Some Television Theme Show Mash-ups

There’s a lot of these on YouTube of late. Some enterprising fan likes two different television shows, and decides to take clips from Show A, and create a TV opening theme that resembles Show B. Some of them are pretty inspired, some of them are just insipid. I’ll leave that for you to decide. Have…

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Returning to Iverhill this December

Last summer, I rewrote a senior college thesis into a serialized blog novel, The Robins of Iverhill.  I published it, chapter by chapter, as blog posts in the Times Union.  And later, it was published in paperback form. Now I’m returning to the Adirondack lumber town for Christmas.  And I want you to join me…

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Endurance for Charity: How I completed “The 50-Hour Project”

Kevin Marshall’s friend Steve Henel spent the weekend playing video games – 24 hours of video gaming to raise money for charity.  I stopped by for a few hours last night, and he was bouncing through various video games on various platforms – including some game called Heavy Rain, which most of us were doing…

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The online trivia game that’s all it’s QRANKed up to be

So here’s the deal.  You want to go play competitive team trivia, but there’s no game nearby at a tavern or bar right now.  And you haven’t gotten that call from Jeopardy! or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire that says you can get on the show and play for money. What if you want…

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Ten “Countdown” Music Video Clips

In America, the variety program every musician and band wanted to appear on was “American Bandstand.” In England, it was “Top of the Pops.” In Australia, the show of importance for breaking pop and rock hits was “Countdown.” The show, hosted by Molly Meldrum, drew monster ratings with every episode, and musicians were more than…

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Wanna watch a TV sitcom about curling?

Background.  In the fall of 2002, I was in Ottawa for a few days on a business trip.  I had one day to myself, and decided to just go mall-walking at the local shopping center in downtown Ottawa.  The mall had a multi-screen theater in the shopping center, and I needed to kill a few…

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75,000, a sticker and a nickname

Every car needs a nickname. But for my Saturn Ion, I couldn’t come up with a good one. Not as good as the nickname for my old car, the “6” – a nickname I gleaned from its make and model, the Pontiac 6000. My blue-green Saturn Ion didn’t lend itself very well to any sort…

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“Motivations, Vol. 1” – my new photo art book

Back in February 2010, I was inspired to create an art photography book that featured Capital District buildings that still had painted advertisements on them – faded “brick ads” and “ghost signs” that steadfastly advertised products and services from companies that no longer exist.  The book, “Ghost Signs of the Capital District,” was published through…

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Did the first TV soap opera originate in Schenectady?

The soap opera has been part of broadcast history, going back all the way to the days of radio serials. Soap operas, so named because the shows were sponsored by household products companies, developed loyal audiences who tuned in every day to follow the latest adventures of Mary Noble, Backstage Wife – or Barnabas Collins,…

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