EPEric's Blog

The last time I made it a special point to see a movie on it's opening day, Harrison Ford was wearing a fedora and a leather jacket.  No, it wasn't a few weeks ago, it was the opening of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when I was still in college.  Somehow, after work, this 40-year-old dad found himself in a theater full of people at midnight(most much younger than me) for Batman, The Dark Knight.  Few people left disappointed.  The Dark Knight is big and loud, a true summer movie blockbuster.  So much has been made of the late Heath Ledger's performance, and Ledger did not disappoint.  The Joker is one of the great movie villains of all-time.   I don't want to give away the plot for those of you who haven't seen it, but The Joker finds a way to have all of Gotham, good guys and bad, against him.  Batman's toys are spectacular.  The fat tired Batcycle is the focus of an amazing chase seen shot along the streets of Chicago.  It is a big long, 2 1/2 hours, but I'll give the biggest recommendation I can give, just be careful about taking kids too young, it has some scenes that would definitely freak them out.

Count my daughter among the millions of pre-teens who love Miley Cyrus.  Count me as one of the parents who has added to Miley's and Disney's bankrolls because of it.  Miley says she's embarrassed by a photo Vanity Fair just published of her.  Now the magazine and her people and the photographer (the famed Annie Liebovich) are going back and forth over the circumstances surrounding the photo shoot.    Vanity Fair has won its  share of fans and critics with edgy photos like the naked pregnant photo of Demi Moore.  Edgy certainly has it's place, but I for one would rather Vanity Fair stick to shooting photos of adults and leave the Miley photos for some more age appropriate magazines. 

1) A Christmas Story or Christmas Vacation?

2)  It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street?

3)  Grinch the cartoon or Jim Carrey Grinch?

4)  Scrooged or A Christmas Story?

5)  Elf or The Santa Claus?

6)  Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or Frosty the Snowman?

7)  Polar Express or Home Alone?

8)  White Christmas or Charlie Brown Christmas?

1)  The Godfather or Goodfellas?

2)  Scary or funny?

3)  Jim Carrey or Will Ferrell?

4)  Pacino or Nicoloson?

5)  Julie Roberts or Angelina Jolie?

6)  Star Wars movies or Indiana Jones movies?

7)  Young Tom Cruise (Risky Business, Top Gun) or current Tom Cruise?

8)  Casablanca or Gone With the Wind?

Next week.. Christmas movies.

A friend of mine sent me one of those endlessly forwarded e-mails the other day.  Normally I don't look at too many of them, but this one was priceless.  Someone found the 1977 JCPenney catalog in an attic.  Feel free to caption these photos, just please keep it clean.

1)  American Idol or House?

2)  Leno or Letterman?

3)  Cop show or comedy?

4)  Seinfeld or The Simpsons?

5)  Court shows or talks shows?

6)  Soaps or cable news?

7)  Mash or Cheers?

8)  Do you ever watch infomercials?

It's back for a second week.  This time a food theme.  Copy them over and put in your answers.

1)  French fries or onion rings?

2)  Eastern or Western bbq?

3)  Pizza or burgers?

4)  Broccoli or green beans?

5)  Ice cream or candy?

6)  Queso or salsa?

7)  Pretzels or chips?

8)  Chicken or steak?

I want to say thanks to Mickey Johnson and Jason Ross who put together a golf tournament at Indian Valley in Burlington (Saturday Sept 8th) to raise just over $2,500 for FOX8 Gifts for Kids. I wanted to help organize this more than I did, but with the launch of the station's new graphics package it's been a very busy time at the station for me. Thanks to everyone who played or came out to help. Here are a few pictures from the day. Check out Tom Britt's styling golf hat and the little girl in the last picture is my daughter Katie.

Okay, yell at me.  A couple of you did in e-mails, though you probably didn't realize I was your target.  Let me take you inside the TV newsroom.  It's a competitive world, and we produce what we call "topicals" to try to get you to watch the FOX8 10:00 News.  I usually write those.  They are the things you see during shows like "American Idol" that tell you what we have coming up on the news that night.  It's a few minutes a day where I take off the journalism hat and turn into salesman.  I write them early in the evening and Neill and Julie tape them after the 6:00 News. 

Here's last night's script.

SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING BACKSTAGE ..

IS THE ROCKET FISHING RODS' CLAIM TO MAKE FISHING FUN FOR YOUNG ANGLERS-- A BIG FISH STORY?

THE NEWS IS NEXT."

When I wrote it, I had no idea Idol would keep all the contestants (believe it or not, Idol producers don't trust us locals with their trade secrets).   I was talking about our FOX reporter we had backstage trying to get interviews with not just the Idols and the judges, but some of the stars who appeared last night, hoping Idol viewers would be interested and watch the news to see it.  To those of you who interpretted by words ( and I can sure see how) as "spoiler," sorry.