Bottom Of The Barrel: November 2006

Ownership

As the saying goes, possession is 9/10's the law but that does not really translate when you are talking about land or buildings. Even when you talk about churches, they are still owned by the Archdiocese not the parishioners.

According to their website, The Council of Parishes is a group of committed concerned Catholics formed to support parishes subject to closure; who seek options other than the closure of vibrant parishes as solutions to the shortage of priests and the financial distress in the Boston archdiocese and who provide a forum for parishes and laity to communicate with the archdiocese about issues of concern.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for a layman group comprised of concerned and motivated Catholics dedicated to working with the archdiocese but sit-in's to keep churches open and lawsuits to try and claim the land and church for the people is not the methods used when you want to be celebrative.

The latest suit was brought on behalf of the parishioners of the closed St. Jeremiah Parish in Framingham yesterday urged a Middlesex Superior Court judge to rule that the parishioners, not the Archdiocese of Boston, are the rightful owners of St. Jeremiah's land and buildings. Judge Isaac Borenstein deferred ruling in the case until January to give attorneys for both sides time to make further filings, but he questioned the parishioners' attorneys closely on why he should rule for them when judges in two other superior courts already have ruled in favor of archdiocesan motions to dismiss such claims in similar cases.

In two other suits, brought by members of St. James the Great Parish in Wellesley and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Boston, superior court judges have ruled in favor of archdiocesan motions to throw out the cases. Both of these rulings are being appealed.

I guess I should stop inviting people to my house for dinner parties in case I ever want to stop inviting them, they might just sue for my house and land. Or maybe that's just ridiculous. Maybe that depends on your point [or your lawyer’s point of view].

Labels: Op-Ed, Religion

A show-within-a-show

This fall, there are 3 new shows on TV that use the show-within-a-show format - 30 Rock, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Ugly Betty. While the concept of the show-within-a-show is not new [see Murphy Brown, Home Improvement, Seinfeld or radio show-within-a-show like Frasier, NewsRadio, WKRP in Cincinnati] what has changed is the networks view on digital content, the internet and show extension. Additionally, we have not seen this many shows using this format all at the same time before. Trend or Coincidence? Only time will tell.

Each of these shows have aired bits of the in-show however it is Ugly Betty who is taking the next logical step which is to "broadcast" the in-show over the web. Each Thursday, ABC will make available another couple of minutes of their Telenovela "Lives of Fire". This is an excellent extension of their show and a great use of digital content. Wouldn't it be fun to see a whole Studio 60's Studio 60 or 30 Rock's The Girlie Show [recently renamed to TGS with Tracy Morgan] episode online? I think so too. Come on NBC, try to keep up.

Labels: Internet, TV

TV Catch Phrases

The TV Land cable network has compiled a list of the 100 greatest catchphrases in TV history. The network will air a countdown special over five days starting December 11. Some of the phrases that made the list are:

"Book 'em, Danno" (Steve McGarrett, "Hawaii Five-O")
"Don't make me angry ..." (David Banner, "The Incredible Hulk")
"Dyn-o-mite" (J.J., "Good Times")
"Good night, John Boy" ("The Waltons")
"How you doin'?" (Joey Tribbiani, "Friends")
"I know nothing!" (Sgt. Schultz, "Hogan's Heroes")
"Let's be careful out there" (Sgt. Esterhaus, "Hill Street Blues")
"No soup for you!" (The Soup Nazi, "Seinfeld")
"Resistance is futile" (Picard as Borg, "Star Trek: The Next Generation")
"The truth is out there" (Fox Mulder, "The X-Files")
"Up your nose with a rubber hose" (Vinnie Barbarino, "Welcome Back, Kotter")
"Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" (Arnold Drummond, "Diff'rent Strokes")

Of the list of chatchphrases only three are from current shows:

"Denny Crane" (Denny Crane, "Boston Legal")
"D'oh!" (Homer Simpson, "The Simpsons")
"Suit up!" (Barney Stinson, "How I Met Your Mother")

It's good to see Barney Stinson is getting some props for his signature catch phrase especially since the show is only in its second season. Go HIMYM!

