jebswebs

PHC in Maine

2008-05-05T16:00:00.004-04:00

If you didn't tune in to hear Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion last Saturday night, you missed one of the great performances of the year. One of the featured guests was Maine's own David Mallett who provided an excellent performance. First was a work called Angel Standing followed by a new piece Fishing. Fishing is part of a project called The Fable True, based upon the words of Henry David Thoreau and celebrates the 150 anniversary of Thoreau's final trip to Maine. You can get more info about Dave and the new album on his website.

Mallett also closed the show with "the Maine state theme song," The Garden Song which itself is celebrating a 30th anniversary. There couldn't have been a dry eye in the house.

But not to despair! PHC is streamed on-line and can be listen to by visiting the website. Here is the link to the May 3rd show.

~jeb

Get Your Choo-Choo On!

2008-05-05T14:52:00.002-04:00

Wwoooooooahooooooo!

National Train Day is May 10th.

"To raise awareness of the vital role rail plays in our nation’s transportation system, Amtrak will celebrate its first annual National Train Day during six weeks of celebrations culminating on Saturday, May 10, 2008.

"On May 10 Amtrak will host events at four of its largest stations, Washington, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, where visitors may take part in a variety of activities including live musical performances, exhibits, trip planning, VIP appearances and trip giveaways. Serving as spokesperson for National Train Day is television personality Al Roker. Mr. Roker will experience, first-hand, the benefits of rail travel when he travels from New York to Washington, by train, for the day’s festivities."

Read all about National Train Day and join the festivities!

There is even a place on the website to vote on your favorite "train song." Sorry my two were not among the choices provided. My all time favorite is City of New Orleans written by Steve Goodman but made famous by Arlo Gurthrie and Pennsylvania Sunrise by Dave Mallett. More on Dave in another blog.

~jeb

It's the Economy, Stupid!

2008-04-26T11:57:00.005-04:00

This was the phrase that set the mood in the 1992 election when Bill Clinton ran against, and beat, George Bush I. It should well be the theme for the 2008 elections, but apparently the issue is not the same everywhere.

On a recent trip to Connecticut a few weeks ago, I was amazed to see the local mall filled with people at 9:00 PM on a Friday evening. Here in Augusta, the Target that opened last month often looks like a ghost town.

As I had to wait for a table at the Ruby Tuesdays in that mall, I struck up a conversation with a local dude who was sucking down a few brews at the bar. "I guess you guys don't know there's a recession on..." I announced. He agreed, but we both noted that things in Connecticut looked a bit more green that in other places.

This insight has been confirmed in a series of news articles (and this article too) that have appeared in the last few days. It seems that if you live in an oil-rich state like Louisiana or Texas, you got money coming out of your ears. If, on the other hand, your state depends on others for energy - and you tend to use a lot of energy, as we do here in Maine - you're screwed.

I guess it should not come as a surprise when former Governor Angus King suggested we build a army of wind generators off the coast and get into the energy business ourselves. I'm sure his millionaire buddies who "own" the Coast are not happy with that suggestion.

Seems to me that there really is only one short-term solution for Maine. We gotta reduce our energy consumption - and we gotta do it real fast.

The long-term solution is to establish an energy policy in this country that eliminates, or dramatically reduces dependence on foreign sources of energy.

And I don't expect any former - or current - presidents from Texas to be helping Mainers out any time soon.

~jeb

King Korn

2008-04-18T20:06:00.002-04:00

When I saw the coming attractions in my monthly Maine PBS viewing guide that there was going to be an independent film called King Corn shown, I quickly assumed it would be about King Korn trading stamps, those orange and gold flecks of paper that, as a youth, I had spent innumerable hours licking and sticking into trading stamp books. All the rage in 1964, the trading stamps were given away to patrons at grocery stores and gas stations all around America.

But the King Corn here is an independent film about...corn. I strongly encourage everyone to see this film if it comes close to your home or on your TV. It is a real eyeopener.

The film is about two young dudes who, upon learning that their bodies are made mostly of carbon made from corn, decide to move from Boston to Iowa and arrange with a local farmer to grow an acre of corn. After planting and fertilizing, the boys have plenty of time to discover what happens to the corn growing in their field. It is a fascinating discovery.

