R Blog

A Macro Look at Iraq Casualties

Linked from Altercation.
    “This animated map of coalition military fatalities during the Iraq war unfolds at ten frames per second. Each frame represents one day of the war. One dot marks each casualty site. A death begins as a white flash, then grows to a larger red dot, which turns black after 30 frames (days), fading at last to permanent grey. Created by Tim Klimowicz”
       The date spins in the upper right of the screen and as if we are way off in space we watch the flashing dots that represent soldiers dying in the “War Against Terror.”
      Go here  and click on the red button.

Why I Watch The Apprentice

TV’s The Apprentice has the same fascinating allure as   Cops. Watching Cops one has satisfaction from a “there but by the grace of God go I” kind of feeling. Cops gets to be hard to watch because the subjects of the show are so downtrodden and hopeless. The Apprentice, however, is pure pleasure as we see eighteen high powered, nicely pedigreed, twenty and thirty somethings square off on network TV to win a job as Donald Trump’s apprentice. In doing so they reveal themselves to be a parade of jackasses, any one of whom could be obsequious enough to make the Trumpster happy.

The Candidates in a Nutshell:
(You can read the hyperbole on the website).

Allie, summa cum laude, Harvard MBA
Andrea, self made millionaire
Brent, attorney,
Bryce, contractor
Charmaine, realtor
Dan, entrepreneur
Lee, 4.0 from Cornell
Lennie, Russian immigrant, entrepreneur
Leslie, realtor
Michael, mergers and acquisitions consultant
Pepi, Columbia law school
Roxanne, U of M law school
Sean, Southhampton Solent University (England)
Stacy, defense attorney, commentator for CNN and court TV
Summer, restaurant owner
Tammy, MBA, entrepreneur
Tarek, double degree, Mensa
Theresa, psychotherapist

Six of the above (underlined) have already been released from their quest for servitude in Trump tower by The Donald. The attorneys have been hit hard.

Each week this group is divided into two teams. One member from each is selected as Project Manager to lead the team in a task which always involves some type of product. Businesses no doubt pay big bucks to insert their corporate commercial inside the the context of this so-called reality show. Usually, a couple of executives from the company in question show up to judge the results. Trump never knows their names.

What is fun to watch and provides the satisfaction is that this blue chip group is generally quite inept, usually unable to manage or lead, weak on creativity and execution, and dysfunctional in interpersonal communication and relationship. If these are the best people that Trump can find as an employee pool then there’s hope for all of us and validation of that secret thought that many, many people in our society are highly overrated.

This is the fifth season for The Apprentice. Coincidentally, it’s the fifth season for Preznit Bush. After five years of bad decision making, failed leadership, weak execution and dysfunctional communication our apprentice president has proven he’s a big enough jackass to work for Donald Trump.

Correspondent in Iraq Defends War Coverage

If you missed the smackdown of Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz by foreign correspondent Lara Logan and you have Windows Media Player or Quicktime, check this out, courtesy of Crooks and Liars.

Paul Newman’s Donations

I was eating a couple of Newman O’s (that’s the Oreo like cookie made by Newman’s Own, Inc.) and noticed that Paul Newman’s donations to thousands of charities since 1982 are now in excess of $200,000,000. This is impressive. It’s always been impressive that Paul Newman would give away his entire after tax profit to charities. This fact is prominent in Newman’s Own and Newman’s Organics advertising and is one reason, in addition to the company’s commitment to organic ingredients and high quality, that people buy Newman’s products. But I started to wonder where, exactly, that $200,000,000 went and began to search the internet. I didn’t get a definitive answer but what I found was curious. After a couple hours research on the web I still had this question for Mr. Newman: Where, exactly, do you give all this money?” If you are interested in some details  you can go  here.

