Friday, September 30, 2011

CBS Gets Lion's Share Of Top 20 TV Shows According To Latest Nielsen Ratings



CBS walked away with 12 of the top 20 TV shows according to the Nielsen ratings for last week's programming. ABC was in second place with 7 top shows, while FOX drew 2, and NBC just one, their weekly NFL football coverage. The good news for CBS was also that some of their new series appeared to be ratings hits such as TWO BROKE GIRLS, UNFORGETTABLE & PERSON OF INTEREST.






NBC seems to be the clear loser among the networks here, where some of their series such as THE PLAYBOY CLUB and FREE AGENTS are quick ratings flops, although NBC executives are declining to cancel both at this time. NBC still hopes that both shows can build an audience. But, that's a far cry from things over at CBS where TWO BROKE GIRLS was an instant hit, and became the biggest new show of the season so far.






Things aren't quite as bad over at FOX as they seem. Simon Cowell's X-FACTOR is a reasonable hit, and after January when AMERICAN IDOL debuts, the network will post much bigger overall numbers for their network.






Thursday, September 29, 2011

NBC's PLAYBOY CLUB In Danger Of Fast Cancellation



NBC's PLAYBOY CLUB is likely to be the first major cancellation of this new TV season according to industry insiders. The latest dismal ratings for the show were down a reported 19% from last week's weak premiere. And some major advertisers are now pulling their ads from the show because the low ratings aren't in accord with the promised ratings numbers that NBC had hoped for. Further, advertisers aim for that very important 18-49 demographic, but the actionless and dull drama about a 50 year old nightclub where wealthy club members sit around buying drinks and listening to jazz musicians perform has failed to excite audiences.




THE PLAYBOY CLUB also was saddled with other serious concept problems. The show was intended to be something akin to a network answer to the highly successful MAD MEN on cable. However, not only is the cable TV product far superior, but cable also has the freedom to offer nudity if it so desires, which is something that THE PLAYBOY CLUB cannot because of strict FCC rules. Some network TV such as NY BLUE experimented with a little nudity and salty language a few years back, but it only drew a stiff FCC fine and years of lawyers fighting legal battles in courtrooms. Sexless and dull as watching paint dry, THE PLAYBOY CLUB looks to be one of the fast failures this new season.




Two outrageous censorship organizations, the Parents Television Council and Morality In Media have both taken steps to stop the show. But, neither managed to gain any traction, although both believe they have, with the PTC even taking credit for killing the show. But, the facts prove this to be false, as the PTC had no impact at all on the failure of the show. And, for their part, Dawn Hawkins, from the screwball religious right Morality In Media organization, falsely claims that the public rejected the show because the "sexual exploitation of women" didn't sell on network TV. Nonsense, sexual exploitation, or marketing of women, constantly proves very profitable for businesses, not only for adult entertainment, but for products for women such as cosmetics and fashions as well. THE PLAYBOY CLUB had the PLAYBOY brand name, but really offered nothing else to the viewer but a weak MAD MEN ripoff. Believe me, MAD MEN is far better than this ever was.




Morality In Media seems to understand even less about a successful business model than they do about the entertainment industry in general. Reportedly, the organization is having great difficulty even raising $40,000 in donations for operating costs to continue in business. This has apparently forced the organization to act even more desperately with even more clearly false statements and fear campaigns to raise donation money. The organization continues to falsely claim that NBC intended to put pornography on network TV with THE PLAYBOY CLUB, although obviously this is nothing but an outright lie. NBC never had any intent to put nudity, let alone pornography on network TV.






NBC's big mistake with THE PLAYBOY CLUB was their attempt to rip off MAD MEN, instead of looking for something really new. THE PLAYBOY CLUB just didn't deliver anything at all.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Top Female Celebrities Who Just Love Porn



A number of big name female celebrities like to brag about their own love of porn. While some claim that it just breaks boredom watching it in a hotel room, others just love watching juicy sex on cable, DVDS or the Internet.






Cameron Diaz opened up on Jimmy Fallon's late night talk show that she just loves to watch porn while staying in a hotel room while traveling. And Taylor Momsen, who just turned 18 recently, has been into porn for some time as a teenager. She even fancies herself as a fairly good critic of a good porn film vs. a bad one. She especially loves a good celebrity sex tape and even has her own favorite porn stars that she loves to watch in films. She's a big critic of the Pamela Anderson-Tommy Lee sex video claiming that it's not only not a very good video for one thing, but that she'd wouldn't want to "do" Tommy Lee either. Ok. We can pretty well guess what Taylor Momsen's been doing running around with a bunch of older musician-types for the last few years now.






Singer Aubrey O'Day is such a fan of porn that she loves to make her own. But, she's such a self-critic that she usually ends up deleting a video after viewing some sexual performance that could have been a little bit better. Oh, always a critic!






Dita Von Teese loves to surf for sex videos on the Internet. But, apparently she doesn't like the real kinky stuff, and just loves the more mainstream "Ye Olde In And Out" stuff. But, she also claims that you can find something for "everyone" on the Internet, which still makes you wonder what sort of naughty stuff is her favorite to watch.






Jessica Alba is a little set of contradictions. She doesn't like to do nudity in films, where her nudity in MACHETE was computer generated where bra and panties were digitally erased. But, she did do a bare ass spanking scene for THE KILLER INSIDE ME which was pretty hot for a mainstream movie though. Jessica loves to rent hardcore DVDS, with FETISH ISLAND and NEOPORNOGRAPHIA two of her favorites. FETISH ISLAND is from Bizarre Video, a large producer of bondage and spanking porn movies, while the NEOPORNGRAPHIA series features some rough and intense acts such as fisting. It sounds like Jessica likes her porn as naughty as it comes.






Singer Lily Allen loves watching porn in hotel rooms while touring the world, partially because sex videos don't need an English translation to keep up with the action in a foreign language. But, she finds a lot of the local porn in Japan sort of sick and twisted where showing genitals is forbidden by the Japanese Constitution that General Douglas MacArthur helped to draw up for country after WWII and the Japanese court system makes it difficult to overturn that ban on genitalia. Some Japanese porn uses bizarre depictions of violence, urination or feces to compensate for not being able to show genital sex without pixelation. That certainly makes some Japanese porn very controversial.






Tori Spelling gave SugarDVD a little free advertising when she gave a magazine interview telling the publication that she buys all of her hardcore from this company. I'm sure SugarDVD loves the free publicity and would like to thank the actress. Now, how about giving her a free DVD SugarDVD?






