Excellent news for Jeff Shoemaker.

I really liked Players. Sure, everything there was deepfried, even the soda cups, but the food was palatable, and selecting it as a destination was a surefire way to get Shoemaker to agree to have lunch with you.

So I haven't been online in a while. Sorry about that.

Monday night I was sick and in bed by 8:00pm. I have no idea what was wrong with me. It may be something is going around the office, but I'm not sure. Anyway, no blogging when I'm asleep.

Tuesday night I was preoccupied, and that brings us to tonight.

Well, not so much preoccupied tonight, and I feel fine (for a guy who ate McDonald's for dinner). I am a bit down, however. My PC at work got the blue screen of death and it's deader than a doornail. Luckily I backed all my docs up to DVDs last week in an unrelated incident. I'm supposed to be getting a new Latitude PC, but it's going to take a while, so in the meantime I'm stuck using a computer which isn't mine. It just happens to be that the laptop I'm using doesn't have a DVD drive. Which means, you guessed it, I can't use my files.

Ugh. It's really depressing.

Watched part of the Peter Jennings 2-hour, commercial-free tribute on ABC tonight, and part of me was wondering when, exactly, ABC started producing this thing. Jennings just died over the weekend. I've worked in video production. Even with several people working simultaneously, I find it enormously surprising that the special wasn't pre-produced to some extent. It's a morbid thought, but one is forced to consider the idea that ABC started working on this documentary the minute Jennings announced he had cancer.

This morning, for various reasons, I didn't go into work until almost 11:00. This meant that I was at home watching Headline News while eating my Cheerios during normal working hours. Now, after the re-vamp of Headline News back around 2000, I sort of quit taking Headline News seriously. I miss the format of Lynne Russell staring into the camera for hours on end and reading AP releases.

So, I can't tell you how irritated and disillusioned I've become with the NEW Headline News. The primetime hours during which I used to watch are now filled with two shows (shows? On Headline News?) One show is Showbiz news, officially throwing CNN in with E! network and Entertainment Tonight and lowering the collective IQ of the country. The other show is Nancy Grace, and the less said about that lunatic, the better.

One wonders what they would do if we had a war on. Wait....

This leaves about 18 hours a day for news. News which is about 30% entertainment news, and mostly reported by spokesmodels with very nice hair.

And this is where I get back to Peter Jennings and why I shall miss him.

This morning Headline News was covering President Bush's signing of the new transportation bill (a bill which I have no opinion of, and could honestly care less), and part of the story centered around a lot of pork added to the bill as riders benefitting local rep's districts, etc... Of course, it was mentioned that there were "critics of the bill", but no party affiliation or names were named. However, it WAS mentioned that "critics of the bill" felt that there was a lot of pork on the bill.

At the conclusion of the story, CNN News Bunny Kathleen Kennedy rolls her eyes and says "there's always critics". And not in a "ha ha, there's always someone out there who doesn't like something" sort of way. It was pretty clear that Ms. Kennedy is just sick and tired of all these people who keep bugging the President.

Dear Kathleen Kennedy:

Your job is to read the teleprompter, look grave when discussing death and smile as we go to commercial. Try not to @#$% it up.

Love,

The League


The reason we call journalists "The 4th Estate" isn't because it sounds awesome (because it sort of does), it's because in a world of shady bastards posing as electable do-gooders, we're lucky enough to live in a country where the press got it's groove on by taking pot shots at the shadier dealings of the elected shady bastards. It has long been expected that political decision makers are kept in check not just by the 3 branches of government, but by our belief that citizens (journalists) can peer into a transparent government and question decision making.

I'm a firm believer that journalists are supposed to be making waves and looking for corruption and vice. Despite party affiliations, journalists should be responsible for covering a story in its entirety, including voices of dissent. And they should be able to try to reporty upon the facts without editorial comment. If the facts of what they're trying to report on aren't enough, then the story doesn't stand on it's own.

I'm not sure I mourn just Peter Jennings, but the Edward R. Murrow school of journalism. It's not enough that the major networks are going to continue to slash the budgets of their news agencies in the face of the 24-hour news channel. But the big three knew they weren't just serving one political side of the fence or the other, they made an effort to stick to straight-forward reporting for the entire country.

