Comparison: ESPN vs. NFL

ESPN says Stephen A. Smith will not appear for a week on their TV show "First Take" or his radio show because of comments he made that implied some women provoke domestic violence. The comments were in the wake of the NFL suspending Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for two games for beating up his fiancee (now his wife).

So...knock out your woman and drag her unconscious body out of a hotel elevator? Miss two games.
Talk about it in a stupid manner? Miss ten "games."

I'm so glad the NFL and Roger Goodell have educated us on the correct levels of punishment for dastardly acts.





(These two clips should actually be connected into one, as they were part of the same scene. This won't be a problem in a few months.)

Too Long For Twitter: Credit Union Surprise

In the last month or so I've been using my debit/ATM card for purchases instead of running to the machine to withdraw cash. I used my credit union's app to transfer money from saving to checking via phone and then paid for food, etc. with the debit card. So convenient, right? Except I noticed today these $1.00 fees on my list of transactions in the last few days. It turns out that I get ten free ATM withdrawals and POS (point-of-sale) transactions per month. After that, it's $1.00 each.

Granted, credit unions are much, much better than the big banks, but still, this bothers me. If the point of the card is to keep people from having to run into the bank and get money from a teller, and to not have to process a paper check to pay for things, then why shouldn't debit card sales be free of transactions?

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go withdraw enough cash to tide me over for a while.

Too Long For Twitter: Nashville Teens

Hi. Remember me? I hope so. I also hope to actually blog more often, but I've said that before. Anyway, I started to tweet this but I can't fit it into 140 characters, so...

Ever hear a song and think it's great, find out the artist and song title and put it on a list of songs you want to download, and then don't do so for quite some time and then, after a long time passes, you win 25 free downloads from a Coke Zero promotion and start downloading songs from that list, see the song and wonder what the hell this is, so you listen to it and you don't really care for it much and wonder why you put it on the list to begin with, and then you check Wikipedia and find that it was featured over the closing credits of a "Mad Men" episode in 2010?

Presenting "Tobacco Road" by Nashville Teens...

Today's Sports Sexism

Sports on television has always catered to the straight male audience, whether it's the camera shots of cheerleaders or the predominantly young female sideline reporters. So naturally this makes sense.

As a result of the Comcast takeover of NBC Universal, Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia's nightly "SportsNite" show now includes a brief weather update from NBC10. I'm not sure if the NBC10 staffer delivering the weather on CSN is the same every night, but my guess is if it's not, one staffer gets the majority of these updates. And that would be tonight's star, Sheena Parveen...

I mean, really, if you're a straight man wouldn't you rather get a weather update from her than from Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz?

Jackson Family Horror Show

The stuff that's going on with this story over the last few days is just sad. These siblings trying to get control of Michael Jackson's estate away from his mother, trying to make a grab for money at the expense of Michael's children, clearly have no shame. These poor kids are going to have enough trouble living a relatively normal life as it is, let alone having these "adults" fighting over their future.

And what really bothers me is that Janet is involved. I can see losers like Jermaine and Randy being involved, but Janet? She used to be the one who, in her days when she sang about being in "Control," seemed to be almost normal. I wonder what her financial situation is like now? She hasn't had much of a career in quite a few years. Has she squandered her fortune? Or is she just plain greedy?

TLFT: Wish I Got It On Video

Another quickie that won't fit into 140 characters...

This sight struck me as slightly surreal, but by the time I decided to act on my impulse to capture it on video it was too late.

On my way home from work I stopped at a Rite Aid, and after I went back to the corner to catch the bus for the rest of my trip home, a really nice convertible, top down, pulls up to the corner.

The driver looked like he wouldn't have been out of place on "Jersey Shore." Sleeveless t-shirt, muscled arms, wearing the headgear the guy in this picture is wearing.

The music is pumping out of the speakers -- not excessively loud but plenty clear enough. Was it some heavy metal song, or fist-pumping club jam?

Nope.

"Rumour Has It" by Adele.

