Just ran into a few articles and thought I'd post them.

Fairly recent articles
Interesting article about spinning last month in the NYTimes - via Maisy Day
Article about knitting in The Street.com (a financial online mag) - via my Mom
Knitting news category at Topix (news reader)

Slightly order articles

MSNBC article from a year ago about boys who knit
News compiled by Revolutionary Knitting Circle (last updated Feb 2005)

Older articles about knitting collected by straw.com (Crystal Palace yarns)

I've been meaning to write about the channel that launched on Direct TV on the first of July but keep forgetting to mention it which is odd because I've been watching it a lot.

No not that reality tv channel I haven't stopped there for more than five seconds and that was to make sure the title of the show really was The Littlest Bachelor and I wasn't having a caffeine-induced hallucination.

I'm talking about LOGO - the first general interest non-premium cable channel in the US (that I know of) where the target audience is Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and/or Transgendered. Their catchphase is The Evolution will be Televised. How friggin cool.

It's run by Mtv networks (who obviously produce MTV as well as VH1, SpikeTV, and Nick at Nite) whose parent company is Viacom, which owns pretty much the largest collective group of entertainment companies (also affectionately known as the world's largest entertainment global conglomerate), among them Paramount Pictures and Paramount Home Entertainment, Comedy Central, Showtime, Showtime network channels including Sundance Channel, The Movie Channel, and Flix; Spelling Television, Infinity Broadcasting (which runs over 150 radio stations in the US, not to be confused with Clear Channel), roughly 50 CBS channels, 35 UPN channels, and Simon and Schuster Publishing house, among other interesting holdings.

And people thought I was cynical when I talked about VH1s I love the (insert decade here)s shows being (as fun as they were to watch) basically shows with incredibly cheap overhead with interviews of actors who work for production companies producing shows for Viacom discussing scenes from old tv shows and movies owned by Viacom to generate sales of backcatalogued dvds on sale from...Viacom!!

Ok enough about my random media conglomerate insidious (some would say incestuous) marketing theories I meant this post to be about LOGO channel.

It's clear they're still in the process of filming original programming but in the meantime this channel has access to a gigantic vault of (edited to suit general public cable standards) movies, shows, standup comedians, live concerts, and documentaries through its parent comany. There's also plans in the works for LGBT news updates via CBS

So the programming has been unique, and in some cases there's been a movie on where it took me a second to recognize why it could be considered a "gay movie" or really hold any particular interest with the gay community. But that's been happening with the BlackStarz channel for years, especially the early days where it almost seemed like the programming director would say "Oh! An American of African descent with two lines! Let's put that in the lineup!" Honestly any company with a more specifically defined target audience runs the greater risk of a miss than hit sometimes and faces a lot of airtime to fill with films and shows that might have only a passing connection with the target group.

The strange nuances of catering to a diverse marketing target aside, I find the launch of this channel to be a reassuring sign. That while all this gay backlash and stupid ass anti-gay marriage bills going on a giant conglomerate company finally recognizes the power and interest (not to mention spending power) of this group of people enough to launch a channel aimed directly at them.

And I was delighted to see just how many advertisers there were even one day after the launch. And a diverse bunch of ads it is so far, including Miller Lite, Motorola, Tylenol PM, Lions Gate Films (which, as far as I know is not owned by Viacom), Showtime Network (which, of course, is), Key West Tourism Council (not owned by Viacom, yet), Debtfree.com, and Travelocity. (Ironically I found this list on a big anti-gay christian website calling for a boycott- lists like that work both ways assholes!)

My favorite moment on this channel so far has to be Alan Cumming's brilliant acceptance speech on the broadcast of the GLAAD media awards. Like he wasn't already my secret boyfriend.

Wish I could find a full transcript of it. It was brilliant. And in his dead sexy Scottish accent too. *swoon*

LOGO is airing on Direct TV channel 263 as part of the Total Choice Plus Package which includes the basic lineup and additional channels like Biography, History International, Lifetime Real Women, DIY Network, and a slew of Discovery channels.

According to Wikipedia it's also airing on Charter Communications, Adelphia, Cablevision, Time Warner (a very interesting media conglomerate on its own) Cable, and RCN in an estimated 10 to 13 million homes in the US and will be delivered via Comcast soon. There's the usual zip code search feature on the Logo website to see if and how you can get it.

