Survivor

My buddy, Dan, wants to be on Survivor. Click here to see his audition video. Leave him a nice comment while you're at it. Dan's a good guy and it would be fun to watch him on the show.

Here's the car pulling video that he alludes to in his audition:

Are We Listening To The Same Song?

I watch American Idol and I'm not afraid to admit it. Overall, this season is pretty good. My favorite is a girl named Didi Benami. I think she's great. The judges, on the other hand, beat her up every week. I couldn't have disagreed more with them last night. They said her pitch was off, she picked a bad song, and her performance felt artificial. I couldn't believe it! I thought it was a great performance. What do you think? I know I'm not an expert, but I do think that I have a little bit of discernment when it comes to music. Am I totally off base?

Yeah, I let my kid watch TV.

Last night, I was trying to video Harper saying Trick Or Treat (we've been practicing). But, she just wasn't in to it. All she wanted to do was watch her favorite TV show, Wow Wow Wubbzy. She loves this show. I don't know why. I mean, it's ok, but I'm not totaly convinced it's worth the deeply devoted love that she feels for it. Oh well. To each his own.

What Did You Say?

Don't you hate TV commercials that are 10 times louder than the show you are watching? Well, finally someone is doing something about it. The FCC already mandates that commercials can be no louder than the loudest parts of the programming they accompany. However, this has a gaping loop hole - watching an episode of 24 that climaxes in a burst of gunfire is one thing; a commercial that's as loud as a gunshot from start to finish is another. To close this loophole, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives last year, the Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM). CALM would require the FCC to enact regulations prohibiting commercials from being "excessively noisy or strident". The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing to consider the bill today. In addition, for those consumers who don't wish to bet their eardrums on the legislative process, TVs featuring Dolby Volume, a technology that automatically flattens out the sound spikes of commercials, have been on the market for a little over two years. I'm pretty sure the next TV we buy will have this feature.

Cable TV Makes You A Better Person

Ok. Finally getting around to the post for today. I spent the morning having my brain fried by some tricky statistical analyses at work. Hate it when that happens. Anyway, today I would like to put forth the notion that cable TV makes you a better person. While this idea may seem a little counter intuitive, I assure you that it's correct. Because Rob has to get up at an ungodly hour and Harper is, well, a baby, the two of them are usually in bed by 8:30 or 9 at the latest. This means that after they go to bed, I get to watch what ever I want on TV - no Disney Channel, no cop shows. Now while I will agree that there is a lot of stupid stuff on cable TV (some of which I thoroughly enjoy), there are also some really good, enlightening, character building shows too. Here are a two of my recent favorites with links so you can watch them.

• MTVs 16 and Pregnant Catelynn episode - This is probably the best thing I've seen on TV in a long time. These kids blow my mind with their wisdom and strength.

• 30 Days Minimum Wage episode - I love this series. Every episode tackles a difficult issue and is very thought provoking. To watch this clip, you have to have a hulu account (it's free).

What have you seen on TV lately that really made you think?