Frank Murphy dot com

popular science

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:53:00 +0000

Next week literally thousands of Tennesseans will line up at bookstores (and a Sam's Club) to get autographed copies of "The Bone Thief." If Dr. Bill Bass stayed up that late, the Knoxville stores could probably draw big crowds to midnight book release parties like they used to for Harry Potter. The Bone Zones team has set a goal of reaching The New York Times bestseller list with the newest Body Farm novel.

Susan Seals from Bone Zones informed me that Dr. Bass will be attending most but not all of the signings. Jon Jefferson will do some of them solo. If your heart is set on meeting the famed anthropologist, double check Susan's schedule against the HarperCollins schedule before standing in line. Susan is working on a special on-air opportunity for me to give to a few lucky fans who will be going to the Books-A-Million event in Oak Ridge on Thursday, March 25.

The folks at HarperCollins sent me some bullet points related to the story and a link to a short video that Jefferson & Bass had to go shoot the same day they recorded a radio interview with me. The video has lots of bones and a corpse or two.

Currently more than 100,000 people in the United Stares are on waiting lists for organ transplants
More than 100 of them die every week while waiting
Selling human organs and tissues on the black market to desperate buyers can be highly lucrative
Hand transplantation reflects a grim reality of war: these days, most U.S. hand amputees are soldiers, injured by improvised explosives in Iraq
Sadly, hand trauma’s other victims include thousands of children, maimed by land mines in war zones around the world

see through

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:49:00 +0000

Bob Yarbrough has been anchoring WVLT's noon news solo lately. Allison Kropff got moved over to the weather desk when Jim Freeman left. They gave Freeman a cake on his last day and wished him well. They mentioned that he was not leaving the area, just the station. His departure came shortly before the surprising announcement that Michele Silva had been hired to co-anchor the early morning news.

Today Allison acknowledged that she had not worn green during the morning show but had changed into a green turtleneck for the noon newscast. She said to stay tuned because she would tell us why she hadn't started St. Patrick's Day in the green clothes. It was great fun to watch a few minutes later when she walked over to the weather wall and became a floating head!

Chef Walter did not disappoint either.

unlucky charms

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:21:00 +0000

It's time to call B.S. on Gibson Greeting Cards. Last week when I was buying my wife a birthday card, I saw two cards in the St. Patrick's Day section that said "Happy Shamrock Day." That's just wrong. It would be less offensive if they discontinued all their St. Patrick's cards rather than publish ones that celebrate clover.

Back in the prehistoric days before I started this blog, I noticed some napkins with the same offending phrase on them. The idiotic marketing scheme has picked up more negative press since then, including a bit of a dust-up in Waco last year.

"Happy Shamrock Day" is as stupid as "Happy Turkey Day" on Thanksgiving. Not everyone eats turkey then. Maybe I should expect to see "Happy Hard-Boiled Egg Day" or "Happy Firecracker Day" in the near future. Would Gibson dare market a Passover card that said "Happy Flatbread Days?" I don't think so.

oveur and out

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:57:00 +0000

Tonight's planned television viewing was interrupted by 1967. While "Chuck" and "24" were still recorded by my DVR, I chose to fire up the DVD player and watch a couple of episodes from season 2 of "Mission: Impossible." My daughter gave me the discs for Christmas in 2008.

The inspiration for my retro-viewing party was the death of Peter Graves, the one, true Jim Phelps. I was too young to stay up and watch M:I when it first aired but I got hooked on the show during high school when one of the local New York stations showed reruns of it every night. The episodes from season 2 that I watched tonight are ones I don't recall seeing before.

The teamwork of the IMF and the intricate plots renewed my displeasure with the way the Tom Cruise movies abused the franchise. Martin Landau was quoted in an article about Graves' death. The original stars also smelled a rat and refused to sully their characters by appearing in Cruise's vanity project.

On "World News," Diane Sawyer reported Graves' relation to his brother, James Arness, like it was news. I think her exact words were, "here's something we didn't know..." Huh? I've known that piece of TV trivia for as long as I can remember.

