In the 2-part 1996 Seinfeld episode The Bottle Deposit, Kramer and Newman hatch a scheme to take 5 cent soda cans from New York and redeem them for 10 cents in Michigan. Yesterday Detroit authorities arrested 10 people and seized more than $500,000 in cash after breaking up a smuggling ring that was implementing the Seinfeldish plan from the notable show. The ring of con men had been collecting millions of beverage containers in other states and cashed them in for 10 cents apiece in Michigan, of course these guys were a little more orgainzed than a single guy in a post office truck.
The suspects were members of two smuggling rings based in Ohio and others were Michigan merchants who took part in the scheme where millions of non-redeemable out-of-state cans were collected, crushed, packaged in plastic bags and sold at a discount to merchants who then redeemed them. This action is punishable as defrauding the Michigan deposit fund and the charges include maintaining a continuing criminal enterprise, a 20-year felony, and fraud, a 5-year felony.
"Each year, this type of activity defrauds the state approximately $13 million," said Col. Peter Munoz, Michigan State Police director. Hopefully breaking up this ring of defrauders the state can plug some major leaks in it's deposit fund whos proceeds are used to pay for environmental cleanup efforts.
Nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine bottle and cans in the trunk, nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine bottles and cans. At ten cents a bottle and ten cents a can, we're pulling in five hundred dollars a man.
MIT hackers transformed the statue of John Harvard [located in front of University Hall on the Harvard campus] into the Master Chief character from the game Halo 3, released on Tuesday of this week. Click here to see a larger version of the above image. Hack on, Hack on!
As a Massachusetts resident, you can gain access to the Boston Public Library's electronic catalogs via their eCard system. But what exactly does you BPL eCard give you access to? Tons of stuff like eBooks, Periodicals, magazines, audio and video. A quick search on the eBook area I found titles like:
The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Italian 7 Steps to Fearless Speaking 52 Connecticut and Rhode Island Weekends The Art of Project Management Beyond Reality: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming
The depth and breath of the eBook area is awesome. The true beauty of this feature is the immediate availability of these books for you to read right now online.
The other area I'm really excited about is the audio book section with uses OverDrive Audio Book technology. Looking for one of my favorite authors, James Patterson, they have 21 novels that I can download and listen to on my pc or mp3 player.
So go ahead, check out the Boston Public Library and check out something today.
For a long time, I have been wondering if TV shows on DVD had a viable marketplace. I mean do you really want to watch the 3rd season of Dallas? Or the 7th season of Charmed? or how about the 2nd season of I Dream Of Jeannie? I don't either but the studios keep releasing DVD's of old and new shows and there must be a market for these shows [mostly via rental I imagine] I'm just not running out to the local Buy More store to get mine [Note: The Star Trek: The Next Generation Complete Series DVD set is the one show that is tempting].
However the TV show on DVD concept has allowed lovers of shows gone by to enjoy them again and in some cases allow new viewers to find a show that is no more. One great example is Arrested Development. The show ran for 2 and half seasons on Fox and while critically acclaimed and had a solid cult following, it never found a large audience and therefore high ratings. For those of you who watched from the beginning you already know, but this is one of the funniest shows ever. [Yes that is a bold statement] With the ironic writing style of Sienfeld, awkward situational humor of The Office, and a Lostish style of serial plots, this show found the right formula for a 21st century comedy.
The show follows the once proud [and rich] Bluth family as they navigate the pitfalls of the company demise and the rebuilding process. The family includes father/jailbird George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor), mother/alcoholic/control freak Lucille (Jessica Walter), eldest son/ameture magician G.O.B. (Will Arnett), second son/new president of the Bluth Company Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman), Michael's son/banana stand manager George Michael (Michael Cera), Michael's twin sister/look-at-me, look-at-me Lindsay Fünke (Portia de Rossi), Lindsay's husband/never-nude/analrapist Tobias Fünke (David Cross), Lindsay and Tobias' daughter/rebel/movie producer Mae "Maeby" Fünke (Alia Shawkat) and the youngest Bluth child/mama's boy Byron "Buster" Bluth (Tony Hale). The show has spurned several memorable lines like "I blue myself", "I have made a huge mistake", "Oh Come On!" and a very odd amount of people acting like chickens.
