Not fit for print

I read today that Knight-Ridder newspapers' fourth quarter earnings were down 22% from last year. It turns out that the shareholders of the company will only get a paltry $1.24 for every share they own instead of the healthy $1.38 they received in the fourth quarter of 2004.

I happen to own 10 shares of Knight-Ridder, so you can imagine how disappointed I am. I really had plans for that extra $1.40 (I've got my eye on the Wendy's 99-cent menu).

But I guess it just goes to show that you can't hold back progress, what with the growing number of blogs and consumer media which do a better job reporting than the so-called journalists. The shareholders of the horseshoe nail manufactures probably felt the same way when the automobile came along. ("Automobile" is another word for "car." Gotta explain these things for people like Tony).

And, when all-around smart guy Dave Berry proclaims that "newspapers are dead," well you pretty much have to stand up and take notice of that.


Of course, I'll keep my newspaper stock. I might have lost that $1.40 over last year's earnings, but I still earned 12.4 junior bacon cheeseburgers.

tagged: media, blogs, newspaper, Dave Barry, Knight Ridder, Kansas City Star, Wendy's, hamburger

YouTube Tuesday: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

One of the reasons I love using my iMac is because it's so easy to create cool things... like this music video I did of our 3-year-old daughter. Enjoy.

tagged: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, video, family, music, random

How to eat Freyed Oprah

Ms. Oprah Winfrey blasted James Frey the other day on her show. Frey, you may recall, is the author of A Million Little Pieces, the tale of a reformed drug addict and his epic struggle to return home after being lost in the Alaskan wilderness (at least, that's what I understand from reading the cover of the book).

The book so moved Oprah that she vaulted it to the top of her Oprah Winfrey Book Club back in September, stating that "I laughed, I cried. It was better than Cats."

Of course that was all before intrepid Web reporters discovered that most of the book was a complete fabrication. It turns out, for example, that Frey didn’t really lasso a tornado and tie it down with lightening bolts with the help of Babe the Big Blue Ox as he claims in the book.

Now Oprah claims she feels betrayed by Frey, and that Frey betrayed “millions of readers.”

And to add exclamation point, Frey and his book have been kicked out of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club. Take that, you lying bastard.

For his part, Frey was contrite.

"I made a mistake," Mr. Frey told the New York Times, adding that he had developed a tough-guy image of himself as a "coping mechanism" to help him deal with the psychological damage he suffered during a cold night spent in the company of a couple of cowboys on Brokeback Mountain.

Frey also expressed regret at being kicked out of the book club.

"There's no comfort in knowing that the 14 million members of Oprah's book club have already bought out the first pressing of the book at $20 per copy," Frey said, adding "Oh, wait, yes there is."

tagged: Oprah, Frey, books, A Million Little Pieces, Brokeback Mountain

From the new Moleskine

Here's a quickie sketch I did from a pic I took during a trip to SF last summer. It's amazing how much fog they have in the summer.

tagged: San Francisco, sketch, Moleskine, Golden Gate, art

Old school blogging

These days if you mention to someone you keep a journal, chances are that whomever you mention it to will ask for the URL, inferring that you are talking about a blog.

But a recent experience has taken me back to the old-school version of blog. An actual written journal (you know, hand written with a pen on actual paper).

I recently received a Moleskine notebook as a small token from some business associates.

At the time, it struck me as a small, but appropriate, gesture. The kind of pleasantry you might expect to a businessman to give one of his big clients (in addition to meals, entertainment and etc.).

Well, I started using the notebook a few days ago, and I’m becoming more and more impressed.

Sure, you say it’s just a notebook. How impressive can it be. And that’s what I thought, too.

But after using it for a couple of days, I really came to appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into putting these together. It turns out that these are the same notebooks used by the like of Earnest Hemingway, Henri Matisse and Vincent Van Gogh. Furthermore, there’s only one place in the world where these things are made, a small factory in northern Italy.

There are so many details that you just don’t find everything from the fine stitching to the built-in bookmark, the folder pocket in the back and the elastic band that slips over the cover to keep it closed. This thing isn't just old-school, it's old world.

Anyway, I highly recommend these things (not a paid endorsement, unfortunately). I plan on buying a box and giving them as gifts and using them in the office for ever day note-taking.

The only problem is that now I don't have an automatic spellchecker.

tagged: blog, journal, Moleskine, Hemmingway, Van Gogh, Matisse

Kansas City B.S.

Ask anyone in Kansas City what the local food specialty is, and they'll tell you it’s the barbecue.

Barbecue is big in Kansas City. But I didn't realize just how big a deal it was until last weekend. I attended a meeting of the Kansas City Barbecue Society with my dad, who has really gotten into barbecue over the past few years. He now wants to organize his own barbecue contest, so he came to the Mecca of smoked meat.