Not surprisingly, if you Google the words King Corn (or King Korn), you will find a paid ad from the Corn Refiners Association disputing the findings of the film. Geez, you'd think they would be thrilled by all of the free advertising. But Corporate America is obviously paranoid, and well protected by the powers in Washington.

In addition to MPBN, King Corn will be shown in Portland, ME next Friday, April 25th at SPACE

Can't wait, check out King Corn on You Tube.

~j

This will perk you up

2008-04-16T22:40:00.001-04:00

glumbert - Lost Generation

My Footprint

2008-04-14T00:07:00.002-04:00

I just finished watching the National Geographic Channel's special called the Human Footprint. I am pleased to say that overall I think I am doing better than most of the statistics they threw up on the show. There is no way I consume all that milk in one year.

The show got me thinking about my old buddy Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth. I understand he has put his energies into supporting a new effort to combat global climate change. That effort is called The Alliance for Climate Protection. And their big effort is called We Can Solve It. Check them out. http://www.wecansolveit.org/

Now I have to go back to the National Geographic website and take the personal consumption test to see how well I am actually doing.

12,129 hamburger buns in one lifetime? Please!

~jeb

Where ya been?

2008-03-28T22:01:00.003-04:00

I know, I know. I'm a fair weather blogger.

The problem is I am maintaining - or trying to maintain - three blogs and when things get crazy, the blogs suffer.

Anyway, I am sitting in a Marriott Courtyard in Farmington, CT. I'll be attending the memorial service for my Uncle Bob Brandt who died last month in Florida. Uncle Bob - or as we called him - Uncle Bobby - was the youngest in his family of four children and the last of his generation of Brandts. It will be an emotional day.

Anyway, I arrived here around 7:30 and headed over to the local mall, Westfarms, and had dinner at the Ruby Tuesdays.

I guess no one told the people of central Connecticut that there is a national recession and everyone is suppose to be hold up in their depreciating homes waiting for the end of the world. At 9:15 pm the mall is mobbed with people. Folks are still waiting in line to get a table at RT and the parking lot is still filled.

Strange.

~j

Sweet Caroline

2008-02-05T21:54:00.000-05:00

I was traveling home from Washington, DC two weeks ago and picked up the Sunday New York Times at Union Station. First, I was a little freaked by having to pay over $5 for a newspaper, but I figured it would keep me occupied for several hours.

I used to read the Sunday Times when I lived in New York. We were initially a Herald Tribune family and only became a Times family when the Trib went out of existance. New York has two kinds of people: Times people and Daily News people. People don't read the Post.

So, there I was, streaming along in the Acela at 130 mph reading the Sunday Times and sipping on some orange juice.

And then I read something that brought tears to my eyes.

"OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they
wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did
when my father was president..."

My mind returned to a time many years ago. Thoughts of two small children on a cold day in late November who had just lost their father. A few years later they would lose an uncle. Both deaths were violent and crushed the nation's spirit. My interest in politics was born with the election of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. My sense of cynicism was born when Bobby was murdered.

Can I/we risk taking a chance on another charasimatic politician.

Caroline ends with, "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them."

In understand completely.

I am a Patriot

2008-02-05T21:24:00.001-05:00

I'm a New Yorker, by birth. I am a Giants fan, by birth. Nearly 30 years ago I moved to Maine. I became a Patriots fan about that time. I am a Patriot fan by design.

I love Bill Belichick. My family in NY hates Bill Belichick for "what he did to the Jets." New Yorkers hold grudges for a long time.

I love Tom Brady. I "dislike" the Mannings, especially Peyton. Tom's all about team, Peyton is all about himself.

It was a great NFL season to be a Pats fan. I watched some of the great football this season. I didn't really care if they went 19-0. In fact, I was hoping the streak would end at 16 or 15. I would have been fine if the Giants had one that game at the end of the season and the Pats entered into the post-season with one loss. It would have sparked something. Had the Giants one that first game in December, I am convinced the Patriots would be the World Champs again.

I am looking forward to next year.

