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Posted on 01.25.12 by Danny Glover @ 11:30 am
We’ve been down this road before on this blog — twice, in fact. Apparently road-painting crews (and our “home-shcooled” son) have trouble spelling the word “school correctly.
The latest example, as reported by Fox News:
Filed under: Government and Grammar and Human Interest and Just For Laughs and Photography Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.19.12 by Danny Glover @ 9:20 pm
A Cleveland television station has taken the concept of a “kangaroo court” onto the airwaves and online in a satirical publicity stunt that re-enacts the proceedings of a corruption trial using puppets. The CBS affiliate WOIO started the series last week, airing the lighthearted clips at the end of its newscast, and this morning posted the fifth video report from “The Puppet’s Court.” The enlightened redneck and social media strategist within me love the station’s creative way of adding entertainment and humor to an important story. But the news curmudgeon within me is saying what one of the station’s anchors did amid her laughter at the report: “I’m horrified.” Watch the other puppet reports on the station’s YouTube channel. Hopefully this lampooning of the legal system will help convince courts to let cameras in trials so TV stations don’t have to create video coverage. Filed under: Government and Just For Laughs and Media and Social Media and Video Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.16.12 by Danny Glover @ 6:26 pm
Somehow, despite having made my living online for more than a decade, I’ve managed to make it this far into the Internet age without having been the victim of a mass security breach — at least so far as I know. That lucky streak ended today when I received this email from Zappos.
I had never heard of Zappos until last year and had never ordered anything from the online shoe and clothing retailer until a few months ago. It figures that the first hit to my online security would come as the result of trying something new. Thankfully, this breach didn’t involve financial details. Filed under: Business and News & Politics and Technology Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.16.12 by Danny Glover @ 2:19 pm
I’ve had my work published in some of America’s top publications, including The New York Times, but there’s something special about seeing my byline for the first time in the local newspaper I delivered as a child — and in defense of my fellow West Virginians and Mountaineers. After writing a blog post about Jay Leno’s West Virginia jokes, I asked the executive editor of The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register if he would be interested in publishing a column on the issue. He agreed. It ran in print yesterday and went online today. Here are excerpts from the column (with one background link added by me):
Read the whole column at the newspaper’s website. Filed under: Hatin' On Rednecks and Media and People and Rednecks and Sports and West Virginia Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 01.12.12 by Danny Glover @ 12:43 pm
Remarkable redneck ingenuity is on display in this video, which demonstrates how you can turn your Christmas tree into a deadly slingshot crossbow: Filed under: Holidays and Human Interest and Hunting & Guns and Rednecks and Sports and Video Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.12.12 by Danny Glover @ 7:02 am
A bear fanatic like me can’t help but blog about Wojtek, the Syrian bear who traveled with Polish troops in World War II:
Wojtek is the subject of a forthcoming documentary. Here’s a clip of the trailer and a related video (via Weird Universe): Filed under: History and Human Interest and Video and Wildlife Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.12.12 by Danny Glover @ 12:51 am
The Orange Bowl is juicing the controversy over last week’s sacking of mascot “Obie” for all the cheesy, pun-filled comedy its worth. During the game, West Virginia safety Darwin Cook tackled Obie after a fumble recovery and 99-yard touchdown return. Obie made as many highlight reels as Cook, especially after Cook admitted that he knocked the mascot down on purpose to send a message. “When I saw him, I felt like he was doubting us, too, so I smashed him,” Cook told the Dominion Post in Morgantown, W.Va. “Oh yeah, that was on purpose because he was doubting us. I had to tackle Obie.” Only later, in an on-field interview, did Cook learn that Obie was a girl. Today the Orange Bowl published tweets that featured a photo and video of Obie supposedly being released from the hospital after a week of recovery. Obie is none too happy with Cook and apparently plotting revenge. “We have one angry orange. This could become a very juicy situation,” a reporter said in a mock Orange Bowl report. Filed under: Just For Laughs and People and Sports and Video and West Virginia Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.11.12 by Danny Glover @ 12:30 pm
Hollywood plans to send a sad but true statement next week about the vulgar realities of today’s modern family. ABC will air an episode of “Modern Family” about a 2-1/2-year-old toddler who says the dirtiest of dirty words. “We thought it was a very natural story since, as parents, we’ve all been through this,” the show’s creator, Steve Levitan, said in defending the storyline. Levitan’s explanation stretches credibility. His latest envelope-pushing plot is more a case of crude Hollywood social engineers trying to shove society further down the road of immorality than “entertainment” reflecting a norm. But he’s not too far ahead of the reality curve. I’ve documented America’s seemingly perpetual slide into the pit of profanity on this blog:
