Quo Vadimus

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Lightning Round -- I Agree With Rush Limbaugh, Sports Oddities, and More

So a few random things today.

** I actually agree with Rush Limbaugh ** Now there's something you wouldn't ordinarily expect me to say. But reading TVNewser this morning, they wrote that on Morning Joe, radio talk show host (or, as Keith Olbermann likes to say, comedian) Rush Limbaugh was fawning over the great Erin Burnett of CNBC. And sure enough, when I watched some of the show when I got back from class, Rush was extolling the virtues of the CNBC anchor (I've embedded the video below). As faithful readers of Quo Vadimus know, I have written (dating back to April) time and time again about Burnett's rise to stardom and how impressed I am with her work on both CNBC and Morning Joe. Nice to see that highly talented CNBC anchors can bring the right and left together.

** Feeling Lucky? ** ESPN.com had a really interesting story today. According to a newly released study, 1 in 5 people have tried using something lucky to help their favorite sports franchise. And as someone who still carries around a half dollar with him that I found after the Detroit Pistons lost Game Five, at home, in triple overtime, in the Western Conference Finals to New Jersey and then carried it with him throughout the Pistons next two victories and on through the NBA Finals, I guess I would be in that 20%.

The survey showed no real difference by gender, race or education in whether people try finding a way to help their team win. But those who do tend to be younger and make more money than those willing to risk letting the athletes determine a game's outcome. They also are more likely to be single.

I now wonder if my sports superstition is why I'm single.

** New Blog Plug ** My good buddy and fellow law student Kurt, author of the Clever WoT blog which is home to the Law Student Blogger Directory recently launched a new project, a blog, which is the the official online companion to the Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review. For all the latest analysis of the intersection between technology and the law, the MTTLR Blog is the place to go.

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Sunday, September 30, 2007

The Lightning Round -- Weekend Wrap Up

Wow. This was a busy weekend, both from a blog posting perspective, and from a real-life perspective. An engagement party. Two football games (and two victories). Seeing a movie for the first time in ages. And watching quite a bit of television as season premiere week continues. So, in case you missed it, here's a rundown of the posts from the past three days.

On Saturday, I wrote about the season premiere of the fifth season of Las Vegas which wrapped up the storylines of the characters of Nikki Cox and James Caan and introduced us to new casino owner Tom Selleck. It was pretty good, though I will miss Caan.

I also watched and wrote about Michigan's struggle to beat Northwestern on Saturday. And the more I think about it, the more similar Michigan and the Detroit Lions are. Good offenses, poor defenses, and both games Sunday were flipped, with the defense holding the team in despite poor offensive performances, only for the teams to wake up in the second half and win by double-digits.

Saturday night I ventured out to the movie theater (for the first time since watching Fracture during the spring) and watched and reviewed The Kingdom. I'm partial to anything staring Jennifer Garner, and after not being such a big fan of other, Middle Eastern/Current Event films (like Jarhead and Syriana) I was a big fan of The Kingdom. Poignant, powerful, action-packed and exciting. Even the humor worked. It's getting mixed-reviews (at best) and it was beaten out by The Rock's kids movie at the box office this week, but do yourself a favor and check out this movie. It's worth it.

Then Sunday was sports day. The Detroit Tigers wrapped up their season with a win and Magglio Ordonez won the batting title, Curtis Granderson put a bow on his amazing season by pushing his batting average over .300, Placido Polanco got his 200th hit of the year, and Carlos Guillen knocked home RBI 100. And Pudge Rodiguez may have played his last game as a Tiger. I had some quick thoughts on that too.

And then, finally, the Detroit Lions set an NFL record by scoring 34 fourth quarter points to defeat the Chicago Bears and improve to 3-1 on the season. The Lions are not an elite team, by far, but they are tough, and show a lot of heart, and after being nowhere for three quarters, they scored five touchdowns in the final fifteen minutes to stage a come from behind victory.

And with that, time to get some work done before Shark starts at 10:00 and Lions wrap-ups begin on the local news at 11:30. And Ebert and Roper review The Kingdom, and more, at 12:30. The weekend never stops.

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Monday, August 13, 2007

The Lightning Round -- Best of the 'Net

Lots of interesting things going on at the moment. The Detroit Tigers continue to struggle to find their way. Karl Rove resigned. The NFL pre-season continues. And I had a Fantasy Football draft yesterday. But instead of boring you with the details about who I drafted and why (I will say I drafted three Detroit Lions, and nabbed Marshawn Lynch, who I think will be a superstar for Buffalo) there is lots of other great content on the web these days, so let's see what's worth checking out.

