Last Week, NBC Had Its Worst Ratings In History (Probably)

April 19th, 2007
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From digg:

“The network, which dominated television in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, averaged only 6.8 million viewers in prime time last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. That’s believed to be lowest weekly average that NBC has recorded during a TV season since the advent of Nielsen’s ‘people meters’ 20 years ago, and likely ever.”

This comes as little surprise to me. NBC doesn’t seem to get it. They still would rather throw together yet another season of The Apprentice than to come up with something someone might actually watch. ER is still one of my favorite shows, and one of the few NBC shows I will still take the time to watch. 30 Rock comes in second for me. Other than those two shows, I really never watch NBC anymore. There’s nothing that draws me to it. Thanks to CBS I became addicted to Jericho and CSI. Law & Order, while still good, just doesn’t hold the appeal to me it once did. Jerry Orbach passed away, and he was one of the better TV cops on that show. I do have to admit, I like the Law & Order: Criminial Intent shows that feature Vincent D’Onofrio. Why they split the series with him and Chris Noth, I’ll never know.

If NBC ever hopes to attract viewers back, they need to dump the cheap “reality” shows and go back to doing what they’ve always done best: drama.

Listening Habits of the Not-So-Rich and Unfamous

January 5th, 2007
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I’ve been using the AudioScrobbler plug-in for WinAmp for a while now. The plug-in is what I use to show the ‘Recently Played’ list on the right, below the ‘Now Playing’ section (which that data is actually coming from a separate plug-in called Now Playing). The nice thing about the Last.fm site, where AudioScrobbler sends its data, is that it tracks, organizes and shows all kinds of statistical information about what you’ve been listening to.

Here’s a breakdown of the top 10 artists played by me since 5 December 2005.

I’m just hoping this information isn’t being tracked for any nefarious purposes by certain record company associations.

Tag! You’re it!

November 16th, 2006
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tag, you�re it
meme tag! this from Andrew. He tagged me for this back in August but I never got around to doing it. Well, I guess I have now.

1. One book you have read more than once:

The “Hitchhiker’s Guide” 5-book trilogy. R.I.P. Douglas Adams. And Don’t Panic.

2. One book you would want on a desert island:

“Eleanor Rigby: A Novel” by Douglas Coupland

3. One book that made you laugh:

“Running With Scissors” by Augusten Burroughs � OK, honestly, I laughed about as much as I was disturbed.

4. One book that made you cry:

“The Five People You Meet In Heaven” by Mitch Albom — I dunno why.

5. One book you wish you had written:

“All Families Are Psychotic” by Douglas Coupland (If only for the title, but the book is damn good too)

6. One book you wish had never been written:

I agree with Andrew on this one: �Dianetics� by L. Ron Hubbard. Freak.

7. One book you are currently reading:

At the moment, nothing. But that would be due to my stupidity in racking up a $10 fine at the Chicago Public Library, and never having $10 in cash when I go in there. It’s not that I don’t have money, I do. In the bank. And they are in the stone age and don’t take card.

8. One book you have been meaning to read:

“Dry” by Augusten Burroughs

9. One book that changed your life:

“Girlfriend In A Coma” by Douglas Coupland. Question everything. (Can you tell Coupland’s one of my fave authors?)

10. Now Tag 5 bloggers:

Crushed velour?!? Really?!?

September 30th, 2006
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I�m not normally the kind of person to criticize the way one dresses. My boyfriend says I dress like the closet coughed something up on me. But I�ve got to get this out there. When something is so wrong that even I notice, you know it�s wrong. I think it�s important that this person sees this and gets help soon.

Hey, lady. Yeah, you. Riding the #62 Archer bus inbound yesterday afternoon. No, not the one across the ailse from me with the shopping bag. You. The chunky woman in front of me wearing the maroon crushed velour outfit. Hi. You need desperately to be told this: You look (and smell! Dear God!! Why do you smell like it?!) like the bench seat of a 1979 Cutlass Supreme. Don�t ever wear that again, okay? Not to go grocery shopping at Jewel, not while hanging around the block, not even around the house while waiting for your real clothes to wash and dry. Not ever. The 1970s are long over, you weren�t put together by GM, and I�m being completely honest when I say you look ginormously fat in that. If you have friends that said you look good in that, they’re not your friends. I mean, really. Crushed velour?!?

I feel much better now.

It�s time to put some chlorine in the gene pool

April 25th, 2006
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I saw this story in the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday that made my blood boil. Apparently this guy stole a puppy from it’s backyard, called the owners and demanded $10,000 ransom, and when they either didn’t pay or didn’t pay on time, he took the puppy out to a cage and threw him in with a pit bull and Chesepeake Bay retriever. The puppy was attacked and killed by the dogs.

So, this scumbag made a plea bargain with the prosecution, and pleaded guilty, thinking he was only going to have to do probation. The judge decided otherwise, setting aside the plea deal and give him 15 months in prison and pay restitution. Though, seriously not enough, at least it’s something. Personally, I’d like to take this guy and throw him into a cage and feed him to, say, a pitbull and a lion and maybe even a puma. Let him feel the terror that the puppy felt in its final moments.

More pa1n on the web

January 19th, 2006
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Now that issue 16 of PA1N is out, we’ve had time to let our minds wander a bit. And what did we come up with? You got it. pa1n.org. Actually, there are two domains: pa1n.net and pa1n.org, both of which take you to the same place.

So what’s in store for this new site? Plenty. We’ve already set up the main archives of the zine at experience.pa1n.org, and the Loki Archives at loki.pa1n.org. Still working on a bulletin board, but that will be coming soon.

We’re starting work on Issue 17 now, and if you’re a photographer and want to contribute, we’re looking for graffiti photos. I’ll be posting some Chicago graffiti, and alienbinary and crew have Boston covered, but we want some from all over! So go to the Loki Archives and upload your photos!

Upgrade

January 13th, 2006
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As soon as I saw the announcement on my admin dashboard, I knew I had to get it. I upgraded my WordPress installation to the new version 2.0. With a minimum of fuss, I was able to have the site back up in running in mere minutes. I’ve also added a few gadgets, including the weather plugin you see to the right, and a mail form. I must say, I’m quite happy with the new version, as it seems to have fixed some oddities behind the scenes, and introduced some new admin toys. If you are running a Wordpress blog, I highly suggest the upgrade. It’s worth it.

Pictures from Iraq

November 20th, 2005
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I have a friend serving in the military in Iraq. Mosul, to be exact. He takes photos all the time, and manages to put ‘em up on the web (how, I don’t know. I would have thought the military would forbid shit like that). Anyway, there were a couple of disturbing photos.

And I see these photos on the heels of the revelations that our military, under orders from our government, is using White Phosphor as an incendiary weapon on civilians in Fallujah. White Phosphor is basically napalm reformulated (using jet fuel instead of gasoline), but 1000 times more ’sticky’ and deadly. When white phosphor is dropped on people, it burns people right down to the bone, literally melting them away, strangely leaving clothing intact.

Which makes me wonder what happened to the child this doll head belongs to.