People

The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien: Four Emmy Nominations

Friday, July 9th, 2010

Proof positive of the effectiveness of being creative, original and actually funny: The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien has not only been nominated for one Emmy, but FOUR.  And Jay Leno’s Tonight Show received no nominations.  Not only that, but ratings since Leno returned have been worse than they’ve been since 1993.  NBC actually congratulated Conan, saying “We congratulate Conan and all our nominees on their creative accomplishments and their deserved nominations.”

Conan also tweeted about the nominations, saying “Congrats to my staff on 4 Emmy nominations. This bodes well for the future of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.”

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Conan O’Brien’s The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Conan O’Brien’s The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour has been announced.  Not only is Conan’s tour missing Michigan, but the two Chicago shows sold out pretty much instantly.  The only tickets left are the high cost ones that come with gifts and, if you’re willing to spend about $800, a meet and greet with the man himself.  While that would be really great to do, I have a wedding this year, and thus, don’t have the extra cash to pay for at least 2 tickets for a meet and greet, no matter how great an opportunity that would be.

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Oprah Interviews Jay Leno about Tonight Show, Conan, and shows his true character

Monday, February 1st, 2010

If anyone was still on Leno’s side in the Conan vs. Leno battle for the once great, now defunct The Tonight Show, this interview should help you to finally take a side.  That side will undoubtedly be Conan’s as Leno fails to make himself look like a gentleman in the whole thing.  I’m going to point out the hypocrisy of Leno, as well as his failure to think beyond himself, even when he’s claiming to.

What I’m going to do is quote the important parts of the interview, and I might comment on the quote, if I feel it necessary to elaborate on what should be fairly obvious.

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Conan’s Tearful Goodbye on his final Tonight Show

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

“There has been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can’t say about NBC. To set the record straight, tonight I am allowed to say anything I want. And what I want to say is this: between my time at “Saturday Night Live,” “The Late Night Show,” and my brief run here on the “Tonight Show,” I have worked with NBC for over 20 years. Yes, we have our differences right now and yes, we’re going to go our separate ways, but this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we have done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible.

“Walking away from the “Tonight Show” is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Making this choice has been enormously difficult,” O’Brien continued. “This is the best job in the world, I absolutely love doing it, and I have the best staff and crew in the history of the medium. But despite this sense of loss, I really feel this should be a happy moment. Every comedian dreams of hosting the “Tonight Show” and, for seven months, I got to. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I’ve had more good fortune than anyone I know and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-11 parking lot, we’ll find a way to make it fun.

“Finally, I have to say something to our fans. The massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming. The rallies, the signs, all the goofy, outrageous creativity on the Internet, and the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain to be in our audience, made a sad situation joyous and inspirational. To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. ”

“All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere,” he concluded. “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

Good night Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. See you in September, Conan!

Conan O’Brien: A Total Class Act – “People of Earth”

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Jay Leno should do the noble thing and quit.  Making the affiliates happy is not Conan’s problem, it falls on NBC.  The affiliates wanted one thing: programming that kept people watching until the news.  CLEARLY Leno isn’t that programming.  That fact should make it all the more clear to NBC that Leno isn’t what people want.  Putting him at 11:35 isn’t going to make the affiliates happy.  It’s going to make NBC look like a failure.  Good job, NBC.  You’re ruining yourself.  What becomes of the Tonight Show if Conan leaves?  Does Leno get it back?  That would be a nasty move on the part of both Jay Leno and NBC.  Conan’s put years of work into the Tonight Show, and I believe his run would have rivaled Johnny Carson’s in the end.  Now we’ll likely never know.

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New Purpose for This Blog

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

As you can probably tell, this blog hadn’t been updated in well over a year. That is about to change.

I’ve decided to start writing about entertainment.

I will inject a few personal things from time to time. Perhaps some religion, perhaps some politics, but for the most part it’ll be all video games, movies, tv, DVD and the like.