**Ebert and Roeper and Siskel online -- Despite not venturing out to the movies, well, at all this summer, I love watching Ebert and Roeper at the movies, every Sunday night at midnight. Richard Roeper knows his movies (obviously) and is entertaining on the show. And while Ebert is out right now recovering from cancer surgery, a variety of fill-in hosts have done an admirable job, the most of impressive of whom has been Associated Press movie critic Christy Lemire. But this plug is for their new website AtTheMoviesTV.com which is a film lovers paradise. Every review that has ever been broadcast by Rogers Ebert, Gene Siskel, and Richard Roeper are available for free viewing. It's an incredible library of thousands of video reviews. I checked out reviews of three of my favorite movies last night (Field of Dreams, Almost Famous, and Gattaca) and I was addicted. Curious about whether the movie you are planning on renting is good or not? I don't think there's a better site out there. Very impressive.

** Chris Matthews hits on Erin Burnett -- This is thanks to the great folks over at Inside Cable News. The great Erin Burnett, who I have written about time and time again was on MSNBC's Hardball, hosted by the equally great (but in different ways) Chris Matthews, who may have let his appreciation of Burnett lead to a few awkward moments during an interview on Friday.

** Facebook profiled in Newsweek -- It's a good day for Facebook creator and soon to be billionaire Mark Zuckerberg. He and his brainchild, Facebook.com, made the cover of Newsweek this week and were the recipients of a very well written, very complementary cover story. Well worth reading if you count yourself as a Facebook user and even if you aren't.

I am a huge supporter and fan of the Facebook, and have been registered with the site since May of 2004. I have met cousins I never knew before, caught up with friends from elementary school I hadn't talked to in years, and wasted many an hour on the site. Should it ever become an IPO, as the Newsweek story indicates, it will be the most anticipated and I would think most successful IPO since Google.

** Some other good stuff to check out -- Fellow Tigers Fan KatieG runs a great blog over at InnisFree on all sorts of goings on, both sports and non-sports, Motor City and non-Motor City related. Kurt has all the latest on the Second Life virtual property lawsuit(s).

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Monday, July 9, 2007

The Lightning Round: Erin Burnett, Curtis Granderson's Catch, and a Few Other Notes

I really need to start updating the blog more often during the summer. I liked it better when I was updating once a day, not twice a week. So let's see what's been going on....

* For those of you visiting the site for the first time after reading Portfolio.com's great profile of CNBC's Erin Burnett, welcome. The author of the piece, Claire Atkinson, was kind enough to link to my blog here and plug a post I did way back in March (okay, it's not "way back", but it seems that way) on how much CNBC I was watching and how impressed I was with the talented and personable Burnett. You can check out that story and my original thoughts on the Erin Burnett v. Maria Bartiromo debate right here.

My opinion hasn't changed much since I wrote the original post in March. I still think Burnett is destined for big things at CNBC (or elsewhere) and obviously others agree. Sadly, though, I haven't been home to watch Street Signs lately (oh the joys of being in law school and being home with nothing to do at 2:00 every afternoon) but I'll be back watching soon enough.

* Hot day at Comerica Park yesterday. And I should know, as I was there, watching the Tigers close out a sweep of the Boston Red Sox. A great series for the Tigers, and a great way to close out the first half, winning 5 of 6 against Cleveland and Boston, two of the top teams in the American League (aside from the Tigers of course). And while the Tigers had five errors yesterday (no, that's not a typo) they also had one of the greatest catches I've ever seen live, when Curtis Granderson ran what seemed like an entire football field, climbed the left-centerfield wall and absolutely robbed Willy Mo Pena of a home run. Absolutely incredible. And because of Major League Baseball apparently has nothing better to do and has no interest in growing their game by making sure as many people see the catch as possible, most of the highlights of the catch have been yanked from YouTube (longtime readers know my experience with MLB Advance Media and my law school buddy Kurt's thoughtful response) but a few are still out there, and you need to see this catch if you haven't already.

* I recently finished reading John Meacham's American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nationand I would recommend the book to anyone and everyone. It takes a look at religion from the founding of North America through the founding of the United States and through the Cold War and shows just how smart the Founding Fathers really were when they decided to promote freedom of religion for everyone. Espeically today, when religion is so often used as a weapon and those who do not believe in what others think everyone should believe are vilified, and when people misconstrue history and tradition for political and ideological gain, it's just tranquil to be able to read the founders own words and see how truly important they thought it was that people would be able to practice any religion (or none at all). And how important that ideal has been throughout the last 250 years.

Moving on to a lighter subject, I'm now reading Phil Rosenthal's You're Lucky You're Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom. For those unfamiliar, Phil was the co-creator, writer, producer, ect. ect. of Everybody Loves Raymond. The show is largely based on his life and his parents, and the book not only goes through some of Phil's life-story but also the story about how Everybody Loves Raymond came into being and took on a life of its own, becoming one of the most successful sitcoms of this generation. Plus, you already know Phil's a great writer, so you can't really good wrong, and the first few chapters have been really good. Plus, it's only $5.00 at Amazon for the hardcover edition. How can you beat that?

