MEDIA-RELATED STUFF

That commercial where the two guys compare the chicken sandwich to a car is stupid.

So cool Janet Parshall had Mighty John Marshall on her show yesterday.

Quite enjoyed Eric Metaxas' interview with Hannah Fei. It was radio!

SEVERAL MORE BLASTS FROM THE PAST

TV Ontario October 28, 2000 “Saturday Night At the Movies”, Shelagh Rogers interviewing someone about ghosts and apparitions. (TV audio recorded on cassette)

Unid. Station, commercials for a brand of beer whose name I couldn’t make out and The Crossways apartments.

CBC Radio Two Philly Markowitz hosting “Nightstream” with a varied and interesting playlist, also talking about a study showing animal fats are bad for you.

102.1 CFNY-FM Toronto from a holiday weekend Saturday in 1984, Dave Marsden playing music on an eighty hour holiday weekend for Karlsburg and the Hard Rock Café. Then into CFTR and Tom Rivers with “Indiana Seeds and the Temple of Prunes.” Then into 1050 CHUM, Mike Holland giving time of 12:20. Then back to CFTR and Tom Rivers backselling songs, giving weather forecast and talking about Michael Jackson “Victory” tour coming to Toronto. For “Rivers Call of the Day” played a clip from BBC Radio One of Noel Edmunds prank calling a woman who had just gotten a Mickey Mouse phone installed.

MEDIA-RELATED STUFF

Congratulations "Stuff Mom Never Told You." You revived your podcast, even though you had started running out of ideas long before you ended it the first time.

Picked up WRNO 7505 last week.

This morning on CFRB, the host played audio from a video of an outdoor gathering that was taking place in Indonesia when the tsunami hit. It was true theatre of the mind.

I like that Honda commercial where the guy gets his girlfriend a partridge in a pear tree.

I also like that Koodo commercial where the guy invents a cheese fountain.

At a party last night, some of the other guests, who were from Oshawa, really appreciated the mix of music on 95.5 Hits FM.

98.9 The Drive Kingston was coming in well a couple weeks ago, for several days in fact.

A FEW MORE BLASTS FROM THE PAST

CBC Radio One March 4, 2001 "The Sunday Edition", "Unsung Singers" feature profiling Bobby Darren and Michael Enright interviewing a woman who wrote a piece about being an atheist in George W. Bush's America.

CBC Radio One from sometime between January 18-20, 2002, Roger Abbott and Don Ferguson hosting "Wayne and Shuster Remembered" in the wake of Frank Shuster's death.

CBC Radio One March 22, 2009, "Fresh Air" including 8:30 newscast and Mary Ito interviewing gardening expert about green roofs.

[DOWNBEAT / TRIPHOP] OBSQURE AND SUZ - LAND OF THE FREE (SINGLE + VIDEO)

Land of the Free (A Perfect Place)” is the second single outtaken from “Crossroads”, the album written and composed by Suz, moniker of the bolognese singer and authoress Susanna La Polla De Giovanni together with Obsqure aka Youssef Labidi, Tunisian producer based in Doha, Qatar. This second excerpt from “Crossroads”, which will be released next November by Berlin label Springstoff and distributed in main digital stores, tells of a journey through the sea undertaken to escape danger and harm and to reach a safe place to find shelter, a perfect place where to start a new life.

The birth of the clip, directed by Carlotta Piccinini of Elenfant Film, has been long and troubled as it took almost two years to understand in which direction to go, but “good things come to those who wait” says a well-known English proverb, so a fortuitous timing resulted in the videoclip finally completed just when Mediterranea, the Italian civilian ship born with the intent to testify and denounce how the current policies of the European Union are causing the death of hundreds of people at sea, was presented to the press and was preparing to sail for the first time the Central Mediterranean Sea. For Susanna, Carlotta and Sara Prestianni, author of the evocative pictures featured in the video, it seemed an extraordinary occasion and the three, fully sharing all the principles that move the Mediterranean – Saving Humans project, strongly wanted this collaboration that was fortunately greatly welcomed by Mediterranea activists.

The video of “Land of the Free (A Perfect Place)” is a story realized through animated photographic images of a human journey in search of freedom. These pictures, animated by the talented Diego Sanna of Bloomik animation company, come from the archives of photographer Sara Prestianni and are part of her documentary research on contemporary world migrations. The director’s choice to erase the faces of people featuring in the video and their bodies reflects the cynical dehumanization process that strongly characterizes the approach of contemporary society towards the very act of migration. Today, those who emigrate are considered enemies, adversaries, a threat, for the inability to understand that behind the act of migration there are harrowing stories of men and women, behind the faces of which universal feelings are hidden. a humanity in which we can and must still try to recognize ourselves.

AH: Can't say I agree with the lyrics or the message behind this song and video, but it's still worth a listen because Suz has a beautiful voice and the instrumentation is wonderful!

Here is a link to the video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN280qO8M9E&fueid=144656&qid=126259

---

RADIO-RELATED STUFF

Picked up a ham calling CQ just now, callsign N4RXV.

Also picked up beginning of Voice of Vietnam's English broadcast.

Man, some of the bits on CBC Music "Drive" are old-not that I can remember exactly since I'm updating this after not having listened in a few months, but like, stuff from months or even I'd say a year and a half ago.

I do not at all agree with AM 740 re-running "Big Band Sunday Night." Hire someone new to replace George Jonescu.

Farewell, Harry Leslie Smith, though I would probably disagree with all your politics.

RADIO-RELATED STUFF

Glad I could be on WBZ with Marisa DeFranco Sunday October 28.

Glad I could be on WBZ with Bradley Jay this Sunday into Monday.

Man, Premier Radio was playing a wide variety of music on afternoon drive today.

RADIO-RELATED STUFF

Dani Guppy has left Mix 97 to become morning show co-host on 100.5 Fresh Radio Peterborough, which I'm telling you two and a half months after it happened because the trade never reported it. Also, if the clip of "The Morning Show" on Global Peterborough from which I got the information is anything to go by, it doesn't look like it's worth tuning into.

How can it be Late Night with Ryan Lalonde if it's at 8:00.

Enjoyed listening to Dom Geordano filling in for Jim Bohannon Wednesday night.

Cairo McDonell and Luke Foster are doing a good job on The Wolf.

Whatever happened to Ken Elsworth II "Dr. Patchbeard" on The Wolf.

CJMB Peterborough, you've got the most useless website I've ever come across. How many minutes of my life did I spend looking for your bloody schedule and I still can't find it anybloodywhere. Guess I won't bother listening or recommending, then.

Fresh Radio Kingston and Peterborough, you are also utterly useless for not having a schedule on your website. A something on both your houses.

GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM: THE GROWING BACKLASH AGAINST IMMIGRATION AND THE FATE OF WESTERN DEMOCRACY

By Sasha Polakow-Suransky. New York: Nation Books, 2017.

Introduction

I would like to preface this post by saying that most of the events talked about in this book and this post were actually perpetrated by international bankers and other financiers, most, if not all of whom are of a certain ethnic persuasion.

Polakow-Suransky (hereafter referred to as P-S because golly that’s a lot to type repeatedly) has kind of got a point. The purpose of the election of Trump and Doug Ford, as well as similar populist revolutions around the world is to foment chaos. We see this most prominently with President Trump and his supporters as they clash with Antifa at all these protests and rallies, and in the events of late October 2018. With all this chaos going on, the vast middle wil cry out for something to be done, which will give the United Nations, the military or some other body the excuse to move in, take control, diclair martial law, and turn that country into a police state, the next step being to eliminate national, democratic government altogether and divide the world into ten regions governed as the European Union is today.

Incidentally, here is the truth about Cristallnacht.

The Guests Who Overstayed

P-S tries to use the argument that the wave of mass immigration into Europe is due to the fact that all those countries once colonized the nations from which the immigrants are coming. Since only Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Portugal possessed a large number of colonies, however, this logic doesn’t work.

Daniel Estulon writes in his book “Transevolution” that it was the new world order’s plan all along to have these countries give up their colonies before those countries were ready to function independently.

Incidentally, here is an article which provides historical context and guidance to anti-Catholicism.

When Integration Fails

In order to preserve liberal democracy, it is going to be necessary to disallow certain people, as difficult as that is for leftists to understand. The lefts view of tolerance is self-defeating and self-refuting because there are people in the world who don’t tolerate and accept anyone else and thus, if you wish to have a liberal, democratic, tolerant society, you are going to have to bar certain people from your country.

As far as separate but equal is concerned, having learned from the policies of apartheid in South Africa and the Jim Crow laws in the United States, why don’t we bring those things back but, this time, implement those frameworks with sensible policies.

The Nativist Nanny State

The fact the persecution of Jews during World War II was a Zionist plot to boost support for the creation of the state of Israel notwithstanding, the difference about Jews who fled to Sweden from Denmark during the Second World War and the immigrants flooding into Europe today is those Jews had skills needed for the countries in which they arrived. I seriously wonder how many of these migrants, many of whom come from pre-industrial villages, have skills an industrialised, First World country would actually need.