Peter Graves died just outside his home as he was returning from a Sunday brunch to celebrate his upcoming birthday. Is it weird that I am incredibly curious to know which restaurant served his last meal? Get me Dearly Departed Tours on the phone!

mad magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:55:00 +0000

The big news at All Saints Church this morning was that Fr. Tony Dickerson has asked Bishop Stika for a leave of absence from the priesthood. We were all asked to pray for Tony, who is a favorite of my family. It's got to be a tough job. There are many former priests out there including one of my mother's relatives. Fr. Tony got a big laugh a couple of months ago when he told the congregation at 8:15 a.m. Mass that he suspected they liked to go to church early so they can beat the Baptists to Cracker Barrel.

Bishop Stika has been in my thoughts for two other reasons this past week. In the newest edition of the East Tennessee Catholic, the Bishop responds to some hateful anti-Catholic propaganda that was recently distributed in Pigeon Forge. The story hit the local news just before my wife and I headed out of town, coincidentally to the Bishop's hometown of St. Louis. Because of our travels, we didn't realize that it made the national news too.

The ridiculous pamphlets falsely allege that Catholics are not Christians and that our belief in the Holy Eucharist was stolen from ancient Egyptian sun worshipers. I wonder if the author has ever driven past a Catholic church, much less opened a book to do any research about it. I found a great blog post written by a priest who is a convert to Catholicism. He quotes Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen who said there are very few people who disagree with what Catholics believe, but there are millions who disagree with what they think Catholics believe. I was reminded of my late grandfather who used to question what it was that modern-day Protestants were protesting.

The last bit of Bishop Stika news to cross my desk last week involves me more directly. The annual Catholic Charities dinner is this Thursday. I was invited to auction off dinner for ten with Bishop Stika at The Chop House. Given my experience, I hope I can get away with a joke or two about fasting and abstinence during Lent.

no bones about it

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:42:00 +0000

Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass start their publicity and book-signing tour for "The Bone Thief" in about a week. They fit me into their schedule one day last month to pre-record an interview that airs this week on the East Tennessee Report. You can download it as a podcast or listen to it by clicking on the "play" icon.

The new book opens with the description of a dead news anchor. The fictional Maureen Gershwin worked at WBIR with a co-anchor named Randall Gibbons. From her physical description, I thought she might have been based on a real local anchor who planted a kiss on me at a charity function but I was wrong. She is mostly a figment of Jon Jefferson's imagination.

At the time we recorded the interview, Jefferson and Bass had not yet told WBIR's Russell Biven about the similarity between his name and that of the anchorman in the book. I saw John Becker the other day and told him that WBIR is featured in "The Bone Thief." I also didn't know until a couple of days ago that the authors had graciously mentioned my proofreading in the acknowledgments.

With the new novel about to come out, my Google alert for the Body Farm has been especially active lately. For example, one reviewer assumes, like most, that Dr. Bill Brockton is based on Dr. Bill Bass. I can tell you that Brockton is a lot more like Jefferson than Bass. Meanwhile, a local photographer posted a good picture on his blog of Dr. Bass during a slide show about the Big Bopper's exhumation.

In other decomposition news, Mesa State College has decided to not set up a temporary body farm near the intersection of 29 and D Roads. Instead they will continue searching for a more remote, permanent location. As one Colorado newspaper writer pointed out, the original Body Farm is within a mile of homes and within mere feet of the UT Medical Center parking lot.

great future in plastics

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:43:00 +0000

The concept of plastination was more shocking when I first heard about it on "60 Minutes" or some similar newsmagazine. In the years since, I have learned a little bit about people who donate their bodies to science thanks to my conversations with Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. When I saw a billboard along I-24 promoting a display of plastinized bodies in Nashville, I knew I had to see it.

I had assumed that the exhibit was part of Gunther von Hagens' Bodyworlds although the fact that it was in a shopping mall instead of a science museum should have tipped me off. My son and I went to RiverGate Mall before I took him to the airport the other day. After lunch in the food court, we headed to a storefront next to Sears.

The show we saw was called Bodies Human, which appears to be a second class version of the original. Bodyworld solicits and accepts donated corpses. One of the employees at Bodies Human told us that the humans in their display were unclaimed corpses from morgues in Thailand. The thought of a tourist recognizing one of the cadavers as a missing friend or relative saddened me somewhat.

the larp-er image

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:33:00 +0000

Chris Butler is a movie buff. During our time working together at Power 106 he always knew which movies had gotten thumbs up from Siskel & Ebert. Therefore it was no surprise that he scored six out of six in the LARadio.com Oscar prediction poll. He won a year's subscription to the site, which grants night-before access to industry news and daily emails with headlines and other stories of interest. However, he already subscribes. Webmaster Don Barrett allowed him to give the prize to somebody else and Chris chose me. I had started reading the site again recently when Don made more free content available. As a once-again subscriber, I especially like having the headlines emailed to me.