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Sunday, June 24, 2007

The Lightning Round: Tigers trades, President Bloomberg, and More

You take a few days off from posting and the Detroit Tigers make a few trades, the mayor of New York City changes his political affiliation, and who knows what else went on. This is only my 14th post of the month, after 48 in May and 50 in April so let's get back into it and see what's been going on.

* The Detroit Tigers trade Wil Ledezma and Mike Maroth: In what was the long expected shakeup of the Detroit Tigers pitching staff, with both Kenny Rogers and Nate Robertson returning from the Disabled List, the Tigers made two trades last week, acquiring left-handed reliever Macay McBride from Atlanta for Wil Ledezma and trading fan-favorite Mike Maroth to the St. Louis Cardinals for the oft-traded "player to be named later."

Neither move bothers me too much, though anytime you trade away a young left-hander like Ledezma that can touch the mid-90s you are a bit hesitant, but really, the Tigers had very little choice. Roster spots are at a premium, and with the Tigers set with their position players, the return of Rogers, Robertson, and perhaps even Zach Miner meant people had to go. McBride, who was acquired from Atlanta, is holding lefthanded batters to a .160 average this year, but with the way Bobby Seay and Tim Brydak have pitched, he likely won't stick with the big league club, at least for the moment. Which just gives the team greater depth at AAA, and if McBride can continue to improve (he's only 24) he could be the left handed specialist for years to come that the Tigers lost when Jamie Walker went to Baltimore. And Ledemza, though he showed flashes of promise, was never going to crack the Tigers starting rotation, and never really seemed comfortable in the bullpen. A change of scenery may be the best for his career.

As for trading Mike Maroth, it was inevitable the moment the Tigers drafted Andrew Miller, but it's still sad from the perspective that, Maroth was here when the Tigers hit the lowest of lows in the early years of this century, but when they made it to the World Series last year, he was hurt and left off the post-season roster, and this year, when they seemed primed to make another run at the pennant, he gets traded to St. Louis.

But, on the other hand, baseball is baseball, and a move needed to be made and Maroth was the most logical candidate. He was the weakest of the 7 potential starting pitchers the Tigers have (including Chad Durbin and Andrew Miller in that calculation) and somebody needed to go to make room for Nate Robertson if the plan was to keep Andrew Miller in the starting rotation, which it is, at least for now.

And while there are thoughts on both sides of the debate over whether Miller is best served in the big leagues (as Kurt contends at Mack Avenue Tigers) or developing a change-up back in AA Erie (as Billfer writes at the Detroit Tigers Weblog) I'm happy to see him stick with the Tigers for now. Yes, he may be a more polished pitcher if he was in AA, but you can't measure the value of big-league experience. I completely understand the argument that while Jeremy Bonderman is a great pitcher today, he may be even better if he had time to develop a change-up in the minor leagues. But, at the same time, maybe he wouldn't be as strong mentally, or as prepared to face big league batters, had he spent time in the minor leagues instead of with the Tigers. You can't teach experience and when you already have the kind of stuff Miller does, keeping him in the majors, where he can get that experience, I think will be crucial to his development.

And even the Tigers bullpen may be turning the corner (though, I don't want to speak too soon). Fernando Rodney and Todd Jones closed out a 2-1 win yesterday, and this young kid from the minors, Eulogio De La Cruz, looks like he could be a pretty special player, although he's only pitched three big league innings, so I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. With Zach Miner potentially returning next week, and Chad Durbin sliding into the bullpen, it suddenly has a new look, and is much stronger than it was a few weeks ago. Hopefully, they'll pitch that way.

* Michael Bloomberg drops the Republican Party, may run for President: Now here's something really interesting. A week after landing on the cover of Time Magazine with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he was leaving the Republican Party, becoming an independent, which opened the door to an as-yet-unannounced third-party run for the White House in 2008.

Bloomberg, who has often said that a short, Jewish, divorced billionaire would have a difficult time winning the presidency looks like he may be willing to give it a shot. And as a short, Jewish, hope-to-one-day-be a billionare, his candidacy is really intreguing (although, at the moment, I'm still in the Barack Obama camp. There's a lot to like about Bloomberg, from his stance on the environment, to his willingness to stand up to the National Rifle Association when most politicians are too timid, to his ban on smoking throughout New York City.

Look at global warming. Washington rejected the Kyoto Protocol, but more than 500 U.S. mayors have pledged to meet its emissions-reduction standards, none more aggressively than Bloomberg. His PlaNYC calls for a 30% cut in greenhouse gases by 2030. It will quadruple the city's bike lanes, convert the city's taxis to hybrids and impose a controversial congestion fee for driving into Manhattan.

