Broken news

About CNN's rush yesterday to be the first to report the Supreme Court's ruling about the Affordable Care Act, declaring the individual mandate initially unconstitutional and not getting around to revealing that the justices actually voted to allow it as a tax for seven minutes:

That's the kind of crackerjack reportage that will keep me not watching CNN.

Or Fox News. Or MSNBC.

And the way journalists on NPR kept talking about how they themselves did not see this result coming rather than about the story itself show why I don't support my local public radio station either.

Attention media: You don't have to make it so easy for The Daily Show to make fun of you.

Three years ago today...

...she became my wife.

And every day since the best part has been the time spent with her.

The everyday, every day

Saturday we went to an ice cream shop where its slogan on the sign read: "Handmade Ice Cream.  Everyday."  It was pretty good so I don't see why they'd tell everyone it was run-of-the-mill, pedestrian, commonplace, "everyday"; they should tell people they make it fresh every day.

But hey, it's not up to me to tell them how to promote their business.

House Hunters in the Outhouse

My wife and I are people who keep the TV on more than we should. Allow me to concede that right up front. We watch (as in, actively choose to pay attention—or as close to that as anyone does in this era of Twitter and iPads and the other diversions that can co-exist with TV viewing) a fair number of shows, but there's also times when we put something on that's mostly just background—well, more pseudo-background, as it can prove to be something that gets as much attention as the shows we actively sought (and probably recorded) but without us having the specific intention of devoting ourselves to it in any way. It's something to have on while, say, making dinner, or cleaning up after dinner, or after going to bed as something that won't be disturbing and where it doesn't matter if we fall asleep part way through the episode.

Over the past couple months we've switched over to making HGTV that just-throw-on channel. People buying houses or fixing up houses or designing houses is innocuous enough to not be disturbing, but can still be compelling enough to sometimes make us back up and watch the beginning again if it gets interesting later. And we figure it might help motivate us to get back on the hunt for a property and stop renting.

Note to the writer of the plot synopses for DirecTV: Nailed it

IFC's offering at 9 a.m. today: the 1958 camptastic horror flick, Blood of the Vampire.

The IMDb plot synopsis: "A man and wife are terrorized by Mad Scientist Dr. Callistratus who was executed but has returned to life with a heart transplant. Along with his crippled assistant Carl, the 'anemic' Mad Scientist, believed to be a vampire, conducts blood deficiency research on the inmates of a prison hospital for the criminally insane to sustain his return to life."

The DirecTV info plot synopsis: "A couple enters the asylum of a mad vampire doctor and his one-eyed assistant with bangs, Carl."

Nothing sells the movie like very specific details about the henchman's hair style.