Nick Cannon is not only the luckiest man in the world, married to beautiful mega-babe Mariah Carey, who is easily one of the most beautiful women in the world. Mariah once claimed that she loves to watch hardcore sex videos at home with her husband, during his radio show. Well, you certainly know what follows when you watch enough of this stuff don't you. Sex is a lousy spectator sport, a better participant one, don't you?


















Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Snowman Patent Update




Yesterday, we had a ittle fun joking about a fellow in NY getting a patent on building a snowman. Well, it turns out that the patent holder, Marc Asperas, the patent holder from New York state apparently didn't receive a patent for building a snowman per se, rather he has invented a new machine that builds a snowman. And Marc is very proud of his new machine, which he tells me, "and it does a good job I might add". Marc adds that he created this great new invention to spur "creativity" and to bring out "the kid" in all of us. He just wants folks to "have fun".








We joked about that Marc might use lawyers to sue others for building snowmen yesterday. It was only for laughs. Truth is that Marc is a great guy with a very warm heart who has invented a great item here, for people to have some major league fun. Whether the new patent ever comes to market remains to be seen. But, now Marc has received enough publicity, partially thanks to us that hopefully some company might consider working something out with Marc to market a toy version of the snowman builder at least. C'mon guys, step up and reward Marc for his invention here. Kids would love this toy version! Big kids might like a bigger version. Why not a professional version guys?








Marc also adds that the snowman maker can also build a snow woman as well. That's fine as long as some guys keep things clean and family oriented and don't do dishonor to snowman building. But, seriously, the snowman patent looks more and more interesting now that Marc has contacted us and made more clear what exactly his new patent does. We're impressed, Marc. Sorry about all of the jokes yesterday.

Monday, September 26, 2011

The Mother Of All Major League WTF News!: Man Now Holds The Patent To Building A Snowman



Some stories go far beyond normal major league WTFdom status. This is one of them. Unbelievably, a New York man, Ignacio Marc Asperas, has now been officially given the patent from The U.S. Patent And Trademark Office for building a snowman and now likely has the right to sue anyone who builds a snowman without paying him royalties. After submitting the necessary forms with the office and a careful patent search by workers at The U.S. Patent And Trademark Office, Asperas was finally awarded the patent for building a snowman.










This Winter you better beware. Asperas might have teams of lawyers out looking for infringing snowman copies on your front lawn, and you could be slapped with a huge lawsuit for ripping off his design. This can easily become an expensive scam for many unwary persons, not realizing that a patent holder can now legally pursue them in court for only having a little Winter fun with their kids. Absolutely unbelievable!!!










Of all of the WTF stories ever proudly published here, this is indubitably the greatest of them all. This is the mother of all major league WTF stories.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Major League WTF?: Interesting Quote Roundup



Here's an interesting little roundup of some quirky little quotes from the Internet. Enjoy.






"TeddyBear and I once threw a bar-b-que over at his house and I went out and bought a bunch of ribs to feed everybody and there was alot left over, but everyone but me was wearing dentures and couldn't eat it". ----From the Facebook Page of The Brothers Of The Third Wheel Motorcycle Club






"The Economy is better than expected".----President Obama July 31, 2009 from an ABC News Report






"Grammar is really important when it comes to commas. For example: Let's eat, mom. Let's eat mom".---- Karim G. Medlej, Facebook






"People who hate hipsters are too mainstream, but hating the mainstream is too mainstream, too. So it's a paradox".----Daniela Elizabeth, Facebook






"I really screwed up this time". ----Serial killer Jeffry Dalmer






" The first mistake of public business is going into it"----Benjamin Franklin






"John Wayne was from Waterloo" and "That's the kind of spirit I have too".----Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, mistaking the birthplace of serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the birthplace of legendary actor John Wayne






"The ocean will take care of this on it's own if it's left alone and left out there. It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is". ---- Rush Limbaugh, claiming that the ocean would clean up the massive BP oil spill and no cleanup work by BP needed to be done






"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life". ----Brooke Shields in an interview to be a spokesperson for a federal anti-smoking campaign






"We're going to move left and right at the same time".----Jerry Brown, California governor.






"We are unable to announce the weather. We depend on weather reports from the airport which is closed, due to weather. Whether we will be able to give you a weather report tomorrow depends on the weather". From an Arab News Broadcast






"China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese".----Charles De Gaulle, former president of France






"Everthing that can be invented has been invented".----Charles H. Duell, 1899 Commissioner of the U.S. Patents Office, considering closing down the agency






"SUPREME COURT RULES THAT MURDERERS SHALL NOT BE ELECTROCUTED TWICE FOR THE SAME CRIME" ---CLEVELAND DAILY NEWS headline






"Any person who shall lead or drive a bear upon a highway shall not be fined more than $50" ----Connecticut State General Statues, Section 6215






"The Internet is a great way to get on the Net"---- Former senator and presidential candidate, Bob Dole






"I get to go to a lot of overseas places, like Canada".----Britney Spears, pop singer






"I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix".----Dan Quayle, former U.S. vice president






"Permitted Road Vehicles Not Allowed".----Road sign on US 27






"There is certainly more in the future than in 1964".-----Roger Daltry, lead singer for The Who






"Facts are stupid things".----Ronald Reagan, former president






People say strange things, huh?









Saturday, September 24, 2011

Former Godfather's Pizza CEO, Herman Cain, Pulls off Surprise Florida Straw Poll Win



Herman Cain, the former Godfather's CEO, just made history Saturday by his surprise win in the Florida Republican Straw Poll, becoming the only nonpolitician among the crowded Republican field to win a state poll so far. Cain gathered an impressive 37 percent of the vote compared to national frontrunner and Texas Governor Rick Perry who only gathered 15 percent of the vote as as his Florida campaign seemed to stall and then implode from a variety of mistakes.






Cain is also a Baptist minister in addition to being a former Chairman of the Kansas Reserve Board. He also is a well respected radio host. Cain brings a depth of experience in economics that that his rival candidates seemed unable to match. While being a social issue type conservative, Cain's business experience makes him an extremely attractive candidate to voters who are looking for someone with business and financial experience to fix the ailing American economy.






Texas Governor Rick Perry was encouraged by a large pool of grassroots support to run for president, and quickly took on the role of frontrunner over Mitt Romney. but he seems to struggle with too many problems for many voters, only helping Herman Cain to gather his surprise win despite a more shoestring campaign effort.






GOP voters in Florida seem to be looking for someone fresh, who's not a politician, and whose business experience and mastery of economics makes him seem like an excellent choice. Cain made a good impression to these type of voters.