The other unique thing about the show is it's presentation - documentary style including a narrator (Ron Howard) and supplemental items such as security camera footage, Bluth family photos, website screenshots, flash backs and archive films. It also employed a "On the next... Arrested Development" sequence at the end of most episodes which did not show up coming scenes but a brief extension of the episode to wrap up the lingering story line, usually in a very humours way.
All in all, Arrested Development might be the very best TV sitcom you have never seen and now the all 2.5 seasons are out on DVD, you can watch it end to end - which is by far the best way to enjoy all 53 episodes. Now if they can get the gang back together for a Christmas special, I would be able to "blue" myself all over again. Come On!
At 7:35 PM on November 14, 1970, Southern Airways Flight 932 crashed into a hill just short of the Tri-State Airport, killing all seventy-five on board. The plane was carrying thirty-seven members of the Marshall University football team, eight members of the coaching staff, twenty-five boosters [including a city councilman, a state legislator, and four of the city's six physicians], four flight crew members, and one employee of the charter company. Enter Matthew McConaughey as last resort new head coach Jack Lengyel and internally conflicted Matthew Fox as assistant coach Red Dawson who take up the cause to rebuild the decimated team. David Strathairn portrays a board controlled President Donald Dedmon who wants to do the best thing for the school and the town.
The film shows great internal political struggle as well as the teams hardships in rebuilding the team from the ground up. There are many touching scenes filled with sorrow, despair, hope and triumph and the best part of the film is it is historically accurate - including the made-for-Hollywood ending. One great sports film that everyone can gain some inner strength from, sport minded or not. We are... MARSHALL!
The clue for 111 across in yesterday’s Boston Globe Sunday magazine crossword puzzle was "Generic Proposal". The answer is "Will you marry me". For most people solving the crossword yesterday, this probably wasn't a very personal clue and answer however for one couple it was. Aric Egmont of Cambridge contacted the magazine this summer to ask if the authors would be willing to write a special one for him and his girlfriend. Aric and then girlfriend Jennie Bass routinely solve the Globe's crossword together on Sundays and he thought this is their special time and wanted to make it even more personal.
Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, a married puzzle-writing team who have been writing Globe magazine crossword puzzles for many years, accepted Egmont’s challenge and created September 23rd puzzle entitled "Popping the question". The writers were very clever in creating not only the proposal themed puzzle but the very special 11 across clue [Generic proposal: Jen + Aric = generic] which was meant to clear to the couple, but not obscure to all the other puzzle-doers out there. Emily and Henry, Mission Accomplished and for Aric and Jennie - Knock on wood saying.
This fall, the networks are thinking outside the box and putting some of their series premiere's online. This is a good idea especially if they want to get into the weekly rotation of a large viewing audience. Here are the ones that have popped up online.
Chuck - Part comedy, part geek meets hot girl, part action series. It probably sounded better on paper than it looked in the pilot. The 1st episode is just so/so however the show has potential. One question, did they show Yvonne Strzechowski in her underware not once, but twice for added story value or just to lure a young male demographic - not that I am complaining.
Journeyman - I wasn't sure I was going to like this show because the premise seems a bit too sci-fi [which is odd since I love sci-fi movies and shows] but it was really good. I especially like the references to times of days gone by [like Terrell Owens as a 49er, Point of no return by Expose, Less than zero Movie Billboard, Huge 80's cell phones and Y2K]. This show could be the breakout hit of the year, if they give us a reason why [and how] he hops through time.
Life - Another cop show but with a little twist, the lead character works different than everyone else - kinda like Monk - and this guy is loaded [which means he has a huge house, a fat car and lots of hot girlfriends]. With our hero investigating the crime he didn't commit, the show it set-up for the end game from the outset. I hope this is the it's undoing like others that have tried to set up the finally in the opener [Kidnapped, The Nine, ect].
Looking forward to next week!
UPDATE: NBC have partnered with Comcast and made the pilots for Chuck, Journeyman, Life and The Bionic Woman available via On Demand. Watched The Bionic Woman last night and it looks intriguing and has a very government/military back story. If they can tone down the sister vs sister arguments and give more details about the background of the genius boyfriend and what the military is going to do with the super human woman, it might just work.
The Secret is a film [and subsequently a book] by Rhonda Byrne describing what she calls the universal [and perfect] Law of Attraction. Byrne's Secret is that if you imagine something [great wealth, a spouse, the perfect weight, ect.] it will be yours because it will be attracted it to you. With a vision in your mind, firm belief in the vision and daily focus on the vision - the vision will be yours because like attracts to like. Your thoughts will attract the thing in your thoughts.