Labels: HIMYM, TV

Anti Double-R

Fandom is a subculture composed by like-minded fans (aficionados) characterized by a feeling of closeness to others who share the same interest. Such a community of keen aficionados can share a common interest in a wide selection of phenomena, such as authors, hobbies, genres or fashions. Fandom as a term can also be used to refer to the single interconnected social network of these individual fandoms, many of which overlap. While the term is applied to social networks surrounding many novelty interests, it has its roots in appreciation for science fiction.

So what is the opposite of Fandom? Well maybe a coummunity of like-minded individuals who all dislike the same thing. For example, The Rachael Ray Sucks Community. As noted on the RRSC site, this community was created for people that hate the untalented twit known as Rachael Ray. Rachael Ray is annoying for many reasons but here are a few: she is repetitive, she talks with her hands way too much, she giggles incessantly, she puts olive oil and chicken stock in everything, she wears really ugly clothing, she talks out of one side of her mouth like she's had a stroke, she looks like "The Joker" when she smiles, and she can't stop talking about her family. If you loathe Rachael Ray as much as we do, join this community and talk shit about her! If you actually like Rachael Ray and think this community is evil, go cry in your garbage bowl and shut the hell up.

While the last two sentences above might be a bit harsh, I personally can't watch her show. I too find it quit annoying. Anyway, give the RRSC a read, you might find some pretty funny observations there and you might just become an anit-fandom member yourself.

Labels: Anti, Web

Telemarketing Defense

If you are looking for some sound bites to use when trying to rid yourself of those pesky telemarketers, check out Sorry, Gotta Go [dot com]. This site has some very amusing mp3 tracks that you can use when dealing with those people who just don't take no for an answer or have the need to call just as sit down to eat dinner. I personally like I'm listening, At the Tone...Sit down to dinner and Your Call is very important to us. I think I need to get a few of these recorded to a portable devise for quick playback when needed. Enjoy.

Labels: Fun, MP3

Thanksgiving - Giving Thanks

In 1621, the Pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony and Wampanoag Indians celebrated what would be considered to be the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims set apart a day to celebrate at Plymouth immediately after their first harvest, called the Harvest Festival, which was tradition of the English and Wampanoag alike. While we no longer celebrate the end of the harvest season as our fore-fathers did, this day does give us the opportunity to reflect on the past year and give thanks. Today I want to give thanks for:

My Health: very healthy year and without health, you have nothing
My Wife: who is a constant support for me and everything I do [see job, school, house, marathon, ect.]
My Home: home is where the heart is and I love my home
My Family: even though it is small, they are the best
My Friends: they are the best and we keep each other laughing and smiling
My New Job: Good Company, Product and People
Going Back To School: I may just finish that Masters Degree yet
Traveling: Caribbean Cruise, Montreal, and Chicago were so much fun
Finishing My First Marathon: What a long, long trip it was
Having My Christmas Shopping Done: Enough Said
Winning Radio Contests: Chicago was awesome and I love my mp3 player
Helping Others: Delivering a Thanksgiving Meal to one family today will be the highlight of the day

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours.

Labels: Holiday, Thanksgiving

TV + Web = Experience

The networks are continually trying to find ways to give the viewers more entertainment than just the weekly show itself. This maybe due to the fact that DVR is changing how we watch TV or perhaps they are just starting to realize the power of the internet and how they can spread their brand names beyond traditional marketing schemes.

Lost was really the first show to create websites, games and online clues to give their audience more than just the 22 episodes each year. Well the folks over at CBS are joining in the fun for the show How I Met Your Mother. In the first season, they started with Barney's Blog, to extend the character beyond the show - and if I may say, Barney maybe one of the best characters on TV today and his blog is worth the trip. This year they have added a website dedicated to Swarley [this is a nickname given to Barney in the Crazy Eyes episode], created MySpace pages for the show as well as characters Ted and Marshal - which interestingly is linked to The 88's MySpace page, a real band that appeared in the Best Prom Ever episode, and now a new MySpace page for Robin ... wait for it ... Sparkles.