As to the problem of unemployment in general, let’s establish colleges in Canada, America and European countries to train unemployed natives of those countries to do the jobs the immigrants are doing. Aditionally, let’s amend programs like ODSP, SSI and SSD to provide training for the disabled to do some of those jobs. Until we have all our people working, we have no right to bring in immigrants who don’t work in specialized fields whom we can’t supply workers for ourselves. In other words, unless you’ve got something we need or don’t have, don’t bother coming here.

Let us not also forget who is causing these crises that are causing so many people to flee their homelands in the first place. Read Victor Thorn’s book “9/11 Evil” to find out who really carried out the event that was the excuse for starting the protracted war in Afghanistan. Which other Middle Eastern country had a vested interest in getting the U.S. to attack Iraq? Those same people also benefited from the ongoing war in Syria.

The Danish Cartoons and the Limits of Free Speech

The media, controlled by a certain group of people, gets so incensed about the reaction to cartoons making fun of Mohammed. They poked the angry dog and it bit them. These same people make fun of Jesus and Christianity all the time, but can’t stand it whenever they’re made fun of or criticized in any way.

If Moslems can’t stand any legitimate criticism of their religion or their prophet, and if a certain other group has a holy book that says Jesus was so evil He had to be killed five times and that He is currently down in Hell boiling in hot excrement for eternity, then maybe both groups should be barred from Western civilization.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Europe’s Policy of Off-shoring

These migrants are not refugees as the nearest safe country to their own is much closer than Australia, Canada, the States, or Europe. If Malaysia, Pakistan, Cambodia, or Indonesia are harassing refugees and not allowing them to work, then why doesn’t P-S, along with these left-wing politicians, CBC journalists, and Hollywood liberals go over to those countries, protesting and lecturing their leadership and people about how they need to be tolerant, accepting and welcoming of innocent strangers fleeing persecution and coming to their safe country to better their lives.

Terror and Backlash

Read Andrew Carrington Hitchcock’s book “The Synagogue of Satan” to find out whose responsible for the radicalization of Moslems in the first place.

Nostalgia, Fear and the Front National’s Resurrection

According to the interview with Harold Wallace Rosenthal, most anti-Semitism has been perpetrated by Jewish people.

The Great Replacement

Libya had to be knocked over because Gaddafi had founded an African bank and was going to accept payment for oil in gold dinars, just like Sadam Husain wanted to accept payment for oil in Euros.

Freedom of Religion … For Some

Religious freedom only works provided all the religions involved are willing to let everyone else have religious freedom. Thus, it might be necessary to keep at least some, possibly many, Moslems out of Western countries.

Barbarians At the Gates

World War III will be fought between Christianity and Islam over Zionism.

The Rise of White Identity Politics

The difference between immigrants in the seventies and immigrants now is that, thanks to technology, they don’t have to assimilate. They can talk and text to those back home, watch the popular TV shows of their native land and listen to music from there as well.

Epilogue

OK, P-S spoke at the Open Society Foundation, which hints at a connection with George Soros. Read Soros article about why he’s investing half a billion dollars in migrants.

Apparently, people who were for Brexit are latent authoritarians, but an unelected government ruling an entire continent isn’t.

Also, I think P-S works for the Counsel on Foreign Relations.

SOME MORE BLASTS FROM THE PAST

1050 CHUM Toronto early 1979 with unknown anncr promoting CHUM window stickers.

102.1 CFNY Toronto, year unknown, with unknown anncr promoting counterfeit commercial contest, commercial for Morningstar.

1050 CHUM Toronto from late 1978 with unknown anncr promoting the top 100 of 1978.

1050 CHUM Toronto from 1978 with unknown anncr congratulating a Grace Lewis of Scarborough on winning a vacation of her choice.

RADIO-RELATED STUFF

Congratulations, Dan Carter, on becoming mayor of Oshawa.

Picked up WDCX Buffalo a couple Saturdays ago with "The Raw Truth."

Sorry to hear WPTR Albany is gone. I have heard a few airchecks from their top 40 era and I remember them being an adult standards station in the early or mid-2000s.

INTERESTING AUDIO

Have come across a few interesting audiotapes recently.

First, a dub of a French foreign language instruction record which I surmise was from the early 1960s. A comprehensive selection of French words and phrases. Mention of there being lunch counters in drugstores.

A tape recorded on February 6 and 7, 1998, of an elderly man sending an audio letter to his sister Olga. Seems like she lived in Trenton or at least somewhere in the Quinte area. Mention of the ice storm of 1998. Chatting about life in Costa Rica. Didn't really seem like he liked it down there. Recorded at his house and in the park near his house, featuring the voice of his friend John from Vancouver, as well as background sounds such as cars and a siren, the sound of children playing in an empty fountain and people speaking in Spanish.

Came across a tape dubbed from a compilation record of songs from the sixties. At the end of the first side, a recording off the TV of an excerpt of an episode of "Magnum, P.I." Also featured people talking in the background. Older woman saying, "There so close together it isn't funny." Audio very distorted. Was most likely a small tape recorder shoved up against the TV.

At the end of the second side, clearer but by no means high quality audio of what appeared to be a daytime talk show about interracial adoption with various people giving their opinions (all in the affirmative) and studio audience clapping.

And, last but certainly not least, a tape of wedding speeches from August 20, 1988. The wedding took place in Peterborough and was between Jack Elliott and Carol Myers-Fedoruk, who had been voted French teacher of the year. The tape was recorded for something called "The French Connection." The only French Connection that I could find is the newsletter of the French studies department of the University of Waterloo. The anncr plays the Marsailles, introduces the recording of the speeches and gives closing credits at the end. If this was meant to be a radio show the audio was certainly of poor quality, not something any PD should have let go out over the air. Yet, it almost appears like a tape a reporter would make so he would have notes of the speeches to work from afterwords.

Carol and Jack were both middle-aged, Jack being about 57 at the time, which I know from having found his obituary. Along with her husband, Carol was getting a set of children and a grandchild and Jack was getting a set of parents.

LANDS OF LOST BORDERS: OUT OF BOUNDS ON THE SILK ROAD

By Kate Harris. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2018.

Gripping and interesting from start to finish.

The author tells of her most interesting life in the first three chapters, then recounts the year she spent biking along the Silk Road with her friend. You don't need me to tell you this book is chalk full of memorable encounters and thought-provoking observations about Harris's travels and about life. You don't know whether to read this book all in one sitting or read a tiny bit every day.

Purchase it here.https://www.amazon.ca/Lands-Lost-Borders-Bounds-Silk/dp/0345816773

AMI GOES TO CAMP

Hosts from Canada's Accessible Media, Inc., travel to the CNIB's Lake Joseph Centre, a summer camp for the blind, visually impaired and their families.

I attended the spring sessions at Lake Joe from 1995-1997. This documentary brought back a lot of good memories, from tubing to fishing to sitting in the Muskoka chairs.

The documentary is also informative. I didn't know about the family camp or the WILD program.

It was also great to see how Lake Joe builds confidence and makes blind people more independent, an effect I remember it having on me, as well.

Things have also changed, though. The tuck shop was cash only when I went there; no Apple Pay to even be dreamed of. I also didn't remember the sailboats, and I don't remember any gymnastics routines or dancing at the talent show, though that's pretty cool.

Watch "AMI Goes to Camp" here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1sJgNfSpYI

THERESA'S FAMILY RESTAURANT

95 Matthew Street, Marmora, Ontario.

I ate there last week and it was a really good experience. The service was the best I've received in a long time and the place had a wonderful, small-town atmosphere, enhanced by quirky signs displayed throughout the place. I had the all-day breakfast, which was delicious and quite reasonably priced.

THANKSGIVING AROUND THE WORLD

You may think Thanksgiving is only a thing in Canada and the States, but throughout October and November, various nations will be celebrating the holiday. Here's a look at seven of them.

I, of course, knew Canada celebrated Thanksgiving, though I don't think I've ever heard of anyone taking their vacations at that time or witnessed a Thanksgiving parade.

IRON ROOSTER ROTISSERIE AND GRILL

104221 Hwy 7, Marmora, Ontario.

Went to this restaurant a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. The Iron Rooster has a wide variation in the items on their menu, such as offering a dozen different kinds of burgers. The waitress was friendly, courteous and efficient. I had the quarter chicken dinner which was really good. The atmosphere was also quite nice and laid-back.

Also be sure to check out the antique motorcycle museum.

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: THE OSAGE MURDERS AND THE BIRTH OF THE FBI

By David Grann. New York: Vintage Books, 2017.

Sometimes a book can be satisfying and predictable at the same time.

Grann tells the story of the murders of several members of the oil-rich Osage Indian tribe in the twenties and how the newly renamed Federal Bureau of Investigation solved several of them.

This book was a thoroughly good read. As well as telling an interesting, true story in the main, the book delves into many other fascinating details of history that took place before the main events of the book.

Though the reader can see the ending from a few chapters in, predictability does not take away from the informative enjoyment the reader will receive.

Purchase it here.https://www.amazon.ca/Killers-Flower-Moon-Osage-Murders-ebook/dp/B01CWZFBZ4

SPRINGBROOK DINER

4876 Stirling-Marmora Road, Springbrook, Ontario.

I ate at this restaurant a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I had the spaghetti special which came with cheese and garlic bread. The food was delicious and the service was excellent.

