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Posts tagged ‘tv’

Oct 30

Sunday Reading: Fairly certain my hidden contract clause would involve some form of Nutella.

This week at Midd: 3 days of classes, first snow, homecoming and trolling alumni. This week in the rest of the world: other stuff.  Here’s some of it:

FAMOUS PEOPLE:  It’s a well told story that contracts for bands or speakers often have absurd hidden clauses- like Van Halen’s brown-free bowl of M &Ms backstage.  I recently stumbled upon the absurdly detailed contract of Richard Stallman, a computer programming and software freedom activist. This line is golden:

“If you can find a host for me that has a friendly parrot, I will be very very glad. If you can find someone who has a friendly parrot I can visit with, that will be nice too.DON’T buy a parrot figuring that it will be a fun surprise for me. To acquire a parrot is a major decision: it is likely to outlive you.”

OCCUPY WALL STREET:  Catch up with updates from the field of Occupy Wall Street- many protests are being allowed to proceed peacefully while some (Oakland, Nashville, San Diego, to name a few) are being violently broken apart.

WEATHER: I guess the rest of the Northeast caught that storm too, 2.3 million people have no power and at least 9 deaths have been attributed to the storm.  What gives, October?

HEALTH: New research has come out about screening for certain cancers, stating that early detection often does not help and can even cause more harm than good.  Pretty interesting, given the emphasis  the medical community has placed on early detection as a life-saving opportunity.

SCIENCE: Beautiful piece about Sandy Wood, the voice of “StarDate,” a 2 minute long radio segment about astronomy hosted by a regular star-enthusiast.  It has over 2 million listeners each day.   I really love profiles of people on the radio getting to know “the person behind the voice.”

TV: Over the next four Sundays, PBS will be airing a documentary called America in Primetime that will trace American television through the best programs in television history, how certain styles and characters have developed and where we are going in tv today. You can watch the 8 minute intro trailer here.

And here’s your video of the week:  (this film is inspired by The Borrowers, I always loved the book and movie as a kid)

Oct 13

3_frank
2 Comments

Real World: San Diego Episode 3 Recap

Confused? Check out recaps from Week 1 and Week 2!

Episode 3: “A Pig Walks Into a Gay Bar…”

Real World round three begins when the housemates drive Frank ’11 and Sam to one of San Diego’s gay bars. In the car on the ride home, windows up and driving away at top speed, Zach, Nate and Ashley make a number of homophobic comments…regrettable, but not surprising. Inside the club, Frank is taken aback by the dancing men in Speedos (Vermont’s gay nightlife was apparently no comparison. Surprise?). He knocks back a few drinks, though, then gets comfortable- on a couch. on top of another guy.  A heavy makeout sesh ensues (reminded me of the Bunker, RIP). The drama starts when the makeout turns takeout; Frank and unnamed man return home and make sloppy love in some shared spaces, including the hot tub and the shower. The rest of the housemates express varying degrees of “ew, gross,” which leads to another Frank breakdown about not feeling accepted.

Later, after another night out with Sam, drunk Frank walks in on Nate and unnamed girl hooking up  in the bedroom and loses it big time. He claims that there’s a double standard in the house;  his gay hookup caused a house meltdown, but Nate’s straight hookup (also including hot tub canoodling) was “no big deal.” When the dust settles, a number of vases and a postdmodern wall sculpture are among the victims. After a tearful conversation with the girls, Frank stumbles out of the house, leaving everyone to wonder whether it would be best for him to leave for good. Read more

Sep 2

s23_sophie
4 Comments

Watch Sophie Clarke ’11 on Survivor South Pacific

NOTE: Join MiddBlog for an online live-chat most Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Watch and root for Sophie while chatting with Middlebury folks. Visit facebook.com/middblog.

Sophie Clarke ’11 joins Frank Sweeney ’11 in what’s shaping up to be Middlebury’s big brush with TV stardom this Fall. Clarke taped the 23rd season of the popular reality show just after graduation and was pegged as: “one of the smartest women to ever play the game [and] one of the most athletic.” This season takes place in Upolu, Samoa. Take a look at the promo videos below. The series begins September 14th.

Read Sophie’s public bio. Also check out Sophie’s Facebook fan page.

Read more

Nov 1

5 Comments

‘Picking up Butch’ On ESPN Tuesday Night

Click on this image for a short preview of the segment

ESPN’s show E:60 will run a segment on the 50th anniversary of the tradition of bringing Butch Varno, a local man with cerebral palsy, to basketball and football games. Basketball players give him a ride to football games and football players perform the opposite favor.

Middlebury’s best sports fan has also earned recognition in various other media outlets, including Sports Illustrated (during that magazine’s best days, if I may say so myself).

Tune in to ESPN at 7 p.m. Tuesday night to watch the segment.

Update: You can watch the segment in its entirety here, and let me say these 12 minutes are absolutely worth your time.

Sep 2

McKibben on Letterman

Our very own scholar-in-residence Bill McKibben on late night television:

McKibben: “Take an example. Middlebury College, where I work, is probably the greenest college campus in the world. I’m always telling the kids there, changing the last lightbulb here is less important than going out and building the political movement.”

Letterman: “Well, Bill, thanks for scaring the crap out of me.”

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