Evanier's Late-Night TV Predictions

news from me - ARCHIVES - May 31, 2009: "Okay, here's my fearless prediction about what's going to happen with the reconfiguration of the NBC schedule with Leno and O'Brien and those two guys who come after them."

Mark Evanier prophesies about the future of late night TV. Very interesting stuff from a TV insider.

Fla.'s 'Father Oprah': Church is about forgiveness | ajc.com

Fla.'s 'Father Oprah': Church is about forgiveness | ajc.com: "A popular Miami priest nicknamed 'Father Oprah' said Sunday that 'church is about forgiveness' during his first sermon since leaving the Roman Catholic Church to become Episcopal amid an uproar over published photos of him kissing his girlfriend on the beach.

The Rev. Alberto Cutie (pronounced KOO'-tee-ay) gave the sermon at the Episcopal Church of The Resurrection in Miami. Episcopalian priests can marry, unlike their Catholic counterparts. It will take him at least a year to become a priest in his new church."

Obama Most Popular Leader, Poll Finds - NYTimes.com

Obama Most Popular Leader, Poll Finds - NYTimes.com: "President Barack Obama remains by far the most popular world leader among people in major Western nations and is the one political figure on whom people consistently pin their hopes in the economic crisis, according to new polls conducted for the International Herald Tribune.

About 80 percent of people in France, Germany, Italy and Spain have a positive view of Mr. Obama, a ratio that declines only slightly, to about 70 percent, in the other two countries surveyed, Britain and the United States. The only politician who comes close is Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who gets a positive rating from two-thirds of those in Continental Europe but from only one-third of Britons and Americans."

Microsoft Unveils Bing, Its New Search Service - NYTimes.com

Microsoft Unveils Bing, Its New Search Service - NYTimes.com: "Bing, the name Microsoft gave to the new search service it unveiled Thursday, is its answer to Google — a noun that once meant little but has become part of the language as a verb that is a synonym for executing a Web search. After months of, uh, searching, Microsoft settled on Bing to replace the all-too-forgettable Live Search, which itself replaced MSN Search.

Microsoft invested billions of dollars in those services and failed to slow Google’s rise, so a new name certainly can’t hurt.

Microsoft’s marketing gurus hope that Bing will evoke neither a type of cherry nor a strip club on “The Sopranos” but rather a sound — the ringing of a bell that signals the “aha” moment when a search leads to an answer."

Fla.'s 'Father Oprah' joins Episcopal Church | ajc.com

Fla.'s 'Father Oprah' joins Episcopal Church | ajc.com: "A popular priest known as 'Father Oprah' has left the Roman Catholic Church and joined the Episcopal Church less than a month after a tabloid published photos of him cavorting on the beach with his girlfriend in a scandal that rocked South Florida's Spanish-speaking community.

On Thursday, as thunder boomed outside and paparazzi cameras flashed, the Rev. Alberto Cutie (KOO'-tee-ay) held a news conference at the pulpit of the Episcopal Church's Trinity Cathedral. Standing behind him: the Episcopal bishop, a half-dozen Episcopal priests and his girlfriend."

Google Wave: Google Introduces New Communications Platform

Google Wave: Google Introduces New Communications Platform: "Google Inc. is hatching a new species of e-mail and instant messaging, but the Internet search leader first wants the hybrid service to evolve even more with the help of independent computer programmers.

The free tool, called 'Google Wave,' runs in a Web browser and combines elements of e-mail, instant messaging, wikis and photo sharing in an effort to make online communication more dynamic. Google hopes Wave simplifies the way people collaborate on projects or exchange opinions about specific topics."

Bamboozling Ourselves (Part 1) - Errol Morris Blog - NYTimes.com

Bamboozling Ourselves (Part 1) - Errol Morris Blog - NYTimes.com

Part 1 in the tale of the Nazi-era Vermeer forgeries of Han van Meegeren.

National Cartoonists Society Award Winners

Mike Lynch Cartoons: National Cartoonists Society Award Winners: "Below are the winners of the NCS Awards as announced last night at the 63rd annual National Cartoonists Society Reubens dinner. The black tie event was presided over by Mike Luckovich."

Comic strip artists feeling the squeeze - Los Angeles Times

Comic strip artists feeling the squeeze - Los Angeles Times: "Newspaper cuts have left cartoonists struggling. Some are looking at the Web and animation too."

Fan letters save Spider-Man’s marriage — in the comic strip

Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment � Fan letters save Spider-Man’s marriage — in the comic strip: "At the beginning of the year, the Spider-Man newspaper strip received a bit of a makeover that brought it in step with comic book continuity. Echoing “Brand New Day,” the strip reverted Peter Parker to an unmarried student living with his Aunt May. Mephisto not included, it was just an abrupt change to the status quo.

“In keeping with the new Spider-Man story line at Marvel Comics, we, too, are going back to Spidey’s roots. He’s single, and attending college. Now let the surprises begin!” the editors wrote back in January.

