Why does TV continue to fight the DVR?  Thankfully most DVR are able to adjust to the fucktastic practice that most networks use in primetime to stretch their shows a few minutes before or after their allotted times.  But they just won’t give up when it comes to trying to outsmart the DVR user like me who refuses to watch commercials for previously recorded shows.  Additional commercial breaks have seeped into most shows now.  In fact, some hour-long dramas now have 6 commercial breaks dispersed throughout.  The total amount of advertising time is still the same (about 16 mi ...

I’m actually writing 3 ½ years after the fact, but I just finished reading the journal of a friend from college who completed the Appalachian Trail in 2003.  Jim Dirlam, a Brooklyn boy through and through, has always been the outdoorsy, adventury kind of guy.  Prior to this, he had done several multi-state bike rides (Idaho to Colorado, the New England states…) so I was pretty sure if anyone could pull it off, ...

In between watching recorded shows last night, I came across the live feed of this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.  I felt the need to comment on two of the inductees, as one group is currently a train wreck and one group needs more acknowledgement.

First, Van Halen’s participation was an absolute joke.  Eddie Van Halen just checked into rehab and Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth also weren’t there.

Talk about good timing – I watched The Departed on DVD yesterday and then it won a slew of Oscars last night.  I had watched the original movie that this one was based on, Infernal Affairs, and had loved that version.  Not many directors can top an original but if anyone was capable of it, it was Martin Scorsese.  I was blown away by Marty’s version and couldn’t wait to watch the Oscars last night (delayed, of course, since I refuse to watch live TV).

It’s amazing how things come full circle.  I’ve not been a fan of every theatre and arena and ballpark selling their original name for a corporate name, thus creating multiple Tweeter Centers in different cities and changing cool names like Candlestick Park to 3Com Park or Comiskey Park to U.S. Cellular Field.

If this has been done before or discussed already, I don’t know, but a good measure of how quickly one can spread disinformation via the internet could happen like this.  Have 3 or 4 friends each create an unsubstantiated rumor.  Pass it on to the people in your address book that are likely to believe anything and forward it on (Obama is a radical muslim, Bill Gates will pay you money if you forward this, a tax on every email sent…).  Take bets on when you will first a) receive the same email back and, the ultimate test of success, b) see whose false rumor gets debunked first on snopes.

We all have had crap jobs at one point (or more) in our life, whether it is fast food or telemarketing or teenage male prostitute.  Certain jobs can really be tough on one’s pride while others can test one’s stamina.  Sometimes a really sucky job can be both.  Down here in the Dirty South, being one of those Hispanics holding a sign during the summer’s hottest day advertising some inconsequential furniture sale is a good example of that.  I never see a liquid bottle near them so they must be thirsty, have tired legs, and probably half-dizzy from all the automobile carbon monoxide fumes, not to mention the derisive stares from spoiled punk teen ...

Anthony Bourdain, the Food Network star turned Travel Channel star, has eaten some pretty gruesome food on some of his shows.  From raw seal meat and blood in the Arctic to snakes in Asia, his stomach is a cast iron sink.  But even he has his limits.

Last week’s episode in

I’m not sure if this story became a nationwide item last week, but they arrested a “madame” and one of her business associates for allegedly running a prostitution ring out of their million dollar mansion.  She was a former Penthouse Pet who ran a high class escort service.  For those of you who don’t know, Sugarloaf Country Club is a very nice gated community that is host to the BellSouth Classic (now the AT&T Classic), which is the tournament held the week before the Masters in Augusta.  The houses are all gigantic and lots of Atlanta& ...

While I’d venture that most Atlanta Thrashers fans are northern transplants like me, every once in a while I’m reminded that I’m still in the south.