The Parents Television Council (PTC) has once again shown themselves for the fact that the want to be morality police as opposed to their supposed stated purpose of trying to make sure television airs at the appropriate times.

I’ve written about the PTC a few times before, but it has been quite a while since they did anything “news” worthy, so my thinking is that partially explains their latest comments; apparently they were missing the publicity.  The latest uproar has to do with the Nov. issue of GQ magazine that features some of the stars of the series Glee in their underwear while striking sexy poses.

Here is the cover image for the magazine.

PTC President Tim Winter had this to say on the photo shoot:

It is disturbing that GQ, which is explicitly written for adult men, is sexualizing the actresses who play high school-aged characters on ‘Glee’ in this way. It borders on pedophilia. Sadly, this is just the latest example of the overt sexualization of young girls in entertainment.

Let me introduce you to the people in this image. From left-to-right you have Dianna Agron (24), Cory Monteith (26) and Lea Michele (24).  All three of these people are of legal age, and they star in a television dramedy, not a kid’s show.  This is about as far as you can get from “pedophilia”, but Mr. Winer knew full well that word would garner attention for his little band of do-gooders.  They were able to attach themselves to a hit TV show, use a hot buzzword that would get them headlines and wham-o, they’re back in the news getting attention again.

To call this “pedophilia” is absolutely ridiculous.  All of the actors are well out of their teens and have the right to pose for any pictures they want to.  Even if they were in Playboy I wouldn’t bat an eyelash because they are not their characters.  If they were on a show distinctly directed at kids and they posed nude, yeah, that I might have an issue with, i.e. someone from Sesame Street decides to post nude while sill working on the show, that might be bad.  However, this is adults who happen to play teenage girls posing in their underwear.  So freakin’ what?

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened (The stars of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer did numerous photoshoots were they posed sexy, or they stared in movies where they said or did sexual things), but the PTC hasn’t had a god horse to hitch its wagon to in some time, and when that happens you find you have no donations coming into your organization.  So, you pick on a hit show and you get money … woo hoo!

Personally I find this whole thing a non-story except it lets me once again shake my head in amazement at my fellow men and their stupidity for getting worked up over something completely not worth getting involved in.

Oh good grief, here we go again.  Just when it looked like we were safe from one proposed remake of the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, another one springs up to take its place and fill our nightmares with what they may do to this beloved movie.

Just about a year ago we dodged a bullet when a planned remake of this move by MTV was canned, leading us to believe that perhaps Hollywood finally realized you could never capture lightning in a bottle twice.  Now, Ryan Murphy, creator of the hit show Glee, is being rumored to be in talks with Fox 2000, a division of 20th Century Fox, about a possible theatrical remake of the film.

This is all based off of the media attention that the Oct. 26th episode of his TV show is receiving due to the fact that it will be a tribute to the movie.  Apparently studio heads think that this means a remake could work, but it also goes to show they have no clue what they are talking about.

While a tribute episode of a TV show is all well and good, trying to remake the film will be a total disaster.  The original still has midnight showings because the film isn’t self-conscious about itself.  Lets face it, the original is a horrible mess of a movie, but that’s why people love it; they can revel in its awfulness.  Anyone who would try to remake it now would go one of two ways: it would either be so stilted as they tried to make sure that current fans would make of it again, or they would try to make it a coherent film and come to the realization that you can’t make sense of the story.

Yes, yes, the story is pretty basic, but it is just a god awful concept, get over it.

There is absolutely no reason for this film to ever be remade by anyone, for any reason.  Just keep showing the original around the country, or even do annual Halloween re-releases of it on a broader scale, but don’t ever try to copy what simply can not be done.

Mr. Murphy … please, for everyone’s sanity, including your own, just walk away.

It seems that Facebook is becoming the new place for teachers to get pervy on their students, and the New York City Department of Education isn’t going to stand for it.

According to The New York Post, a recent investigation by the DoE led to the dismissal of two full-time teachers and one substitute for inappropriate contact with students.

Chadwin Reynolds (picture removed at request of the photographer, please visit the newspaper article to see it.), a 37-year-old teacher from Fordham High School for the Arts, was dismissed when the investigation found he had friended a half-dozen female students on Facebook.  He left comments such as “this is sexy” under their photos, and had status messages such as ”I’m not a gynecologist, but I’ll take a look inside,”  that the students could see.  He also reportedly sent one girl flowers, candy and a teddy bear.  Mr. Reynolds told the newspaper that the charges against him had been thrown out despite a department spokesperson saying he had been released over the scandal.