HART OF DIXIE Quickly Goes South



One of the worst new shows, and by worst, I mean very worst, is HART OF DIXIE. Being on the CW network, with it's historic low ratings doesn't really help much either for this incredibly lame displaced person romantic comic drama show where Manhattan Doctor Zoe Hart decides to relocate into the deep South. Actress Rachel Bilson, despite her O.C. experience as an actress seems wholly unable to carry the lead in this show, filled with laughable, if not outrightly insulting one-dimensional Southern stereotypes. The Southern stereotypes are so awful that at any moment you almost expect to see barefoot slaves working the cotton fields or a KKK group riding around on horses. It's a silly and horrid image of the South, along with the light as a feather acting strengths of Bilson.


Some years ago, Eric LaSalle directed a special episode of ER where he spent some practicing medicine in a remote deeep South area. It was a great episode. A Northern doctor practicing medicine in the deep South can really work as a premise as long as the characters aren't absurd stereotypes like this HART OF DIXIE mess.




The viewing audience also sure had every right to expect better than this dreck considering that Josh Schwartz is among the executive producers of this show. Not only was Schwartz responsible for the O.C., but CHUCK and GOSSIP GIRL as well. But, this show is so bad, even a pair Schwartz couldn't help. The premise is bad, the script is bad, the acting bad. It's a hopeless show. CW sure missed the mark here.




With so many better shows on Monday night on CBS, or even, God forbid, NBC, to choose from, why someone would choose to waste time on HART OF DIXIE shows little discernment for watching good programming. What a stinker this show is.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

R.E.M. Breaks Up



Legendary Athens, Georgia based rock band R.E.M. has decided to break up, ending a long career in music spanning since 1980 when lead singer Michael Stipe and guitarist Peter Buck formed the great alternative rock act. R.E.M. quickly became a favorite act of small college radio stations, growing a cult following of fans before breaking into the larger growing market for modern alternative rock.






Michael Stipe and Peter buck were both college students back in 1980 and worked together at a record store with both sharing a common love for the punk rock and protopunk scene, where older acts like The Velvet Underground as well as newer acts like Patti Smith became huge influences in the R.E.M. sound.






R.E.M. released 15 albums, starting with 1983's MURMUR. Their last album, 2011's COLLAPSE INTO NOW took three years to release since their 2008 release ACCELERATE. In November, the band will introduce a compilation album that apparently includes their greatest songs along with some unheard rarities. PART LIES, PART HEART, PART TRUTH, PART GARBAGE will span the years from their early 1982 I.R.S. record label days to the present day. 9 of 15 albums have reached the top ten on the U.S. album charts, including six albums among the top three albums in the nation. That's an impressive record of achievement.






Michael Stipe and his fellow band members have also closely associated themselves and R.E.M. with sometimes controversial progressive political causes. But, considering their alternative rock audience of sometimes angry young fans, a little flirt of radical politics probably doesn't hurt their image much and seems to go with the territory.






The story of the band's breakup is still big news to fans though. This is a supergroup of alternative rock and one of the few remaining elder bands of this genre of music. Athens, Georgia you don't normally associate as a birthplace for alternative music, yet R.E.M. has managed to prove that a new cutting edge sound can come from anywhere. R.E.M. has done music proud for just over thirty years. It's sad to that come to an end.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Major League WTF? Disgraced Pastor Ted Haggard & Gary Busey To Swap Wives on WIFE SWAP







Holy Christ! Disgraced Pastor Dan Haggard and off-the-wall born again Christian actor Gary Busey are going to appear on ABC's WIFE SWAP, swapping wives for two weeks. Even more outrageous, apparently the show is scheduled to be filmed at the GLBT Pride Center in Colorado Springs on September 22. You can't make stuff up this outrageous.










For his part, former New Life Church Pastor Dan Haggard fell into disgrace and resigned from his church after a scandal involving an ongoing affair with a male prostitute and his use of crystal meth. Gary Busey, by contrast, is considered to be one of the most goofy actors out there, but is a well known figure over at TBN for his religious witnessing. Jesus himself must feel mighty proud having these two characters represent him. With a witness like this, who wouldn't want to be a Christian?










ABC's WIFE SWAP has apparently now confused having celebrities on the show with making the show into a mere sideshow attraction.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

TWO AND A HALF MEN Revamps With Monster Ratings, But Horrible Reviews




Maybe CBS and Chuck Lorre ought to beg Charlie Sheen to come back. Last night's premiere without Charlie Sheen may have drawn huge ratings, but the show was a critical failure and audiences only groaned across the country. The 27 million viewers for last night's program in which we discover that the wacky Rose murdered Charlie Harper outraged viewers who were unhappy that the goofy Rose went from off-the-wall to being an outright killer. In addition, the storyline that Ashton Kutcher was a suicidal billionaire who just happened to purchase Charlie Harper's beach front home at a whim seem more than contrived and also was a terrible storyline as well. How can this series possibly keep up the ratings this season.








Everyone in the U.S., including probably Charlie Sheen, had to watch last night. But, it's highly doubtful they will continue to watch this mess which seemed to really jump the shark last night.








Chuck Lorre and the crew of writers and producers had all Summer to write this show. And last night's fiasco sure didn't showcase that effort very well. It was a major league disappointment clearly out-shined by the better writing of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER and TWO BROKE GIRLS.








TWO AND HALF MEN is in clear trouble unless it can get back to it's winning formula. But that's impossible without Charlie Sheen in the cast. He was perfect in this show, and clearly missed last night.

THE PLAYBOY CLUB Opens With Horrible Ratings



NBC's new show about THE PLAYBOY CLUB in the 60's opened with horrible ratings last night, drawing only around 5 million viewers last night, with just 1.6 million in the important 18-49 demographic. All of this means that a drama based off a nightclub scene 50 years ago had little mass appeal to most viewers except a few viewers well over 50. These dismal ratings probably had nothing to do with pressure campaigns to stop the show or the fact that a single Salt Lake City Utah NBC affiliate refused to air the program.








A religious screwball organization, Morality In Media even started a national campaign against the program falsely claiming that NBC was intending to put pornography on network TV. Morality In Media has a long history of raising donations through outrightly false allegations and misrepresentations, and has to rank as one of America's most sleazy nonprofit organizations



by far. Despite this history, some members of Congress favorable to this organization have managed to put pork barrel funding in the way of public grants to this organization some years. You tax dollars at work.






But, the bad ratings for THE PLAYBOY CLUB might well be heading for doing just what the Morality In Media nuts couldn't do.......eventually closing THE PLAYBOY CLUB show.