[Note maybe not only are all people connected by six people, but maybe we are also connected to TV characters that way as well, see my August 3rd blog posting about connecting celebrities, The 88's are linked to Zach Braff.]

In Monday's episode Robin's big secret is that she was a one-hit wonder teen-pop idol in Canada in the early 90's [apparently the mid 80's didn’t arrive in Canada until then]. The climax of the show was the showing of her very Tiffanyish music video for her song Let's Go To The Mall. Now this video is available for you as well on Ms. Sparkles MySpace page. Don't be afraid to give the song a listen or even watch the video. It's an instant classic and dear CBS, keep up the good work - your viewers really enjoy the extra effort you’re putting into this show.

PS: The first season DVD is out, so for those who are not fans of the show, Suit Up and give it a try - it's legendary and you'll thank me later.

Labels: HIMYM, TV

Angel Share - A New Paradigm

Angel's share is a winemaking term for the portion (share) of a wine's volume that is lost to evaporation. This phenomenon occurs during aging in oak barrels, typically French or American oak, or after distillation. In low humidity conditions the loss to evaporation may be primarily water. However in higher humidites more alcohol than water will evaporate, therefore reducing the alcoholic strength of the wine.

This should not be confused with the new wine tasting paradigm called Angel Share. The idea is that the consumer would be able to taste before you buy your wine. I have heard a few places toying with the idea of a sampling room and on November 17h, Julio's Liquors opened there very own Angel Share Tasting Room. This new model could completely change the wine sales strategy. No longer will consumers simply reach for the same old bottle of Merlot or pick a wine based on how cool the label looks but now they will make informed decisions about wine purchases based on color, aroma and taste. The next step is creating a online/in-store presentation on how to taste wine so that the consumer will know exactly what to do when they enter the share room. If you have a moment, stop in and try a sample, it just may change how you buy your wine.

Labels: Wine

Ahh the Holidays

In preparation of our upcoming annual holiday party, I would recommend visiting Regiftable.com - a website dedicated to the issue of the regift. My wife had the brilliant idea several years ago for each person/couple to bring 1 regifted item from their house for a "yankee swap" style exchange. We have seen many a bad gifts and have laughed [and still laugh - no more hiding the regifts in my bedroom Sandy] for hours over the regifts. The site has some pretty good regift stories and a nice 101 section to cover some etiquette issues. So check it out and start preparing this year's regift.

PS: Kym, I do not want those candle sticks back - I am hoping they have found either a suitable home or the bottom of your trash by now!

Labels: Christmas

PS3, WTF?

Ok I know the PlayStation 3 has just been released and gamers everywhere have waiting out over night to be the first to get there hands on these systems but this is out of control. A guy was shot in Connecticut while waiting in line [they were also being robbed at the same time], a Boston mall was cleared because of police growing about violence, a Super Wal-Mart in California was shut down after shoppers got rowdy, a drive-by shooting that hit four people with BB pellets outside a Best Buy store in Kentucky, and people were trampled in a Florida store front as patrons raced to enter the store at midnight. Seriously, What The Fuck? It's just a game system.

Certainly there are many entrepreneurs who are going to turn around and sell their new systems online for a nice profit [I saw systems up to 3,500 on eBay this morning] but is all this violence and mayhem necessary? One Best Buy in Boston, aware it had only 140 of the consoles, got smart — its employees gave out tickets to the first 140 people in line so everyone could go home. I would suggest to Sony, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and the rest of the companies involved with this new product to find more civilized methods to sell this very hot product. I pray that it doesn't take several deaths and law suits before these companies realize they have to be more aware of what is going on and must find better ways to deal with these situations.

