Author's posts
Jan 01 2013
99th Rose Bowl
Jan 01 2013
124th Rose Parade
Well, for those of you without TV as I was last year KTLA seems to have the best streaming web coverage-
- Live Stream (you’ll need to have javascript enabled)
The Theme this year is Oh the places you’ll go, Ted Geisel’s last and most depressing book (Wikipedia be damned and Lorax and Sneetches not withstanding).
Oh- Wikipedia.
The Order of March is below. This is not necessarily the order you’ll see on TV where ABC, and HGTV start their coverage at 11 am and NBC follows at 11:30. FamNet has a pre-parade with their coverage starting at 10:30 am.
I’m glad I’m not a member of Lafayette Band Pride of the Bluegrass.
Jan 01 2013
New Year’s Day TV Day
The Hypnotoad.
| "Television is a vast wasteland" |
 |
This will show me to close my eyes just when magical thinking and rooting could make a difference. I’ll never change my socks again.
Sigh.
Today’s featured distractions are the 124th Rose Parade, the Rose Bowl, and the ‘Gator Bowl (drink named after the team and not the other way around).
This edition covers the 12 hours from 6 am to 6 pm. Immediate gratification is here. The previous edition is here.
Dec 31 2012
New Year’s Eve TV Evening
If you have any sense at all you are already safely ensconced wherever you plan to celebrate and are preparing for riotous self-indulgence to celebrate the schadenfreude passing of a year memorable mostly for the milestones of decline into another dark age.
What is more threatening? Global Thermonuclear War or Warming?
But warming sounds so fuzzy and cute.
Tell it to the Polar Bears, God-less killing machines that they are. At least you used to be able to duck and cover and kiss your ass goodbye while praying to be fortunate among the blast radius so you’d avoid the dystopian barbarism descending as the Anthropocene Epoch comes to a close.
Shall I set you up again?
Anyway, traveling early and leaving late (tomorrow) allows the best chance of avoiding your own personal Mayan Apocalypse on Amateur Night and that’s one reason I’m disappointed in the entertainment offered. Where are my Circuses Caesar?
After the Ball drops your best bets are Zombie Apocalypse (AMC), Mayan Apocalyse (National Geographic), Dr. Who so depressing I didn’t even bother to record it (BBCA), Futurama Rapture (Comedy), Julia Roberts whoring for Mitt Romney (Lifetime), and the Twilight Zone (SciFi).
Oh, and Kathy Griffin (Bravo).
You might want to stay snuggled up until tomorrow when we will be liveblogging The Rose Parade at 11 am.
Happy New Year!
This edition covers the 12 hours from 6 pm to 6 am. Immediate gratification is here. The previous edition is here.
Dec 31 2012
A Question
If the austerity bomb goes off at midnight as seems likely at the moment, what excuse do Democrats use for continuing negotiations with this Congress?
The incoming Congress will be sworn in January 3rd, 3 days from now. Democrats have gained 9 seats, though not a majority, in the House, and added 2 in the Senate.
The legislation set to expire January 1st will have expired.
Just what do they hope to accomplish in 3 days that they could not address at their leisure?
Someone less charitable than I would suggest that there are 2 other clocks running, one is on the fiction that Democrats are at a tremendous disadvantage and must accept any deal they can get from those dastardly (and make no mistake, they are dastardly) Republicans.
The other is on the fiction that the debt and defict really are increasing and require drastic cuts to our earned benefits and social insurance programs to solve. Each day that passes reduces it even now and the trend will only accelerate with the expiration of the Bush/Obama tax cuts.
Yes, this is austerity and the economy as a whole will take a hit and many people will be negatively effected by cuts in government expenditures for domestic and military programs.
However it should make it painfully obvious that the problem is not deficts or debt at all but instead growth, employment, and income inequality.
In any event it is not time to let up on the message that no deal is better than a bad one.
White House
202-456-1111No cuts to Social Security.
Gaius Publius @ Americablog offers this helpful digest-
What are we protecting?
We’re protecting three social insurance programs. These are:
¦ Social Security
¦ Medicare
¦ MedicaidWhat are we protecting them from? Anything that:
¦ Reduces benefits
¦ Turns the program from insurance to welfare (which only the “deserving” have access to)How are these programs being threatened?
