dimland radio 12-1-12 show notes

Two And A Half Men Isn't Funny

To me anyway.  I went on about my snobbery toward TV sit-coms taped before a live audience.  They just don't live up to the quality of the single camera sit-coms, such as Arrested Development and The Office.

Oh, and on the listen back of the show, my son pointed out that I mistakenly call the show Three and a Half Men.  Maybe I was included their man servant.  Do they have a man servant?
   

Speaking Of...

The "half" man of the sex jokes sit-com Two and a Half Men, Angus T Jones, has advised people to stop watching the filth that is the show from which he earns a reported $350,000 an episode.  The show goes against his Christian values.  But then he apologized.  And then we hear that he'll leave the show after this season.

The damn show has been on for ten years!  Let's wrap it up!

"Nottabug"

I revisited the UFO story out of Denver that has gotten wide attention recently.  The Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, has weighed in (as have many other skeptics).  He actually got in touch with the reporter, Heidi Hemmat, who was responsible for the non-investigative report.  He told her of an easy experiment that would determine if the objects are far from the camera and therefor very large and fast moving, instead of close to the camera and likely to be bugs...

Use two cameras!  If it's a large craft of some kind, far from the camera, it will be seen on both cameras.  There!  See?  There's a way to determine what the UFOs are.

Read Phil Plait's blog on this topic here.

Kudos To Law & Order

I have been watching old episodes of Law & Order through Netflix lately.  There is one episode from season five called 'Cruel and Unusual,' which is about a severely autistic young man who dies while in police custody.

Without going into the entire show synopsis, ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) demonstrates in court how facilitated communication doesn't work.  I applaud the producers of Law & Order for getting this bit of pseudoscience right.

Here is a skeptical take of facilitated communication.

Movie Recommendation: Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)

Paramount Pictures

Yeah!  That's right!  I LIKE THIS MOVIE!  Is it the best of the four Indiana Jones movies?  No, but it's still lots of fun and entertaining.  Yes, it stretches credulity to the breaking point, but ALL of the films do that!  I think it has become fashionable to take the hipster stance and dismiss the film, but had it been the first released I think there would be a lot more love for it.  So, grab that big barrel of popcorn, turn off your incredulity device, and sit back and relax and enjoy the ride.

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: 'Slow Train To Dawn' by The The & 'Cat's In The Cupboard' by Pete Townshend
Second ad break bumpers: 'White And Lazy' by The Replacements & 'Back On The Chain Gang' by The Pretenders
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 9-25-10

With my son leaning on my side, I put up this week's show notes.

Controversy!

Last week's show stirred up a little controversy with one listener in the chat room. It was during Ten Minute Topic with Chris Brown, when Chris talked about the science on weight loss being essentially burn more calories each day than you take in and you will lose weight. The listener objected when Chris suggested the all diets are a variation of that theme.

Well, try as I might, I couldn't find any diet that didn't follow that theme. The Atkins Diet might be less concerned with caloric intake, so that may be one, but I'm not sure. Would that be the exception that proves the rule?

Anyway, Chris' exact statement was, "Every diet out there is a variation on that theme, if it's going to work." I think the listener may have missed the part where Chris said, "...if it's going to work." When talking about what works in dieting for the majority, as Chris was, I don't think that statement is inaccurate.

WebMD has 24 tips to losing weight without dieting here. ABC News' online has an article about the Atkins Diet here. And I told of a young woman who cannot gain weight no matter how much she eats. You can watch the Today Show report here.

Ten Minute Topic with Chris Brown

This was part two of Chris and I talking about weight loss and obesity. I did a little more talking in this TMT than I had before. We talked about my personal, unscientific observation of kids in my son's school. I wondered where all the fat kids were. We also got into the ridiculousness of the Body Mass Index and how just about everyone is fat according to that measuring stick. And we touched on the buff dudes and dudettes in the movies.

Jump the shark

Some years ago, pop culture enthusiasts/critics came up with a phrase to describe the moment a good and popular TV show goes bad. It's called 'jumping the shark'. The phrase was inspired by the very popular series, 'Happy Days'. I don't agree with the timing of when 'Happy Days' jumped the shark, I think it was much earlier.

I also talked about single camera sitcoms and sitcoms which use three cameras. I prefer the single camera, because I think the writing for those shows is better, not relying on an audience to supply the laughs.

I also mentioned the newer phrase 'nuking the fridge'. The phrase comes from 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'.

You can check out TV Guide's site dedicated to the jumping the shark phenomenon here.

Movie recommendation (TV division)

Seeing as how I was talking about my preference for single camera sitcoms, I deviated from my movie recommendation to recommend a TV series you should check out. It's 'Arrested Development' and it was brilliant. It was a Fox sitcom that lasted only three seasons, because it just couldn't find an audience. It did however earn critical acclaim and Emmy awards and, most importantly, my stamp of approval.

Put in your Netflix queue now.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'Younger Girls' by Cheap Trick & 'Voices Carry' by 'Til Tuesday
Second ad break bumpers: 'Strange' by REM & 'Under Cover of the Night' by The Rolling Stones
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle


That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com You can also download my show from the Z Talk Show Archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com