Tuesday, January 14, 2014
The Sportsman Channel is making move to expand its brand, attract new advertisers, and using Sarah Palin to help facilitate that. Good luck with that.
First there is this from a PR Newswire story in May:
InterMedia Outdoors, Inc. (IMO), the industry leader and largest provider of Outdoors content, and parent company of The Sportsman Channel (TSC), today announced that it chose not to renew its programming agreements with The Outdoor Channel (TOC), in order to shift its highly-rated and award-winning television shows to The Sportsman Channel. IMO will also increase its commitment of resources to TSC, integrating new and upgraded programming and content from IMO's vast market-leading properties, which extend across print, television, radio and online mediums.
"We are going to build The Sportsman Channel into the leading outdoor network, both in distribution and ratings, and shifting all of our programming to TSC is a major first step in that direction. We have led in every Outdoors category we have entered-magazine, internet, and television production-and now we will lead in networks," says InterMedia Outdoors CEO Jeff Paro. "No other channel in the Outdoors category has ever had this kind of promotional strength behind it. We will actively and aggressively program TSC with hunting, shooting and fishing content, with a focus on high-quality original programming, production of our own shows, and partnerships with producers. TSC will be a better network for the consumer and a better value for the distributor."
So that was the plan about seven or eight months ago, and then this weekend those plans seem to have come to a head. A head with a giant ugly wig sitting on it.
Back in March they also decided to aggressively pursue more mainstream advertisers:
Effective Monday, the Sportsman Channel aims for advertisers beyond its roots — “hook and bullet advertisers” — to larger and more mainstream companies that covet the audience for shows like Steven Rinella’s “MeatEater” and Patrick Flanigan’s “Shell Shocked!”
And who have they been able to sign up with this new focus thus far? Well they hooked this big fish for one:
Cheaper than Dirt!, America’s Ultimate Shooting Sports Discounter, has signed three significant advertising deals with Sportsman Channel for 2014.
Cheaper than Dirt will be airing commercials spots on Sportsman through the following platforms: renowned series “Meet the McMillans,” the “Armed Citizen File” on NRANEWS Cam & Co., and a full-year of various advertising on the network throughout 2014.
Who Nelly! Now THAT'S impressive!
But did Palin bring anything new to the table?
Well possibly,
Courtesy of ABC News:
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will again have a presence on national television after race organizers signed a deal with the Sportsman Channel.
The agreement, announced Wednesday, makes the Sportsman Channel the official network of the nearly 1,000-mile race from Anchorage to Nome. The race, billed as the world's longest, hasn't had a network deal since 2009.
No definitive proof that Palin helped to broker this deal, but if not it would be an awfully big coincidence. And who is it again that does not believe in coincidences?
All I can say is that if the Sportsman channel thinks having Palin on board is the key to long term success they might have done themselves a favor by checking with John McCain and the Tea Party first.
Speaking of Palin she might want to watch herself as hosts of the Sportsman channels programs sometimes meet a violent end.
Stay low Sarah. What am I saying, there are very few people lower than Sarah Palin.
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The Telegraph tries to explain why men love porn star Lisa Ann, and gets it completely wrong. Update!
If you thought the older woman/younger man trend died a death post-Sex and the City and Cougar Town, think again. The recent coverage of PornHub's UK statistics showed that throughout the UK, porn star Lisa Ann is extremely popular: she's the top search term in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and second most popular in England, scoring top-5 status in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, and Bristol.
To some this will come as no surprise, but plenty of people are probably scratching their heads and wondering… who on earth is Lisa Ann?
The actress, who has been in films on and off since the mid-90s, hardly fits the stereotype of the skinny, young, bleached-blonde chick that seems to dominate popular imagination of what porn stars look like.
She's busty, sure, but also filled out everywhere else. And at 42, she is perhaps best-known for playing a Sarah Palin-alike, complete with Hockey Mom glasses, gubernatorial power suit, and semi-automatic rifle in (ahem) seminal Who's Nailin' Paylin.
While the controversial politician and pundit may not be many people's idea of a great date, one thing is for certain - well-groomed, approachable older women are considered enormously attractive across the board. The idea of the shelf life of sexual attractiveness topping out at 30 is going the way of the dodo, if PornHub is any indication.
Wrong!
Here's the rest of the top five searches.
