Where do you draw the line for decency in Halloween costumes?

Tags: [Bill Maher, Steve Irwin, Halloween, costume, decency, RWRW]

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Local CBS news recently interviewed Don Geronimo (a.k.a., Michael Sorce) of the Don and Mike Show regarding the loss of his wife this past July. The interview was very tasteful, with Don being sure he was not pimping out his radio show. Instead, he was very candid about how he’s dealt with her loss and provided an honest glimpse inside how one deals with such tragedy.

Watch the interview below:

Interview-Part I

Interview-Part II

Interview-Part III

Tags: [Don Geronimo, Don and Mike Show, radio, shock jock, Howard Stern, grief, talk radio]

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Hewlett-Packard created a camera that adds a slimming effect to photos.

Perhaps you can get it to also replace head and torso shots with celebrity faces and bodies.

Tags: [Hewlett Packard, HP, diet, camera, technology, weight]

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It seems with my posting lately that I should rename this the “Bono Blog” - yet another post about him. Anyway, even though I only saw a part of last night’s Grammys, I was excited to see U2 perform “One” with Mary J. Blige. In case you do not recall, U2 and Blige performed the same song for the Katrina Hurricane Relief Effort. Watching U2 and Blige perform “One” that night moved me to tears - this is what music is all about. U2 preaches a message of coming together, a message that became that much stronger when Blige joined in. Here are some of the lyrics from the song:

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we’re not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One…life

One

In the Katrina aftermath where there were charges of racism, Blige and U2 cut through the accusations and held the standard high for us - how we should all aspire to end racism and live together in harmony. I know, a bit sappy this early in the morning, but sometimes I think change can only happen if we have a dialogue that’s uplifting rather than divisive - the blogosphere itself sometimes stirs up more divisiveness than harmony in our dialogue.

I know I’m a big fan of U2, but does last night’s performance (or the Hurricane relief performance) affect you the same way? Below is a clip of last night’s Grammy performance.

[Runtime: 04:06 | Please make sure you have the latest version of Macromedia Flash installed on your computer to watch this video. To download it, please visit: http://www.macromedia.com ]

Tags: [U2, Bono, One, Blige, Mary J. Blige, Katrina, Hurricane, Grammys, Grammy Awards, racism, unity, music, video]

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I am sympathetic towards Muslims who feel that any visual representation of Mohammad is considered an abomination. I also understand how offensive it can be when mainstream media marginalizes or even mocks the significance of a religious figure - the recent image of Kanye West as Jesus on the cover of Rolling Stone comes to mind (as a sidebar, as La Shawn Barber points out, could Kanye have gotten away with posing as Mohammad on the cover?).

A thoughtful Muslim, Imran Anwar, provides us with his take on the cartoon situation:

“Would all these “fair and balanced” media and papers publish cartoons (in the name of free speech) showing Prophet Jesus Christ as a big Homosexual telling his apostles and followers to become Christian priests and rape little boys in Church? After all, this is a constant “current events” topic, especially in America and who knows in how many other countries, where the church is consantly hiding and protecting abusive priests who molest children.”

Imran brings up an interesting point. What we’re talking about is disparaging a religious figure, and certainly Jesus has gotten his share. Movies like “The Life of Brian” and “The Last Temptation of Christ” are only the tip of the iceberg, but had a cartoon shown Jesus raping a child, I’m sure the Catholic Church, and all Christians, would be rightfully up in arms.

The difference, however, is that some Muslims make matters worse by proving that there’s an element of truth to the images aligning mainstream Muslims with violent and uncivilized behavior. Don’t you find it ironic that a cartoon aligning violence with Muslims then spurs on violence? Now Denmark has issued a warning to its citizens against traveling to 14 Muslim nations for fear of violence.

It seems that the truth hurts, even if the truth is utterly offensive. Although adolescent in nature, at least Iran has responded in a nonviolent manner.

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I find it very interesting how catty network news / television hosts can be. Do they really have anything newsworthy to talk about or do they act like teenagers in an effort to entertain and increase ratings? Take the following video, for example.