Labels: Gaming, Op-Ed

The Office Merger Rap

I did a quick mashup of the Lazy Scranton "Orientation Video" from last night's The Office with Linkin Park's Project Revolution. You can save the file by right-clicking here and using the Save Target As... option in the pop-up menu. We will be working on some better machup's in the coming weeks. Have a great weekend and remember to "Call poison control if you’re bit by a spider but check that it's covered by your healthcare provider".

Labels: Mash-Up, The Office

The Office Grows, Gangsta Style

In preperation for tonight's episode [The Merger], you will first need to pick a team to support going forward - Team Karen or Team Pam. What will it be boy, Karen or Pam?

Also after tonight's episode, see if you can get these words out of your head:

Sittin' in my office with a plate of grilled beacon
Call the man twice just to see what was shaking
Yo Mike our town is dope and pretty
So check out how we live in the Electric City
They call it Scranton (what) The Electric City
Scranton (what) The Electric City
Call poison control if you’re bit by a spider
But check that it's covered by your healthcare provider

Fo shizzle my nizzle!

Labels: The Office, TV

For One More Day: A Book Review

For One More Day is Mitch Albom's second novel [his other was The Five People You Meet in Heaven and prior to that he published the very popular Tuesdays with Morrie] which is centered around one-time semi-pro baseball player Charley "Chick" Benetto. Chick, a child of divorce who is always forced to choose between his mother and his father, grows into a man and starts a family of his own. But one fateful weekend, he leaves his mother to secretly be with his father and she dies while he is gone. This haunts him for years. It unravels his own young family and leads him to depression and drunkenness. One night, he decides to take his life but somewhere between this world and the next, he encounters his mother again, in their hometown, and gets to spend one last day with her - the day he missed and always wished hed had. He asks the questions many of us yearn to ask, the questions we never ask while our parents are alive. By the end of this magical day, Chick discovers how little he really knew about his mother, the secret of how her love saved their family, and how deeply he wants the second chance to save his own. he book is such a quick and easy read and honestly will make you laugh and cry all in the span of 4 hours and 31 minutes. And the ending is one that you'll never see coming but will stay with you for a very long time.

Labels: Book Review

Yen-Way Park

The Boston Red Sox's bid of 51.1 million dollars [which is called a posting fee] was accepted by the Seibu Lions for the right to negotiate a contract with their pitching ace Daisuke Matsuzaka [pronounced Dice-Kay Mat-Zoo-Za-Ka]. They have until December 15th to sign a contract with Matsuzaka or he will return to his Japanese team for the 2006-2007 season and the posting fee will not be paid by Boston. No a side note, The Red Sox could spend much less to sit and talk with me about a job but on the other hand I can not throw a mid-90s fastball, a cutter, a two-seam fastball known as a "shuuto," a curveball, a changeup, a splitter, and a slider [not to mention the mythical gyroball].

If the Sox can get a deal done, Matsuzaka would join a talented rotation that already includes Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett and converted closer Jonathan Papelbon. This has the potential to be a great pitching staff next year and with youth [Beckett, Papelbon and Matsuzaka are all only 26 years old] at it's core, this could be a rotation that is eating up Major League Baseball for years to come. Get your Matsuzaka gear and Let's Go Sox!

SNL Commercial

Once in a while, Saturday Night Live puts out a great false commercial. Alec Baldwin is so dead-pan funny in this Valtrex commercial. "Here's when you have to just trust your doctor and not get caught up in the logic." Good stuff. Thank you Mr. Schweddy Balls.

PS "Doctors don't know everything"

Impossible to reach? That's Impossible.

Office Closing - Producer's Cut

NBC has posted a producer's cut of last night's episode which runs at a length of over 30 minutes [in 4 parts] and includes some pretty funny stuff not shown on TV last night such as:

Meredith asking Michael about their "last day" thing.
Creed selling office equipment.
Pam signing the company directory.
Dwight looking through trash.