The interview process for my job at Power 106 was more memorable than most. I knew immediately that Chris was an important part of the Jay Thomas show. He accompanied Monica Brooks (now known as Lori) to meet me for breakfast at the Universal Hilton. He ran the board for Jay and maintained the audio archives for replay when Jay was away.

By comparison, breakfast with Monica and Chris was normal. The night before, I had dinner with Jay and promotion director Paul Sansone. They pretended to be a gay couple to see how I would react. At the time, the station played a lot of dance music and was the major sponsor for a dance-athon to benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles. When they sensed that I didn't care a whit about their sexuality, they revealed their charade. So I guess it was more than a coincidence that the station booked the Village People for a retro party the next year. You might recall that they sat behind me at a movie screening the night before the gig.

when pigs fly

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:44:00 +0000

One of the best things about Nashville International Airport is the live music that you may encounter as you walk to your gate. I saw a sign for a "melody guy" that confused me because the singer was obviously a woman. It turns out that her name is Melody Guy.

I was at the airport to drop off my son, who is on his Spring break from college. Normally I would let him out of the car in the white zone, which is for loading and unloading only, and drive off. However this time he was traveling with some high-priced bacon. We were almost 100% sure that TSA would have no problem with the breakfast meat but we devised a back-up plan just in case. I would wait by the x-ray machines, ready to accept the pork if the officers rejected it. It all turned out fine and my son and his friends will be enjoying Benton's bacon for breakfast during his visit.

sir francis bacon

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:53:00 +0000

An unassuming building along the side of the road has a direct link to some of the finest restaurants in the country. Benton's Smoky Mountain Country Hams is arguably more famous for their bacon than for their hams.

A recent issue of Metro Pulse inspired me to plan a field trip to Benton's with my bacon-loving son. They had articles about a hipster event called Baconfest founded by an ex-vegetarian. Meat-master Allan Benton was there when we arrived at the shop in Madisonville. His gracious and helpful employees showed us around and answered all the questions we had.

The raw hams and pork bellies arrive from Kansas City in big cardboard crates. The staff rubs them with salt on the curing table and allows them to age. They eventually get hung on racks and sent to the smoker.

My son and I bought some bacon to have for dinner that night and some for him to take back to school. On the way home, we picked up a head of lettuce, a tomato and some soft kaiser rolls at the supermarket. I fried some bacon and baked some, according to directions I found online. We preferred the bacon that was cooked at 400° on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. The first recipe called for nine minutes on each side but it did not need that much time, as posted elsewhere. It was the best BLT ever.

archie's place

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:57:00 +0000

They say that New Yorkers don't visit the Statue of Liberty. I never have, even though I grew up in the nearby suburbs. I try not to repeat that mistake when traveling, which is why I'm surprised it has taken me this long to make it to the top of the Gateway Arch. The Arch is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis.

On our 3,000 mile road trip in the summer of 2007, my family had the bad luck of visiting the Arch two days after a power outage caused all sorts of havoc. I got some nice pictures from the base, but did not ascend. We thought about going to the Arch in January, but it was completely engulfed in fog.

This past weekend, my wife and I made a quick trip through St. Louis after picking up our son at college. We had enough time on Saturday to go up in the Arch and to see the excellent (although dated) movie, "Monument to the Dream." I just put the DVD on my wish list.

The documentary shows how the landmark was constructed in the early '60s. It made me wish I could go back and see television news coverage from the raising of the last piece on October 28, 1965. I did find a good YouTube video with some pre-Arch history. A model outside the theater shows the last piece being raised into place.

The land below the Arch looks like a quiet, grassy park. It conceals an underground complex with two theaters, gift shops, a museum and more. The Museum of Westward Expansion featured lots of information about the Louisiana Purchase and an interesting smaller exhibit about baseball teams moving and expanding to the West. The warning not to touch the taxidermied animals amused me. Apparently not everyone knows that dead bison grow no hair.

The view out the city side of the Arch was more interesting than the view out the river side. Looking toward the north I could see the Edward Jones Dome. Looking toward the south I could see Busch Stadium. I really want to attend a Cardinals game there some day.