I have a friendly relationship with some executives over at NBC who fill my Email box almost each day with fresh tips and buzz about their shows. But, I call them as I see them. And right out of the gate, THE PLAYBOY CLUB is troubled with poor ratings that need to improve or the new show is going to be a quick cancellation.

Monday, September 19, 2011

CBS Big Comedy Night: TWO AND A HALF MEN & TWO BROKE GIRLS



CBS is getting ready for a monster Monday of premieres. CBS's answer to FRIENDS, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER is back after Summer vacation for a whole new season of sexy, romantic and hilarious laughs. Then Ashton Kutcher gets his chance to step in for Charlie Sheen on TWO AND A HALF MEN. This will be a big event here. Then, last but certainly not least CBS unveils a new comedy, TWO BROKE GIRLS, that's getting really good critical reviews and buzz. There is already some comparison between TWO BROKE GIRLS and LAVERNE & SHIRLEY. TWO BROKE GIRLS runs counter to THE PLAYBOY CLUB on NBC, and has gotten better critical reviews than THE PLAYBOY CLUB. TWO BROKE GIRLS looks to be the better bet to watch tonight.






Charlie Sheen's character is supposed to die on tonight's episode, where the producers of TWO AND A HALF MEN hope that the series still has legs without their main character. It will be interesting to watch. My best guess is that TWO AND A HALF MEN might have jumped a shark now, where the series might be in it's final seasons because of all the nonsense between Charlie Sheen, Chuck Lorre and CBS damaging the show. Regardless, tonight's premiere is newsworthy and a must see that should draw in monster ratings.






Watch CBS tonight. These are better programs than what NBC has to offer tonight. CBS is big, big, big tonight!!!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

The Most Outrageous SAVED BY THE BELL Story Ever



Here's an outrageous SAVED BY THE BELL story you probably never heard. As you know, the very popular Saturday morning kid's show continues to live on in syndication as a big hit. And sometimes the kids who played the students of the fictional Bayside high school got into some real life mischief.






One day during a break while filming an episode of SAVED BY THE BELL, actresses Elizabeth Berkley who was 15 at the time and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen who was just 13, got caught by the production crew smoking some cigarettes. The producers notified their parents, resulting in punishment for both girls. Tiffani-Amber Thiessen only received a grounding, however since Elizabeth Berkley was older and considered more to blame, her parents decided that she deserved a more severe punishment. Her parents decided to paddle her. The punishment must have worked, because it became her only spanking during her teenage years.






Mr. Belding never paddled any students of the fictional Bayside High School. But, that sure didn't prevent some parents from doing it at home it seems.






Apparently, there was no real lasting damage to Elizabeth Berkley, who showed off everything for the cameras after SAVED BY THE BELL in SHOWGIRLS.

Gus Van Sant's Latest Film, RESTLESS, Becomes A Quick Flop



Gus Van Sant's $8 million dollar film, RESTLESS, with Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper, opened in just 5 theaters nationwide taking in a horrible $17,300 box office take. Unless there are plans for more theaters to show this film or to build an audience, then it becomes the biggest flop of Gus Van Sant's career by far. The movie was also co-produced by Ron Howard and his daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard as well as Bryan Glazer. It had to be a huge disappointment to them as well. Sony Columbia Pictures had a shaky history of support for the film after an extended period of re-editing the film seemed to go on for months and months, and then the film was pulled for introduction at the Sundance Festival by Columbia. which finally wanted little involvement with the film, and then this past weekend's flop opening in just 5 theaters nationwide.






More than a year ago, Gus Van Sant's Restless Productions used by nearly 100 year old Clinton Market grocery store in Portland, Oregon to film some scenes for the movie and I got to meet the cast members. Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper were very nice young actors, and I wished both great success with this film. It's so unfortunate that it's turned out to be such a flop. Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper are both very fine actors and certainly deserved far better than the flop opening of this film this past weekend. This film has to be better than that. But Rotten Tomatoes did give this film just a poor 37% critical approval rating, claiming that the only really good performance in this film was from Mia Wasikowska, and nobody else, directors included put in much effort here. That's a real black eye to Gus Van Sant and certainly lowers his credentials a few notches.

John Force & Family: Drag Racing's First Family



61 year old drag racer John Force has to be one of the most entertaining figures in racing today. His keyed-up high energy nervous style and wild off-the-wall interviews make him the most fun of any racer the NHRA has in their league of racing superstars. Force is now the oldest of any championship racers for the funny car group. Force certainly isn't ready to retire, but this season splits his racing duties with his daughter, Ashley Force Hood, and two other drivers. His daughter is now on a little hiatus herself as she is expecting her first child.






The Force family are like racing royalty. They are the first family of motorsports, where the legacy of this family is likely to reign among racing for generations as cars continue to only go a little faster all the time. Ashley Force Hood is also the president of Force Entertainment, a business enterprise that markets media products for the Force family racing business.






The Force family racing products website features a scad of great diecast products as well as racing wear and collector's items for sale. For a mere $36.95 you can buy a beautiful die cast version of a classic supercharged hemi funny car engine on a display base. It's real good looking. And certainly, plenty of hats and other items can be found there. Check it out.






This Summer, John Force became the all time points leader in #1 qualifying positions when his supercharged Ford Mustang funny car ran a blistering 311.99 winning a race. This put him ahead of Warren Johnson, the legendary pro stock racing car champion.






What a great dynasty the Force family has created in American motorsports. What a major Force......









Friday, September 16, 2011

LOST Star Won't Be Prosecuted For Punching Female Bus Driver



Former LOST star, Matthew Fox, won't be prosecuted for a drunken incident in which he punched a female party bus driver in both the breasts and crotch area. It's certainly not understandable for anyone to hit a woman, let alone punching her in her sexual areas for some crazy reason. Yet, this is what Fox is accused of, although Cleveland prosecutors are declining to prosecute at this time. Meanwhile, this bus driver is considering pressing a lawsuit against Fox for the abuse.





The best advice that can be offered is to avoid FOX. He likes to hit low it seems.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

12 Signs That The American Economy Is In Deep Trouble



American business and consumers alike should be wary. There are at least twelve shocking signs that the American economy is in deep trouble. Here's some of the most unsettling trends that should send a cold chill up your spine:





1.Manufacturing jobs have declined to just 9 million American workers out of a nation of 311.8 million. No society has ever survived with less than 3% of all persons productive, producing some sort of goods. Even the most primitive of societies in remote parts of the world managed to produce baskets, tools or other essential goods by more than 3% of their population. This tiny figure of workers who produce goods is a sure sign of a dying economy. During the last Bush Administration, Secretary Of Labor, Elaine Chou, who is the wife of current Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell-KY) sought to have service workers at McDonald's who "assemble' hamburgers reclassified as manufacturing workers in order to make it appear though the manufacturing job loss in the United States wasn't as serious as it really is.