[. . .]

But they're tackling not just the climate. Bloomberg is leading a national crackdown on illegal guns, along with America's biggest affordable-housing program. He also enacted America's most draconian smoking ban and the first big-city trans-fat ban. And he's so concerned about Washington's neglect of the working poor that he's raised $50 million in private money, including some of his own millions, to fund a pilot workfare program.

[. . . ]

Bloomberg hasn't etched his personality into the city's soul, but major crime has dropped 30% in New York in the Bloomberg era, without the racial antagonisms of the Giuliani era. Test scores and graduation rates are up, unemployment is at a record low, welfare rolls are at a 40-year low, construction is booming, the deficit has become a surplus, and the city's bond rating just hit an all-time high of double-A.

The entire Time Magazine story about he and Govoner Schwarzenegger taking matters into their own hands is really fascinating and worth a read.

And the real advantage of a Bloomberg candidacy? It's two-fold. First, one of the things I love about Obama is his ability, I believe, to bring people together. But, Bloomberg may be able to bring both political parties together, which is pretty remarkable. And secondly, while even Obama, who has said he will not take money from PACs and is against 527 groups, will be beholden to special interests and other groups lining his campaign warchest. He'll have to be, it's part of the business of running for president and nobody is immune. Except for Bloomberg. A self-made billionare, he could spend $500 million to $1 billion of his own money on the campaign and not break a sweat. He would be beholden to nobody, no special interests, no lobbying groups. No political parties. He could come out, say he was financing his own campaign 100% and that while the other candidates could talk all they wanted about being "above" old-school politics, he was the only candidate who could honestly say he didn't take a dime from anybody. He would come into the White House with a completely clean slate, with the ability to govern as he saw fit without worrying about pleasing the groups that put him in office or the political party which nominated him in the first place. And he'd have the resources himself to fight back against any attack from the NRA or the tobacco companies or anybody else. It's really exciting to think about actually.

* Reading and Watching DVDs: So what else has been going on? I blew through the entire first season of the Practice on DVD in about a week, so that was fun. I forgot how real and gritty the first season was. And watching the bonus feature on the DVD, that was David E. Kelley's original vision for the show. Not the big trial every week but the raw, behind-the-glory Practice of law. But, when the show was placed at 9:00 Saturday nights, in order to save the show from extinction, Kelley thought they needed a dead body by 9:05 to hook people in, and thus began the long history of big murder trials for Bobby Donnell and company. When the show finally settled into its 10:00 Sunday timeslot, people had come to expect the big trial, so while the show still maintained an edge, it was a different show than the first few episodes, which were great.

I've also been reading more of Jon Meacham's American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation and I continue to be amazed with the wisdom and logic of the Founding Fathers. I'm now moving into religion in American politics during the Civil War era and I'm loving this book. If you are interested at all in the constant debate over the scope of religion in the United States and the role religion has played in our public history, this book is a must-read. Some great quotes about tolerance of others religious beliefs ("I write with freedom because, while I claim a right to believe in one God, I yield as freely to others that of believing in three. Both religions, I find, make honest men, and that is the only point society ha any right to look to. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg" from Thomas Jefferson and "Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess, and to observe the religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us" from James Madison). A great read.

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Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The Lightning Round

Lots of little stuff to get today, so let's get started with a check on the Go to the Polls for Placido! voting campaign.

** You never know how much of an impact a small little internet campaign can have on a large scale voting contest, but I would like to think the "Go to the Polls for Placido!" campaign is making an impact. From looking at my traffic reports I can see a lot of "outclicks" to the All Star Ballot and I can only hope and assume those are votes for Placido and the rest of the Detroit Tigers team. MLB should be releasing updated voting numbers in the next few days, hopefully by then Polanco will be leading the pack. I've also been thrilled with the amount of blogs and websites that I have helped to promote the campaign, it's been much appreciated. Here's a list of the blogs (that I know of) who have encouraged their visitors to Go to the Polls for Placido!

Gregg Henson of GreggHenson.com
Greg Eno of Out of Bounds and Where Have You Gone, Johnny Grubb?
Kurt of Mack Avenue Tigers
Samara of Roar of the Tigers
Ian of Bless You Boys
GreenPotatoes Live Journal
Rick of Rick's Writing Again
If I missed your blog/website, just let me know and we'll help spread the word. The more eyeballs on the campaign and voting for Tigers, the better chance Placido has of overtaking Cano, and who knows, maybe even Magglio Ordonez will climb into the starting outfield, as he certainly deserves that after his MVP-worthy first half so far. The campaign has also popped up on Digg.com, BallHype, and BallBug so it's getting around the internet. Thanks again to everyone for helping out.

