TACHYON TV: Special Breaking News Edition Dec 2004

Found this site last night...

FCC Wary of Greeks Baring Gifts at Games (washingtonpost.com)

I have nothing to say.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - A Yahoo! Movies Exclusive

As if the Doctor Who teaser wasn't enough...

BBC - Cult Television - Doctor Who - The Official Site

Ooh! First new teaser (for the press) for the new Doctor Who series, with the first chance to hear Christopher Eccleston as the new Doctor! (And, in about a week or so, the blog entry I sent by email will probably turn up saying more or less the same thing...)

Again, for anyone who got all atwitter at the merest glimmer of any teasers or trailers for the endlessly epic Lord of the Gnomes trilogy, imagine my excitement at this first new Doctor Who teaser at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/.  And that's from watching it on a computer without any speakers.  (Apparently, we get to hear the new Doctor speak!)

So CVS Pharmacy, the big evil congolomerate chain, now has one-time use digital cameras, with a coupon on their web site. And while I'm probably not supposed to support them, this may be the best way for me to show off my new front yard...

More Misleading Abstinence-Only Programs...

Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says (washingtonpost.com): "Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals 'can result in pregnancy,' a congressional staff analysis has found. "

And this is why I find it so hard to get up in the morning...

Longmire does Romance Novels

Thanks, Lisa, for this link...

United Church of Christ News Release: Still Speaking Ad Campaign Launch

Apparently, NBC and CBS are refusing to air this ad. According to the Progress Report:

"In a letter to the UCC, CBS is refusing to air the advertisement because the commercial 'touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations.' Also, CBS found the ad 'unacceptable' because 'the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.' NBC similarly declared the ad 'too controversial.'"

God bless Amerika.

I just watched a big truck dump all the rocks for my new front yard into the stret in front of my house. This may have been the coolest thing I've ever seen...

Watched the Amazing Race premiere this morning.  It was, indeed, amazing.  Some surprising twists and turns, based pretty much on people making stupid choices (like filling a diesel car up with gasoline, then having to have the tank drained).  It'll be rerun Saturday night, and I recommend jumping on from the beginning.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Woman 'blessed by the holy toast': "A half-eaten slice of elderly cheese on toast purportedly showing the image of the Virgin Mary has attracted 100,000 hits on the eBay auction website. "

Sorry Everybody

Dear World: Sorry About Bush / No, seriously. Very, very sorry. How sorry? Well, let America show you ... in pictures

So the new Amazing Race started last night on CBS.  I got home late, and only watched part of it--although I DVRed the whole thing--so I don't know who got eliminated, who's in the lead, none of that.  I did see that they went from Chicago to Iceland in this first installment, where I don't believe they went in the last one.

 

Of course, it's the international scenery that sets this show apart from other so-called "reality" shows.  That, and the fact that the premise puts those of most other shows to shame.  Let's face it; it's the difference between the "how much will you give me to eat this bug" mentality of shows like Fear Factor or Survivor, and "Okay, when I say go, run from one end of the world to the other."  The difference in scale just makes you want to sit up and take notice.

 

Obviously, not having seen the whole episode, it's too soon for me to really judge, but the teams don't seem quite as strong as in the last Amazing Race (which is the only other one I've seen).  Not that they won't be interesting to watch, but from what I saw last night, too many of the teams are already not working together very smoothly.  First leg of the race, and they're already bitching and sniping at each other.  That's a express-ticket towards elimination...

 

And, in other news, ABC has apparently announced that when Alias comes back in January, it'll be on Wednesday nights, right after Lost.  Hopefully, it'll do better at finding an audience there, not only with a successful, equally-offbeat drama as a lead-in, but also both shows are created by JJ Abrams.  (Plus, by all accounts, Abrams and the writers are working to make the new season both more accessible for new viewers, and an improvement over last season.)  In a perfect world, this would be a match made in heaven, and I can't think of any stumbling blocks.

MSNBC - Ashcroft denounces judges who question Bush

“Courts are not equipped to execute the law. They are not accountable to the people,” Ashcroft said.

I swear, it's like we're living on some other, more surreal world...

Newsday.com - National News: "The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources."

And if this were happening in any other country, there'd be this outrage at what an affront to democracy this is...

Elektra - A Yahoo! Movies Exclusive

Thanks to Matt, for sending me this link. Just watched the trailer, and all I can say is I hope it doesn't suck, because I'm really looking forward to it now.

Yahoo! News - ABC Affiliates Won't Save "Pvt. Ryan": "A number of ABC affiliates have scrapped tonight's Veterans Day broadcast of Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan out of concern that the unedited movie could leave them open to fines by the Federal Communications Commission "

See, this is what happens when you have a facist regime enforcing overly-restrictive rules in an inconsistent manner: pretty soon, you don't have to worry about actually enforcing the law, because everyone will be so afraid of breaking it, they'll restrict themselves even more than the law would.