Solonor's Inkwell

Personally, I don’t give a rat’s posterior if Screen Savers host Patrick Norton ever wears a kilt on the air again. What I do care about is the apparent homogenization of the show.

I first tuned in because I loved the idea of a bunch of geeks talking tech in their basement. This is what the show looks like most of the time. To top it off, my favorite arcade game of all time Asteroids was in the background.

It’s the little things that get me.

And that’s the point. Slowly, the little things, like Patrick’s kilt, the fridge magnets, Megan’s wacky characters, Leo’s loud shirts…all seem to be getting swept aside as too strange for ‘normal’ viewers.

Zmama’s Babbling Blog says it just about as well as anyone else I’ve heard.

In spite of the fact that every automaker lobbyist has been out to kill it, and in spite of Bush’s pro-oil company stance, the fuel cell powered car is finally on its way (Wired 10.08: GM’s Billion-Dollar Bet). While other car makers are being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century, GM is finally trying to get a real hydrogen-powered car out to consumers before all the oil dries up. For real, this time. Not just a marketing gimmick. Really. They mean it. Just 10 more years. 20 tops….

So, you think you paid your outrageous cable TV bill in order to get 200 channels of your favorite shows? Foolish consumer! Didn’t you know that the TV was designed as a delivery medium for advertisements? The shows are filler between commercials, silly.

Well…not…any…more….

TNT has tested an exciting new tool to stop you ungrateful people from skipping those 30-second masterpieces. If you’re gonna use the commercial breaks as an excuse to feed the cat or drain the…bathtub…then there just won’t be any commercial breaks. So, there!

Instead, ads will pop-up in the middle of shows, a la the little “Watch our next Survivor rip-off” tags that show up as part of the channel logo. Imagine the possibilities!

“Lions and tigers and bears…oh, my!” ::POP!:: Hungry as a lion, tiger or bear? Head on out to Burger King for a tasty Whopper.

“Lucy, I’m home” ::POP!:: Can’t speak proper American? Try ‘Hooked on English’!

Read all about it in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Lutheran Pastor David Benke did the unthinkable–prayed with heathens at an interfaith service for the families of victims of the September 11 attacks. How dare he! What did he think he was doing? Providing comfort to his fellow man? Showing the world that Christians care about people, even if they don’t currently believe in “the one true way”? Puh-leeze.