Talk Radio

For years I loved listening to talk radio, but each radio personality I listened to, I ended up hating. I first started with Sean Hannity, then I listened to Michael Savage, and then I ended my conservative radio days with Glenn Beck. As I've been thinking about it, I can't stand any of them, all for the same reasons.



These are the 3 that I came up with

1. They promote hatred/ inequality/ pride, or call it what ever you want.

Anybody that has an alternate views than theirs is "evil" or "stupid." Michael Savage is a perfect example, the title of one of his books : "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder"
How are we ever going to solve anything in this country when we just call each other names like we're in the 3rd grade?

2. Fear

Now more than ever, fear is the driving force behind these shows. And it is usually based on ridiculous, miniscule things. They hear or read some small part of a story, blow it out of proportion, and stretch it to fill their 3 hour show.
I know how difficult it is to create something compelling or entertaining, especially doing it on a daily basis.
Just like the regular news, it is much much easier to report on the scary and horrible, because nobody wants to watch the mundane and regular.
Fear is being created over matters that don't matter.

3. "I am your savior!"

How often do you hear -
"The main stream media won't tell you this"
or
"Nobody else is seeing these things that I am"
or
"This is the only place that is brave enough to bring you the truth"
Really? You're the only one?
Michael Savage has been particularly proud of the fact that he's been banned in Great Britain. They love when there is controversy. It is just another way to publicize their name, and a chance to show that they are right because, "The mainstream media is trying to silence them"

Recently I thought I'd give them another try, just to see how things were going... within 5 minutes, each of these 3 points were hit, and I changed the channel.

Now I want to make sure that I end this the right way

I LOVE that we have talk radio. I love that we can broadcast our opinions and feelings, no matter what they are. Every radio and TV show has the right to tell you whatever they want, and that is beautiful. It's incredible that we have the technology to share information over all the world, instantly. I just wish that those who had this great power would use it for good that could promote more peace, hope, and cooperation to help, not retard, the progress of this great country.

New Baby

THE DOWNSIDE OF OUR HOSPITAL VISIT

An Oreo with NO WHITE STUFF!!

THE UPSIDE OF OUR HOSPITAL VISIT

A cute little baby girl that we love a lot.

Deb and little Nora are both doing great.
Now we have to deal with Merrill adjusting to being dethroned.

The Loan - Nott Block shorts

Nott Block Shorts

I've realized that there are many advantages to releasing each Nott Block sketch individually, rather than all in an episode, so I think that's what I'm going to do from now on.
Here are 2 new sketches. Kid Show and Matt's Sick

This is what I think about everyday

http://foxtrot.com/

The Curse of Dickon

My most embarrassing moment in high school was singing in the musical The Secret Garden. I played a fun loving gardener, with a yorkshire accent named Dickon that sang off key and off beat amongst an otherwise talented cast.
Since that time I've seen two other performances of The Secret Garden by other casts to see how Dickon was supposed to be done. One was a college production done at Thanksgiving Point by (I think) Weber State and the other was done this past weekend by professionals down at the Shakespeare festival in Cedar City. To my surprise, both Dickons were pretty awful. Although they were better than my performance, both were off key and off beat several times.
It made me feel a lot better about myself. I was a high school kid that pretty much had zero musical training, asked to sing, what I've since learned, are some very difficult songs. Singing, dancing, and maintaining an accent in front of an audience is hard. Seeing two other "trained" performers suffer the same downfalls made me feel a lot better about my past embarrassment.
So I'd like to issue a challenge. Let's see you try "Winter's on the Wing" in front of 100 people!

This guy does it well. The 2 minute mark is where it gets the hardest!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmHcsQJ-aVM


This guy struggles at the 1:50 mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJQHPFl-5SY


Besides that one complaint, the rest of the performance this weekend was incredible and it was great to see the show again.

Blu-Ray Review

I'm going to use this as a way to organize my thoughts, but hopefully I can make it readable, informative, and free of expletives.
My cousin Zach was very kind to lend me his Blu-Ray player while he was away for the month of May. Blu-ray is still a new technology, and I was excited to get a chance to play around with it to learn more about it. Here is my report. (is blu-ray review a class I could get credit for?)

