Back in Black

Before I get into ripping on people who so desperately deserve it, a couple of notes about my blogging and recent lack thereof:

1) It's not that I didn't have anything I wanted to write about in the past month, it's just that I didn't get to it. Part of it's that I took two weeks off over Christmas and had computer access for three days of that time---and I also avoided news like the plague then. Sure, I wanted to write about Healthcare bills that were voted on during Christmas Eve, a day when you would otherwise never find a government worker anywhere near their place of employment, even though most of the government hierarchy feels obligated to remove said holiday from our culture altogether, but it just wasn't happening.

B) I'm mulling starting a new blog from scratch and doing more of a personal blog. Occassionally I think I would like to wax philosophical about personal journeys, sports, and maybe even throw out an occassional short story. I'm kind of reluctant to do so because I walk a fine line between wanting to be open and share some things, and wanting to be a recluse and maintain a lot of privacy. Also, as I've noted before, people are becoming increasingly narcissistic. I'm under no illusions that people give a crap about what I say and I'm here to have an outlet, but I'm not sure that that's enough. So feel free to weigh in on this idea.

Okay, now that that's done, let's move on to current events.

Haiti: If you're willing and able to donate, please make sure you pick a reputable agency to do so. We already sink a lot of money into that country that never gets to the people who need it, so make sure you find an organization that's giving direct aid to people. Also, on a personal note, I'm not a big fan of the Red Cross because of the way they treated our servicemen during WWII, but that's me.

Samaritan's Purse is a great organization. Compassion International is another group to consider. Either one should be a good group to donate to, and the links will take you to Haiti donation pages.

While we're here, I was irritated at the outcry Rush Limbaugh got over his Haiti comments a couple of days ago, but after finding out he did it on purpose it's kind of amusing. The overall point remains: If you donate to the government for Haiti, only a small fraction is going to make it to relief and the rest is staying Washington.

Speaking of Haiti statements in the news, it was kind of odd to see Pat Roberston being a trending topic on Twitter for three days because of what he said. But leave it to the Danny Glovers of the world to pipe up and say something just as outlandish. And will Danny Glover be a trending topic or get the fallout that Robertson did? Color me skeptical.

By the way, if no one's ever told you, you're a colossal jackass, Danny. You're one of the poster boys for "Who gives a $^&*?!" You would think that being an actor would mean you could at least form and express coherent thoughts, but my outrage over your comments was diminished by the fact that I couldn't understand what the hell you were trying to say. And on a more personal level, does it bother you that your best performance was playing the scumbag in Shooter? Then again, that wasn't much of a stretch, was it?

Leno/Conan: Apparently this is the next civil war where a line in the sand has been drawn and everybody has to choose which side they're on, but I just don't see it. The truth of the matter is they're both being royally defecated upon by NBC. If there's a bad guy in this, it's the Peacock. But apparently people my age don't get this.

The prevailing wisdom (which is a euphemism for "common misconception") goes something like, "OMG, Leno left the Tonight Show so he could go to prime time, and he bombed, and he's pushing Conan out of his slot, and it's so unfair because Jay's not funny and Conan is." I ran across this the other day which is more accurate, but suffice to say the network execs were responsible for Conan taking over Tonight and tried to placate Jay by giving him a primetime gig.

The funny thing about the whole Leno/Conan argument is that while people love to point out that Jay's ratings in primetime are pedestrian, they conveniently ignore the fact that Conan was bombing at Tonight.

Thankfully, Rosie O'Fattbutt weighed in on the situation, so we can all rest easy. I'm sure Leno nixing the idea of her filling in for him has nothing to do with her opinion that Jay's bullying his way back in. And Rosie, believe me, nobody who watches tv has any interest in you going to late night, either.

It is what it is, and I hope neither gives in to NBC and they both find better gigs. I do want to weigh in on the "Conan rules, Jay's not funny" crap, though, and say that Leno's nuanced humor is far more difficult to pull off, especially on a nightly basis, and what makes him a winner is his class. It's not easy to be funny and engaging and be respectful to all your guests, even if you don't agree with them. Look at Letterman. But that's what a great host does, and Leno pulls it off. Conan occassionally shows signs of the ability, but he's never appeared interested in doing it on a nightly basis, which is what's needed. To make a long story short, if you think Jay's not funny or that he sucks, you can go pound sand.