I'm Late Getting to This .....

..... but it remains a very good point to start a discussion of blogging, and attempts by established media to incorporate blogs into their content ..... to be more specific, bringing blogs within guidelines already in place for the established media - and how that is NOT necessarily a good thing.

This post on Michael Silence's blog, No Silence Here, begins, "This hyper-management of blogs is symbolic of doing business in D.C., like trying to get a new passport. Leave it to the big boys to come along and ruin a good thing. They've taken it from blogging to blogged down."

The post focuses on our nation's capital (particularly the Washington Post), but I suspect these issues are being debated in most parts of the country, in media markets big and small.

His post also includes an informal primer on blogging ..... and while some of you might consider many of his points to be crashing glimpses of the obvious, they are important points nonethless, and worth sharing as a means of encouraging this growing, developing medium.

I would really, really, REALLY like to know what you think about Michael's post!

I Like a Bargain As Much As the Next Guy .....

..... but there is absolutely no way I'm going out at oh-dark-thirty in the morning to take part in that annual American orgy of consumption we now call Black Friday. I don't care what kind of 'door busters' retailers are offering ..... and I don't care if I'm missing a chance to get my face on the news - sharing my special philosophy on consumerism - as I line up in a dark, freezing parking lot for an 'early bird special.'

Blogroll Additions .....

Two additions to my blogroll, my 'Blogs of Note,' today ..... the first, under the (around Texas) heading, is It's All In The Details, a web business blog, and one of two blogs hosted by Odessa's Justin Pease.

The other addition appears under the (dang Yankees from Back East) heading. It's Just Pictures, a photo blog hosted by good friend, great photographer and outstanding brother-in-law Clark Van Orden of Luzerne, Pennsylvania, just a couple hours' north of fellow 'dYfBE' bloggers Jim and Frank. Here is one of Clark's images ...

"By the Goodness of God .....

..... we are so farre from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plentie." ..... There are two primary sources for the events of autumn, 1621, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the occasion of the first Thanksgiving celebration. You can read them here.

The precedent for an official, national day of Thanksgiving was set in 1863 - during one of the darkest periods of American history - by President Abraham Lincoln, who proclaimed, "to these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God." Read his entire proclamation here.

Frank at Books, Inq. linked me to this column in the Wall Street Opinion Journal by Joseph Epstein, who wrote, "I wish the poet W. H. Auden were still alive, so that he might be at the same table where I eat my Thanksgiving dinner. Auden, I think, nicely captured the spirit of Thanksgiving when he wrote that, in prayer, it is best to get the begging part over with quickly and get on to the gratitude part. He also wrote, 'let all your thinks be thanks.'"

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

George is Getting People Talking .....

..... with this post at Sleepless in Midland.

Janie is Giving Thanks .....

..... with this post at Sounding Forth.

Good Question .....

..... about CBS News' first debate of this election cycle, scheduled for December 10 in Los Angeles ..... "If CBS News writers are striking by then, will the debate go on," asks Chris in this post at TVNewswer. "Will Democratic Presidential candidates cross the picket lines and participate?"

I (no longer) Have the POWERRRRR! .....

We ended our stint as a Nielsen Media Research (television ratings) family Thursday night, and sent our diaries back in Friday morning ..... now you know who to blame, next season, when the new television programming lineups are announced, and there seems to be an AWFUL LOT of soccer and Doctor Who.

Back To the Bookshelf For Me .....

The release of a new film version of Beowulf has me digging through a less-visited corner of my stacks. It's been years since I read the Old English epic that provided the inspiration for the new film, and my memories of 'Grendles modor' may be fading ..... but I'm pretty certain they didn't resemble Angelina Jolie ..... but, we must be open to new ideas, broaden our horizons ..... right?

Boy, Did I Miss All the Fun !!! .....

Took off for the weekend, a family trip to the North Dallas area for Elder Son's soccer tournament ..... a trip through the actual world that did not include touching-base with the virtual world.

Boy, did I miss all the fun!

Apparently, it all began with this article in the Midland Reporter-Telegram, in which Colin Guy reports, "Consultants hired by the Midland Development Corp. recommended the organization develop a blog to keep the public informed of its efforts and to serve as a counterbalance to local blogs that have been critical of the organization."

I suspect MDC had Jessica's Well, in particular, in mind when they made their proposal. For their part, the Wellians have responded with this post, this post, this post and this post ..... so far.

But, also joining the fray is Eric at Fire Ant Gazette, with this post ... "the Midland Development Corporation is in a no-win situation at this point. It cannot – I repeat: cannot – compete in a blogging war, should it come to that. It has neither the resources nor the expertise nor the sheer willpower. But, more importantly, it doesn't have the weight of facts."

