A daily miasma of frivolity by two wanna-be cultural critics. Or: just, like, some good links, dude.

Tag Archives: television

Jan 04 2013
Mark Twain, probably

Pan-Arab Al-Jazeera pays $500M for Current TV in bid for stronger US foothold

Pan-Arab Al-Jazeera pays $500M for Current TV in bid for stronger US foothold

AP report:

Al-Jazeera is spending $500 million to acquire Current TV, the left-leaning cable news network co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore. The deal gives Al-Jazeera access to about 50 million homes. As part of an expansion, the network is promising to hire more journalists and double the number of U.S. news bureaus it has.

FINALLY, INCONTROVERTIBLE PROOF THAT LIBERALISM IS A MUSLIM CONSPIRACY

Nah, but this is an interesting acquisition. The linked article goes in pretty deep on this thing, as far as typical reporting goes, so check it out.

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Oct 13 2012
Mark Twain, probably

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbzvdsoCQaI

The All Japan Kasoh Grand-Prix is a recurring televised content in Japan where teams use costumes and props to act out a scene depicting a person or people, an object, an event, etc. This video is a compilation of the first 79 winners, starting from the competition’s event in 1979 and going to 2008.

If you’ve ever wondered where the bullet time ping-pong video is from, this is where. It won in 2003.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Jul 27 2012
Mark Twain, probably

A movie star makes India confront its taboos

A movie star makes India confront its taboos

AP report on social issues and TV in India:

Shining light on inequities like the rampant abortion of female fetuses, caste discrimination and the slaying of brides in dowry disputes, actor Aamir Khan has reached an estimated one-third of the country with a new TV talk show that tackles persistent flaws of modern India that many of its citizens would prefer to ignore.

“Satyamev Jayate”, or “Truth Alone Prevails,” is a clever blend of hard news and raw emotional appeal — part 60 Minutes, part Oprah. Its influence has even prodded the notoriously lethargic government machinery into action, though it’s too soon to know what policy changes may be in the works.

The issue the article spends the most time on is the abortion of female fetuses, which is a disgustingly enormous problem in India. Even just using an ultrasound machine to determine the sex of a fetus has been illegal since 1994. It hasn’t helped.

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Jul 04 2012
Mark Twain, probably

From the fourth series of Would I Lie To You? comes this segment where Kevin Bridges, Lee Mack, and Brian Cox have to figure out whether the doorknob fell off David Mitchell’s bedroom door two years ago and he’s never bothered to have it repaired.

This video contains one of the greatest stares in the history of mankind.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Jul 02 2012
Mark Twain, probably

From 1988:

Welcome to the fourth annual Crystal Light National Aerobic Championship finals, featuring regional finalists from all across the United States competing for the title of America’s best aerobic athlete!

I can’t look away.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Mar 13 2012
Mark Twain, probably

The Colbert Report (8/3/12): Don Fleming, Elvis Costello & Emmylou Harris

The Colbert Report (8/3/12): Don Fleming, Elvis Costello & Emmylou Harris

Don Fleming, Elvis Costello, and Emmylou Harris stopped by The Colbert Report last week to talk about Alan Lomax and American folk music. The three and Colbert also performed “Good Old Mountain Dew” and “Goodnight, Irene.” Highly recommended.

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Feb 07 2012
Mark Twain, probably

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39WCxyazy_A

Here’s the theme song from the TV show Taiyou ni Hoero! (occasionally referred to in English as Bark at the Sun), composed by Katsuo Ohno.

I’d never heard of it, but it’s aparently some Japanese cop show from the ’70s and ’80s. That should tell you pretty much everything you need to know about how the music is going to go.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Feb 02 2012
Mark Twain, probably

“Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius commits suicide

“Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius commits suicide

Sad news from Lauren Keiper, Jill Serjeant, and Piya Sinha-Roy of Reuters:

Don Cornelius, creator of the iconic TV music and dance show “Soul Train” that helped introduce Americans to black pop culture, died on Wednesday after shooting himself in the head, Los Angeles officials said.

…

Cornelius was born in 1936 in Chicago and as an adult, became a journalist who was active in the civil rights movement. For a time, he worked at local radio station WVON, and by the late 1960s he had dreamed up the idea of a TV show dedicated to the soulful sounds of African-American music.

“Soul Train” was born with the deep-voiced Cornelius as the host who gave hip kids of the ’70s what “American Bandstand” creator Dick Clark offered TV viewers in the early days of rock ‘n’ roll — a show mixing youth, music, fashion and pop culture.

Soul Train was an amazingly important show in the ’70s and ’80s. Did you know it ran until 2006? It did!

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Feb 01 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Tommy Westphall – A Multiverse Explored

Tommy Westphall – A Multiverse Explored

Westphallian and CrossoverMan:

Who is Tommy Westphall?

Tommy Westphall was an austistic child on the TV series St Elsewhere who, it was revealed in the closing moments of the final episode of that series, had dreamt the entire run of the show.

What’s this about his Mind?

St Elsewhere has direct connections to twelve other television series – many of them direct crossovers of character to and from the series. Others make mention of specific parts of the St Elsewhere fictional universe, placing them within the same fictional sphere.

So?

If St Elsewhere exists only within Tommy Westphall’s mind, then so does every other series set within the same fictional sphere.

So begins a horrifying waste of time where two hundred and eighty-two TV shows are connected to one another through a web of references and crossovers.

Wait, two hundred and eighty-two?

Yes. Two hundred and eighty-two.

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Jan 16 2012
Mark Twain, probably

The Most Surreal Hour of Television So Far This Year: The Good Wife – “Bitcoin For Dummies”

The Most Surreal Hour of Television So Far This Year: The Good Wife – “Bitcoin For Dummies”

Okay so we’re not even a whole month through this year yet but it’s still true dammit.

Anyway, last night’s episode of The Good Wife, “Bitcoin For Dummies,” was unsurprisingly about Bitcoin. Highlights of this bizarre episode include:

  • Jason “You Put Your Dick in a Pie” Biggs portraying a lawyer supposedly representing the creator of Bitcoin;
  • The pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin being referred to in court as “Mr. Bitcoin”;
  • Jim Cramer serving as an expert witness testifying that Bitcoin is a commodity, not a currency;
  • A prosecutor trying to discount Cramer’s testimony by pointing out he has a soundboard and occasionally clenches a knife in his teeth, to which Cramer responds that it’s really more of a scimitar;
  • A “judge” “ruling” that Bitcoin is a currency, not a commodity; and
  • The true identity of “Mr. Bitcoin” shockingly revealed on prime time television!

I was cracking up the entire time at this amazing mess of a program.

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