THE COP WHO PAID THE SPEEDING TICKET

A lot of unbelievers have a problem with the fact that God, while holding people accountable for their sins, is at the same time the one who provided salvation from sin, like a police officer who clocks you going over the speed limit and then pays your speeding ticket.

First, the reason why God allowed Adam and Eve, and subsequently the rest of humanity, to sin, that is, eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is a reason of freewill. Love that is forced is not love, so thus God had to give Adam and Eve the freedom to choose to love Him or not by placing that tree in the midst of the Garden of Eden. It is the same with us today and the sins we commit. God allows us to choose to sin or do what is right, to choose whether we will love Him or not.

The reason why God then had to punish Adam and Eve for committing the sin he gave them the freedom to commit is that real love doesn’t allow itself to be harmed. If you love someone, you’ll protect them and not want to see them get hurt by someone else. Similarly, if they are engaging in behavior that is hurtful to themselves or others, then love will come against that behavior. It’s the same with God. God doesn’t let Himself be blasphemed without consequences and He doesn’t let His creatures harm themselves, each other or Creation without consequences.

Third, the reason why God had to send His son (really Himself since Jesus and the Father are one according to John 17) to Earth to die for our sins is that a truly loving relationship will always include a way to repair damage to that relationship. If two friends have a fight, if one really loves the other one, they will make peace and reconcile with the other person.

Though in a very real sense God, being God, didn’t _have to send Jesus to Earth, He did it because He loves us and thus there needed to be a way provided for repairing the relationship between humans and God that sin had damaged.

COUGH AND COLD SEASON

Cold and flu season is upon us. While most people know they shouldn’t go to their doctor when they have a cough or cold and that antibiotics are no good at fighting the cold virus, I thought I would provide you with some natural remedies that might help get you and your kids right as rain a little quicker.

Here are some natural remedies for colds and flus.

And here is an article on treating ear infections in children.

WE'LL ALL BE BURNT IN OUR BEDS SOME NIGHT

By Joel Thomas Hynes. Toronto: Harper Collins, 2017.

Johnny, a young Newfoundland man with a criminal record and an absolutely horrific childhood is awaiting trial for assaulting his girlfriend. When she fails to show up for court due to having died of a drug overdose, Johnny is tasked with transporting her ashes to Vancouver in order to scatter them in the Pacific Ocean.

I downloaded this book from the website of the CNIB Library for the Blind. It was in the Humour section. However, it wasn’t funny at all.

Nevertheless, this was a novel I wanted to like. Johnny is a character I could have gotten into and Hynes does a really good job at giving the reader a sense of place.

However, I ended up disliking this book for so many reasons.

First of all, the time period it is set in is unclear. Johnny can remember the cod moratorium in 1992 when he was a child but he says he remembers listening to “Sex With Sue” on the radio, which I would have to assume meant Sue Johansen, who was on AM 640 for a brief period in the mid-nineties, when he was sixteen and evading police in an  old shack.

Second, at one point, after being seriously injured by a group of teenage girls in some prairie town, Johnny walks out of the hospital, hot-wires a car and drives to Grand Forks, BC, something someone in his condition would never have been able to pull off.

Third, realistically, nobody is going to pick up a dirty, smelly, battered young hitchhiker, especially not one with two teardrops tattooed on his face.

Fourth, Johnny can’t at all stop being a complete jerk ruled by his impulses. He robs a store the day he picks up his girlfriend’s ashes (just after getting off on an assault charge) and in general never quite grasps he should make a serious effort at starting anew.

Fifth, nobody along the way truly tries to reach Johnny. We learn about Johnny’s past mainly through his thoughts. Nobody along his route ever actually is able to take any real pity on him and encourage him with that new start he so desperately needs to make.

Sixth, of course Johnny dies at the end. (Yes, I just unexpectedly spoiled the ending. Deal with it.) No trying to work things out or make things right. No actually making it to Vancouver with the urn intact, scattering the ashes and getting a pleasant surprise that would have gladdened the reader and helped Johnny turn his life around.

All in all, don’t waste your time on this book, especially since CBC is promoting it so heavily.

CBC SPACE COMMAND 1953

Here’s the only existing episode of obscure CBC children’s show “Space Command”, from 1953 and featuring Mr. Scot himself, James Doohan.

CBC IS TOTALLY UNNECESARY

CBC Radio, in fact, hasn’t been necessary since the passage of the Broadcasting Act in 1964. Originally set up to prevent the Americans from buying up all the Canadian radio stations and taking over the airwaves, the Broadcasting Act insures a foreign company can not own more than 29 percent of a radio station, thus rendering CBC Radio’s mission obsolete.

I guess you could argue that back in 1952, when Canada was a nation of 10 million people spread over its vast land area, the government had to be the one to set up our first television network. After all, what private company would invest the huge amount of money it would take to get this scattered, and largely remote and rural at that time, population hooked up with the boob tube?

For one thing, however, CBC Television never truly has been Canada’s national TV network. It wasn’t available in Vancouver till 1958, and it wasn’t available in the north, at least as far as showing live and local programming, until 1979, when cable had started coming in to many homes down south and satelite television was not far in the future.

As far as promotion of obscure and Canadian music, campus and community stations do that at a fraction of the cost of CBC Music.

As far as comedy, we now have The Comedy Network, with “The Beaverton” doing political satire, which CBC hardly does anymore anyway.

As far as sports, we now have TSN, Sportsnet and a bunch of other channels focused on specific sports.

As far as news, CBC has become so biased their news coverage is even more of a joke than it used to be now anyway.

Defund! Right now!

ANOTHER BLAST FROM THE PAST

Came across a videotape of the film “Midway” as broadcast by CBS over its Rochester, New York affiliate WROC-TV on June 6, 1992.

Promos included next Saturday’s film “Born on the 4^th of July”, “Northern Exposure”, “Lonesome Dove”, “60 Minutes”, “Maury Povich”, “Grapevine”, “The Hollywood Game”, “Raven”, “Bodies of Evidence”, The McDonald’s Championship golf tournament, men’s lacrosse and track and field, and a tribute to “Guiding Light.”

Commercials included Hanes, Wisk laundry detergent, Crest toothpaste, the Aquafresh toothbrush, Max Factor, Pantene Pro-V, Vibrance, Pledge, FDS feminine deodorant spray, the Playtex 18 hour bra, McDonald’s pizza, Little Caesar’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-wheats, Country Time, Maxwell House Cappuccino, Molson Canadian, Jeep, AT&T, Sprint featuring Candice Bergen, Kingsford charcoal, and Kardasin DC.

News teasers for the 11:00 news with Jerry Fiore included a Rochester man being stabbed to death, a one percent increase in the sales tax and sports items.

It must have been taped by someone who received TV by antenna because the broadcast got completely blurry and unintelligible at some points.

A FASCINATING VIDEOTAPE

Came across an interesting videotape of a country music festival that was a fundraiser for IWK, a hospital for women and children in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I am guessing by one of the songs they played the tape is from the summer of 1998. It mainly features the now defunct Maritime Express. It also includes the head of the festival’s closing remarks. At one point, the band brought onstage a seven year old spoons player named Cody.

Interesting bits of conversation, people talking about whether the camera angle was right, a wife offering to go and get her husband coffee, kids talking about having money for the canteen, people making comments about the music.

The festival took place in Sackville, New Brunswick with mentions of Amherst, Nova Scotia, where some of the musicians were from.

MEDIA-RELATED STUFF

    Yes, CBS 3 Philadelphia, having a paleontologist from the Philadelphia Zoo on your morning show talking about your soccer team’s mascot as if it’s a real dinosaur is totally appropriate and professional. Is it any wonder why the mainstream media is dying?

Broadcast Dialogue forgot to mention that new 95.5 FM Belleville afternoon drive host Emily Quesnelle was also previously an anncr on Cool 100 and 95.5.

Why should Golden West Broadcasting and CJNU Winnepeg have to apologize for airing a spot that talked about residential school myths? There are myths surrounding Canada’s residential schools. See my post “The Secret Life of Canada Sucks” for links containing more information about that.

My paraphrase of new CBC president Catherine Tait’s interview on “The Early Edition”: “We still have a lot of listeners and viewers for CBC Radio and Television, but they’re all older so in order to attract the younger demographic we’re going to shift everything online or over the top. We’re going to launch Gem, buy up the Canadian content from NetFlicks, CraveTV and such and become the only OTT service where you can see Canadian programming. We’re also going to eliminate commercial advertising because we won’t need it since we’ll be raising money through subscription fees to Gem and taxpayer dollars. Also, we need to develop more programming for kids and other groups of young people so we’ll be getting rid of the few programs for older people we haven’t done away with already.”

Picked up WDCX the other week, one day with “Haven Today” and the next day with “Walk in the Word.”

So Alana Cameron is now on the Mix 97 morning show after years at The Wolf followed by a stint reading news on the weekend for Quinte Broadcasting.

Is it just me, or does Donna Halper get more and more annoying each time she’s on the radio?

Picked up 1630 KCJJ last night.

CKLW was coming in really well last night.