TV’s Craig Ferguson

My mother insisted we start watching Craig. She records his Late, Late Show every night and now we do too. Craig is an aging wunderkind whose significant successes haven't been too noticeable. He acts, does comedy, directs, produces, writes novels and hosts all while recovering as an alcoholic. His eleven minute nightly standup introduction to the show, done without cue cards, just bullet points to keep him on track, is something of a marvel. It’s a combination of sophistication and sophmorism. Three out of five nights he’s laugh out loud funny and the other two he’s at least interesting as he riffs on a variety of subjects including his own problems (the former drinking, the ex-wives, working for CBS, his quest for US citizenship, and the requirement that he wear Speedos because he is European—Scottish). He does skits and impressions. Sean Connery is his favorite. My favorite is his Prince Charles as host of the Rather Late Programme (Prince Charles and Camilla are watching The Godfather and Camilla wonders what it would be like to wake up with a horse’s head in bed with you. The Prince answers, “One gets used to it.”) Some predict that Craig is heir to The Late Show With David Letterman when Dave decides to bag it. It would certainly be a different show. More good humored. More actual interest in the guests. Craig is a terrific interviewer. He also does interviews without benefit of notes. He sits and talks, teases, flirts, asks questions, follows up, quips wittily and has a good time. He seems to be able to bring out the best in people. Highly recommended. (I just noticed that my last six or so posts have either been about TV or the internet which is evidence of the really lousy weather we’ve had in Ashland the last three weeks).

The $39 Experiment

Some people have even more  time on their hands than I do.

Big Love

HBO’s premier of their new series Big Love proves you need more than a titillating premise to make good TV. But who’s not going to check out a drama where a guy has three wives living in three adjacent houses that share a backyard pool and where seven kids from infancy to seventeen populate the premises? Bill Paxton plays Bill Henrickson, a businessman, somewhere in Utah. He  is sort of a normal guy except for his unusual household. Apparently he grew up in a cultish environment led by “the Prophet” who is played by Harry Dean Stanton. (Harry Dean is one of David Lynch’s favorite actors and the Prophet gives hints of being Lynchian). Bill is alienated from his parents who still live with the Prophet (whose newest wife is fourteen). The Prophet, it turns out, staked Bill to a grubstake that allowed him to open his first and second home improvement stores. In the premier a third store is about to open and Bill is cutting the Prophet out of this opportunity setting up a conflict which will no doubt continue in subsequent episodes. Bill is browbeaten into returning to his parent’s home, located in a compound that looks kind of nineteenth century, to help his sick father who we learn is dying of arsenic poisoning. Is his crazy mom the poisoner? Another set up for next week. But, actually, we aren’t too interested in this. What we are interested in is how a polygamous relationship might actually work. In episode one we don’t learn very much. We meet the wives (one, two and three). One is a substitute teacher, has had cancer and a hysterectomy offering a possible motivation for agreeing to the additional wives. Two is the Prophet’s daughter who might have come as part of the loan or to watch out for her father’s interests. She has a spending problem and needs to go on Oprah’s “Debt Diet.” Three is very young, not very capable and horny. The ladies have a schedule they agree on where Bill alternates nights. He is, understandably, having some equipment difficulties. That’s about all we learn about the logistics of polygamy. Certainly there is more to it but Big Love, episode one, made it seem kind of routine. The wives get along though there are undercurrents of competitiveness. We meet the kids who seem normal enough. We learn the family isn’t that active in church. But they do practice the  Family Home Evening favored by LDS.
The Big Problem with Big Love besides the writing (in one scene Wife Two reads her entire credit card number over the phone) is the casting. Everyone seems a bit too sophisticated to be polygamous Mormons. Jeanne Tripplehorn, the oldest wife, is also the most attractive. She says they all agreed to this relationship but never lets us know why. We don’t learn the motivation for their coming together in this large menage. One would expect a complicated household like this one to be a bit more complicated. But Bill’s big issue, besides ED, is to get Wife One to hand over her check as a substitute teacher for the month. This request, from a guy who is opening his third home improvement store and having paper signing meetings in big time attorney offices, doesn’t make much sense. Surely the writers could have come up with more compelling issues. Tony Soprano has a much more interesting time with one wife than Bill Henrickson does with three and my prediction is that Big Love won’t join the ranks of HBO’s superior series like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire and Entourage. Those shows all seem real. This one seems like cardboard cutouts.