As near as I can tell, these are the threats. Note to foxes – this is the hands-off list. Each of these seven items is a benefit cut:
Social Security
1. Raising the retirement age
2. Chained CPI instead of current COLA
3. Means-testing benefitsMedicare
4. Raising the eligibility age
5. Increasing Part B premiums
6. Increasing “cost-sharing”Medicaid
7. Shifting costs to the states by any means, such as “federal blended rate,” etc.
Dec 31 2012
New Year’s Eve Sports
You can’t quite go all day watching the games, but here’s a list to get you started-
- noon ESPN– College Throwball (Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: North Carolina State v. Vanderbilt)
- noon ESPN2– College Hoopies (Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh)
- 2 pm CBS– College Throwball (Hyundai Sun Bowl: Georgia Tech v. USC)
- 2 pm ESPN2– College Hoopies (Michigan State @ Minnesota)
- 3 pm ESPN– College Throwball (AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Iowa State v. Tulsa)
- 4 pm ESPN2– College Hoopies (Indiana @ Iowa)
- 6 pm ESPN2– College Hoopies (Gonzaga @ Oklahoma State)
- 7:30 pm ESPN– College Throwball (Chick-fil-A Bowl: Clemson v. LSU)
- 8 pm ESPN2– College Hoopies (Harvard @ St. Mary’s)
- 2 am ESPN2– College Throwball (Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: North Carolina State v. Vanderbilt)
- 3:30 am ESPN– College Throwball (Chick-fil-A Bowl: Clemson v. LSU)
- 4 am ESPN2– College Throwball (AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Iowa State v. Tulsa)
Dec 31 2012
New Year’s Eve TV Day
The Hypnotoad.
| "Television is a vast wasteland" |
|
You should know the drill by now. Marathons are 4 half hours or 3 hours. I attempt to capture specials and ignore the really painful drek, but if you simply must look my source is Zap2it.
Links bring you to show and movie Wikipedia entries. Look back at the previous entry for ultra long marathons that may have started more than 6 hours ago. I might attempt consolidated sports listings, it’s hard to say. One thing I’ve noticed is it’s not the holidays as it used to be. There was a time when you would have to pick and choose between 17 different sporting events and New Year’s Eve Specials because everybody did one. Now networks seem to try and keep as close to their normal schedule as possible. I call it lazy programming.
Some of the countdowns and retrospectives have moved to the network cable news channels so you should check those out.
This edition covers the 12 hours from 6 am to 6 pm.
Dec 28 2012
The True Meaning of Christmas
Shoppers disappoint retailers this holiday season
By DANIEL WAGNER, Associated Press
Wed, Dec 26, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. holiday sales so far this year have been the weakest since 2008, when the nation was in a deep recession. That puts pressure on stores that now hope for a post-Christmas burst of spending.
…
But stores still have some time to make up lost ground. The final week of December accounts for about 15 percent of the month’s sales, said Michael McNamara, vice president for research and analysis at MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. And the day after Christmas typically is among the biggest shopping days of the year.
…
In New York, the Macy’s location at Herald Square also was buzzing with shoppers. Ulises Guzman, 30, a social worker, said he held off buying until the final days before Christmas, knowing the deals would get better as stores got desperate. He said he was expecting discounts of at least 50 percent.He saw a coat he wanted at Banana Republic for $200 in the days before Christmas but decided to hold off on making a purchase; on Wednesday, he got it for $80.
…
Holiday sales are a crucial indicator of the economy’s strength. November and December account for up to 40 percent of annual revenue for many retailers. If those sales don’t materialize, stores are forced to offer steeper discounts. That’s a boon for shoppers, but it cuts into stores’ profits.Spending by consumers accounts for 70 percent of overall economic activity, so the eight-week period encompassed by the SpendingPulse data is seen as a critical time not just for retailers but for manufacturers, wholesalers and companies at every other point along the supply chain.
…
Online sales, typically a bright spot, grew only 8.4 percent from Oct. 28 through Saturday, according to SpendingPulse. That’s a dramatic slowdown from the online sales growth of 15 to 17 percent seen in the prior 18-month period, according to the data service.
The Media Excuses Are Missing What’s Really Behind Weak Retail Sales
Lance Roberts, Street Talk Live, Business Insider
Dec. 27, 2012, 4:57 AM
The excuses for the weakness, however, were just as much off the mark as the original analysts’ estimates.
While these excuses may play well in the media, in reality, the fiscal cliff, end of October storm and the school shooting had very little to do with retail sales on a nationwide basis. However, what does have much to do with the level of retail sales are incomes.
Not surprisingly when wages and salaries are growing at a slower rate there is a corresponding weakness in the level of retail sales. The peak in wages and salaries occurred in early 2011 with the subsequent growth rate trending weaker. This corresponds with the economy which has continued to muddle along at a very anemic pace.
…
The decline in incomes, which can be seen in the roughly 1.2 million person increase in food stamp participation from June to September, is why retail “holiday” spending is weaker. With credit limits reduced, incomes stagnant and real costs of living on the rise – it is not surprising that retail sales are far weaker than the NRF’s holiday season predictions.
Dec 27 2012
On this Day In History December 27
This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.
Find the past “On This Day in History” here.
December 27 is the 361st day of the year (362nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are four days remaining until the end of the year.
On this day in 1932, Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.
