I haven’t been posting much, been trying to keep busy.  Lucky for you guys Jels has been keeping things busy!

back from a 24 run to dc. i went up there to visit some friends, deliver a birthday present, and play super smash brothers brawl on the wii. all of which did not disappoint. i also got caught up on a tv show i have been waiting to watch since my last trip to dc, when i read a review of it in the washington post and spread the gospel of a second tv show that i love. first, the new guy:

free radio on vh1

now i know working in radio might discredit my opinion of the first one, but trust me. it’s great. i know funny. i repeat funny things i hear all the time and people think i’m hilarious. the premise for “free radio” is simple: an l.a. rock station loses their staple morning show host to satellite radio, and in a pinch, lance (above) gets thrown into the big chair. he is a complete idiot, but corporate loves it. so lance, who is played by lance krall becomes “moron in the morning.” they have tons of real celebrity guests, which i think a good amount seem to know the premise of the show but are improving. my favorite was lance interviewing jack bauer or as the rest of the confused world calls him, kiefer sutherland. and who isn’t all about walken? friday nights. 9:30p est. vh1. or my dvr.

human giant on mtv

and then on to human giant. in season two now, all i really need to show you, is will arrnet’s guest appearance, to realize why this show is genius and totally not safe for work. that funny is on tuesday nights at 11pm est on mtv. yes, they actually have a good show! ok two, but rob and big is totally a guilty pleasure.

it’s always been funny to me, that when you or someone you know, gets a new car, how many of those vehicles you start to notice. when i bought my red cavalier, everyone including myself, started seeing them all over town. they had always been there, but they had no significance so they just melted into the background. but once it was my car, someone who knew me thought it might be me driving around town and would tell me how they saw these cars all over the place. i am going through the same thing with this american life.

i’m embarassed to say, i didn’t know about this show or it’s driving force, ira glass, until a month or two ago. a random encounter with a friend of a friend brought it up. “oh, you work in radio?” she said. “yeah, i do.” “well have you ever listened to this american life?” that simple exchange put glass and his amazing radio program on my radar and i can’t be more grateful. i listen weekly to the podcasts, read up on the show, and i recently stumbled upon a non-fiction collection edited by glass. it is my red cavalier all over again.

the show is just about people. it’s the type of thing anyone who works in the field of journalism like myself, would love to be doing. stories about people, that illustrate the wonder, pain, joy, confusion, irony, and every other great adjective about this american life. i really have to give it to the people that put on the show. i work in corporate radio doing sports, so geographically that put’s glass’s show on the equator, and mine on the piece of ice that just fell off antarctica.

the first time i listened i was so engaged and honestly a bit jealous. i really wanted to be part of something like this. i had a taste of it on a very small scale. my first news radio job, i was an afternoon producer for a morning show. i basically came in after everyone was gone, and chased sound for news stories the next day. the operation was affiliated with the paper, so if i could get sound on an article in the the morning editions, then that was a bonus.

so i went in chasing the obvious stuff, and the host was pretty happy with me. but he told me to step away from the crime beat. while that was important, he said that he didn’t follow the “if it bleeds, it leads” philosophy. he told me to chase stories that effect people. it’s something that i can’t say i have come across since. now that i am in sports, it’s a totally different approach to journalism anyway. however, the reason why i no longer do news, is that was the only place where i ever encountered that way of thinking.

so anyway, this american life, is like the constant human interest story. i highly recommend you check them out on the web, and if you live near by, the movie is playing at va center. get full info on the movie here, and i’ll save you a seat on may 1.

so i posted this link on facebook earlier from the observer in the uk. it basically tells of how fox has greenlit a rip off remake of the awesome british sitcom “spaced” and have hired mcg (pronounced mick gee) to ruin direct it. normally, i’m not interested in the whole remake thing if i have already seen and enjoyed the original. that is the very reason i don’t watch the office. not that it isn’t a funny show. from what i have seen, it is pretty enjoyable. however, the bbc original wrapped itself up perfectly i felt. so why not just leave it alone? why not come up with an original idea?

however, despite the us version of the office that takes brilliant comedic development and turns into gimmicks to be recycled week after week, they do at least have the approval of the original creators. fox isn’t even going that far. they are just going to take someone else’s work, make it their own, and not even consult the original creators. so can you blame stars and creators simon pegg, jennifer stevenson, and director edgar wright for being a bit ticked?

i don’t know, to me it’s just bush. fox has some good shows that have original approaches. “24″ is a favorite of mine, and people seem to like “prison break.” i can’t really watch that one anymore after i realized they would keep finding ways to put the guys back in jail, just so they can break out again, but hey, it gets pretty good reviews. i mean they could be showing “are you smarter than a fifth grader?” or that show that ruins people’s lives with lie detector tests.

