Via: Flickr Title: Pre-show By: GinnyRED57
Originally uploaded: 14 Jan ’06, 3.44pm PST
Pre-show
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Monthly Archives: January 2006
Whad’ya know?
Here’a a fun thing to do on a Saturday morning: attend a live radio show, and see what they’re laughing at when nobody has actually said anything.
“Whad’ya Know” is ostensibly a quiz show, but it’s actually more of an improv interview show. Michael Feldman never knows what will happen when he asks questions of members of the audience and of people calling in, but usually it’s funny or entertaining. And even if it’s not, Michael’s reaction always is. He usually has a “main” guest who’s done something interesting – written a book, usually – and then he’ll do a couple of quizzes, with one member of the audience paired up with one caller.
We were a “good” audience, in fact we were told in the pre-show that we had the potential of having achieved a kind of “audience zen” state, since we did so well practicing for the opening tagline. Michael always starts with some patter, tells a bad joke, and adds “Well, whad’ya know?” The audience is supposed to respond “Not much, you?” We did all right in the practice, but were thrown when we went “live,” because instead of the patter, there was supposed to be a taped soundbite from Pres. Bush’s recent visit to New Orleans. We almost missed our cue, but we all managed.
The show will be archived in the next couple of weeks or so – I’ve listened to a lot of shows and I have to say that this was a really good one, with only one “dud” caller. Well, a dud and a half: one caller was from a particular small town and was accused of being someone named Trudy from Euphalia, who’s called a few times already and should sit on her hands. The real dud was someone from Alaska, who notwithstanding the early hour, sounded like they were having a rough night.
It was a lot of fun watching the show being produced, seeing the musicians, and enjoy Michael and his announcer, Jim Packard, goofing on each other. Last week was the 20th anniversary show, which we were sorry to miss seeing “live,” so we’d settled for the next week as next best.
I’ll be laughing for a while at some of the funny little things that came up in the show, like the lady who sat in front of us who used to hoot at the howler monkeys at the Madison Zoo. It turned out Michael and she were neighbors, and he recognized her kids because they walk through his alley on the way to school.
There were people all around us who got picked to chat with Michael for a bit, or to actually do something like read the “Four Disclaimers.” That part surprised me – Michael just casually handed the paper to a man in the first row, and he stood up and calmly and clearly read them out like a pro. Good job, sir! Well done!
The audience was really “on” this week (not just because we were there); apparently Madison rejoices in having a well-educated, fairly erudite, fairly quirky population. We heard the ice-fishing report from a guy who didn’t know what he was talking about, other than he’d seen the guys out by the railroad trestle sitting on buckets. Michael remarked that it was pretty thin ice out there (which, if you’re going to host a live radio show, is probably always on his mind).
On our way out of town after the show, we looped around downtown (it’s very attractive, with plenty of great architecture) and actually ended up driving past the trestle to get back to our route, and there were all the idiots on the “ice,” sitting on upturned 5-gallon pails. There were a couple of light tents, but no huts – that would definitely be pushing their luck – and really, what’s the point? Sit out on the ice all day freezing your ass off, and all you get are a couple of measly fish? As Michael remarked, “I’d rather drink beer at home.”
It was a beatiful, sunny, mild day, and Madison looked its very best from its perch on the shores of Lake Monona and Lake Mendota. It’s only a 2-hour drive, and I have a feeling we’ll be heading up there again sometime.
Via: Flickr Title: Whad’ya know? By: GinnyRED57
Originally uploaded: 14 Jan ’06, 3.34pm PST
Message from riley
One way to remind me to buy cat food is to send a Pix message to my cameraphone. Very clever. Unfortunately, I left my phone at home, so when David sent the message, my phone started buzzing from its place on the countertop, where it had been quietly charging. Yes, yes, I’ll remember to take it with me tomorrow.
Via: Flickr Title: Message from riley By: GinnyRED57
Originally uploaded: 12 Jan ’06, 1.12am PST
I need more food.
I’ll Take My Half Out Of The Middle
I’m watching a movie called Men with Brooms that I had TiVo record, because a while back I was reading up on Paul Gross, and it sounded like it might be a fun movie based on my googling around.