What I really think is behind the UK focus on Lisa Ann has little to do with her age or figure, and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that her most famous role was to depict Sarah Palin being degraded and used by a variety of different men.
I think this obsession with Palin is driven by a deep and abiding dislike for the woman.
The British newspapers have been universally mocking and derisive toward Palin since she first stepped on the national stage, and rarely miss an opportunity to point out something stupid she has said or ridicule her for her attempts to gain fame through various reality shows. I believe this also reflects opinion of Palin throughout much of the UK.
In fact this desire to view Lisa Ann channeling Sarah Palin may be no more complicated then the visceral thrill they get by seeing something shoved in her mouth that finally gets her to stop talking. That may sound misogynist, but I kind of think it applies to both genders.
You know now that I think about it, that DOES sound satisfying.
Update: I thought I would further clarify my point by pointing out that this objectification of Sarah Palin is something that she encourages up to a point through her artificially inflated breasts, hooker shoes, and overall demeanor.
What Lisa Ann does is take that fantasy to its logical conclusion, and the Brits may not want to watch that because they are aroused by the idea of an older woman or Sarah Palin specifically, but because in more sadistic manner they want to see some version of her receiving what they believe she deserves.
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Why gun accidents in America are so very, very common.
Bullets found in "unloaded guns" at The Dallas Gun and Knife Show at Dallas Market Hall in Dallas, Texas on Sunday, January 5, 2014. All guns are checked at the door an ammo found in guns are put in this water jug.
"Don't worry, its' not loaded" may be the most common last words heard by those who are about to die in this country.
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Sarah Palin pimps her new show that nobody will bother to watch, and jokes about shooting Wolf Blitzer from a helicopter.
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| I think this might be the Grizzled Mama with Bristol, but don't hold me to that. |
Todd and I had a great time in Pasadena with Sportsman Channel working on "Amazing America with Sarah Palin" and dedicating the network to "Red, Wild & Blue America!" The show premieres in April. I can't wait to show you the inspiring people, places, and things that make this country truly amazing! As I told members of the Television Critics Association yesterday, I'm especially encouraged to have opportunities to empower young women to get outdoors, be self-sufficient, and work extremely hard so they can live life vibrantly. (There's that "live vibrantly" phrase again. I swear she never retires these stupid catchphrases no matter how tired and overused they become. Which is why years from now we will still hear her talking about fundamentally restoring the country, cooking moose chili, and the lamestream media until we want to beat our heads against the wall.) See, I'm convinced the world will be a better place when we have more girls holding fish in pictures and fewer holding selfie cameras in front of the bathroom mirror.
In response to that last remark Palin posted this picture of Piper supposedly playfully mocking her "girls holding fish" comment.
In that same post Palin, or her ghostwriter, also attempted to make a rather ugly joke at the expense of CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
Thank you to everyone who attended the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour breakfast yesterday. And, no, friends, upon spotting CNN's Wolf Blitzer at a TCA event, no one was tempted to re-engage any Department of Fish and Game Predator Control Program to scamper away troublesome wolves! I had a nice chat with him instead. (Plus, I adore his mother.)
Obviously this is a reference to the controversial Alaska predator control program we have up here, which essentially means that she is making a joke about shooting Blitzer from a helicopter like his lupine namesakes.
Or know Palin's reputation for helping to target people who are then shot by crazy people.
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Chris Christie's cover story is blown.
The thousands of documents released Friday show that Port Authority official David Wildstein went to great lengths to create a cover story.
Wildstein and the top aide to Gov. Chris Christie who set him in motion might actually have been able to pass it all off as a traffic study rather than unconscionable political payback.
Wildstein gave the supposed test the official sounding name “TL24.” He even put together a PowerPoint presentation complete with photos and charts. The title page read:
“Reallocation of Toll Lanes at the GWB.
An EARLY Assessment of the Benefits of the Trials.
September 12, 2013.”
The results were summarized as:
“TBD”
Meaning “to be determined,” which is a pretty good description of how it will play out with regard to Christie’s political future.
The latest documents make the four days of closings seem all the more reckless and reprehensible. Various emails from three days before the closings show that Port Authority supervisors were surprised and alarmed by the plan to close two of the three toll booths that service the Fort Lee entrance.
“A single toll lane operation invites potential disaster,” wrote Jerry Quealch of Port Authority planning and operations. “It seems like we will be punishing all for the sake of a few.”
