A New Look .....

..... for KMID-TV's website. What do you think about it?

Approaching 50 Isn't So Bad .....

Now that I've read this post from Eric at Fire Ant Gazette.

An Addition to My Summer Reading List .....

..... is a copy of Take Off Your Party Dress, which just arrived by mail from Germany, courtesy of Lee at Lowebrow.

"As a small tribute to my friend who died of breast cancer, I'm offering a free copy of Dina's wonderful book to the first three readers who email me with name and address," Lee wrote on May 10. "There is a stipulation, however: you have to agree to blog about the book (with link and cover image) and spread the good word.I feel perfectly justified in attaching this condition, because proceeds from the book will go to Mount Vernon Cancer Hospital's cancer trials research."

Joining me in the virtual world will be Minx of The Inner Minx and RJ of Real Reader Reviews-The 3 R's .....

But what about the actual world? Would any of my fellow West Texas bloggers like to borrow my copy when I'm done, read the book, and blog about it? Please let me know.

Most of You Will Understand .....

..... what Karen at Pen In Hand has to say about "The Great and Wonderful Momo 1997-2007" .....

Curiouser and Curiouser .....

... is this post of an exchange between Les at West Texas TV, and a member of the engineering staff at KMID-TV/Big 2.

For me, at least, it came at a funny time ..... just the day before, I had been visiting with an old friend of mine, currently the head of operations at KWES-TV/NewsWest 9, but once a member of the engineering staff at Big 2 ..... and a reminder of the day when their engineers were on the cutting edge, bringing new technology and applications to the Permian Basin ..... before - and better than - anyone else in the market.

Memorial Day Memo .....

TO: All - I Repeat, ALL - Politicians, Incumbents and Candidates
FROM: Jeff
RE: Opportunities to Make Speeches on Memorial Day

Just shut up!

Around West Texas .....

If you're reading this, you probably spend more time on computers than some people and, perhaps, have a greater awareness of identity theft than some ..... there's a lively discussion of that very thing going on with this post at Fire Ant Gazette .....

Every weekend, look for 'Cemetery Blogging' at Skewed View ..... you're right Spookyrach, "What a Name" .....

Okay, where is Wallace going? ..... I think, guessing what might be 'Shangri La' (scroll down to "Summer Plans") for the proprietor of Streams has the makings for a good contest .....

Mortar-boards are flying at Sticky Doorknobs ..... head over there and congratulate Jimmy, proud papa of a graduate, another great member of the Patterson clan .....

Dear BBC-America .....

Please ... PLEASE ..... PLEASE ..... announce that you will air the second, final season of Life On Mars. The first season, which debuted this past year, was nothing less than the best new show to air on American television in 2006 ..... we've got to find out if Sam Tyler ever gets home!

XM Moment .....

When asked to name "THE" music of the 70s, some might say disco, while others will say rock (with some of them going so far as to say the 'Golden Age' of rock) .....

Actually, I think it was both ..... and plenty more, besides ....

For example, it was a great decade for folk songs and ballads, too, as I was reminded this morning, when I heard Joan Baez sing "Diamonds and Rust" on XM's "70s on 7" ..... Here's that song, courtesy of Webcruiser .....

Baez was not alone ..... back then, there were plenty during that decade, who took some really fine poetry, and set it to music ..... they included Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Arlo Guthrie, Bob Seeger, Cat Stevens, Linda Ronstadt, Gordon Lightfoot and - my personal favorite - Harry Chapin .....

Really, a MUST Read .....

msnbc.com is kicking off a new blog feature this week. For the next 110 days in their Daily Nightly blogspace, you can read the stories of the living recipients of the Medal of Honor. Words and photos courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of "Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty" by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.

The online series begins with the story of SPC4 John P. Baca, United States Army, who served in a heavy-weapons platoon with the 12th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division in Phuoc Long Province, Vietnam, near the Cambodian border, in 1970.

More Than Meets the Eye? .....

I'm not young enough, really, to have been caught up in "The Transformers" craze of the 1980s ..... you know, the toy line that tied into a cartoon series, that promoted sales of the toys, that encouraged interest in the cartoons, and so on .....

Still, I plan on going to see the new, feature-length, live-action Transformers movie set to debut next month. So is Jim, at serotoninrain ..... at least, I think he is ..... judge for yourself .....