TLFT: Drag Race Finale (No Spoiler)

I started to post this to Twitter but then I realized it needs a little more room to breathe. ;-)

Knowing they taped the ending of the "RuPaul's Drag Race" reunion/coronation three times, one for each of the finalists, made the eventual announcement of the winner tonight somewhat anticlimatic -- especially when the actual winner wasn't the one filmed first, based on EW.com's on-the-scene report, and thus didn't get the most genuine audience reaction. (Don't click on the link if you want to go completely unspoiled.) I can understand taking precautions to prevent the news from being leaked, as apparently happened last season, but to me it really took away from my enjoyment of the show. Not to mention I'm still ticked off that the winner wasn't revealed last week. First there was "The Glee Project" finale, in which every finalist won something, and now "Drag Race," in which nobody won, at least not on the "final" episode. What's next? Annoucing the winner on the first episode and then running the show in reverse?

I will say the choice was interesting. I had no real favorite so I'm not overly pleased or displeased either way.

Oh, and the reason Willam got kicked off? Yawn. Seriously.

Too Long For Twitter: Today's Random Advice

Not "Not Nicki Minaj"...in other words, the real deal

Confidential to "Not Nicki Minaj" on the Broad Street Subway this week: in order to avoid having someone tell you that you look like Nicki Minaj, which angered you so much you spent the next 15 minutes screaming about it and making your fellow commuters' rides a nightmare, please avoid wearing pink hair (wig or dye job, not sure which you had), short-shorts and long fishnet pantyhose. Thank you, and have a nice day.

Too Long For Twitter: Stand Back, Philadelphia...

...because you oughta know whatcha gonna get in me: just a little touch of star quality!

Yep, the Evita song "Buenos Aires" is stuck in my head this morning. (The classic Patti LuPone Broadway original, that is, not the Madonna movie version or that "Glee" thing the other night.) And this, on a little more than 3 hours' sleep after having a rather tough week. This could be an interesting day.

Speaking of star quality, my friend Kurt was fantastic last night in his featured role in the Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus holiday concert, "Nutcracker: A Tale of Sugar Plum Fairies." There are two more shows, this afternoon and tonight. Go see it.

I hope to see a movie today, and if so, tell you about it more promptly than I did with the ones I saw recently.

For now, I leave you with this: Justin Timberlake's musical comeback hit has already been written for him...

Too Long For Twitter: 76ers, NBA Returning?

So there's a tentative deal to end the NBA lockout, which would give us pro basketball on Christmas Day. Yay? I suppose it depends on the details. Will the terms of the agreement allow the NBA to become a truly competitive and interesting league again?

But if it does happen, I suppose I'll have a fall/winter team to actively care about again. DeSean Jackson and Wayne Simmonds have kind of ruined their teams for me right now, so as long as no 76ers have made an anti-gay comment recently...umm, maybe I shouldn't hold my breath on this one...

Too Long For Twitter: Joe Jonas' Album Sales

Really, this is more about the mess that is today's music industry. The debut solo album by Joe Jonas sold just 18,000 copies in its first week. Amazingly weak.

Yet that was good enough to be number 15 on the Billboard 200 top albums chart. 15. That's practically a top-10 debut, which used to be a big deal!

I guarantee that if Joe Jonas announced that he's gay (and I'm not saying he is or isn't because I have no idea) he'd have sold a lot more albums. A lot more.

Oh, all right, you talked me into it. Here's Joe and Nick on the beach, and Nick in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform showing off his best asset.

Leg Update, Plus...

It doesn't look like this now

So this morning I was at the surgeon's office about my leg. Basically, we're doing nothing. The doctor feels it is continuing to heal on its own. He said the ultrasound I had last month indicated I'm having a girl the area with fluid measured only about an inch and to him it looked smaller than that today. He also said that if he did an incision to drain fluid it might prolong the healing process or make my leg worse. Since it doesn't bother me or impede me in any way, and there's no danger of a blood clot or anything like that, for now we're just going to let it go on clearing up. I can always go back if it does get worse somehow.