The Daly Planet

Tiger Woods is the guy who draws the crowds and has increased interest in professional tournament golf. Adults and kids come out in droves to see Tiger. His financial impact on the game is unrivaled. There are very few “fan favorites” in golf. Phil Mickelson qualifies and Peter Jacobsen, now on the senior tour. The only other golfer who can pull a gallery like Tiger is John Daly, golf’s problem child who burst onto the golf scene in 1991 winning the PGA, a major tournament, in his first outing on the tour. (During that tournament a spectator was hit and killed by lightening. John learned the man had two young daughters and he donated $30,000 of his purse to set up an educational foundation for them). Since the PGA in ‘91 Big John has gone through three wives, that many sponsors and rehab three times for alcoholism. His popularity has remained steady. People relate to John, a good ole boy and country singer in his spare time. John is accessible. He’s not from the country club. He’s like some fat guy in shorts who might join up with you on the first tee at your local muni with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and a can of beer in his hand. Now the Golf Channel is presenting a sort of reality show called  The Daly Planet
John Daly isn’t the biggest celebrity in the world but this show demonstrates just how busy a world class golfer can actually be. The cameras follow John around as he goes through his activities as pro golfer, philanthropist, country singer, restauranteur, marketer and family man.
John flies to England in a private jet with his fourth wife Sherrie (who recently pleaded guilty to federal drug charges and was sentenced to five months in prison). He won the British Open, his second major in 1995. The camera follows them to Germany, still by private jet where John plays in the Deutschbank Open and Sherrie shops, running up a $7,000  bill in a few hours. Back in the US John appears at a series of charity golf tournaments and events. He wears enormous shirts to cover his expanding belly and huge shorts, smokes constantly and is always sucking on a can of beer. The beer is ever present even though John has been through Betty Ford at least three times. He visits the Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp where he tells the guys that rehab is for quitters. He meets on camera the two girls he endowed for college. They have never met him before and they charmingly present him with a scrapbook of their lives. John seems embarrassed. He sings the National Anthem at a football game of his alma mater Arkansas with his buddy country singer Johnnie Lee. Later at a charity event he plays and sings with Hootie and the Blowfish and leads the audience in the Arkansas chant of “Woooooooo!!! Pig Sooey.” John doesn’t like to fly so he travels domestically by motor home. His motor home seems to convert into a retail store and he pulls into the Hooter’s parking lot (Hooters is one of his main sponsors)and sells John Daly tee shirts, CDs and other paraphernalia directly to his fans, autographing as he goes. He drinks more beer, smokes more cigs. Sherrie puts on a giant birthday party for John’s youngest and we are forced to see JD in swimming gear frolicking in the pool. We visit his restaurant in Memphis. More beer. Lots of testimonials about how John has a heart of gold. How people love him. The show is sponsored by Winn Grips, one of John’s primary sponsors. The show makes John look pretty good. Loveable; interested in helping, in giving back; attentive to his kids; good humored; grounded and fun loving. This should help sell more grips.
John Daly is a natural. He’s down to earth. He’s not very interesting, really. Just kind of fascinating. His conversation is typical guy-on-the-golf-course chatter. He is a normal, average guy who’s grossly overweight and has a drinking problem, too many kids and too many ex-wives. He is a walking country western song.
Strangely, he is friends with VJ Singh, probably the second best golfer in the world after Tiger, and as unpopular with the media as John Daly is popular. Some of the best clips from the show are from their practice rounds where VJ is constantly needling John for never practicing. A few years ago JD had the shakes so bad on the course during a tournament that it was painful to watch. He used to give up when he was playing badly. In a US Open he once hit a moving ball. He was self-destructive. But in the last few years he seems to have pulled himself together. He’s even playing well; almost beat Tiger in a playoff last year. One wonders if with the constant drinking he can keep it up. But, in the meantime, John Daly, everyone’s favorite golfer is out there having fun, raising money and hitting the ball almost off the planet.

