My, folks are all in a lather over the recent announcement that Burlington Telecom is removing the English language Al Jazeera network from the cable line up.  Flameape wrote a letter to Seven Days frothing at BT for their decision and we had several folks at VCAM today raising a stink about it too.  I'll be writing my own letter to BT, asking that they reinstate the programming.  We certainly don't need less diversity in TV news, we need much, much more of it.  If it's true that BT pulled the channel because of some complaints from viewers, I am extremely disappointed in them.  Here's a chunk of Flameape's letter...

"From this decision by Mr. Burns we are to assume then that an international cable news provider that is watched by arab and non-arab citizens worldwide with an opinion and op-ed slant contrary to the current US administration and the hard-line Israeli lobby is bad for business, therefore to be dropped from the channel lineup. Because the Israel Center of Vermont and "dozens" of subscribers disagree with said channel's programming or consider it hate speech. If that is the case, then as a card carrying liberal in a sea of the same here in theBT area(and , until now a gung-ho potential BT customer- now rethinking who i will give my money to)- I demand the removal of FOX NEWS for it's "hate speech propaganda"(my opinion)! No deal, Mr. Burns? Well how about if the Peace and Justice Center and "dozens" ofBT subscribers rally on the phone, email, etc? How about any other station that a special interest group and a phone bank wants off the lineup? Sound ridiculous? That's because it is." 

Emily and I are getting serious about redoing our office and making it a more usable space and we're having to make some tough decisions about getting rid of a whole bunch of crap.  First on the chopping block: a slew of VHS movies that we have both collected over the years.  I typed up the list yesterday and I have to say, it's a good list of films, but they are all VHS and we don't even have a VHS machine hooked up to anything anymore so we never watch these and probably never will. 

So before these hit a garage sale or Craigslist, I'm posting the list of films here and we are offering these FOR FREE on a first come, first served basis to any Candleblog readers who can actually physically come to our house and take them away.  You don't have to take them all -- just take what you want -- but we won't reserve them for anyone -- you'll have to actually come and take them if you want them.  So email me or call us if you have our number and set a time to come over and take some movies home.

I'm sure I'll be posting other stuff for people to come and take as this project unfolds.

The complete list of VHS tapes is below the fold.  These are all features -- no docs or shorts -- and they're all commercially made tapes in their original boxes.  They should all work fine, but for the record, we're giving them away "as is."
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It's my mom's birthday.  Happy birthday, mom!  Here are some links I didn't get to sharing over the weekend.  Please to enjoy...

• Italian Spider-man! (thanks Flameape!)
• How good are you at detecting fake smiles vs. real ones? (thanks AlexW!)
• Roger Ebert (who is blogging now, BTW) on how SF fanzines beget blogs
• There *was* a dog trapped inside my guitar.

 

Via Gerry Canavan (who is obsessed with good flash games), this is Chronotron, a "flash game involving multiple interactions between a single time-traveling robot and itself."  Yeah, it's teh awesome.  My brain hurts. 

Okay, now we're cooking with gas.  Here is a rundown of some of the projects I've got brewing (on this metaphorical gas-fueled stove)...

• I'm taking a week off from work this month to focus on the Pants documentary.  No, I'm not a liar, and no, my pants are not on fire.
• I met with Mike Townsend from the Burlington Free Press yesterday about going into their newsroom and talking to them about blogging sometime next week.
• It looks like I might run the filmmaking club at Burlington High School in the fall. 
• Next semester's CCV filmmaking class is all set -- Thursday nights, 6-9.
• I've been invited to participate in the Snelling Center for Government's symposium on "Building Community in a Connected Age," which is taking place at Champlain College on the 29th. They want me to "live-blog" the event.  I'll limber up my typing fingers.  Perhaps I'll live-video blog it too.

 

The following is a list of things I would not have known today were it not for Twitter...

• Mike Gravel and Obama Girl made a hilarious YouTube video together.
• It's difficult to find good pictures of great auks.
• George McGovern says "Obama is the one."  Best Keanu voice: Whoa.
• Robot Kasten has teh awesome flickr stream.

 

Emily shot some video of the Adams Bros. TMBG show on Saturday.  Here's Arthur doing Mink Car.  Enjoy. 

My crazy weekend is over and I'm back at work taking care of some loose ends.  Here are some links for your Monday perusing...

• Behold!  The glorious Space Boomerang!
• 
• The top 100 comic runs, as chosen by Comics Should be Good readers.
• Okay, now I'm taking tis global warming thing seriously.
• Lists of sexually suggestive lines from the original Star Wars trilogy. (thanks Eve!)

 

Ricky Gervais and John Hodgman  are working together on a new film and Gervais asked  Hodgman a few questions via email for the film's blog...

 RG.   Write something funny for the film blog. I'm running out of things to say. Please complete this questionaire

1. Although you've never said it publicly, you consider Ricky Gervais to be not only a handsome man, but also a genius. Why? Why have you not said it publicly?
JH.   I consider Gervais a handsome man because he gives people rides in horse-drawn carriages. I consider him a genius because he does it FOR MONEY. Also, he has a brilliant comic mind. His eyepatch is hilarious, and not just for the usual reasons (lack of eye).

RG.  2. Like all intellectuals you both need and despise your fans. What do you hate about them most?
JH.  On the contrary, I love my "fans", and that is why I keep an ongoing conversation with them via my blog, areasofmyexpertise.blogspot.com and my twitter account, www.twitter.com/hodgman. The only thing I really despise is advertising.

RG.  3. Would you rather have giant frog feet or lobster claw hands? Why?
JH.  Frog feet, obviously. My carny days are over, and I like typing. I also hate it when people try to eat my hands with butter.

RG.  4. Who would you have play you in a biopic; Phillip Seymore Hoffman, or Gary Coleman? (Be careful. This is a trap to see if you are racist or not)
JH.  Philip Seymour Hoffman as "young hodgman--the carny years." Gary Coleman as "old hodgman." and Gary Oldman as "immortal hodgman in his castle, 1000 years from now."

RG.  5. Why are you a racist?
JH.  I am not a racist. I just think that the people with lobster claw hands now enjoy an institutional advantage over other Americans that isn't fair in a supposed society of equals.

I hope this helps you fill up your blog. See you soon. Thank you, and

That is all 

Candleblog offers the following nerd checklist as a public service.  Do everything on the list for bonus points.

• Play GTA4.
• See Iron Man.
• Get your free comic on Free Comic Book Day.
• Go see The Adams Bros. do an all-TMBG set at the Radio Bean Saturday night.
• Listen to (or be on) Poli-Sci-Fi Radio on Sunday afternoon.
• Go see Nerdcore Rising at Palace 9 on Sunday evening.

S-PGUON.