2. Closely related to the decline in manufacturing jobs is the decline of labor unions and their clout in the American economy. As union membership and clout declines, especially in manufacturing areas, it is like a canary in a coal mine indication that higher paying jobs with security and benefits are disappearing from the American economy, replaced with lower wage jobs with less security such as service industry jobs.





3. Home prices remain greatly depressed from their high levels of only a few years ago before the housing market crashed. Home equity is one of the most important assets that most Americans have. Now some homes are nearly worthless. In some areas of Detroit, for example, homes that should sell for a few hundred thousand are now only worth around $6-8 thousand dollars. Many Americans suffered the loss of their net worth when their real estate values crashed, reducing their ability to borrow against their home's value or to sell a property and retire.





4. The overuse and abuse of debit cards. New federal banking rules will put the brakes on debit cards starting October 1. Many Americans began to overuse debit cards, costing small merchants huge fees for small transactions, actually putting many small retailers into financial difficulty as their profit margins shrank to nearly nothing as a result of the overuse of debit cards sometimes approached 40% or better of their total daily sales. Banks encouraged consumers to use debit cards, offering cheap prizes and points rewards. Instead, all it did was create an epidemic of small business failures as consumers disproportionately hit small transactions at these small retailers with the big fees associated with debit cards. If small retailers had to pay 10-25% of a transaction to some bank in debit card fees, then it sometimes completely wiped out ant profit margin for some businesses such as groceries, which are sold on slender profit margins. Even some large grocery retailers only claim about a 3% profit margin after all expenses. Less consumers carrying cash in their pockets is a sign of the economic decline of a society. Credit cards are entirely different than debit cards, and prove that the person is credit worthy. Debit cards only prove that some bank users are willing to pay a bunch of fees t o use their own money, such as paying for $2-3 ATM withdrawals. New account maintenance fees or other new fees will hit debit cards starting Oct. 1, as a result of the new Federal Reserve rules on this debit card problem which has grown out of control.





5. The decline of newspapers and print media in the United States. On average many persons in Europe may read as many as three different newspapers each day, compared to the U.S. where the average American now no longer even reads one newspaper each day. As a result many newspapers have now folded, where a few larger American cities are now without a daily paper. Without a daily paper to inform a citizen of the news, which they don't always get from electronic media, many citizens of cities stop voting in elections and drop out of the process about caring about their community, accelerating the decline of some American cities into waste and poverty.





6. Despite some jobs gained, many big employers continue to downsize their workforce or lay off workers. Bank Of America recently announced 30,000 new job cuts. This continued loss of jobs makes it very difficult to new quality jobs to be developed fast enough to match the pace of lost better paying jobs.




7. America's automobile industry has suffered a terrible shrinkage for a nation that's supposed to be an industrial powerhouse. Part of the reason the U.S. won WWII was that big automobile production companies could easily be switched over to war goods production. In 2010, the entire GM company sold just 2,215,227 cars and trucks, which is way down from just 1980 when just the Chevrolet Division alone sold 2,288,745 cars and trucks, and the other 4 GM divisions sold another 2,764,445 units. There's an old saying that "So goes GM, so goes the nation". GM's total production and sales have slipped by over 50% since 1980. What does that say for this nation's economy?






8. American retailing is fast becoming just an outlet for foreign made good from China and other countries. More and more, retailing in the United States has been downgraded from and integral part of the sale of domestic made American products to becoming a service based economy that sells goods for foreign nations. Only in the area of agriculture products produced and sold in the United States, have domestically produced products continued to show a dominant market strength. But, even parts of agriculture are becoming threatened. Some companies like Dole long ago switched most of their pineapple production from Hawaii to places like the Philippines. And many other agriculture jobs have slipped away to foreign lands.






9. Just about the biggest export that the United States has right now is entertainment. That strength would be a good thing, except that it also means that it brings few jobs with it, and also means that a relatively small group of entertainers, producers and executives will share in whatever profits that American films or music will produce overseas. This is unfortunately quite similar to the days when British music sensations such as The Beatles and Rolling Stones became the UKs largest source of exports at the same time that the British automobile industry and manufacturing was beginning to decline. It is also a sign that both the UK and the US have largely become post-industrial societies.






10. The steep increase in bicycle use among adults in American society isn't a sign of a new awareness of the environment, or a health kick or a way to deal with lack of parking spaces. It's a sign of the economic decline of the US where many persons can no longer afford automobiles, gas, insurance, etc. It's a sign of increasing poverty in the United States where now over 15% of Americans are living below the poverty level and the demand for Food Stamps and other government services is only increasing. In places like China, people are getting off bicycles into Buicks and other automobiles. In the US, people are rapidly getting out of automobiles onto bicycles.






11. Cash strapped governments seek outrageous new taxes to bail out their problems. Local governments, states governments and the federal government continue to seek outrageous new taxes as a way to bail out their spending for services and salaries. In Oregon, for example voters approved an outrageous new tax proposal put on the ballot by legislators that levied a minimum tax of $40,000 on any incorporated business, even if the business was losing money. Some states like Texas are even charging some new tax on strip clubs they claim is an "entrance fee" tax.






12. Rapid inflation of prices during a bad economy is a phenomenon never before witnessed by the US economy. It is possible that many grocery prices could increase by as mush as one third over a year's time. Oil is partially responsible for these increases, but also a strange phenomenon where financially strapped business are raising prices to remain in business to cover their business costs because taxes only continue to increase and profits margins have fallen due to weaken sales in the bad economy. Normally, prices will fall during a bad economy. During the Great Depression, 78 rpm record prices dropped from $1 each to 10 cents as record companies reduced the quality of records and lowered prices to maintain sales in the industry and to remain in business. your depression era records were some of the worst quality ever made, but these lower priced records kept the industry alive until better times.






A variety of serious factors are endangering American business in this country, making it difficult for business to provide the jobs necessary to maintain the national economy. In addition, some American companies have resorted to outsourcing of goods to lower costs and increase profits, only accelerating the overall decline of the American economy as a whole, while making their own companies more profitable.