Because our plan was to leave early enough on Sunday to get home to watch the Oscars (we made it with minutes to spare), we wanted to go to a vigil Mass on Saturday night. St. Louis has a plethora of Catholic parishes and we hadn't decided which one to visit. I even asked my friend Fr. Ragan Schriver for suggestions. Once we had seen the movie and looked at the Museum of Westward Expansion, it was after 5:00 p.m. and we didn't have time to get to either of the churches Fr. Ragan had mentioned. I was collecting some brochures from the ranger at the information desk when I realized the answer was on a flyer in my hands. In fact, two hours earlier, I had photographed The Old Cathedral from 630 feet up. We could easily walk there in time for the 5:30 Mass.

twoscars

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:58:00 +0000

The Academy Awards are just wrapping up as I write this. Thankfully, "Avatar" did not win Best Picture as many thought it might when the nominations were first announced. The momentum for "The Hurt Locker" has been unstoppable lately and it wasn't too surprising that it claimed the top trophy.

They say that to truly be the best picture, a film should also win the award for best director. Kathryn Bigelow proved that old adage true tonight. Another old saying is that before it goes on the stage, it has to be on the page. In my opinion, the best picture winner should also have picked up one of the two screenwriting awards earlier in the night. "The Hurt Locker" won for Original Screenplay. "Avatar" wasn't even nominated in a writing category.

As has become my new favorite pastime during award shows and major sporting events, I enjoyed reading and posting comments on Twitter. Here are a few things I wrote during the Oscars tonight:

I'm glad Sandra Bullock won. Meryl Streep should have won last year for "Doubt." I can't even remember who beat her.
In Memoriam, a/k/a the awkward smatterings of applause
Woohoo! My favorite part! In memoriam!!
Sarah Jessica Parker as a clothes horse? Unfortunate choice of words.
All night the live audio at the Oscars has been bugging me. Is something wrong with their stage mic?
Wait, you're telling me that Avatar was NOT nominated for best adapted screenplay based on the movie "Pocahontas" by Disney?
My wife & I are considering paying the $6 for "A Serious Man" via On Demand
What award did Joy Behar just win? I'm confused.
"Logorama" looks like one of those maps you get from the car rental agency or the motel when you go on vacation.
If each death from 2009 gets this much time, it's going to be the longest "in memoriam" segment ever.
I saw it, I'm just saying Academy is over its SciFi quota RT @clydetombaugh if you don't think "District 9" deserved Best Picture nod...
They have the guy from "Star Trek," which should have been nominated, introducing the film that likely stole Trek's spot.
Best picture of the year, "Up," just won its award.
Squirrel!
NPH steals the Oscar gig!!
Why don't they have TV pros asking the questions? RT @MarkNagi Kathy Ireland throwing softball questions is like Verne interviewing Tebow

aye, there's the rib

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:30:00 +0000

Thank goodness for the Internet. Without its streaming video, I would have missed seeing Dr. Bill Bass on "20/20." The founder of the Body Farm was interviewed about his testimony in a 2001 murder trial. Dr. Bass proved that the medical examiner was wrong and that a man accused of killing his cousin was innocent. Here's the segment in which Dr. Bass appears.

I saw Dr. Bass and his co-author Jon Jefferson recently. They came by to record our annual interview about their latest Body Farm novel. The newest one, "The Bone Thief," will be released on March 23. The radio program will air on March 14. As usual, Jefferson and Bass will be devoting a lot of time to book signing appearances where they are ably assisted by the devoted Bone Zones crew. A publicist from HarperCollins just sent me an updated list of appearances. The signings at Sam's Club and Kroger are not yet on their website.

Tuesday, March 23
7:00 PM
BORDERS
202 Morrell Road
Knoxville, TN 37919

Wednesday, March 24
7:00 PM
DAVIS-KIDD BOOKSELLERS
The Mall at Green Hills
2121 Green Hills Village Drive
Nashville, TN 37215

Thursday, March 25
7:00 PM
BOOKS-A-MILLION
310 S Illinois Avenue
Oak Ridge, TN 37830

Friday, March 26
6:00 PM
CARPE LIBRUM BOOKSELLERS
5113A Kingston Pike
Knoxville, TN 37919

Saturday, March 27
12:00 PM
SAM'S WHOLESALE CLUB
8435 Walbrook Drive
Knoxville, TN 37923

