Presidential Primaries and Professional Wrestling

Sorry for two professional wrestling related posts in a row, but when stories like these occur I can't help but say something.

This week on WWE Raw the three remaining presidential candidates appeared to speak to the viewers. That would have been fine so to reach out to possible voters, particularly those sometimes hard to reach 18-25 year old males, but their use of wrestling catchprases in their statements seemed more than odd. Is this really the image that all three of the candidates want to put forth.

See their statements below in the first video (they're played back-to-back) and form your own opinion. The last two videos below is the set-up to an actual wrestling match that took place on the show, between wrestlers imitating Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama. Their actual match ended when one of the WWE's wrestlers, Umaga, came in and pummeled both candidates. I watched that wondering what kind of a message the WWE itself is trying to put forth about these two Democratic candidates.

Nothing Better To Do?

While I freely admit that I don't understand all the inner working of the United States government, I would think that a member of the U.S. House of Representatives would have better uses of her time when she has the floor. North Carolina Representative Sue Myrick recently took just over a minute of the House's speaking time to honor the career of professional wrestler Ric Flair. Is that really what we want our State Representative's to be doing while in Washington?

But I must admit, I think it's funny when she says "Wooo" at the end.

Branding the Candidates

This morning while surfing the net I saw an interesting story taken from a recent CNN broadcast of Election Center. In it an expert came in to discuss the branding of each presidential nominee and based it on the typeface that each is using in their logo.

Here we have the logo for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The expert stated that the typeface, which he identified as being a form of Baskerville, was bold, assertive, and in-control. He even went so far as to call it a little relentless. But in an interesting move it is her first name on the logo and not her last. CNN’s expert said that this lends an air of familiarity to her while possibly maintaining an idea of solidarity.

Next we have the logo for the John McCain campaign. The expert identified the typeface as somewhere between serif and sans-serif. Based on that alone the expert stated that he thought McCain and his campaign didn’t put nearly as much time into the choice as those in Clinton’s campaign did. Instead it appeared to be a quick choice, which may translate to voters who see it that they may not actually know who he is or what kind of a president he hopes to be.

Finally we have the current logo for Barack Obama’s campaign. I say recently because as Obama started to pick up steam the logo changed. Originally it was his last name with the O capitalized and the rest in lower case letters. The campaign recently kept the same classic, old-fashioned Roman typeface but changed it to caps and small caps instead of using lower case letters. CNN’s expert thought that this typeface communicated a feeling of elegance and sweetness to the candidate, and thought it was the typeface that could be considered the most presidential.

I must say that listening to this story, and how the campaigns are attempting to brand each of the candidates, was a fascinating one. I truly wonder if the opinions of this “expert” really do hold true to the opinions of the American public.

On The Beach

Though this isn't a great picture (but it's the best I can get with my camera phone) this is what I have been waking up to every day over Spring Break. Simply beautiful. And it's not too hot for me to go out and enjoy at 8:30am.

NBC 2008-2009 Season

One thing that I surprising had not written about this year was the writer’s strike that impacted television. And now that it’s over it seems moot to even mention.

However, its impact is still being felt. In the most recent development, NBC today announced its fall season upfronts, a full six weeks before the other major broadcast networks. This definitely gives NBC a jump on its competitors, but I do wonder the real reason behind this move. One big development also happening is that NBC is starting to program series without even seeing a pilot – a big gamble when you consider they are programming based on concepts and the names attached, not on a previously produced episode.

Also, in a change for NBC, they announced new programming in an effort to bring new programming year-round. This allows advertisers to have a more complete picture of what to expect when it comes to the overall landscape of NBC. Fox has done this in the past, but to mixed results. Programs sometimes didn’t make it throughout their scheduled period, and some programs announced never made it to air. It’ll be interesting to see how this schedule works out.

NBC has dumped long running series such as Scrubs and Las Vegas, as well as new series such as the Bionic Woman remake. Some freshman series that did make it to a second season include Chuck, Life, and Lipstick Jungle.

Here’s a night-by-night, based on time of year, look at what the NBC schedule for next season has in store. Included are brief descriptions, partially taken from tvguide.com, eonline.com, and NBC.com. All times listed are Eastern.