So I started watching, and it was really confusing. Finally realized TiVo had recorded the second half, then the first half. What probably happened was WGN changed the schedule and ran it twice.
It’s much funnier when you watch it front to back, rather than back to front. Also, there was a Highlander alum in it, Peter Outerbridge. Yes, I’m weird like that.
Secrets of the Sushi-ya
I’m not sure whether to categorize this as “Food” or “Funnies.” But it’s a Quicktime movie on the proper etiquette of eating sushi, which is rather different than David, Steve, or I had been led to believe. Enjoy.
japanese_tradition_sushi.mov (video/quicktime Object)
via Pale Blue Dot
Hotlinkers: Busted! No More Bandwdth Theft For You!
Bandwidth thievery is pretty rampant. I only noticed recently that up to 69% of my bandwidth is being taken by leeches who’ve hotlinked to images here (moblog pictures, stuff I found elsewhere and uploaded to my server, and so on) and used them on their little free blogs. Well, the remedy for this is some .htaccess magic. David’s taking care of that.
What really ticked me off was one girl took this image and turned it into her page’s background. Which, of course, is very lame on so many levels. And also, the image looked like CRAP because it was cut off at the bottom, ruining the composition. The whole point was the footsteps leading off into at an angle into the narrowing passage. Fortunately, it made her text hard to read. 😈
There was even one person using a picture of me – admittedly a TRULY DORKY and UGLY one, if I do say so myself – to indicate the person they’re talking to in someone else’s comments is sick and probably not right in the head. Very amusing.
Well, this has now ended. Right now small number of Myspace users are finding that their “cool” images or “funny” holiday greetings have been replaced with this:
I wanted to use the one below, but decided to go with smaller bandwidth, as this came out to be 600 pixels wide! Talk about overkill! It’s from the form generator I quicklinked.
If necessary, I might go the route one guy followed, and use a 1X1 spacer.gif the same color as the text, or maybe a transparent .gif that’s so wide or tall it throws off the layout. I probably won’t resort to the “gay porn” or “goatse” maneuver others have used. I’m not looking to declare war here, I just don’t want to provide free image hosting to lamers who can’t be bothered to learn how to use a free image hosting service like Image Shack, Photo Bucket, or Flickr themselves.
I’ve used Photo Bucket before, and here’s a news flash: they host your images for free, AND they provide the code for the image tags.
And if people are so into sharing images, they really should be checking Flickr out, and incidentally learning more about how the Internets really work.
Anyway, this should cut down on the unnecessary loss of bandwidth:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?blogula-rasa\.com/ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(png|gif|jpe?g)$ images/SORRY.jpg [NC,L]
It’s already working. It just needs to be tweaked so that other sites I run aren’t affected. Heh.
“They keep sending them in…”
Friday was a big TV-watching night here; Stargate and Atlantis both premiered the second halves of their seasons, and there was a new Numb3rs episode, a network show that we got into this year.
David and I keep chuckling about a scene in Atlantis where Sheppard and and an attractive woman he’s imprisoned with discuss one of Sheppard’s greatest fears.
Neera: And the clowns?
Sheppard: Oh yeah, the clowns. We fight them too. Entire armies spilling out of Volkswagens. We do our best to fight them off, but they keep sending them in. — Quotes Season 2
Actually, I kept laughing as I read down the page of quotes from the second season. The dialogue writing is always sharp on Atlantis. Sheppard is particularly funny in a very understated, boyish way.
McKay (brilliantly played by David Hewlett), was extremely funny and also exciting to watch Friday; he got hopped up on a Wraith enzyme that gives superhuman strength and endurance, beat the hell out of his captors from the cliffhanger at the end of last season, and shrieked “And that’s what happens when you back a brilliant scientist into a corner!”
Yes, he looked like a macho guy, except when he panicked a little in the fight and flapped his hands all over one guard’s face rather than throwing a punch. It was a very Stooges moment. Or maybe it was a “science nerd attempting to fight off bullies on the playground” moment. He got himself back to the base, so jacked he could hardly get any words out about the others, and then collapsed. The premise attached to the “Wraith enzyme” plot point (this is related to the Aiden Ford plotline) is that it’s instantly addictive, and if you’ve been using it, you’ll go through withdrawal when you stop. McKay, owing to the extremely large dose required to take him from nebbishy science guy to uberwarrior, has to go “cold turkey” and and could have died. He’s shown babbling, begging for enzyme, and shrieking at the doctor – it’s a good performance by Hewlett, very unsettling and disturbing.