All journalists are guilty of selecting stories which slant to their point of view. But that shouldn't change the fundamental nature of the journalist's job. Having a point of view is human nature, but it's also why we have editors and editorial boards. And it's also why journalists should try to be twice as hard on politicians with whom they feel they can support.

We're now getting our news from talking heads whose greatest aspiration was NOT to be a journalist, but to be a face on television. With the same pie of money cut into a million slices, journalistic ethics and standards are a liability in the battle for audience share. After all, news and anchors that match and reinforce preconceived notions rather than challenge the common wisdom turn out to be a big draw. Especially when they paint opinion and spin as unvarnished truth.

In any event, the role of an anchor shouldn't be to hear a news story and then dismiss part of the story out of hand because they don't find it convenient. Try not to look like you just rolled out of bed, read your teleprompter and go home. Collect a pay-check every two weeks. Your job is pretty simple.

And before everyone comes down on me like a ton of bricks saying that I wouldn't be saying this if I agreed with Kathleen Kennedy, I most assuredly would. It's the same reason I don't get my news from Al Franken, and I try to get my news from wire reports instead of television to begin with.

I know I'm in the minority, but I'd gladly pay extra for a cable news channel which did nothing but go back to Headline News' original format. Give me Lynne Russell and thirty minutes of the same stories in rotation all night long. I'm up for that.

I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more.

Ah, the studios just can't help themselves.

The trailer is now up for the theatrical release of V for Vendetta.

You can watch it here.

Make sure you have QuickTime.

Before I write anything else on the topic, I need to re-read V. It's been several years. But it certainly wasn't an action filled romp when last I checked.

Singer Ibrahim Ferrer of the Buena Vista Social CLub is dead at age 78.

Read more here.

ABC news anchor Peter Jennings is dead at the age of 67.

Read more here.

Peter Jennings was a favorite of mine of the big three. He cemented this standing during his steady coverage of the events of September 11th, 2001.

An excellent newsman. TV news is a poorer place without him.

The League Presents:
The League taste-tests the new BK Chicken Fries

Chickens. Small barnyard birds we like to consume by the bucketfull.

We grill them, we broil them, we fry them up. McDonalds took the lead in chicken reprocessing with the introduction of the chicken nugget way back in the day. Other fast food chains have tried to keep up, all with middling success.

But Burger King has taken it up a notch. Enjoy french fries? Enjoy chicken? Why not enjoy both in one greasy little package?

Perhaps you've seen the BK adds with the chicken-themed metal band, KoqRoq? Well, I'm a bitch for good advertising, and so off to the BK voyaged The League.

Oh, a forwarning. I do not have mouth herpies. I had a weird zit near my lip today and it shows a lot more in these photos than in natural light.


Here is our meal. You can see 2 drinks, 2 sets of regular french fries, 2 burgers and 1 box of BK Chicken Fries. We're anticipating not liking the chiken fries, but we don't think that means we should go hungry.


Here is a box of chicken fries. On the off-chance they're really, really good, we spent a few extra cents and got 9 fries instead of 6.


Not a good sign. You can pretty clearly see the grease lining the box. The fries are smaller than I expected.


In the spirit of the Pepsi Holiday challenge, we tried to pose Jeff near the chicken fries. Jeff refused to recognize the fries as food. True, he doesn't care much for people food as a rule, but when it's deep fried beyond recognition, Jeff would rather play with the straws on the cups.


Jamie steps up to the plate to model the fries and give you a size comparison.


One must always first smell the new food item to get the taste buds ready for that which you are about to consume. The box does little to mask the odor which has been tailing us since we grabbed the bag at the drive-thru.


Free of the box, the fries' pungent smell assaults the senses. Not as bad as I'd assumed.


Taste.
The chicken fries aren't as bad as I'd assumed at first. It's an odd blend of fast-food chicken, french fries and grease. It's tempting to add salt, but I'd be afraid that the chicken fries would dissolve like slugs.


The texture is sort of mushy. Not melt in your mouth mushy like french fries. You certainly do need to chew. Ah, delicious.


The sauce. The name of the sauce is "Buffalo Sauce". Jeff, once again, is completely uninterested.


The color is frightening, as if plucked right from the palettes of hell. The smell isn't anything to get excited about, either.


The smell is really getting to me. Every fiber of my being tells me not to taste this sauce.


