Showing posts with label Deadspin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deadspin. Show all posts

Monday, August 13, 2012

#London2012 - Deadspin offers up video clips of what you missed at the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremonies because of NBC's editing, and the Tom Brokaw one-hour documentary that allowed him to reclaim his title of "voice" of "The Greatest Generation" -his personal kitsch marketing niche

Deadspin offers up video clips of what you missed Sunday night at the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremonies while people because like me continue to question  NBC-TV putting Tom Brokaw front-and-center Saturday night to showboat a bit, and to reclaim his title of "voice" of "The Greatest Generation" -his personal kitsch marketing nicheduring a completely unnecessary one-hour program about 1930's Britain and WWII and the economic and social aftermath, "Their Finest Hour."

Nice original title(!) and contrary to what's been reported, I HAD seen much of the footage before.

And if you insist on doing something like this, why would you schedule it on the last weekend the Olympics instead of the first weekend?
It's completely illogical, even on its own terms -even if you support something like it airing on U.S. television.

There's a very good reason why so many smart people in the U.S. saw the original "The World at War" anthology by ITV about WWII when it first aired in the U.S. came out in the late 1970's, with Laurence Olivier's narration.
Because of its quality and clarity and depth, unlike most high school and college textbooks.

It aired here in South Florida on Channel 10 on Sunday nights before ABC-TV's entertainment  programming began. I never missed it and have seen every episode about a dozen times thanks to the Military Channel, DirecTV Channel 287. http://www.theworldatwar.com/ )


NBC Cut Nearly An Hour From Its Closing Ceremony Telecast. Here’s Everything They Didn’t Show You (Including The Kinks’ Ray Davies)
By Timothy Burke
August 13, 2012 1:44 PM 
We knew NBC would heavily edit its broadcast of last night's London Olympics closing ceremony; they cut out a bunch of stuff from the opening ceremony, too, in the name of "tailoring programming to our American audience."

IF you are one of those rare Americans who had somehow missed the point for the last forty years that Brokaw was from South Dakota, you couldn't have missed it during this self-indulgent one hour.
Since it was all recorded, there was no actual reason for Brokaw to even physically be in London save high self-regard and him throwing-his-weight-around and/or NBC wanting to trot him out to how how serious they were, and in any case, wasn't the latter role actually Bob Costas' role as Everyman, who felt it necessary to state the obvious, sometimes, in grave tones?

Meanwhile, these are the same NBC geniuses that waited until the 15th day of the 17-day Olympics to do a segment on Roger Bannister, when it should've been done the first weekend.

The same geniuses who DIDN'T show the medal ceremony for the Men's Marathon winner, the last contest of the Games, and always a highlight.
Thank goodness an American runner didn't do something silly and win and throw NBC's minute calculations off.

Me, foolishly, I thought that the hour of coverage that NBC promised us after the Local NBC affiliate newscast would be what we missed.
Instead, they re-played what they'd already run, awkwardly picking it up during the narrative of the U.S. Women's gymnastics team battle for the team gold against Aliya Mustafina, Victoria Komova and the rest of the Russian team.  

See clips of the rehearsals of the Closing Ceremonies at
http://www.youtube.com/user/london2012

My grade for NBC for the whole Olympics is C-.
In a nutshell, with plenty of examples I could cite jere, probably just like you: The winner of the Women's 100 Meters speaks English, being from Jamaica, but NBC chose not to interview her - THE fastest women in the world.

-----
http://olympicclosingceremony.tumblr.com/

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Giving credit where credit is due: diabolical genius! Deadspin asks, "What Time Does The Super Bowl Start, He Wrote As A Headline To Game The Google Results"

NY Giants defensive players have to resort to faking injuries in order to keep St. Louis Rams no-huddle offense from steamrolling them. Sept. 20, 2011. http://youtu.be/eY26rgd4aps



It's not officially a Super Bowl until Alyssa Milano comes to Indy. 
NOW it's on!


