I’m not quite sure what to make of what happened here. Who set up who? Are those misbehaving kids in costume? Are those, er, “little people” actors? Were they told to act goofy and steal the scene?

If you believe it, it’s hilarious. I giggled out loud. What do you think? Are you more cynical than I?

Ewoks Go Nuts

The moonwalking part had me in tears.

• Man, Microsoft’s push on-line isn’t making them very much money, is it?

• Could be worse.  You could be a newspaper.

• What happens in an electric car pile-up? See for yourself.

• 10 recently discovered photos. Very historic.  Very cool. Includes Florence Nightengale as a young woman, Neil Armstrong’s face (while on the moon), Lincoln’s inaugurations, and more.

A couple of weeks late, yes, but a thought:

Will Chef Ramsay ever again hire someone whose hair would pass a health inspection?

Will Chef Ramsay ever pick the right winner?

Did they cut the budget this year?  Is that why the final two only got one hour of two?  Is that why they didn’t get to decorate their restaurant and bring in their family members to help?  Honestly, I didn’t miss that part too much.  It always seemed like false drama to me when something would go wrong during construction just at the end of the halfway point.

And will the producers ever have the guts to invite in contestants for their cooking abilities rather than their abilities to fit into a two dimensional caricature/archetype that they can exploit for drama?

Despite all of that, I can’t wait for next season.  Which prompts the final question:

When will Chef Ramsay run out of restaurants to staff?

Let’s see if I can sum this up quickly:

Net income increased 68% to $199 million in the third quarter, or $0.45 per diluted share, compared with net income of $118 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, in third quarter 2008.

That’s good.  There’s some adjustments made due to weaknesses of currency conversion, but the whole press release is good news for AMZ, my retailer of choice for as many things in my life as possible.  The Kindle must be doing very well for them.

I gave up waiting for Twitter to answer their help desk tickets.  So I started new, using @AugieShoots as my handle, borrowing from my photography blog name.  I’ve been on there a few days now and am getting in to the swing of things again.  Here’s a sampling of recent Tweets:

• A short list of NFL players charged with murder, or related crimes:  http://bit.ly/26fPE0
• @JAFlanagan – Baby kicking is the coolest, especially since it’s not the man’s stomach baby is kicking. :)
• Now that I’m back on Twitter, I need to decide if I’ll be judicious about blocking the spammer types, or just let it go and not waste time. [So far, I'm being all laissez faire.]
• @mikesterling ALF was always the first topic of discussion in Art Class on Tuesday mornings. But then that was sixth grade or so. Heh
• Doc says my daughter is developing normally. Too bad I’m falling apart.
• I’m getting 1 photo approved on iStockPhoto.com for every 4 I upload, I think, now. At this rate, I’ll have a portfolio there in a decade.
• Went to a Fall Festival type thing today and didn’t get any good nature shots. You have to try really hard to throw an unphotogenic event.

A couple weeks back, I applied to four different on-line microstock photographic websites. Two of the four denied my application, citing an abundance of the kind of work I was peddling. The other two accepted me.

One of those two is iStockPhoto, and this weekend they formally accepted my first picture submission. So, now, if you want to buy an image I created for use on your website or your company’s brochure or website or some such thing, you can get it for as low as $1 at iStockPhoto.

I don’t plan on retiring with this. The photographer, generally speaking, get a small percentage of each sale, and the successful ones are those who devote tons of time to stock photography and have thousands of images posted. I guess this is more of an egoboost thing for me, but if it nets me a few bucks to spend on a new hard drive to back up all my pics, it’ll be worth it. Even then, it’ll take months, if not years.

Wow:

Music publishers: iTunes not paying fair share

Songwriters, composers, and music publishers are making preparations to one day collect performance fees from Apple and other e-tailers for not just traditional music downloads but for downloads of films and TV shows as well. Those downloads contain music after all.

These groups even want compensation for iTunes’ 30-second song samples.

You play a thirty second clip to see if it’s the song you want to buy, and the music industry feels it’s owed money. How’s THAT for entitlement?

(Via DaringFireball)

Man, I haven’t done one of these posts in an awfully long time.  Welcome back:

Avril Lavigne and Sum 41 Husband Split

Pop-punk rocker Avril Lavigne and Sum 41 husband Deryck Whibley are separating but on good terms.

Avril will next be seen on “American Idol” as a guest judge at one of the audition stops, and might consider putting out a record for a change someday, too. You never know. . .

I forced myself to watch the first five minutes of the debut of tonight’s “The Jay Leno Show,” before giving up without laughing. OK, that’s a lie. The “Cash for Clunkers” line made me laugh, though the dollar amount he made up for the gag oversold the joke a tad. See? Even when Leno has a good line, he steps over it.
Some quick thoughts:

• So, what, this “The Cheaters” thing is an actual reality show? Is that one of those daytime things they sell to stay at home moms that I’ll never see?
• Watching Jay shakes all those hands at the show open, I kept thinking, “Swine Flu Alert!” Seriously, would you want to shake all those random hands without have a quart of hand sanitizer in your pockets? (You know, those pockets Leno thrusts his hands into after every sentence…)
• Leno at least knows when the joke is bad and isn’t going to work. He always looks over to his sidekick for a cheap laugh. He gets it, but it’s the only one.
• I couldn’t even wait around for the inevitable Kanye apology.  Not that it matters, that guy is a punk who deserves to be derided and hated till the end of days.  I wonder if his apology will be auto tuned?

This is the savior of network television?  The networks are doomed.

Ellen?
 
Don’t get me wrong; she was an entertaining distraction for an episode of “So You Think You Can Dance?” over the summer, but by the end of the two hours, the joke was getting a little thin.
 
Now, we’re seriously supposed to accept her as a judge of musical talent? Let’s put aside the jokes about the other judges for the moment, as they’ve at least made careers in the music industry.
 
I’m guessing “Idol” decided to go for something completely different and unexpected.  They wanted to be a little more lighthearted and entertaining.  They wanted someone to build up their biggest demographic — the stay-at-home mothers of the tweens who vote like fiends every week for the show.  Ellen fits that part, at least.
 
But — the fourth judge?  They should have just done away with it.  Leave it at three judges.  Let the show go quicker.  Let the judges talk a bit more perhaps.  How often did the show run over this last season?  It got so bad at one point that they only left half the judges talk after each performance.  Why not keep the breathing room offered by only three judges?  Let them explain themselves better.
 
Kara got on my nerves by the end of the season, but at least she had some musical background to draw on, and is fairly talented in that department.  Have you heard her version of this year’s “Idol” song?  It’s pretty good.  It wasn’t right for Kris Allen, but it’s a catchy enough ditty when sung the way she did it.
 
Ellen?  I’ll give it a shot, but consider my expectations very very low. I’m more looking forward to the parade of guest judges they had at the auditions…