The second full-time dismissal was 30-year-old Laurie Hirsch, who was formerly a paraprofessional at William C. Bryant High School in Long Island City, Queens.  She was let go in May of this year when she posted an image of her kissing an 18-year-old former student.  The male in the equation admitted to a relationship saying he had had sex with her ten times in her apartment, but both said that nothing had happened while he was still a student.  She was ultimately put on indefinite suspension for using a cellphone to frequently during school hours as the two had racked up 2,700 phone contacts over a six month period.

The substitute teacher that was let go,  Stephen D’Andrilli, friended several female students at the Essex Street Academy, leaving the comments such as that they were beautiful and that their boyfriends didn’t deserve girlfriends as pretty as them.  He was permanently removed from the substitute teacher system.

A fourth teacher was discovered to be giving extra credit to students who friended him on the site, but no action was taken against him.

Some school districts have been outright banning teachers from friending students on the popular social networking site, but New York City has yet to enact any sort of policy in relation to it.  A DoE spokeswoman told the newspaper, ”we continually look at ways that our policies may need to evolve to keep pace with technology,” so it seems safe to assume that off the back of this scandal something will be happening.

Luckily it appears that none of these situations went to the physical level with the exception of Ms. Hirsch, and that one appears to have been legal.  Does make you wonder where else this may be happening, however.

Be sure to check out the other teacher sex scandals happening around the country.

You’ve hunted for the job, and you’ve applied for it, now how do you keep it once you’ve gotten it?

Just like any job, you have to give blogging your best try, and make sure you live up to our duties.  If you don’t, you can quickly find yourself losing the job you worked so hard to get.  So, how do you go about all of this?  Just like anything else to do with blogging, it isn’t quite like other jobs, so lets take a look at some things you can do.

Time Management

Anytime you work on your own schedule, which most blogs allow you to do, you run the risk of really messing up your time management.  ”Oh, I have until tonight to get those done, think I’ll go watch some TV.”  Next thing you know, you’ve passed out on your couch and you only have an hour to get three articles done.

Set a schedule and stick to it.

It also helps that you make an actual workspace away from distractions.  No TVs, no pets (yeah, I break that part all the time … as I type this with a cat laying in my lap), make it a true work area and not some makeshift spot at the kitchen table.  Go to that place at a set time, do your work, then go on with the rest of the day.  If you aren’t distracted you’d be amazed how fast the work can actually go.

Continue To Practice Your Writing Skills

I don’t care how good you think your writing skills are, there is always room for improvement.  I still make mistakes all the time, and that’s why I’ve bought multiple books on grammar, punctuation and so on.  This is one of my major jobs in life now, and its incumbent upon me to make sure I’m constantly bettering the job I can do.  If you aren’t showing any growth, why should someone keep hoping you will?

Don’t Be Afraid To Admit You’re Overwhelmed

Look, the old saying about biting off more than you can chew always seems to happen in blogging.  At first you’re all enthusiastic, and you think you could write ten posts a day!

Don’t kid yourself.  You might be able to do it for a week, but after a month you’ll be ready to throw yourself off a cliff.

The best thing to do is to just simply talk to your editor and say that you think you overestimated your ability to do that many pieces.  Most of them will work with you and help you find a healthy balance.  It’s a better solution than you quitting from burnout because that would mean a hunt for a new writer, and that’s not anything anyone enjoys.

Build Up Emergency Posts

If your blog allows you to do non-timely pieces, such as “How To” or list type posts, it never hurts to build up a backlog of posts to be used in emergencies.  Blogs rely on you to get in X amount of pieces on a schedule, but what happens if a child falls sick, or you have some form of emergency?  Does the blog go without content, costing them money and page views?  In larger operations such as newspapers these sort of things wouldn’t be a problem, but most blogs are only a few people, and if one misses their posts, it’s obvious to the readers.

A good rule of thumb is to have about a week’s worth of “evergreen” posts on hand.  I’m great at doing this for my paying jobs, but on my personal blog … ha.  At my current employer, TechnoBuffalo, however, I have a good arsenal of posts built up in case I should fall sick or something else comes up where I simply can’t write some day.  As most blogs pay on publication, you are doing this technically for free at the time you write them, but they could pay off big down the road in helping you keep your job.

Remember, This Is A Job

It never ceases to amaze me how many people get the job of a blogger, and then act like it’s a joke.  This is a job, you have duties, do them.  Just because you aren’t face-to-face in most instances doesn’t mean you can slack off and then get snippy with your boss when they call you on it.  (I have seen this happen)  If a blog has hired you, it is a business, and like any other business it is paying you to do a job.  Do it.

