For your consideration ...

A few entertainment tidbits, though I'll leave the bulk of the entertainment analysis to our local blogger over at Entertainment Daily (Or pretty close to it).

1) As long time readers of this blog may be aware, I originally hail from the Binghamton region of the state. Prior to this year's tragic events in that city, the area had other claims to fame. One of my favorites is that it's the burg in which "The Twilight Zone" creator Rod Serling was born and raised.

The 50th anniversary of the show's premiere is being celebrated this week. You can read all about it here, complete with photos from the self-proclaimed "Parlor City," a.k.a. "The Carousel Capital of the World," and the "Home of the Square Deal."

Of course, my favorite thing about all this is that my grandfather went to high school with Serling. I realize this is not an impressive feat unto itself, and I'm not even sure if they were friends, acquaintances or even frenemies. But to an 8-year-old kid, a fact like that leaves an indeliable impression.

2) I had the opportunity to review Creed when they made a stop at SPAC in August (which you can read right here). Love or hate the band, I thought they put on an entertaining show. Their fourth studio album (their first in eight years, since breaking up in 2003) is due out in October. The video for that album's first single, "Overcome," was released recently and it features footage from this summer's tour. I'm quite sure footage from the SPAC show made it into the final cut. See for yourself right here.

My 90th birthday

In my best Mrs. Doubtfire voice: Hello!

My first day back, post-nuptials, was actually last Thursday. I meant to write something; in fact, was enthused about writing something, but then ... I'd log in, look at this blank text box, and think, "Meh."

So I'm a month behind on the "By the Numbers" feature here, and owe you August's blog results. Worry not, though: I'll lump them into the September breakdown later this week. Consider it a deluxe edition. Careful where you salivate in anticipation.

So here's a quick thought I had today while flipping through the pages of The Saratogian print edition: There's an item in our Neighbors section celebrating the 90th birthday of a local woman. I thought to myself, "Should I ever live to 90, I'd like my photo in the newspaper, too." Then I thought, "Wait ... Will there even BE newsPAPERS in 61 years?"

When looking at the state of our industry, it seems to me that most analysis only projects ahead 10, maybe 15 years. Perhaps that's the only realistic time frame in which futurists can hope to be even partially on-point, given the staggering pace of techno-development.

But what will six decades bring to the table in terms of media evolution (or, for all you pessimists: devolution)? Perhaps we'll all have implanted HUDs over our field of vision, in which we can access the Internet with a simple movement of the eyes or a mere thought.

Well, perhaps the whipper-snappers will. I'll be 90-years-old and afraid of technology at that point. I'm already afraid of it now, sometimes ...

Come one, come all! Meet The Saratogian, et. al.

You're all cordially invited to The Saratogian's (for lack of a better term) "meet-and-greet" scheduled for Monday, Sept. 21 from 7 to 8 p.m.

You'll get to meet most of the staff here at 20 Lake Ave., learn about all our publications and how they serve you, find out how to get your organization's news in said publications, ask questions about how we go about our jobs, and basically converse about how we can best serve each other.

To entice you, there will be coffee and sweets, an opportunity to win a FULL PAGE ad for a non-profit organization of your choice, randomly drawn prizes (be sure to take our fun quiz!) and a moving picture (a talkie, no less!) that gives an overview of our operation, our mission and our role in the community.

Come for the cofee, stay for the movie (I spent the last several weeks putting it together).

I will not be able to attend the public premiere of the short film or meet-and-greet you fine folks, however, as I will be out of town, but I encourage the community to make it out. Again, it's on Monday, Sept. 21 from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Holiday Inn on Broadway, Saratoga Springs.

When I return, I will hopefully be refreshed and ready to play catch-up here at TiW.

With that, I think I'll get married this weekend.

Journalistic integrity or lack of respect?

I'm really curious to see what you all think about this. If you haven't caught onto the firestorm yet, here's the gist of it:

The Associated Press made a story package available to its member newspapers detailing the life, service and death of a U.S. Marine serving in Afghanistan. Part of that package included a graphic image of the marine, mortally wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade. The AP clearly noted to its members that the photo was made available after much consideration on their part, but that publication of the photo was entirely up to each individual news outlet.

Read the original article here (published on Politico.com). Also, read a follow up by Politico's Mike Allen. Here's another follow up, written by the Associated Press and published online at the St. Petersburg Times (one of newspapers that opted to run the photo in question).

I've been reading the comments underneath the St. Petersburg Times article. They seem to fall within the same general areas on either side of the fence.

So what do you all think?

NOW HEAR THIS!

Yahoo! tech blogger Chris Null has a post about an interesting case in which a New Zealand woman got fired for sending "confrontational" e-mails in all caps and various formatting. Click here to read it.

After reading a more detailed description of the case in The New Zealand Herald, the actual e-mail in question doesn't sound as bad as I initially interpreted.

Still, just last week, while skimming some of the most recent comments left at www.saratogian.com, I turned to my colleague Emily Donohue and said, "I can't help but wonder about people who type in all caps."

"Do they even realize?" I pondered. "Or do they do it on purpose? I just don't get it." We shared a few sarcastic thoughts on the subject and then went back to work.

It might be hyperbole to use the word "obnoxious" to describe the practice, but it just strikes me as so silly that people out there still think (my presumption) that using all caps is going to make their point that much more emphatic.

Not really. It just makes you look like you forgot some of the basics of simple writing, as learned in first grade.

Maybe the simple explanation is that there are a whole bunch of busted keyboards out there. Though, I'd have thought to of heard about the product recall ...

This whole thing reminds me of an old Onion article I read years ago. I'll have to dig that up later.