ED TV

I'm not going to attempt to further characterize the events from this weekend. By now, we've all been overly inundated with information regarding the shooting tragedy, and everyone knows how they feel about it. Which allows us to start focusing on what's really important: overt politicizing.

I was channel surfing during a commercial break in the BCS Championship pregame coverage - one of the last examples of times the DVR is rendered useless - and somehow landed on "The Ed Show" on MSNBC.

The discussion I stumbled into - which I can only assume was the result from the weekend's shooting - was called "Is rhetoric to blame?"

As I said, I don't know for certain that this was in the context of the shootings. It's entirely possible that this referred to Phil Jackson's conversations with the media during the Lakers' recent losing streak.

However, assuming that this was indeed a discussion about gun violence and the responsibility of media in our society, it seems a bit curious that the show chose to title this segment with a lower-third graphic that read "RAPID-FIRE".

Without some sort of visual representation, it's certainly easy to argue that this was taken out of context, or that I'm forcing some sort of juxtaposition. Which is why I took the liberty of attaching a screen grab:


During this exchange - which went on for more than three minutes - everyone seemed to be completely unaware of the graphic titling the conversation (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on this). This made it even more amusing when Bill Press said the following:

I think all those people who've used that gun filled rhetoric tonight Ed, have to do some real soul searching."

Here is how it looked on TV when Bill Press made that comment:


Mr. Press later continued:

I wrote a book about this called "toxic talk," tell you something, I listened to all of the talk radio on the right and on the left. this is 24/7, the specialty of right-wing talk radio today."

Here's what it looked like when that was said, complete with closed captioning:


Mr. Press concluded with this collective urging:

...All of us should be cooling our jets and all of us should be searching in looking at the words that we use, everybody should."

With that in mind, here is one more look at the words "The Ed Show" chose to use for their graphics, while Ed looks directly at them:


To his credit, Ed closed the segment with what was, considering the context, an incredibly insightful declaration:

My prediction is, nothing will change."

Well, maybe one thing will change: Bill Press may request lower-third approval when appearing on this program.

To view the full interview in all it's glory, see below...

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More Stuffing

For the second-consecutive year, I partook in two Thanksgiving celebrations. These unrelated gatherings spanned two days (Thursday and Friday), two locations, and included five turkeys (if that's not surprising enough, check the breakdown: one Thursday, FOUR Friday). This delicious but dangerous exercise almost landed me in the hospital last year. I knew better this year. Moderation is the key. But that doesn't mean cutting anything out. It just means stretching out the process.

With that in mind, I thought it the perfect time to continue stretching out my un-heralded YouTube video series, HBO Intros Mashed-Up With The Music From Other HBO Intros!

Now although I make it look incredibly easy and seamless, there is often quite a bit of editing and manipulating I do to these intros to make them fit. But the hours spent tirelessly obsessing over frames pays off when I see how much all 6-12 of you are enjoying this.

This lastest installment, however, is a departure. I engaged in NO editing, other than stripping the music off one intro, and attaching it to the other. No frames were cut, no speeds altered, no riffs cut, no beats looped, no animals harmed. It is simply one program's video intro with another's theme.

It also answer's the question that's plagued us all for too long: What if Tony Soprano was a vampire?

Enjoy.

UNTRAINABLE

If there's one thing I think we can all agree on, it's that we haven't seen enough trailers for the new Tony Scott thrillride, UNSTOPPABLE.

Sadly, with the film's release today, the frequency of ads for the film will most likely be reduced to a paltry 42 a day.

But before our attentions are sped away to the next "it" flick (most likely "Love And Other Drugs." Omg, can't wait!!!), let's celebrate a triumphant ad campaign with just one more trailer...

THEY DID THE MASH

Few predicted Entourage would outlive Deadwood when the two premiered in 2004. It just proves the old adage: never write off Kevin Connelly (I've been assured that's an adage in Hollywood).

Who knows what would have happened if Deadwood had gone with a snappier theme. And Kevin Connelly instead of Ian McShane.

One can only imagine...

THE MASHNESS CONTINUES

The biggest problem with HBO's Rome? Not enough New Orleans jazz bands.

Problem solved.

MORE MONSTER MASH

In the 90's, HBO defined the life of the single woman living in Manhattan. This narrative captivated every girl I went to high school with, which in turn gave further aid to making high school terrible.

Today, HBO is defining the life of the single man living in Brooklyn, assuming every single man in Brooklyn is a struggling writer-turned-detective (which we are, at least in our own minds). If nothing else, this narrative is captivating the mid-twenties floaters, and making unemployment that much more enjoyable.

It's only fitting these two would be merged, like some stunning supernova adorned in a trench coat and manolo blahniks.

MONSTER MASH

For years, HBO has been putting out highly acclaimed original programming, setting the standard for inspired, quality content. Pivotal in setting the tone for these iconic shows have been their respective openings. Combining crisp imagery with sharp scores, these intros are tailored to reflect each show's unique style and substance.

But what would happen if were to transpose their context? Would they still hold up? Would they falter? Would they give us new insight into our own souls, an understanding and awareness we never would have otherwise considered, allowing us to access levels of our collective consciousness that have remained completely dormant until now?

Probably not. But it might be fun.

Freshly chopped and submitted for your approval, I present the first in the sure-to-be-on-the-internet series: HBO INTROS MASHED UP WITH OTHER HBO INTROS.