Happy Wednesday!

It's as Wednesday as can be. When will summer relent? Tomorrow is the 1st official day of "FALL" and yet, we continue with consecutive 90 + degree days!! Slow news day locally as our Greenville, SC area newscasts keep broadcasting stuff that happened over the weekend. Not much going on on the ol interweb today either... Here's what I saw..

Ready for the "BlackPad"? Shares of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion rose 3% in early trading Wednesday on a report in the Wall Street Journal that the company's tablet computer will be out soon. The iPad competitor could be unveiled as early as next week at a developer's conference in San Francisco, the Journal reports, citing unnamed sources.

Blockbuster is expected to file for bankruptcy this week. For real.

Neat update and picture repost on the upcoming "re-imagination" for Godzilla:3D - http://www.aintitcool.com/node/46627

Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder is now a married man.

Virginia is slated to execute Teresa Lewis by lethal injection on Thursday, The Associated Press reported. The 41-year-old woman was sentenced to die after pleading guilty to capital murder for hiring two men to kill her husband and stepson so she could collect a $250,000 life insurance policy.

R.E.M. have just wrapped recording of their 15th album, which they're planning to release next spring. The band has teamed up with producer Jacknife Lee (U2, Bloc Party, Snow Patrol), who also produced the band's 2008 LP Accelerate.

Look for the new Orchestral Maneuvers in The Dark next week!! - September 28th. The new CD is called History of Modern. I'll review it ASAP.

Did ya see my review of the new Heart release, 'Red Velvet Car'? http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TYSMJ33GM7KD7QHJJRXCIOUKZQ/blog I’m working on getting better at these reviews- gimme feedback on what you hated or liked about the review or the CD

Italian authorities seized euro23 million ($30 million) from a Vatican bank account Tuesday and said they have begun investigating top officials of the Vatican bank in connection with a money-laundering probe.

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler will release a solo single called "Love Lives," which will serve as the theme for the upcoming Japanese movie "Space Battleship Yamato." Tyler, who penned the track after viewing the film's final battle scene, will release it in piano, instrumental and acoustic versions on Nov. 24.

Legendary blues guitarist Buddy Guy will release new album "Living Proof" on Oct. 26 via Silvertone/Jive, with guest spots by B.B King and Carlos Santana.

According to Whitney Matheson's "Pop Candy" Blog, A new Facebook campaign has started to get Stan Lee on Saturday Night Live.

Paris Hilton has been banned from Japan. The heiress cancelled her Asia tour to promote her fashion and fragrance lines and boarded a private jet back to Los Angeles after being denied entry at Tokyo's airport Wednesday following her drug violation in the U.S

Ryan Seacrest unveils the new "American Idol" lineup today LIVE at 1pm ET. The press conference will be streamed live, via the 'American Idol' website.

In case you haven't heard, the man who inspired the band name 'Lynyrd Skynyrd' has died.

Sir Anthony Hopkins has lost 75 lbs and is donating his "bigger" clothes to charity.

And finally --

On this day in history, Lincoln presented the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862- 35 years earlier and Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr. obtained the golden plates, a set of engraved plates that he said was his source material for the Book of Mormon.
Coincidence?

Happy Monday!

HAPPY MONDAY! What a busy day for me here at work. I'd better get started....

The Plane! The Plane!!! Jack's dead! Everybody's dead! Move on, now! It's estimated that over fifty people or MORE watched the end of ABC's "Lost" last night. YAWN!! Tonight, another Jack, Jack Bauer and Fox's '24'does the same. Probably over 100 people may check THAT out.

Frequent near death guy/ rock legend Bret Michaels was named the winner of NBC's 'Celebrity Apprentice' season 3, ousting finalist Holly Robinson Peete.

Paula Abdul is taking part in a special send-off for Simon Cowell that will be shown during the finale of American Idol this week.