I’ve been wanting a place like this to have as an outlet for writing about my interests for some time now, and I’m looking forward to sharing that with people in the months to come. A lot of things have happened in the last year or so, and I’m hoping to write about some stories that have, perhaps, been written about to death, but simply because I am interested in those topics.

Look for new topics on Star Wars, Ghostbusters and more very shortly.

GK Chesterton Quote Day!

Tuesday, November 15th, 2005

I don’t know if very many of you know who GK Chesterton is, but please read these quotes. They are very true and/or very funny.

  • Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.
  • “My country, right or wrong,” is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, “My mother, drunk or sober.”
  • A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.
  • A room without books is like a body without a soul.
  • An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.
  • Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.
  • By a curious confusion, many modern critics have passed from the proposition that a masterpiece may be unpopular to the other proposition that unless it is unpopular it cannot be a masterpiece.
  • Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.
  • Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.
  • I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
  • I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.
  • I say that a man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it.
  • If there were no God, there would be no Atheists.
  • It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.
  • Journalism largely consists of saying ‘Lord Jones is Dead’ to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.
  • Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.
  • The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.
  • The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.
  • There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.
  • To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.
  • There are no wise few. Every aristocracy that has ever existed has behaved, in all essential points, exactly like a small mob. -G. K. Chesterton, “Heretics”, 1905
  • All slang is a metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry. -G. K. Chesterton, Defendant (1901)
  • Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity. -G. K. Chesterton, Defendant (1901)
  • The rich are the scum of the earth in every country. -G. K. Chesterton, Flying Inn (1914)
  • There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person. -G. K. Chesterton, Heretics (1905)
  • Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. -G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
  • The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums. -G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy; p. 14
  • It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem. -G. K. Chesterton, Scandal of Father Brown (1935)
  • He may be mad, but there’s method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It’s what drives men mad, being methodical. -G. K. Chesterton, The Fad of the Fisherman (1922)
  • But a somewhat more liberal and sympathetic examination of mankind will convince us that the cross is even older than the gibbet, that voluntary suffering was before and independent of compulsory; and in short that in most important matters a man has always been free to ruin himself if he chose. -G. K. Chesterton, What’s Wrong With the World; p. 118

About My Friends Part 2

Monday, October 31st, 2005

I’ve gone through all the people. Was that ever hard! Thanks to all those that took part and best of luck to you! I’m officially done with this! Wooooo! No more.

Here’s the corresponding questions for the answers below:

1. I’ll respond with something random about you.
2. I’ll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I’ll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
4. I’ll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
5. I’ll tell you what animal you remind me of.
6. I’ll ask you something that I’ve always wondered about you.
7. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal.

Rowan:

1. You’ve got an awesome taste in movies and stuff.. Rock on!
2. Definitely Lord of the Rings, whenever I look at my Trilogy Tuesday pass!
3. Wow… um.. HI! lol… I don’t know if I can think of anything that would.
4. That’s tough, because I’ve had limited times when I’ve met you, and all of them I’ve been impressed with your eagerness to learn and just how courteous you are with everyone.
5. Toughy… probably an owl though because you seem rather intelligent.
6. Are you planning on writing a book at some point?

Mary:

1. You’re a great friend, with awesome morals, and even though you don’t know where you want to go as far as a career, you’re not afraid to try things out until you get there.
2. Anything by the Beatles. Take pride in that!
3. You’re Average hating. haha
4. When I told you about the Eucharist in Rick’s basement.
5. Some type of Marsupial, I think.. I don’t know, I don’t even know what a Marsupial is at the moment.
6. Why do you have to eat all the time, really?

Jenny:

1. You’re a basketball star, a movie queen, and an all around nice girl.
2. I’m going to have to say, any movie that I go to at Celebration, because I’m like “Jenny works here!”
3. I dunno, that’s a good question, maybe you’ll have something when YOU do this for ME! HAHAHAH
4. First time I met you at Antioch in Caledonia, I seem to remember just thinking “oh, she’s another Richards, probably as nice as they are, too! Awesome!”
5. A basketball playin’ rabbit or something. Because you’re fast and stuff. I got nothin’
6. What is it that makes Jenny Richards tick?

