Tag Archives: Television
TRUMPF Medical Systems Recalls Television Mounting System Due to Falling Hazard
The arm joints on the television mounting system do not have a washer at the top joint which can result in excessive wear of the stop pins on the arm. This can allow the arm system and items connected to the arm to fall and injure the user or bystanders.
US Consumer Product Safety Commission – Recent Recalls and Product Safety News
Country Music Television Embraces Marijuana
During the 2012 CMT Music Awards, Willie Nelson, a country music legend and well-known marijuana supporter, performed his song, “Roll Me up,” a marijuana ballad whose refrain is “roll me up and smoke me when I die,” a clear allusion to marijuana. Joining Mr. Nelson in singing verses of the popular song were some of country music’s best and brightest: Darius Rucker, Toby Keith, Zac Brown, and Jamey Johnson.
It is refreshing to see mainstream musicians that are thought to cater to a relatively conservative fan base singing in support of marijuana. More than that, by singing “Roll Me Up” in a venue that is seen by so many and considered family-friendly, these artists are removing the stigma from the marijuana discourse. They are not debating the use or legality of the drug; they are simply singing a song about marijuana, taking for granted that the subject matter is perfectly normal and acceptable.
The performance can be seen here:
While understated, this is a very important gesture for the artists, as well as CMT, in regard to how marijuana is viewed in the mainstream. Let’s hope that other artists, among all genres and mediums, will follow suit.
A Tale of Two Television Games
It’s certainly not easy to make a game based off a hit television
series; one has to only look back at properties like
The
X-Files, and
to find examples of fantastic shows that transitioned into video games
via bland and uninspired adaptations. And the less said about the
Improvement
SNES game featuring dinosaurs, the better. Observing this
sad trend makes it all the more surprising that Telltale
able to create a fantastic opening
to their downloadable series based on
Sadly the success that they had with the AMC hit caused an old wound to
open in the form of us thinking about the potential behind 2008′s
and how it failed in every aspect that
Dead succeeds.
Ubisoft Montreal released their
adaptation of the ambitious ABC series at the very end of
third season. As the season finale dramatically widened the scope of
the series, Lost: Via Domus attempted to retread over the first 60
episodes by placing fans in the shoes of a brand new character. What
followed was a bland, uninspired trod through the jungle without any
focus whatsoever. Characters from the show would randomly pop-up for
the sole purpose of having fans recognize them, and strange gameplay
mechanics were shoehorned for no apparent reason. In short, the game
was a bit of a mess. So why is it that Telltale was able to succeed
with The
Walking Dead where Ubisoft
failed with
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Understanding the Source
Material
TV 101: Trimming the Fat With Television
Have you heard? Americans are really fat. I know that’s a generalization, but seemingly everywhere I turn I’m hearing how fat we are as a nation — from educators, scientists, my mom, the full-length mirror in my bathroom. It was always easy for me to ignore the whispers of nationwide obesity, even as they turned into firm scolding then into outright screaming, but you know how I know it’s a concern of gargantuan proportions? It’s on TV.
How can you tell when an issue has turned from mild concern into full-blown epidemic? When you can’t turn on the telly without seeing a show on every channel. In this case, there are now roughly a thousand shows about fat people losing weight and getting healthy. The question becomes: is it a call to actually tone flabby arms and get healthy, or an exploitative endeavor to help our rotund masses reassure themselves that “even I wouldn’t eat that?”
The latest development in this trend will be premiering on ABC in a few weeks: ‘Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition‘. While it’s not simply fat people losing weight by running away from a hopped-up Ty Pennington, it is a show that will presumably be the kinder, gentler ‘The Biggest Loser,’ preferring to coddle and sympathize with its hefty contestants rather than humiliate them out of utter disgust. That’s my guess, anyway, and if it’s true I’ll take ‘The Biggest Loser’ every day of the week.
Therein lies the problem, I suppose. People tune into — nay, obsess over — a show like ‘The Biggest Loser’ for the “WOW” factor. “They were sooo fat, and now they’re not! What is that guy going to do with all that extra skin now,” they say. On the other hand, a show like ‘Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution‘ that tries to get to the root of our country’s obesity and change the way we approach food and fitness on a much more practical and fundamental level, has already been canceled. We don’t really want the answers, we want the freak show. “You can heal the symptom, but not affect the cause.”
The irony of addressing weight loss through a medium that tacitly promotes the exact opposite is not lost on me. But it’s a trend that isn’t at all uncommon. It’s a tribute to our collective laziness that we’re consistently searching for ways to exercise without exercising. This mentality has even been embraced by the video game industry, the young upstart to television’s fatheresque status as arbiter of lethargy. Wii Fit, XBox Kinect, and Playstation Move all offer lazier alternatives to “moving around and not eating like a raccoon at the dump.”
I do think that we are a nation of thunder-thighs and man-boobs — I’ve been to Disney World — and I fit more into that category than I fit into the “looks decent shirtless” category. We do need to get into better health, and who am I to criticize any of these shows if they have inspired even one person to change. It’s difficult sometimes to see through the “TV” of it all, and to get to a point where we can see the forest for the trees… but the trees are french fries with gravy.
Dr. Vaughan teaches English/media/humor courses at Binghamton University in upstate New York, and his milkshake is better than yours. You can also check out his blog or find him on Facebook.
BIA/Kelsey Reports Local Television Revenues Rose 23.2% to $19.4 Billion in 2010, Driven by Political Campaigns and National Advertising (PRN)
digital revenues projected to reach $ 890 million by 2015 CHANTILLY, Va., April 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — The local television industry experienced 23.2 percent growth in 2010 and achieved over-the-air revenues of $ 19.4 billion, according to this year’s
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