Tonight I'll be watching the final ep of Queer as Folk on Viacom-owned Showtime. It's been a guilty pleasure of mine since season 3 and have to admit I'm kind of sad to see it go. I'm not a huge fan of gratiutous graphic sex scenes in gay or straight dramas, certainly not against characters having sex or anything, QAF just sometimes seemed to have scenes that were confrontational simply because they could be. But hey what show doesn't take advantage of sex in one way or another? And yes there's not one bear or non-cranky lesbian character amongst them. It made a fairly broad simplification of the "gay lifestyle" at times and the only fag hag was Michael's mom. But all in all it was a fun show with apt social situational storylines in a shiny sugary (without being too precious) package. It was an adult gay soap opera with an occasional message. And it was fun to watch.

Our Tivo seems to have fixed itself. Not entirely sure how this happened but I turned on the tv and it was working. Maybe that last attempt at hard rebooting it by unplugging it from the power strip did it. The little internal tivo modem seems to be working fine despite what the tech support woman said. So that's good. Clearly we really desperately missed the Tivo since it hasn't worked since June and might have been working for the last two weeks right?

I don't do much tv watching in the office so hopefully when Mr. Man wins the tivo for his City of Heroes movie I can get one in the den and use it a whole lot.

Last night they showed "My Own Private Idaho" then "Napoleon Dynamite" on Cinemax. Connection? They both take place in Idaho - well some of MOPI takes place in Idaho but it also has scenes in Rome, Portland, and Seattle. It's kind of fun trying to figure out what kind of themes are in programmers' subconscious. Or maybe this was a planned theme? Who knows.

I've always believed that my ideal job would be writing the movie synopses for Direct TV and movie guides. Anyone know how one goes about getting this job?

Does anyone else feel like demanding they have their old A&E channel back? I thought it was supposed to be television for history and architecture nerds, not people who enjoy watching drunken fools try to board airplanes and bounty hunters with terrifying hair. I see no Arts or Entertainment in watching employees of a mortuary make repeated failed attempts at quitting smoking, I did enough of that on my own before finally succeeding (so far). And while I'm on the subject I don't see the biographical relevance of "Murder She Wrote" so why is it on the Biography channel? I know this is silly but goddammit I want my America's Castles back! If I wanted to watch reality tv I wouldn't be paying sixy plus bucks a month for satellite tv, I'd be watching locally broadcast channels wouldn't I?

Oh and I was reading a series of posts on fun fur hate and entertained myself for fifteen minutes by ripping off the old pro-choice bumpersticker and making a few buttons.

To be honest I don't get the fun fur hate. I've used it twice and have a bunch waiting to be made into little hedgehogs, and believe me, fun fur is perfect for making little hedgehogs. But apparently there are lots of people who just love to hate on the fun fur. And it's annoying to me with all the snark about it everywhere that I have to feel defensive over what kind of friggin yarn I choose to knit with. That's just silly!

I understand that people have their different tastes in yarn - for tactile and aesthetic (not to mention financial or allergic) reasons. And hey, they have every right to pick and choose what kind of yarn they're going to use. It's their hobby and they should enjoy what they're doing. But that doesn't mean they get to dictate what other people do with their time and money.

I took this hobby up because I wanted it to be fun. I don't plan on joining the knitting olympics and have no intention of knitting for anyone's approval. I probably will submit a few things to the NM state fair just for the hell of it. And, egads, it might even be a funfur hedgehog in the toy category.

I just don't understand this tendency for people to feel superior to others for what yarn they use, what food they eat, or, for that matter, their comparative body fat ratio. It's fine to have personal standards, I can understand that but why the need to force yours on other people? To me it smacks of insecurity in the same way that people who are insecure in their religious faith feel the need to force it on others.

If you were really secure in your weight, food habits, yarn choices, or religion you wouldn't really need to discuss other peoples' would you? Just a (cranky) thought.

Now, feeling superior to people for their political beliefs or intelligence? That's another matter! Just kidding. Mostly.

Well I finally found the time to sit and read the whole damned book. And the character I thought might be the one whose death we were all warned about did indeed die. And I still teared up because I'm a big SAP who takes very very long baths.

I've been listening to Spinal Tap a lot lately. These guys are geniuses. On our way to the in-laws dinner (at an Italian restaurant called Zios that is probably a chain but is still pretty tasty so you can stfu ye chain snobbies out there) we decided to "gird our loins" by listening to "Workin on a Sex Farm". Put me in a great mood and politics only really came up once! Yay!

