A Brit's Take on NBC, Conan, Leno, and American Late Night TV

It's been awhile since I've last posted, but who reads a non-blog anyway? This is ego stroking or self-indulgence, anyway, so I would only be apologizing to myself. Well, go sit and spin, Potzi! I'm not apologizing.

I regularly listen to a podcast of the hosts' banter from a radio show from Absolute Radio in London, UK. I have never listened to it over broadcast signal, so I have no frakking clue what they're frequency is, so the FCC and Ofcom (pronounced "off comm" for anyone who's never heard the name said. I had only heard it, and had to look up the spelling.) can bite my bum. It's called Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show (The time slot we call "Drive Time" on American radio, some Brits call "Home Time", because it's time to go home, see?). Last Thursday, 1/21/10, he did what most radio shows over here were doing, and weighed in on the NBC snafu with Jay and CoCo (I won't get into how bizarre it is that the names that have come out of this are my wife's nickname for me, and our late pet bunny's name. It's like a strange Buddy Cop movie title/plot: "One's an overweight man in his mid-thirties. The other one's a stuffed rabbit. Together, they're Jay and Coco!").

Anyway, while I found it quite amusing listening to a Limey radio DJ try and explain both American Late Night TV and this specific situation to both his co-hosts and his audience, it actually made me realize something: "Anyone could manage NBC better than the people doing it right now."

For your listening pleasure, I have edited the podcast audio, and included the clip here. For more information, you can go to www.absoluteradio.co.uk. All material is the copyright of the originator, and not mine. All rights are reserved by the same.

My Status as a Celebrity (Non)Blogger

I think my status as a Celebrity (Non)Blogger may have jumped up a notch: I was selected as a recipient of a pair of tickets to the Michael Jackson Memorial Service at the STAPLES Center. However, I'm still not a typical celebrity blogger. For the most part, I don't give a stuff about celebrities or their sundry and sordid activities. I'm a bit of a geek (as my other posts pretty much scream), but I'm also a fiscal Conservative, and a political Libertarian, and love the idea of a Free Market. Plus, attending will mean missing work, and driving. Now, because of this Capitalistic entrepreneurial spirit, and a dash of naivete, I expected to be able to sell the tickets through eBay or craigslist, and come out a little ahead. While I might have guessed that the more homoginized eBay would shy away from allowing auctions, but I didn't count on a communal fascism by the moderators of craigslist. I really wasn't surprised when eBay pulled my posting, and informed me they were not permitting sales of any of the various forms in which the tickets may be transacted on a secondary market. They're a corporation, and have consistently followed their own not-dissimilar precedents in previous cases. I was taken by surprise when I had an initial post taken down by craigslist first thing this morning. I assumed at first that somebody had decided I couldn't possibly have the tickets in-hand yet (which was correct), or that since I had listed a price of $1000, the posting triggered someone's anti-scalping radar. Later, after I had the tickets, and had found a dozen other postings for tickets, I tried again. Again, within 15 minutes, they pulled my posting again. This time, I decided to investigate the moderator forums to see if there another user had posted something there about having a Michael Jackson Memorial ticket posting taken down. Eventually, after wading through a surprising amount of bitching and whining by users who couldn't figure out why their posts for massage therapist services or job offers were taken down, I found a post about someone in similar circumstances. This is when I discovered that craigslist was not the anarchist's utopia. In this communal moderator's orgy was a fascism that I never would have suspected from a group of people so easily imagined as a modern hippie commune. The group doesn't allow postings that establish or imply competitions or auctions; in the recent light of the crackdown on "adult services" and singles ads that made people associate craigslist with the sleazier dregs of society, they are more sensitive about ads that might use language "suggestive" of these "adult services". One of the ads flagged for closure, and suspected of degrading of the site's reputation, had offered an extra ticket to anyone who could write a couple lines showing "what they were willing to do" to attend the memorial, despite giving examples of feats such as writing a poem, or singing a Michael Jackson song, etc.