I am a patriot.

Where Ya Been?

2008-02-05T21:16:00.000-05:00

I've been sick. I've had the crud for over three weeks and I sick of being sick. This has been the cold from hell. It started on the January 13th with a hacking cough that felt like my lungs were going to turn inside-out. By Monday I was in bed with a fever. But the killer part of this bug is that it comes and goes. By the following Saturday, I was just starting to feel better and on Sunday, I was back in bed with a 101 degree fever.

A trip to the doctors, antibiotic prescription, bad reaction to the meds, and another week of hacking and sneezing and I was feeling better only to have another relapse. And then another.

Others who have apparently had this same bug this winter are reporting the same results.

My advice - don't get it. Put on a surgical mask and don't go near anyone who is sick.

I turn 55 this week. I hope I make it.

Winter? Doah!

2008-01-08T20:07:00.000-05:00

Last week I work up one morning and it was -5 degrees F. This was part of a month of below average temperatures in Maine with lots of snow.

Today, I awoke to 40 degree tempurature and it hit a high of 61 in Portland (about 57 here in Augusta).

Anyway, my Homer Chia Pet seemed to like it.

~jeb

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

A couple of months ago I discovered that the television signal I was receiving at my house had about a 5-6 second delay. This was determined one day when I was on the phone with a friend in southern Maine and he was watching the same TV program that I was and he was seeing it before I was. We speculated that it was probably because Augusta was "just a little behind the rest of the world" and laughed it off. But the effect became rather noticeable last night when Dick Clark "rocked in the New Year" about six seconds later than the time on my atomic clock. You see I am one of those loonies that has four atomic clocks in the house and I even set my watch to it. As someone who is perpetually late, you would think I'd have no interest in the exact time, but precision has always fascinated me.

In between my fussing about the the time, I have been having fun observing the extreme weather we have been experiencing here in Maine this early winter. December may have broken some records in the amount of snow received and the temperatures have been well below average. I've posted some photos here and on Flickr of latest snowstorm. This was the largest so far with just under a foot of fresh powder recorded. And the fun part is that another foot it forecast for tonight into tomorrow. Despite the vast open expanses of this great state, we Mainers are actually running out of places to put all this white stuff. So, if you want some, c'mon up and help yourself.

Anyway, I celebrated the new year from the comfort of my recliner in my living room, warm and relaxed. I hope you all have been as fortunate and have a bountiful, peaceful and happy new year.

~jeb

Christmas Blog 2007

2007-12-09T22:42:00.000-05:00

On this December evening it is feeling a lot more like Christmas than last year at this time. For us in the Northeast, last year’s early winter was warm and sunny with temperatures in the 50s for the holiday itself. When winter did finally make an appearance, around January 15th, it decided it needed to stick around through late April just to make sure we had enough.

This year we had our first major snowstorm last week with nearly a foot of the white stuff falling here in Augusta. Due to work requirements, I haven’t had time to “get the tree yet,” but the view outside my window is very much the winter wonderland.

I’m kinda hoping this means an early spring.

This year was memorable with reconnections with old friends, long and exciting travel, and sadly the loss of some family members.

The reconnections came in several forms and included some contact with people who I have not seen in over 30 years. Some were college friends who appeared at our Treaty Stone Reunion Concert at St. Francis College in Brooklyn in March. Most looked almost exactly the same albeit a bit more gray or sans hair. We had a wonderful night of song and laughs and lots of promises about keeping in touch. We’ll see.

Then there was a lunch date in September with an old work colleague who was visiting Maine with her son who was looking at colleges here. Despite annual Christmas card exchanges, I don’t think I have seen Pat since her wedding over 20 years ago. We had a great visit and have had several phone calls over the months. In both of these experiences, it is clear that women seem to preserve better than the men.

The last reconnection came with one of those weird Google moments when, after hearing the name of a kid who I knew from summer camp in the early 1970s, I went on a quest to see if I could find information about him on the web. He was one of those bright and talented kids who I figured would be the president of General Motors by now. When I couldn’t find information about him, I tried looking up his younger brother’s name and lo and behold, after a few clicks, I was looking at a photo of middle age man remarkably similar to the 12-year-old I knew so many years ago. We reconnected briefly via e-mail and discovered he’s now the father of two and living in California. Despite the picture evidence, he’ll always be 12 years old in my mind.