George at Sleepless in Midland offers this post ... "Unless some MDC member already had a hankering to do it then they would probably have to hire someone to write it. So here's a suggestion: Outsource: Instead of starting a blog from scratch, the cash rich MDC could simply pay a bounty to the other local bloggers." George also offers a suggested pay scale.

From Jimmy at Sticky Doorknobs comes this post ... "The MDC is being given a golden opportunity to take advantage of this new method of communicating and to open a dialogue with Midlanders. To take advantage of that opportunity would at best be a PR coup for the MDC; brushing off such a recommendation -- one that no doubt came at a high consulting fee -- would be a mistake that would go nowhere in helping MDC rise from the public ashes."

A slightly different focus from Justin at It's All In the Details, with this post, "This isn't about the MDC or West Texas. This is about your business in the Internet Age. The Internet is about communication. Unlike costly mediums of yesteryear such as Television and Radio, anyone with a computer can freely publish as much as they wish on the Internet."

Deferring to an Expert .....

"From public forums in Iowa to the living rooms of New Hampshire and the military towns in South Carolina," says this report from the New York Times' Marka Santora, "Mr. McCain’s message is simple: what America does to its enemies defines America itself."

“One of the things that kept us going when I was in prison in North Vietnam was that we knew that if the situation were reversed, that we would not be doing to our captors what they were doing to us,” McCain is quoted in that story.

But, Santora goes on to report, McCain's stance opposing torture (or, as some prefer to call it, "aggressive interrogation techniques"), may be generating sympathy from those he meets in his campaign to become the Republican candidate for President ..... but not necessarily support.

I've said this before concerning the debate going on in Washington, and across the country, over the Bush administration's efforts to re-define torture. I can't help but think that there are some who bring a unique perspective to the debate, a hard-taught lesson that we can acknowledge ... but, probably, never truly and fully appreciate.

I'm probably the only blogger - and one of the few, people, period - in the Tall City who thinks all of the years our administration has spent in the corporate boardrooms, ivory towers and executive suites of America ... don't give them as much appreciation for torture as they might have gotten from a single day in the Hanoi Hilton.

In this debate, U.S. Senator John McCain is fighting to preserve what he calls "the integrity and letter and spirit of the Geneva Conventions," and he speaks from a horrible experience of aggressive interrogation techniques at the hands of captors who flouted those conventions. I don't care what George, and Dick and Condi say.

YES !!! .....

In May of this year, I posted this virtual plea to BBC-America, begging them to broadcast the second, final season of Life On Mars. The first season was nothing less than the best new show to air on American television in 2006. We must find out if Sam Tyler ever gets home! According to a promo that aired last night, we will find out, beginning December 11!

On a related note ..... an American remake of this show is in the works and Life on Mars' John Simm could be next Doctor Who .....

Nielsen and Me: Day 5 .....

We had our fifth day as a Nielsen Media Research (television ratings) family on Monday. I admit, it's not a healthy sign, but I DO structure a part of my day around television viewing ..... morning work is wrapped-up, a lunch is heated-up, and I'm sitting-down at 11:30 so I can watch Arrested Development on one of the free hi-def channels (HDNET - 730) that Suddenlink offers. For whatever reason, I missed this show during its first run ..... but I'm making up for it, now, and I'm totally addicted.

Then there's local news ..... to which I am NOT totally addicted, but I am interested, and I do need to keep in touch with what's going on. You've probably noticed some of the promos running the last couple weeks, special reports airing during the month of November. I haven't been paying much attention to those, but I have been doing some surfing, looking at the different products, and seeing what they offer. Really, I haven't been seeing a LOT of differences ..... many of the same stories are covered, though their placement in the rundown might be a little different. One difference I have noticed is that the CBS affiliate (KOSA - 7) has been looking better lately. I always had a problem with how dim - almost dark - their broadcast looked sometimes ..... but that HAS improved ..... has someone been working on studio lighting and camera angles lately? In that respect, they're catching-up with the NBC affiliate (KWES - 9) which has long had a better-looking signal.

The Da Vinci Coda? .....

Could there really be a da Vinci Code? ..... I'm not talking about the silliness spawned by Dan Brown's mystery novel, but the recent claims of Giovanni Maria Pala to have discovered nothing less than a sacred hymn and text, along with mystic symbols in da Vinci's masterpiece, The Last Supper. His book, "La Musica Celata" ("The Hidden Music"), is coming out shortly.
Here's the complete story from Dicovery News ..... be sure to watch the video, too, at the bottom of the page. Here's another write-up from the L.A. Times, which includes an audio clip of the suggested music.