REFLECTIONS ON A HAS-BEEN

With the current flap over his essay in the New York Review of Books, here's a piece that perfectly sums up the Jian Ghomeshi situation.

Though the link to the rest of the column is broken, the comments make the point, which still stands today two years after the trial, well enough.

By the way, it doesn't matter that he wasn't convicted back in 2016. Ghomeshi had a long-standing reputation for doing what he did, and Ghomeshi hired a hot-shot lawyer who got him off.

BRUCE RONEY, VE3BER IS DEAD

Just found out that Bruce Roney, whom I knew of through his narration of audiobooks for CNIB, died about a year ago at the age of 79.

I remember his reading of World War II history books and magazine articles in particular.

Here is his obituary which, as it says in the link, originally appeared in the Toronto star.

Farewell, Bruce. Your authoritative type of voice is getting rarer and rarer.

BEFORE MR. DRESSUP HAD HIS OWN SHOW

he was on another CBC show called "Butternut Square" which ran from 1964-1967.

Here's a promo for that show, voiced by future Hollywood producer Alan Hamel. Love the local ID and time-check in this.

OLD CTV AND CBC PROMOS

Here are a couple cool videos I came across recently.

First, fifteen minutes worth of CTV promos which the title says are from 1978 but which from reading the comments I suspect are actually from 1973, so even better.

Also, here are some CBC promos from a commercial break in 1978.

THE FRIENDLY GIANT ON AMERICAN TV

Before beginning his long-running CBC children's show, Robert Homme was entertaining children in the same comforting, soothing style on Wisconsin Public Television, starting in 1953. Here are two episodes of the American version of "The Friendly Giant", first with Homme reading Marjorie Flack's "Wait for William" and the second with the big guy reading "The Sad-eyed Clown."

It's interesting to note the differences between the CBC version and this one. First of all, I like the upbeat version of "Early One Morning" used in the opening better than the almost dirge of the recorder theme used on CBC, here heard appropriately only at the end.

Also, it would appear Homme does the voices of Rusty and Gerome. I like the fact he hired Rod Coneybeare to do the voices when he took the show north.

YOU MIGHT REMEMBER ME: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PHIL HARTMAN

By Mike Thomas. New York: Macmillan, 2014.

They say we should never meet our heroes and we should never read about them, either.

This book is a thorough, in-depth, well-researched biography of comedian and fellow canuk Phil Hartman, taking us through Hartman's childhood, to his early career, to his time with The Groundlings and "Saturday Night Live", and trying to present a faithful, factual reconstruction of the day of Hartman's death. The book even devotes a fair amount of time to the man's legacy and those left behind.

However, this book does make one sit up and take notice of something. I was a great admirer of Phil Hartman growing up, and was really distraught that day after I'd learned of his death. Looking back, though, the book is right: Phil Hartman lacked depth. While Hartman's still funny, when you look at other comic actors and comedians, you realize they bring so much more to their roles than Hartman did, making them a lot funnier than him.

I think, due to his childhood, Hartman didn't know how to be plain old Phil. He always had to be PHIL HARTMAN and couldn't relate to people. That's why, as I think about the roles I've seen him in, I realize they were all Phil Hartman doing his thing and not creations come to life onscreen.

Purchase this book here.https://www.amazon.com/You-Might-Remember-Me-Hartman/dp/1250070309

SPRINGFIELD CONFIDENTIAL: JOKES, SECRETS AND OUTRIGHT LIES FROM A LIFETIME WRITING FOR THE SIMPSONS

By Mike Reiss and Mathew Clikstein. New York: Harper Collins, 2018.

Informative but desperate at the same time.

Simpsons writer and one-time show-runner Mike Reiss tells us the history, inner workings and his personal history with the show, as well as providing us with his autobiography and talking about the side projects he's been involved with, such as writing children's books.

Though the book is funny, interesting, informative, and helpful for the aspiring comedy writer, Reiss's (and probably someone else's higher up?) attempt to justify "The Simpsons'" continued production approaches being painful to read, or listen to in my case since i listened to the audiobook, which Reiss does an excellent job at narrating.

The fact is, "The Simpsons" is long past due for cancellation. I quit watching the show ten years ago in the period after the Hollywood writers strike because it was just the same old jokes. From what I hear, it's only gotten worse. Some people say the later seasons would still make a fairly decent sitcom, but that's faint praise indeed for a show that changed the face of television and influenced society to an unbelievable degree.

Even as far back as season 9 one could see it coming. Principal Skinner is no longer the perfect authority-loving mama's boy but some hood from the mean streets of Capital City. Barney is no longer a drunk but a guy who drinks coffee. Lisa is no longer the one who'll escape Springfield but more and more a typical tween, concerned about whether she's fat and watching "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody."

The fact the show has to create controversy such as Homer and Marge getting a divorce, Harry Shearer deciding to leave and then not leaving and of course the latest flap over the character of Apu (the only decent male character on the show) demonstrates how terrible and unpopular it's become.

Also, Reiss's attempt to refute "The Simpsons" use of predictive programming, such as telling us 9/11 was going to happen and predicting Donald Trump would be president is pathetic. Those who control things are a small tribe of people and they planned those aforementioned events years in advance. I don't for a second think they'd hesitate to taunt us with hidden hints of what was coming in a program as popular as "The Simpsons."

All in all, Matt, Mike and crew, please cancel this show before you embarrass yourselves even further, if that's indeed possible.

Purchase this book here.https://www.amazon.com/Springfield-Confidential-Outright-Lifetime-Simpsons/dp/0062748033

SITCOM: A HISTORY IN 24 EPISODES FROM I LOVE LUCY TO COMMUNITY

By Saul Austerlitz. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2014.

The most pleasurably addictive book I've read in a while.

Austerlitz uses 24 specific sitcom episodes to trace the history of the TV situation comedy from the one show in the book's title to the other show in the books title, using the specific episode as a jumping off point to talk about the sitcom of which the episode is a part, as well as similar shows both of that particular program's era and across different television eras.

. This book is interesting, informative, thought-provoking, rant-provoking, and fun to read.

I highly recommend picking up a copy and will provide the usual link at the end of this post, but first, I would like to do something a little different. On this blog, I usually either do straight book reviews or I do sort of commentary posts on certain books. In this post, I would like to combine the two and express some of the thoughts and reproduce some of the rants this book has provoked in me.

The Honeymooners, (Better Living Through TV): Since I couldn't find "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" or "Beaver Gets 'spelled" on YouTube, I will use this episode of the Jackie Gleason sitcom to talk about fifties sitcoms in general and especially family sitcoms.

From watching "Better Living Through TV", it is clear why so much television is formulaic. In an era when shows weren't re-run (at least not as much) and there was no way of home recording anything or distributing recordings of your show to the public, the public needed to see variations on the same theme week after week. If you told your buddy at work about "The Honeymooners" or "Leave It to Beaver" and they'd never seen the show, they would expect to tune in and see the basic thing you'd told them about. Television couldn't be as experimental, playing with form and having wildly different plots week after week.

Though I don't think I've ever seen the first episode of "Leave It to Beaver" and, as I said above, couldn't find it on YouTube, I have seen many episodes of that show thanks to it airing at noon on CKWS and CHEX-TV when I was growing up, and on CKVR-TV Barrie so I could watch it when I was visiting my grandmother in Toronto. Therefore, I get what the book says about it being a parody.

When I hear people in Christian culture prattle on about returning to the time when "Leave It to Beaver" ruled the airwaves and Father knew best, I wonder if these people have ever actually watched these shows. "Beaver (that sounds horribly pretentious, I know, but I'm rapidly becoming fed up with writing the title out in full) is, as I just said, clearly a parody of itself. Try frying bacon in crinoline if you doubt that. Also, as if a man would wear his tie at the dinner table.

One reason the world of "Beaver" is so innocent and sanitized is because it's from Theodore Cleaver's perspective. When you're a child, your house is always warm and the television and other electrical appliances always work and water always comes out of the tap. You don't realize the struggles your parents go through. You don't see your mother napping on the couch during the day because she's tired.

Second, "Beaver" and similar shows were, as the book says, what people wished society to be, not the way it actually was, although, granted, society was probably more like "Beaver" than it is now.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show, (Chuckles the Clown Bites the Dust): Since "The Dick Van Dike Show" is in a somewhat similar vein as other sitcoms of the era and since I couldn't find "St. Gilligan and the Dragon" on YouTube, we are now up to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

Though Moore herself was not a second wave feminist, the show helped set up the future's of many unhappy second or third (2.5?) wave feminists today. Contrary to Mary Richards' speech in the last episode (which I haven't actually seen), a family is not whatever you want it to be, your work colleagues or your friends or neighbours or whatever. For one thing, statistically speaking, a child needs a mother and a father in the home, in addition to, ideally, lots of extended family close by.

Second, unlike a family, workplaces, especially today, are more transitory. People leave to start their own businesses or to go back to school or start a family or whatever, and you might never hear from them again.

The results are that we now have a whole bunch of bitter old feminist women who have only their cats to come home to because they've bought into Mary Richards' great lie.

All In the Family, (The First and Last Supper): I saw most episodes of "All In the Family", including this one, when it ran on Canadian specialty channel Prime in the early 2000s. Incidentally, I believe Prime is now called Travel + Escape.

