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Controversy Over Woods' Wind Resolved?

Posted by Disgruntled in NY on Wednesday, August 05, 2009 6:19:00 PM
More groundbreaking news from Deadspin:
After what seems like decades of secrecy and lies, America demands to know: Who cut the cheese? Now we may finally have our answer. The conspiracy goes far deeper than any of us could have imagined....and it really stinks.
Read the whole thing here.
 
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Oh no, we seem to have wandered into 'controversy' on Woods' Wind

Posted by Ed Lilly on Wednesday, August 05, 2009 6:56:02 AM

CBS takedown notices? Lawyer denials? Deadspin has a roundup.

I'm pretty sure this type of story never would have occurred with Nicklaus or Palmer, much less the greats of the game prior to them.  That's probably due to the wall-to-wall media world in which we live.

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Imagine the pictures people would make if Bush were the subject...

Posted by Ed Lilly on Sunday, February 01, 2009 10:37:33 AM
Jonah Goldberg at NRO posted a link to a Detroit Free Press story that apparently ran the day after the inauguration.  The premise of the piece is this - take a photo of yourself, and create a split-image by matching half of your face with half of President Obama's face.  Goldberg notes that the piece is "borderline grotesque," and that Democrats would most likely agree if the subject were a Republican.

But then it hit me.  The most likely scenario for a conservative or Republican politician is that an "artist" would get a grant from the federal government to create a work of art that incorporates split-images like the ones shown in the Detroit Free Press story, with the politician's face paired with the likes of Hitler, Stalin, a chimpanzee (in the case of George W. Bush), and a host of things that are best left to the imagination.  And it would be hailed by liberals as daring, subversive and cutting edge.

Now, imagine if an artist, probably without a grant from the federal government, were to create such a display using President Obama's image.

Heck, it would have been interesting of some political cartoonist had done something like this as a counter to the pictures from the Detroit Free Press.  It would take a lot of guts, and carefully crafted images, to not go too far toward poor taste so that one's commercial career would not be ruined.

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I'm not a TV executive, but I play one at my computer

Posted by Ed Lilly on Sunday, January 25, 2009 9:51:29 AM
I think it was in the movie "Grand Canyon" where Steve Martin, playing a Hollywood producer, tells Mac, played by Kevin Kline, that he hasn't seen enough movies, because all life's riddles are answered in the movies.  Yep.

And of course, it was in "You've Got Mail" where Tom Hanks tells Meg Ryan that "The Godfather" is the answer to any question.

Sounds to me like it could be a television show, let's call  it "Hollywood Justice."  It's kind of like "The People's Court" and all the judge-oriented shows that arose after it.  But the twist is, the parties who are having a dispute agree that their matter will be settled in accordance with the applicable "precedent" from the movies.

The parties come in, make their arguments to either a single judge or maybe a panel of 3 judges, who are not actually judges but are instead people who are really, really into movies and movie quotes.  Maybe movie critics, aspiring movie critics, or something similar.

After the sides make their case, the judge(s) reach a verdict, which is revealed through various movie clips selected by the judge(s) as being the answer to the case.

I'm seeing the possibility for cameos / guest appearances, video re-release tie-ins, the whole works.




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Another prediction for what the future holds!

Posted by Ed Lilly on Saturday, November 01, 2008 8:26:58 AM
I've been saying, at least to myself, for some time that eventually we'll reach a point where a person can officially declare that he (or she, if we must be politically correct) is marrying himself/herself so that he/she is not being discriminated against based on marital status, the right to marry, etc.  It will be weird and nonsensical.  But it will happen.

And this story moves us just a little bit closer to that world.

If the guy in Japan gets the right to marry a cartoon character, the possibilities start to get pretty interesting.  Want to marry a movie star's character from one of your favorite films?  Why not?  Meet my wife, Christie Brinkley as the hot girl from National Lampoon's Vacation!  Shoot, my cousin could finally "marry" his ideal of feminine beauty, Grace Kelly.  If we're not limited to three dimensional, sentient human beings, the sky's the limit.  And eventually, we can just invent marriage partners, multiple marriage partners, and then legally "marry" ourselves.

Thankfully, I'm already married to a babe, so this won't apply to me.  Though maybe I better make sure she isn't making plans for an alternate marriage reality....

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Only One Survivor of RMS Titanic Remains

Posted by Ed Lilly on Friday, October 17, 2008 6:30:54 AM
An interesting human interest story at Fox News this morning:

Millvina Dean was just two months old when she was wrapped in a sack and lowered into a lifeboat from the deck of the sinking RMS Titanic.

Now, more than 95 years later, Dean, the last living survivor of the disaster, is hoping to help pay her nursing home fees by selling artifacts of her rescue — a suitcase and other mementos expected to auction for about $5,200.