Courtney:

1. You’re an awesome friend, a person of character and logically grounded but illogically random at times.
2. Probably Garden State at the moment, but also when I listen to my Ipod, I think “Courtney probably has this song, too!”
3. “Do you know what [insert name here]‘s going on about?”
4. Wow, this is a hard one. I can’t seem to remember any specific time. I just remember that over time we just started talking more and more.
5. A Dragon! I don’t think it’s based on looks or anything, but I am reminded of them. Maybe it’s your old screen name or something like it.
(Here’s the picture I tried to put in my comment but didn’t show up, and yes, I did draw that:)

6. Where did the fascination with Tim Burton’s crazy ideas and things come from?

Nicole:

1. You are a crazy ninja, an intelligent person and a fun member of a retreat team.
2. Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting or RealUltimatePower’s theme music.
3. Is there anything that would make sense ONLY to you and me?
4. When you ran into Antioch and were louder than I am. Wow, I thought, she’s louder than I am.
5. A lion.. or a bear.. I don’t know, maybe a WALKING STICK BUG, because they can disappear into trees like ninjas.
6. What is so fascinating about Ninjas? Is it because of Samurai Jack?

Sarah D.:

1. You’re a silly goose, a caring person and a good listener.
2. I don’t know if I can answer this one.. it’s not that there aren’t any, it’s that I haven’t found it yet. Darn!
3. oh boy, there she is… umm… you’re insane.
4. Sliding down the snowy streets during caroling.
5. A mouse I think.. don’t ask me why, but that’s the answer.
6. Are you enjoying your time at Subway? (and is it really fresh stuff that they use?)

Justine:

1. You’ve always impressed me with your confidence in your singing abilities, which are excellent. And you’ve got very clear eyes that are very emotive.
2. Robin Hood: Men in Tights. “Oh Lord, if I could have but my one true love…”
3. Presenting PAGES: The MUSICAL… a new musical comedy based on the hit songs “That doesn’t go there!” and “Get back to work!”
4. Definitely working in the A/V rooms for hours and hours and the utter boredom that followed when one of us wasn’t in the room.
5. A turtle.. no.. a dove.. no a turtle dove. What’s a turtle dove and why did I pick that? The world may never know.
6. Why, after all these years, do you still work at the library? Nevermind…I worked there for at least as long as you have. How about this one: What is your all time favorite memory of when we worked together at the library and do you remember the specifics?

Jaci Mae:

1. You’re an amazing woman of God, an inspiration to your friends, and stronger than you realize.
2. Anything from Steubenville… (amen…Amen…AMEN!)
3. This is my wife.
4. At Steubenville, when you were talking to Doug about the infinite love of God.
5. This is a tough one, but I’m going to have to say a puppy or a bunny.
6. What is it that makes Jaci Mae so very cool?

Simone:

1. You’re a punk-rawk princess with a fun taste in music I’ve never heard of and a style like no other, except for most of the people at Blues on the Mall in Grand Rapids every summer. :D
2. Anything by Green Day. But also The Hives.. I don’t know why, because I couldn’t name a song of theirs if I wanted to..
3. I don’t trust you either. (Regarding the tickling)
4. When I first talked to you for a few hours at Rick’s. I’m not sure of the order of events but that was the first time I got to know you very well and I was like “dang, she’s pretty cool.”
5. A cat. I don’t know why.. but something like…. hello kitty…
6. How did you learn to do all those awesome things with your hair? Would you punk rock out my hair? lol

Sarah H.:

1. You are a cross-dressing (King Arthur) crazy person with a crazy way of watching stuff like Pocahontas and Mulan when there’s stuff like Beauty and the Beast to be watched.
2. Pocahontas now. geez.
3. *Makes a face*
4. When you were on the retreat and I started to make faces at you, and you laughed at them and then started making faces back.
5. Some kinda bird thing. I never promised that these answers would be normal-ish.
6. Do you play World of Warcraft often?