Fall 2008

Mondays:

8pm-9pm Chuck

9pm-10pm Heroes

10pm-11pm My Own Worst Enemy

Henry and Edward lead two very different lives. The problem, they live them in the same body. And they must deal with the ramifications when the wall between the two begins to break down. Starring Christian Slater.

Tuesdays:

8pm-9pm The Biggest Loser: Families

9:30pm-10pm Kath and Kim

This comedy looks at the relationship between a mom and a daughter who are very different people once the daughter moves back home. The problem is that the mom will not cater to her daughter’s every whim. Based on the hit Australian comedy of the same name, starring Molly Shannon and Selma Blair.

10pm-11pm Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Wednesdays:

8pm-9pm Knight Rider

Remake of the classic 1980s drama in which mysteries are solved by a man and his talking car.

9pm-10pm Deal or No Deal

10pm-11pm Lipstick Jungle

Thursdays:

8pm-8:30pm My Name is Earl

8:30pm-9pm 30 Rock

9pm-9:30pm The Office

9:30pm-10pm Saturday Night Live Thursday Nights/The Office

10pm-11pm ER

Fridays:

8pm-9pm Crusoe

This series is based on the book by Daniel Defoe. In this series a man ends up shipwrecked on an island for 28 years. He yearns to go home while befriending a man named Friday.

9pm-10pm Deal or No Deal

10pm-11pm Life

Saturdays:

8pm-9pm Dateline NBC

9pm-10pm Encores of Knight Rider

10pm-11pm Encores of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Sundays:

7pm-8:20pm Football Night in America

8:20pm-11pm NBC Sunday Night Football

Winter 2009

Mondays:

8pm-9pm Chuck

9pm-10pm Heroes

10pm-11pm The Philanthropist

In this series a man in love with money and power comes to a realization about his life after the death of his only child. He then becomes a “renegade billionaire” who does everything in his power to help those in need, including negotiating with nefarious individuals and dodging bullets.

Tuesdays:

8pm-9pm The Biggest Loser

9:30pm-10pm Kath and Kim

10pm-11pm Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Wednesdays:

8pm-9pm Knight Rider

9pm-10pm Deal or No Deal

10pm-11pm Law & Order

Thursdays:

8pm-8:30pm My Name is Earl

8:30pm-9pm 30 Rock

9pm-9:30pm The Office

9:30pm-10pm The Office spinoff

10pm-11pm ER/The Celebrity Apprentice

Fridays:

8pm-9pm Deal or No Deal

9pm-10pm Friday Night Lights

10pm-11pm Life

Saturdays:

8pm-9pm Dateline NBC

9pm-10pm Encores of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

10pm-11pm Encores of Law & Order

Sundays:

7pm-8pm Dateline NBC

8pm-9pm Merlin

This is a modern retelling of Camelot, Merlin, and Arthur. In this story Merlin and Arthur are just trying to fulfill their dreams, while making mistakes along the way.

9pm-10pm Medium

10pm-11pm Kings

In this series, a young soldier named David rescues the king’s son from the enemy. By doing so he sets in motion the events that will lead the land to peace. The soldier then finds himself a celebrity, and has earned the attention of the king’s daughter. But as he gains even more power himself David realizes that those in power will do whatever it takes to see him fail.

Spring Break Blogging

My posts over the past few months have been sparse. My semester has been one in which all I seem to do is work on the three classes that I’m teaching. And when I do find some down time, I’m usually just resting and relaxing. Hence no real time to regularly post.

But now I’m on Spring Break. I’m sitting in a beautiful house on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. The weather is gorgeous, though a bit hot for my taste, and the view of the water is awesome.

Yet, until now, I still haven’t posted.

Am I out of the routine? Do I have nothing to say? I truly am wondering why I haven’t blogged at all this week. My guess is that it’s a combination of the two, plus the fact that I’m truly just trying to rest.

But how do I rest and relax? I was working on data entry and some research for the past two days, something that I haven’t had the time to do all semester. It might seem strange to most that the way I relax is to do more work, but it was the fact that I was working on something I enjoy rather than on my coursework that really made it fun.

But next week it’s back to the daily grind of 3 classes and 210 students. And then any and virtually all free time will disappear.