Dictum Ridiculum - April 2004

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Dictum Ridiculum: April 2004

Archived rants and raves from the main page of the Colin Campbell Network.

Thursday, April 22, 2004
My Responsibilities as an ESPN Viewer
Boy, it's tough to watch ESPN sometimes. Especially when it strays from its primary mission: coverage of live sporting events and news from the world of sports.
I've always thought ESPN is at its worst when its programming is about ESPN, and the recently concluded reality-show Dream Job, where unqualified people from across the nation competed for a chance to win a one-year contract as a SportsCenter anchor, was the nadir of navel-gazing.
But apparently, the head honchos at ESPN have decided their viewers like to be more "involved" in network decisions, such as talent hiring. In a Zap2It story called ESPN Dreams of Second 'Dream Job', we find an ESPN VP defending his abdication of basic broadcasting responsibilities thusly:

"Dream Job's success showed us that our viewers are receptive to the reality show genre when it's done the right way," says Mark Shapiro, ESPN executive vice president, programming and production. "The overwhelming consensus is that viewers want the chance to decide who we put on our air, and we enjoy giving it to them."
Of course he enjoys giving it to them! That way, when things don't work out, and the ratings are low, and the no-or-low-talent hack who wins the sportscasting "Dream Job" is canned, Mark is in no way responsible -- it's the viewer's fault for selecting the schlub in the first place!
ESPN loves this kind of faux-involvement, though. You can't make it through an ESPN broadcast without being offered all sorts of false choices: What do you think is greatest rivalry of all-time? Vote now on ESPN.com and we'll bring you the results later on SportsCenter! What's our highlight of the night? Vote now on ESPN.com, and find out later if your vote matches that of a plurality of other sports fans from across the nation!
Of course, the big problem is, your choices have absolutely no bearing on what comes through on your TV screen. After all, if I "vote" that Dodgers/Giants is the greatest rivalry of all time, and I want to see tonight's Dodgers/Giants highlights first, I'm still at the mercy of the ESPN producer who decides in what order the highlights will air. Technology will someday make a personalized edition of SportsCenter possible, but until then, I'm just tired of being constantatly asked to make choices and vote on websites that have no affect at all on my TV viewing experience ... but -- hey, what do you know? -- just so happen to expose me to more of ESPN's advertising partners on the pop-up plauged, banner-ad-filled abomination that passes for ESPN's website.
When I tune in to ESPN, I expect that the folks there will do their jobs. The people whose skill is identifying and nurturing talent should hire the best anchors and reporters. The producers should sift through the day's news and highlights, prioritizing and presenting a balanced and interesting rundown of what's going on in the world of sports. That's their job! I don't want any responsibility at all for those key decisions, thank you. That's what I want from you.
And while we're at it, can we get rid of the ticker on ESPN2? With the prevalence of both ESPNews and the Internet (I can get sports scores on my cell phone; you probably can, too), it needs to be downgraded from "constant" to maybe just ":15 and :45" -- a nice complement to the ":28 and :58" ticker on the main ESPN.
And that's that. End of rant.
Transmitted 01:13 PM PST | Link |

For "Space Ghost" Fans Only
Although I think the tone of the show has substantially changed recently (and not for the better), I'm still a big fan of Cartoon Network's resident talk show host, Space Ghost, and the show Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. And in a great article posted over at Aaron Barnhart's TV Barn, the guy who edited the show talks about how the first episode was put together, and reflects on ten years of sillyness from the Ghost Planet.
Let the power of Ponch compel you to read it!

Transmitted 12:30 PM PST | Link |

Monday, April 19, 2004
CC on TV: Wild West Tech
So, here's the information about my long-in-the-works Wild West Tech episode, Hunting Tech, which finally airs Tuesday night at 10:00pm EDT/PDT. (Check local listings)
The Wild West was a vast and bountiful frontier, filled with animals, fur … and opportunity. The men who kept up with the latest advances in technology had a big advantage as they tried to tame the West. Whether it was a change in beaver trap production, a new method of making skinning knives, or increases in the power and accuracy of buffalo rifles, the tools of the hunter shaped the story of the West. On WILD WEST TECH: HUNTING TECH, we look at the evolution of hunting tools and weapons, and how advances in technology made the unthinkable -- the near-extinction of the bison -- a reality.
I wrote, produced, and directed this bad boy, so I would appreciate it if you'd check it out. If you miss it Tuesday night, it will be rebroadcast on Saturday, April 24th, at 3:00pm EDT/PDT (again, check local listings!)
It's a Los Angeles Times "TV Times Tuesday Highlight!"
Transmitted 08:33 PM PST | Link |

