News Story Teases from the Future, Pt. 1

(Reuters)?"Today a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Texas county can publically display any four of the last eight commandments. A live report at 10."

Ministries Take Note...

As broadband becomes ever faster and ever more widely available, we're seeing more video moving across the Internet. For example, Google has just announced a new video-related service:

"Google Inc. unveiled a video-viewing channel on its Internet-leading search engine Monday...Watching the amateur and professional videos in Google's index requires free software available at http://video.google.com.

That's Their Opinion

Time Magazine online has just released their annual "50 Coolest Web Site" picks. Inexplicably, this blog was overlooked, as were a number of other wicked-awesome sites.

So here are a few of the great ones Time was too busy being all MSM-y to notice:

Cool Blog
Here is a bizarre blog that makes perfect sense in some parallel universe. It's so surreal, it's good. The blog is titled:
"THIS IS FUN TO MAKE A BLOG ON THE COMPUTER WEBSITE:
You'll find it at http://thisismycomputerblog.blogspot.com

Humor
The ability to "get" this website is a prerequisite for employment at Holland|Simpson. If you don't enjoy the weekly "Strongbad email" you won't like it here.
www.homestarrunner.com

Media
The Internet Moving Image Archive is an amazing collection of old television commercials and "educational" films from the 40s, 50s and 60s. It's like a time machine on your desktop!

That's enough for now!

Kelo Decision: A Novel Response

You've probably followed some of the discussion and furor over the U.S. Supreme Court's "Kelo" decision (If you don't know what I'm talking about, skip this post. It won't make sense to you.)

Here's an irony-saturated proposal from one person in response to the decision. Hat tip to our friend Tom Jones (The aerospace engineer, not the lounge singer. To my knowledge, TJ has never had strange women's underwear hurled at him.)

Pro-Americanism

The whole world is pretty much anti-American now, right? It would be easy to draw that conclusion these days. News reports, media coverage and anecdotes paint of picture of a world uniformly hostile to the United States.

But a new article in Foriegn Policy magazine shows it ain't necessarily so. We do have a few friends out there. They just don't get much play in the MSM.

Here's a sample paragraph from the long article:

"In some countries, even larger chunks of the population have such associations. In the Philippines, for example, the BBC poll shows that 88 percent of the population has a ?mainly positive? view of the United States, an unusually high number anywhere. In India, that number is 54 percent, and in South Africa, it?s 56 percent, particularly high numbers for the developing world. In the case of the first two countries, geopolitics could be part of the explanation: India and the Philippines are both fighting Islamist terrorist insurgencies, and they see the United States as an ally in their struggles. (Perhaps for this reason, both of these countries are also among the few who perceived the reelection of U.S. President George W. Bush as ?mainly positive? for the world as well.) But it is also true that all three of these countries have experienced, in the last 20 years, political or economic change that has made them richer, freer, or both. And in all three cases, it?s clear that people would have reasons to associate new prosperity and new freedom with the actions of the United States."

RE: CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW!!!

Lileks should have had his "Dear Cell Phone User" cards handy.

Made by the SHHH! organization (Society for Handheld Hushing), you can download your very own cards here.

Creative Slump in Hollywood

Warren Bell is a bit of a rarity in Hollywood. He's a politically conservative writer on a successful sitcom ("According to Jim" starring Jim Belushi).

He participates in the group blog over at National Review Online--The Corner. One topic thread on the blog recently has been the demise of the family-oriented sitcom on TV and the general dearth of fresh ideas on Hollywood--for movies or television.

Along those lines, Bell posted this recently...

More Signs of Doom in Hollywood?

Sitcom producer titans Carsey-Werner call it quits.

This is roughly equivalent to General Motors saying, "We're getting out of the car business. We may still do trucks, and small medium-priced vans. But the car market is dried up."

Regarding this and K-lo's earlier posts about various theories for the Hollywood slump: I love when people say, give us a great movie with an original story and good acting, and we'll go to it. As if everyone out here hasn't thought of that. "No more originality!" says big studio exec. "Let's remake some crap!"

It's not on purpose, folks. Everyone is doing their best. Every studio that makes a movie out of a sitcom is also developing a hundred other "original" ideas. It's just that they thought the sitcom one would appeal to people. The simple fact is this: every single person in the entertainment business would love to do a breathtakingly fresh, breakthrough film or TV show. But it's VERY VERY HARD!

