole Set

PGirl Jr. was helping me bring the dog in this morning from the back porch when GalootJr. came to us. He was carrying one of those 50 States Quarters commemorative coin collecting books. Basically a big, flat children's book sized mini-tome. He was holding it above his head singing, "Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.". PGirlJr. grabbed the book away from him and began to sing, "Money. Money. Money. Money." Their social commentary astounds me at times.