I have to agree with Jim ..... director Michael Bay - who is no stranger to fantasy and science fiction - really hasn't lit up the silver screen with past projects. On the other hand, though, I have a very low seduction level when it comes to special effects, and the effects displayed in the trailer for this film look great!

Editrix Swings Cluebat of Janeite Righteousness .....

..... and I, a great fan of Jane Austen, stand up and cheer as she hits one out of the park. Read the complete post, here, at AustenBlog .....

Hat tip to Frank, at Books, Inq.

"How’s Things in Afghanistan?" .....

A common question, and a difficult answer, as correspondent Jim Maceda explains in this post to NBC News' World Blog .

All Hands, Clear the Deck! .....

A great, continuing and developing story from SpookyRach at Skewed View. There's today's post about significant progress made this past weekend on a deck in her back yard, and what said progress could mean for a celebration to which we might all be invited.

The cause for that celebration can be found here, and makes for a wonderful read.

Cinematic License

With Memorial Day rapidly approaching, and with John Wayne's birthday (a centennial celebration) coming up in just a few days, expect to see A LOT more than the usual amount of war movies on television.

Today, it's The Horse Soldiers (1959), in which a Union cavalry regiment is sent behind Confederate lines to disrupt and destroy rebel resources, communications and supply centers. The film was directed by John Ford, who has always earned high marks with me when it comes to the attention paid to authentic details in his films.

But that doesn't mean he wasn't ready to engage in a little artistic license, in order to tell a good story. The bulk of the film is inspired by Grierson's Raid, part of General U.S. Grant's Vicksburg Campaign.

But, a particularly moving part of the film is taken from another, little known battle, the Battle of New Market ..... you know the scene, in a desperate attempt to hold off the Union forces, the rebel commander drafts the corps of cadets from a nearby military academy ..... it really happened ..... just ask anyone from the Virginia Military Institute.

In the movie, it's an occasion for high spirits, even some laughs, as the cadets seek to close with the seasoned Union troops, voices that have not yet been touched by puberty raising their rebel yells to especially high levels. One of them is even captured, and spanked before the Union troopers retreat, yielding the field and the day's glory to the gallant youngsters.

If only .....

After a four-day, eighty-mile march, VMI's Corps of Cadets did indeed close with the enemy at the Battle of New Market, enduring rifle and artillery fire from the Union positions, meeting and repelling a Union charge, then launching a charge of their own, capturing prisoners and artillery pieces, and spurring a Union retreat.

The field, and the glory was theirs' .... but not at the cost of just a spanking. Ten of the cadets were killed outright, or died later from their wounds. Another 45 cadets were wounded in the action. The boys ranged in age from fifteen- to seventeen-years, though some accounts claim some of the cadets were as young as twelve-years. You can visit the battlefield - virtually - at its website. If you get a chance, though, I recommend actually visiting the site ..... for depth of history, culture and natural beauty, it's hard to beat a tour of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

By the way, I said earlier that I always appreciated Ford's attention to authentic detail. In the movie, the school has been renamed the Jefferson Military Academy. Among those cadets killed at the Battle of New Market was Thomas Garland Jefferson (a descendant of President Thomas Jefferson) ..... not a coincidence, I think.

Sometimes, I Hate to Be Right .....

There are times when I hate to be right ... and this is one of them. NBC announced their 2007 Fall season, with a total lack of 'Raines' in the forecast. I was expecting it in a couple of posts on this blog, here and here.

So, now, I turn my attention to another show 'on the bubble' ... this one, The Dresden Files at SciFi Channel. It's a small-screen adaptation of the novels by Jim Butcher about Harry Dresden (Paul Blackthorne), an ordinary guy with extraordinary abilities. He's a wizard (listed in the Yellow Pages, and everything) who is called upon to help police investigating crimes and criminals that seem to have left the earthly pale far behind.

No word, yet, from SciFi on whether Dresden will return for a second season. However, fans are doing what they can to raise the alarm, and that includes the web, which is a medium Star Trek fans didn't have in their efforts to save that show, back in the 60s and 70s).

Rampage Outrage .....

Hey, kids !!! Now you can go online and play in very own Virgina Tech rampage !!!!!

I'm not kidding ..... this is the latest offering from Tom Fulp at Newgrounds.