Shrek 32 made a paltry $71 million dollars according to weekend estimates. Can you imagine the totals if they WEREN'T charging $10 or $15 a ticket for 3D? The below are tentative until Tuesday AM.
1. Shrek Forever After 3D (DWA/Par) NEW [4,359 Theaters]
Friday $20M, Saturday $29M, Weekend $72M
2. Iron Man 2 (Marvel/Paramount) Week 3 [4,177 Theaters]
Friday $7.8M, Saturday $11.4M, Weekend $26M, Cume $256M
3. Robin Hood (Universal) Week 2 [3,505 Theaters]
Friday $5.5M, Saturday $7.9M, Weekend $18.5M (-49%), Cume $66M
4. Letters To Juliet (Summit) Week 2 [2,975 Theaters]
Friday $3M, Saturday $3.7M, Weekend $9M (-34%), Cume $27.2M
5. Just Wright (Fox Searchlight/Fox) Week 2 [1,831 Theaters]
Friday $1.3M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $4.3M (-48%), Cume $14.7M
6. MacGruber (Rogue/Universal) NEW [2,551 Theaters]
Friday $1.6M, Saturday $1.5M, Weekend $4.1M
7. Date Night (Fox) Week 7 [1,869 Theaters]
Friday $1M, Estimated Weekend $3M, Estimated Cume $90M

Google has reinstated its Pac-Man game after removing it from the main page of google.com earlier Sunday. The game, which saw the “Google” logo embedded into a playable Pac-Man game board, had been put in place in honor of the legendary arcade game’s 30th anniversary. Although temporarily not available at all upon its removal from the Google homepage, Pac-Man can now be found – and played for free – at google.com/pacman.

37 year old Jose Lima, former MLB pitcher has died of an apparent heart attack at his home in Pasadena, Calif Sunday.

Three vehicles in a motorcade taking former President Bill Clinton to Yale University to give a speech on Sunday afternoon were involved in a minor accident, the Connecticut State Police said. One person was taken to a hospital with a minor injury. Later on Clinton told Yale seniors on Sunday to listen to people with whom they disagree in order to work together to resolve differences.

The space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station at 11:22 am New York time Sunday on its last scheduled mission in orbit after almost 25 years of service, NASA said. Weather permitting, it should return Wednesday.

It’s official: Britney Spears has just become the top Twitter account, surpassing longtime Twitter king Ashton Kutcher by a margin of a handful followers. Each account’s actual number of followers continues to fluctuate by the second, but Spears seems to be maintaining a tenuous lead.

Whitney Matheson at USA Today's Pop Candy blog is reporting that on On July 8 select theaters will start screening Grease, the 1978 musical starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. This time around, the release will show subtitles during the musical numbers, so audiences are encouraged to sing loudly and proudly.

FOX TV phenom "Glee" has been picked up for a 3rd season. I don't get it, but millions of other viewers/fans do.

Speaking of which, Google Inc. is attempting to answer the increasingly difficult question posed by television viewers faced with hundreds of programming choices: What should I watch? At the company's developer conference last week in San Francisco, Google predicted it would "change the future of television" with an effort to bring order to programming chaos in the same way that it organized the fire hose of information on the Web. Known as Google TV, the new television platform would allow viewers to access Internet content on their televisions in addition to traditional broadcast and cable programming. Despite bringing even more choice to the mix, Google is pitching the initiative as an easier way for audiences to find television shows and Internet content through a single search box instead of fumbling with remotes and on-screen programming guides.

Scream 4 has begun pre-production. It's rumored to star Ashley Greene and Hayden Panettiere along with the old standbys including Courteney Cox, Neve Campbell, Lake Bell, and David Arquette. Actress Lake bell and Rory Culkin are also rumored to be in this one.

Actor James Franco has been attached to the soon to begin production of the prequel "Planet of the Apes" re-launch. The story will take place in today's modern timeline.

Prince Edward, who at age 46 is seventh in line to the British throne behind his brothers Charles and Andrew and their children, flies to GreenVegas on Thursday and will stay here until the following Sunday, with several events on the agenda, including something he's never done before; roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. I hope they take him to "The Beacon" in Spartanburg.

That's all for now, see ya"ll later God willin'.

John

Thursday 3/11/10

Still feeling horrible today. Tomorrow, a doctor's visit for me- YAY!!!

The new software activation at work is going as well as can be expected.

Gonna take some time off in early April. Got a few options on how I'm gonna "take a break". I'm gonna try to leave the internet for a week. We'll see.

Sat through some of American Idol last night with my wife. I wonder how long it's gonna take before EVERYONE realizes the fix is in for the females this year. ALL fo the male singers this year are pretty sad.