** So what else is going on? I'm trying to read more. I wrote just over a month ago about a book shopping trip I had gone on, picking up five top titles I was looking forward to reading. Sadly, I haven't accomplished much on that front. And I blame the Detroit Tigers. Not really, but by the time I get home from work and have dinner, the Tigers have usually started playing, and they have taken priority over my books. But, with a night off tonight, I got back to Jon Meacham's American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation and it's been great so far. So far, the book has talked a lot about religion before the Founding, in the 1600 and 1700s in North America, and it's a fascinating read. I'm going to make more of an effort to spend more time reading going forward.

** Another reason why I haven't been reading is because this weekend, instead of picking up one of my many unread books, I was watching Seinfeld instead. Seinfeld - Season 8 was released on DVD last week and I watched probably 10 episodes on Sunday. Just hilarious. While likely not the "best" season of Seinfeld, it's still very very funny, and I've very much been enjoying the "Inside Looks" and "Yada Yada Yada" cast and crew commentaries (though, Jerry Seinfeld's commentaries are a bit disappointing as he spends most of the episodes laughing at the jokes). Great stuff.

And with that it's Monday night, which means it's time for Headlines on Leno. So, I'll leave you with a reminder to Go to the Polls for Placido!

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Tuesday, June 5, 2007

The Lightning Round: Detroit Sports, the World Series of Poker, and More

Some more thoughts with no real connection between them, so as is the Quo Vadimus tradition, we'll go through another Lightning Round.

** Christy of Behind The Jersey has put together a great feature over at her blog (and it's not just great because it features me, though that helps obviously), where she spoke with numerous Detroit sports bloggers, asking them why Detroit is such a great sports city. She's posting the answers in a five part series (one part for each of the five questions) and the answers are pretty thoughtful and give you a great diversity of viewpoints from the various bloggers around the state of Michigan. Aside from my answers, Kurt of Mack Avenue Tigers, Sean of Michigan Sports Center, Matt of Let's Go Wings, Paul of Kuklas Korner, Al from The Wayne Fontes Experience, and RipIsMoney from Detroit Sports Unleashed all chime in as well. You can check out the first part of the roundtable discussion right here.

** Speaking of blogs, thanks to Yzerman Is God and Other Thoughts on Hockeytown for the plug this week on my Trade Rasheed Wallace post.

** I'm watching the Tigers as I type this, and even though Nate Robertson was awful tonight, giving up six runs without recording an out in the first inning, the bullpen responded in resounding fashion tonight, shutting down Texas after that (and until this point, which is the top of the 8th). The Tigers still trial 6-4, but they've had their chances and have kept Texas at bay. From a bullpen which has been horrid lately, even if the Tigers lose this game, there are a lot of positives to take out of tonight's game.

** The World Series of Poker has started, which is pretty cool to follow for poker fans. While the "Main Event" which gets most of the national publicity does not begin for another month or so, all of the "smaller" tournaments (which in some ways are more exciting and show a much broader depth to the game of poker other than just no limit hold 'em) are going on right now. I love following the WSOP. Gives me a chance to live vicariously through Daniel Negreanu. For those unfamiliar, Negreanu is one of poker's top stars, and he's just an all around cool guy. He hangs out with Boston Rob of Survivor/Amazing Race fame, is a huge hockey fan (he's Canadian), and is married to a woman from the state of Michigan. Can't go wrong there. During the entire World Series, he posts video blog updates at his website, Full Contact Poker, and I love following along. Just like in sports, poker is more entertaining when you have a "rooting" interest.

Last year I had a true "rooting interest" in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. While Daniel Negreanu is featured in the center of the photo posted above, the player on the far left, with all the chips, is my buddy Brian who I went to undergrad with. He won an online qualifier into the Main Event, and ended up not only outlasting Negreanu, but outlasting over 8,000 others, finishing 126th out of 8773 entrants. Not bad at all. That was fun too. Every day, Brian kept hanging around, increasing his chip stack. He was featured on ESPN.com. Pretty cool.

Okay, time to see if the Tigers can launch a ninth inning comeback.

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Sunday, June 3, 2007

The Lightning Round: The Lost Season Finale, Legal Happenings, and Johnnie Morton Gets KO'd

Wow. The Detroit Pistons get themselves into a tough series with Cleveland, the Detroit Tigers bullpen implodes in on itself, and suddenly, that's all I'm really blogging about. So let's get caught up, with lots of good stuff to cover, from the Lost season finale to former Detroit Lions wide receiver Johnnie Morton having a debut in Mixed Martial Arts that he'd like to forget (and, actually, probably has forgotten, and not of his own volition).