Sister Mary required a visit from her big brother this summer and I made the trip into a real adventure by booking passage on the Amtrak and traveled from Augusta to Portland, Oregon in three days. The trip entailed an overnight leg from Boston to Chicago on the Lake Shore Limited and a two day journey from Chicago to Portland on the famous Empire Builder. The Empire Builder passed through some extraordinary country including the upper Mississippi River valley in Wisconsin, the majestic plains of North Dakota and Montana, the spectacular mountains, rivers and lakes of Glacier National Park and ultimately the extraordinary Columbia River gorge with its rich red stone and transitioning climate.

Five days in Portland did not seem enough, but I had a great time visiting my sister and seeing the sites of Portland and the surrounding country side. On the return leg of the journey I was able to stop and visit with cousin Ralph in Chicago and have a wonderful meal that couldn’t be beat.

By the way, a detailed set of blog entries and images documenting the trip can be viewed here in this blog.

The news of the sudden loss of family members came three times this year. We lost a cousin Warren Smith in April and another cousin, Peter Feeney just last month. Both were still young men and I grieve for their families. The most shocking death was that of my brother-in-law Chris Frawley in August. My sister Sigrid is picking up the pieces and doing as well as she can. No one is prepared, or expects these events, but it does bring families closer together and perhaps this is an intended consequence.

And me, I’m fine. No real changes here on the home front; another year older and hopefully, another year wiser.

BTW, I chose the theme of this year’s Christmas card while viewing the annual A Charlie Brown Christmas on TV. I’ve seen the show so many times I can recite almost all the lines from memory.

But despite the scores of viewings, I am always strongly moved by the scene where Linus’ responds to Charlie Brown’s question, “Isn't There Anyone Who Knows What Christmas is All About?” by quoting scripture.

On an American Masters PBS special this fall, Charles M. Schultz was portrayed and some of the backstory of A Charlie Brown Christmas came to light. What was most intriguing was how the network executives didn’t want the scene included in the show. Schulz was reportedly unyielding about keeping the scene in, responding that “If we don't tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?”

And that’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.

Merry Christmas to you
Go to Snoopy.com

~j

The Great Oz Has Spoken.

2007-12-07T06:20:00.000-05:00

Over the years, I have been in hundreds of terminals (train, bus, and air) and have often wondered who and where The Voice that makes all the announcement comes from. You know, The Voice is usually one of those distinct, often regionally-accented, tired messengers who alerts you to the arrivals, departures and other important facts. I'm not talking about the The Endless Loop Voice like the one at the airport telling you all cars will be towed. No, this is a real person, in real time, telling you real information.

Well, in Boston's South Station yesterday I actually met The Voice.

She must be one of the busiest people working for Amtrak and in addition to being The Voice, she juggles control of two or three seemingly vital jobs including reviewing various track information by watching over a colorful screen marking the movement of trains in and out of the station. Mind you, she was not controlling these trains, but she was using this information to announce the arrivals as well as the departures. And when someone not on time, she was on the two-way radio giving them the business.

I met The Voice while dutifully waiting to check into the Acela Lounge. I soon learned that I was not qualified to be in the lounge because I had not purchased a First Class ticket. But she was cordial - and fascinating to watch - just the same. Although she didn't offer me a cup of coffee or a nice fresh danish, she did let me stand there long enough for my hands to thaw. She also tried very hard to find out if I was indeed entitled to membership in this exclusive club.

In between the dispatching of the 11:10 Acela to DC and the 11:05 arriving on track 9, she had time (God knows how many hands she had) to call the Amtrak Awards office, punch in my 11 digit account number, file through four or five voice menus and reach the mechanical voice that announced that I only had "400 points." By the look on her face I knew that was probably not enough to get me a free newspaper let alone the coveted danish.

