Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Educated Insolence
Monday
April 10, 2006
"Wit is educated insolence."
-Aristotle
If reality TV had a "Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic" award, like the Wrestling Observer does for the pro wrestling business, an early favorite would have to be on tonight's episode of The Apprentice where the producers of the show had the Make-A-Wish kid thank Donald Trump after thanking the Make-A-Wish Foundation for granting her a shopping spree at Toys "R" Us. It came across as waaaay too self-serving for my tastes.
Self-serving tactics or not, I still enjoy watching The Apprentice. The way those board room scenes are edited are spot-on perfect. I'm not sure why the show doesn't win more awards for sound editing, as the way they splice those arguments together is brilliant. Then again, it is a Mark Burnett production, and the guy creates first-rate programs.
As I type this, I have The Apprentice on, and they have back-to-back episodes airing... Donald Trump was talking about some 7-Eleven sandwich called a P'Eatzza, and every time Trump said the name, it sounded super-exaggerated ("Pie-eatzza"), like someone who doesn't know how to say the word pizza properly. Great unintentional comedy there, for sure. Trump's unintentional comedy is often the highlight of the show, actually.
In seeing ads for the new Keifer Sutherland/Michael Douglas movie The Sentinel, I wonder: how close will Sutherland's character be to Jack Bauer from 24? The commercial I saw showed Sutherland pointing a gun at Douglas, and Douglas yelling at him, asking if he (Sutherland) was going to shoot him. For a second I thought it was a promo for 24 and that they had signed Douglas as a bad guy (like when they had Dennis Hopper for a few episodes in season one.)
I haven't written much about Alabama, or Alabaster in particular, on here yet. There's a reason for that. There are some really funny things that I want to comment on (with accompanying pictures), but not yet. I'm a stranger in a strange town, Birmingham South-Extended growing on top of a small Alabama area that happened to fall in the path of Interstate 65. That is Alabaster in a nutshell. But I'm going to be here for a while, and that means I have time to observe and take things in context. And since what I write on here stays online indefinitely, I'd rather not rush to judgment.
|  | Bubba's suntan makes me look like a vampire in comparison.
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To my friends at Sirius Satellite Radio: do some promotional work in Birmingham. Please. I beg you. Terrestrial radio in this city, with the exception of WRAX, is brutal, especially for an area of this size. They deserve better, and they can get it via satellite radio. The return on investment will pay off. Just a few along I-65, where traffic backs up in drive-time (particularly morning drive, with 65 North coming from the south, and 65 South coming from the north), and you'll be golden. You think an entire city thinks that the god-awful John Boy & Billy show is the end-all, be-all in radio? A simple billboard with Stern's picture and "Morning Radio. Uncensored." (along with Stern's name and the Sirius name) would work.
With my job hours, I don't get to listen to all of Bubba's show anymore, but I do get to listen to the second half of it, usually. Hilarious stuff, for sure. It's interesting to be back on the outside again as a listener, but now that I personally know everyone involved, it makes the segments all the more humorous for me...
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