“I Don’t Watch TV.” Too Bad – You are Missing Out

This is Not Your Parents TV.

Surprise! This Might be a Golden Age for TV.

I have friends who proudly proclaim they watch no TV. Some even make a point of saying they do not own one. On the one hand, I can understand that. There is a lot of junk on TV. There always has been. But there are also amazing feats of programing going on today. My biggest problem is not avoiding the junk. The problem is catching, or even knowing about, all the good stuff that is out there.

If we are going to talk about this,

Mel Brooks and the Ten Commandments

 

What if 10 was Not the Right Number of Commandments?

 

It’s Friday; let’s relax a little today and have some fun. If anyone reading this may have thought I am a sophisticated person, allow me to put that to rest now. Mel Brooks is one of my favorite funny guys. I love his stuff.

One of my all time  favorite Mel Brooks scenes is from his film History of the World, Part I. Check out the film clip for a reminder of the Brooks genre. 

Can We Put a Dagger in the Heart of Muzak?

A Plea for the Blessings of Silence

For readers of a certain age, know that I am about to unleash my inner Andy Rooney. Whose bright idea was it that we needed, much less wanted, background music everywhere we go? What seemed like a simple and benign idea has spread noxiously.

Background music has been with us forever. Remember those paintings of medieval courts? Many showed musicians playing in the background while everyone feasted. But with what we generically refer to as Muzak (or canned music), the sound is now everywhere.

Muzak,

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner!

Let’s Imagine You Have a Dinner Date — with History

For our weekend rumination, we are going to draw upon two what-if games that I have enjoyed over the years.

The first of these was a TV show created by the great Steve Allen (a true genius and talent). The show was Meeting of the Minds. The scenario was that Allen had the ability to reach back in time. He could invite any historical figure he chose to sit with other notables Allen had invited. Attendees would share their vision and goals,

Quotes to Carry Around

Here are Some Thoughts to Carry You Through the Weekend

I confess to being a collector of quotable phrases. I have pages of them at this point. I enjoy reading them and sharing them.

I offer you today a baker’s dozen from my collection.

Some are profound, some are funny – some are both. They all seem timely. They are food for thought and an antidote to mundane thinking.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. More of this to come in the weeks ahead.

  1. Hold your heroes to a high standard.

A Serious (sort of) Discussion About the Funnies

I suspect what we like about the funnies, the comics in daily newspapers, says something about each of us.

This is a conversation that may be obsolete in short order. The topic at hand is the comics in most daily newspapers. These little funnies are available online as well. But this conversation is about comics in a newspaper. Many people reading this may not be able to recall reading an actual newspaper. Still fewer subscribe to one. That is a sad and problematic thing, but that would also be the topic of another blog post. Today,