What a sad story.  I can’t imagine that $5,200 will go very far toward nursing home fees for Ms. Dean.  Perhaps it’s my increasing cynicism over the pending elections that makes me wonder why some of the liberal blowhards in Hollywood, who profited immensely from a little movie a few years ago that had something to do with the sinking of RMS Titanic, didn’t do something gracious like make an anonymous contribution to a trust fund established for the benefit of the very few survivors of the sinking alive at the time the film was made.

And it’s probably just my increasingly warped sense of humor that makes me wonder if perhaps the Seinfeld cast should do something similar for survivors of the Andrea Dorea / Stockholm accident.

In any event, good luck to Ms. Dean, and may she have many more healthy and happy days ahead.


Tags: Media   culture  
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A Chance for Redemption in Chicago

Posted by Ed Lilly on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 3:55:21 PM
A news story at Bloomberg.com contains the following interesting update on scientific research:

The Bee Gees' disco anthem “Stayin’ Alive” from 1977 has 103 beats a minute, close to the number of chest compressions needed for cardiopulmonary resuscitation to work, according to a study at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria.  Students who listened to the tune while practicing CPR on a dummy learned to give the right number of pumps, an abstract of the research in the Annals of Emergency Medicine said.

And later notes:

The results will be presented at a meeting of the Dallas-based group later this month, in Chicago.

So disco music may somehow wind up being involved in helping mankind.  Who would have thought?

It’s especially nice that this research is being presented in Chicago, where disco music has a somewhat less glorious history:

Disco Demolition Night was a promotional event that took place on July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago.  It was held during a scheduled twi-night doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. During the event, rowdy fans surged onto the field, and a near riot ensued.

If you follow the link above for the background information on Disco Demolition Night, and a more complete description of the event, in which approximately 75,000 fans staged the “near riot” between the doubleheader games, resulting in forfeiture of the second game, you won’t be disappointed.  I remember Disco Demolition Night dimly from my youth, but know the story well from having heard the radio hosts involved in the promotion, Steve Dahl and Gary Meier, for years afterward on Chicago radio.

I don't think Steve and Gary are on the air anymore.  If they are, it would be a nice touch for them to get press passes for the medical conference so they can provide full coverage of this latest "threat" of the return of disco.

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This one time, at band camp....

Posted by Ed Lilly on Saturday, October 04, 2008 7:20:51 AM
Weird news from SI.com:

The University of Wisconsin marching band has been suspended indefinitely while allegations of hazing, alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct are investigated.
Apparently Michelle Flaherty was unavailable for comment.

Reactions?  First, it's a marching band / college campus story.  One thing it is NOT is a sports story, even though the marching band does appear during half-time of college football games.  I guess Sports Illustrated chose to run it because it's titillating (yeah, I know), but this is really a poor choice of story to even pick up, much less to link at the SI homepage.

Second, is there anyone in the U.S. who is surprised, much less interested, that there is alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct on college campuses?  Isn't this the ultimate dog-bites-man "news" story?

Finally, hazing?  From reading the story it sounds like there were some inappropriate things going on, like "making" female band members kiss other female band members before they could use a bathroom on the bus.  I suppose in the world of college educators this is hazing.  I hope that if my daughter ever finds herself a band geek on a college campus and she is told to do something like this she has the good sense to respond the way Jim McMahon did as a rookie with da Bears when the veterans told him he had to sing his college fight song at meals.  The Punky QB reportedly gave them a two word answer beginning with the letters "F" and "O" and went about eating his meal.

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I'm not sure if Monty Hall is still alive...

Posted by Ed Lilly on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 6:38:19 AM
...but that's immediately who I thought of when I heard a clip on the radio from the MTV music video awards show, or whatever it is called.  The host of the awards program was apparently a comedian from Great Britain, and at one point in the program he spoke up on behalf of people from outside the U.S. in begging the citizens of our country to elect Barack Obama as the next President of the United States.  Apparently Obama really has the non-U.S. citizen vote pretty much wrapped up.

Let's Make a Deal!  We'll all agree to let Obama take over as head of the United Nations on the condition that he never be allowed to hold a position in the United States government ever again.  Seems like a win-win.

Now, where's my "U.S. Out of U.N." sign....

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Another reason not to trust the mainstream media?

Posted by Ed Lilly on Tuesday, September 09, 2008 7:29:41 AM
With the nomination of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate, there has been a lot of discussion from the mainstream media and their friends in the Democrat party about whether she has enough experience for the job of vice president.  Mrs. Palin has apparently been a city council member, mayor, and now governor of a state with a budget of something like $11-12 billion dollars and about 15,000 employees.

Regardless how you come out on whether she is qualified to be vice president, or ultimately president should that eventuality arise, you should take any concerns voiced by the mainstream media about the importance of succession planning with a grain of salt about the size of Rhode Island.