Here are some internet stories that caught my eye way too early this morning.....

Yesterday, as the world learned of the death of one of the 'Corey's' Chuck Norris turned 70!!

Wanna be a 'Smashing Pumpkin'? Lead singer Billy Corgan is holding open auditions for new band members.

Remember "Faith No More"? They're reuniting this summer for a small east coast tour.

See the new trailer for "Tron: Legacy" yet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1IpPpB3iWI

What about the new Iron Man 2 trailer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hx6TEqrzHU

Paula Deen's sons are launching a food magazine for men. Why, I don't know.

Warner Bros. is launching development of an action adventure centered on Leonardo da Vinci and set it up with Adrian Askarieh through his Prime Universe banner and Roy Lee and Doug Davison at Vertigo Entertainment.

Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 20 years.

Father of the year award goes to a 51 year old New Jersey man with apocalyptic visions who is accused of terrorizing his family and raping his five daughters. He impregnated three of them. It's reported he beat his children with wooden boards and even moving at one point to avoid child welfare investigators.

And finally, it seems that even in old age, men seem to want sex more than women. According to an article published Wednesday in the journal BMJ (British Medical Journal), 67% of men ages 65 to 74 said they had been sexually active in the past year, compared with just 40% of women in that age group. Everyone knows young men think constantly about sex, but many guys remain interested in sex until they are almost dead: more than one-third of men ages 75 to 85 said they had sex in the past 12 months, compared with just 17% of women in that age group.

Weekend Television/ Radio

I don’t know about the rest of the US, but here in SC, the local television and radio programming here leaves a lot to be desired on the weekends. Otherwise, they do a very, very GOOD job.

Television consists of horrible educational morning cartoons, religious themed shows, and infomercials in between sporting events. This is especially bad in the afternoon hours. Radio has become one big infomercial with local real estate guys yucking it up and giving marginal real estate advice. We DO have a great local auto repair/info show on our ONLY major AM News/Talk radio channel here. It’s not hard being voted “the Best in the Upstate” when there’s little or no competition. That’s not a knock, that’s just what happens when you’re the best as what you do I suppose. I mean, may the good Lord help us if a major local event or accident occurs after 6pm on the weekdays or anytime during the weekend. Though I’m sure such measures are in place in case something DOES happen. I’m not preaching the highly unfair “fairness” doctrine or anything, I’d just like to see better alternatives locally that aren’t canned or produced elsewhere national content.

I'm of the opinion the local stations should open this time up for local variety programming. I don’t' mean infomercials for the local car lots or latest exercise or diet fads. Let the dozens of students at local broadcasting schools "intern" on these shows towards credit or just to simply hone their skills. Like an expanded version of both Kimberly Kelley’s daily shows.

I’d like to see some comedy/ improvisational shows or local comedy and drama put on by local groups or playwrights. Not just snippets to whet the appetite. The Greenville Little Theatre, the Warehouse Theatre, and The Café and Then Some Players, or other groups of people would be PERFECT for this. I’d LOVE to see local music shows. Personally, Gene Berger and Horizon Records could produce a GREAT weekly show. The Handlebar would be a good setting for local music as well. Shows featuring “Greenville After Dark” or something else cheesy could and would be fun. I understand that there are pretty much a couple of local cable TV channels dedicated to local public affairs programming, I’m writing about local “entertainment” programming,

It seems that the local broadcasting stations are trying to implement a lot of viewer content into their websites or news broadcasts. I’d like to see this broaden. For example: Channel 4 ‘s High School Playbook, while a more comfortable format with the intent of utilizing more local reporting, it lacks the flavor of the original or former “Friday Night Hits” in my opinion.

Other local channels like My40 or the CW- Channel 62, are making gains in the public promotion and information arena- I’d like to see them to more local entertainment. I love seeing the the Greenville Drive games..

But alas, the almighty dollar speaks loudly like it or not and the bottom line is advertising revenue for the local broadcasters. They can’t pay their bills or operate on “good programming” alone. I find it hard believe that advertisers would rather pay for a movie of the week or extreme bicycling in Thailand than local stuff. Of course, these commercials are probably just satisfying other contractual commitments for or by the networks. Until I win the lottery and get a chance to sposor a locally produced show, I’ll have ot be content with the “To Be Announced” or old sponsored movie of the week on Television or the usual infomercials on the radio on the weekends.