On the surface some of these ideas make sense. In order to attain anything in this life you first must has a vision of what you want. If you want a new job, you must first have an idea of what kind of job you want. That makes sense and this is not a real revelation and many motivational speakers have been saying the very same thing for years.
However a couple of things I have disagree with. First, the idea that all I have to do is have a thought, truly believe in it and it will happen defies standard logic. If I want to weight 190 pounds and see my perfect weight in my head and believe in the vision but do not change my eating habits or exercise routines, my weight can not change. Here is where I think the book misses the mark on what the real secret is. Have a vision, believe in your vision and then act on it - everyday. Without action, there can be no reaction or as Byrne puts it, the universe presenting your vision to you.
Second The Secret has a section that a person who attracts great wealth, then loses it and then reacquires it is someone who had the right vision but when they received the wealth began to worry about losing, so they did. This seems quite convenient and a self-fulfilling prophecy. I really struggle with the concept that The Secret works for everyone except those who don't believe so if you do not receive what you expect than your doing it wrong. When The Secret doesn't work, I would say the visionary is not watching for the opportunities that meet the vision and simply waiting for it to occur without action.
The Secret is a good read and I do think it can be very effective if you use The [Bottom of The Barrel] Secret 2.0 - Vision + Belief + Action = Reaction and Reward!
Much has been made of the tasering of an interruptive student who was not going to exit the auditorium quietly when asked to stop speaking. Here are two videos of the incident:
Notice how he speaks of a book and when Senator Kerry comments that he owns and has read the book, the student continues to speak his mind on the subject. When asked to leave he states he is staying to hear the answer and begins to resist the officers. Clearly he is not leaving without a struggle and at times it does seem like the crowd feels he should not only stay but be able to speak his mind freely.
Here is more of the aftermath of the tasering. I'm sure the initial jolt from the non-lethal device stung because the student immediately calms down. But notice a few moments later he is again resisting the officers commands, demanding to be released, not cooperating with details like him name, and commenting that the government is going to kill him. The student makes one comment of interest at about 44 seconds left, he states he was at "the protest" and then corrects himself calling it the John Kerry rally. Sounds like he [and others] were planning an event all along.
Sadly this is an example of one of the problems with higher learning facilities. They teach the students things like freedom of speech means saying anything you want when you want without repercussions. Int he real world, that doesn't quite hold true. I can not say things about my employer, elected government officials [notably death threats] or the average Joe on the street without some repercussion which could range from losing my job, being arrested or getting a smack in the face. Hopefully our future leaders of tomorrow will learn that outside the cozy confines of academia, words have consequences.
Puerto Vallarta was a really nice place to relax in the sun for a week and recharge for the start of the fall school year. We left Saturday morning from the Puerto Vallarta airport but at the time we were unaware that flights to Guadalajara airport [about 130 miles east of Puerto Vallarta] were being rerouted because of a fire there. In order to get passengers back to Guadalajara, they were being bussed and on one such bus there were as many as half of the 35 passengers on board that had travelled on a diverted flight from Phoenix in the United States. This bus went off the road and into a ravine, falling about 300 feet, killing at least 18. The accident occurred near the town of Compostela, about 120 miles from Guadalajara and less than 50 miles from the airport we were in.
I may have passed these passengers on the road in our taxi or in the airport itself. While I am grateful for our trip, today I want to send my condolences, thoughts and prayers for the victims of the Compostela bus accident. Descanse En Paz.
6 years have passed since September 11th and the selflessness of the public servants that responded that day still moves me to this day. On our recent trip to New York, we were walking down 8th Ave and this painting on the side of the Midtown Fire House stopped me in my tracks:
[Click Image for Expanded View]
The Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 station at 48th Street and Eighth Avenue specializes in skyscraper fires and rescues and is reputed to be the busiest station of any in all of New York City. On that day, they were the hardest hit station in the entire city losing 17 firefighters. The station patch reads "Pride of Midtown" and "Never Missed a Performance" and though they were hit hard 6 years ago and those lost will not be forgotten, the brave men and women of Midtown continue to keep the pride alive and never stop performing. Today we remember those who have gone before us and salute those who continue the tradition of the Pride of Midtown.