Anyway, even when I first started watching "All In the Family" I looked at it as a relic. In fact, as the book says, the show became irrelevant even while it was still on the air. Definitely by the time it ended in 1979, the troops had left Vietnam, Nixon had resigned, and whatever "racist" attitudes Americans had had toward blacks, Hispanics, Polish, and other peoples had somewhat dissipated, and the fact they ostensibly kept "All In the Family" going with "Archie Bunkers' Place" is even more pathetic.

I would like to take this opportunity to further state that liberals (in the American sense of the word, not meaning the Liberal Party of Canada, although this statement applies to a lot of them, too, especially our current Prime Minister) are the Archie Bunkers of the twenty-first century: everything around them has changed but they haven't.

For example, take the issue of abortion. Though liberals frequently try to paint it this way, it is no longer (like on Degrassi High) the teenage girl who gets knocked up at summer camp by a boy who said he'd love her forever but from whom she only received two letters and then nothing after October. Most women who get abortions are married and in their thirties.

Similarly, homosexuality is no longer two guys who live together and like arranging flowers. It's nearly naked people parading down the street on a summer weekend throwing condoms.

In the same way, transgenderism is no longer Beverly Lasalle, a guy who dresses in women's clothing and gets murdered, as Edith says, "because he's different." It's grown men who think (or at least claim to) they're really six year old girls and want to play in the sandbox with your kids.

M*A*S*H., (Yankee Doodle Doctor): I saw most episodes of this show when it ran on Prime in the late nineties/early 2000s, too, as well as on CBS afiliate WWNY Watertown, New York when at home and on CKVR Barrie at my grandmother's.

The show definitely took a downturn when Hawkeye stopped drinking and womanizing. In real life, that wouldn't have happened. When you spend most of your time facing the horrors of war and being concerned about whether you yourself will become a patient of the 4077, you don't really have time for introspection. Eventually, Hawkeye would have probably cracked up and not even Sidney Freeman would have been able to do much of anything. Captain Pierce was just too idealistic and sensitive to have survived the Korean War for very long.

Taxi (Latka The Playboy): TNN ran "Taxi" for a brief period one summer in the nineties. I also remember it being on WUHF-TV, the Fox afiliate in Rochester, New York for a brief time around the turn of the millennium, as well as being on Prime in about the mid-2000s, though I really didn't watch "Taxi" then. I watched the episode in question on YouTube.

This is a good episode which showcases the talent and versatility of Andy Kaufman and how great the interaction of Alex and Latka was. Robin Kline, the actress who plays the girl Latka fancies in this episode, was also quite talented.

Cheers (Strange Bedfellows 2): Now we are up to shows whose original run I can remember, if only vaguely for "Cheers" and the next program up for discussion. I also remember "Cheers" reruns being on many stations during and for the first few years after its original run. I watched this episode on YouTube, however.

When I watched "Strange Bedfellows 2", I realized I'd forgotten how bloody great "Cheers" was. There are a diverse group of characters and all types, from what I here anyway, you'd expect to find in Boston. There are also loads of funny lines and sight gags, which, being blind, I only learned about from reading the book.

Most importantly, however, everyone on the show gets lots of funny material. "Cheers" wasn't like a lot of sitcoms where many of the actors exist mainly as straight men to set up the funny character, usually the star.

What's also crucial is that Cheers the establishment isn't relied on for jokes, the show relying on the characters and situations for them instead. In other hands, "Cheers" could have been like Duffy's Tavern, a run down dive bar which would have been a punchline in itself, and even though "Duffy's Tavern" was a funny show, I'm glad the creators of "Cheers" decided not to go that route.

The Cosby Show (Pilot): I remember this show vaguely being on the air originally and I remember reruns on many stations, as well. I remember this episode from when Vision TV started rerunning "The Cosby Show" in the fall season of 1998.

I would like to take the opportunity the inclusion of this show affords to talk about something I've noticed but I can't seem to find anyone else on the internet has noticed. There are a lot of so-called family-friendly television shows whose messages are actually more destructive than shows where characters are swearing their heads off, chopping each other's heads off or jumping in and out of bed with each other.

For example, just look at the main premise of "The Cosby Show" that Cosby pitched to NBC in 1984: "There's a war on between parents and kids." (If I didn't get that quote exactly right, it's in the book.) Parents and children are at war? Really! I thought being a family was supposed to be about loving one another and being subject one to another as the Bible says in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Apparently, however, Mr. Bill (TNB) Cosby seems to think it's about figuratively wrestling with your kids over time, money and resources.

Cosby as Cliff Huxtable is apparently as manipulative a father as he was as an alleged rapist. I would not, if I caught my kid drinking, force her to play a drinking game with me. In fact, I would probably approach alcohol in a totally different way, allowing my teenager to consume small amounts on my property under my supervision. That way, they would be less likely to drink behind my back or to go to parties or bars with their friends where they could have something slipped in their drinks, probably by someone who works for Bill Cosby or someone like him.

To return to the episode in question for a further example of what I'm talking about, what's wrong with being "regular people." Congratulations, Bill (the Manipulative Alleged Rapist) Cosby, you've just told a whole bunch of young people in your audience who aren't cut out for university and grad school that they will have an utterly horrible life with nothing to show at the end of the month. (On the other hand, if they don't go to university there's less of a chance young female fans of the Cosby show will be allegedly raped by you so there's actually a distinct advantage there to being "regular people.")

A similar "family-friendly" show with a dangerous message is the original series of "Full House." DJ, Stephanie and Michelle are the most selfish, ingrateful, neediest children in the world. In real life, kids, people are not going to put their lives on hold to move in with you for eight years. If they have a number one hit in Japan, they aren't likely to cut the tour short because they miss you three brats so goshdarn much. And, kids, their spouses really aren't going to be inclined to move in with you and live in your attic, to say nothing of raising their children up there as if your relatives live in a V.C. Andrews novel or something.

I would also like to take "The Cosby Show" as an opportunity to give my opinion about black people in sitcoms.

The best black sitcom was "Amos & Andy." Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll's creations lived in a truly post-racial world. Blackness versus whiteness never came up, and the characters were (except for Kingfish of course) decent, hardworking people who lived in nice neighbourhoods and didn't expect the white man, aka the welfare system, to take care of them for the rest of their lives.

However, every other black sitcom has, to some degree or another, been the black man against the white man, meaning, in this case, simply the white man and not the welfare system. "Good Times", "The Jeffersons" and "Sanford and Son" are notable examples of this. From what I've heard, "What's Happenin" is just some black teenagers getting into trouble all the time and begging the sister of one of them "Don't tell Mama." "Different Strokes" is the white man taking care of the black people (again) and "The Fresh Prince" is basically the tention between Will's traditional world of "West Philadelphia" and his aunt and uncle's family in Bel-Air. In real life, Will's friends would have referred to the Banks' as Uncle Tom's or houseniggers.

Even "Family Matters" delved into racial issues a bit, and "The Cosby Show" did the same thing. It is worth noting that, on a Christmas episode of "The Cosby Show", Cliff Huxtable got into a discussion with a child about whether or not Santa Clause is white. On the other hand, the Christmas episode of "Amos & Andy" featured Amos explaining to his daughter the meaning of the Lord's Prayer.

Hence, take note, TV producers. All you have to do to get truly equal representation of minorities (especially blacks) on television is to catch up to a program that was doing it on the radio probably as early as 1925.

Roseanne (Terms of Estrangement, Part 1): "Roseanne" was also in it's original run and re-run a lot on many different stations so I saw the majority of episodes, including this one, when I was a kid.

I definitely agree with the book that the show went off the rails in the last two seasons.

I also agree with the book that it was the best of the sitcoms of its kind at the time. "Married ... With Children" had lots of funny lines and hilarious situations, but, as Austerlitz says, it had no nuance. Al was the most down-trodden, pathetic blue collar worker in the world. Peg was the laziest housewife in the world. Bud was the most borderline juvenile delinquent and later most sexually frustrated teenager in the world. Kelly was the biggest teen slut in the world.

As well, if the writers meant some of the jokes about Peg's poor home economist skills and Al's lack of earning power to be true, then literally how did the family survive?

I do disagree, however, with the book where "Home Improvement" is concerned. The Taylors are not blue collar. Tim hosted a TV show and in the first episode told Jill "I make enough money for both of us." Jill was a magazine editor who later became a college professor. Not exactly the same socioeconomic strata as throwing steel.

As with the star of the previous show, Roseanne would also meet her downfall, albeit after a one season revival of her eponymous program. Unlike her country's president, her undoing would come about because of a single tweet.

The Simpsons (22 Short Films About Springfield): I remember this episode from the night it aired.

The neighbour's children first introduced me to "The Simpsons." We were close friends and they would come over Thursdays (the day of the week on which the show aired until 1993) to watch it because their Dad wouldn't let them watch "Bart Simpson" as they referred to the show. I would watch it with them, but since I didn't hang around a lot of other kids as a child, I bought into what the adults were saying that it was a horrible, immoral show and would be a bad influence on me.