Can the American economy recover these serious conditions, which are now unfortunately fully institutionalized problems for the economy unlike the more normal transitory problems related to other past economic problems such as normal recessions over the years? This is a huge question with no easy answers or solutions.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Alice Cooper Back Again With WELCOME 2 TO MY NIGHTMARE



70's era shock rocker Alice Cooper is back again with a brand new digitally recorded sequel to his 1975 album, WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE. 2011's WELCOME 2 TO MY NIGHTMARE consists of 14 new tracks, with Halloweenish titles such as "Ghouls Gone Wild", "Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever", "Nightmare Returns" and more off-the-wall creepy goofiness. Bob Erskin. longtime audio producer is back again for this latest Alice Cooper outing, which isn't too bad overall.






Alice Cooper has always been a sort of set of contradictions. His rebel image contrasts with his real ife as a Christian and a Republican Party leaning voter. He's had former problems with alcohol and other personal demons, but he's overcome those long ago and remains a popular and well liked public figure, although most of his popularity has long since waned. In recent times, he's toured with shock rocker Rob Zombie.






Alice Cooper's latest outing is hardly a bad one. He's still got it. And the musicianship is very fine on this album as well. Even pop star Ke$ha makes a cameo here. Not half bad. Welcome back, Alice Cooper.....

Justin Timberlake Or SESAME STREET AFTER DARK?



What a unsettling image to many parents of small children here! SESAME STREET Characters Bert and Ernie seem to be surrounded by huge PLAYBOY Magazine posters of some lovely Playmates. But, don't worry parents & kids. You favorite kids show isn't going adult entertainment any time soon. This is a scene from this year's Comic-Con event in San Diego where Justin Timberlake decided to disguise himself as a a bit of a stunt. Outrageous image, huh? I bet the creators of SESAME STREET have to be overjoyed.

AMERICA'S GOT TALENT Finale Tonight



AMERICA's GOT TALENT's big finale event is tonight. As usually happens each year, at least two singers are vying for the top spot including Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. and the young pop act, Poplyte. However, two dance groups Team Illuminate and the Silhouettes are in the running for the top spot. While all of the acts are indeed very talented, I'd have a hard time imaging myself sitting through an entire Las Vegas show of any of these acts this year. While I admire the talent of the dancing groups for example, I personally find both acts pretty boring after about two minutes. However, America has voted. And now these final four acts go head on for one winner tonight.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

CREATURE Makes History For Worst Box Office Opening Ever



The low budget horror film CREATURE has now officially broken all box record history as the worst opening film ever. Although opening in 1507 theaters nationwide, the film had only an average of six people per theater buy tickets to the movie. It brought in a pathetic $331,000 so far in ticket sales and has become one of the worst reviewed films of the year so far, drawing a terrible 11% critical approval rate from film critics. Even the current Congress now gets at least a 13% approval rating.






Without a real public media campaign to support the film, the producers hoped that word of mouth would sell the film. It certainly did not. Further, the film is so bad that it's being compared to some of the worst of 1950's grade Z horror films such as those from Ed Wood and other horrid filmmakers.






Fans of horror movie actor Sid Haig also have to be very disappointed as well, as this movie has so far become his biggest flop to date. Sid Haig has a long TV and movie career and once played one of the henchmen of the criminal King Tut on the old 1960's era BATMAN TV series. Since that time, Sid Haig has become a cult figure of sorts playing the evil twisted clown, CAPTAIN SPAULDING, in Rob Zombie's HOUSE OF A THOUSAND CORPSES and also reprized a role in THE DEVIL'S REJECTS as well. However a string of less successful projects including CREATURE haven't done the 72 year old actor a lot of good in recent times.






Maybe the makers of CREATURE confused the concept of horror movie with horrible movie, not really understanding the fine differences between the two.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Cliff Robertson's Connection To 9/11



The late great actor Cliff Robertson had an interesting connection to 9/11. Robertson was an avid flyer who owned a number of WWI and WWII vintage planes as well as other aircraft. Among aircraft in Robertson's personal collection were such aviation milestone's as a De Haviland Tiger Moth, a Messerschmidt BF 108 as well as a Spitfire MK913 Supermarine.






Cliff Robertson's connection to 9/11 was an interesting one. He was piloting his Beechcraft Baron directly over the World Trade Center buildings at exactly the moment when the first Boeing 767 struck the tower 1 building. Shortly after what appeared to be a horrible accident, Cliff Robertson and all other pilots in the air were ordered by aircraft ground control to land when it appeared that the nation was under attack where hijacked passenger planes were being used as flying bombs to attack the nation.






Despite his high vantage point it was probably unlikely that the actor was a witness to the first crash or the aftermath. However, once it became clear to the nation what was happening, no planes flew for a number of days until the skies were declared clear after new airport security measures were set in place.






Strangely, Cliff Robertson once starred as a troubled pilot in the film, THE PILOT, despite an unblemished record as a private pilot.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Major League WTF?: House Of Prostitution Disguised As Church Busted By Phoenix Police



Hey, what's the world coming to anyway when a poor guy can't even operate a house of prostitution disguised as a church and not get busted by the police? But hey, that's what happened down in good old Phoenix, Arizona when police raided the Goddess Temple, which claimed to a religion, yet according to police offered sex acts in exchange for church donations from "goddess" members. The church not only has their own website featuring available goddess members for "tantra healing sessions", but also another website of "unveiled" goddesses. You can pretty well read between the lines what "tantra healing session" and "unveiled goddess" means, can't you?






On one profile, Goddess Shana promised to take you on a journey of "ejaculatory mastery", and who doesn't want to be an ejaculatory master these days. I sure hate those ejaculatory amateurs, don't you?






Apparently, the Van Nuys chapter of the Goddess Temple is still open for business and their website still up compared to the Phoenix website Which has now been pulled down. The Van Nuys site offers up such temple ceremonies as an erotic dance version of an ancient Balinese trance dance. I'm not sure how that compares against lingerie modeling or lap dances, but it seems like a new version of both. I'm not sure whether stuffing g-strings with dollar bills is suitable conduct while in this church or not.






I think I wasted too many years in the wrong churches. All I got were some lousy sacraments in the Catholic churches or endless hours of Bible study in the Protestant churches I attended services at. These folks apparently never heard of "tantric healing sessions", yet claimed to be religious professionals. Rank amateurs, anyway.....






Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Build Your Own PSYCHO HOUSE



Polar Lights models has brought back a 1/87 scale model of the house from the famous 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film, PSYCHO. This HO scale reduction of an old Aurora model kit offers many great extras including window inserts, an optional staircase, and a small figure of "mother" that sits near an upper window. What a great movie based model kit this is. A skilled model builder can create a very authentic reproduction of the PSYCHO HOUSE.










