The Deal

Dog bites man?  Man bites dog?  Newspaper man writes about newspapers.  James O’Shea rose through the ranks to become Editor of the LA Times.  He was shuffled out of his job and then wrote his tell-all book about the business: The Deal From Hell

O’Shea had a fantastic story full of interesting characters; sadly, he desperately needed an editor of his own.  His book lacked focus and often became bogged down in tedious details and unnecessary repetition.  I felt it was a real waste.  I was deeply interested in this story and the problems facing today’s newspapers, and yet this author missed the mark.

An update on this: Why We Still Need Jouralism.

AM Radio

Listen to the AM Radio...

 

 

 

I occasionally enjoy AM Radio or Talk Radio.  Although I do not always agree with the politics, or the other view points, I find some of the hosts truly entertaining.  Some of these hosts are entertainers who became political forces, some of them are just entertainers.  There are some local personalities on KLBJ and KAMXthat cover Austin news pretty well.

 

 

 

Despite the often entertaining and usually well-informed hosts, Talk Radio has one big problem that prevents me from really enjoying: The Callers.

Long before Joe Wilson’s Outburst the quality of discourse in this country was already in the gutter from both sides.  It seems to me that many of the people with both the time and the inclination to call into Talk Radio shows are empty headed boobs, and that they add nothing to the discussion.  Does Talk Radio need better call screeners?  Do Talk Radio hosts need to take fewer calls?  All the people calling in with nothing to say, looking the hear their own voices, make me turn it off. Are there people out there who actually enjoy listening to these callers? Or is it just all these bad callers who enjoy listening to each other?

Hitler Funny?

Is Hitler funny? Can Hitler be funny? The Hitler film “Downfall” (Der Untergang) became a popular target for satire. There are clips on Youtube with their subtitles changed to cover every possible topic! From Rupert Murdoch to Rebecca Black, BBQ, and Blackberrys pick your topic and you’ll likely find an answer from this odd Youtube-Hitler oracle.

This all started for me with a clip, near and dear to my heart, regarding reenactments of the American Revolutionary War and some of the particulars about being a participant (yes, I do always shave for an event.)

Then this week a news article about Hugh Grant and The News of the World included this clip:

Realizing what was happening, I stumbled across BBQ etiquette:

And since it’s Friday, Friday… here’s what Hitler thinks of Rebecca Black:

July’s Epic

The Family Epic
(A)E - Round Rock
B - Dalton
C - Durham
D - New Orleans

I like to drive.  Early this July we traveled ~3000 miles in the VW Bus; family reunion and visiting with friends.  An excellent trip.

Texas is huge

One of my favorite spots: on I-10 West shortly after you cross the border into Texas you are provided a clear reminder of how big Texas really is.

We saw lots of things on this trip, including a nasty People of Walmart sighting, and some poor folks who had a bad day with their U-Haul… reminds me of all the fun with the Durham bridge.

Random U-Haul with the roof torn off

In case you didn’t know already, Metal Chickens are all the rage right now!

Rage

I Love Lawn Art

New Orleans, The Big Easy, is back! Maybe not 100% but certainly a destination worth returning to. We saw lots of tourists, and where we had once found mud-covered blight we found newly built housing. Glad to see it!

Breakfast

Outside