December
2006
Episode 27 of Upon Further Review!
We’re getting into the holiday spirit in Episode 27 of Upon Further Review! In this show we get right into the meat of our reviews, starting with our look at Christmas trees, real and imagined (and tell you how YOU can help solve our dilemma); second, we laugh it up with our review of The Daily Show; and finally, we ask how much one person can be involved in with our review of Paul Levinson’s Light On Light Through podcast. As always, we are grateful for your support and continued listening to the show…and as always, we ask that you spread the word to friends, foes, and distant relations alike! (As usual, podsafe intro music is provided by Sharif (”You’re My Girl”), outro by David Henderson (”We Gotta Go”).)
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Thanks for all the entertainment this past year Greg and Clea.
I now play Poker Stars with the free play money Texas Hold’em. It’s a great site. Poker has really exploded in popularity here in Sydney. Tonight my cousin is taking me to a free Tournament at a club. It’s free entry with prizes for the top place-getters. I think it’s all about getting people in to buy drinks. I can’t wait! Last night I won my first Poker Stars Tourny (with play money of course…) with 45 people starting. Man, it’s such a buzz.
If I sound a bit chirpy then it might be because today is my last day before 5 weeks holiday
Have a very Happy Christmas and I’m looking forward to hearing more from the Dynamic Duo in 07.
Best Regards,
Tim
Tim, 5 weeks holiday!?
We got a half hour off for a “holiday” lunch:) (Okay, we are getting Monday off as well, but 5 weeks… nice!)
Heh, congrats, Tim–I know how you feel. I’m finishing up my final exam grading today before my month-long break starts…and boy, do I need it this time around! (And as for you, DI, I thought those cushy city jobs were kind of a permanent holiday… *ducks as Clea arrives*)
Greg
Clea, Greg,
The Xmas tree debate was the best thing ever! That’s the passion that you want from two debaters! Not that you don’t give it 100% every time, but the difference of opinion and hearing you both debate it was really something! Looking forward to hearing the outcome!
I think the daily show clip you played made me laugh harder than I have in a long, long time! I know it has a more liberal slant, but there’s no denying that it’s a prime piece of television. Always been a big Jon Stewart fan, and politics aside, I know it achieves its goals across the board.
Do have to take issue with one thing said… Greg’s claim that the media has a right wing agenda/spin/tendency? Really? Most media I can think of is very liberal, with the exception of business programming and Fox News, eveything from news to celebrity programs to educational television seems to have a liberal party line. But, I’m willing to take a second look to see if there’s something else there!
Thanks for keeping us (and each other) on our toes! See you on 28!!!!
– Chris
Heh–thanks, Chris. You’ll soon hear what happened on the Xmas tree front as you go through the shows.
As for the right wing thing in the media–for me the feeling is that although some reporters may skew liberal, the companies which run these media outlets are in general right wing, if anything. It doesn’t help that Rupert Murdoch has gained such influence in this realm, but it’s been a long time since we had a legitimate fourth estate, at least in the U.S. My sense is that international sources like the BBC tend to be a bit more balanced, but others would be better able to comment on that than me. All I’ll say is that watching the media’s “reporting” on the Iraq war has been a sad commentary on the state of affairs in journalism–and if it’s not coming from a right wing perspective, it sure as heck isn’t liberal propaganda we’re seeing and hearing on our airwaves. That said, I’m very grateful for your thoughtful response to the idea, and I agree that generalizations of any kind can often lead to problems…including when I make them!
Greg
I see your points, Greg. Well put (as if I’d expect anything less). Objective journalism is just not possible when it’s a business. I wonder what model would work. We’ve seen what happened when government controlled the media (USSR) — hey, to that end, not sure how you feel about British comedies, but there’s this old movie (there was an American remake [go figure] which should be avoided) called “Whoops! Apocalypse!” that parodied the Reagan white house, USSR, and Great British governments during the cold war. John Cleese plays the devil (a man of 1000 faces), if that gives you an idea of the tone. Interested? It’s hard to find, but I have a VHS copy that I’d gladly share if you’d like to give it a try and maybe a review…
Sometimes, all we can do is laugh and take solace in the fact that there is an intelligent community who isn’t fooled by the business of news.
Let me know about that tape. Glad to share for the good of The Review!
– chris
As far as the intelligent community is concerned, amen to that! The movie sounds interesting, and we very much appreciate the offer…but Greg has to admit that if it’s a post-apocalyptic deal (even a comedy one), he’s probably not going to be particularly into it. He might have been the only person who was more disturbed than amused by the movie BRAZIL, which also had some Monty Python hold-overs (including Cleese, we think)…did you ever see that one?
T.R.
well, for the record, it’s pre-apocalyptic, not post-. it does have that british darkness at the end, but it’s a sitcom series.many of the actors are also on the brit-coms that pbs plays (do you guys watch those?).
brazil was dark and disturbing. it would follow, though b/c the ex-pythonian who directed it (terry gilliam) wasn’t one of the funny ones. look at his other movies (fisher king, 12 monkeys) and the pattern emerges.
just my opinion ;-) thanks for the dialog!
Ah, I see…fair enough. We have indeed watched some of the Brit-coms before…and Clea in particular is a big fan of Red Dwarf, which was a science fictiony Brit-com you may be familiar with (actually, that might be something good to review). Also a good point about Gilliam…I knew about The Fisher King, but I had totally forgotten about the 12 Monkeys movie!
Greg