Polar Lights deserves a lot of credit for either re-releasing old Aurora models or else improving on them. For 2011, Polar Lights is offering a collector's tin edition of this great model kit. This is a great tribute to this legendary film, and one of the better movie toy products ever made. This makes a great display item for any avid movie collector. A light kit is inclued to light the creepy home up as well with this collector's version of this kit.










At one time, model building was very popular, but then as sales waned since the early 60's, large stores with toy departments began to exclude models from their inventory. Nowadays, small hobby shops, Ebay and Internet sales are the mainstay for the much smaller market for model building.










Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, who was the designer for many custom cars and hot rods for Revell Models in the early 60's once explained that after The Beatles hit the U.S. in 1964, many young guys stopped building model kits, and bought guitars instead to impress girls. When Revell Models ended their contract with Roth, he eventually moved on to designing custom trike chopper motorcycles and published CHOPPER Magazine for a few years. He also became friends with members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, but reportedly had some legendary fights and arguments with some members over some issues before folding the motorcycle magazine and embarking on new religious lifestyle as a Mormon until his death.










Modeling building will never achieve the success it once had. But, Polar Lights is bringing back part of the nostalgia for those who still love this hobby. The PSYCHO HOUSE model is a great kit.





Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Anthony Michael Hall Arrested For Incident At His Condo



Former SIXTEEN CANDLES and BREAKFAST CLUB star, Anthony Michael Hall, was arrested outside of his condo after he reportedly hollered for a neighbor to fight and tore up plants. Hall reportedly twice threatened to beat the neighbor "to a pulp".




Anthony Michael Hall has proven himself to be one of the most durable of the former teen actors of recent times. Fans watched the actor evolve from early teen films like SIXTEEN CANDLES and THE BREAKFAST CLUB to becoming a regular SNL cast member for one season to leading the highly successful cable TV series THE DEAD ZONE for five years.






Ironically, Anthony Michael Hall has a literacy program that he founded that looks after at risk young people. So where's that program for at risk actors, anyway?

Monday, September 05, 2011

4 Day Weekend Top Box Office Movies



Once again, THE HELP tops the list of the top movies at the box office of this longer 4 day Labor Day weekend. With a take of $19 million vs. a $25 million budget, and a box office gross of $123,391,000 so far, this movie has proven itself to be one of the few bona fide hits of this late Summer.






At #2, THE DEBT debuted, but with just a $12.5 million gross, and a unspecified production costs. it is unclear how well it needed to perform. At #3, the highly anticipated APOLLO 18 opened with just a $10.7 million dollar take. That's likely a major disappointment based on the production costs of this film, which are also unspecified as well. At #4, the third major film to debut this weekend was SHARK NIGHT 3D, with $10.3 million. The production costs of this film are also unknown.






At #5, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES continues to be a hit and a wise investment for the producers. It earned another $10.2 million, for a total gross $162.7 million against a $93 million dollar production budget. But, at #6, COLUMBIANA has proven itself less successful, earning just $9.4 million back, with a two week total gross at $23.9 million versus a $40 million budget. That looks like a close call to earn back it's costs.






But, the math sure looks good for OUR IDIOT BROTHER. This $5 million dollar cheaply produced comedy earned another $7 million for a two week take of nearly $17.3 million for this cheapie. What a good investment this film turned out to be. The producers wisely budgeted it for slow weekend release to earn enough money to be highly profitable.






SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD grossed another $6.6 million dollars, earning a #8 spot. With a $31 million gross in three weeks, this smaller budgeted $27 million dollar film has proven marginally profitable so far. But, less successful is DON"T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK. At #9, this film earned a $6.1 million dollar gross in it's second week, for a total of about $17.6 million versus a $25 million budget.






At #10, THE SMURFS continues to be a success. It earned another $5.6 million for a total of $133.5 million in it's sixth week, against a $110 million dollar budget. That's pretty reasonable.






Some of the notable box office failures of this Summer include CONAN which has grossed just $20.1 versus a $90 million budget. For three weeks out, the math looks terrible for this film. And nearly as bad, COWBOYS & ALIENS has earned a total of just $96.7 million against the huge $163 million dollar budget it cost to produce. That's not good.






Smaller failures include the poorly reviewed CARS 2, which has earned back $189.1 million against it's $200 million dollar budget. With some smaller theater action as well as second runs and DVD sales, this film might just barely break even. The same goes for FINAL DESTINATION 5, which has just barely made back it's $40 million dollar budget this weekend topping just $40.8 million. This is certainly the weakest performance of any film in this series, seriously endangering the franchise from any further sequels.






The end of Summer and the continued problems with the weak economy will certainly force some studios to rethink big and expensive projects, where a wave of smaller budget films is the most likely result.





















Sunday, September 04, 2011

Labor Day Letdown: Candidates Debate Gay Marriage, Not The Economy On Labor Day



With only a mere 76% of the public responding that they think that the economy is getting worse, not better, in the latest Gallup Poll, you'd think that discussing the economy on Labor Day for any prospective presidential candidates would only be natural. But, no. The latest Republican presidential debate will discuss issues like gay marriage and other social issues instead. What's up with that? If President Obama has any weakness, it's on the economy this Labor Day. Even labor union sponsored events this Labor Day will likely echo disappointment with the economic performance of this White House. Americans sure want to hear how to get the economy moving right now. They want to hear about jobs and the economy, not about gay marriage or other fringe issues more likely to appeal to the Westboro Baptist Church members than to Main Street America . On Labor Day, this sends a terrible message to both labor and the business community alike of the latest wave of candidates being far from the loop of reality, far from the real issue concerns of the public.






This is one of the few times in American history where the economy is so depressed, yet huge waves of inflation are hitting basic goods such as gasoline and groceries. Grocery prices could increase by as much as 1/3 by the end of this year. That's terrible inflation during any economy, good or bad. So, why for the love of God debate social issues like gay marriage instead? Do politicians even have any connect to reality these days. Are they just that crazy?




The American business community also sure wants to hear some plans from the candidates how to fix the economy, otherwise they're unlikely to invest in traditional donations to candidates who don't offer any clear vision how to improve the business environment. Business wants to be able to do business, and wants a healthy economy to work with. Who wants to risk capital on new business ventures when the economy is so shaky? What the business community really wants to hear least right now is that the economy is real bad, but at least we've got a wave of new candidates against gay marriage from the contenders against Obama. That's really encouraging.