Excuse Me? .....

One of the advantages - curses? - of being off-the-job, is the amount of time I have during the day to watch television ..... with all of the rain we've been having the last couple of weeks, I've been focused on chores inside-the-house, mostly spent in front of 'the tube' ..... which is how I came to watch a re-broadcast of all four episodes of Bravo TV's "100 Funniest Movies of All Time."

Here's the top ten .....

1. Animal House
2. Caddyshack
3. Shrek
4. There's Something About Mary
5. South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
6. Airplane
7. The Wedding Singer
8. Blazing Saddles
9. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
10. Arthur

A complete list can be found here, at "Rotten Tomatoes" ..... sorry, I couldn't find Bravo's official page for the series. I would have liked to find that page, to get some sense of what criteria are used to rate "South Park" at #5, while relegating "Young Frankenstein" to #56 ... to rate "The Wedding Singer" at #7 while "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" languishes at #40.

And I have to wonder about the 'All Time' part of the title, since only two of the movies - "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) and "The Producers" (1968) - were produced before 1970, which seems to me leaves out an awful lot of contenders for the list ..... "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" . "School of Rock" and "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" are all funnier than anything the Marx Brothers ever produced?

So, How'd It Go? .....

Had a job interview this morning ..... my first since parting ways with NewsWest 9, just over two weeks ago .....

I think it went pretty well ..... I found myself being interviewed by no less than four members of a local newspaper's news department, regarding a position that would draw upon the expertise I have gained in both my print and online work over the years ..... The interview concluded with them heading out to a meeting, and me set-up at one of their work stations, drafting some copy for their review .....

I think it went pretty well ..... but the proof of the pudding is in the reading ..... I'll keep you posted on what I hear back from them .....

First-Line Fun in Philly .....

"What's your favorite first line?" asks Frank, here, at BOOKS, INQ., as does Guy, here, at TheBlogBooks.

For me, it was a toss-up ..... Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche - "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." ..... and Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities - "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."

A Plea From the Unlettered

Last night, the wife and I marked our wedding anniversary with a night out - dinner at Garlic Press, followed by a show at Midland Community Theatre. The boys are at that age where they can keep an eye on themselves, prepare their own dinner and amuse themselves around the house for a few hours, while we enjoy a leisurely evening spent just with each other ..... all in all, a good night.

Now, with that behind me, let me move on to a rant ..... what is it with the programs they hand out to us at MCT? I can't recall a time, ever, when I - as a member of the audience - have been so poorly served by my copy of the Prompter.

It's embarrassing to admit, that it took me some time to figure out what the heck was happening, and who the people were on stage. And we're not talking about some little-known work of an obscure playwright, someone who never got closer to the New York stage than Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

This was Edward Albee, for crying out loud, and the play, "Three Tall Women," that earned Albee his third Pulitzer Prize. Heck, I even performed Albee in high school, playing the role of Daddy in "The Sandbox" - which, considering the subject matter, should have given me some insight into TTW.

My Prompter was certainly no help ..... no mention of the setting, no mention of who - or what - the characters are (just the names and past roles of the performers), and not even the briefest discussion of what we'll see this evening ..... just an overlong essay by the director about how much this production meant to him and his relationship with his 'Nana.'

Would it be too low-brow of me to offer this plea from We, the Unlettered ..... that we get just a little help to better enjoy the show?

Fortunately, I stuck with it ..... though not everyone did, with several heading out the door during intermission. I say 'fortunately' because, after a very rough first act, the performers finally seemed to find their stride in the second, and the brilliance of Albee's words - sometimes sharp, sometimes poignant - came through.

I'm glad I went, if just for the closing minutes, as A, B and C each deliver their soliloquy, and come together at last for the final heart-rending moment of the show.

Thirsty? .....

A couple months back, in this post, I recommended you "Take a Sip from 'The Fountain'" ..... you'll have that opportunity, Tuesday, when the DVD is released.

Wish Me Luck .....

I have a job interview Tuesday morning ..... I'll have an update for you, Tuesday afternoon.

Continued 'Raines' In the Forecast? .....

Several weeks back, I posted this about a show that premiered this spring on NBC - "Raines," starring Jeff Goldblum as an LAPD homicide detective whose investigations include seeing and speaking with the victims. The appearance of those victims in the detective's mind changes over the course of the one-hour program, as the investigation progresses, and he learns more about their background and the sequence of events that brought them to their untimely end.