Well, surprise! — fans of the strip weren’t very happy with the change. The editors have decided to “bow to your letters” and return the strip to the previous set-up. Writing off the last few months as a dream, Peter Parker woke up today to find his wife, in a Dallas-style homage, getting ready to shower:"

"Archie" Finally Taking The Plunge - CBS News

"Archie" Finally Taking The Plunge - CBS News: "After six decades of indecisiveness comic book favorite, 'Archie' has finally decided to get married - of course the big question is who will he marry Betty or Veronica?

'The longest comic book love triangle in history is coming to an end. We're told that Archie Andrews will at long last propose to either Betty or Veronica in a special issue coming out this summer,' said The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith."

Connected - willkommen auf weitesland.info

Connected - willkommen auf weitesland.info:

A page about the cover photo for Connected by the photographer in Germany, Michael Seufer.

Happy Like God - Happy Days Blog - NYTimes.com

Happy Like God - Happy Days Blog - NYTimes.com: "What is happiness? How does one get a grip on this most elusive, intractable and perhaps unanswerable of questions?

I teach philosophy for a living, so let me begin with a philosophical answer. For the philosophers of Antiquity, notably Aristotle, it was assumed that the goal of the philosophical life — the good life, moreover — was happiness and that the latter could be defined as the bios theoretikos, the solitary life of contemplation. Today, few people would seem to subscribe to this view. Our lives are filled with the endless distractions of cell phones, car alarms, commuter woes and the traffic in Bangalore. The rhythm of modern life is punctuated by beeps, bleeps and a generalized attention deficit disorder."

Texting May Be Taking a Toll on Teenagers - NYTimes.com

Texting May Be Taking a Toll on Teenagers - NYTimes.com: "Spurred by the unlimited texting plans offered by carriers like AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless, American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Nielsen Company — almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier.

The phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation."

Can Conan O'Brien's Brand of Humor Work on 'The Tonight Show'? - NYTimes.com

Can Conan O'Brien's Brand of Humor Work on 'The Tonight Show'? - NYTimes.com

Jorge Colombo's iPhone 'Finger Painting' Is New Yorker Cover - mediabistro.com: UnBeige

Jorge Colombo's iPhone 'Finger Painting' Is <i>New Yorker</i> Cover - mediabistro.com: UnBeige: "That soft-focus street scene on the cover of The New Yorker's June 1 issue? It's Jorge Colombo's 'Finger Painting,' finger-drawn on his iPhone using the Brushes application. Colombo, a New York-based artist and designer, created the 'iSketch' while standing for an hour outside Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Times Square, according to a post on the magazine's blog."

Cool! It's a gorgeous cover, and I had no idea it had been done on an iPhone.

Here's a video of its creation:

Could a personalized magazine called Mine help save print media? - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

Could a personalized magazine called Mine help save print media? - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine: "When I signed up for Mine a couple of months ago, I was mainly looking for a laugh. The new magazine from Time Inc. seemed like a gimmicky, goofy effort to save a beleaguered industry: Time wanted to print a magazine just for me! First, I had to choose several popular Time publications and answer a few odd questions about my interests. ('Which do you crave more—sushi, or pizza?') Then, every two weeks, I would get an issue, curated just for me, filled with articles from different magazines. The process seemed hopelessly anachronistic, like if the horse-and-buggy industry decided to compete with cars by letting me pick my buggy driver. Doesn't Time know that I already have a way to get a magazine tailored to my interests? The Web isn't just faster and cheaper than print; it also doesn't need to know what I ate for dinner in order to let me read exactly what I want to at any time.

Turns out my skepticism was misguided. I've received two issues of Mine, and I love it."

I signed up too. My first issue was screwed up, with material from magazines I didn't select (they extended my sub an issue--along with thousands of others screwed up apparently). It may be a good idea, but I don't find the aged content from Time-Life's other mags that compelling or sensical. Apparently it's a six-issue experiment. I wouldn't pay for it, and I love magazines.

Ex-TV evangelist Schuller buys cable network AmericanLife - Los Angeles Times

Ex-TV evangelist Schuller buys cable network AmericanLife - Los Angeles Times: "The son of famed Orange County television evangelist Robert H. Schuller said Tuesday he had acquired cable network AmericanLife TV from the Unification Church in partnership with a private equity fund that invests in Christian media firms.

The deal comes seven months after the older Rev. Schuller said he was removing his son, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, as the only preacher of 'The Hour of Power' three years after turning the long-running Christian television program over to him."

Who knew American Life channel had been owned by the Unification Church??

Why the 2012 cult is a silly scam. - By Ron Rosenbaum - Slate Magazine

Why the 2012 cult is a silly scam. - By Ron Rosenbaum - Slate Magazine: "Why the latest apocalyptic cult is a silly scam."

Mancow Waterboarded (VIDEO): Conservative Radio Host Say It's Torture

Mancow Waterboarded (VIDEO): Conservative Radio Host Say It's Torture

CTI Shuts Down 4 Titles, Lays Off 30-Plus Staff - Christian Newswire

CTI Shuts Down 4 Titles, Lays Off 30-Plus Staff - Christian Newswire: "Christianity Today International (CTI) today announced the closing of four publications and the laying-off of 30 employees. To be shut down over the coming months are Today's Christian Woman magazine, the Campus Life College Guide, the Christian history bulletin insert Glimpses, and the Church Office Today bimonthly newsletter.