Too many people think it’s cool, creative and comical to cuss. There is almost no circumstance where uttering a bad word is considered a bad thing. In that atmosphere, it is inevitable that men like Levitan will see how far they can go to make their black mark on society. I wish Simon Cowell’s attitude held more sway in Hollywood and reality. He is determined to produce family entertainment free of swearing. But when it comes to language, George Carlin is the hero. His admirers won’t rest until everyone from toddlers to grannies utter all seven of his dirty words (and then some) with reckless abandon at home, in school, on the job and across the airwaves. Filed under: Culture and Entertainment and Parenting and People and Religion Comments: 2 Comments |
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Posted on 01.11.12 by Danny Glover @ 11:17 am
I saw a clip of this on Fox News this morning and thought it was amazing. Then I searched YouTube and found several videos of dogs doing handstands. OK, it’s not unique but it’s still adorable. Filed under: Human Interest and Pets and Video Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.10.12 by Danny Glover @ 10:35 pm
The announcement won’t be official until tomorrow, but thanks to some sharp online investigation, West Virginia Illustrated broke the news tonight that Jeff Casteel is leaving his job as defensive coordinator at West Virginia University to take the same job at the University of Arizona. The publication confirmed the news by poking around the website of Arizona’s sports information department, finding internal pages with biographies not only of Casteel but also of three WVU assistant defensive coaches. “Perhaps the best part of each page is that the first sentence for Casteel states that he was hired on Jan. 11,” which is the day Arizona will announce its final defensive hiring decisions. Here’s a screen shot of Casteel’s bio page:
Casteel, who played football for the Wildcats in our hometown of Paden City, W.Va., will be a Wildcat once again in Arizona, where former WVU coach Rich Rodriguez was recently named head coach. Just days ago, after WVU’s record-setting Orange Bowl victory over Clemson, Casteel gave a noncommittal answer to a direct question about his future: “I hope I’m going to be back” at WVU in 2012. That was an unlikely outcome when he gave the answer and now looks as deceptive as it seemed at the time. I can understand him not wanting to talk to the press about job prospects, but there’s an honest, oft-used dodge to such questions: “No comment.” I wish he had taken that approach. I respect Casteel because he stuck with WVU after Rich (Gotta Get Richer) Rodriguez abandoned the Mountaineers in such underhanded fashion four years ago, and I want to wish our hometown boy well in his new job at Arizona. He certainly managed his departure far better than Rodriguez. But at the end of the day, Casteel has chosen to reunite with a man who has no class. I “hope” the Arizona Wildcats continue their losing ways in the Rodriguez-Casteel era. UPDATE, Jan. 11: It’s official – Rodriguez just stole Casteel and two more coaches away from WVU because all of those he took with him to Michigan for three losing years weren’t enough. The other coaches are David Lockwood (defensive backs coach) and Bill Kirelawich (defensive line coach). Now it’s time for WVU to build a new and better defensive coaching staff. Filed under: News & Politics and Sports and West Virginia Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.06.12 by Danny Glover @ 9:17 pm
I remember going to a Jay Leno performance in Morgantown, W.Va., back in 1990. I enjoyed the show immensely, and so did thousands of other fans. Somehow I doubt Leno would be welcomed back with open arms to the home of West Virginia University now after his joke last night at the expense of WVU and West Virginians. About six minutes into his monologue, Leno took this potshot at me and my peeps:
The ignorant and stereotypical wisecrack drove many West Virginians to Leno’s Facebook page and to Twitter, where they have been voicing complaints about his attack on the people of the great Mountain State. Here’s a sampling of the responses: (more…) Filed under: Entertainment and Hatin' On Rednecks and Just For Laughs and Sports and Video and West Virginia Comments: 7 Comments |
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Posted on 01.05.12 by Danny Glover @ 8:22 pm
One of the most memorable plays from last night’s Orange Bowl — the 99-yard touchdown by West Virginia University safety Darwin Cook after a fumble recovery — ended with one of the most humorous moments in college football history: Cook sacked “Obie,” the Orange Bowl’s mascot. “I didn’t know you were a girl,” Cook told the mascot when he hugged her on the field after the game. “I apologize.” Filed under: Just For Laughs and People and Sports and Video and West Virginia Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 01.05.12 by Danny Glover @ 8:45 am
I’ve never been prouder to be a Mountaineer than I was last night when my alma mater, West Virginia University, set record after record in a crushing defeat of Clemson in the Orange Bowl. The final score was 70-33 — the most points scored by one team in any bowl game in history — but I’m fairly certain WVU could have scored more points if they wanted. We slowed the offensive pace dramatically after two straight scores after the half gave us a 63-20 lead barely into the third quarter. The Mountaineers sent their perpetual critics in the sports world a clear message. If you didn’t see the game, here are the WVU highlights in a reel that takes nearly four minutes to show almost nothing except our touchdowns: Filed under: Sports and Video and West Virginia Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.04.12 by Danny Glover @ 5:35 pm
When I decided to become a journalist, I imagined I’d be working in an atmosphere much closer to this one than the one I’ve known for the past 20 years: The tools for producing and distributing journalism in the information age are much better than those of yesteryear, but I do long for the days of the “rewrite man” and copy editors. They were the protectors of the art of great writing — a mostly lost art in today’s era of blogs, tweets and text messages, where too many journalists think good grammar and consistent style are antiquated. Filed under: Grammar and History and Media and Social Media and Video Comments: None |