Saturday, March 27
3:00 PM
KROGER
5201 North Broadway
Knoxville, TN 37918

Monday, April 05
6:00 PM
ROCK POINT BOOKS
401 Broad Street
Chattanooga, TN 37402

Tuesday, April 06
7:00 PM
FOX TALE BOOK SHOPPE
105 E Main Street
Woodstock, GA 30188

Thursday, April 08
7:00 PM
BOOK MARK
299 Atlantic Boulevard
Atlantic Beach, FL 32233

Friday, April 09
7:30 PM
QUAIL RIDGE BOOKS
3522 Wade Avenue
Raleigh, NC 27607

Saturday, April 10
7:00 PM
MALAPROP'S BOOKSTORE/CAFE
55 Haywood Street
Asheville, NC 28801

Sunday, April 11
7:00 PM
BOOKS-A-MILLION
Johnson City Plaza
2116 N Roan Street
Johnson City, TN 37601

having a laugh

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:02:00 +0000

The last few minutes of a conversation with Ricky Gervais were winding down when I flipped on the radio the other day. I find the British comedian consistently amusing, so I made a mental note to find the rest of the interview online. Gervais and David Bianculli talked about the new HBO series which takes audio from the comic’s BBC podcasts and adds animation designed to resemble the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons. They spent a little time on "The Office" and maybe a tiny bit more time on "Extras." He chose to have his "Extras" character espouse atheism, the same way he does in real life. Obviously, I disagree with his atheistic beliefs but I wasn’t going to let that ruin my day. At the end of the show, Gervais had me laughing again and wanting to see the episode of "The Marriage Ref" featuring him, Madonna and Larry David.

Locally, the Gervais interview was followed by a monthly public affairs show. The topic for March was social media. My favorite part was a phone call from an enthusiastic listener who wanted to know how to use a blog or Facebook to build his lawn mowing business. The panel said he could use a blog to share his landscaping knowledge, thereby making himself known as an expert on the subject.

I have been taking advantage of the free coffee coupons offered on the Facebook page for Pilot Travel Centers. The coupons that expired at the end of February were good at any Pilot location. The new coupons, valid through the end of May, are buy-one-get-one-free coupons for any hot beverage at Pilot Food Mart stores, which are all over East Tennessee. There is a second coupon for a free coffee, but to use it, I have to leave my immediate area and find a Pilot Travel Center. I guess they’re on to me.

biblical proportion

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:55:00 +0000

If "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" were not already a famous Broadway show, you could have easily convinced me that it was written expressly for the Miracle Theater. The production and the venue are a perfect fit for one another. Melinda Doolittle, who finished behind only Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis on "American Idol," stars as the Narrator. Melinda's strong voice is put to good use, especially in her big solo number at the start of the second act. The rest of the cast is just as good. Justin Meyer plays Joseph.

The music and lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice was oddly familiar even though it was the first time I had ever seen the show. Several genres of popular music are referenced and parodied. The Pharaoh is an Elvis look-alike and the character of Potiphar had some dance moves just like the Hitler character in "The Producers." A cowboy dance number sounded like an Aaron Copland opus. A reggae tune sounded like it could have inspired the great Ashman & Menken when they were writing "The Little Mermaid" some twenty years after "Joseph" debuted.

My wife and I thought that some of the music sounded a lot like Webber & Rice's next rock opera, "Jesus Christ Superstar." After the show, Jim Hedrick and David Fee said that they hope to bring more stars to Pigeon Forge after Melinda Doolittle ends her run. They also want to bring more Broadway-type shows to the Miracle Theater. My wife immediately said that she would like to see her favorite Idol winner, David Cook, starring in "Jesus Christ Superstar."

The Fee/Hedrick Family Entertainment Group hosted a performance and VIP reception for local business people tonight. Employees of several media outlets, myself included, were invited as well. I saw people I knew from my previous radio jobs and some people I have interviewed, including Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters.

A former improv brother of mine, Justin Benoit, was there with a professional video camera in hand. He now works for Fee/Hedrick as a videographer. Before the show, he recorded me taking advantage of the free camel rides offered to the invited guests. At intermission, he shot footage of WBIR's Michele Silva and me saying what we thought of the show so far.

stealers wheel

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:39:00 +0000

The preseason hype for the very funny "Modern Family" got me to create season passes for ABC's Wednesday comedy lineup but it is "The Middle" that has won me over. I'm not taking anything away from "Modern Family." It's got a great combination of clever dialogue, outrageous characters and uncomfortable Phil moments. I just find "The Middle" to be more relatable.