'Needless to say, we are profoundly saddened by these necessary decisions,' said Harold Smith, President and Publisher. 'The impact on employees who are truly gifted--and the impact on the church as a whole--is a sobering reality for me and the entire CTI team that remains.'

These latest cutbacks follow similar moves made in January, when a total of three periodicals--Ignite Your Faith (formerly Campus Life), Marriage Partnership, and Today's Christian magazines either ceased publication or, in the case of TC, was sold."

Diana Butler Bass: Dueling Visions of American Renewal - Progressive Revival

Dueling Visions of American Renewal - Progressive Revival: Diana Butler Bass:

"In 2004, a little book appeared that made quite a splash among dispirited Democrats: George Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant. In it, Lakoff argued that Republicans and Democrats worked out of two different 'framing' stories--frames are 'mental structures that shape the way we see the world.' Republicans frame their politics in the terms of 'a strict father family,' while Democrats frame theirs on the ideal of a 'nurturant parent family.' According to Lakoff, the party with the most compelling storyline often 'wins' in public discourse.

Yesterday, in the dueling national security speeches of former Vice-President Cheney and President Obama, the two storylines stood in stark contrast--a visible demonstration of the difference between political approaches."

AppleInsider | Apple to answer netbook market with $500-$700 tablet - report

AppleInsider | Apple to answer netbook market with $500-$700 tablet - report: "With a conventional netbook clearly out of the question, researchers for Piper Jaffray said Thursday there's mounting evidence to suggest Apple next year will introduce its own take on the market in the form of a tablet-based device that will sell for $700 or less."

Bill Mann: Here's Why the Right Wing Dominates Talk Radio Today

Bill Mann: Here's Why the Right Wing Dominates Talk Radio Today: "Ever wonder why the right wing continues to dominate talk radio, even as it loses elections?

'Your Huffington Post piece showed only the tip of the iceberg,' a major talk-show figure e-mailed last month following my blog here on Rush Limbaugh's empire being built initially by giving his show away for free to hundreds of smaller-market talk stations.

My veteran radio source, assured anonymity, added, 'The main story here is vertical integration in the radio business' and the way the big urban talk stations get their programs.

Vertical integration: Precisely what the federal government has moved to ban in the television and movie industries with anti-trust actions. But the radio business has gotten a free pass."

Dems Making Massive Gains As GOP Deteriorates: Pew Poll

Dems Making Massive Gains As GOP Deteriorates: Pew Poll: "In seven short years, the American electorate has radically changed, as voters' priorities have shifted to the economy and away from such wedge issues as abortion and gay rights, as well as away from the threat of terrorism and from the war in Iraq, according to a comprehensive survey released Thursday morning by the Pew Research Center.

From 2002 to 2009, voters' partisan identification has moved from virtual parity -- 43 percent Republican and 43 percent Democratic at the height of George W. Bush's popularity in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 -- to a massive Democratic advantage today of 53 to 36, a 17 percentage point split, by far the largest difference in the past two decades."

Missing Link Found? 47 Million-Year-Old Primate Fossil Revealed

Missing Link Found? 47 Million-Year-Old Primate Fossil Revealed: "Scientists say they have found a primate fossil that shows our connection with other mammals and our earliest human ancestor. Full details from the University of Oslo and the Senckenberg Research Institute:"

Jimmy Kimmel Demolishes ABC’s Upfronts - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com

Jimmy Kimmel Demolishes ABC’s Upfronts - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com: "If Jimmy Kimmel still has a job at ABC on Wednesday, he is either a very lucky or very deft comedian, or he has great blackmail photos of the network executives.

At Tuesday afternoon’s upfront presentation in New York, Mr. Kimmel, the host of ABC’s late night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” delivered a withering, blistering monologue that took direct aim at ABC, its potential advertisers and his NBC late-night rival, Jay Leno. The assembled advertisers received his performance with a mixture of uneasy laughs and the occasional gasp."

Advertising - ABC, Fox and CBS Present Their Season Lineups - NYTimes.com

Advertising - ABC, Fox and CBS Present Their Season Lineups - NYTimes.com: "BROADCAST television is hitting the fast-forward button on its annual upfront week, as the schedules of three of the five big networks are already becoming known."

Scribd Invites Writers to Upload Work and Name Their Price - NYTimes.com

Scribd Invites Writers to Upload Work and Name Their Price - NYTimes.com: "Turning itself into a kind of electronic vanity publisher, Scribd, an Internet start-up here, will introduce on Monday a way for anyone to upload a document to the Web and charge for it.

The Scribd Web site is the most popular of several document-sharing sites that take a YouTube-like approach to text, letting people upload sample chapters of books, research reports, homework, recipes and the like. Users can read documents on the site, embed them in other sites and share links over social networks and e-mail."