More Bad Publicity for Ashland

Craving to fulfill lifelong dreams? Longing to get a second start in a new setting?

MSNBC.Com in a special feature on their website  suggests five retirement spots that offer “the best quality of living for the least money possible.” They are a strange group: Ashland, Oregon; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Charleston, South Carolina; Barcelona, Spain; and Phuket, Thailand. Ashland has made a number of these lists over the last several years and as a result things don’t seem as nice here as they used to. Some call it “Californication.” Others “gentrification” or “upscaling.” The result has been a lot of growth, more traffic and a different vibe than there used to be. What’s the vibe? I’d say less mellow and a bit more smug. Medford has been included on some of the best lists and growth is even more tremendous up there. And with Measure 37 claims lining up we can look forward to more subdivisions and developments. But the folks who are just arriving find it to be a wonderful place which it still is, relatively speaking. Curiously, MSNBC chose to feature not retirees but a software developer and his activist wife who have landed in Ashland and love it.  I’ve met Paul Collins, the guy in the little multi-media presentation. He’s in the Mac Users Group and a very bright guy. But he’s no retiree. That’s not to say there aren’t retirees headed this way in droves. There are. And, it ultimately will change Ashland into a hilly Sun City kind of place. Families with kids are on the decline. Two schools have been closed. There are noises from the state level about an idea to sell Southern Oregon University to some other university system. A certain percentage of wealthy people are going to continue to make their way to the best places like Ashland. The irony is that as population and demographics change the ambiance will change with it. Ashland will become hoity toity. Water will become more of a problem as it will everywhere else. And in Ashland, with hotter summers the trend, the chance of wildfire looms. This doesn’t seem to stop big houses from cropping up on the hillsides and in the dry woods. I’m sure the realtors are happy to see this kind of publicity and since we are getting ready to put our house on the market I suppose we should rejoice as well. But I’m still going to call it bad publicity.

Project Runway Season 2

Linda’s favorite show, Project Runway, is the best reality show because the people actually do something. That is if you consider designing clothes doing something. I think it’s pretty cool. If you read my recent post about Blue Willi’s clothing you’ll recognize that I am something of a clothes horse myself (lately—emphasis on the horse, as in Clydesdale). So, we waited for the finals of Project Runway to see what those crazy kids had come up with. All those at our viewing party thought Chloe’s dresses were the most interesting. They were pretty and showy. None of the collections were too exciting. Underwhelming might describe the reaction. Imagine our surprise (Chloe won, by the way) in reading the the post mortems that Kara Janx who finished fourth in the competition had also shown a collection at Olympus Fashion Week. Now why would Kara also get to show? Here’s the answer: Olympus Fashion Week was actually held in February. The Project Runway folks showed their stuff on Feb. 10. Viewers of the show didn’t know who the final three were until  late February and the last show wasn’t aired until March 8. So, apparently, in order to confuse everyone and not announce the final three before the grand finale the last four contestants design and show a collection. (The same thing apparently happened last year). That fourth place person (Kara Janx) didn’t get on TV. But there were lots of photos of Kara’s stuff on the internet. Based on the photos I think she might have won had she ended up in the the final three. Her designs were  interesting and colorful. If I were really a fan I could have discovered all this the day of the runway show. TV Squad was all over this one. You can take a look at the clothes and decide for yourself. Who's the real winner. Collections here for Kara,
Santino, Daniel, and Chloe. In the end it doesn’t really matter. With the kind of exposure they got they’ll all be hanging around runways.