I like Keith Olbermann from the 1990s - when he was working at ESPN. His wit and humor were fantastic there while quipping about topics that carried little weight. However, I’m not sure a news role best fits his style. He would instead make a good late night talk show host.

Hat tip to Norm

Here’s another teenage catfight between Olbermann and O’Reilly:

[ Please make sure you have the latest version on Macromedia Flash installed on your computer to watch this video. To download it, please visit: http://www.macromedia.com ]

Tags: [Keith Olbermann, Olbermann, Bill O’Reilly, O’Reilly, FOX, MSNBC,

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It’s amazing to me the power that Howard Stern held over the terrestrial airwaves. Congress proposed indecency legislation, primarily because of his lewd and vulgar radio show. Now that he’s gone to satellite radio, it appears that terrestrial radio is still threatened by him. Before he left the air, CBS radio changed the branding for its talk shows to label them “Free FM” - a statement to counter those willing to pay to hear Stern once he went to Sirius. They did not stop there, however.

Note the branding that Stern created for his new station and the logo that CBS uses for the site that streams their talk radio online. Is it a coincidence that both logos have raised fists? Stern’s logo appears to be a statement against the suppression of free speech rights. On the other hand, CBS uses ‘KYou’ to exemplify personalized formats. I wonder who stole the raised fist logo?

Tags: [Howard Stern, CBS, CBS Radio, Infinity, Infinity Broadcasting, talk radio, shock jock, logo, radio, Sirius, Sirius Satellite, satellite radio]

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There’s really nothing to say about someone who cannot be taken seriously.

Tags: [Kanye West, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Rolling Stone, rap music]

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I cannot believe how Ray Nagin can be mayor of New Orleans. His rhetoric is divisive, he blames the federal government for all of his city’s ills, and he makes irresponsible charges of racism coupled with his own racist comments. Take what he recently said:

“Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it’s destroyed and put stress on this country,” Nagin, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther King Day.

“Surely he doesn’t approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We’re not taking care of ourselves.”

The A.P. also indicated that “Nagin also promised that New Orleans will be a “chocolate” city again. Many of the city’s black neighborhoods were heavily damaged by Katrina.”

Nagin continues:

“It’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild New Orleans — the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans,” the mayor said. “This city will be a majority African American city. It’s the way God wants it to be. You can’t have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn’t be New Orleans.”

There’s been a lot of focus on his “chocolate” comment, but I won’t focus too much on that, except to say that no white mayor could get away with calling his/her city a “white chocolate” city if it were predominantly composed of Caucasians. Instead, I’d like to focus on his God-talk.

So, Mayor Nagin feels that God wants New Orleans to be a majority African American city? As La Shawn Barber quips,

“I challenge all bloggers (and journalists) who criticized Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell for “divine retribution” statements to jump on New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin for making similar statements.”

Let’s take Nagin’s statement above and come up with an identical scenario…

Ray Nagin - “It’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild New Orleans — the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans,” the mayor said. “This city will be a majority African American city. It’s the way God wants it to be. You can’t have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn’t be New Orleans.”

Fake White Mayor - “It’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild Wichita — the one that should be a white chocolate Wichita,” the mayor said. “This city will be a majority Caucasian city. It’s the way God wants it to be. You can’t have Wichita no other way. It wouldn’t be Wichita.”

Liberals would be outraged if the latter comment were, indeed, uttered and not made up to prove a point. So, is there such thing as reverse racism or do minority races get a free pass? I believe there is such a thing as reverse racism and Nagin’s words and actions since his notoriety in the Katrina aftermath have proven him unfit to be mayor.

Tags: [Ray Nagin, racism, reverse racism, Katrina, New Orleans, La Shawn Barber, LaShawn Barber]

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This person needs to lighten up, turn off his computer, go outside and breathe in the fresh air…

“Gillespie, 53, claims that Marlowe and Bob Charpentier, a 52-year-old Oregon resident, insulted him and harassed him in the AOL chatroom called “Romance — Older Men” to the point where it inflicted “severe emotional distress and physical injury that is of a nature no reasonable man could be expected to endure it.”

Tags: [AOL, chat, chatroom, social, instant messenger, romance, dating, Court TV]

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