Friday, June 27, 2008

Carlin vs. Cosby

There are several reasons I avoid reading the local newspaper. First of all it bothers me how poorly written so many of the articles are. But I also can't stand the commentary and opinions they allow to creep into their pages. Case in point, there's a letter in today's edition that is criticizing the paper for the amount of coverage they gave the death of comedian George Carlin. I'm going to quote at length from the letter:

This reader pauses to take issue with your dedicating nearly three quarters of a page of coverage to the death of George Carlin. He spent his self-admitted drug-addled life as a purveyor of the purest filth in our language. His only personal claim to fame is that a Supreme Court free speech ruling was named after him.

Compare Mr. Carlin's career achievements to those of a man who, born in the same year, 1937, also chose comedy as a career. I speak of none other than Bill Cosby.

The writer then goes on to cite Cosby's books, recordings, charitable causes and television show. He compares these to Carlin's drug and alcohol addiction and reliance on "filth" to shock audiences. Then he actually criticizes the newspaper for what it will PROBABLY do when Cosby dies and suggests it will in no way honor him in the way that it memorialized Carlin. Yeah, this guy is a moron.

I see it a bit differently. Carlin broke ground and made us look at things from a different perspective. He challenged people to question authority and institutions, to break free from letting other people tell us what to think and to get off our butts and do something about what is going on in the world. I really don't consider him a comedian in the true sense of the word. Yes he was entertaining and could make us laugh, but not by telling jokes. He make us examine all that is silly and meaningless in life. He made us think.

And despite what the letter-writer says, having a Supreme Court free speech ruling named after you is no small claim to fame! What is this jerk's legacy going to be. A stupid letter written to the local paper?

Now I certainly don't want to demean Bill Cosby. He too broke a lot of ground and has been an important influence on many of today's performers. He is a humanitarian and has created some outstanding educational products and some very entertaining programs. But mostly he made us buy Jell-o.

Regardless, attacking the newspaper because it gave too much space to the memorial of a public figure is moronic. Criticizing it for what it might do one day in response to the death of his more favored public figure borders on insane.

This is why I avoid the local paper.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Megyn Kelly Still Stinking Up Airwaves

There is an article on Digg today that supports my contention that Megyn Kelly is the worst of the worst bimbos on television today posing as "journalists." In a recent episode of her bogus investigative reporting program "Kelly's Court" she brought on two legal analysts to debate whether or not an actor who appears in The Sopranos had a case against a state lottery because he mis-read the number on the ticket. Yes, it's that lame. The thing is, she knew all along what the legalities are and they are clearly defined by each state's lottery commission.

So why was air time given to this pretty much invented new story? Obviously to give all the sorry, sad psycho-sexual chronic masterbaters who fantasise about doing the dirty with Megyn an opportunity to stroke the snake! (You know who you are, you "anonymous" cowards.) This "reporter" has no skills, no brain, not much personality and is on Fox because Fox sucks and she's hot. That's it! (Someone referred to her as a "newsvixen" - perfect!)

Watch Hate by Numbers with Gladstone take a poke at her on Cracked.com here.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Moron Marketers Think We're Morons

I have come across way too many ads lately that are made by morons who think their audience is made up of morons. I think this is probably symptomatic of the fact that marketers today are desperate and clueless. They don't know how to reach people any more. Mass media is no longer a viable medium, and personal media is too hard for them to learn how to use effectively. They're used to just throwing a lot of money at people and hoping enough sticks to keep their product alive. But it's not working any more. So they keep trying to come up with more cutting edge creative, more outrageous claims and messages that won't be completely ignored by huge masses of people.

This is an ad I found for what I think is a company that makes emergency radios. It's really hard to tell from the ad. Red Cross gets much more prominence, but I think that's just because they figure that will get more attention than their no-name name. It's really a mess from a creative and communication standpoint. A total waste of money.

But what really makes this ad stupider than stupid is the sub-headline:

Emergencies struck 82% of Americans last year*

Did you notice the asterisk? If you look down below, in tiny, tiny type there is another asterisk that says, "*based on a survey of 1000 people." What? They are saying that 246,000,000 Americans were struck by an emergency (whatever that means) last year (whatever year that was) because 820 out of 1000 people surveyed said they were? What did they do? Go into a town following a tornado? Find a coastal city hit by a hurricane? Heck, if they talked to people from New Orleans, they could have gotten the statistic up to 100%! What crap!!!

This is so bogus - and really insulting. Anyone who responds to this ad based upon the company's fraudulent manipulation of an obviously flawed statistic should be outraged. Like I said, they are morons and they think their potential customers are morons too. But this ad is so inept anyway, I doubt there are going to be many customers who respond. Scare tactics and spin are not the way to sell products or build a brand. I will not be the least bit sorry when this company (I can't really even tell you their name based upon this crappy ad) when this company disappears.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

ESPN and the WCWS

I just watched the women's softball team of Arizona State totally destroy Texas A&M at the Women's College World Series (WCWS) in Oklahoma. Katie Burkhart, the left-handed pitcher for the Sun Devils, was in total command. She only needed one run to get the shutout victory, but her team gave her 11 runs unanswered by the Aggies.

Women's softball is an interesting and unique sport. It's only sort of baseball, but I really enjoy watching it. It's so girlish - I don't know what other word to use. In what other sport do the players hold hands in the dugout and throw kisses to the camera? I also don't know of any sport - except perhaps volleyball - where they have as many team meetings during a game. The coach will call time out in the middle of an inning and have all the baserunners, the batter and the on-deck batter will form a circle to discuss what? - "strategy?" No, I think it's more of a "feel-good" moment where they validate each other as an important person somehow.

I had never heard of Beth Mowins, the announcer for ESPN, but I was very impressed. She's got a classic female sports announcer's voice, conveys great enthusiasm and really seems to know her stuff. She's articulate and intelligent, and does a great job of keeping the flow going. They teamed her with three former NCAA women's softball players, all of whom did a good job of sharing their expertise with the viewers.

The only male on the crew was John Kruk. Wait...what? John Kruk? Where the heck did they drudge him up - and more importantly, why? Even though he played professional baseball for 11 years and did OK (a lifetime .300 average), he certainly has no particular insights into women's softball! He seemed totally out of his element and was more comic relief than color commentator. Particularly sad was a little filler segment in which Michelle Smith, who has two Olympic gold medals and is in the American Softball Association's Hall of Fame, threw him a few fast balls while he just stood in the batter's box and watched them go by. It reminded me of the All Star game several years ago where he faced Randy Johnson and looked like a Little Leaguer popping out of his too-small uniform. I remember him just laughing and waving the bat at the ball. Good bye. K. Sit down. The topper was when Smith tossed him a grapefruit - a real grapefruit - and the crew got a good laugh as Kruk splattered it all over the place. Yep, comic relief.

Anyway, it was an interesting series to watch and well produced. Congratulations to Arizona State for their first national title. They deserve it, and Katie Burkhart should be given the MVP.