Going Forward

I know I originally said this would be a four part series, but a reader e-mailed me a good question about getting yourself known in the early days, so come back next week for Part 5: Increasing Your Visibility.

And, if there is any interest in me continuing this as a weekly series, let me know.  I’m not opposed to it.

Have you ever sat down to watch a show you were looking forward to, and then discovered it may be one the worst things ever televised? That’s exactly what happened to me recently, and man was it dreadfully painful.

I’ve been running a bit behind in my TV watching as the week I was in Philadelphia was the big week for television premieres. I finally got around to $#*! My Dad Says, and I have to say it was the first time in a very long, long time that I can remember not even finishing a one episode.  Usually I feel compelled to finish what I start, but I just couldn’t do it with this show.

I normally enjoy William Shatner, but the writing of this show was just abysmal: Predictable, pedestrian, cliché and just about any other term you can think of for describing your worst nightmare of a sitcom.  While I worried about this show having a limited number of plots, I’m not even sure it had one.

The sad thing is, it’s getting decent enough ratings for networks to look at possibly making at least one other sitcom based off of Twitter activity.  Ugh.  Why?  One is bad enough.

A total of 49 published this week.  Busy, busy week.

FunJug.com

• Family Feud – Hilarious Fast Money
• Sesame Street: Smell Like A Monster
• Saruman and the Retarded Helper
• Japanese Pretzel Commercials
• Two Rabbits, Two Cups
• Stealing Home FAIL
• 1950s Education on “Homosexuals”

RememberingChristmas.com

• Rockettes Prepping For Radio City Christmas Spectacular

SeanPAune.com

• Two Skyview High School Faculty Members Arrested In Sex Scandals
• Columbus Day – Year Five
• Becoming A Professional Blogger: Part 3 – Getting The Job
• Is Johnny Depp The Coolest Guy In Hollywood?
• The Walking Dead Comic Is A Must Read
• Ole Miss Names New Mascot, Admiral Ackbar Is A Sad Mon Calamari
• Scattercast Episode #117: Lets Get Positive
• Getting In Shape Is Expensive

SpookieBits.com

• Hot Halloween Costumes For 2010
• Top 10 Halloween Costumes For Kids And Adults

TechnoBuffalo.com

• Ebook Pricing Going All Out Of Whack
• Google Testing Self Driving Cars
• An Infographic: Google By The Numbers
• Apple May Report Its First $20 Billion Dollar Quarter
• The Social Network Wins A Second Weekend At The Box Office
• AT&T Launching Three Windows Phone 7 Phones Before The Holidays
• AT&T Adds U-Verse Support To Xbox 360
• There’s An App For That Trademark
• Batman:Arkham City Images & Details Dribble Out
• Call Of Duty: Black Ops Single Player Trailer Finally Released
• Report: Customers Really Are Cutting The Cable Cord
• Google Helping Fund Biggest Offshore Wind Farm
• Live From The Sony Google TV Event
• MWalmart Officially Announces It Will Carry The iPad
• Apple to hold ‘Back to the Mac’ event on Oct. 20th
• Microsoft Would Like To See Virus Infected Computers Kept Off The Internet
• Gran Turismo 5 Delayed Again
• Apple Receives Patent For Anti-Sexting Technology
• Sony Google TV Sets Get Tech Specs
• Apple Adds Sam Club To The List Of iPad Retailers
• Verizon Getting The iPad, Is This A Hint?
• Skype 5.0 Brings Facebook To Your Virtual Phone
• Live From The iRobot Press Event
• Kinect’s Dance Central Song List Gets Your Feet Moving
• First Map Pack For Halo:Reach Announced
• Flashback Friday: Copiers The Size Of Small Cars
• Sept. Sales Down Again For The Gaming Industry
• AMD Stays Away From Tablets As Sales Projected To Skyrocket In 2011
• Rumors: 11.6-Inch MacBook Air Coming Next Week
• Redbox Expanding Video Game Rentals To More Kiosks
• Rumor: Android 4.0 To Be Called “Ice Cream”

I have come to the conclusion that one could go broke trying to get into shape.

Long time readers of this blog know that I have gotten progressively more serious about trying to lose weight and get into shape, but with this has come a seemingly never ending stream of new expenses.  Every time I turn around it seems like there is something else I need to spend money on, and I just have to wonder where it stops.