Sometimes it's as if the writers of "The Middle" have a hidden camera trained on my family. They had a Christmas episode about the mom's solo with the church choir that hit close to home. As my wife and I were watching "American Idol," I got a text message from my daughter that said, "make sure Mom watches 'The Middle' tonight!" I was recording both shows, so I paused "Idol" and switched to "The Middle."

For the first ten minutes or so, we wondered what had prompted my daughter's text message. The episode seemed to center on Brick's participation in a spelling bee and Sue's overlooked birthday. Once the Hecks began their road trip to Chicago, we knew.

A few years ago, at a big birthday party for my mother-in-law, my wife got our kids and all their cousins to sing the same song that the Hecks sang in tonight's show. It's something about an Austrian going yodeling. That wasn't all. Their side trip to the World's Largest Oak Tree Stump was slightly reminiscent of my family's side trip to the World's Largest Ball of Twine. I suspect that the writers based the oak stump on the World's Largest Sycamore Stump in Kokomo.

I wrongly assumed that people who missed the show tonight could watch it online tomorrow. A message at Fancast.com says that full episodes are unavailable. The best I could find is a one-minute scene about the tree stump.

Sedaka is back

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:52:00 +0000

The audience at tonight's Einstein Simplified show probably did not know that I have two autographed Captain & Tennille records in my possession. In fact, they didn't originally mean for me to reference Tennille at all.

In a game called "Hitchhiker," I was playing a guy with a glandular problem who was trying to get to Newark. The suggestion shouted out from the audience was probably "pineal gland" but the words sounded garbled by the time they made it from the audience to the stage. When one of my Twitter pals in the crowd shouted "Tennille gland," that was all we needed to hear. I had to get another actor to guess Newark and Tennille gland without using any of those words.

I made reference to already having had my Daryl Dragon removed. I said that my problem was originally discovered at the Smoke House in Encino and that I was now trying to get to a "secrete" location. There were several Muskrat mentions and even a "por amor viviremos" thrown in for good measure.

write stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:14:00 +0000

Writing this blog is my hobby. It ties together most of my other varied interests and provides me with a stream of consciousness memoir that I can read in the future. I often look at old posts to remind myself of things I've done and places I've been. This past weekend, I read about my trip down Route 66 in Missouri because the Viva Cuba blog had linked to mine.

When I write a blog post, each hyperlink represents a tangent thought. I remember when Scott Mason at KROQ first explained the World Wide Web to me. I latched onto the concept because a page full of hyperlinks is a lot like the way my mind works.

Four and a half years ago, I started writing a daily blog on my website. I took the easy way out and used the overly simple Blogger.com software to create it. As I mentioned last month, Blogger is dropping the methodology I use to transfer my paragraphs from their site to my site each day. I have three and a half weeks to find a new way of doing things.

I decided to switch my blog to WordPress. While everything still looks the same to you, I am beta-testing WordPress behind the scenes. Starting today, I will write my posts in WordPress and then copy and paste them into Blogger. On or before March 26, you'll see my new WordPress site with a small collection of "older posts" dating back to March 1. The archives from 2005 until now will also be available. I don't know exactly how yet.

Yesterday, I spent a significant chunk of time chatting online with tech support from MyHosting.com. I think they are located in Canada, so I made sure to congratulate them on the Olympic hockey game, which was happening at the time. The guy from MyHosting was able to solve a problem the WordPress software had with the file permissions on my site. We're not done yet. There are still aspects of my WordPress template that I can't figure out how to modify.

Next week I plan to use a couple of my vacation days to tend to blog maintenance. Staying home and working on my computer may not be as glamorous as last year's Spring break in Florida but I am very much looking forward to it.

come along, kiddie-winkies

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:47:00 +0000

Before the Oscars each year, my wife and I try to see as many of the nominated films as we can. Some years we see a lot, some years hardly any. We haven't made it to very many this year. Of the best three movies I saw in 2009, only two were nominated for best picture. I liked "Up," "The Blind Side" and "Star Trek." I'm not the only person who thinks "Star Trek" was robbed of a nomination, especially since the category was unnecessarily inflated to ten films. I thought "Julie & Julia" and "District 9" were good but not better than "Star Trek."