After all, when Tim Russert died unexpectedly, NBC had a slew of well qualified people ready to step in an make sure Meet the Press and their national election coverage would be taken over by the next generation of experienced, qualified journalists, right?

Um, not so much.  They wound up behaving exactly like their buddies in the Democrat party, dragging marble-mouthed Tom Brokaw out of quasi-retirement and thrusting him back into news coverage.

If the libs can't even manage to figure out how to come up with the next person most able to read a teleprompter and draw on a whiteboard, how much credibility do they have when worrying about anyone else's ability to pick qualified successors?

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I don't remember everyone criticizing Geena Davis when she took over as President...

Posted by Ed Lilly on Thursday, September 04, 2008 10:41:15 PM
I never saw the show a couple of years ago where Geena Davis played the first woman to be President of the United States.  My understanding is that the setup was that she was selected to be the running mate by a guy who hated her, but believed he needed her to win.   Good luck for him - he wins the presidency!  Bad luck for him - he dies!  So Geena moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

I remember reading posts and articles by commentators at the time that the show was just a Hollywood tribute to Hillary Clinton that was designed to get everyone used to the idea of a woman president for Mrs. Clinton's impending and unstoppable election.  Then the show tanked and was canceled, and Mrs. Clinton failed to make it out of her party's presidential primaries.  Life imitates art!

But I don't remember anyone, from the political right or left, getting upset with the premise of the show based on Davis's character already having responsibility for her young child, so that she should never have run for the vice presidency, much less accepted elevation to the presidency.

I guess life can only imitate art so far.

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Finding silver linings whenever possible

Posted by Ed Lilly on Wednesday, September 03, 2008 10:32:05 PM
I have had the opportunity to listen to some of the Townhall radio broadcasters such as Dennis Prager and Hugh Hewitt during the GOP convention.  A lot of the talk the past two days has been on the treatment Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has received at the hands of the Democrats and their friends in the media.  Dennis Prager played some comments made by Sally Quinn, apparently a columnist with the Washington Post.  Prager and many of his listeners were rightly and understandably very upset at the questions asked by Quinn in relation to Governor Palin and her decision to seek the vice presidency even though she happens to have several small children and a teenage daughter who is now expecting a child.

But in listening to the clip, the part that stood out to me was Ms. Quinn's matter-of-fact statement along the lines of, "look, we all know men and women are different."  Really?!  Liberals have known all along, and still know, that men and women are different?  Someone better get that printed in 50 point font and make sure the faculty at Harvard are apprised so they can get to work on apologizing to former Harvard President Larry Summers, and bringing him back.

Another aspect of the discussion of the media's treatment of Governor Palin involved an editorial, I think, whose theme was that "Average isn't good enough" in picking a vice president.  Apparently we need someone who is outstanding and exceptional to fill such a position.

After having had the message beaten into me over the past 15 years that we should not let children's athletic teams keep score so no one's feelings get hurt, that every team and team member in children's sports leagues get trophies so they can all be winners, and that having valedictorians, salutatorians, etc., is wrong, I found it refreshing to see that the liberals have finally gotten on board with the notion that some people do in fact achieve more than others in some areas.

Liberals still have a long way to go in overcoming their belief in government as the solution to all life's problems, but perhaps we're making progress somehow.

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So was it Gerald or Lawrence who fainted?

Posted by Ed Lilly on Saturday, August 23, 2008 7:58:26 AM
Seeing the linkline below at Sports Illustrated's site this morning prompts my question above:

Synchronized swimmer faints, rescued in pool

My money's on Lawrence.  As he said:

I don't swim.

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Probably not the best case to use when stressing the dangers of texting while driving

Posted by Ed Lilly on Monday, August 18, 2008 6:51:57 AM
From Fox News:

Authorities say a 16-year-old girl who died after losing control of her car had been texting on her cell phone moments before the accident.

Seems like it would be a perfect story for warning teens and drivers in general not to do something stupid like sending text messages while driving, right?  Well, when you read further into the story:

Authorities say Preuss had been driving drunk and was speeding.

If this is how far the media have to look to find a case where the use of a cell phone contributed to a car crash, I'm not going to get too upset at all the yahoos I see driving around New Jersey with their cell phones plastered to their ears.

Tags: Media   culture  
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If this isn't Bigfoot...

Posted by Ed Lilly on Saturday, August 16, 2008 8:35:56 AM
According to the DNA tests, the carcass that was turned in allegedly as Bigfoot is, well, I'm not sure what it is.  From the story:

One of the two samples of DNA said to prove the existence of the Bigfoot came from a human and the other was 96 percent from an opossum, according to Curt Nelson, a scientist at the University of Minnesota who performed the DNA analysis.

Human AND opossum?  From the same carcass?

Does this make it more like Pigman, or ManBearPig?


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