He added at the bottom, “Very confused.”
In another email, a puzzled Port Authority supervisor named Daniel Jacobs asked, “What is driving this?”
A Port Authority Police email indicates that Wildstein was personally on hand to witness the effect when the toll booths in question were closed on Sept. 9, not by accident the first day of school. He was undeterred by reports that the resulting traffic was impeding the Fort Lee police and paramedics from responding to emergencies.
The closings continued for three more days until the executive director, Patrick Foye, stepped in to reopen them.
Of course NONE of this cover story makes any sense, in that even a complete moron could recognize that closing several lanes of traffic on the busiest bridge in the world would cause huge problems.
However Wildstein pushed forward with that excuse, and even reached out for help in constructing the story.
Emails show that Wildstein sought and received the counsel of Christie’s press secretary, Michael Drewniak.
“Need to talk to you soon, in person,” Wildstein wrote on Dec. 3.
The two met the following evening.
“Thanks again for all your sound advice last night,” Wildstein emailed him on Dec. 5.
“Thanks for a great dinner,” Drewniak replied.
Drewniak can insist, as does his boss the governor, that at that point he still believed the closing was part of a traffic study.
However to do so would be almost an admission of guilt as that story was already coming apart at the seams after this e-mail exchange was made public.
“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Kelly wrote on Aug. 13.
“Got it,” Wildstein replied just a minute later.
Openly identifying it as causing "traffic problems" and demonstrating the kind of shorthand that indicates that they had worked together on the planning stages, makes it impossible for this to be seen as anything legitimate.
And the possibility that these two cooked this up without direction from the Governor, who is accused of running his organization like a "paramilitary operation," is simply too ridiculous to take seriously.
By the way it is also worth noting that apparently the Port Authority police officers were apparently directed to blame the bridge closing on the Mayor of Fort Lee:
In a letter to a Port Authority executive on Sept. 12, Fort Lee, N.J. Mayor Mark Sokolich complained that the agency's police officers were telling commuters that the George Washington Bridge lane closings were his fault.
"[M]any members of the public have indicated to me that the Port Authority Police Officers are advising commuters in response to their complaints that this recent traffic debacle is the result of a decision that I, as the Mayor, recently made," Sokolich wrote to Bill Baroni, who was the deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey until he resigned last month.
Are we really to believe that they came up with that all by themselves?
No, I think that we all need to brace ourselves for the seismic shock that is about to occur after Chris Chirstie's political career finally falls from the skies and crashes down to earth. It's going to be a BIG one.
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When your minister does not realize that calling his congregates "sheep" is purely metaphorical.
A South African preacher made his congregation eat grass to 'be closer to God' before stamping on them.
Under the instruction of Pastor Lesego Daniel of Rabboni Centre Ministries dozens of followers dropped to the floor to eat the grass at his ministry in Garankuwa, north of Pretoria after being told it will 'bring them closer to God.'
His controversial methods have drawn criticism from thousands of people although members of his congregation swear by his methods - he is said to have claimed that humans can eat anything to feed their bodies and survive on whatever they choose to eat.
'Yes, we eat grass and we're proud of it because it demonstrates that, with God's power, we can do anything,' Rosemary Phetha told South Africa's Times Live.
The 21-year-old law student says she had been battling a sore throat for more than a year, but it was healed after she ate the grass.
Doreen Kgatle, 27, of Ga-rankuwa, suffered a stroke two years ago.
'I could not walk but soon after eating the grass, as the pastor had ordered, I started gaining strength and an hour later I could walk again,' said Kgatle.
Photos on the Rabboni Centre Ministries Facebook page show the followers eating the grass as well as Mr Daniel walking across them as they spread out on the floor.
Photos that follow show dozens of people getting sick in the toilets - an image of the bathrooms show women clutching their stomach, while the men are vomiting in the sink.
The pastor's actions during the service prompted a series of online complaints.
Steven Weinberg once said, “With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.”
The same holds true for getting seemingly intelligent people to do truly ridiculous, or harmful things to themselves.
Desperately sick and need a doctor? Not if you have faith.
Suicidally depressed and need counseling as well as medication? Not if you have faith.
Confused about scientific information, and what it tells us about our planet and solar system? Not if you have faith.
Through faith we can be convinced to suspend our rational minds and buy into any religiously camouflaged BS imaginable.
Even to the point of absurdity.
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