If the contenders for the White House think that being aloof about the important issues the voters really care about like the economy will work, then they have another thing coming. For all of his troubles, voters in recent public opinion polls still believe that President cares more about issues that impact them than his opponents so far. And, voters still blame former President Bush for the bad economy by greater numbers than President Obama. The latest bunch of presidential candidates seem to forget that voters will re-elect a president with bad approval ratings if the opponent seems worse yet. Look at the narrow win of George Bush over John Kerry as proof of that.


The ignorance of the true meaning of Labor Day by the latest GOP debate organizers on social issues also sends an aloof message of a party to the American voters that has drifted so far to the right that any discussion of job or economy issues on Labor Day might mean that Republican candidates are somehow sensitive to working people or, god forbid, labor unions. That's one heck of a poor message to send to voters from candidates who really want your votes.



What ever happened to the Labor Days of old, when candidates ate hog dogs at picnics, and talked about jobs, jobs, and more jobs, and gave upbeat visions for the American economy. Well, that's been replaced by two lame parties, both wholly incapable of offering up any solutions to any major modern problem of any value. Neither knows how to fix the economy these days.



In another Gallup Poll, 30% of Americans now fear being laid off, reaching near the 2009 high of a similar poll. On Labor Day, Americans sure want to hear about job security. Who buys a home or car when unemployment is just around the corner? Talking about gay marriage on Labor Day won't fix any of this. Not many voters are going to say, "I don't care about working for a living. Who's against gay marriage, BTW?".




The 2012 presidential election sure isn't going to be about social issues by any means. "It's the economy, stupid", as the popular slogan from 1992 still rings true. People want to hear that debate. Talking about anything other than the economy on Labor Day bites big time. Labor Day used to mean something special for American politics. It was a major event in American politics. But, today it has been downgraded to nothing special at all.




So where's that Labor Day economic pep talk the country sorely needs to hear right about now?





EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND Lives On In Hilarious EXPORTING RAYMOND



EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND which was produced by David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Co. was a true TV classic, which millions of viewers still sorely miss. Phil Rosenthal, creator of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND felt that the time was right to recreate the RAYMOND magic overseas, and the documentary film, EXPORTING RAYMOND, features his journey to Moscow to create a Russia version of the show. The Russian actors are interesting alternate versions of the U.S. cast. This is a very good movie available on DVD and makes a nice addition to DVDs of the American TV show itself.






The DVD also has plenty of great classic footage from the U.S. version of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND as filler material as well. What a great package this DVD is.






You'll love the hilarious misadventures of Phil Rosenthal who seems totally lost in Moscow and the outrageous situations that arise as he seeks to export the show to a foreign land. What a great treasure this DVD is.






Good TV never dies it seems.

Saturday, September 03, 2011

AMERICA'S MOST WANTED HAS TALENT?



Fans of the demise of FOX'S AMERICA'S MOST WANTED should have looked for a way to save the show. FOX has already replaced the long running crime show with reruns of FAMILY GUY on Saturday evenings. However, looking at the runaway success of NBC's AMERICA'S GOT TALENT and the fact that many popular entertainers have a criminal background, maybe FOX could have saved the show by making AMERICA'S MOST WANTED into a crime talent show. Crazy, you say! Well, think about it?






Actor Robert Downey Jr. is a hot commodity these days as an actor. But, he also a long history of arrests including serving over one year at a state prison in California. The late singer Barry White was viewed as one of the most romantic r&b singers of all time. During his teen years, he was gang member who served four months in jail for stealing $30,000 worth of Cadillac tires. Outlaw country music artist David Allan Coe spent the better part of 20 years in reform schools and prisons for various crimes. He became friends with Screamin'' Jay Hawkins who was also serving time who influenced him towards a musical career. Country singer Merle Haggard spent many years as a juvenile offender which only unfortunately continued his criminal ways into adulthood, attempting to rob a tavern after his fourth album was released due to money problems. Haggard had the chance to escape prison with a scheme with another inmate, but turned it down, which was fortunate because a policeman was killed, earning the other inmate the death penalty. Popular silent screen comic actor "Fatty" Arbuckle was charged with the murder of a young actress during a party, but later acquitted. There are many more stories of celebrities involved in sometimes terrible conduct.






So how about it, why not have a new TV show looking for the latest celebrity criminal with talent. I can almost hear judge Piers Morgan say to some contestant, "Well, you're sort of a serial killer on one hand, but you're a terrific juggler in my book".

The Real Meaning Of The Solyndra Bankruptcy



Behind the haze of many opinions about the Solyndra bankruptcy, there is an important business story here. Another American manufacturing company has proven itself unable to compete with lower priced foreign products. Some news and stories focus on the failure of the half billion dollar federal loan guarantee to the upstart solar panel maker, or even insinuate somehow there is not a viable market for modern green technology such as solar panels to compete with the more expensive traditional electrical power sources. However, both views are factually incorrect and miss the major news here that countries like China saw another tremendous opportunity for manufacturing growth and quickly joined in the solar panel manufacturing business, substantially dropping prices by at least 40% for the panels making it impossible for upstart U.S. companies like Solyndra to compete.






The story of dropping prices in a new technology market is a familiar one, and one that foreign competition for American business is the most skillful at. We've seen this all before in the TV, VCR, DVD player and computer industries. New technology first hits the market at very high prices, foreign manufacturers scent a new market, and quickly develop much lower priced products in that market, reducing prices overall for consumers.






If Washington made any mistake in offering the loan guarantee to Solyndra, it was in not anticipating that the success of solar panel technology would only encourage new foreign competition and drop prices making solar panels far more affordable for more and more consumers. For some odd reason, neither Washington or Solyndra saw that train coming. Both somehow thought that such new technology was so fresh that it was unique to American developers.






The important lesson in all of this is that no matter how new some American technology innovation is, American manufacturing can always expect stiff foreign competition before long. Unless American manufacturing has an answer to that very important factor, then it's probably due for a rough businss ride.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

TLC's "TODDLERS & TIARAS" Creeps The Audience Out Big Time



TLC may have revamped their lineup of shows recently, but that sure doesn't help much when they're still airing real creepy shows like "TODDLERS & TIARAS" that focuses on the high pressure world of beauty pageants involving really young children girls. Audiences watching the TLC reality show got a nightmarish image of a four year old who won one beauty competition after her parents dressed her up like Dolly Parton complete with fake boobs and rear-end. Very disturbing.






Thanks TLC. We really needed to see this. Not! - Some Things just aren't right. This is one of them.