My fiber is right. The sauce is inedible. There's some vague sense that it was supposed to be wing sauce, and one is left wondering "why"? The fries have not the taste, texture or feeling of wings, and there's no beer in sight. The buffalo sauce is a false promise made all the more foul by tasting like special sauce with sick in it.


And so endeth my experience with the sauce.


Once again, Jamie steps up to the plate.


Jamie has a very, very different reaction to the fries.


Jamie chooses a different lunch.


Bwah ha ha. the fries are mine and mine alone.


Full disclosure, with a whooper w/ cheese and chicken fries both available, I opted for the whopper. I would think that would tell you something. Also, the fries found their way into the trashcan right behind the sauce. Once the fries cooled down, they just weren't as palatable.

The League votes the chicken fries experience a 3 or 4 out of a 10 on the fast food scale. Oh, and a complete abomination to all of chicken kind.

Hola amigos. It's been a while since I rapped at ya.

Well, I don't have much to report. The League has been a busy bee, and after reading a stack of comics the last two nights, the League wanted nothing more than to toss himself headfirst into bed and wish for the cold grip of death to claim me. Wait, no... That's not right.

Anyway, I've been neglecting my duties here at The League.

It's tough to come up with new ideas, but I'm not here to bitch. I'm just saying... I'm a little dry right at the moment. I'd probably default to writing about comics, but, Leaguers, I'm not sure that too many of you guys stick with me when you see a post on, oh, say, why the JSA is awesome. Or do you?

Anyway, it's kept me from popping up with much this week.

Here's something: For more than a month I've been keeping a log of what I eat for lunch. Why? I haven't the faintest. Anyway, the blog is Lunchtime with The League.

You will notice that 1) Tempe has a terrific number of places to eat. 2) I go out very, very often for lunch.

I just have never really liked eating at my desk, but it does happen. I usually just feel like I've got to get some fresh air and sunlight.

Anyway, it's not engaging reading, but it is out there.

I'm also toying with the idea for yet another blog entitled "The Chandlerist". You know how other people will take photos of their town and talk about all the fun crap there is to do in their town? I want to do one of those about Chandler, AZ. Why? Chandler is the most @#$%ing fun place in the world. People keep telling me that, anyway. Someone needs to keep track of how awesome this place is.


Has anyone else seen the new Coke commercial based on the hippy Coke commercial from 1971? They kidnapped a bunch of kids from around the globe and put a bottle of Coke in their hands and forced them to sing in Ingles.

Hilltop Coke commercial

I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I'd like to give the world a Coke
and keep it company

The commercial ran for YEARS, and was one of my earliest memories.

Every few years someone decides to "update" the concept, with varying degrees of success.

Now there's a new commercial for the 'ought's. It's just a bunch of models, you know, hanging out... just chilling on a roof in the NYC area. And, you know, they've sort of turned the Coke song into a rap. And, you know, they're chilling and singing.

There is a short version of the commercial is on TV, but there's an extended version showing at my local theater. I can't seem to find it online.

I'm not sure the original version is this pure thing which can never be touched. It is, after all, sort of co-opting the visual cues of the counter culture movement used for pushing a corporate product into every corner of the world under the auspices of peace and love.

But, you can say it did give us all a memorable campfire tune.

Re: The new version

It's sort of the "photocopy of a photocopy" effect you get when a commercial's greatest strength is it tries to make you recall the first cynically produced commercial in hopes you'll place the same good feelings upon their new, even more cynically produced commercial.

The new one doesn't have ugly people in it. It's just models lip-synching. Nor did they even bother to fly in some dude from New Guinea and some chick from Indonesia. They just went down to the local talent agent and had them send over some good looking 20 year olds after they were done with a Calvin Klein commercial.

Sigh.

At any rate, no matter how bad it gets, it's probably nowhere near as bad as most of Pepsi's advertising.

Oh, and I'm watching Hogan Knows Best on VH1.

Hulk just said, with absolutely no sense of irony:

Without Rocky III, Hulkamania wouldn't have been able to grow into the strongest force in the universe.

You know, Peabo and I saw Hulk wrestle in 9th grade. Screw electromagnetism, screw gravity and the strong and weak forces. Hulkamania IS the strongest force in the universe.