Monday, April 12, 2004
This Is Pretty Cool
Have you ever wanted to play "20 Questions," but there's no one around to ask you 20 questions about the person, place, or thing you're thinking of? Well, no, me neither. But thanks to the Internet, you can click here to play 20 questions on-line at any time, with a very interesting form of artificial intelligence. (It correctly identified the two things I was thinking of, a ballpoint pen and a computer disk, although it needed slightly more than the 20 questions to do so.)
Side note: Isn't this how Skynet got started?
Transmitted 03:24 PM PST | Link |

It's Yuri's Night!
Looking for a hot party tonight? Why not check out Yuri's Night?
And so you're saying, well, Colin, what is Yuri's Night? It's a world-wide celebration of the day Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to see the Earth from space, April 12, 1961, on a historic one-orbit flight. April 12th is also the anniversary of the first launch (twenty years after that, in 1981) of America's first re-useable spacecraft, the space shuttle Columbia.
Check out this part of the Yuri's Night website to find the party near you, then have a blast!
Transmitted 11:59 AM PST | Link |

Sunday, April 11, 2004
Will It Really Be This Bad?
Will a second term (and first legitimate term) for George W. Bush be as bad as Former Clinton administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich thinks it will?
Nope. It'll probably be worse.
Check out what Reich has to say, and ask yourself: What am I going to do (aside from voting) to fight for the future of America?
More on this to come...
Transmitted 09:53 PM PST | Link |

Thursday, April 1, 2004
This Isn't Getting A Lot Of Play...
Maybe it's the day, who knows? But you'd think an article like this would be getting more run... especially if it's true!
(WASHINGTON) -- United States intelligence agents are engaged in a long-running covert battle with a secretive, trans-national power that has cost millions of taxpayer dollars and dozens, possibly hundreds of lives, according to well-placed sources within the Administration. A spokesman with the Central Intelligence Agency flatly denied the accusation, alleging instead the charges were being made in an attempt to cut America’s intelligence budget.
The death toll, if confirmed, means more people have lost their lives in connection with this top-secret conflict than have been killed during the primary battle phase of overt U.S. military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Details about the mysterious power at the center of this struggle are tough to come by, with few people willing to speak on or off the record. While the existence of such a group seems to steer near the realm of the conspiracy theorist, there are those who say such groups can and do exist.
Rodney Hayes, an analyst with the respected “Jane’s Defense Weekly,” noted an increase recently in acts of terror with no claim of responsibility. “Usually, terror groups want their message to get out,” said Hayes. “When we see events such as the Belfast bank bombing, there is a rush to take credit for the action. The very fact that so many of these incidents have ended up with no solid suspects being identified is in itself a clue that something may be going on beneath the surface.”
Randall Armstrong, a senior policy analyst at Globalsecurity.org, was willing to go further, but not much. “Is it possible that these events are linked? Possible,” said Armstrong, “but not probable. Still, history is filled with secret societies and insurgency groups that we only find out about years after the fact. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn that an unknown group was acting against U.S. interests.”
According to a senior government official, operatives of the anti-U.S. group have struck numerous targets including classified military and quasi-governmental installations over the past three years, although their agenda remains murky. However, the source, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said dozens, possibly hundreds of U.S. military and intelligence personnel, many with top secret clearance and classification level, have lost their lives.
Requests for access to “killed in action” records with the C.I.A. were denied due to provisions in the US Patriot Act. A separate Freedom of Information Act request was also denied. That denial is being appealed, with a court due to hear the case sometime later this year.
Senator George Reed, the Virginia Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence committee, denied any knowledge of a cabal, or greater than normal losses among covert operatives. “They’ve got to come before my committee to get funding,” Senator Reed said with a dismissive tone at a Capitol Hill press conference. “If they were rapidly losing agents in a battle against some dark force, I’m pretty sure I’d know about it. You can’t hide the funding needed to train new agents.”
A review of the recently enacted federal budget for FY2005 shows more than seven billion dollars in so-called “black ops,” money allocated to the intelligence community, but not specified in the budget for security reasons.
Hmm... sounds spooky!
I know this website usually has a covenant with readers not to present writing that's done under any sort of alias, but hey, it's a special day, right?
Transmitted 12:04 PM PST | Link |

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