Last Sunday, we went to see "The Lovely Bones." Supporting actor nominee Stanley Tucci was beyond creepy as the perverted serial killer. However the movie itself is not good. As I wrote on Twitter, it would have been better with a little less "Lovely" and a little more "Bones" or "CSI" for that matter. The CGI sequences of the girl stuck between heaven and earth drag on and make the movie seem way longer than it is.

We intended to go to the movies again today. We checked Fandango and found that the films we most wanted to see had already left the theaters. It occurred to us that it would be cheaper to stay home and check the On Demand menu for an HD movie. Although I get a discount on my Comcast subscription, new movies like "Inglourious Basterds" cost me $5.99, same as anybody else. It was worth it. We would have spent more than that at the concession stand alone.

I don't get why Christoph Waltz is nominated for best supporting actor instead of lead actor. His character, Hans Landa, is central to the entire movie. He is the connecting link between the multiple story lines and gets plenty of screen time. They must have thought he couldn't beat the best actor nominees, which is a shame. Landa reminded me of a scary character from my youth. His evil ways had some similarity to the Child Catcher in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

blog blah blah

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:07:00 +0000

The response to this year's blogger night at the Knoxville Symphony was somewhat less than last year. The free tickets were limited to active bloggers. Stephanie Burdette and I speculated that the decrease may have been due to the rising popularity of Twitter. As you can imagine, "tweeting" during a concert at the Tennessee Theatre would be disruptive. Stephanie tells me that plans are in the works for a "twymphony" concert at an outdoor venue.

Former Knoxville news anchor Stacy McCloud is active on Facebook and Twitter. She often posts updates about the celebrities she meets through her new job as the entertainment reporter at Fox 17 in Nashville. Recently Stacy and I have been corresponding about her desire to write more than 140 characters on certain topics. I advised her to go ahead and do it. She decided to start a personal blog for her non-work-related thoughts at www.simplystacy.com.

Jane Reed, a blogger in Cuba, Missouri, emailed me today. She had written an entry about the World's Largest Rocking Chair and included links to my post about the chair. I wonder if I can persuade her to link to my posts about Oreo pancakes and Cuba's murals.

taking action

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:00:00 +0000

At this month's meeting of the FBI Knoxville Citizens Academy Alumni Association, we voted to contact area middle schools and encourage the guidance counselors to instruct their students about the FBI-SOS Internet Challenge program. SOS stands for Safe Online Surfing.

In the program, kids learn how to be careful on the Internet by doing what they love, going online to find answers to scavenger hunt questions. Best of all the whole thing is free. Teachers and principals get started by following the instructions online. The site does not save the students' names, only the school administrators can match the child with their unique user name.

Each month, the school with the highest score in the country earns a trophy presented by the Special Agent in Charge of their local field office. Here's my question for you: Do you know any middle school employees or parents who would be willing to look at the FBI-SOS website and recommend it to their principal?

where there's a will

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:31:00 +0000

If Casey Kasem was around back in the heyday of classical music, and I'm not saying he wasn't, the orchestral pieces at the top of the pop chart would be my favorites. My tastes in the fine arts don't run very deep. I heard something I liked on WUOT the other day and wasn't the least bit surprised to discover that it was one of Beethoven's symphonies, I think they said it was the 4th. I also like stuff by Mozart and Tchaikovsky.

Tonight's performance by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra featured a couple of pieces that anybody would recognize, classical fan or not. The theme of the program was "Shakespeare in Love," with music inspired by the works of the bard. The KSO once again provided free tickets to bloggers willing to write about their experience at the show.

I was happy to see Einstein Simplified alumnus Todd Covert and his wife Donna in the audience. Todd will be guest-blogging for our mutual friend Jacene's site. Since Jacene missed tonight's show, my wife suggested that I invite her to come to the Knoxville Choral Society concert on Saturday.

A small group of sopranos and altos from the Choral Society sang during the second half of tonight's show. They provided the voice of the chorus during selections from Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." I had no idea until tonight that the opus includes the famous "Wedding March" we've all heard countless times. Four actors from the Clarence Brown Theatre performed some lines from Shakespeare's play while wearing different hats to represent the multiple characters they portrayed. Of the four, I was especially impressed and amused by David Kortemeier. He was clean-shaven in his publicity photo but had a beard on stage. My guess is that he grew it in preparation for his upcoming role as Don Quixote.