At the time of that post, I worried about the show's future ..... and I may have been right to worry. NBC says it will air all seven episodes of the series this summer - but there's no word on its future after that. The consensus I've gained from TV writers around the country - at least, among those posted on the Internet - is that the show will not make the cut for NBC's fall lineup, set to be announced shortly.

That's a shame, really.

In the meantime, you can watch all seven episodes on line at NBC's website ..... here is the link for the first, pilot episode ..... enjoy!

MotherPie Wants to Know .....

"How Are You Different, Real vs. Virtual?" .....

Help Jim, and Others, As THEY Help Others .....

Got a post card in the mailbox this week. announcing that the National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO) Food Drive - the nation’s largest food drive to combat hunger - will be conducted this year on Saturday, May 12.

I already knew that, thanks to this post from Jim at Serotoninrain, who is himself a letter carrier. Jim's post also serves to remind us that, just as we show our generosity to the needy, with the food we donate, we might also show some consideration to participating letter carriers. In our family's case, we try to meet our carrier at the corner where he parks his truck each day ..... in his case, our carrier walks each block door-to-door, and those groceries can get heavy in the course of a round-trip back to his truck.

Summer Reading .....

Browsing Barnes & Noble continues to be a favorite pastime of mine ..... sometimes I do it with a purpose in mind, while other times, I don't ..... my visit, today, was in keeping with the former - I was looking for some 'summer reading.'

I picked out a novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, "The Queen of the South."

According to the author's website, the book "spans continents, from the dusty streets of Mexico to the sparkling waters off the coast of Morocco, to Spain and the Strait of Gibraltar. A sweeping story set to the irresistible beat of the drug smugglers' ballads, it encompasses sensuality and cruelty, love and betrayal, as its heroine's story unfolds."

This will be my third book by Pérez-Reverte, having already read "The Club Dumas" and "The Flanders Panel." Based on those experiences, I am genuinely looking forward to this one, though its focus does seem a little different than the two I mentioned, both of which had an old artifact for their focus, and an equally-old mystery that seems to find new life - and death - in the modern world, with the discovery of that artifact.

I'll let you know what I think, sometime this summer.

BTW ..... If you want to read "The Club Dumas," don't be put-off by the sticker advising you that the movie, "The Ninth Gate," was adapted from this book ..... that was a perfectly-awful film adaptation of a perfectly-wonderful book!

ADDED NOTE ..... "When Bloggers Collide" ..... Also perusing the shelves at B&N was Jimmy of Sticky Doorknobs. He was picking up a copy of Garrison Keillor's "Lake Wobegone Days." I'm a great fan of Keillor's spoken word - I want HIS voice when I grow up! - but I've never read Keillor. I'm looking forward to hearing what Jimmy has to say about the book.

A Good Day For Reading .....

There's been so much rain lately, some native West Texans are beginning to wonder if maybe - just, maybe - there's something to that 'global climate change' stuff after all. Being a dang Yankee from back East, I've been enjoying all the rain ..... and the aquifers of our poor, drought-stricken region are still having to play a little catch-up after so many years of so much dry.

Another good day for staying indoors and reading a good book, perhaps sitting in this chair, illustrated by Karen at PEN IN HAND.

Webscabs, Unite! .....

Simon Owens at Bloggasm notes here how the 'Pixel-stained Technopeasant Wretches' of the blogosphere reacted to comments by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Howard Hendrix, most choosing to flip the virtual bird at him in response.

What's In YOUR Desk? .....

An interesting sidebar to the news, and the clutter that accrues in the course of a career covering that news. As Brian Williams and the staff of NBC Nightly News prepared to leave their longtime home on the third floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, Williams asked the staff to save their best and favorite 'found' items as they cleaned-out their desks. He reports here on some of their finds, and offers some back-stories on what those finds represent.

'Joyful Noise' Follow-Up .....

Among the comments to this post of mine, was a query from Eric, at Fireant Gazette, about the quote - by Edward Hoagland - that I used in my post.