There’s another good quote from Dr. Beckett from McKay’s bedside, after the worst is over and he’s sleeping: “I feel not unlike the priest in The Exorcist.”
Good lord, someone has alreay transcribed the dialogue from Friday’s broadcast and posted it. No wonder so many websites have these quotes.
Stargate was good, but I need to re-watch it to pick up on it more. Atlantis was much more engaging (and funny). At odd moments on our drive out to Starved Rock yesterday, David would chuckle and say “they keep sending them in.”
Numb3rs was also good. It’s a solid show (the premise is the two-different-brothers-fighting crime gimmick).
When I checked the CBS website for factoids, I noticed this ad that incorporates the show’s tagline: “We all use math every day.” Charlie says this as the opening sequence begins. He makes math sound cool (because David Krumholz’ voice has an interesting, gravelly quality). As you can see, it’s an ad for the Texas Instruments Math Education site.
There’s a moment where Charlie the math whiz was showing his university mentor Dr. Larry Fleinhardt(played by Peter MacNicol) his statistics on how many gang-related shootings have taken place in 4 years – 8.000. MacNicol’s prof is shocked at the number, and even more shocked that he didn’t know it was so high, and no one had reported how high it was, and that no one in the media or the larger community seemed to care. He said he felt he needed to do something about it, but didn’t know what. It was an interesting distraction. In a way, it was a much more telling “moral quandary” moment than anything in “The Book of Daniel,” the new series that also premiered Friday.
David recorded it for me off of a computer DRM DVR thing via our cable connection. I watched it last night, and I’m not impressed. There were moments there of something that could have been better, but I doubt I’ll go out of my way again to watch it when there is so much else that is so much better to watch on Fridays. I spoke to someone from Holy Moly just now who had talked to a couple of people that liked it, though, so maybe I’ll keep an eye on it for a while and hope for improvement. My friend Steve thought it was horrible, but I didn’t think it was quite as bad as a triple-thumbs-down on TiVo. We’ll see.
Day out
We were on our way south and west to Starved Rock State Park. I put up some photos on my Flickr page, and a few more are coming.
Via: Flickr Title: Day out By: GinnyRED57
Originally uploaded: 7 Jan ’06, 6.38pm PST
Pat Robertson Chastized Severely
You know, Pat Robertson must have lost his marbles long ago, but for some reason, he still wields political influence. Won’t it be interesting when his million viewers finally realize they’ve been listening to the ravings of a crazy old man?
Even the White House is backing away from him now:
BBC NEWS | Americas | US attacks TV host on Sharon slur
I love this last bit from the Beeb:
Not for the first time in recent months, elements on the Republican Party’s religious wing are causing it embarrassment.
Book of Daniel: Premieres Tomorrow
David’s going to record this tomorrow using an alternate DVR:
The Book of Daniel – Program Details – Yahoo! TV
The Book of Daniel
WMAQ-NBC Jan 07 07:00pm
Series/Drama, 120 Mins.“Temptation and Forgiveness”
Reverend Daniel Webster’s daughter Grace is arrested for possession of marijuana; an embarrassed Judith confronts Daniel about discussing the couple’s personal sex life during his counseling sessions.Cast: Aidan Quinn, Ellen Burstyn, Dylan Baker, Christian Campbell, Alison Pill, Ivan Shaw, Susanna Thompson, Garret Dillahunt.
Producer(s): Jack Kenny, Flody Suarez .Original Airdate: January 6, 2006
It’s been getting a lot of press, a lot of heat, and generating a lot of posts and comments in the Episcopal blogosphere. Also, the show has its own blog – well, it’s a discussion site put together by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington: the Blog of Daniel. The writer of the show has already posted comments over there, as have a few other folks I recognize (such as Father Jake). As well as a few folks that are all singing out of the same choirbook, as you might expect.
But that’s o.k.
Anyway, it’ll give us something to talk about at Holy Moly on Sunday!