now to be fair, pegg and company can only gripe but so much. the rights were sold somehow. they either didn’t have them, or didn’t retain them. so that is something they have to swallow, but it would be nice if fox would respect the process, meaning, and work of someone else. especially if it is going to lead to a profit.

if you read the article you see that “spaced” was a show that was very special to all of those involved, and now mc g is going to work his charlie’s angel’s crap magic on something that was really wonderful. my suggestion is to just not watch. i promise it will be as awful as his other projects and his name. catch the original when you can on bbc america, or dvd (the original is coming stateside soon!). that way the good guys win, and you don’t get dumber by watching bad tv. cheers!

somehow i forgot to post this.  oh well.  here it is 3 days late:

so yeah, it’s st. patrick’s day. the day named after a saint that is most commonly associated with going out to bars and drinking. i’m not condemning the process, just the saintly association. i almost got roped into it, but a call back never came, and i don’t feel left out at all. i don’t need to go out and experience the live version of this. in fact, i’d rather just stay home, catch up on some reading, and maybe even watch my netflix that has been here for a a week and a half now. i did at least move it from my desk to the coffee table on saturday. it’s now a whole 5 feet closer to the dvd player. progress!

unlike this recent quote from dmx, that got him the daily honor on 23/6. the whole interview can be found here for some even more disturbing context. you know, there is a lot of blood on the hands of people in washington right now for the current state off affairs but at the other end of the spectrum, perspective like that isn’t exactly helping things either.

staying in the wonderful world of music, i caught a blurb the other day that said something about metalica re-releasing albums on vinyl to try and curb bootleggers. now there are a lot of ways to get a record into a digital format, but aquire might have one of the coolest.

in romania, tikisitch has discovered american action cola! let freedom ring!

smashing mag has good stuff for you laptop people.

in the “do want!” category is this shirt from meat bun.

and finally, a wonderful tale between father and son, courtesy of the onion.

the hanju is back in town.

for a little under a week, before the korean army owns him. it’s like the guy never left us. it’s hard to think it’s been three months almost since he took off for home. should be a good week. if i don’t post much, you know why. so i guess i gotta make sure this stuff is really good. at least i liked it.

have you ever wondered where all those numbers go in the ludacris “area codes” song? strangemaps not only gave us a visual aid, but broke down luda’s ho-trends.

over at nintendo, mario is pissed and is letting the bosses know about it. seamantics managed to intercept a copy of the plumber’s complaint letter.

over at boing boing, they got an awesome letter of a totally different variety.

obama @ comic con? o rly? g4 says srsly.

of course, isn’t this slacking in itself? just posting the funny i find online? quite the paradox. or quandary. or other words like that. on with the internets!

in metal gear news, kotaku says the film could be on it’s way to a potential writer and director. over on the wii, if you are planning on playing super smash brothers brawl, then do not watch the video over at joystiq. however, if you aren’t, then you need to check out these mgs nuggets hidden in the game. especially if you spent hours on the ps one yacking on the codec in shadow moses.

in news that would be great if we had arcades in this country anymore, street fighter vi revealed a new character and josyiq has the art. and while there is no doubt that sf4 will be awesome, g4 has compiled a bunch of fighting games that were not. make sure you check out that home brew charles barkley rpg trailer at the bottom of the page!

keeping up the currency, the new five dollar bill is out, and cnn has the pix. nothing says america like a big purple 5.

and in honor of this weekend’s bbq, gearfuse has the clothes and accessories we need to kick if off right. who’s ready for a picnic? that lady. all the time.

then i would be way more pumped about the campaign.  unfortunatley i can’t even give props to the creator, since it was a direct link from digg.  but whoever made this rules.

so i’m still pretty worn out from the weekend. combine that with vcu losing and the wire ending, and well, i feel like i got punched in the stomach. the wire ending was amazing as the entire series has been and very fitting given the content of the show. my thanks to david simon and ed burns for making such an amazing show. hats off to all the actors and directors who carried their vision and executed it perfectly. but i will miss it lots.

so yeah, between all that and then going grocery shopping, i’m on empty. but i did get to take in last weeks “this american life” podcast while restocking my food supply. however, all of this is washed away by the tools i finally need to make a lego cop drama thanks to the folks over at gizmodo.

after walking all over the colesium today to set up for the caa tourney, i’m wiped. but i had to share this story because reading it gave me just enough energy to post this. 24 isn’t leaving us behind for 2 years! g4 has the prequel news!

also, game with a brain has legend of zelda legos!

now i can pass out.