God Talk, Part 2 - Stanley Fish Blog - NYTimes.com

God Talk, Part 2 - Stanley Fish Blog - NYTimes.com: "According to recent surveys, somewhere between 79 and 92 percent of Americans believe in God. But if the responses to my column on Terry Eagleton’s “Faith, Reason and Revolution” constitute a representative sample, 95 percent of Times readers don’t. What they do believe, apparently, is that religion is a fairy tale, hogwash, balderdash, nonsense and a device for rationalizing horrible deeds.

Of course, there is more than name-calling to their antitheism; there are arguments, and the one most often made insists on a sharp distinction between religion and science, or, alternatively, between faith and reason."

Text of Obama's Notre Dame speech - Las Vegas Sun

Text of Obama's Notre Dame speech - Las Vegas Sun: "...the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It's the belief in things not seen. It's beyond our capacity as human beings to know with certainty what God has planned for us or what He asks of us. And those of us who believe must trust that His wisdom is greater than our own.

And this doubt should not push us away our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions, cause us to be wary of too much self-righteousness. It should compel us to remain open and curious and eager to continue the spiritual and moral debate that began for so many of you within the walls of Notre Dame. And within our vast democracy, this doubt should remind us even as we cling to our faith to persuade through reason, through an appeal whenever we can to universal rather than parochial principles, and most of all through an abiding example of good works and charity and kindness and service that moves hearts and minds."

Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily � EXCLUSIVE: Chris Hemsworth Is ‘Thor’

Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily � EXCLUSIVE: Chris Hemsworth Is ‘Thor’: "Talk about spot-on casting. I've just learned that Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige and director Kenneth Branagh have chosen their THOR -- and it's Chris Hemsworth, who can currently be seen as 'George Kirk' in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot and also just snagged the lead in Red Dawn for United Artists on Thursday."

Amazon Launches Publishing Program

Amazon Launches Publishing Program - 5/14/2009 7:50:00 AM - Publishers Weekly: "In its most significant foray into publishing, Amazon has acquired world English rights to a self-published novel by a midwestern teenager called Legacy. The acquisition is the first for the e-tailer's newly launched publishing banner, AmazonEncore. Amazon is re-releasing the fantasy title, in hardcover, in August. The book, by Cayla Kluver, is part of a planned a trilogy--it was published under the banner Forsooth Books, founded by Kluver and her mother--and, according to Amazon, is the first in a currently unknown number of titles from AmazonEncore.

Jeff Belle, v-p of books at Amazon, said the new publishing program, while focused on self-published books with promise, could also target out-of-print titles from major houses."

Familiar Obama Phrase Being Groomed as a Slogan - NYTimes.com

Familiar Obama Phrase Being Groomed as a Slogan - NYTimes.com: "Ready for a new New Deal? How about the New Foundation? As Mr. Obama labors to pull the country out of the deepest recession since the Great Depression and simultaneously overhaul energy, education and health care, he has coined an expression to encapsulate his ambitious program in the same way Franklin D. Roosevelt did in the 1930s.

New Foundation may not come tripping off the tongue quite as easily as New Deal — it has twice as many syllables, after all — but it has become a staple of Mr. Obama’s speeches in the last month. Whether a 21st-century public buys a 20th-century political technique is another question."

Conan's new set revealed

TV MoJoe - TVWeek: "NBC has released the first picture of the new 'Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien' set—and it's quite striking.

The dominant color on the set is blue: Blue curtains, blue carpet, a blue bandstand and a blue skyline of Los Angeles at night. The background includes a number of L.A. landmarks, including the Capitol Records tower and what appears to be City Hall. There's also a giant full moon."

History to Unveil Scientific Discovery May 19 - TVWeek - News

History to Unveil Scientific Discovery May 19 - TVWeek - News: "History will hold a press conference on May 19 to announce a “revolutionary” scientific finding.

A team of world-renowned scientists will make the announcement at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. They are expected to unveil a 47-million-year old artifact that will “challenge previously held notions regarding a longstanding scientific puzzle,” History’s release said."

Hulu Questions Nielsen’s Count of Its Audience - NYTimes.com

Hulu Questions Nielsen’s Count of Its Audience - NYTimes.com: "Does Hulu, the Web’s most popular place for TV viewing, reach nine million people a month or 42 million?

Millions of dollars in advertising revenue may hinge on the answer. But no one seems to know for sure how big the site’s audience is.

Any way the streams of shows like “Fringe” and “30 Rock” are counted, it is clear that Hulu’s growth has been explosive, up 490 percent year over year, according to Nielsen Online. Hulu executives, however, are fretting that the company, one of the leading purveyors of ratings data, is undercounting the site’s visitors. They say Nielsen’s numbers hurt Hulu’s perception among advertisers and the press."

Maureen Dowd - Rogue Diva of Doom - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Rogue Diva of Doom - NYTimes.com: "Cheney has replaced Sarah Palin as Rogue Diva. Just as Jeb Bush and other Republicans are trying to get kinder and gentler, Cheney has popped out of his dungeon, scary organ music blaring, to carry on his nasty campaign of fear and loathing.