The folks at 'Prairie Home Companion' - where I had first heard the quote, read by Garrison Keilor - sent me the following ..... "The reading was from 'The Edward Hoagland Reader,' edited and with an Introduction by Geoffrey Wolff. It is published by Vintage Books, a Division of Random House, New York. The section read on the APHC show on February 5th was found in 'Americana. ETC' and found on pages 77-78."

Hoagland may be one of the better writers you've never heard of ..... this interview with Hoagland, by Alden Mudge, offers some insight into why that may be the case .....

I Agree, Frank ..... Certainly Worthwhile .....

... I can hear someone saying, “It’s academic. Rockwell’s world never existed. It was a fantasy Americans created to flatter themselves.”

Yeah, well, Quentin Tarantino’s world doesn’t exist either, but it doesn’t keep people from using his films as a cultural reference.

Frank, at BOOKS, INQ., recommends you read the whole thing: "The Shack-up License" ..... I agree with him.

An Anniversary Largely Unmarked .....

Among the many reports that filled the media in the wake of the shooting tragedy at Virginia Tech's campus, was one noting that this seemed to be the time of year for such tragedies, these senseless and deadly rampages, to occur .....

Perhaps ..... there DO seem to be a lot of tragic events such as these during a roughly two-month period, early in the year .....

Jonesboro School Shootings - March 24, 1998
Virginia Tech Shootings - April 16, 2007
Oklahoma City Bombing - April 19, 1995
Columbine School Shootings - April 20, 1999
MOVE/Philadelphia Siege - May 15, 1985
SLA/Los Angeles Siege - May 17, 1975

But, on the other hand .....

Stockton School Shooting - January 17, 1989
Branch Davidians/Waco Siege - February 28, 1993
UT Tower Shootings - August 1, 1966
Ruby Ridge - August 21, 1992
World Trade Center - September 11, 2001
Amish School Shooting - October 2, 2006

I suspect that a more thorough, systematic analysis of such events - and I've listed only a few, here - would probably NOT find a correlation to the calendar that is statistically significant .....

But I do have one to add to that first list, it began in the last month of April, and ended in the first week of May ..... and it took place, quite literally, in our own back yard - the standoff between the Republic of Texas, and State of Texas law enforcement, at the ROT 'compound' in the Davis Mountains Resort.

And it was all going on ten years ago, today. I pitched the idea at a news story meeting, a couple weeks back, at KWES-TV ..... nada.

However, Bob Campbell, at the Midland Reporter Telegram, did produce this fine article, well worth taking the time to read it. I also strongly recommend listening to the accompanying audio ..... it's not very good quality, but it does give some feel for interviewing someone like Richard McLaren - which can be a genuinely weird experience ..... I did it, myself, when I was editor of the Fort Stockton Pioneer, and Big Bend stringer for KWES-TV, and he was still an ROT Ambassador.

More on all this, later .....

XM Moment ..... "Bye, bye, its been a sweet love" .....

Heard today on XM Radio's "70s On 7" ..... the song that made air guitarists out of so many of us, and has found new life with today's "Guitar Hero" crowd ..... Here's Lynnard Skinnard performing "Free Bird" in the studio, courtesy of FRAnK2313 at YouTube ..... but I also wanted to add this clip from KingdomJack at YouTube, a live performance of the song, in memory of that day, back in the 70s, when "The Guitar Army" conquered Albuquerque.

Well, That's It .....

More than a few of you have wondered where I've been for most of the past month ..... and have called or e-written for updates on my departure from NewsWest 9 .....

Well, that's it, I'm gone ..... this past Monday, April 30, was my last day with KWES-TV, NewsWest 9, bringing an end to seventeen years of work, in one capacity or another, full-time or part-time .....

The last few weeks were hectic ones, as a new person was moved into my spot, and brought up to speed, trying to make the transition from the outgoing Web Editor to the incoming Internet Content Director as smooth as possible .....

Actually, Ronnie Marley - who worked graveyard shift in the KWES tape room - was already working on the website, making sure overnight developments were posted on the site ..... between the two of us, we were able to make www.newswest9.com THE #1 online source for breaking and developing news .....

Two months ago, when I gave my 'two-weeks notice,' I had urged the powers-that-be at KWES to give Ronnie's application serious consideration ..... the job is now different from the one for which I was originally hired, in 2000 ..... but it's in good hands which are, in some respects, better suited to its new parameters and new vision .....

- 30 -