Best Buy Commercial August 25, 2006 3 comments
Keep your eyes open for a currently running, back to school, Best Buy commercial. It’s kind of dimly lit and contains all the usual computer products that will make your life easier. My brother Mark makes a quick appearance as a DJ in this one. There’s a scene containing some people looking at sheet music & then comes the DJ, wearing some trendy ass shades & headphones. I caught it yesterday on ESPN and Tivo came in handy.
Last, Mediocre at Best, Comic Standing August 10, 2006 8 comments
Josh Blue won Last Comic Standing simply because America is filled with a bunch of saps. People who feel so shitty about their inability to provide anything to society cast away their wrong doings by voting for someone with a handicap. You can’t solve your problems by voting for a mediocre comedian, get some balls people. I guess I was kind of expecting Josh Blue to win, this is typical television after all, completely predictable.
There was a sliver of hope that the clearly more talented Ty Barnett would garner more votes and that hope grew stronger when he completely killed it with previously unheard material in last nights finale. I cringed when Josh followed up Ty’s 10 minutes of polished stand up with absolutely nothing. Josh’s final appearance consisted of two jokes, one of which he used a couple of weeks ago. He then filled in the dead air with lots of ridiculous hooting & hollering, it was quite embarassing.
Unfortunately, the votes had already been cast and Josh Blue took it all with sympathy votes. I guess the real work for Josh will begin, he needs to craft his ideas into a real act, hopefully in time for his Bravo show. I will take some pleasure in knowing that Ty has received enough coverage to pack clubs across the US which should result in a long & fruitful career in the cutthroat comedy business. Now for some Project Runway!
iTunes Activity August 1, 2006 2 comments
Tabloid Wars episode one is available for free download via the iTunes music store. If you haven’t watched it and missed all the reruns, you might as well go grab it. While you have iTunes open, grab the recently deployed éS Footwear podcast too. You’ll be SO in the know that you’ll have it before the iTunes podcast directory even has it listed!
As del.icio.us users increase their activity, especially del.icio.us users who ride skateboards, these home brewed RSS feeds will only improve:
Skate Video (go tag some video files):
http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/system:media:video+skateboarding
Or any video:
MGM Grand July 28, 2006 8 comments
I was passed along a message to have a look at the next trend in web site site development, MGMgrand.com. It looks nice sure, but what’s so special? At first I ignored everything on the home page & went straight for the main navigation. Loading messages everywhere, boxes sliding around, flash is so unfriendly. Several clicks later, I finally see some legitimate info I can try to digest.
Great, there’s photo tours that max out at 3 pics. I went back to the home page to see what I must be missing. Turns out to be the “Enter Maximum Vegas” button leading to a really slick video. That’s it.
Jody says the video “captures the experience”, hence the next big thing. I say, it’s merely a well produced video on the web. I’m led to believe it may be enjoyed by first time visitors to the site, if they can even find the thing, and that’s about it. Nothing terribly special.
Cable Assurance Plan 2 comments
Correct if I’m wrong, but the majority of these services should be included in any cable plan:
The Service Assurance Plan is a service and maintenance plan available to Cox residential customers for a small monthly fee of $3.95. The plan covers wiring and service issues for cable, high speed Internet and telephone service, regardless of whether or not Cox is the telephone service provider. Also included is customer education and diagnosis.
- An economical alternative to Cox’s Standard Repair Service Policy.
- On-sight troubleshooting and repairs by highly-skilled Cox technicians
- Customer education on your Cox cable, telephone and Internet services
- All repair work is guaranteed
Tabloid Wars July 24, 2006 2 comments
Tonight at 9 (Mon, July 24) is the premier of Tabloid Wars, a new show on Bravo. My sister’s boyfriend and all around great guy, Brian McCarthy, worked extensively on this surefire blockbuster of a television show. I saw some early rough cuts (I am near Hollywood after all) awhile back, and it’s certainly great television.
Generally “Reality TV” isn’t nearly as real as “Tabloid Wars” and if you love documentary style, behind the scenes action as much as I do, you’ll thoroughly enjoy seeing how news stories unfold into tomorrow’s newspaper. While the show follows the Daily News, I have some fond memories of the NY Post (great sports section) and still can’t set foot on any NY train without first grabbing the Post and a 50 cent cup of coffee (one of several activities I miss dearly). This is definately a unique perspective on a city that is always in the limelight. Anyway, it’s a fabulous show and if you get a chance, tune in.
Last Comic Standing July 19, 2006 11 comments
Is anyone watching Last Comic Standing? The biggest problem with the show - most of the comics aren’t very funny. With the exception of Ty Barnett and possibly Chris Porter these comedians bleed amateur. The unfunniest of them all, Roz and Michele Balan, will now be packing local shows but they’ll be under too much pressure to perform, resulting in their current act being the best it will ever get. They have been handed a free ride that so many other stand ups, with gobs of talent, deserve more. Good for them, bad for comedy.
As for Josh Blue, the comic with cerebral palsy, he has suprisingly been pretty funny from the get-go but last night he seemed to avoid doing too many jokes about his disability. Unfortunately for him, those are his best bits. When Blue paused his act, pretending to answer a cell phone call from a comic who was caught with a phone on a previous episode (cell phones are a banned on the show), the crowd roared while I cringed in embarrassment. That type of stunt should have been beyond him or any professional comic for that matter.
I’m going for Ty Barnett who has refreshingly crafted himself a real and very funny act over the years.
HDTV July 17, 2006 4 comments
I’ve seen HDTV on several occasions, but was never fully sold until watching the France vs. Brazil World Cup game. There were two very nice TV’s, at least 32″ LCD’s, HDTV on one and old school NTSC on the other. I couldn’t believe the difference. Old school was so muddy it was disgusting and impossible to watch when the Hi-Def signal was right there. I’ve had it in the back of my mind ever since.
Does anyone have any advice on what to buy / what not to buy? I’ve been checking out all the different technologies and at these preliminary stages, it seems like LCD, 1080p is the way to go. Are bigger screens worth the bigger price tag? Does an old school signal on a 16:9 screen look crappier than on a traditional TV?
Kids on Deck, episode 3 July 14, 2006 2 comments
I never found episode two, so I’ll jump right to three. This time it’s a 39 MB download - kids-on-deck-03.mov.
Kids on Deck, episode one June 22, 2006 4 comments
Awhile ago I wrote about my brother Mark landing his first real television gig on a Yankees kids show called “Kids on Deck“. The first episode aired a couple months ago, but I haven’t been able to see it until now. If you’re in the east coast tri-state area, or get the YES network on satellite tv, check out the show on Sunday mornings.
Here’s the edited version of the first episode, containing only the intro & Marks part (kids on Deck, episode one 58 MB, or click on the image to download the video). Here he is on Flickr, wearing his true colors at last nights Met game. God, I’m such a jock.
Listen for how many times he says “sweet” and my favorite, “This is the biggest hat everrrrr”. Well, he doesn’t stretch out the word “ever” but it’s still pretty amusing. Nice work mark. For all you Yankee fans, know that you’ve been infiltrated!