|
Posted on 03.28.12 by Danny Glover @ 2:50 pm
When I was a child, my Dad decided to go high-tech one Christmas and buy my country-born-and-raised grandfather a Polaroid instant camera. I remember the first picture Grandpa ever took as he held the camera at his waist and pushed the red button. The result was a blurry photo of nothing in particular in his tiny living room. I doubt Grandpa ever used the camera again! I thought of that Christmas Day as I watched this video of a German daughter asking her aging father what he thinks of the new iPad she bought him: Thankfully, my own Dad isn’t so far removed from modern technology that he would use the iPad Mom bought him for Christmas last year as a cutting board. Then again, he doesn’t get to use it nearly as often these days because Mom is addicted to “Angry Birds.” Filed under: Entertainment and Family and Just For Laughs and Photography and Technology and Video Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.28.12 by Danny Glover @ 2:30 pm
I wonder if our kids ever hear any of these comments or questions: This girl’s video reminds me of the music video comedian Tim Hawkins created several years ago — “A Homeschool Family,” set to the tune of “The Addams Family.” Sadly, the misinformed opinions about homeschooling that inspire parodies like those also can have serious repercussions. A recent article in Ohio that subtly pushes the idea of restricting the rights of homeschoolers illustrates that point:
As homeschooling increases in popularity and education bureaucrats fear for their jobs, expect more stories like this about liberal do-gooders trying to force their idea of what’s best for America’s children onto concerned parents. It’s already ugly out there for some homeschoolers (more stories here) and is likely to get worse. If you home-school your children, do enjoy videos like the ones mentioned above. But don’t become complacent about your rights to oversee your children’s education or you may lose them. Filed under: Family and Government and Home Schooling and Just For Laughs and News & Politics and Video Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.26.12 by Danny Glover @ 10:05 pm
I will defend to the death (OK, not really) the right of Herman Cain or anyone else to make bizarre Internet videos that simulate cruelty to animals to condemn government taxes on small businesses: But I will never vote to elect as president a man who lacks the sense to see that such a video is neither entertaining nor enlightening. I’m so glad voting for Cain is not an option anymore. I can’t believe he was a viable candidate last year, however briefly. Filed under: Hunting & Guns and News & Politics and Pets and Video Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.26.12 by Danny Glover @ 6:37 pm
My son and I camped outside our local Best Buy all night back on March 15-16 so we could be first in line to get the new iPad. We needn’t have bothered. No one gathered outside the store until two hours before Best Buy started distributing tickets. I wasted a day’s vacation because I could have purchased any of the iPad options I wanted on my lunch hour. But the adventure wasn’t a total waste. The technology site Mashable published these two pictures I took, one in line and the other inside the store:  
Filed under: Business and Family and News & Politics and Photography and Technology Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.20.12 by Danny Glover @ 1:19 pm
“They can’t see past their prejudices.” That’s what misogynistic, hate-spewing and hypocritical HBO talker Bill Maher said right after airing this prejudicial portrayal of Mississippi voters: Slate’s Dave Weigel is right that it’s fair game to expose “stupid voters” for what they are by accurately reporting what they say and believe. Video producer John Ziegler did a great job of exposing the civics ignorance of Barack Obama voters on Election Day 2008 in his brilliant short video “How Obama Got Elected.” But the video on Maher’s show revived the same predictable redneck-bashing stereotypes that liberal elites have embraced for decades to malign people who don’t think like they do. You knew the video was going to be bad because Maher tried to rebut the inevitable outcry of Mississippians, other “real Americans in the South” and their conservative brethren before his producers even hit the play button. “She did not cherry-pick these people,” he insisted of video producer Alexandra Pelosi, the daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “… We are not making fun of anybody. She did not seek out people who look like what some people would say rednecks [look like]. Maher repeated that defense after the video aired — “[Pelosi] said she cut out 20 people who also did not have teeth” — but the disingenuousness of that claim became apparent as he, his guests and the audience laughed about the physical appearance of the people featured in and cut out of the video. The video was so obviously designed to perpetuate a myth about toothless, ignorant redneck voters in the South that even liberals are criticizing it. Filed under: Culture and Hatin' On Rednecks and News & Politics and People and Rednecks and Religion and Video and West Virginia Comments: 5 Comments |
|
Posted on 03.14.12 by Danny Glover @ 4:39 pm
While commuting to work yesterday, I cheered on the inside as I read a lengthy Politico story that explored the many ways President Obama “gets away with” behavior that would have created a firestorm of political and media criticism of his predecessor, President George W. Bush. “It’s about time someone wrote this important piece!” I thought to myself. What I didn’t realize until later is that someone had written the story — more than two years ago. And that someone was Josh Gerstein, the Politico reporter who penned this week’s piece. I found the two articles in a Google search of a shortened version of the headline that appeared on both articles — “What If George W. Bush Had Done That?”  
The coverage wasn’t exactly the same. But there are enough striking similarities, including the author, the subject matter and the headline, to make you want to say “Hmmm?” Bush adviser Ed Gillespie is even quoted in both pieces. Filed under: Media and News & Politics and People Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.13.12 by Danny Glover @ 1:05 pm
A couple of years ago, I posted video of “the worst football play in history.” The video, which perfectly illustrated the agony of defeat, went viral on YouTube thanks to a link from Yahoo Sports about a year after I posted the clip. A 31-second clip from a newscast earned me more than 1.2 million views. Today, just in time for March Madness in college basketball, I have a video that showcases the other side of the sporting equation — the thrill of victory. It’s a clip of a high-school athlete who earned his team the state championship with a remarkable tip-in at the buzzer: If that doesn’t get you in the mood for a three-week run of hoops mania, nothing will! Filed under: Sports and Video Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.11.12 by Danny Glover @ 9:46 pm
Ever wonder what it looks like inside a real tornado — not the kind manufactured for the movie “Twister”? Now, thanks to home surveillance cameras outside one home in West Liberty, Ky., you can see for yourself: Here’s the story behind the video:
Filed under: News & Politics and Video and Weather Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.10.12 by Danny Glover @ 1:05 pm
I remember the day in 1986 when the space shuttle Challenger exploded like it was yesterday. I was a freshman at West Virginia Northern Community College — the same age as Jeffrey Ault, the 19-year-old Californian who shot this never-before-seen footage of the Challenger’s brief and doomed journey: Watching that video today, more than 25 years after the tragedy, made my heart pound as fast as it did the first time I watched it live, while lying on my parents’ living room floor and doing homework. I had to force myself to attend my late-afternoon class at WVNCC. I felt sick at my stomach as I thought of the astronauts who lost their lives, especially Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first teacher to fly in space. This is history I could have gone without repeating in my mind, but now the images will be replaying from my memory for days to come. Filed under: History and Media and News & Politics and Video Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.09.12 by Danny Glover @ 6:49 pm
Can wild turkeys get rabies? This gobbler, which has been terrorizing a woman in Michigan, sure acts like he has it: Of course, the better question is why this turkey is still alive. The shotgun is a simple solution. If a turkey were to repeatedly attack me at the door of my home, you can bet he wouldn’t be alive for long. Even in the city, where I couldn’t fire a shot, I’d find a way to wring his neck. Filed under: Human Interest and Hunting & Guns and Video and Wildlife Comments: None |