** So, the Lost season finale was almost two weeks ago now, so everything that needs to be said has been said already. The Televisionary had a great review, showrunner Carlton Cuse was interviewed by TV Guide and showrunner Damon Lindelof was interviewed by Kristen @ E-Online.

I thought the finale was brilliant. Some of the best television I watched all season, and right up there with some of Lost's finest hours. After a very, very slow start to the season (the season premier was great, but then the rest of the "fall mini season" dragged) the show was on fire in the weeks leading up to the finale, and they really delivered. I loved the ending reveal of Jack's flashbacks being flashforwards was great, and I didn't see it coming. I was watching it with my buddies Ethan and Dave, and while Dave astutely pointed out that Jack's cell phone seemed too modern to be used in a flashback, we chalked it up to an error on the producers part. Ye of too little faith.

So this leads to all sorts of questions for next season, which starts in February of 2008 (man -- so far away). Who was in the coffin? What was Jack "lying" about and why is it so important for him to get back to the island (were people left behind?) and why does he need maps to find it if they were rescued? Is the island still shielded from view and impossible to return to once you leave? And if so, then who really rescued the castaways? And what about the "sickness" people are supposed to get on the island? Has that storyline been dropped completely or will we be getting back to it (it wasn't brought up in the finale, but I'm still waiting). Overall, a great, great finale.

** A few interesting television legal things which broke over the past week or so. Joe over at the great "I Am A TV Junkie" Blog sent me a link to a lawsuit filed by a former producer of Dateline NBC who was fired, she alleges, after she blew the whistle about unethical practices by the team behind "To Catch a Predator." NBC says she was let go in a cost cutting move. It's an interesting claim, but her allegations really don't surprise me. Even though Dateline is a news-magazine, the "To Catch a Predator" segments were turned into their own series, and seemed as much like entertainment programs as anything. As she alleges, some of the people featured in the broadcasts were "led into additional acts of humiliation (such as being encouraged to remove their clothes) in order to enhance the comedic effect of the public exposure of these persons", but I think that the claim has a few pretty obvious defenses. A) From what I saw (which wasn't much, but I would watch some segments while channel surfing) the suspects being asked to remove their clothes was not done so much for comedic effect as it was to show how serious they were about performing illegal acts and B)It's probably not great strategy to try to draw sympathy for alleged child predators. I understand her point that it may violate ethical standards or standards of news reporting, but people are not going to feel bad about it happening.

It will be interesting to see what happens though. If she was "sole producer" of "To Catch A Predator" as she claims, she likely knows quite a bit about what was really happening behind the scenes. On the other hand, Dateline NBC is undergoing a lot of cost cutting (NBC as a network is tightening things, and Dateline in particular let loose Stone Phillips, their standard bearer) and unless the former producer has some real "smoking gun" evidence, it may be hard to prove it wasn't a cost cutting move. "To Catch a Predator" was a series of specials anyway, so if they aren't producing anymore episodes, they probably don't need a producer. We'll see where it goes.

Then, this weekend, in news which probably frightened quite a few people who download television shows off the internet, The FBI filed charges against a man who posted episodes of 24 on YouTube and other filing sharing services.

The FBI filed a criminal complaint Friday against a Chicago man for allegedly uploading four episodes of the hit series "24" to LiveDigital.com, a video hosting site, before their primetime broadcast. If convicted on a felony count, Jorge Romero, 24, could face up to three years in prison.

The action represents a renewed aggressiveness to crack down on Internet bootleggers, particularly in the television industry, which has not been as vocal about anti-piracy activities as the music and movie businesses.

While the Internet is awash in pirated video content, it is rare for programs to find their way online before airdate. But eight days before the "24" TV premiere, Romero found the original file on a file-sharing service through Mininova.org, a bit torrent tracking site, according to the FBI affidavit.

Romero allegedly downloaded them from an illegal file-sharing service and subsequently uploaded them to LiveDigital, and also posted Web links to the pirated episodes on Digg.com.

It's a pretty aggressive act by the FBI, I am also surprised about how long it took for criminal action to be taken in a case like this. And especially with these 24 episodes, which were leaked before their airdate, which also interfered with a DVD release of the episodes days after the aired for the first time.

The networks, to their credit, have all done a great job in the past year establishing quality online video players for their episodes, which in many ways makes downloading them illegally unnecessary. But, at the same time, if you miss an episode of a show, which is not archived by the network's website, or sold on a system like ITunes, you have very few options other than downloading from BitTorrent if you want to watch the episode. These episodes, obviously though, were leaked before their aired. And I remember that too, because I had to restrain myself from downloading them because I was really looking forward to the 24 premiere.

In many ways, this probably is what the music industry should have been doing years ago. If you want to scare college kids away from downloading music, don't sue them, have them arrested.

