Monday, October 23, 2006

Dueling campaign commercials, courtesy of Rifftrax's Michael J. Nelson:

Perhaps at least one good thing will come from the existence of Justin Timberlake--Grey Kid is bringing Paxil back:
"Weird Al" Yankovic finally has an album in the top 10.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Ken Jennings discusses his appearance on 1 vs. 100. He confirms my opinion, that the show is heavily weighted against the mob. I did see one contestant lose, because he confused the Jessica who fell down a well with the Jessica who mocked Iraqi's genitalia [UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that I had Jessica Lynch confused with Lynndie England. I regret the error. But the important thing to note is, neither of these women fell down a well]. Members of the mob won a whopping $750 or so a piece, while the more successful individual contestants had winnings in the six-figures. It doesn't pay to be part of the mob (they didn't even pay Jennings' travel expenses, apparently).
CNN weighs in on Aldomania.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Freddy Fender, dead at 69. I only had the opportunity to see him perform once, at a free concert at Golden Acorn Casino. Not a bad show, but I would have loved to see him as part of Texas Tornados.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Randy Newman was on The Colbert Report last night, performing "Political Science" after his interview. To the best of my knowledge, this was Colbert's first musical guest to perform a song (he's had musicians on, but not to perform, though Neil Young tried to sing "Let's Impeach the President," but was quickly cut off by Colbert). Newman carried himself fairly well, I thought. I was hoping he would perform his new song, "A Few Words in Defense of My Nation," which he's been doing in concert, but maybe he feels it's not ready for a national audience yet. Besides, "Politcal Science" could practically be Colbert's theme song, the musical embodiment of the arrogance the show parodies four nights a week. And Not to give away the punchline, but at the end of their interview, when Newman explains the concept of the unreliable narrator in his songs, and that in "My Life is Good," he's merely pretending to be an obnoxious rich guy, Colbert, in a very meta moment, chastizes him, explaining, "Nobody wants to listen to somebody pretend to be an obnoxious rich person, and not mean what they say, sir." To which Newman, thinking back on his recent studio album sales, no doubt, responds, "I'll say!"

Friday, October 06, 2006

I. Nelson Rose analyzes the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Overall, my feeling that the law won't make a big difference is unchanged, but it still remains an open question as to how this will impact Neteller. It seems possible that government regulations developed in response to the new law could ban transactions with third-parties like Neteller as well as casinos, but time will tell. It is worth noting that the law changes nothing regarding the legality of placing on-line bets (the one breaking the law is the person taking the bet or facilitating the wagering, not the bettor). It is also worth noting that the bill was rushed through so quickly that at least one portion seems blatantly contradictory to the rest of the bill, and most likely is simply a typo, that, like the notion of corporations as people, shall now be the law of the land.
Joe Glazer, dead at 88.