The man who never talked is now the man who won’t shut up. The man who wouldn’t list his office in the federal jobs directory, who had the vice president’s residence blocked on Google Earth, who went to the Supreme Court to keep from revealing which energy executives helped him write the nation’s energy policy, is now endlessly yelping about how President Obama is holding back documents that should be made public."

Roger Ebert's Journal: Facing Death

Roger Ebert's Journal: Archives: "I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear. I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. What I am grateful for is the gift of intelligence, and for life, love, wonder, and laughter. You can't say it wasn't interesting. My lifetime's memories are what I have brought home from the trip. I will require them for eternity no more than that little souvenir of the Eiffel Tower I brought home from Paris.

I don't expect to die anytime soon. But it could happen this moment, while I am writing. I was talking the other day with Jim Toback, a friend of 35 years, and the conversation turned to our deaths, as it always does. 'Ask someone how they feel about death,' he said, 'and they'll tell you everyone's gonna die. Ask them, In the next 30 seconds? No, no, no, that's not gonna happen. How about this afternoon? No. What you're really asking them to admit is, Oh my God, I don't really exist and I might be gone at any given second.'

Me too, but I hope not. I have plans."

Video: John Cleese: BBC rejected first episode of Fawlty Towers - Times Online

Video: John Cleese: BBC rejected first episode of Fawlty Towers - Times Online: "John Cleese has said that the BBC originally dismissed Fawlty Towers as dire, as the cast of the popular sitcom were reunited for the 30th anniversary of the show.

As the staff members of the eponymous Torquay hotel came together for the first time since the programme was filmed Cleese said that producers did not think that the programme would appeal to viewers."

Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth In Broadway's 'Addams Family'

Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth In Broadway's 'Addams Family': "'The Addams Family' has found its merry macabre menagerie for Broadway.

The show's producers say Nathan Lane will play Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth will be Morticia in the musical based on the popular goulish cartoons in The New Yorker."

The ‘NewsHour’ on PBS Will Get a Makeover - NYTimes.com

The ‘NewsHour’ on PBS Will Get a Makeover - NYTimes.com: "“The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer,” public broadcasting’s nightly newscast, is getting a makeover, designed to bring it more fully into the digital era, give it a livelier look and nudge it, however slowly, toward the day when its longtime anchor decides to retire."

Diana Butler Bass: To Boldly Go Where Progressives Forgot to Go.... - Progressive Revival

To Boldly Go Where Progressives Forgot to Go.... - Progressive Revival: "I have to confess: Although I'm not a complete trekkie, I once played Nurse Sistine Chapel in a homemade Star Trek flick. But you don't have to be a hard-core trekker to love Star Trek and 'get' it. There are probably about a million answers to the anchor's question to the 'why' of Star Trek.

My 'why' relates to--perhaps not unsurprisingly to my readers--theology. And it doesn't fit in a tweet. When I was growing up in Baltimore in the 1960s, the world was falling apart, people divided, anger in the streets, riots ripping through neighborhoods. Yet, every week, my mother would sit my brother, sister, and me on a blanket in the living room to watch Star Trek. There, on the screen of our new color TV (with twelve channels!), an unfailingly optimistic view of the universe unfolded in front of us. Unlike the world we knew, full of fear and worries of atomic holocaust, Kirk and Spock took us to a place where few dared to go in the mid-1960s--a hopeful future."

Churches Get Religion on Marketing - Advertising Age - News

Churches Get Religion on Marketing - Advertising Age - News: "Marketing may or may not have played a role in American's increasingly fickle relationship with religion, but it's certainly playing one today as organized religions scramble to get consumers' attention."

TV Land Tries to Spice Things Up With Reality Show - NYTimes.com

TV Land Tries to Spice Things Up With Reality Show - NYTimes.com: "The channel, a unit of Viacom, is supplementing its diet of classic series like “Gunsmoke” with reality shows in prime time. The shows, like “The Cougar,” which had its premiere last month, and “High School Reunion,” which reunites classmates two decades after graduation, are specifically aimed at 40- to 50-year-olds.

The strategy steals two pages from the cable TV playbook: by adding original shows, the channel hopes to stand out on a crowded cable dial, and by heaping attention on a specific subset of viewers, it hopes advertisers will commit more money.

But the initial ratings for “The Cougar” were lower than TV Land would have liked. “The Andy Griffith Show,” from the 1960s, is still the most popular show on the channel. Many viewers, it would seem, still relish the reruns."

Yet another example of a niche cable station trying to be all things. Crazy!

Car Nuts - Stanley Fish Blog - NYTimes.com

Car Nuts - Stanley Fish Blog - NYTimes.com: "The name Pontiac strikes an elegiac and forlorn note (“Forlorn: the very word is like a bell”). The Pontiac is gone and the entire parent company may follow it. And then there’s all that talk about hybrids and plug-ins and the prediction, once more, of the demise of the internal combustion engine. I guess it’s all over.