** And lastly, former Detroit Lion wide receiver Johnnie Morton made his debut in Mixed Martial Arts fighting, and not as a gimmick, but as a serious new career path. He probably should have stayed with football. He was knocked out in 38 seconds and left on a backboard. Oops.

Ouch. Sort of makes being hit by John Lynch look docile by comparison.

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Tuesday, May 1, 2007

The Lightning Round

After a day of recovery after 17 hours of NFL Draft coverage over the weekend and a tough Criminal Procedure final yesterday, let's get back on the horse and catch up on what we've missed the past day our so in another edition of the quick-hit, stream of consciousness "Lightning Round" (credit for the name, of course, goes to Mad Money's Jim Cramer.

** Detroit Red Wings Lose Game Three to San Jose Sharks: So in the euphoria over the NFL Draft, sort of lost track of the Detroit Red Wings playoff run for a bit (at least posting game recaps on here). Didn't help that I don't get Versus where I currently live, so at least for the next week or so, I'm at the mercy of the NHL TV schedule if I want to watch any of the games. San Jose is a really, really strong team, and they are proving it in this series. Winning game one was no fluke, and they showed yesterday, even if they fall behind, they will fight and crawl back into the game. I thought when Nick Lidstrom scored in the first period of yesterday's game, giving the Wings a 1-0 lead and quieting the loud Shark crowd, that the Wings would be able to slow down San Jose's momentum and steal a game in the Shark Tank. I was wrong. The Sharks fought back, and won 2-1. If the first three games in this series have taught us anything, other than how good San Jose is, it is probably how much the Wings miss Thomas Holmstrom. "Homer" as he is known has missed the first three games in the series with blood in his eye (ouch) as a result of a high stick in the Calgary series. Without him on the top line with Datsuyk and Zetterberg, and not in front of the net giving the goalie a hard time, the Wings seem like a different team. He should be ready for Game Four, which down 2-1 in the series is a "must win" game. For more coverage of the Game Three, let me point you to OnTheWings, Behind The Jersey, Gorilla Crunch, and Abel to Yzerman.

** Pistons Eliminate Magic; Move on to Face Bulls: The Detroit Pistons also wrapped up their playoff series, rather quickly, with the Orlando Magic, sweeping them in four games. The Pistons sleepwalked a bit through this series, but they won't be able to do so in the next series against Chicago starting on Saturday. I was hoping the Bulls-Heat series would go at least six games, wear down whomever was the victor, but the Bulls looked pretty dominant (and the Heat pretty long in the tooth) and that series was a sweep as well. Even with LaBron James or the suddenly surging New Jersey Nets waiting in the wings for the winner of this series, I think either the Bulls or Pistons are going to the NBA Finals, and it should be a heckuva series. Ben Wallace returning to Detroit with the Pistons trying to prove they can win without him. I can't get the feeling out of my head though that the Bulls are hungrier than the Pistons. They also seem faster and are ready to to quickly take that next step, passing up Cleveland as the "team of the future" in the Eastern Conference. That said, I do think with the added challenge, the Pistons will wake up from their slumber, play up to the level of their competition, and win the series in seven games but it is not going to be easy at all. This is not the time to take a game off or to let the officials get into their heads (as they have all season long). Just go out there, and play the basketball they are capable of.

** Gary Sheffield Finally Starts Hitting: After a very slow start to the season, and even though some of his teammates (Brandon Inge, Sean Casey, and Craig Monroe to name three) have yet to wake up their bats, Gary Sheffield finally seems to be hitting his stride. Over the last week, Sheffield is hitting .364 with 10 runs scored and 3 stolen bases (only 2 RBI though). Yesterday, after almost starting a bench clearing brawl after being hit with a pitch, Sheffield responded with a monster home run, his first at Comerica Park.
(AP)
The Tigers may have not started off the season as hot as they had hoped, but they still had a 14-11 April, and once their bats get going, they should be just fine.

** Heroes out-delivers 24 again It was another great night of television last night, with both Heroes and 24 going head-to-head at 9:00. The rest of this post discusses parts of last nights shows, so if you haven't watched yet, let me suggest checking out my 2007 NFL Draft Coverage instead? Okay, still with me? 24 continued its ho-hum season last night, with the nice-to-see return of Secretary of Defense James Heller (played by the great William Devane, whom I've been a fan of since he was Gary Hobson's father back on Early Edition in the late 1990s, man, that was a great show) but I don't know, the whole "Jack in custody" storyline, I'm not sold. And Bill Buchanan just leaving without a fight? He was one of the best characters on the show, really grounding CTU in reality. As I said last night, maybe when you try to leave 24 for a new show, as Kim Raver did, if the show fails, you have to come back to 24 as a catatonic trauma victim. But something Heller did tell Jack last night did ring true, practically everyone close to Jack dies. His wife, President Palmer, Tony, Michelle, the Columbian drug lord's wife he was having an affair with in season three. Not easy being Jack. Which is perhaps why the 24 producers are planning on changing things up next year according to the LA Times.