I mentioned that I had traveled cross country on Amtrak last summer and should have had lots of points. She then punched in some more numbers and got a real person on the phone. Two more trains were being dispatched through all this and she read through the script which announced each of the stations along the way without missing a beat. "…with stops in Providence, New Haven, Penn Station New York…" The voice on the other end confirmed I was a loser. I really wanted that danish now.

I took back my $211 business coach Acela ticket and thanked The Voice who was now apologetic. I told her I was glad I had stopped by because I had always wanted to meet the person who was in control of the universe. "It's Oz," she said, her thick Southy accent bending the words almost to the point of being unrecognizable. "They call this place Oz."

Indeed, the Great and Powerful Oz had spoken.

The Season of Giving

2007-11-26T20:10:00.000-05:00

Perhaps it is because Thanksgiving came so early this year. Maybe it was the long warm fall; I did, after all, just put away my golf clubs. Perhaps it is all of the news reports of a potential faltering US economy, a weakening US Dollar and a steady increase in the cost of energy that has driven people to be more concerned about finances this year.

Regardless of the reason, there is a small charity in northern New Mexico that needs your help.

I got involved with the Navajo Child Drive a number of years ago through a friend and former student of mine who was working as a school psychologist on the Navajo reservation in that part of the world. In our correspondences she told often of the plight of these families and the striking poverty many of these proud people were living in. As someone who was working on the front lines, my friend Susan pulled no punches in describing the sad set of circumstances.

In 1993, a group of Susan's colleagues started a small drive to raise money to be able to buy some of the children in the schools some Christmas presents. Twenty-five special needs children were "visited by Santa" that year and I can only imagine their reaction.

In the years that have followed, the Child Drive has grown and grown. Three years ago I got more involved and helped the group get a website, something I donated and have maintained as a gift. In 2006, the Child Drive was able to raise an astonishing $13,636 and provided Christmas presents to 618.

But this year they are having a problem and need your help. Perhaps it is for the reasons I stated above, or perhaps some other reason, but the effect is the same. I've just heard from the director of the Drive and if donations do not increase dramatically in the next few days (they are down by 50% over last year), they are going to have to limit the number of children they can help.

The picture on this page, I think, speaks volumes about the need. There are many more photos on the website. Could you consider a small gift to this small and struggling charity?

All of the information about the Navajo Child Drive, including a gift form, can be found on the website.

I hope you can help. Happy Holidays.

~jeb

Happy Turkey Day

2007-11-21T22:28:00.000-05:00

I have been totally wiped out by the Northeast ASCD Affiliate Conference; working 40 hour weeks and getting paid for 24. We have 900 people coming; the conference is next week. So I decided to veg this evening - Thanksgiving Eve - read the 2184 blog entries in Bloglines that I have missed and post this.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving

Hoppy Holloweenie

2007-10-30T21:06:00.000-04:00

The tradition in my Brooklyn childhood home was to carve the "pumpkin" on Halloween Eve. Early in my career as a kid, any opportunity to stick my fingers in gucky stuff and use sharp instruments was a real treat. I recall Dad had the honors for a number of years, but eventually, just like carving the turkey at Thanksgiving and setting up the Christmas Tree, the responsibility for carving the orange fruit fell to me.

Sometime in the last 15 year, I lost interest in carving the pumpkin. I think the fact that I haven't seen hide nor hair of a Trick-or-Treater in at least that long has contributed to this malaise about Halloween.

Five or six years ago, I bought a rather authentic looking "fake" pumpkin that came with a light and wires included. It even had an on-off switch. It was a lot easier to set up, take down and could be easily stored in the back closet along with the multitude of Christmas decorations.

But something mysterious has happened! My faux pumpkin has DISAPPEARED!!!

I looked all over, in the usual spots, the unusual spots, and the weird spots. I think a poltergeist must have taken it.

So, this year I had to once again take knife to fruit and make a real Jack-o-lantern. Hope you enjoy the play-by-play of this endeavor.

Now, if I could only convince that poltergeist to steal the four months of old newspapers stacked up in the living room I'd be all set. Oh, well.

Hoppy Holloweenie

~j

Integrity vs. Despair?