My sister continued to enjoy the show, however, and one day, while visiting my grandmother, I decided to watch a rerun of it with her on CBC. From then on, I was hooked. It's like my uncle said: "People don't get the point of The Simpsons. It's a lampoon."

Although the real point of Homer and the other residents of Springfield is Jewish Hollywood getting the white man to laugh at the downfall of his society and his supposed idiocy, on a lower level "The Simpsons" is (or was for the first eight or twelve years at least) as groundbreaking, creative and all-round wonderful as everybody says.

I will say more about "The Simpsons" when I review Mike Reiss's "Springfield Confidential."

The Larry Sanders Show (The Mr. Sharon Stone Show): I remember hearing "The Larry Sanders Show" mentioned as a kid, but I only saw my first episode on YouTube this morning as I got to the chapter discussing it in the book. Our cable company didn't provide the Canadian channel on which it was broadcast.

It's a good show. Would I watch the episode under discussion again? No, but I'm glad I watched.

Larry Sanders is a well-drawn character. I don't know if the word depth is appropriate when talking about Larry Sanders, but the fictional talk show host possesses just the right amounts of self-absorption and insecurity that make him so watchable.

Of course, the idea of a TV show about a fictional talk show host featuring bits of the show either being taped or broadcast on the actual show is inventive, and the other characters are well thought out, too. Jewish Hollywood telling us how self-centred, amoral and scheming the place where so many people get their values actually is.

Friends (The One With the Embryos): I think I can actually remember the day "Friends" premiered. I watched it a bit in its first couple seasons, and was forced to watch reruns at the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind where I went from grades 9-12. I remember the show being extended by ten minutes in order to compete with the newly-launched "Survivor" on CBS. I also remember NBC's countdown to the finale in 2004, which I tuned into. Wasn't actually a big fan of the show, though.

I watched "The One With the Embryos" this morning on Daily Motion. My biggest take away from the episode is boy, those six people liked to flash their money and possessions around. "I'll bet you ten dollars, 100 dollars, 150 dollars, 300 dollars, our luxury apartment." I hate people like that.

Also, I remember once on "Degrassi High" the class was having a debate about abortion and in response to a pro-life comment, a pro-abortion girl responded, "So women are just baby factories?" I guess when it comes to a woman not killing her unborn baby women are baby factories, but when it comes to surrogacy, being a baby factory is a wonderful thing.

As well, what realistic apartment building would have a West Village apartment across the hall from a suite that looks like a dorm room? Units in apartment buildings generally tend to be uniform.

Also, I'm pretty sure you can't just trade apartments. You'd probably have to clear it with the landlord or something, and even back then, it probably involved a lot of paperwork.

Freaks and Geeks (Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers): I remember the promos for this show, which featured a laugh track, by the way. I never tuned into it at the time.

I saw "Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers" this morning on Vimeo and will join the chorus of everyone asking, "Why the heck did they cancel this?" Freaks and Geeks has just the right mix of comedy and drama. It also has great pop culture references appropriate to the era in which it is set, as well as sneaking in a pop culture reference for the time in which the show aired, namely "The Magic School Bus." It also has a wonderful soundtrack, which at the end of the episode in question serves as a joke in itself. (The Who vs. Seals and Crofts.)

On another level, though, the obsession this show (and the other show from its creators, "Undeclared) has with cliques is kind of disturbing. Why not be an individual? Why can't Bill like sports as well as sketch comedy and "Dallas?"

The Office (Casino Night): I watched the premier of this show back in 2005. Being a British comedy fan, I eagerly anticipated the American version of this show.

I watched it with my college roommate at first, then at home after I moved back their. My roommate, his friends and I were all pulling for this show because we thought for sure it was going to be one of those American sitcoms that's cerebral, well-done and gets cancelled after a few episodes because the audience doesn't get it. I'm glad the show proved me wrong and went on to run for a successful nine seasons.

I remember watching "Casino Night" the night it aired. I watched "The Office", seeing most episodes of the first two or three seasons. Subsequently, however, I missed several episodes and thus, due to the serialized plot, never bothered to tune in again.

Community (Modern Warfare): I heard about this show when it aired but never tuned in.

I watched this episode last night on Daily Motion. It was good, but fairly unsettling at the same time.

This is one entry where I agree exactly with the book. With "Community" we are seeing the sitcom, which at one time showed at least some version of the reality of the average person, "turning the mirror on itself" and being all about pop culture references, held together with bedroom and bathroom humour of course.

We saw this on the other shows of the decade as well. Michael Scott of "The Office" thinks HBO shows are mostly based in reality, thinks he can do improv because he's watched "Whose Line Is it Anyway" and, for him, the highlight of the novel experience of being on a boat is to re-enact the "I'm king of the world" scene from "Titanic."

Now with "Community", we see this pop culture autism come to a head.

As Daniel Estulon points out in his 2013 book, "Transevolution", this autism is what the new world order strives for. Though it has advanced through the medium of television, including the sitcom format, this global autism won't be completed with legacy media. Instead, virtual reality and artificial intelligence will be the keys.

Television and smart technology have already done a lot to destroy people's social skills, but virtual reality will complete that destruction. A group of people will physically gather for lunch at a restaurant, let's say in small-town Ontario, although thanks to Agenda 2030 there won't be any small towns left. Three people will be sitting at the table, but person A will be eating their spaghetti at a villa in Tuscany (apologies to the people of Tuscany if spaghetti is not native to that region of Italy), person B will be eating their club sandwich in a thirties diner in Los Angeles out of a Raymond Chandler novel and person C will be eating their fish at a wharf-side restaurant in Halifax, Nova Scotia, staring at boats. Additionally, you'll have whatever musical accompaniment you desire with your vr experience. If you're a punk fan, it won't matter punk rock wasn't around in depression-era Los Angeles. It'll be your reality, baby, in actuality the reality of the new world order.

Purchase "Sitcom" here.https://www.amazon.ca/Sitcom-History-Episodes-Love-Community/dp/161374384X

DX LOG 9/7

Live 88.5 Ottawa with alternative rock music and ID.

93.7 WBLK Buffalo with commercial for car dealership.

95.1 WRIO Rochester with Brother Weeze talking about new Steve Perry song.

95.3 Fresh Radio Hamilton with commercials.

96.5 WCMF Rochester with Phil Collins.

97.3 Light Rock Ithaca with anncr promoting music festival.

97.9 WPXY with Corey James morning show, playing fake news contest, Whitney talking about why she turned down an apartment.

98.9 CKLC-FM Kingston with "Reed and Ben in the Morning", giving away 500 dollars of burgers, trying Bakldweiser beer, playing acronym contest, wrapping up morning show, into "The Nineties at Nine" with bands including Garbage and Blind Melon.

99.5 WDCX Buffalo with Keylife.

100.5 WVOR Rochester "Elvis Duran Morning Show" with commercials.

102.5 WTSS Buffalo with anncr saying he was going to give away tickets at 10:00.

REVELATION

The Seven Churches
The seven churches (or communities of believers in seven different cities) represent seven different types of believers that have existed since the first century.

The Rapture

The only church Christ actually says he will keep from the hour of tribulation is the church of Philadelphia. The Greek word means He'll keep them out of it within its midst.

Seals, Trumpets and Vials
The seals are a general overview of the main events of the tribulation. Taking place concurrently with these events are the judgments occurring when the trumpets are blown. These are events where God uses man to carry out His judgment indirectly, through things like possible nuclear warfare.

Incidentally, when you look at the trumpet judgments, it's pretty clear all our current worries about climate change and the other environmental issues are for naught, at least when we look at what is actually going to come upon the earth. While I believe Christians should be in the forefront of protecting the environment in ways such as conservation, waste management, etc., we as believers need to keep in mind we have a more certain word of prophecy and that this final book of Scripture is telling us in advance about the actual events of a time period which I believe is in the not-too-distant future.

The judgments of the vials, called the wrath of God, are God's direct judgment and, again, occur concurrently with the seals and the trumpets, the last trumpet signifying the return of Christ.

A Bit More On Seals and the Four Horsemen
- the anti-Christ comes to world power, in a peaceful manner at first, hence why the bow has no arrows;
- as people start to chafe under the anti-Christ's rule and resist him, he retaliates with nuclear weapons as described in trumpets;
-as we know, war causes famine and disease (the other two horsemen);
- during this time, the six other groups of Christians scattered throughout the world are killed for not taking the mark of the beast: according to Rev. 6 11, this persecution will continue a little longer from that point in the tribulation;
- the events of the sixth seal probably take place just before
- the return of Christ (the seventh seal)

The 144 Thousand and the Great Multitude
The 144 thousand are physical descendants of God's people, the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic, and kindred people, who are also born-again and are among the Philadelphia Christians. The great multitude are the strangers among them that believe, and are thus part of that holy nation along with the 144 thousand.

The Mark of the Beast
The mark of the beast is a microchip all people will eventually decide to get so they can continue to buy and sell. Those who refuse to take it, as stated above, will be killed.

Babylon
Babylon represents the world, meaning the world system or world order. The religious element (the great whore) is included because everybody practices some type of religion. The commercial system is included because money makes the world go round.