Just as a note: I have 50" 720p Panasonic Plasma - In English: Middle grade HDTV

Should you buy a Blu-Ray player?
If you have an older non-High Def TV - NO.
If you have an HDTV that is smaller than 42" - NO, an upcoverting DVD player will work GREAT for you.
If you have an HDTV bigger than 42" then read on.

What I HATE about Blu-Ray
#1 The confusion surrounding it. Yes it will play your old DVDs, even your CDs. (There are many other confusions, but this is generally the first question)
#2 The price. New technology costs money, there is no way around it. I actually spent $300 on my first DVD player. And there are DVD players out there that still cost significantly more than that today. Hopefully in the next year we'll see quality players at an affordable price (below $200 for me)
#2.5 Disc prices. Half.com or a Netflix subscription fixes that.
#3 No resume play. On some (not all) Blu-Rays, once you've turned off the player, or even pressed stop, you have to start the movie all over again. It does not automatically resume where you left off. My current DVD player remembers where you were, even if you've watched another movie. Once you put your disc back in, it remembers where you were and starts playing from there. Debbie put it best when she said that, "Even VHS starts where you left off!" Hopefully this can be fixed by a different player, but from what I understand, the Playstation 3 (aka: Best Blu-Ray player) has this limitation
**EDIT - I don't know how I forgot my biggest gripe with Blu-Ray**
#4 Load Times. The movies take 1-3 minutes to load and get started, then with any previews, it takes even longer to get to your movie. I'm willing to suffer with load times, but mixed with no resume play... I get get furious.

What I LOVE about Blu-Ray and why it NEEDS to survive and thrive
#1 High Definition!! It is one of those things that you read or hear about, but can't understand till you've seen it. Even seeing it played on 50 screens at Best Buy doesn't do it justice. You need to sit in a dark room with no distractions, a perfect setting to just bask and be amazed!
#2 Better audio. I don't have a completely up-to-date audio system, so I didn't hear all that Blu-Ray has to offer with audio, but I was very impressed with what I did hear.
*Side note* - If you don't have a surround sound system you need to get one. Without it you are missing out on a great experience. I liken it to covering up the bottom 1/4th of your screen. Sure you can see what is going on, but you're missing out on all of the fun.
#3 Classic Movies, Past, Present, and Future. Anybody that came to my house this month heard me explain this. I rented the movie Sleeping Beauty. This movie came to theaters over 50 years ago. In those 50 years it was very rarely seen by people in theaters, most people saw it on TV, VHS, or DVD. Without ranting a tremendous amount I'll wrap it up in one sentence. Only now with Blu-ray can the hard work, detail, talent, and dedication of artists been seen by everyone. Sleeping Beauty and Wall-E looked phenomenal! Without Blu-Ray we'd never see or appreciate what talent is really out there.
#4 Who needs the theater? I'll admit I love midnight movies with a theater filled with geeks, but beyond that, the experience I have in my home is far superior. I don't have to go anywhere, I can eat whatever I want, I can pause when I want, and the seats are way more comfortable. It was shocking when I realized that I have no desire to see any movies from this summer. I'm perfectly happy just waiting for the time when I can watch at home
#5 Everyone can benefit from Blu-Ray and High Definition. Whether you love movies, sports, music, or nature, I guarantee you'll be incredibly happy with Blu-Ray.

One last point that isn't really a pro or con
Disc vs. Download
You can buy and rent HD movies online through all different types of sources. Sure it is more convenient, but here are the facts. Downloaded or streaming movies cannot produce the same quality and experience as a Blu-Ray disc. Sure maybe someday we'll be able to download a full quality movie, but internet speeds for even the fastest of us aren't spectacular. It will be a long time before any person or company wants to pay to download 50GB files all the time. People could argue this, but I'm on the side of physical media.

Let's get this over with
So in conclusion I love Blu-Ray. It still has its fault (see above) which is why I'm willing to wait another 6 months to a year before I get my own player. As much as I don't want to, I'm going to suffer through upcoverted DVDs, patiently waiting for the day...