Meanwhile, something important has happened (that I tried to post to Twitter and Facebook this morning but the text disappeared, like my Outfest videos, into the Ether of Technological Incompetence). Before the doctor saw me, my vitals, height, weight, etc. were checked. And either I've been incorrectly measured my entire adult life, I was mismeasured today...or I've grown a half-inch taller, to 6 feet 1 1/2 inches. So now I'm going to say I'm 6' 2." Sounds a little more impressive, eh?

Too Long For Twitter: Arrested Development? Really?

Can't believe I'm writing this while Game 2 of the Phils-Cards NLDS playoff is on, but I need to do it while it's fresh in my mind...

There's yet more talk, perhaps as definitive as it's ever been, that the TV series "Arrested Development" is making a comeback. In the works, possibly: a movie and some more TV episodes.

What I want to know is: why?

Isn't this throwing good money after bad for whatever production companies would put together the financing? The show was always low-rated. That's why it was canceled. Is there any evidence that anyone, other than Entertainment Weekly and the same small cult that has been clamoring for it from the beginning, is even interested? I know I'm not.

Too Long For Twitter: "Whitney"

So a few minutes ago while I was finishing up some reading, I had the TV tuned to some college football game but I wasn't really interested. So I decided to see what else could be on in the background. I saw that the new sitcom "Whitney," starring Whitney Cummings (see photo) was on NBC, and decided to check it out. It started promisingly, with the hairy-chested boyfriend (Chris D'Elia, also see photo) joining the title character in the shower.

Then they opened their mouths and began to speak, and ruined everything.

Too Long For Twitter: Netbook Part Deux

I'm so confused and frustrated. Help! I previously wrote about how I want to buy a netbook or laptop before my trip to California (which is next week already). In checking various websites (and going into a couple of stores) I'm just not completely satisfied with any of them. Either they're too expensive or they have issues:

• Too large to easily carry on the plane (or anywhere else) with my backpack
• Only 1 GB of memory (I've seen a lot of comments on different pages saying that 2 GB or more is better)
• Includes Windows 7 Starter instead of Windows 7 Home Premium (almost all comments say the Starter edition is really bad)
• Out of stock
• Not sold in the store and it can't be shipped in time for my trip unless I pay a high price
• And probably one or two other things I'm forgetting at the moment

The cheapest I've seen is a Gateway netbook sold at Best Buy for $199.99, and on its site it has surprisingly decent reviews from customers. I'm thinking I should either settle for it (even though it's one of those with the 1 GB memory and Windows 7 Starter) or get nothing at all. But it's gonna be a serious pain in the ass to carry the old laptop with me.

Too Long For Twitter: Netbook Edition

There's a part of me that, despite my current financial status, really wants to buy a new netbook or laptop before my trip next month. The laptop I have is NINE YEARS OLD. I bought it before I went to Baltimore on a temporary work assignment (I ended up staying down there for nine months). It's on its second hard drive, which I somehow managed to install by myself. The disc drive doesn't work any more. The battery life is pretty poor. And it's not very light. I have to take it on the plane in my carry-on bag because, as old as it is, it still would probably disappear from my checked bag.

A new laptop (or netbook) would be a lot easier to carry. But, just like my old TV that still refuses to die so I would be forced to buy a new HDTV, I'm not sure I should buy one if the old one still functions (at least well enough).

If you want to talk me into (or out of) buying it, feel free to comment.

And don't forget to vote for me for the CBSPhilly.com Most Valuable Blogger awards. Click on the image at right. Thank you!

Dear Charlie Sheen: GO AWAY.