2007-10-20T20:50:00.000-04:00

I developed a fondness for Erik Erikson when I took my first psychology course some time around the age of the dinosaurs. Freud was fine and Carl Rogers was all the rage - I admit never really liking Skinner - but Erikson's Eight Stages seemed to resonate with me. I think it was the fact that his emphasis on life continuing to evolve after the age of 18 appealed to me. All of the other developmental theorists were obsessed with infancy and oedipal issues; I could care less. I remember thinking that having three stages devoted to life beyond acne and masturbation was probably a good thing.

Over the years, I've mapped my progress on the old Erikson scale. Young Adulthood had some interesting twists and spins. The old "Intimacy and Solidarity vs. Isolation" seemed to make a lot of sense and certainly fit my understanding of the ways of the world.

Middle Adulthood's "Generativity vs. Self absorption or Stagnation" also has made some sense. Although I have no children that I know of (and I think I would if I did) my generativity has been mostly about caring for "other people's children" and the various artistic products I have created during this period (music, writing, photography - this blog???).

According to Dr. Erikson, this Middle Adulthood phase is supposed to last until one is around retirement age, but I am finding that I have occasionally slipped ahead into the next stage from time to time. That stage is what Erikson called "Late Adulthood: 55 or 65 to Death;" not very sexy, but probably accurate. Anyway, in this stage, the big conflict is over one's sense of satisfaction of their life. Described as "Integrity vs. Despair" the challenge to the individual at this age is trying to determine if their life has had any meaning and whether one's made a contribution to life.

Well, perhaps it is indeed a bit premature for me to start to engage in this debate, but I've found myself doing a lot more reflecting these days than I have before.

Last spring, you will recall I attended a major college reunion and saw people who I hadn't laid eyes on in over 30 years. In some cases they looked exactly the same but with a lot of good Hollywood makeup on. In other cases, I did not recognize the person at all. Several times I heard my self whisper, "...if he looks that bad, how bad do you suppose I look?" Don't answer that question.

I'm not exactly sure if this is what Erikson was referring to, but you get the point.

A week or so ago I attended the wedding of one of my nieces - see previous blog entry. It was great, but again I remember when she was born and "the nostalgia gods" were poured out heavy doses of retrospection as we tooled around through some of the old neighborhoods where I had spent several of my earlier Erikson stages. The place where the reception was held, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, I had not stepped foot in in over 40 years. And it looked almost exactly the same.

Topping this off was the most recent experience of nostalgic rollercoaster. I have "re-connected" with a person whom I first met around 1973 when he was around 12 years old. Now he is a good husband, father of two and a successful businessman. But in my reflection, he's still 12.

I'll spare you the details except to say he was a camper and I was a camp counselor. In actuality, I was (and am) not much older than him, and at this point on our lives, we're practically the same age.

We've corresponded via e-mail a few times and I am afraid I'll scare him off with all of my questions. He's already revealed some of what his compatriots of the time have done over the years and I've been enjoying reading how these other kids have turned out. Most of their choices of occupations seem to fit perfectly with the types of personalities they exhibited those many years ago. Is it all that predictable? Could someone have predicted what I would be doing 35 years later?

The whole nostalgia experience literally has my head spinning. I think it has something to do with those synapses that have been sitting around dormant for a couple of decades all of a sudden getting a jolt. As Jean Shepherd was fond of saying, "it's amazing the crap you remember!" And the net effect makes one a little delirious.

So, even though I should be still focused on that generativity thing, I'm kinda enjoying the "looking back" more commonly associated with Integrity.

This current self-reflection ends with the words of Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead, "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been."

~j

Blah Blah Blah

2007-10-16T22:42:00.000-04:00

Life has been very busy this month and as a result, finding the time to blog has been nearly impossible. Work at Maine ASCD has been "demanding" with two of our own conferences this month as well as the "Big Boston" event taking place at the end of next month. The Boston gig is part of a partnership of all of the ASCD affiliates from New Jersey north plus Ontario, Canada. The event is in its 11th year and has grown in success beyond belief. We have over 500 people signed up and the conference is still over six weeks away. As a result, the phones have been ringing off the wall and the fax machine constantly running out of paper.