20 days from today, The Office will kick off season 4 and I can't wait for the show to return. What kinds of things should we look forward to this season? Maybe the "What The Office Did This Summer" video will give us some clues:
NBC has launched the Dunder Mifflin "Corporate" website which includes information on their products, job openings and merchandise. A nice hint into next season is found in the press release for Ryan Howard's promotion to Vice President of Regional Sales. Additionally the site has an intranet area, which will launch in September [note it's September 7th, now is good!] and I'm really looking forward to the "internal" information they post there.
Back over at NBC's The Office page, Creed Thoughts has been updated over the summer and I'm sure Schrute-Space will get back on-line once the show starts.
2007 was a banner year for the motion picture industry. In the 18 weeks which comprises the summer movie season [May 4th through September 3rd], the industry recorded sales for 4.33 billion dollars. That is up more then 11% from last year's 3.896 billion even though ticket sales were only up 6% [632.2 million in 2007 versus 593.9 million in 2006].
Here is the top ten grossing movies this summer with their current income in the millions:
Spider-Man 3 [$336.5] Shrek The Third [$321.0] Transformers [$310.6] Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End [$308.7] Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [$286.8] 300 [$210.6] The Bourne Ultimatum [$202.8] Ratatouille [$201.2] The Simpsons Movie [$178.5] Knocked Up [$147.7] Live Free or Die Hard [$133.1]
The summer of sequels does not have many surprises at the top of the list [Spider-Man, Shrek, Pirates, Bourne or Die Hard] and of course the animated films [Shrek, Ratatouille or Simpsons] did well and naturally most knew Transformers would rock the box office. So what's left? 300 and Knocked Up? Well you need 1 break out comedy each summer and Knocked was the feel good dramedy to fill that roll so only 300 is the real surprise and maybe went under the radar a bit with all of those big names on the marques.
All-in-all a very good year for Hollywood and this type of revenue really sets the bar high for next summer. It looks like there will be several sequels/reboots next year [like The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Indiana Jones IV, The Incredible Hulk, The Dark Knight and The Mummy 3] and a few promising new properties [such as Iron Man, Speed Racer, and Get Smart] but can they top 4.33 billion? I'm not sure they can but I'm sure they will try like hell.
Last year, Lawrence High School [in Lawrence Massachusetts] separated into six distinct schools to give students some overall direction in their education. This year, the school has gone a step further and implemented color coded uniforms for each school. They are grey for business management and finance, dark green for health and human services, white for humanities and leadership development, light blue for international, brown for math, science, and technology and red for performing and fine arts.
The school has paired with three local merchants to make the colored shirts available for students to purchase and have allowed for small variants in shade to appease the fashion concession student body. These colored shirts [paired with khaki slacks or skirts] are intended to promote team spirit with in each of the schools at Lawrence High.
This is not only a good idea but a great one and I have recommended a similar strategy for each of my former employers over the past 10 years. I have long thought that if the company would buy me golf and dress shirts, in varying colors, with the company logo on it, I would wear one every day. I wouldn't have to think about what I am going to wear to work other than what shoes go with my pants. This way the whole office could wear the company logo with pride and we would act as walking billboards for the company, our products or both.
Lawrence High School could be on to something that not only the academic community could use to color code their world but maybe the corporate world [insert logo here] could use as well.
A study of more than 1,000 mainly British and North American artists, spanning the era from Elvis Presley to rapper Eminem, found they were two to three times more likely to suffer a premature death than the general population. Between 1956 and 2005 there were 100 deaths [more than a quarter of all the deaths were related to drugs or alcohol abuse] among the 1,064 musicians examined by researchers at the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University. "The paper clearly describes a population of rock and pop stars who are at a disproportionate risk of alcohol and drug related deaths," said Mark Bellis, lead author of the study.
As Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler would say during weekend update, Really? You mean struggling artist who suddenly become popular and wealthy are more apt to die from drugs and alcohol than the average citizen, really? God I hope so, or we are all doomed to kick in the next three years from a hard living life style. Oh wait, the rest of us have to get up for work in the morning, really.
In all seriousness, over the years we have witness far too many deaths in the music world [and entertainment in general]. We have lost the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon, John Bonham, Steve Clark and Bon Scott [this of course does not include those who may have died from other causes like Cancer, Heart attack or Suicide which roots of the death are actually drugs and alcohol]. Who's knows where music would be today if these artist could have throttled in back some and lived out a more average life span. Let's hope the research done by the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University can lead to one less day we will remember as the day the music died.
Relaxing, Warm and Awesome!