The Antichrist
Sometime before the tribulation, the world will have been split up into ten world regions, each region of the world functioning the way nation states operate today. According to Albert Pike's letter, there will be a third world war between Christianity and Islam over Zionism, with all other religions taking sides. During this war, the Vatican will be destroyed, forcing it's relocation to Jerusalem. Atheists will be treated like the conscientious objectors in the first two world wars.

World War III will disillusion most people (except for the Philadelphia Christians and a certain number of Christians from the other six groups) with all the world's traditional religions, but because of the proverbial God-shaped hole, the world's population will look for something in which to believe. The anti-Christ will be that something.

There will be a power sharing agreement between the beast and the ten rulers, but I haven't quite figured out the chronology of events concerning that yet.

The Millennium
Check out this article on salvation during the millennium. It's really good, although water in the verse he refers to points to baptism (Acts 2 38.)

It's possible the earth, aside from the saints of course, will be populated by all those (including aborted, miscarried and stillborn) babies who died since the fall, as well as those who were children during the tribulation, as it doesn't seem to me they can be held responsible for taking the mark. It also seems like it will include the mentally retarded who lived throughout history.

At the end, when Satan is loosed, they will choose to join with him in rebellion against God who has ruled them benevolently for the last thousand years and with whom most of them have enjoyed time in Heaven prior to that.

However, I am not quite conclusively sure about the issue of who will populate the earth apart from the saints or whether there will be salvation in some form for those who die between the beginning of the thousand years and the time at the end when Satan is loosed.

MEDIA-RELATED STUFF

Boy, "Insight for Living" was sure playing an old tape today.

On the Wolf this morning, Scott Haynes mispronounced Nevada, then a promo said "just like you and I" instead of the correct "just like you and me."

Not surprised Decades flipped to Star TV. In this age of dvds, NetFlicks and similar services and online, who wants to watch a TV channel that broadcasts old shows.

AMOS & ANDY: ANATOMY OF A CONTROVERSY

This 1983 documentary provides a good, balanced history of the Amos & Andy TV show, delving into some of the history of Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll's partnership as well. It's a refreshing and informative watch in this time of social justice warriors who understand nothing about history, entertainment, humour, or their contexts.

After watching it, I do think the networks should have capitalized on the success of Amos & Andy and its all black cast to produce other all black shows of different genres. This would have provided America with a more balanced look at the black community and would have certainly been a helpful thing, but the removal of Amos & Andy from production and syndication by the NAACP and the fact the cast barely ever worked again is criminal.

Check out "Amos & Andy: anatomy of a controversy" here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ka6u2WA_zU

Also, check out this article which goes into more of the history of the radio show, especially Amos & Andy's early days.

MINI DX LOG 9/5

89.5 CIUT Toronto with "Global Rhythms."

97.9 WPXY Rochester with top 40 music.

98.9 CKLC-FM Kingston with Arcade Fire.

100.5 WVOR Rochester with "Elvis Duran Morning Show" interviewing Alessia Cara, prank phone call and top 40 music with local IDs and commercials.

102.5 WTSS Buffalo with annoying Thunder song.

MINI DX LOG 9/4

89.5 CIUT Toronto with "Drill Squad."

94.3 WIYY Syracuse with anncr talking about upcoming music festival and into commercial for tire centre.

95.1 WRIO Rochester with Brother Weeze.

97.9 WPXY Rochester with top 40 music.

99.5 WDCX Buffalo with David Jeremiah, J. Vernon McGee, Charles Price, and Robbie Symons.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Give a man a fire and you warm him for a day; set him on fire and he stays warm for the rest of his life.

MEDIA-RELATED STUFF

Like the features Wyatt Cox now has at the beginning of "Radio Classics."

My FM Napanee had been missing for a few days but now it's back.

Picked up WDCX yesterday morning with "Haven Today" and again this morning with automated music in place of financial show followed by "The Raw Truth."

"The Bold and the Beautiful" is now the world's most popular soap opera, which really isn't all that surprising given most of the rest of them have been cancelled.

VISION TV THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY

On September 1, 1988, Vision TV, Canada's first multi-faith television channel, launched.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZerxrkOZQo

Just wanted to say a short and sweet thank you to those responsible. As an isolated blind child growing up in small-town Ontario in a pre-internet age, I would have never gotten exposed to the different cultures and beliefs systems I did thanks in part to Vision TV. From Bish Jiram's "Panorama" to "Jack Van Impe Presents" to British comedies to documentaries to re-runs of various American comedies and dramas, I have a lot of memories.

ROBERT FINLEY-AGE DON'T MEAN A THING

This 2016 offering from the r & b singer who has found notoriety late in life is something I want to like, but just can't.

On the plus side, this is an album of real rhythm and blues, not some poppy synthesized instruments.

However, the album is just two cliche. The nine tracks hardly say anything many r & b artists, and, indeed, many pop singers, haven't said before. "Snake in the Grass" and "Is It Possible to Love Two People?" are sort of exceptions but they don't do enough to lift up the album. The title track makes an interesting point lyrically but this doesn't come till the song is literally fading out. "Come On", the only really peppy cut, is good but this is because it rips off the sound of James Brown's best upbeat stuff.

While not an entirely bad listening experience, "Age Don't Mean a Thing" isn't any you can call worthwhile, either.

AN ELECTRONIC SILENT SPRING

By Katie Singer. East Sussex, UK: Rudolf Steiner Press, 2014.

Thoroughness is the key to any good truth book.

This book lays out the dangers of electromagnetic pollution in a careful, detailed manner, consisting of a mix of personal stories and factual information, also proposing a large number of solutions to electrosmog. The book is quite well-sourced. Even the appendices have footnotes.

Purchahse "An Ekectronic Silent Spring" here.https://www.amazon.ca/Electronic-Silent-Spring-Dangers-Creating/dp/1938685083

ZEPHANIAH

To open links in a new window, press Shift Enter.

I don’t normally do things like this, but the questions David Hewetson asks in “Zephaniah (Bible Probe)” are so good I figured I’d fill out the answers.

1 1-6

1.       In Genesis, God only promised He would never destroy the Earth by flood. After the millennium, he’ll destroy it by fire.

2.       People subscribe to modern forms of Baal worship in all kinds of ways. See Pastor Peter J. Peters book, “Baal Worship in America” as well as many similar resources from his ministry. We’ve made Baals out of everything from the medical establishment to the education system, including even the government.

Human sexuality is definitely a modern-day fertility religion, part of which is the contemporary sacrifice to Molech known as abortion. I also think sex in itself is worshipped for it’s own sake.

In addition, marriage is certainly “idealized as a means of self-fulfillment,” particularly in Christian circles with their over-emphasis on marrying.

The phrase Hewetson uses, “with sex as its sacred rite” is definitely a thought-provoking one. The Old Testament worshippers of Baal treated the sacred prostitutes as objects. Many Christians treat women and men as sex objects; it’s just you have to be married before you perform the ritual with them.

3.       God’s anger still operates against astrology, but I’d be interested in looking into the difference between astrology and astronomy. God did give us the sun, moon and stars for signs to represent times and seasons after all.

4.       “No man can serve two masters” means the same thing today as it did 2000 years ago. However, I do think Christians do a massive overcorrection in this area through Christian culture. Why do there have to be specific categories of various “Christian” forms of modern music, Christian radio, Christian television, Christian fiction, Christian movies, etc. Why don’t we just put those messages out into the secular arena through these forms of media like Christians used to do?

5.       Christianity is the only religion in the world that simultaneously allows for, and cries out against, pluralism. We have to allow others to practice their religions since Jesus never forced anyone to convert, but we proclaim the truth that Jesus is the only way to God.

As far as the democratic ideal is concerned, however, a pluralistic, multicultural society does not work and, ideally,  Christian countries should not allow in those who aren’t Christians. Sure, it’s nice to look at multiculturalism on a surface level and rave about how cool and interesting the food, music and dress of other cultures are, but below that surface, many of those cultures, culture being shaped by spiritual beliefs, have values which utterly fly in the face of Christian morals, principles and values.

V7-13

1.       The Day of the Lord is a warning to the unbeliever to repent, a reproof to the believer to stay on the narrow Way, and an encouragement to the believer that one day God’s justice will be served and the world will be restored to the way God originally created it to be before the fall.

The second part of this question is interesting. Would Zephaniah and other Jews living at that time have understood the true mission and nature of the Messiah? Would they have understood that Messiah would come twice?

2.       The powerful and the privileged are to apply God’s law on Earth.

3.       Thirty years on, the situation is kind of the opposite of what Hewetson had in mind when he wrote this. We made an idle out of our leisure time, now we are kept busy, both in a real sense through having to work longer hours for less money and purchasing power, and artificially busy through being tied to our tech devices.

4.       There are very few true atheists, or even true agnostics, for that matter. Most unbelievers believe in a God that fits the description of the one herein, one that doesn’t care either way about people’s practical, everyday lives, and thus, doesn’t care about being worshipped or obeyed, either.

The message Christians have for these people is that there is a real, living God who loves them, cares about them and who is interested in having a relationship with the humans He created, guiding them and being with them throughout their daily lives.