Anyway, I have severly digressed. At this pont, I am fully planning on attending the service. The tickets are too good not to. (They're on the Club/Premiere Level, right by where I can logically presume the stage will be.) Plus, all-in-all, I still grew up on his music, and the music of several of the announced performers. But, I also still have an extra ticket, and unused wristband. I am declaring them up for bid. If there is anyone interested, please post a comment here, and we can arrange to meet at a Starbucks somewhere near STAPLES Center prior to the event tomorrow.

I thought I'd post my pirate name...

  

    My pirate name is:

    

  

    Iron Morty Vane    

  

  

    A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. You tend to blend into the background occaisionally, but that's okay, because it's much easier to sneak up on people and disembowel them that way.    Arr!

    

  Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

  

Twittering with the Geeks

I recently watched the "I Am a Geek" video put out by the Society for Geek Advancement. Since I expect my audience is intelligent (I know it is, because at this time, my audience consists of Me), I won't insult anyone's intelligence by putting links everywhere for the video. To make sure it doesn't get lost in the fathomless archives of expired content in them thar "inter-tubes" I will probably post with the video imbedded. When I do, I will include a link to Wil Wheaton's blog post about it, and the subsequent discussion by his audience. I actually found it all pretty interesting. I also found myself doing my best emotional/intellectual impression of Charlie Brown: "Yeah, that's right. The video pandered to us!" "Oh, that's a good point. We're being elitist by critcizing them." "Yeah, you're right, too: we're all geeks in our own way." "But you're right, as well: this is just publicity seeking." "OK, you've got a point. It might be genuine; who are we to judge?" ad nauseum...

Anyway, I watched the video after reading Wil's post, and all his comments. The only part I was really offended by was when someone (and if I was the "right kind" of geek, I'd have recognized him, and be able to recall who he was off the top of my head) said, in reference to D&D and Magic: The Gathering, "But they look really fun." He said it in a very condescending tone that one can only truly understand when they've heard it and been on the receiving end of it for years. That douche-nozzle really was the only part that truly bothered me. I've seen That Guy before. I've met That Guy before. I hate That Guy. I've been That Guy, and that's what makes me feel the worst: he looks at people he sees as "Geekier" than him, and thinks he's cool, even if he's only cooler than "some Geeks". Yeah, that was a cheap shot from the Jock-tionary, and I feel appropriately dirty for it. Don't worry, I'm atoning: I'm watching Reaper and Mythbusters on my DVR, while typing this post in one of two open browsers, each with multiple open tabs, and neither of which is Internet Explorer. And I will be listening to Geek-centric podcasts on my commute (things like GeekSpeak, Geek Survival Guide, All Games Considered, On Board Games, How Stuff Works, Geek Acres, etc.)

The true point of this post was to share something that I found in my Twitter feed. Wired.com published an article on their site informing people of their top 100 Geeks to follow on Twitter. I was pleased to see that I was already following at least 10 of them via my own discovery. But I was also really excited about all the others that I discovered in there. I followed everyone that was listed as Contributors of the "I Am a Geek" video, fully intending to cull the herd as I decided which ones were worth continuing to follow. Most of the contributors are in the media, but a lot of them are in the Geek Media, and are the initiators and creators of their outlets.

Anyway, here's the link to the article: Wired.com's 100 Geeks you Should Be Following On Twitter

It's not an entertaining article, so don't expect the barrel of laughs I provide here... erm - yeah. So, anyway. That's all.

Update!

Well, I wouldn't be much of a "celebrity blogger", or even a "twitter blogger" if I didn't keep my fans posted on updates.

Despite my suspicions and what I felt was ironclad evidence to the contrary, Valebrity has validated Melissa Gilbert and Kirstie Alley on Twitter.  Maybe the only evidence we will need in the future is if I think it's clear that someone is a fake.  Heck, I thought that the original digital Laser Discs could never be replaced by something as small as a CD, and still give as good of quality. Boy, did I look like a fool a year later.  With that kind of track record, if I'd been old enough, I probably would have backed Betamax. The only reason I avoided embarrassment with BluRay vs. HD-DVD, is because I never picked a side, and "Format War II: Sony's Revenge" didn't last long enough to force me to. It was partly strategic: I didn't want to pick the wrong side again, and look just as stupid as with the Laser Disc vs. DVD issue. At least that never got high enough on the radar to even be considered a format war. It was more of a brief genocide, culminating in full obliteration. None of the other formats were even aware of it. No sanctions were issued, or reprisals or reparations demanded. It was quick and clean, almost surgical.  At least I wasn't in a position to buy a Laser Disc player. Then I really would have looked like an idiot. Unlike now, when I'm writing about celebrity validations on Twitter...I feel sick. 