When I had a development deal a few years ago, an executive said to me, "I just think you should be writing that great, smart family show that appeals to adults and kids." And I said, "I would absolutely do that, but the problem is I haven't thought of one." She looked at me funny, as if the only thing standing between me and that idea was a few sharpened pencils and the right amount of time at my desk. "So think of one," she said. I tried. I really tried.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW!!!

James Lileks, rants (as only he can) for all of us who wish people didn't loud-talk into their mobile phones...

"...the lady at the adjacent table is yelling into her cell phone. She does not realize that she is compensating for the lack of auditory feedback you get with normal phones. It?s why I make a point of talking softly on a cellphone in public, just to balance it out. And no one ever says excuse me.

There?s also a guy pacing the aisle of the caf?, talking on a cell phone. He?s very important. I wouldn?t have known that if he hadn?t stood and started talking. I?m glad he told us. I feel better just knowing that meeting is going ahead as scheduled. The entire caf? feels better. The entire caf? would also feel better if the skies parted, an angel descended, and smote him with a terrible flaming sword. Of course, one of us would have to pick up the phone and say ?better reschedule. Bob has been cleaved in twain by heavenly justice made flesh."

Whole rant here.

A Note to Blasphemers

This is National Lightning Safety Awareness Week.

This puts me in remembrance of a guy I worked with during my college years. Leon, a Native American from Anadarko, Oklahoma, had been struck by lightning when he was growing up.

Three times.

That's right. Not once. Not twice. But the hat trick of atmospheric discharge receptivity. And other than being a little hard of hearing, he appeared no worse for the experiences.

Nevertheless, I always made it a point to keep a 20-yard buffer zone between us when out of doors.

"Church Growth Conference Helps Pastors Feel Like Miserable Failures"

The above headline is from one of the spoof news articles on LarkNews.com. It's been a while since we pointed our readers to this very funny web site.

It's always filled with hilarious takes on the church life and Christian culture. Occasionally irreverent, it's not for the overly religious, uptight, easily offended or those who had their sense of humor surgically removed when they got saved.

Re: Seen It, I Haven't

Finally saw it, I did.

When it comes to big summer blockbusters, I'm a late adopter. I have no interest in standing in lines and sitting in packed theaters in order to be in the first wave of people to see a movie.

Nevertheless I finally got around to seeing Star Wars: ROTS. The James Lileks review (see related post below) was great preparation in terms of expectations management. The reveiew was fun to re-read now that I've seen the movie.

Now I'm getting ready to be one of the last to see War of the Worlds and the new Batman film.

Now Those are Friendly Skies

United Airlines has passed another major regulatory hurdle toward providing wireless Internet access (at a price) on all domestic flights. They'll partner with Verizon to deliver the service. (More here.)

Download Your Next Novel from a Satellite?

A recent story in the Washingon Post reported that XM is planning to provide a service that will allow you to download audio books (and more) to a hand-held player.

"XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., the District-based subscription radio service, said yesterday that it is developing a handheld satellite radio receiver that can download audible books, periodicals and radio shows -- and possibly music. XM is partnering with Audible Inc., a provider of online streaming audio content, and plans to offer the device for sale next year."

No doubt, both XM and Sirius are trying to figure out ways to keep from being rendered obsolete or superflous when faster, universal wi-fi becomes available in cars and public spaces.

Seen It, I Haven't

I haven't made it in to see the new and final Star Wars movie yet?ROTS?but will eventually. My expectations have been lowered significantly by the last two installments.

Here's a fairly positive review from James Lileks, a true fan of the series.

On the marketing side, check out this overview of a related web-based, interactive campaign by "Beyond Interactive."

Book Notes

Here are a couple of good books to check out...

Our friend and colleague, Stephen Mansfield, has a new book out. It follows his NY Times best-seller, The Faith of George W. Bush. It is titled, The Faith of the American Soldier. Get it here.

Also by Stephen, pre-sales of his comprehensive biography of Derek Prince are underway at Amazon.com and elsewhere. It is scheduled for an October release. Pre-order it here.

Both are brilliantly written and worthy of your time.

Pine Nut Dissent

A friend and regular Hanger reader writes, regarding my pine nut post below:

"Oh, I doth protest. In a perfect Young Frankenstein nut mixture, pine nuts are obviously the Inga (played by the "hubba hubba" Teri Garr). Pine nuts are the sexiest part and, for my money, the more the merrier."

Me: Point taken. Although for me, Inga has strong cashew characteristics... curvy with a hint of sweetness.