I only read the headline, so I assume that’s who McCain picked as his VP. I did not realize he was governor of Alaska.
Personally, I think if you’re going to go Alaska, you should go Full-Crazy-Alaska. Who wouldn’t love the entertainment value of Ted Stevens in the national spotlight? Republicans, I guess, but I don’t think they’re seeing the big picture.
They would have almost unlimited power over the tubes.
McCain-Stevens
"So Crazy, it Just Might Work"
Last Saturday, for the third year in a row, Laura and I went to Slay-A-Thon. This is basically a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon held at Dave & Busters. It is a fund raiser for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. We’ve gone each year to watch Buffy and support the cause, but mostly to watch Buffy.
People get pledges for how long they will watch. There is a silent as well as a live auction and a raffle. The auctions had some cool things, collectors items and unpainted figure models mostly. Things I liked, but wasn’t willing to pay $400 to own.
So, for our contribution Laura bought a $25 raffle ticket to win a fantastic model of the Magic Box. It is a 1/6 size replica of the central set of the post-high school years in Sunnydale. The detail is fantastic and I was impressed with it last year when they had, what I assumed was another one, but was in fact the same one, since last year’s winner didn’t pick it up.
Anywho, to make a long story short, (too late) when they called the winner he was me. Laura immediately regretted purchsing the ticket as this thing is 3.5 feetin long and about 18" tall (which is roughly the size of Stone Henge). I have no idea where we’re going to put it. It’s still in the box right now, but if we had a central window that over looked the street you can bet your sweet bippy it would be there for all to see.
I’ll put up more pictures once it unboxed and put on display, but for now, you’ll have to be satisfied with this picture, taken at the Slay-a-Thon with me holding the winning ticket.
Please enjoy this. It’s been running through my head all day long. I have no explanation.
Last Saturday something bordering on the miraculous happened. Laura sat down with me and watched a sporting event. It happened again last night, which means maybe we’ve turned a corner, but it’s more likely that these events are outliers.
What we watched on Saturday was Michael Phelps winning his 8th gold medal. Truly amazing. Of course we were not alone in our viewership. I know this because a.) duh and b.) NBC posted their ratings the next day. 31.1 million people tuned in to watch it, making it the highest rated Saturday evening event on NBC in over 18 years.
So, what was on in 1990 that made even more people tune in than watching someone do something that has never been done in the history of sports, and may never be done again?
Empty Nest
A sweeps month episode of the Richard Mulligan helmed Golden Girls spin-off.
By no means do I wish to undermine the quality of Empty Nest. Hell, it ran for 7 seasons and I remember watching it ad laughing. But what kind of a world do we live in, or did we live in, I can’t decide whether to be angry at us now or us then, where a once in a lifetime event draws 31.1 million viewers while that cold February night 31.4 million people tuned in to watch Empty Nest.
Who knows, maybe there was a big blizzard throughout much of the country on whatever date that episode aired, I’m far too lazy to find out, or maybe there was a big guest star, like Rue McClanahan in a rare Golden Girls crossover event, but regardless. How is it possible that more people didn’t tune in to watch Phelps?
We can take some comfort, I guess that he outdrew every episode of Empty Nest that aired after February, 1990, and that was a lot, as it was only season two at that point.
Anyway, congrats to Michael Phelps, and I guess to Kristy McNichol.
