Black Friday Diminishing In Importance?

November 25, 2016 | Eric

Old Cash Register

Anyone else getting the feeling that Black Friday…has lost its punch?

To me, it started when Cyber Monday came on the scene.  Then, in the last couple of years, Black Friday sales started to impinge upon Thursday.  And people don’t want things messing with their turkey.

So when you start to see news reports or articles on either the apparent success or failure of Black Friday and the kickoff of the holiday sales season, take it with a grain of salt.  Actually, you will probably end up ignoring them altogether after reading this article from FiveThirtyEight.  They spell out a number of reasons why the data you hear about this weekend is dead wrong.

For instance, MasterCard says the busiest shopping day last year…way above Black Friday.  So way to go, slackers.

How do you get it done? —->

 

 

Florence Henderson, TV Mom Carol Brady, Dies At 82

November 25, 2016 | Eric
Brady / Henderson
When you have earned the title of America’s TV Mom, there is no doubt you have had incredible reach across generations.
Florence Henderson, who played matriarch Carol Brady on the sitcom The Brady Bunch,  passed away yesterday from heart failure at the age of 82.
The show only ran for five years on TV, but it found a larger and longer life by reaching people like you and me…in long running syndication.  In fact, The Brady Bunch was such an enduring success that since its first re-airing in September 1975, an episode of the Brady Bunch has been broadcast on a television somewhere in the United States and abroad every day of the year.  Every day.
NPR has the first great look into Henderson’s greatest character, plus the rest of her life and career.  Read it here.

“The Onion” – Top 10 Thanksgiving Edition

November 24, 2016 | Eric

Welcome to Thanksgiving.  Hopefully the celebration with family and/or friends is a joyous, relaxing time of year.  For the rest of you, however, the satirical news deliverers over at The Onion likely provided a much needed laugh.  (And for those who have no problems with the holiday, you are welcome to laugh along, too.)

On this Thanksgiving 2016, lets look back at The Onion’s Top 10 takes on turkey day:

1:  Siblings Gather Around PowerPoint To Hash Out Off-Limits Topics For Thanksgiving

Onion: 1 - Powerpoint

2:  Grandma Concerned About Dinner Roll Count

3:  Thanksgiving By The Numbers

3-thanksgiving-by-the-numbers

4:  Reporter Investigates Claims He Ruined His Family’s Thanksgiving Dinner

5:  26-Year-Old To See Every A&$hole He Ever Went To High School With On Night Before Thanksgiving

5-26-year-old-goes

6:  Domino’s Introduces Thanksgiving Feast Pizza

7:  Only College Student Staying On Campus Planning Saddest Thanksgiving Meal Of All Time

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8:  Americans Enjoying Thanksgiving Tradition Of Sitting Around At Airport

9:  Nation’s Uncles Enter Last Stage Of Prep For Thursday’s Thanksgiving Debates

10:  Pope Francis Canonizes Single Turkey In Annual Vatican Tradition

10-pope

 

 

 

ABC7 anchor Linda Yu signs off after a long career in Chicago TV

November 23, 2016 | Kevin


For 37 years she has graced the TV screens of Chicago, reporting the news and doing so with a natural endearing quality but today was Linda Yu’s last day with ABC7 Eyewitness News. Yu immigrated to the United States from China knowing very little English,then climbed her way up the media ladder and delivered quality news reporting every step along the way. She has been on air in Chicago since 1979, first with NBC5 before starting her long run with ABC7 in 1984. Yu became the first Asian-American journalist to be on TV in Chicago.

The team at ABC7 gave her a tremendous sendoff on her last day.

Here is a retrospective look at Yu’s prolific career which started first on the West Coast and has taken her all over the world bringing the news back to Chicago.

 

Gooble Gobble giggle giggle: Adam Sandler’s ‘Thanksgiving Song’ from SNL

November 23, 2016 | Kevin
Before he was getting into fights with Bob Barker in ‘Happy Gilmore’ or playing a man child sent back to grade school in ‘Billy Madison’, Adam Sandler was one of the star players in 90’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ and this 1992 ‘Thanksgiving Song’ sketch on ‘Weekend Update’ was one of his first hits on the show. Yes , it doesn’t have to make sense to be funny, it just is funny because of how silly and delightful it is.
Happy Thanksgiving, hope you have avoided all the awkward conversations about politics but also ate all the pie. – Kevin

BEHOLD THE PIZZA SQUIRREL of CHICAGO!