The most obvious one is I have lost ten inches off of my waist, so I have had to buy several new pairs of pants over the past year or so.  Generally pants last me years, so that was something I wasn’t planning on.  I have also gone down two shirt sizes, so I am slowly rebuilding my supply of polo shirts.  During my recent trip to Philadelphia, the Diabolical Miss M insisted that we go clothes shopping because “nothing you have is fitting you!”  So, there was yet another clothes expense (although I escaped with just two sweaters and a pair of jeans that she bought for me), and it almost makes me fearful to keep losing weight!

Not really, but you get the idea.

Then comes the exercise expenses.  Due to my severe allergies, I can’t really go for long outside walks where I live out in the country, so a treadmill at the gym is necessary, which costs me $35 a month.  (I looked into buying a treadmill, but decided this makes more sense since I also have access to all the weight machines)

However, I don’t always feel like going to the gym, so I have also spent a goodly chunk of change on barbells for home ranging from 15 lbs to 45 lbs.

Oh, having barbells just laying around gets tiresome, so I also had to buy a rack to put them on.

Oh, and when using barbells, or weight machines at the gym, you should really wear gloves because otherwise you tear up your hands, so I had to buy gloves.

Oh, you need to buy a lock for your locker at the gym also.

Oh, you also need workout clothes.

Getting the point?

Now, something the Diabolical Miss M has been trying to talk me into for ages is giving Pilates a go.  She has probably been after me for a year or so to do this, and I finally relented.  I bought a beginners DVD she suggested (Gaiam Pilates: Beginning Mat Workout, affiliate link) and thought, “Oh, that’s all I need to buy.  I don’t really need the mat.”

… wrong.

Turns out the mat is essential for properly aligning your spine so you don’t risk injury.  I did the workout a couple times without a mat, and finally bit the bullet and spent $69 on a mat (yes, there are cheaper ones out there, but I needed one that is longer than most due to my height).  I’ll be using the mat for the first time tomorrow night, and I hope it was worth it, but yeesh, what am I going to have to buy next?

Although, I will say, Miss M was right, I have never felt my abs burn quite like they do after Pilates.

While I am thrilled to be be in what is probably the best shape of my life, and I’ve become a total gym addict, I just keep wondering when all of this money spending stops.

It’s episode #117 of Scattercast and we all need to get positive!

Some thoughts on the general negativity in the media and how they should all see the good things in live.

Some thoughts on the upcoming election.

Enjoy the show folks!

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subscribe to Scattercast via iTunes.

It’s a sad day for the Rebellion. Ole Miss has picked its new mascot, and it’s not Admiral Ackbar.

In case you’ve forgotten, back in Feb., some students at Ole Miss were lobbying to get the Star Wars character Admiral Ackbar named as the new mascot for the school when the confederate general had been removed over complaints of it being insensitive.  Some students threatened to leave the school if this came to be, so obviously they’ll never have to live up to that threat now.

So, what won out over this noble space fish admiral?  What could be more regal than a giant talking lobster?

A bear.

“Rebel Black Bear” is his name … and he is boring with the obvious cool factor of our dear admiral.  You can see him below, and you can obviously see he is no where nearly as cool as Ackbar, but what can we do.

So, enjoy your boring ole bear, you fun killers.  Those of us who understand the majesty of Admiral Ackbar shall always carry him close to our hearts.

With excitement building for the launch of The Walking Dead television series on Oct. 31st on AMC, I decided to sit down and give the comic a try.

… twelve volumes later I can barely wait for volume 13.

The Walking Dead (affiliate link) comic by Robert Kirkman tells the story of what happens when a policeman awakes from a coma to discover the world has completely changed, the dead are walking, his family is missing and there seems to be no hope of anyone coming to the rescue.  What do you do?  How do you go on living, and do you even care to?

Each volume covers six issues of the series (although there are other formats that hold 12 issues and 24 issues each), and every last one of them is a page turner.  While the series starts off as a seemingly typical zombie story, but as it progresses it becomes clear the zombies are very much secondary to the story of what happens to your normal, walk-of-the-mill person when the world around them goes insane.  Would you be able to retain your humanity?  Do the rules change?  Can you survive in a world full of walking dead, and even living people who will kill you for your possessions?  At what point do you become no better than the creatures that surround you daily?

I am purposefully staying away from the details of the series because it is utterly gripping, and I have been burning through them as fast as I can turn the pages.  You become totally invested in the fates of these characters, and believe me, considering the circumstances they live under, that can be a mistake.