"All Hail The Office" Future Dwight

SM3: Full Length Trailer

The full length trailer for Spider-Man 3 is now online and can be viewed on iFilm. All I can say is it looks like Sam Raimi and Company have hi another homerun with the third installment. Can you say 1 Billion dollars? [Spider-Man grosses 407 and Spider-Man 2 grossed 377] That is exactly where the franchise is headed this summer! 175 days and counting [down]. Enjoy.

Dwichael is bringing SexyBack [yeah]

In preperation for tonights new episode of The Office, I offer this video, aptly named Michael and Dwight: SexyBack, is a very clever mashup of video clips from the show and the music of Justine Timberlake [although personally I can not stand this song, it has a good beat and is really great for this video montage]. I havdn't noticed how much dancing has been done over the past 2+ seasons but there does appear to be a good amoutn fo it. Take it away boys...

Faith, it didn't work for Kerry

Note to Faith Hill and her manager, Gary Borman:

John Kerry just tried to use the "It was just a joke" angle on a public misstep and that didn't work out so well for him. A day after he said his comment was meant to be a joke, he had to issue an apology because the voting public knew it was not a joke and he had made a very unpopular public comment. As for the reaction from Hill during the Country Music Awards show, which aired Monday night, you be the judge:

There is a posting on her website stating that "The idea that I would act disrespectful towards a fellow musician is unimaginable to me. For this to become a focus of attention given the talent gathered is utterly ridiculous. Carrie is a talented and deserving Female Vocalist of The Year." I'm no expert but I see a person who is outwardly upset that she did not win an award and in her public statement above I didn't see the mention of a joke or regret. Keep an eye out for her very public apology or maybe she wants to join the Dixie Chicks as outcasts of the Country World. PS, I guess the Faith Hill/Carrie Underwood will not be recording together anytime soon.

More image fun

Some more online customizable images from our new friends at Image Chef. Check out my personal creations:

Bonus points for anyone who can comment on what the above images represent!

Election Day

Happy November 7 where we decide on a new Governor, re-elect Ted Kennedy and put Wine on the shelves of our local grocery stores. All that is exciting but how about winning 1 million dollars in the process? If Mark Osterloh MD, JD of Tucson has his way, that's exactly what will happen in the next Arizona state election. Osterloh and the team at Arizonans for Voter Rewards have authored a new law, called Proposition 200, that would create a 1 million dollar prize given, at random, to one lucky person who cast a vote in the state election. Under the proposed law, the Voter Reward Fund would receive 20% of unclaimed lottery prizes. Based on a 5-year average, this amount is estimated to be approximately $1.5 million per fiscal year. The unclaimed prize monies are otherwise used to supplement prizes paid to winners of Arizona Lottery games. Hey it might not be legal to give a prize to a voter [which could be viewed as paying for a vote, which is only legal in some countries but not here] but I think it is very creative thinking and I hope it passes so that the legality of it will be debated and maybe, just maybe, we could see the same issue on our ballots here in 2010. Now get out and vote!

Troops To Kerry: We Can Spell

Classic!

Lance rocks NYC

Congrats to Lance Armstrong who finished the ING New York City Marathon in 2:59:36. I'm glad to hear that even a world-class athlete finds marathoning a difficult task. Armstrong called the race “the hardest physical thing I have ever done.” Anyway, congrats and welcome to the club.

PC vs Maaaaaaac

[click above image for a larger version]

Something to WINE about

Ballot Question1 for next Tuesday's Election is a proposed law would allow local licensing authorities to issue licenses for food stores to sell wine. Some of the interesting items within the proposed law include:

- A “food store” is defined as a retail vendor, such as a grocery store, supermarket, shop, club, outlet, or warehouse-type seller, that sells food to consumers to be eaten elsewhere.
- Licensing authorities in any city or town of up to 5000 residents could issue up to 5 licenses for food stores to sell wine. In cities or towns of over 5000 residents, one additional license could be issued for each additional 5000 residents [note my town gets an additional 10 licenses, check out this list for your town].
- No person or business could hold more than 10% of the total number of the licenses that could be issued under the proposed law.
- Any applicant for a license would have to be approved by the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.
- Local authorities could set fees for issuing and renewing such licenses.