Well, maybe not, for if you read the auto magazines, which I do religiously, especially in barber shops where you don’t have to pay for them, it’s still morning in America and, indeed, it’s still 1970. In the June issue of Road & Track, Douglas Kott celebrates the new Solstice: “Pontiac brings us a stunner.” (Is it a going-away present?) A longish piece in the June issue of Car and Driver lingers over the virtues and limitations of Chrysler’s Grand Caravan minivan. (Isn’t that the kind of car we want to get rid of?) And gracing the cover of Motor Trend are three “pony” cars (muscle cars to you): the Chevrolet Camaro, the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Challenger. The line above the pictures reads “The Showdown We’ve Waited 35 Years For.”"

10 Great Flash Fiction Ideas | Writinghood

10 Great Flash Fiction Ideas | Writinghood

What is flash fiction and why is it so difficult to write? These two questions are at the heart of the dilemma faced by every writer who has tried to master the art of flash fiction. Let there be no doubt that flash fiction is an art form. You will find it all over the Internet. There are dozens of print and online publications that publish flash fiction. Editors and publishers love flash fiction because it saves space for ads. An online search will even turn up paying markets for flash fiction.

This Is Your Brain on Architecture | Cannell | Fast Company

This Is Your Brain on Architecture | Cannell | Fast Company: "Neuroscientists are uncovering how the design of your home or office can make you smarter, faster, happier. Is brain science the next big design trend?"

David Hadju - Exploring the Universe, One B-Movie at a Time - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributor - Exploring the Universe, One B-Movie at a Time - NYTimes.com: "ALMOST exactly 40 years after the original TV series was canceled by NBC for low ratings, the 11th feature film based on or spun off “Star Trek” has arrived on a wave (I suppose I should say a photon wave) of excitement and fanfare. This latest “Star Trek” movie, a deft effort to reboot the franchise, reintroduces the old characters — Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy and Lieutenant Uhura and the rest — as sexy young cadets setting out on the first mission of the starship Enterprise. Re-imagining their origins in a prequel, rather than depicting their further adventures in another sequel, is a cheeky act of cultural retro-activism, and perfectly in keeping with the ’60s show. “Star Trek” was, from the start, more nostalgic than futuristic."

'Star Trek' Has Galactic $76.5 Million Opening - NYTimes.com

'Star Trek' Has Galactic $76.5 Million Opening - NYTimes.com: "''Star Trek'' beamed itself up to the top of the box office, earning $76.5 million in its opening weekend.

Paramount Pictures had estimated that the movie would make about $50 million for the weekend, but figured that strong reviews helped carry it to the bigger opening.

Director J.J. Abrams' reboot of the beloved sci-fi franchise made $72.5 million from Friday through Sunday, plus $4 million just in pre-midnight screenings Thursday, the studio said Saturday. That cumulative figure includes a record $8.2 million in IMAX showings."

Full Video: Obama's White House Correspondents Dinner Speech

Full Video: Obama's White House Correspondents Dinner Speech: "President Barack Obama mocked his own administration and gave playful digs at his critics and Republicans at a black-tie dinner Saturday night attended by a mix of politicians, celebrities and journalists."

Hilarious stuff!

Seriously, What Are the Odds? - Dick Cavett Blog - NYTimes.com

Seriously, What Are the Odds? - Dick Cavett Blog - NYTimes.com: "That baffling phenomenon — coincidence — intrigues me more and more as instances spice up my own life with their mysterious improbability. I’ve had some doozies.

I’m told of, but haven’t yet found, a recent book on the subject that raises the question: are coincidences more than coincidence?"

New York Slideshows - Star Trek: The Cartoon

New York Slideshows - <i>Star Trek</i>: The Cartoon: "Old Kirk and new Kirk go where no Kirk has gone before, thanks to Ward 'Energize!' Sutton. Also, an actual film critic tackles Star Trek."

The Bible Says... and Other Myths About Scripture | Religion & Theology | ReligionDispatches

The Bible Says... and Other Myths About Scripture | Religion & Theology | ReligionDispatches: "Revealing why citing “chapter and verse” once had no meaning, why 16th century Catholics capitalized “Word” but not “God,” and why the King James Bible is anti-Puritan, Lori Anne Ferrell’s new book reminds us that everything is historical: the Christian religion, the Christian people, the Christian book."

Movie Review - Star Trek - A Franchise Goes Boldly Backward - NYTimes.com

Movie Review - Star Trek - A Franchise Goes Boldly Backward - NYTimes.com: "A bright, shiny blast from a newly imagined past, “Star Trek,” the latest spinoff from the influential television show, isn’t just a pleasurable rethink of your geek uncle’s favorite science-fiction series. It’s also a testament to television’s power as mythmaker, as a source for some of the fundamental stories we tell about ourselves, who we are and where we came from. The famous captain (William Shatner, bless his loony lights) and creator (Gene Roddenberry, rest in peace) may no longer be on board, but the spirit of adventure and embrace of rationality that define the show are in full swing, as are the chicks in minis and kicky boots."