"I don't dispute it's been a challenging season to write for us. But it's reinvigorated our determination to reinvent the show. This year could be seen to be the last iteration of it in its current state."

Oh, dear. Reinvention? That does sound ominous. But Gordon says not to worry, as Jack "won't be flipping burgers."

"It won't be a musical or a half-hour," he added. "I've got a couple ideas, none of which I could even begin to share responsibly."

Good to hear, because 24 does need a shot of life. Last season was so great, but this year, not so much. And too many characters, like Jack's brother, were wasted, and others, like the great President Logan and Jack's father, were ignored, their storylines seemingly dropped in the middle of the season and never picked back up again.

Heroes on the other hand, now there's a show which doesn't need much fixing. Last night's episode, a look five-years into the future, was very revealing, and very entertaining. I didn't see the Sylar twist coming (though maybe I should have in retrospect) but it was really interesting to see what would happen if the group of heroes doesn't stop the bomb from going off. One thing confused me though, and maybe fellow Heroes fans can help me out. If Peter is the exploding man, and not Sylar, then what good does it do to kill Sylar? Doesn't Hiro need to kill Peter instead? In either case, the show continues to out deliver 24 on a weekly basis, and I'm looking much more forward to the last three episodes of Heroes then I am of 24. Thankfully with the power of DVR I don't have to choose, but right now, Heroes has my loyalty over 24.

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Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Lightning Round

Seeing as how I am currently up to my eyes in Sports Law, Criminal Procedure, and Accounting for Lawyers (yes, finals are upon us) as well as reading about potential Detroit Lions NFL Draft trades and trying to make time for a Tigers game Friday and NHL/NBA playoff watching, we'll hit some quick hit topics today, which I'll call the "The Lightning Round" in honor of Jim Cramer's segment on his great CNBC TV Show, Mad Money

** Astronomers find Earth-like Planet: I'm not a big "science fiction" guy. I've never gotten into Star Trek, never watched Star Wars, but Contact and Gattaca are two of my favorite movies, and The 4400 and Heroes are two television shows I watch on a regular basis, so I don't know where on the continuum that places me. But I will say I was intrigued by the headline of astronomers finding an earth-like planet a few trillion miles away, with similar temperatures and potentially similar properties to earth. An artist rendering of the planet, from the Associated Press, is below.

I think in the next few years, especially as technology continues to increase, more "planets" like these will be found, that are similar to Earth. There are just too many stars out there and galaxies and whatever else for there not to be planets with similar compositions to earth. I'm more skeptical about finding life on these planets, or at least, anything like what we consider to be life on earth. There's probably life out there somewhere, but, its probably absolutely nothing like the aliens and spaceships and flying saucers most people consider to be "alien life." Interesting to think about in any case.

** NFL Draft Nears: I can't wait for the NFL Draft on Saturday. This time of year is great. Espeically with the Detroit Lions holding the #2 pick and teams fighting with themselves to trade up to draft Calvin Johnson and the fear that Johnson will be taking #1 overall by Oakland, leaving the Lions stuck with the #2 pick. I'll have a draft preview post late Friday night, but for now, even though I wrote in one my first blog posts ever here that I wanted the Lions to take Wisconsin Offensive Tackle Joe Thomas, I've switched to either wanting Mississippi linebacker Patrick Willis or LSU Safety LeRon Landry. Of course, all signs point to the Lions taken neither of those players, choosing instead Clemson DE Gaines Adams. Adams put up great numbers at Clemson, and is a speed rusher the Lions need to make their "Tampa 2" defense work, but there are questions about his worth ethic and motivation, and if there's anything the Lions should have learned from the Charles Rogers and Mike Williams debacles, its taking players who don't have 100% dedication to being a success won't work. And the Lions coaching staff always talks about "football character." I'm not sure Adams has the "football character" the Lions want.

** Larry Brown to Return to NBA Sidelines? I thought this was a joke when I first saw it, but apparently the Memphis Grizzlies are interviewing Larry Brown for their head coaching position. This is a disaster. I love Larry Brown. He's a great coach. He brought the Detroit Pistons to an NBA Championship and he should have won a second when he was here. But, he's done as a coach. He was a disaster in New York (though, that was also partly Isiah Thomas' fault) and he's done as a head coach. He may be one of the best coaches ever in the NBA, but I just can't see him being successful in a rebuilding situation. Taking over a team on the verge of winning a title like the Pistons is one thing, taking on Memphis, no, no no. Bad idea.

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