Add to this busy schedule a wedding in New York and my own presentation at a conference here in Maine, and you can understand why I don't know which way is up.

Maybe it was the trip back to Brooklyn that I took for the wedding or the time of the year, anyway, I have been feeling nostalgic lately and decided to Google the name of some old friends and school mates. I googled myself in the process which led me to this blog (one of three that I write) and I realized that several weeks had gone by since my last entry, so I had better post something. So this is the kind of rambling you get at 11 o'clock at night after a long day at work. Sorry.

Here's a nice picture I took of my niece at the wedding with her daddy. Nice huh?

~jeb

The New Fall Season

2007-09-24T20:22:00.000-04:00

When I was 11 years ago, NBC introduced a new television show called “Flipper” staring Luke Halpin and Tommy Norden as Sandy and Bud, the sons of Ranger Ricks, a Florida wildlife warden. The story revolved around a single-parent family who among other things, were the “keepers” of the highly talented dolphin, Flipper, who was actually the main star of the show and probably.

It was one of the most unique plots of the time and I became an instant fan as the two boys were about my age and the theme of the show involved being at the beach 24 hours a day and driving around in outboard boats all day long. Add to that Flipper and I was ready to pack my bags and join the Ricks family.

One of the interesting things NBC did that summer was publish a special viewer guide that had lots of great photos of the stars and detailed descriptions of the new shows. I remember sending away for the guide and cherished the slick, full-color mini-magazine when it arrived in its smooth manila envelope addressed to Master John Brandt. I had this fixation at that time in my life for catalogs and other mail order junk and was always sending away for all kinds of neat stuff.

This was the heyday of commercial television and the three networks (Fox who?) reigned supreme. Even Public Television was a blip on the screen (literally) and the networks worked feverishly to grab the largest audiences. The special viewer guide fixed me as an NBC fan for the next 20 years.

In the decades that have followed I have almost always taken an interest in what new shows were to appear in the new fall season. For many years I have made an effort to purchase the “Fall Premier Issue” of TV Guide eager to pore through and pick out what I viewed would be the “winners” of the upcoming season. I think the last time I actually picked a winner was 1999 when The West Wing hit the air. Seeing the “coming attractions” over that summer I predicted correctly that it would be my favorite show. After viewing the first episode, I had my doubts predicting the plot was too complicated and cerebral for the average American viewer. Happily I was wrong, at least that year, but in the years that have followed I have not found anything that garners my interest. I’ll admit to being a secret Heros fan last year, but by the end of the season I thought the show has lost its edge and was becoming too predictable.

So, this summer I was rather cynical when it came to the announcements of the upcoming fall season. There has been nothing in the summer promos that look remotely interesting and it appears all network TV executives now do is find the stupidest idea possible for a new show. I think they have really reached a new low, by my count only eleven new shows on the major networks – nearly all of them losers in my eye. Sorry that does not include Fox or any of the other fringe networks. I don’t even bother to look at those “networks.” So, I’m old fashioned – shoot me.

Last Saturday while at the local supermarket I looked high and low for a copy of TV Guide’s Fall Premier issue. It took quite a bit of doing since sometime in the past year TV Guide changed from its historic pocket sized template to a new larger, magazine size. Completely in full color – gone are the funky newsprint pages and special yellow sections. This is not your father’s TV Guide for sure.

What I was looking forward to was the opportunity of predicting which of the new shows would crash and burn in the first few weeks of the season. I love looking at the issue the following February and seeing if I can even remember the show.

In recent years my ability to guess the winners and losers has just about vanished. It seems that anything that looks remotely interesting to me is bound to be a failure and everything that looks like its design to appear to Neanderthals is a big winner.

So it should not come as a surprise to learn that the only thing I am looking forward to viewing in this new fall season is my old buddy Ken Burns’ new film The War on PBS.

Thank God for PBS.

Do you think a show about two boys and a dolphin might work?

~jeb

I Triple Dog-dare You

2007-09-13T14:41:00.000-04:00

"You'll shoot your eye out, kid. "

Those who know me know I have been a Jean Shepherd coo-coo since I was a preadolescence. I've read all of his books and nearly all of his short stories. I even have autographed pictures and books; real collectors items.