Diana Butler Bass: Mainline Protestants: America's Moral Conscience - Progressive Revival

Mainline Protestants: America's Moral Conscience - Progressive Revival

Despite the fact that evangelicals garner most media attention, they do not represent the entire Protestant community. Depending upon what survey one believes, mainline Protestant churches--even after many years of numerical decline, internal struggles, and bad press--still comprise somewhere between 15-20% of the American population. The Pew survey on torture makes it startlingly clear why mainline Protestantism remains an important constituency in American political life: Mainline Protestants are the nation's moral conscience.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Hobbits 'are a separate species'

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Hobbits 'are a separate species': "Scientists have found more evidence that the Indonesian 'Hobbit' skeletons belong to a new species of human - and not modern pygmies.

The one metre (3ft) tall, 30kg (65lbs) humans roamed the Indonesian island of Flores, perhaps up to 8,000 years ago."

Google's tangled quest for a universal online library. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

Google's tangled quest for a universal online library. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine: "Google's goal of a universal online library would be great for humanity. It can still be great for authors and publishers, too."

Amazon Introduces Big-Screen Kindle - NYTimes.com

Amazon Introduces Big-Screen Kindle - NYTimes.com: "On Wednesday, Amazon introduced a larger version of the Kindle, pitching it as a new way for people to read textbooks, newspapers and documents. It also offered limited information about new partnerships that are intended to put Kindles in the hands of more university students and newspaper readers.

The device, called the Kindle DX (for deluxe), has a screen two and a half times the size of those on the two older versions of the Kindle, which were aimed primarily at displaying book pages. The price tag is larger, too: the DX costs $489, or $130 more than the previous model, the Kindle 2. It will go on sale this summer."

Young Americans Losing Their Religion - ABC News

Young Americans Losing Their Religion - ABC News: "New research shows young Americans are dramatically less likely to go to church -- or to participate in any form of organized religion -- than their parents and grandparents."

Explore the Spirit: The gospel according to Star Trek

Explore the Spirit: 424 Star Trek as the original "Nones"? Conversation with sci fi's Gabriel Mckee

AppleInsider | MacBooks sweep latest Consumer Reports scores

AppleInsider | MacBooks sweep latest Consumer Reports scores: "In a minor coup against Microsoft' claims of better value for money in Windows notebooks, Apple has earned the crown in Consumer Reports' latest computer study for its current generation of MacBooks -- as well as in tech support and, very nearly, desktops."

Searching for Value in Ludicrous Ideas - Allison Arieff Blog - NYTimes.com

Searching for Value in Ludicrous Ideas - Allison Arieff Blog - NYTimes.com: "This is a relentless age we’re living in, a time when innovative solutions — or any solutions, for that matter — to our seemingly infinite problems seem in short supply.

So how do we come up with new ideas? How do we learn to think outside of normal parameters? Are the processes in place for doing so flawed? Do we rely too much on computer models? On consultants? On big-idea gurus lauding the merits of tribes and crowds or of starfish and spiders? On Twitter?"

Lisa de Moraes on Television Changes in the Wake of the Recession - washingtonpost.com

Lisa de Moraes on Television Changes in the Wake of the Recession - washingtonpost.com: "How the lousy economy is affecting our favorite distraction from the lousy economy."

N.Y. Times to File Notice It Will Close Boston Globe - washingtonpost.com

N.Y. Times to File Notice It Will Close Boston Globe - washingtonpost.com: "The New York Times Co. said last night that it is notifying federal authorities of its plans to shut down the Boston Globe, raising the possibility that New England's most storied newspaper could cease to exist within weeks.

After down-to-the-wire negotiations did not produce millions of dollars in union concessions, the Times Co. said that it will file today a required 60-day notice of the planned shutdown under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law."

Explore the Spirit: The spiritual realms of "Star Trek"

Explore the Spirit: 422: Join us this week in a "fascinating" journey to spiritual realms of "Star Trek": "THE MOTHER SHIP of sci-fi-spiritual connections is beaming up yet another resurrection of this mythic tale that's been hovering around in global culture for 43 years. In other words: The latest 'Star Trek' movie opens this week! And it's going back to scratch for a look at 'Star Trek' origins. So plan ahead!"

Big-Screen e-Readers May Help Save Newspapers - NYTimes.com

Big-Screen e-Readers May Help Save Newspapers - NYTimes.com: "The iPod stemmed losses in the music industry. The Kindle gave beleaguered book publishers a reason for optimism.

Now the recession-ravaged newspaper and magazine industries are hoping for their own knight in shining digital armor, in the form of portable reading devices with big screens."

God Talk - Stanley Fish Blog - NYTimes.com

God Talk - Stanley Fish Blog - NYTimes.com: "In the opening sentence of the last chapter of his new book, “Reason, Faith and Revolution,” the British critic Terry Eagleton asks, “Why are the most unlikely people, including myself, suddenly talking about God?” His answer, elaborated in prose that is alternately witty, scabrous and angry, is that the other candidates for guidance — science, reason, liberalism, capitalism — just don’t deliver what is ultimately needed. “What other symbolic form,” he queries, “has managed to forge such direct links between the most universal and absolute of truths and the everyday practices of countless millions of men and women?”"