No wonder people are going to the internet in droves!!

CRAZY Monday Afternoon Goings On

In SHOCKING, NO! REALLY!?!?!?! news (thanks Keith Larson)

Sarah Palin has officially joined the Fox News Network in a variety of roles on the Business and News sides of the network. Fox News said that while Ms Palin would not have her own program, she would appear on the channel on a regular basis as part of a multi-year deal.

Mark McGwire finally came clean Monday, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball's home run record in 1998.

Simon Cowell has confirmed today that this IS his last year on "American Idol". He's bringing his English show, the "The X Factor" here to the states for Fox. This puzzles me as he already produces the same show formula but as an American version of the show on NBC called "America's Got Talent".

Many news outlets are reporting that the current host of "The Tonight Show" is very upset. Five months after relocating his family, his company, and everything else in his life to Los Angeles, Conan O'Brien is reportedly ready to leave NBC over talks to move Jay Leno back to his old spot on the late-night lineup. I don't blame him. The REAL winner of this is Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly (yes, he's STILL on TV).

in NOT so SHOCKING! NO! REALLY?!?!?! news:

While (not because of) production on Spider Man 4 is temporarily delayed, Marvel Studios has begun production on Kenneth Brannaugh's "Thor" movie- TODAY actually. Nathalie Portman will play the love interest in this.

Whitney over at USA Today's Pop Candy is reporting that Stan Lee will guest star on The Big Bang Theory

Slash says he has turned down millions to reunite with Guns N' Roses.

Another Star Trek movie concerning the NEW timeline and new kids on the bridge is set for a 2012 release.

In other stuff,

5.China's online game revenues hits $4 billion in 2009. The US in 2009 had about $1 billion

Former NBA star Jayson Williams, his personal life in shambles, took responsibility for accidentally shooting his limousine driver to death eight years ago by pleading guilty Monday to assault and agreeing to serve at least 18 months in prison.

While Marvel sues to keep it's main comic book characters, it's also suing to invalidate the Kirby family's copyright claims. In a lawsuit filed today in New York City, lawyers for Marvel assert that Kirby's work for the company was "for hire," invalidating the claims of the heirs.

Simon Cowell will leave "American Idol": report - Yahoo! News

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Simon Cowell will leave "American Idol": report
Tue Dec 22, 5:56 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell has decided to quit the top-rated TV talent show when his contract ends in 2010, according to a report in British tabloid The Sun, which would deal a blow to the Fox network.

Cowell, 50, has been with the TV juggernaut since the start of "American Idol" in 2002 but his contract expires after the end of Season 9, which starts in January and ends in May 2010, and in the past he has hinted at being bored with his role.

His insults to tone-deaf singers are a key factor in luring viewers to the competition that over the past three years has seen its ratings slip, and this season already sees the departure of another original judge, popular Paula Abdul.

Cowell's brother Tony, who hosts a weekly radio podcast called "The Cowell Factor", said in a broadcast on Tuesday that Simon was preparing for his last season of "Idol".

"A press statement is being prepared which will confirm what everyone expected -- Simon will leave 'Idol' at the end of 2010 to concentrate on bringing the American version of 'The X Factor' to US TV in 2011," Tony Cowell claimed, according to Britain's Sun newspaper.

The Sun, like Fox television, is part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp media empire. The podcast could not be found later on Tuesday. The Sun report said Tony Cowell had "blurted out the claim" and that the podcast had since been removed.

Cowell's publicist and the Fox network in Los Angeles, where "Idol" is produced, both said they had no comment on the reports. Cowell, who has his own record label and produces three other TV talent shows, hinted repeatedly earlier this year that he was growing bored with his stint on "Idol".

Abdul quit earlier this year, and she will be replaced on the upcoming season by talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

While still America's most-watched TV show, "Idol" audiences slipped in 2009 to an average 26.3 million per twice weekly episode from a high of about 30.8 million in 2006.

Cowell, one of the biggest earners on U.S. television, spoke in a British magazine interview earlier this month of his plans to bring his own "The X Factor" British talent show to Las Vegas in a global pay-per-view Internet venture.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)


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