To mourn the loss of any more Dead Like Me episodes I got season one and two on dvd. I can live with that.

Our Tivo broke sometime in June and I finally got around to calling tech support last week. Turns out our modem got fried. The only damned thing in the office without a surge protector. So we get to shell out 50 bucks and get a replacement shipped from Direct TV. But it's better than 250 at Best Buy. Now I just have to get around to calling them back to order the actual replacement because I said I had to talk with Mr. Man first.

The Life Aquatic was ok. Not Rushmore and certainly not The Royal Tennenbaums (still haven't seen Bottle Rocket) but, as always, Wes Anderson movies grow on me over time and get me obsessed with whatever music is on the soundtrack. In my defense, who wouldn't love Portuguese David Bowie covers, or Nico, or The Faces? But do I think Owen Wilson's absence in writing the script in Aquatic shows.

Oh yeah, and
BIG BOTTOMS, BIG BOTTOMS
Talk about Mud Flaps MY GIRL'S GOT EM!

Here are some deaths that you might've missed hearing about in the endless 24-hour media (cough*insipid*) newsreel / bullshit pundit commentary over actual substantial reporting / entertainment between commercial filler that's become news in the US.

Fred Korematsu

from suicide girls news (which is actually a great source for diverse news topics..no, really)

In 1942, when the United States military forced all Japanese-Americans on the West Coast to live in internment camps, one man fought it all the way to the Supreme Court. And lost. That man, Fred Korematsu died this week at the age of 86..

Considering all Japanese-Americans on the West Coast to be a national security threat in the wake of the Pearl Harbor bombing, the United States government ordered all of them (including U.S. citizens) to move out of their homes and into internment camps. One man, Fred Koremasu, a 23-year-old American citizen and son of Japanese immigrants, refused to move out the home he shared with his girlfriend. As a result, he was arrested and convicted of defying military orders. In one of the darkest moments in American legal history, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld his conviction in 1944. Showing extreme deference to the military judgment, the Court stated:

Basically, the threat that any Japanese-American could be a spy justified forcing them to be removed from their homes and placed in what were essentially prison camps. There was no individual evaluation of loyalty or investigation of sabotage. Simply because of heritage, 110,000 men, women, and children were interned for 2 years during World War II.

Mr. Korematsu's conviction was finally overturned in the early 1980s (he had not been imprisoned for that time, but his conviction had officially stayed on the record). In 1998, President Clinton honored him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, hailing him as a civil rights hero.

Mr. Korematsu admitted that he wasn't interested in fighting for civil rights when he challenged his arrest, but just wanted to live his life.

For 40 years, Mr. Korematsu didn't talk about his fight and place in America's embarrassing history. His own daughter learned about his case in a history text book. In recent years, though, he had begun to speak out for civil rights, denouncing the Patriot Act and the treatment of Arab-Americans as parallel to the way the Japanese-Americans had been treated during World War II.

He was a rather unlikely hero, but Mr. Korematsu's name will forever be associated with a fight against a gross violation of human rights.

Saul Bellow

The Pulitzer and Nobel prize winning author died at the age of 89. According to the Nobel Foundation, Bellow won the National Book award for his novel The Adventures of Augie March. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Humboldt's Gift.

His fifth wife gave birth to their daughter December of 1999. He will have a private funeral.

Just thought I'd fill in since the blog of death is on hiatus. I have that old Jim Carroll song stuck in my head now.

Europe and Italy

The bus scene reminds me of the time my friend stuck his head in to ask a bus driver in Sorrento when the next bus for something was coming. Then the driver closed the door on my friend's arm and started to drive away.

but I have a hard time distinguishing between Mo Rocca and Stephen Colbert. Am I alone in this?

Don't get me wrong they're both funny nerdy bespeckled smartasses so of course I love em both. But have you ever seen them in the same room together? Colbert seems a smidgen funnier while Rocca could be considered a little cuddlier.

Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, author of On Death and Dying, passed away at the age of 78. On Death and Dying, written in 1969, introduced the concept that terminally ill patients go through stages in accepting their own death.

While Dr. Kubler-Ross postulated that “acceptance” is the last stage of grieving, her own attitude and actions prior to her own death speak to the possibility that there might be one more: smokin em while you got em.