Frank Rich - Enough With the 100 Days Already - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Enough With the 100 Days Already - NYTimes.com: "BELIEVE it or not, there are Americans who have a “very negative” opinion of Barack Obama (13 percent, in the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll). Some are even angry at him (10 percent, New York Times/CBS News). As the First 100 Days hoopla started to jump the shark last week, I tried, as an experiment in empathy, to see the world through their eyes."

An invention that could change the internet for ever - News, Gadgets & Tech - The Independent

An invention that could change the internet for ever - News, Gadgets & Tech - The Independent: "The biggest internet revolution for a generation will be unveiled this month with the launch of software that will understand questions and give specific, tailored answers in a way that the web has never managed before."

Charles Blow - Defecting to Faith - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Defecting to Faith - NYTimes.com: "a study entitled “Faith in Flux” issued this week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life questioned nearly 3,000 people and found that most children raised unaffiliated with a religion later chose to join one. Indoctrination be damned. By contrast, only 4 percent of those raised Catholic and 7 percent of those raised Protestant later became unaffiliated.

(It should be noted that about a quarter of the unaffiliated identified as atheist or agnostic, and the rest said that they had no particular religion.)

So what was the reason for this flight of the unchurched to churches?"

First look: 'Iron Man 2' explores the unmasked life - USATODAY.com

First look: 'Iron Man 2' explores the unmasked life - USATODAY.com: "Tony Stark is out of the superhero closet, and it's no picnic.

The sequel to last summer's blockbuster, which began shooting three weeks ago and opens May 7, 2010, takes place six months after Stark revealed his identity as Iron Man, says director Jon Favreau. And the development is playing out with unexpected results. 'How many superheroes are open about their true identities?' he asks. 'We wanted to play with that idea. But it obviously has consequences — in his relationships, on the team. There are a lot of areas we can explore.'"

Majority of Weekly Churchgoers Dig Obama - The Brody File: David Brody Blog - CBN News

Majority of Weekly Churchgoers Dig Obama - The Brody File: David Brody Blog - CBN News: "New information from the latest Gallup Poll shows a majority of weekly Church attendees are happy with the job he’s doing.

Read below from Gallup:

During the 2008 presidential election between Obama and Republican John McCain, Gallup found a 20 percentage-point difference in likely voters' support for Obama between weekly church attenders and those who seldom or never attend church. According to Gallup Daily tracking right before the election, 61% of infrequent church attenders supported Obama, compared with only 41% of weekly attenders. However, since Obama became president, a solid majority of weekly church attenders have said they approve of the job he is doing. At the 100-day mark, that figure is 57%, compared with 69% of infrequent churchgoers."

Backpacker, Esquire, New Yorker, Wired Lead Subdued Ellies - Editorial @ FolioMag.com

Backpacker, Esquire, New Yorker, Wired Lead Subdued Ellies - Editorial @ FolioMag.com: "The 44th annual National Magazine Awards—a normally boozy, raucous affair—were held during a gala ceremony at Jazz @ Lincoln Center here Thursday.

But unlike other years, given the seemingly endless waves of layoffs, magazine closings and reports of hemorrhaging ad pages that have rocked the industry in the last 12 months, this didn’t feel like a celebration.

Backpacker, Esquire, Wired and the New Yorker led the awards field, winning three Ellies each."

Movie Review - X-Men Origins: Wolverine - I, Mutant, Red in Face and Claw - NYTimes.com

Movie Review - X-Men Origins: Wolverine - I, Mutant, Red in Face and Claw - NYTimes.com: "In the crowded pantheon of comic-book-derived movie-franchise superheroes, Wolverine, as embodied by the muscular Australian song-and-dance man Hugh Jackman, always seemed kind of special. A grouchy, sensitive loner with retractable metal claws and apparently unretractable facial hair, Wolverine brooded and growled through the first three “X-Men” pictures, helping to supply them (or at least the first two) with welcome grace notes of rough humor and macho pathos. And now “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” with its ungainly, geeky title and its relatively trim (under-two-hour) running time, helps explain just what makes this guy so intriguing and unusual."

Italian Technology Is Chrysler’s Hope for Revival - NYTimes.com

Italian Technology Is Chrysler’s Hope for Revival - NYTimes.com: "This time around, the Italian automaker is hoping to make a more favorable and lasting impression on American consumers, with much-improved, fuel-efficient cars that could roll off the assembly lines of its new partner, Chrysler, in as little as 18 months.

Fiat technology — which President Obama praised on Thursday at a news conference at the White House — will go into new Chryslers, broadening Chrysler’s lineup to include small and midsize cars. At the same time, the Fiat Group will introduce a few of its own cars, including Alfa Romeos, that are available only in Europe now."

What Disney-Hulu Means for Apple - BusinessWeek

What Disney-Hulu Means for Apple - BusinessWeek: "The growing popularity of free video-viewing site Hulu could test the viability of Apple's pay-as-you-go iTunes download business"