About the only way I can handle the 12 Days of Christmas

Tip to my good friend Mark Harvard (http://dctape.livejournal.com/) who shared this on his blog this morning.

Merry Christmas - in Africa!

Final Countdown cello and orchestra

Found this off the Mental Floss Blogs, via Neatorama, via I-am-Bored. Great way to start off the morning.

Blast from the Past

About a year ago I started a rant about how NBC gave a perfect example of how not to do a promotion. Laura and I were some of the dozens who watched the ill-fated "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (I'd link to it but all of the pages are dead on the NBC site. Granted, it wasn't the greatest show, but it did have its moments.

the episode that got me all worked up was a Christmas episode that feature a beautiful brass rendition of "Oh Holy Night" by artists part of Tipitina's Foundation. As the site states:

The mission of the Tipitina’s Foundation is to restore Louisiana’s irreplaceable music community and preserve the state’s unique musical cultures.

These artists were a part of one of the minor plot-lines, which obviously was to promote the foundation and keep the rebuilding efforts in mind. After the powerful performance that ended the show and certainly left me wanting more, viewers were told to go to the NBC's site to download a free copy of the song and learn more about Tipitina's Foundation.

Proving that it had already written off the show and had (and has) no intention of really caring about its fans, it took a week before an actual link was posted on the web to Tipitina's, and another before the promised "free download" was offered.

Again sadly, the show site is dead and the video is offline, but you can still go to the Tipitina's Foundation site and get the mp3 here.

Hopefully the enclosure link will work too, and you can listen to the audio in your newsreader too.

Milestone

With my last post, I surpassed the number of posts from previous two years combined.

Yes, I know, 28 posts in a year really isn't that prolific, but comparatively, it's huge for me. I'm not sure if setting a goal for next year would be a helpful, or even a needed thing, but I'm sure the number will increase for next year.

Oh, I'm still trying to find the right layout for the blog's template. If you're using a reader, you won't notice. But I have added a few new things like my blog roll and shared items. When I can really get a few hours, I hope to work out a few more tweaks.

No wonder

I've wondered why it's so hard for me to post regularly. Now, thanks to The Blog Readability Test, I now know why - I've set my standards too high.

Sorry if I've alienated any potential readers. I'll try to dumb it down from now on.

...I have no idea why the site ranked my blog this way, but trust me, it really wasn't intentional, nor do I put much stock in it. I'll take any theories as to why.

Posting Points Predicament

This makes my fourth consecutive day to post to my blog. Granted, this post really is only to take up space. Though it's not a huge deal, I've found that because of my infrequent posting, posts don't get updated in Google Reader until up to 12 hours later. I imagine that it's due to patterns built into the search protocol, but it's a tad frustrating.

It's not like I usually have urgent things to say, with the exception of the link to information on how to help with the California wildfires. But, it would be nice to have things show up with a little more speed. Therefore, I guess I'll have to post with more frequency to keep my blog in regular check with Google Reader. I hate to approach things that way, for fear of overloading the few readers I do have, and/or burying things that do need attention. I do promise though, not to simply take up space - there's enough SPAM out there as is.

For those who don't use a reader, you will notice a few changes on the front page. Take note of the prominence of labels to find relevant posts.

It's not news, it's...

Enough.

Enough already. Enough with the celebrity "news." It's becoming more "pornographic" than what I get bombarded with in my email. There's no reason that the local news should be reporting on Paris Hilton and whether or not she's in jail. Yes, it is news on a fundamental level, but only so much that it's entertainment news and a possibly a further illustration of how the legal system needs reform on many levels. It doesn't deserve the attention it is getting right now though from mainstream media - I think Access Hollywood and the like can cover it well enough where it belongs.

Maybe I just don't get it, but I've never been into the celebrity obsession. Magazines like the Sun, Enquirer, etc. and shows like AH and Entertainment tonight don't appeal to me whatsoever. But yet, apparently they are widely popular.

"Reality TV" doesn't do it for me anyway. About the only "reality TV" I can stomach is what you find on Discovery or TLC, mainly in the form of Deadliest Catch and Mythbusters (yes, I'm a geek). TV in general has lost its luster. As part of the TV generation, I can remember growing up thinking as I was getting ready to spend a week at camp, "How will I be able to make it all week without TV." Granted, I did make it, and even at home, I played outside and did other non-TV activities, but TV was a major part of my regular activity.

Now, not so much. With our free time decreasing, news being dumbed down and increasingly anemic, programming based on cheap production and maximum outrage, and being able to be more selective through our DVR, we've gotten to where we'll watch maybe an hour of primetime programming a night - if we're lucky.

I guess I'm just looking for more substance in my entertainment and wish that more people felt the same. I don't want to necessarily be challenged and disturbed every night, but I'd like for my news to at least be something more than the equivalent of jingling your keys in front of an infant. Thankfully, there is at least the web in which I can get apprised of what's going on in the world, but even that is being challenged with the threat to net neutrality.

Bottom line, I want more. Not so much in quantity, but in quality, and I wish you do to.

I finally did it!

www.shibumi.org/EotI

The End of the Internet

Congratulations! This is the last page.

Thank you for visiting the End of the Internet. There are no more links.

You must now turn off your computer and go do something productive.

Go read a book, for pete's sake.