The best part of the concert came right before intermission. The orchestra played Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture." As promised by Maestro Lucas Richman, I could imagine both the swooning and the sword fights from the play. The program repeats Friday night at the historic Tennessee Theatre.

not everybody loves Raymond

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:56:00 +0000

If the parade police wanted to cut a parade short this year, they should be looking at the Tournament of Roses Parade, not the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Unfortunately for me, it's the New York Police Department, not the parade police, who are making the demand.

The New York Daily News gets it right by calling police commissioner Ray Kelly "a turkey." His edict to shorten all New York parade routes by 25% doesn't go into effect until after Kelly serves as grand marshal of the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

The Macy's parade is not the target of the cost-cutting move. My favorite parade is part of the collateral damage. With his five-hour time limit, Commissioner Kelly appears to be going after lengthy marches such as the West Indian American Day Parade and the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Thanksgiving is exactly nine months away. There's plenty of time to fix the mistake.

Maybe Commissioner Kelly can copy his predecessor Bill Bratton and move to California. He could help my second-favorite parade, the Rose Parade, by eliminating the equestrian units. The floats and marching bands are great but the people on horseback don't add much to the telecast. I realize that they are included as part of a 122-year old tradition. Maybe the horses could walk alongside a flower-covered float. Or better still, a team of horses could pull each float.

nock nock jokes

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:44:00 +0000

The voice cast alone would have been enough to get me to watch the new adult cartoon "Archer." The outrageous comedy material has me hooked on the new FX series. I was happy to learn tonight that the show has been renewed for a second season.

I have been a fan of Aisha Tyler since she first showed up as a guest on the old Comedy World Radio Network. A year later, she went on to success as the host of "Talk Soup." I spent a memorable night barhopping in the French Quarter with Aisha and three of her fellow Morning Show Boot Camp panelists. Aisha provides the voice of curvaceous spy Lana Kane.

Two cast members of the late, great "Arrested Development" are regulars on "Archer." Jessica Walter plays Archer's mother Malory and Judy Greer plays ~~Cheryl~~ Carol. Jeffrey Tambor turned up as a guest star in at least one episode.

Chris Parnell plays Cyril. My wife and I saw him sing a song about Ohio at The Groundlings before he was ever on "Saturday Night Live."

I was late coming to the "Archer" party. A short item on Twitter last Thursday inspired me to sample the show and I'm glad I did. A couple of times I have thought about recommending the series to my son but then an offensive joke comes along and reminds me of my parental responsibility. So, I will not be advising my son to catch up with the episodes on Fancast.com. Nor will I suggest that he watch the four-episode mini-marathon on Thursday night. He'll have to find the show on his own, without any help from me.

sweeping into the house

noreply@blogger.com (Frank Murphy) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:31:00 +0000

The two biggest complaints about the Olympic telecasts this past weekend were that many of the events were tape-delayed and that the USA vs. Canada hockey game, while live, was not in high-definition. Of the two, I think the non-HD offense is worse. There is no excuse for NBC to have relegated the popular match-up to a standard-def channel.

Admittedly, I am an HD snob. I filter my on-screen guide to list only the HD channels. As a result, I didn't even know the hockey game was on until I saw the complaints on Twitter about the SD broadcast. Today I watched all eight goals in eight minutes, in HD and found I enjoyed it. Sure it was delayed but I didn't mind. It was similar to NFL Replay, but faster.

The HD highlights were only a couple of button pushes away via the On Demand menu on my Comcast Digital Cable. Quick disclaimer: I pay for Comcast service but I get it at the employee rate because ten months ago I started doing testimonial spots for them on the radio.

The only curling I've seen is On Demand. When a bonspiel is boiled down to a minute, the sport actually makes sense to me.They seem to get points for wearing outrageous pants while putting their rock in the circle and hitting the other team's rock out of the circle. Does it deserve to be an Olympic sport? I don't know. It looks like an amusing backyard game, along the lines of croquet or bocce.

I have tried watching NBC's prime time Olympic coverage and have lost interest almost every night. The On Demand choices give me enough to satisfy my curiosity about events such as ski cross and also the opportunity to go back and see the events that people are talking about, such as the hockey game and last night's ice dancing. I like some of the short clip packages too. I just watched a one-minute collection of snowboard crashes.