Above, Alyssa wearing her signature Touch by Alyssa Milano New England Patriots Sweater Mix Jacket, the sort of thing you may've seen at the NFL Experience if you were in Indy while she was there schmoozing with fans and doing some promotional work for her popular line of NFL-themed women's clothing.
(I went to the one in D.C. held on the National Mall when the NFL started doing that to start off the season and held it in the NFL city hosting the first Monday Night Football game; if I remember correctly, they later had a mini-concert there by Journey, which I missed, since I rushed home to watch the game on TV.) 
But while I have chosen to show Alyssa wearing Patriots gear above because I'm picking them to beat the Giants by at least ten points tonight, as you can see from the photos of her at her always amusing posterous photo blog, which as I've mentioned here previously, I've subscribed to for a while now, she's actually pulling for the NY Football Giants. 
http://alyssamilano.posterous.com/date-night-in-indy


-----
Giving credit where credit is due: diabolical genius! 
Deadspin: "What Time Does The Super Bowl Start, He Wrote As A Headline To Game The Google Results"
The post was sinister and dumb and ruthless and brilliant, and a good indicator of why the HuffPo's traffic numbers are so insane.
http://deadspin.com/5881720/what-time-does-the-super-bowl-start-he-wrote-as-a-headline-to-game-the-google-results


http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/46/what-time-is-the-superbowl

Or, if you are not near any of the tens of millions of Americans TVs that have the game on,  watch it online at: http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/46/live/sunday



Beet TV video:  NFL, NBC Sports and Verizon Wireless Ready the First Mobile Super Bowl
By Andy Plesser
February 3, 2012
http://www.beet.tv/2012/02/superbowl.html  



Rasmussen Reports
Super Bowl Viewers Don’t Think Madonna’s Good Choice For Halftime Show
February 3, 2012 http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/sports/january_2012/super_bowl_viewers_don_t_think_madonna_s_good_choice_for_halftime_show

Yes, 57% of likely Super Bowl viewers say no to Madonna as halftime entertainment, and I'm with them. For about the 20th year in a row I won't watch the halftime, but instead mute the TV and listen to what they're saying on the radio broadcast, in case someone stumbles accidentally into telling the the truth.


By the way, the 57% opposed to Madonna is a higher percentage of American than have voted for any winning presidential candidate since November of 1984.
(President Reagan was re-elected with 58.8% of the vote to former Vice President Walter Mondale's 40.6%.)


Two months after that election was the last Super Bowl the Dolphins played in, a 38-16 loss to the 49ers.
To give you some perspective, no woman now or recently appearing in Playboy was alive when the Dolphins last played in the Super Bowl. 
Just saying... epic mediocrity spans decades.


Here's some more perspective on those 27 years:

1985: The last time the Dolphins made it to the Super Bowl.
Story: Jake Cline, Sun Sentinel, Photo gallery: Melina I. De Rose, Sun Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/pictures/sfl-super-bowl-1985-lifestyle,0,1759537.photogallery

Below, an excellent historical analysis of Super Sunday from John Maxham, an advertising executive at Seattle's Cole & Weber United.
He "gets it."
Apart from being an effective and fun marketing gimmick, the use of Roman numerals in the Super Bowl may offer a deeper insight into our national psyche


mediabistro's AgencySpy blog
Op-Ed: ‘Svper Bowl Svnday’ – Our Invented Ancient Tradition
By Kiran Aditham on February 3, 2012 11:03 AM
http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/op-ed-svper-bowl-svnday-our-invented-ancient-tradition_b29030


-----
Two last things: If Tom Coughlan and Eli Manning were with the Seattle Seahawks, and had the same back story and stats, and were now in the Super Bowl, nobody-but-nobody would be talking the nonsense I've heard so much of this past week, on ESPN and elsewhere, about how IF they win against the Patriots, they're locks to get into Canton.
Who decided that?


It's because they're with the New York Giants. 
Period.


Again, I like the Patriots by at least ten points.