Whatever Charlie Sheen is trying to prove, appearing on at least four different TV shows as well as TMZ.com today and tomorrow, it's not doing anything except pissing me off. Between mentions on Twitter and Facebook and about a hundred blog posts on EW.com -- for once, Entertainment Weekly's abbreviation is apt, and would be even more on target if the magazine were renamed Entertainment World Weekly -- I'm completely sick of him and his story. Apparently he's passed a drug test, which would seem to discount my theory that he didn't spend nearly enough time in rehab. If he is clean, though, then I can't help but wonder if he may have some mental health-related issues. In either case, someone who truly cares about him (in other words, someone besides the porn stars and others clearly latching onto him for money or fame) needs to get him help.

And if he doesn't have those issues, then he's just acting like a complete jackass, and should be ashamed -- as should the TV "news" shows giving him their time. Charlie, take your porn stars/hookers/whatever and GO AWAY.

Talk About A Misleading Headline

There are all these news stories today -- well, one story but with articles on many different websites -- that have a similarly-written headline: "'Ugly Betty' actor kills mother with samurai sword." Yet, if you read the article you find that the guy who is accused to hacking his mother with said samurai sword isn't one of the actual male stars, but some guy who had a bit part in one episode (as well as another bit part in the movie "Step Up 3D."

Apparently these parts were so small that he doesn't even have a listing at IMDB.com (the Internet Movie Database, in case you didn't know).

So, is this just an attempt by headline writers to get people to read the article? Isn't "Man hacks mother to death with samurai sword" or "Aspiring actor fatally attacks mom with samurai" enough? Or is this just lazy headline-writing?

More Helpful Twitter Hints

Here are a couple more of my Twitter pet peeves. If you use Twitter, and especially if I am one of your followers, please begin following these instructions immediately. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

First, if you have a story to tell, do NOT use six or eight or ten consecutive tweets to tell it. With the number of accounts I read, and since the timeline starts with most recent posts, your story is being told backwards and with large gaps between tweets. Those gaps are filled with other, and often more interesting, tweets. If you want to write a story, start a blog already and post a link to it.

Also, regarding "Follow Fridays," don't make posts recommending EVERY ONE of your 483 followers. I don't need to see posts like "#ff @lugioretur @oasdgiogf @apfuweiou @poidugio @aseuggirgvv @potgysdgrgr @qweiggrho"* over and over and over and over and over. And if you're going to give reasons to recommend someone, such as "#ff @JoeInPhilly 'cuz he's really smart and cool and funny and great in bed"** do it just a few times and not a few DOZEN. Make "Follow Fridays" something special and worthwhile. If you just throw up a bunch of names I'm not going to pay attention.

*not actual Twitter accounts

**actual Twitter account, and a 100 percent accurate description as well. Especially the part about being great in bed. Don't believe me? Prove me wrong, boys, prove me wrong.

Random Bullying/Purple/Gay Thoughts

I can't quite bring myself to blog about the current plight of the Phillies just yet. So let me instead address a couple of things related to the continuing response to the LGBT teens that committed suicide recently after being bullied, and one item that's more about being gay in general.

First, a tweet that I've kept as a "favorite" on my Twitter page for a while now waiting to use it somewhere. (Just for the record, I use the "favorite" button in Twitter as a bookmark; for example, when I'm out and checking Twitter from my phone, if there's a post that includes a link to a pic or article, I'll "favorite" it and then check out the link later at home.) Now seems as good a time as any for this. It's from Cole Escola of Logo's "Jeffery & Cole Casserole."

Of course, I agree with the sentiment. But I also think that if a bully is constantly taking lunch money, that "kid with glasses" might also feel that he or she is being tortured. Any kid that gets bullied on a daily basis for whatever reason is being tortured. But there's something especially evil when kids are being bullied because of their sexual orientation, perceived or actual. Just about all parents would tell their kids it's wrong to pick on someone because they wear glasses. Or because they're overweight (of course, our society is getting more and more overweight so at some point, unless radical steps are taken to get kids to eat healthy and exercise, maybe it'll just be skinny kids who are bullied). Or a lot of other reasons. But you don't have scumbag politicians and preachers telling people they're immoral and they're going to hell because they're fat or nearsighted, and the parents don't pass on those beliefs to their kids.

So, as I wrote yesterday,