New Contact INFO

Psst... look down below for new contact INFO.... many of you who have been in regular contact have gotten my new private address... if not, send a line to INFO and I will make sure you get it. (It's not clickable for security reasons.)

UPDATE: I have already started receiving SPAM at this address. Please be advised that all SPAM sent to the INFO address will be reported!

Fox News Is A Big Fat Idiot

Fox News has dropped its lawsuit against Al Franken, over his new book that includes the words "Fair And Balanced" on the cover. "Fair And Balanced" is ostensibly a trademark of Fox, but they don't really use it too much. (It got a workout a few Fridays ago in weblogs around the country on Fair And Balanced Day.)

The Fox spokeswoman, announcing the dropping of the case, said (paraphrasing) that it's time to return Al Franken to the obscurity to which he is accustomed.

Excuse me? A charter writer and featured player for "Saturday Night Live"? A political pundit? The man who wrote "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot"? Obscure? Lady, they don't even know your name, so I wouldn't talk if I were you.

(By the way, scroll down to the August 13 blog entry if you want to order Franken's book and support further davemackey.com projects.)

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Effective IMMEDIATELY, I will NO LONGER BE ACCEPTING E-MAIL AT dave@davemackey.com DUE TO PROBLEMS WITH THE SOBIG VIRUS. Please give me some time to set up a new secure e-mail box and we will be in touch again soon.

Fair And Balanced - What Have We Learned?

Well, we have come to the end of Fair And Balanced Day. What have we learned?

• I wasn't alone in this endeavor. Neal Pollack led the way, along with Noam Alaska's "Demagogue" blog, the-hamster.com, Brian Plank's Helmethead Journal, Andy Ihnatko's Colossal Waste Of Bandwidth "Yellowtext" (the Bear and Valance version), and Mark Evanier's News From Me; if you know of others, pass them along and I'll update this entry.
  
• Dotto was cancelled in spite of the fine job Jack Narz did
  
• A butcher still won't give you a quarter pound of rump roast in New York City - you can't get there until the subways start running again
  
• Frank Buxton is still the man
  
• The Brits kick our ass when it comes to Batfink sites
  
• No matter how small you make Dakota Fanning's picture, her movie still sucks

One interesting sidelight to Fair And Balanced Day and the man whose bacon we are trying to save: I was flipping channels yesterday afternoon, and on Encore was the movie "Trading Places", and there, as an Amtrak baggage handler, was the man himself, Al Franken (super: "AL FRANKEN"). He was there along with his writing partner of those years, Tom Davis.

And Idi Amin is dead! My, how the once-mighty have fallen.

Batfink Rocks The UK

We continue our quest to be Fair and Balanced by bringing you news of a relatively new Batfink website, an official effort from the show's UK distributor. The URL is www.batfinkuk.com. (Just be fair and balanced and remember who was first on the web with a Batfink site!)

FRANK BUXTON SPEAKS

In our ongoing attempts to be Fair And Balanced (and make sure the "And" is capitalized), I wish to acknowledge this blog entry by Mark Evanier, who is also observing Fair And Balanced day. It includes a quote from the extremely fair and balanced Frank Buxton, who was half of the regular voice cast of "Batfink" and happens to mention the other half, Len Maxwell, in his quote. It seems that both Maxwell and Buxton, as well as actresses Julie Bennett and Louise Lasser, comprised the voice cast (and all took writing credits as well, to make a fair and balanced point) on the Woody Allen dub-fest, "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" (Buxton also hosted a game show, a kids show called "Discovery" and was the writer of the famous "Password" episode of "The Odd Couple".)

Power Outage Creates Unfair, Unbalanced Situation

How can butchers in New York give customers a fair and balanced quarter pound of rump roast when the scales are down due to the power outage? Mercifully, davemackey.com headquarters were spared the carnage (we did have a little brownout at the time the power went out - 4:11 p.m.), so we can continue to observe Fair And Balanced Day, on which we tell Fox's lawyers to stick it and support the work of Al Franken.

Al Franken would probably tell you so himself in as many words: "So I used 'fair and balanced' in the title of this new book, written by me... Al Franken. So what?"

Beverly Offers Fair And Balanced Account Of Dotto Cancellation

So was the fix in? CBS seemed to think so as it broadcast the final episode of "Dotto" on this date 45 years ago. The following Monday, people saw "Top Dollar", a more fair and balanced quiz with Warren Hull, instead. Read the account of "Dotto"'s cancellation here.

Happy Fair And Balanced Day!

Friday is Fair And Balanced Day at www.davemackey.com. This article reveals why. Of course, this is a side result of Fox News Channel suing Al Franken (former "Saturday Night Live" writer/cast member) over the use of the phrase in the title of his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, available from our partner amazon.com by clicking the book's little ol' title.

Okay, so I'll never get on Pat Sajak's show this way, but who cares.

Incidentally, we have now put permanent links up leading out to our General Store. We have some of the forthcoming "Trading Spaces" merchandise (specifically the new episode guide and trivia books coming out in November), but we have some big news coming soon regarding this series, a website that has decided not to recap the show any more starting with the fourth season premiere on September 6, and a website that is planning to take up the mantle on that date in that same snarky, catty manner. Anyone we know? Why don't you come back here on September 8 and find out?

"Chicago"

You have it coming yet? If not, click the pic and pre-order the great movie adaptation of the musical Chicago from our partner, amazon.com!

WB Cartoons On DVD Soon

As mentioned earlier, Warner Bros. is releasing its Looney Tunes animated films on the DVD format for the first time in late October.

I strongly recommend you lay out the bucks for the Golden Collection, the four-disc set loaded with extras. If you click on the handy link, you can get it from amazon.com at a discount and make your obedient humble webmaster a few cents in the process. I once again suggest this collection rather than the lower-grade Premiere Collection.

Watch The Haskell On ESPN2

Be sure to watch the live coverage of the Haskell Invitational today on ESPN2, live from Monmouth Park in Oceanport, NJ (5:00 p.m. Eastern, post time approx. 5:40 p.m.). I'd love to go in person, but I am wrapped up with a major home improvement project that has to get done ASAP.

The race is sure to be the best in years, with a field headed by Funny Cide, but listen closely for the Call to Post. Frank Hughes, who also conducts the Dover Township Municipal Band every Friday night in the summer months (come on out and see us!), and has a long list of other musical accomplishments, has been the resident Monmouth Park bugler for 30 years. Frank explained that you'll likely not see him on camera because that's not ESPN's style of coverage, and also because some buglers like to ham it up for the camera (which Frank is certainly not guilty of). And he's the guy who was honored a few weeks back with the Speed Limit 55 sign, for obvious reasons.