So I attended the KCBS annual meeting near the sports complex. Let me tell you, these people are passionate about their pork (and other meats). The KCBS is one of the biggest, most influential sanctioning bodies in competitive meat smoking.

That's right, competitive meat smoking.

There are huge contests where the object isn't only so smoke a mean Boston butt, but to win fabulous cash prizes, trophies etc.

There's even a NASCAR-style points contest. Of course to score points in this type of contest, you have to compete in events sanctioned by the KCBS. And, just in case you thought you would have to drive a long way to find such an event, it turns out the organization sanctions events in pretty much every state in the union from Vermont to California to Florida. There are even a few in Canada.

And talk about passion. This group spent upwards of an hour discussing the merits of allowing meat taste judges to take home doggie bags of un-eaten meat after the contests. As if anyone could manage to eat any more brisket after chowing down on smoked hog and steer for four hours.

Needless to say, I'm not sure I'm quite ready to be a part of this strange subculture. I mean, I like a good pulled pork as much as the next guy, but I feel like I have inadvertently stumbled into an exclusive smoke-filled club.

Let's just hope the beer is cold.

tagged: Kansas City, barbeque, Boston butt, pulled pork, Truman Sports Complex

Hookah brotha up

NCTRNLinKC recently posted about his (her?) first experience with the hookah, saying he went along for the ride but, like a recent former president, didn't inhale.

It's a pretty cool post, and I mention it because I recently smoked the hookah during an after hours with some business associates during my recent trip to Manhattan. It was the first time since my college days.

I wanted to tell Nctrnl that you didn't miss much. Tobacco, even the black licorice-flavored kind that we had the other night, never really did much for me either.

Now, if it would have been a little of the "holy herb" it might have been a different story.

But then again, it was a business trip.

tagged: hookah, manhattan, tobacco, holy herb, marijuana, pop culture

YouTube Tuesday: East Coast West Coast

Put on your flack jackets and load your Gloks, because it looks like the rap wars are heating up again.

The viral popularity of The Chronic(What!)les of Narnia, produced SNL's Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg was the newest salvo to rekindle the East Coast/West Coast rap war that costs us the lives of hip hop heroes like Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur.

And in response to the Parnell-Samberg opus, L.A.-based Mark Feurstein, Sam Friedlander and Adam Stein have fired back with Lazy Monday.

Oh, when will we learn to come together as one world-wide artistic community. Haven't we seen too many good people die and good Cadillac Escalades riddles with bullet holes?

tagged: Saturday Night Live, Narnia, hip hop, humor, Lazy Sunday, Lazy Monday, Chris Parnell, Adam Samberg, pop culture

No Pants Subway Ride

I swear officer, I thought I was on the "clothing optional" train.

tagged: New York, subway, pants

Midnight myths in Manhattan

I returned from my business trip to the Big Apple yesterday and wanted to share my impression.

Stayed in The Millennium Hotel on Broadway, about half a block from Times Square. Nice hotel. Not great, but not grungy either. About what you'd expect for a 3-star hotel in Manhattan.

Now some caveats: First, it was raining the first night we were there and most of the next day. Second, I was in business meetings most of the time and didn't have a lot of time to site-see.

Having said that, I'm eager to return on a more informal basis to see what New York really has to offer.

Times Square? Not all that. Unfortunately, (and I don't know what I was expecting) the "busiest intersection in the world" is busy because of all the tourists. The tourists have attracted and are attracted by all the touristy businesses. I mean, do I really want to go to New York to eat at The Olive Garden?

The city that never sleeps? Another busted myth. My colleagues and I dined at a dim sum/sushi place the first night and then headed back to the hotel for a few after-dinner drinkies. After the hotel bar shut down, I went out in search of a nice blues or jazz club, since it was only about 1:30 or 2 a.m.

Granted, as I said earlier, it was raining slightly by this time. But as I walked around Times Square and the few blocks around my hotel, all I could find still open was a couple of Irish Pubs. I still had a few drinks, but unfortunately, no live music.

However, I did see one thing that I expected. As I made my way home, stopping beneath the pale glow of a streetlamp to turn my collar to the cold and damp (thank you Simon and Garfunkle), a silver sedan rolled by with the window down with a pair of "working girls" inside.

They offered to show me a good time for a price, which made me feel good. But since I had business meetings in a few hours, and since I was low on cash, and since I'm married and don't really roll that way anymore, I declined.

But it's good to see that I can still get a come on from the whores on 7th Avenue.

tagged: New York, Broadway, Times Square, Manhattan, Simon and Garfunkel, whores, Olive Garden