5.       The Bible has so much to say about the rich because the only reason anyone becomes rich, even if wealth was obtained through dishonest means, is because God allowed them to acquire those riches. Ultimately, all anyone has comes from God and the world He created.

Zephaniah 1 14-2 3

1. I definitely think we're living in the last days, or more correctly the end times, since the Bible defines the last days as the time after Christ came the first time. (See the first chapter of Hebrews.)

2. Knowing there'll be a day of judgment, as Peter says, means we should be better people, quicker to follow the Lord.

I actually think there would be as much evil in the world, or rather, there is, despite the fact most people believe in some kind of divine punishment for their sins, even if they don't believe it'll be the God of the Bible meeting out the punishment.

3. God's love can't accurately be considered apart from his wrath because a truly loving, just God should be wrathful against people, his creatures, hurting and abusing each other, and at humanity's use of the earth's resources without acknowledging and glorifying God as well as their lack of respect for His creation through environmental destruction.

4. God is jealous because we were originally created to have an intimate relationship with Him. Thus, God's jealousy is a good quality because he's the perfect being one could have a relationship with so God has every right to be jealous when people go after lesser, false gods.

It is totally right for a Christian to be jealous in this way. When you're out with your girlfriend or wife, you don't want to just passively stand by and watch her get hit on by every guy you meet, do you?

5. In Zephaniah's day, seeking the Lord meant making animal sacrifices and obeying the Law as delivered to Moses from God at Mount Sinai. This would save them because those were God's requirements for His people at that time. Under the New Covenant, this is accomplished through repentance, baptism for the remission of sins (see Acts 2 38), and then growing in a deeper and deeper relationship with Jesus Christ through prayer, Bible study, fellowship with brothers and sisters in the faith, and obedience to what God tells us to do.

v 4-7

1. God still does have prophetic words for the nations of the world. I should look some of them up and post them here, or at least post links to the messages.

2. This is what gets me about so much Christian radio, and, in fact, Christian culture in general: the people who proliferate it say Christian cultural items are for the purpose of winning unbelievers, but the focus of so much Christian radio, movies, etc. is to the believers. Even when something has a message clearly inteneded for the world, that movie or whatever instead comes off as an echo chamber, serving to confirm to believers what they already think about things. The verses Hewetson cites in this question should remind us that God's truth is for all people.

3. The sin of the Philistines was worshipping other gods instead of giving glory to the true God.

4. God's people will possess the nations when Christ returns to rule the world. I'm not exactly sure what we will rule with God in terms of what people will make up the inhabitants of the milennial kingdom. You'll have to read my upcoming post on Revelation for the answer to that one.

Christians owe their restoration to God and we are restored to fellowship with God on the basis of what Christ did on the cross.

v8-11

1. There have been many instances of persecution against individual Christians and the church over the centuries and the perpetrators, whether from outside the church or in, will be condemned to Hell.

2. The proper response to persecution is to resist in a Godly manner if possible, have faith in our Lord, pray for the persecutors, and be confident in the eternal life we have in Christ.

3. There is such a difference between general unprovoked hostility and religious persecution because people feel especially strongly about their religious convictions in comparison to anything else. When confronted with the former type of hostility, a Christian should turn the other cheek, but also keep in mind you only have two cheeks.

4. Pride is such a terrible sin because what lies at the heart of it and blocks communion with God is self-worship. As I said in my earlier post on Proverbs, when you're your own god you make your own rules and, hence, all other sins result from pride.

5. One of the biggest points of modern pride I see is knowledge and official-sounding positions. People think if they have a piece of paper saying they can do something or if the employer or network marketing company has given them a title, then that really makes them something. One recent incident that comes to mind is I heard Bradley Jay on WBZ Boston say one night, with quite a lot of arrogant self-confidence, that he knew the Bible was just a bunch of stories because he had been to Sunday school.

v12-15

1. There's ultimately no security in self-security because it's God's world and, apart from Him, we truly can do nothing. In his sovereignty, He could make every person in the world into a nearly brain-dead, complete vegetable in the next less than a microsecond if He wanted to.

2. Yes, it is possible to be self-confident and humble at the same time. This condition comes from recognising that every ability we have comes from the Lord and that, as His children, He wants us to use those abilities to accomplish our potential. Thus, it isn't wrong to be self-suficient in the sense that we deal with our lives and do a good job at taking care of ourselves. If the rich fool in Luke 12 had acknowledged that it was by God's goodness that he grew so much food, he would have been a lot less foolish.

3. Christians don't have the power in themselves to judge and condemn injustice, but rather it is the Word which judges people and which Christians are to proclaim.

4. The causes of this are human nature in general which results from the fall as well as the fact we live in a world where people aren't worshiping and glorifying God.

Christians should speak out against acts of injustice by governments, proclaiming the Scripture verses that talk about how God feels toward opressors and cruel, unjust persons, especially those in positions of government.

As far as groups like Amnesty International are concerned: Though they do some good work, these groups are quite biased. They have not, to my knowledge, had any campaigns to assist the white farmers who are being slaughtered in South Africa (and who lately have been kicked out of the country.) Also, there reasons for speaking out against injustices are secular and not based on the fact this is God's world, His law still applies and those who break it are going to pay the penalty for the rest of eternity.

5. I am content in the assurance that justice will be done eventually, although it is good to see those instances when God carries it out in this present age. The whole book of Ecclesiastes sheds a lot of light on this issue.

Zephaniah 3 1-7

1. The lesson here is both those who are and aren't God's people will have to stand before Christ in judgment. However, it first begins at the house of God.

2. The civil, judicial and religious leaders are held accountable because they are supposed to be the ones in charge of ruling, carrying out and teaching God's law to the people. Today's leaders have the very same responsibility.

Our religious leaders should be influencing our civil and judicial leaders by instructing them in God's law while those leaders are still children. When these civil and judicial leaders are adults, religious leaders should, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, be re-iterating God's law and warning of the penalties incurred on those leaders for not enforcing and carrying out that law.

3. Our Godly responsibility in the election process is to elect the leaders who are going to enforce God's law, and if they aren't going to do that, or if they're just saying they'll enforce it to get us to cast a ballot for them, then we shouldn't vote. Even if we didn't vote, we should still be taking our elected officials to task and warning them from the Bible when they break God's law.

We should pray for those in authority so that God might intervene and cause our leaders to adhere to and enforce His law or replace those leaders who won't do so with those who will.

4. Romans 13 basically says, in a kind of roundabout way (at least to our modern way of speaking) that governing authorities should only be obeyed to the extent they enforce God's law. When governing authorities break God's law, they therefore cease to be worthy of obedience. If Christians live their lives in obedience to God's law then they will be sure to have their good works rewarded, and the evildoers who ignore or knowingly break God's law can be sure He will punish them.

We can support the oppressed in other countries by praying for them and their leadership and helping materially as the Holy Spirit prompts us and we are able to do so.

5. This question could be a whole post in itself and I do not want to write my answer unless the Holy Spirit tells me to.

v8-13

1. In v8-10 we see the two sides of God destroying the wicked, oppressive people and rewarding with peace, harmony and rest the righteous who have trusted in Him.

2. It is possible for Christians of differing cultures to be united in Christ and still maintain their cultural identity, though with the two natures still battling within us (see Romans 7) there will be tensions and conflicts that come up from time to time.

The best way to present the Gospel to people of different cultures is to preach Christ and Him crucified rather than saying what we think they'll want to hear.

9. It isn't a pious hope. The gift of pure speech will be given to the persecutors and oppressors if they die to themselves in repentance, are buried in the waters of baptism and come up new creatues in Christ. (See Acts 2 38)

4. The humble remnant will be characterized by their humility, their poverty in spirit, their trust in the Lord, their purity of heart, and their truthfulness.

5. We should expect to see these qualities in our Christian fellowship, bearing in mind God's people are not yet perfect, to a large extent. If we aren't seeing them in our church, then we should get out of the institutional church and cultivate relationships with and have fellowship with Christians who do exude these qualities.

v14-20

1. The Christian life is a joyful life in the sense of the joy we have in our relationship with the Lord, though it isn't often joyful in the sense in which we usually think of joy.

I rejouice in my relationship with Jesus Christ and the fact He saved my soul. I also rejoice in the promises yet to be fulfilled and in the many ways He blesses me every day. I pray my joy is manifested in the attitude I display to people on a daily basis.

2. God is a kind, benevolent king who wants to give His people the best of everything, have His justice done and give His people peace, security and every other similar good thing.

3. From 1 John 4 7-21 and Romans 5 1-8, we learn that God loved us when we were Godless, unloving sinners. Therefore, we should love one another and be patient when someone else wrongs us, as well as loving the unbelievers and not looking down our noses at them as if there was some quality that made us special so that Christ saved us, those unbelievers not possessing that special quality.

4. God renews us in His love even now through His Spirit.

5. One key thing I've gotten from Zephaniah is that just as certain aspects of the Law given to Moses at Mount Sinai were shadows of things which were fulfilled in Jesus, so we see a shadow of what God's restored kindom will be like in the fellowship that Christians have with one another today and we also see forerunners of God's final judgment taking place in our world nowadays as well. Praise you Lord for these assurances we have that the promises in Zephaniah and the rest of your Word will be fulfilled.