So of course I am the ultimate fan of the now-famous "A Christmas Story" movie which was based on several of Shep's better short stories. Pick your favorite quote.

I've watched the movie a couple million times and have given copies away to many friends over the past 25 years since the movie was released. And although I do not have a leg lamp or my own "Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time," I do collect various junk from the movie and follow various happenings.

One of the things I discovered last year was a new museum devoted to the movie called the "A Christmas Story House." This indeed is the filming location in Cleveland, Ohio where much of the exterior scenes of the movie were shot. Lovingly developed by some eccentric fans, the museum is located across the street from "Ralphie's house" which has been restored to "its movie splendor." Anyway, I'm on their mailing list and they just wrote to tell me all about the special happenings this fall including the first "A Christmas Story Convention on November 23 and 24" and a "special Dinner with the Actors" on Friday, November 23 including Flick, Scut Farkus, Grover Dill, Randy, Miss Shields and the two evil elves. The "special dinner will of course be "a Chinese Turkey Dinner with all the trimmings."

So if you are close to Cleveland around Thanksgiving, why not stop by and enjoy the merriment including a Ralphie look-a-like contest, the official unveiling of the Parker Family Car that caused Ralphie’s “Oh Fudge” incident, and the unveiling of the original movie prop chalk board from Miss Shields Classroom by Tedde Moore who played Miss Shields! Here's all the details.

Flick Lives!

September 11th

2007-09-11T17:48:00.000-04:00

This says it all...

~jeb

The evil navbar

2007-09-04T11:03:00.000-04:00

Well Google has not responded - yet - to my request for how to remove the "navbar." Others have posted some hacks to the blog template that allow you to "hide" the navebar from view. So, I have employed that for now.

It is not so much that I am concerns about people seeing things that are inappropriate (all you have to do is read your SPAM mail for that), but when the other blogs appeared to attack my browser and install malicious bots, I draw the line.

I've giving Blogger a little more time for an official response, but I have plenty of options for setting up a different blog elsewhere. After all, I now have four.

Hope you had a nice Labor Day. And, for those of you heading back to school - have a great year!

~jeb

Don't touch that "Next Blog>" button...

2007-09-01T12:11:00.000-04:00

...if you know what's good for you.

I made the mistake of clicking that the other day to randomly check out other blogs for posting in the Blog Day event. Well where that button took me was pretty scary.

First there were all these porn sites which somehow was harvesting my IP address and including suggestions to where I could "find women" locally. For some reason when my IP is traced it shows me in any number of locations, none of which are my hometown. So, I figured the sexy women in Bowdoinham will have a long wait.

Next the button brought me to some bizzare site that literally started to attack my computer. First, the pop-up blocker alarm starting beeping like crazy and some pop-ups actually made it through and then my Norton Anti-Virus program beeped that it had prevented the someone "trying to take control" of my computer.

Needless to say, I have avoided the button and have contacted Blogger to find a way to remove it completely. We'll see. If they don't get back to me with a solution, I will be moving this blog elsewhere.

~jeb

Blog Day

2007-08-30T21:12:00.000-04:00

Okay here are my five new blogs (in no particular order). I am supposed to give a description of each one...that's the stuff in brackets:

Church of Flying Spaghetti Monster (indescribable)
All Things Maine (as the name implies)
Strange Maine (ditto)
Clinton Hill Blog (from my old neighborhood)
Icky in Brooklyn (er...?)
Overheard in New York (I cheated here, not new but one of my favorite - quotes overheard in NYC)

Now, what they should have asked for were your five favorite blogs. Here are mine in order of choice (drumroll please...):

5. indexed (strange blog where everything is explained in charts and graphs)
4. A List Apart (wonderful blog discussing web design)
3. Will Richardson weblogg-ed (one of my two favorite educational technology Evangelists)
2. David Warlick - 2cents worth (the other favorite)
1. Callalillie (just a wonderful blog - one of the first I every read- from a lovely young woman in Brooklyn)

I'm supposed to put this in Technorati, but they appear to be having technoratiacle problems. http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2007

~j