Paula:

1. You’re a smooth operator, a Hermione lookalike and a Child of God. Put them together and you’ve almost got a weird 90s hybrid of the 80s.
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Sorcerer’s Goblet of Azkaban’s Chamber of the Pheonix
3. Random! um.. this one’s hard :(
4. When I first met you and you looked like Hermione and one of the first things I learned about you was “YOU LOVE HARRY POTTER AND ARE GOING TO THE PREMIERE IN NEW YORK!”
5. I’m going to say a Koala Bear. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because of a cartoon that I used to watch that had Koala’s in it.
6. How do you keep your hair so curly and nice?

About My Friends Part 1

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

Okay, My friend Justine just did this, and did a phenomenal job of it, too. I couldn’t believe it, but wow, that was awesome. Now I’m obligated to do this myself..so in response to what she said:

1. Your cousin is Brian Martin, whom I know!
Yes indeed! That’s awesome! I didn’t know that you knew him.
2. The Fhwqugtsn Everybody to the Limit song…
Strong Bad Rules!
3. Pages: The Musical
Wow! And won’t that be a fun musical to create.. someday… someday…*dreams*
4. Hm…How bout the two of us making up songs in the CD room?
Holy cow! I can’t believe it! We certainly did do that! That’s so funny! Those were some good times! I wish I could remember the songs.
5. I think a cartoon cat like from Heathcliff or something
Wow…. I remember Heathcliff… I don’t know whether to be honored or disgusted. haha
6. When do I get my share of your wealth??
When I finally make my movie.
7. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal.
Here goes:

Leave your name and…

1. I’ll respond with something random about you.
2. I’ll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I’ll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
4. I’ll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
5. I’ll tell you what animal you remind me of.
6. I’ll ask you something that I’ve always wondered about you.
7. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal.

Concerts and Dates

Monday, October 24th, 2005

Thursday: I went to the Chris Tomlin / Matt Redman concert. Beth, Scott and I had our picture taken by someone before the show, and during the concert, they showed a ton of pictures they had taken, and ours appeared. It was awesome! What a great picture, too. It’s too bad they delete the pictures after the show.

Friday: Went to Subway with Courtney and Mary. They were playing country music and I mentioned that I don’t really listen to country music, ever. And Mary said that she can barely stand it, or something of that nature. Anyway, there was a lull in the conversation, and suddenly I noticed Mary was swaying back and forth very slightly. And when I looked at her, she stopped and had this big smile on her face. I leaned over and “whispered” to Courtney: “Mary just realized she was dancing to country music.” Mary started laughing so hard she left the room.

We played some tennis and went went to Rick’s for the Cornhole tournament and Movie night. Courtney, Mary and I built a fire in the backyard, and the movie for the night was Tommy Boy.

Saturday: Adoration, Mass and Confession at St. Francis de Sales, followed by an evening at Topo’s and watching Garden State and some of The Office.

Dwight: “Let me describe the perfect date: I take her out to a nice dinner. She looks amazing. Some guy tries to hit on her..eh.. Now he wants to fight. So I grab him, I throw him into a jukebox. Then the other ninja’s got a knife. He comes at me, we grapple, I turn his knife on him, blood on the dancefloor. She’s scared now, I take her home, I’m holding her in my arms. I reach in for a kiss, I hear something in the leaves..I flip her around, she gets a poison arrow right in her back. She was in on it the whole time..but I knew.”

Listen to Dwight tell it!

Sunday: Went to Antioch, the talks were pretty amazing. It’ll be great to see how Joe’s and Pat’s both come together on the retreat. Kari’s was outstanding, as were Paula’s and Ashley’s the week before. I’m looking forward to all the rest as well.