The 12-acre complex in midtown Manhattan known as Rockefeller Center was developed between 1929 and 1940 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., on land leased from Columbia University. The Radio City Music Hall was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone and interior designer Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style. Rockefeller initially planned a new home for the Metropolitan Opera on the site, but after the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the plans changed and the opera company withdrew from the project.
Its originally planned name was International Music Hall. The names “Radio City” and “Radio City Music Hall” derive from one of the complex’s first tenants, the Radio Corporation of America. Radio City Music Hall was a project of Rockefeller; Samuel Roxy Rothafel, who previously opened the Roxy Theatre in 1927; and RCA chairman David Sarnoff. RCA had developed numerous studios for NBC at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, just to the south of the Music Hall, and the radio-TV complex that lent the Music Hall its name is still known as the NBC Radio City Studios.
The Music Hall opened to the public on December 27, 1932 with a lavish stage show featuring Ray Bolger and Martha Graham. The opening was meant to be a return to high-class variety entertainment. The new format was not a success. The program was very long and individual acts were lost in the cavernous hall. On January 11, 1933, the Music Hall converted to the then familiar format of a feature film with a spectacular stage show which Rothafel had perfected at the Roxy Theatre. The first film was shown on the giant screen was Frank Capra’s The Bitter Tea of General Yen starring Barbara Stanwyck and the Music Hall became the premiere showcase for films from the RKO-Radio Studio. The film plus stage spectacle format continued at the Music Hall until 1979 with four complete performances presented every day.
By the 1970s, changes in film distribution made it difficult for Radio City to secure exclusive bookings of many films; furthermore, the theater preferred to show only G-rated movies, which further limited their film choices as the decade wore on. Regular film showings at Radio City ended in 1979. Plans were made to convert the theater into office space, but a combination of preservation and commercial interests resulted in the preservation of Radio City and in 1980, after a renovation, it reopened to the public.
Radio City Music Hall is currently leased to and managed by Madison Square Garden, Inc. Movie premieres and feature runs have occasionally taken place there but the focus of the theater throughout the year is now on concerts and live stage shows. The Radio City Christmas Spectacular continues to be an important annual event. The Music Hall has presented most of the leading pop and rock performers of the last 30 years as well as televised events including the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, and the MTV Music Awards.
Dec 26 2012
Phones
I hate working on the holidays.
Cliff Hanger: Obama’s Last Stand and the Republican Strategy of Fanaticism
Robert Reich
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
President Obama is cutting his Christmas holiday short, returning to Washington for a last attempt at avoiding the fiscal cliff.
…
House Speaker John Boehner’s failure to persuade rank-and-file House Republicans to raise taxes even on millionaires fits the fanatic’s strategy exactly. Boehner can now credibly claim he has no choice in the matter – Republican fanatics in the House have tied his hands and manacled his feet – so the only way to avoid going over the cliff is for Obama and the Democrats to make more concessions.
…
Obama could decide going over the cliff isn’t so bad after all – as long as he and congressional Democrats introduce legislation early in the 2013 that gives a tax cut to the middle class retroactively to January 1st (extending the Bush tax cut to the first $250,000 of income) and restores most spending – and Republicans feel compelled to go along.But with Boehner’s hands tied and the fanatics in charge, this gambit becomes far riskier. What if we go over the cliff and House Republicans continue to hold out against any tax increases on the rich while demanding major cuts in Medicare and Social Security?
…
The real problem with this gambit is it doesn’t change the game. Even down the road, Boehner’s hands will still be tied and the fanatics will remain in charge – which will give Republicans the stronger position in negotiations leading to a “grand bargain.” Compromise would have to be almost entirely on the Democrats’ side.That’s why I’d recommend going over the cliff and forcing the Republicans’ hand. It’s a risky strategy but it would at least expose the Republican tactic and put public pressure squarely on rank-and-file Republicans, where it belongs.
The fanatics in the GOP have to be held accountable or they’ll continue to hold the nation hostage to their extremism. Even if it takes until the 2014 midterms to loosen their hold, the cost is worth it.
White House
202-456-1111No cuts to Social Security.
Gaius Publius @ Americablog offers this helpful digest-
What are we protecting?
We’re protecting three social insurance programs. These are:
■ Social Security
■ Medicare
■ MedicaidWhat are we protecting them from? Anything that:
■ Reduces benefits
■ Turns the program from insurance to welfare (which only the “deserving” have access to)How are these programs being threatened?
As near as I can tell, these are the threats. Note to foxes – this is the hands-off list. Each of these seven items is a benefit cut:
Social Security
1. Raising the retirement age
2. Chained CPI instead of current COLA
3. Means-testing benefitsMedicare
4. Raising the eligibility age
5. Increasing Part B premiums
6. Increasing “cost-sharing”Medicaid
7. Shifting costs to the states by any means, such as “federal blended rate,” etc.
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