XM Moment: In Joy Still Felt .....

There's this reminder from XM Radio's "70s on 7" that, after 300+ years, Johann Sebastian Bach still rocks. With thanks to Shawn Herrington at lp2cd.com

This was as good as it got for Apollo 100, a short-lived British instrumental, studio-based group. "Joy," released in 1972, was their one hit.

Nielsen and Me: Day 4 .....

We had our fourth day as a Nielsen Media Research (television ratings) family on Sunday ..... a different kind of viewing day since the television is off for so much of it. However .....

Fans of American football will be glad to know that they will have some of that to enjoy on television next fall, thanks to me. We spent a part of our Sunday afternoon watching the Pittsburgh Steelers come from behind to defeat the Cleveland Browns on CBS (KOSAHD - 703).

That evening, My Favorite Landman and I enjoyed Meatloaf in a "Three Bats Live" concert performance on one of the free hi-def channels (HDNET - 730) that Suddenlink offers. The program was recorded earlier this year, at the John Labatt Centre in Ontario, Canada, as part of HDNet's concert series ..... and I'm glad they got it when they did! Just last month, promoters had to cancel the rest of the "Three Bats Live" tour, when doctors found a cyst on the 60-year-old rocker's vocal chords. As for that night, it was a great performance by the Dallas, Texas native, and included a great selection of old hits and new material ..... including his trademark "Bat Out of Hell," which remains one of the great anthems of rock'n'roll love. I have to admit, though, that much as I enjoyed the concert, I found myself missing Todd Rundgren, Max Weinberg, Jim Steinman and Ellen Foley.

Speaking of Frank .....

..... there is this post at Books, Inq. to this article about Thomas Middleton, "the rebel of English Renaissance drama" ..... and possible reasons for his works being marginalized in the centuries since he rocked the house at Elizabethan theaters.

I think I might add "Thomas Middleton: the Collected Works" to my Christmas wish list.

Jim and Frank Will Back Me Up on This .....

As I pointed out in a number of previous posts, September, 1957 was a great time for launches ..... one that I failed to mention was the publication of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," a defining work of the 'Beat Generation,' one of the great works of American literature ..... and one that has lost none of its edge, none of its power after half-a-century.

Of special significance to me - and to anyone who has walked the banks of the Susquehanna or the Monongahela - is this brief encounter with a man who embodies the spirit of the American frontier - not in Texas and the west, where it was eventually adopted; but in the east, where it was born .....

"I thought all the wilderness of American was in the West till the Ghost of the Susquehanna showed me different. No, there is a wilderness in the East; it's the same wilderness Ben Franklin plodded in the oxcart days when he was postmaster, the same as it was when George Washington was a wildbuck Indian-fighter, when Daniel Boone told stories by Pennsylvania lamps and promised to find the Gap, when Bradford built his road and men whooped her up in log cabins. There were not great Arizona spaces for the little man, just the bushy wilderness of eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, the backroads, the black-tar roads that curve among the mournful rivers like Susquehanna, Monongahela, old Potomac and Monocacy."

Nielsen and Me: Day 3 .....

We had our third day as a Nielsen Media Research (television ratings) family on Saturday ..... not the usual kind of day, and not the usual kind of viewing. With the boys in charge of the remote, there was a lot of cartoons and sports during the day ..... with the only exception being my 'Samurai Saturday' morning fix on IFC ..... this week, it was "Zatoichi and the Fugitives" from the popular 'Blind Swordsman' series of Japanese films, with Shintaro Katsu, from the 60s and early 70s. The rest of the time, it was chores around the house, for me.

We wrapped up the night with a live broadcast of MLS Western Conference Finals. It was broadcast live on two networks - Fox Soccer Channel (FXSOCR - 328), and one of the free hi-def channels (HDNET - 731) that Suddenlink offers ..... we opted for the hi-def broadcast.

S.I. Theology .....

Today's sermon at First Prez-Midland was inspired by this column from Rick Reilley of Sports Illustrated. "The best college tradition," Reilly wrote, "is not dotting the i at Ohio State. It's not stealing the goat from Navy. Or waving the wheat at Kansas."

And it's nowhere to be found in Texas, either, as some Lone Star accolytes of the gridiron gospel would have us believe. It is, Reilly writes, "Picking Up Butch" at Middlebury College, in Vermont, where students say the question is not 'where Butch would be without them' ..... but 'where would they be without Butch?'