The grocers argue they will save us money and be more convenient while the liquor stores state there will be more under-age drinking and drunk driving issues. Both are only trying to protect or enter a specific market space to make money and who can blame them, it's the American Way!

Out of all of this, the issue of this added convenience leading to more under-age drinking and/or more drunk driving deaths is one that should be investigated. So I asked the Vote No On 1 folks the following question:

You state on your website that "Sting operations in other states show that convenience stores allowed underage buying 52% of the time while dedicated package stores failed to stop underage buying only 15% of the time." If this question was to fail, would the Vote No on One Committee then take up the cause to lower this failure rate or is 15% an acceptable percentage? If that is the plan beyond November 7, what specifically would be done to curb under-age drinking?

Interestingly enough I got a response but, as with many political things, without any specific answers to my posed questions. They wrote:

"I see your point, ideally underage drinkers would be allowed to purchase alcohol 0% of the time. However, 15% is still much better than 52%. I have no doubt that if this initiative passes on November 7th the law enforcements officials, legislators, and package store owners that are working together to stop the initiative will focus their efforts on dealing with the dramatic increases in outlet density. Unfortunately, they will have their work cut out for them b/c there is no funding attached to this proposal to help local law enforcement police all of the new outlets, despite the fact that it could potentially double the number of outlets in the state."

So I guess that's a no and if the law does not pass, they will leave well enough alone. So my conclusion is that the scare tactics being played out in the media are only being done to protect the winopoly they currently have on the market. I am putting the full support of this blog and my dedicated readership behind question 1 and I'll see y'all down at the grocery store in the new wine aisle. And just for the record, I am NOT drinking merlot!

Green card not drivers licenses

One of the hot issues in our Gubernatorial race is that of illegal immigrants and how the state government should handle them. Here are how the two leading candidates stand on this issue:

Lieutenant Governor Healey has outlined two proposals including introduce severe penalties for companies that hire illegal immigrants and not allow illegal immigrants to obtain a valid drivers license. Healey additionally wants to create a system so that driver’s licenses issued to non-permanent immigrants should expire on the same day as their visas.

While Candidate Deval Patrick's website does not make any official claims on this specific subject, during the debates and from reports by CBS4 and the Boston Globe, his point-of-view has been made widely know. Patrick supports increased enforcement of employment laws to crack down on employers taking advantage of illegal immigrants, and opposes discrimination on the basis of immigration status for providing state services, including such things as public housing, in-state tuition for public universities, and driver's licenses.

While I agree that identification of illegal immigrants is good for national security, I can not make the leap to state services and in-state tuition. Patrick additionally claims that a drivers license would make air travel safer because we would know who these people are but how would they get on an airplane without a drivers license [or passport]? Post 9/11, they won't.

Any spending my hard earned tax dollars on state services for people who don't have to pay income tax in the first place is completely unacceptable. For this issue, I fully support the Healey plan and note to Mr. Patrick, so does the current State legislation - the in-state tuition proposal was soundly defeated by lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled Massachusetts House last January.

Is my name popular?

Ever wonder if there were other people in this country with your name? Well wonder no more because How Many Of Me has a search engine that can answer that very question. For me, it says there is only one other EL out there. For my wife, she's the one-and-only, natch. As for some other names, there are 49,535 people named John Smith, 1,048 people named James Bond, 113 people named Harry Potter in the United States - give or take. I also found that there are 295 John and 22 Jane Doe's. I feel bad for those 318 people who are better know as the unidentified corpse or unknown defendant. Anyway, go on, give it a try. Maybe you'll be a only child like Lisa or have many brethren like Mr. Smith does and hopefully you won't be an unknown like Mr. and Mrs. Doe.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
2
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Bottom Of The Barrel