For those of you who think you can just watch the upcoming TV series and get the story, I can tell you from what footage I’ve seen that they have obviously changed a lot of things from the source material.  Do yourself a favor and pick up the comic and enjoy it in addition to the TV show, and I highly doubt that you’ll regret the purchase.

I have gotten to a point where I just can’t stomach any more stories of celebrities that behave badly. Whether it be Lindsay Lohan being arrested again, or Paris Hilton being found with cocaine in Las Vegas, it just never seems to be any positive stories about these insipid people. So, isn’t it sad when we have to all go “what?” when one does something actually heartwarming without any personal gain from it?

Last week, Johnny Depp, arguably one of the biggest movie stars in the world right now, paid an unannounced visit to Meridian primary school after he received a letter from nine-year-old Beatrice Delap.  Ms. Delap had written to “Jack Sparrow” to ask for his help in running a mutiny against the school’s teachers, and since he was nearby filming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, he decided to stop by to tell her in person to say it was a bad idea.

Actually, excuse me, Mr. Depp didn’t come by, but Capt. Jack Sparrow did.

Calling the school only ten minutes before he arrived,  Capt. Sparrow along with a few other assorted pirates showed up a the school looking for Ms. Delap, where he showed he had her letter with him and chatted with other students.  Everyone then went to the auditorium for a quickly arranged assembly, and Capt. Sparrow entertained the kids for 15 minutes, never once turning into Johnny Depp.

While it would be easy to say this was a promotion for the film, it is still months away from release, and staging something like this now wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense.  Also, Mr. Depp … er … Capt. Sparrow has been known to show up hospitals to entertain children in cancer wards, so this isn’t totally unusual for him.

How sad is it that you have to point out someone doing something fun for his fans?  How easy would it have been for Depp to ignore the letter and just go about his day?  Instead just about every media outlet out there has covered this story because it is so out of the ordinary in this day and age for an actor of any level to do something like this, let alone one who is estimated to have made $75 million from his last movie (Alice in Wonderland).

Good on you, Mr. Depp.

Welcome to part three of a four part series for those of you interested in becoming a professional blogger. Last week I gave you a guide to where to find blogging jobs, but this week it’s time to discuss how you get through the application process.

While every site has its own rules about how to apply, there are some common rules that applying to any blogging job that you should follow.

Read The Ad Twice

It always amazes me how many people will miss some little thing in an advertisement for a blogging position.  If you miss one step in applying, that can quickly lead them to believe that you have a tendency to not pay attention to details in your work.

One of the biggest tips I can give you, having been on both sides of the blogger hiring process, is that you need to follow any and all directions they give you in the ad to the letter.  You are being tested whether you know it or not, and missing a simple instruction can tell a potential employer a lot about your work ethic.

There is a famous story about how Van Halen had a clause in their concert contracts that called for a bowl of M&M’s to be backstage at all shows, but it was to contain no brown ones.  The reason for this wasn’t diva-like actions, but instead it was a quick visual check for the band and its crew to see if the venue paid attention to small details.  If there were brown ones in the bowl, that immediately told the band that there might be other issues with the setup that could have easily been overlooked.

So, mind the brown M&M’s when you’re applying for a writing job because you never know what the true tests are.

Despite What You’ve Heard, Bloggers Are Professionals

Due to the word “blog” applying to personal blogs (i.e. this one) as well as professional ones, the line has become somewhat blurred on the fact that applying for a blogging job is just that: applying for a job.

The normal resume rules apply, and sending someone your complete history back to grade school and every job you had tossing fries just isn’t necessary.  Standard etiquette dictates that a resume should be one page, and two at most, but I have seen ones as long as five.  There is just no need for that much information.

No matter how big the blog is, if you are applying for an internship or a paid position, you should treat it just as seriously as you would when applying to any other job anywhere.

If They Want Samples, Triple Check Them

When sending in writing samples you have what feels like all the time in the world.  Take that time to pour over your samples for spelling, punctuation, grammar, flow and so on.

If you’ve never submitted anything for professional work before, one of the biggest tips I can give you is to read the article out loud to yourself to hear how the words “fall” on your ear.  Does it flow?  Are any of the sentences fractured?  You’ll eventually get the feeling for what works, but in the early days this step never hurts you in figuring out how things work.

You won’t have time to do all of these steps for each article if you get the job, but it doesn’t hurt to do it during the application process.

Did You Read The Ad Twice?

Yes, it really is that important.  Before you click send on the e-mail, make sure you have gone on over everything and crossed every “t”.

One more article coming next week folks where I give you some advice om keeping the job once you have it.