November 22, 2016 | Kevin

pizza-cover

Yes, he has appeared once again. The rare, elusive, and apparently hungry Pizza Squirrel has been spotted again! Reddit user NASA_Wifi posted this awesome pic of the fuzzy thick-thighed guy munching on an entire slice of pizza in a tree in the Whicker Park area. Note the slice is almost as a long as his body. Imagine eating anything let alone a pizza the length of your body?! Now the hard to answer question is what pizza place made this slice because I am pretty sure this endorsemnet from this critter could be a marketing home-run right?

Our local sauce-loving squirrels have been seen snacking like this before, as most recently as this past May in the Ukrainian Village area. The Pizza-eating squirrel is not a completely new trend, there is an entire Reddit dedicated to it .

A piece of viral internet gold like this will remind many of us of the Pizza Rat who made waves online in a video filmed in a New York City subway station. That video went viral in a massive way, but it’s worth noting that the rat left his slice and scurried off somewhere. Thus proving once and for all, that Chicago pizza is the superior pie in the never-ending Pizza Battle between Chicago and NYC that  has raged through the ages. It’s done, it’s science! @kevkellam 

 

Riot Fest!

November 22, 2016 | <3 Lauren

Before you blow all your money on other people, Christmas presents, Black Friday and whatnot, blow it on yourself!

Grab your Riot Fest Holiday Presale tickets HERE, and enjoy a little Christmas Vacation Riot Fest style:

See you in Douglas Park next year!

<3 @laurenoneil

riot-fest-presale

Cars 3 Trailer Is Here!

November 22, 2016 | <3 Lauren

“From this moment, everything will change.”

Jeez.  Kinda hits you right in the sads, like the beginning of Finding Nemo or Bambi…

Still, can’t wait for Cars 3 opening in theatres in 3D June 16, 2017.

<3 @laurenoneil

Instagram introduces Live Video

November 22, 2016 | Kevin

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The ‘Gram is going live. Instagram will soon activate a new live video feature, confirmed in an announcement  yesterday from the picture-driven social media app. It’s not available to all users yet, i=but is currently in testing.

When someone you follow starts a live story, you’ll see “Live” under their profile photo in the stories bar. During the broadcast, you can comment and like as much as you want. You can also check out new live stories on Explore. Tap “Top Live” to see exciting live stories happening at that moment and swipe right and left to easily skip around.

Live video on Instagram Stories and Explore will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks. – Instagram’s official announcement on November 21st.

And yes, it’s a lot like Facebook Live and Periscope (did we all forget about Periscope already?), in that it works on mobile devices and is easy to turn on. There are some key differences though on how the video itself is viewed by others on IG. Instagram Live videos disappear from the app after their initial live broadcast ends, unlike Facebook where those live videos remain to be watched later. This could be meant to make the experience more intimate and allow people to make the content more passive.

IG also announced in this update yesterday another new feature in direct-message video to allow users to send video direct to one another. Just like direct video on Snapchat, the video is only watchable twice. It’s not the only move that IG has made recently that seems a very similar to Snapchat, as in August they introduced ‘Stories’ which has 100 million users each day already.  It’s worth noting for tech novices that Facebook should not feel to threatened by this move by IG, as they are Instagram’s parent company. Lord Zuckerberg’s empire grows and grows.

Don’t worry Snapchat is not sitting on their yellow laurels, they too are introducing new features to stay hot in the social video universe with their first piece of hardware, ‘Spectacles’. Check out video of them here. 

The tech insiders of the Verge really break down  IG’s new video changes and how they match up to other apps even more, read that here.

Dave Chapelle to release 3 comedy specials on Netflix

November 21, 2016 | Kevin

nbc_tjf_hlt_s01e75_075_davechapelle_meetskanye_20140613

Comedy superstar Dave Chapelle continues his return to the limelight after a much-talked about hosting spot on ‘SNL’, news came out today that he will tape a new exclusive special for Netflix. Besides the new material in this yet-to-be-filmed special, Chapelle will also put two different unreleased stand-up shows that were filmed at Austin City Limits and The Hollywood Palladium on Netflix in 2017.

Streaming overlords Netflix seemed to be doubling down with great comedy content lately. They recently inked a deal with Chris Rock for 2 stand up specials, and they already have dozens of great stand up shows with greats like Dana Carvey, Ali Wong, and Chicago’s own John Mulaney. If you want something funny, it’s a few clicks away nowadays. As a comedy nerd, I have recently tried the all-comedy streaming service Seeso and I love it.

Chapelle made headlines in 2005 when he walked away from his very successful ‘Chapelle Show’, and over the course of the years that followed he would make sporadic appearances at comedy clubs before making a full return to touring in 2013 as the headliner of the Oddball Comedy Festival.

The ‘Halfbaked’ star has been in the comedy game for decades now, and it’s refreshing to know he never lost his magic touch on the microphone. Here is Chapelle performing a set in 1993 at the Just For Laughs Festival in 1993.

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