My detective hat is on!

For those who like to follow celebrities on Twitter, the validity of that celebrity's identity is crucial: if it's an imposter, you're just one of the gullible masses, but if it's genuine, you feel like you're getting a secret, inside glimpse of their glamorous life.  Anytime a celebrity appears on Twitter, it quickly becomes a race to find out if they're authentic.  Recently, Ben Jones (@benjonesdj) was interviewing Hugh Jackman (who confirmed he's the genuine twitter article: @realhughjackman).  Ben told Hugh that he was following someone called @Seth_Rogen who was pimping out Seth's latest movie Observe and Report, but Seth Rogen revealed in an interview (listen here) that he isn't using the service.  The celebrity validation game is big enough that websites have popped up to help reassure people that they're not gullible losers.  The most reputable is Valebrity. Their website is http://valebrity.com. They also have a Twitter profile, naturally: @valebrity.

Anyway, enough "hard journalism": during the past 24-48 hours, Kirstie Alley and Melissa Gilbert (currently listed as @KirstieAlley and @MelissaEGilbert) have been Tweeting back and forth incessantly about everything!  Yesterday started with the alleged Kirstie Alley lambasting Harvey Levin (@HarveyLevinTMZ) and TMZ (@TMZ), and asking for help from her Tweeps finishing a colorful idiom: "YOU ARE NOT A LAWYER, YOU ARE A ____".  The alleged Melissa chimed in with "liar" (who knows if she meant this as a reference to the similar line from the Jim Carrey movie Liar, Liar, or not).  The winning entry was someone offering the "C" word.  Yes, that "C" word.

Later the Alleged Miss K tweeted responses that she was genuine.  She even promised updated pictures that would show her to be authentic.  However, rather than posting "twitpics", she seemed to just be updating her profile pic. The current pic (you'll see it when you click on her profile link) is an obvious fake.  The poor lighting and bad resolution made it obvious enough, imo, but the supposed writing on the note, when viewed larger, is clearly digital pen work in some kind of editing program like MS Paint, or Adobe PhotoShop.

Now, finally, to the reason I'm writing this: A genuine celebrity Emma Kennedy (she's a British author, but she's real, and really her: @EmmaK67) has been on top of the mad Tweeting between these two Surreal Life "Wish List" candidates.  She has been urging the Alleged Miss K to validate herself with Valebrity, to no avail, so far (which I take as further evidence of her fraudulent status).  She also declared that she needed a Huggy Bear to do some snooping.  This is where I come in!  I volunteered, and due to my geographically advantageous position (ie, I live in California, and she lives in England), she recruited me.

Let it be known, far and wide, that I am on the case! During my non-working hours, I will be doing my best to solve this case.  Right now, my efforts are focused on Miss K.  She seems the most likely candidate to be fake, and the easiest to confirm.

I have placed a call to her agent, Scott Henderson at William Morris.  I am waiting for a return call. I am hopeful, but I'm also an incurable optimist, so we'll see.  I have also placed a call to Miss M's agent, Erwin Moore (also with William Morris).  OK, this was done live, and it turns out that Melissa is no longer represented by Mr. Moore. I am now calling Scott Henderson's office back.

It's ringing. Voicemail!  Curses...well, now it's a waiting game. I have to get ready to go to work.

More Geekery

I've decided to post a couple more pictures that I need a URL for. I play a free MMORPG called Runes of Magic. These are my characters:
Shorok, Level 7 Barbarian:


Harald Big Paw, Level 11 Warrior: