[illustration by Mike Mitchell @ sirmikeofmitchell.com]
Conan's press release:
People of Earth:
In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.
Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over “The Tonight Show” in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004, I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.
But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my “Tonight Show” in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.
Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the “Tonight Show” to 12:05 to accommodate the “Jay Leno Show” at 11:35. For 60 years, the “Tonight Show” has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the “Tonight Show” into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The “Tonight Show” at 12:05 simply isn’t the “Tonight Show.” Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the “Late Night” show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.
So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard, and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of “The Tonight Show.” But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet, a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the “Tonight Show,” I believe nothing could matter more.
There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.
Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.
Yours,
Conan
Barack Obama: 3
G.W. Bush, et al: 0
Actually, this chart conveniently leaves off Thomas Jefferson, who waged war against the "Barbary states", which supported pirates, so presumably pirates were killed because of Jefferson's actions.
Still, the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips by US Navy SEAL snipers is clearly a victory for Obama that is rare among US Presidents.
My mom called me this afternoon to tell me that she took this pictures of the orange sky over Ventura County today. Smoke from the fires in Southern California, including Castaic, Agua Dulce, Moorpark and Malibu, had blocked out the sun and ash rained down like snow, as clearly illuminated by my mom's flash in the above pic of my dad in our driveway at 2pm. The darkness triggered the automatic light-sensors on the streetlights so they were on all afternoon.
I really wanted to drive from LA up to Ventura just to check it out, but I was worried the ash would cause breathing problems for me.
It looks like Kurt was home in Ventura this weekend because he also got some great pics of the fire, which he aptly described as an "apocalypse."
I saw this "ANIMATR" License Plate on my drive home from work tonight and I thought it was pretty cool so I snapped a shot with my camera-phone.
I've noticed how they usually pixelate / blur out license plates on TV so I figured I should run a mosaic filter on the rest of the car to remove any other identifying features. I figure I could've posted it uncensored, cuz I think license plates are considered public record and Google Street View doesn't blur any of the thousands of clearly visible plates currently on-line, but I like the mosaic effect draws better attention to the plate.
Kaiserthermen: Roman Baths in Trier, Germany
Sam got me a flickr Pro account last night so I uploaded all of the photos I've taken so far on my new Canon and my cell phone.
You can view the pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshmorgan/
I'll add descriptions later, but I should note that the more recent pics (the first 200 pics) are NOT Luxembourg, but rather, they're the Roman ruins in Trier, Germany.
And I'll eventually post a proper blog (I swear)...
I made this poster in Flash today for Sam's friend Jamie's student film. She asked me to just make up a poster for "some cheesy zombie horror film" and I'd already had this idea for a zombie film called "Communion" where Jesus comes back to Earth as a zombie (He did rise from the dead afterall) and He literally drinks Chirstians' blood and eats their flesh, just like they do in symbolic form during Communion.
Jamie's film is set in a theater where her protagonists go to see a horror movie, but I don't think the movie is ever actually shown or even spoken about directly, and my poster will probably never even appear on screen. She's just using my poster to cover the real movie posters at the theater where she's shooting. Still, I'd like to think that something I've created will be plastered on some movie theater's wall, if only for a short while.
Then again, there's also the chance that Jamie will hate my design, or maybe one of her cast or crew will be offended by it and she won't even use it at all.
Regardless of whether or not it will actually be used in the manner for it was commissioned, I've set the Communion image as my current desktop background on one of my dual monitors. My other background is the Flying Spaghetti Monster creating Adam:
Mmm... Sacrilicious
Holy crap! I can't believe Greg and Negin got married today *.
I've known Greg for almost two decades, and Negin ** for over half of that time. I hardly remember a time when they weren't a couple. And now they are husband and wife.
Just as my brother Russ' wedding last year was a milestone, Greg's wedding is another indication of just how far along my life has really come up to now. Both my blood-brother and my brother-from-another-mother have settled down and entered the married life.
I'm still very iconoclastic when it comes to the traditional institution of marriage, but it's getting harder and harder to deny that it's only a matter of time now before Sam and I get married.
There were tons of photos taken during the bachelor party, beach bonfire, ceremony and reception by various photgraphers (Sam Sim, Kurt MacDonald, Barbara MacDonald, Chul Hur, and Myo Kyawswar). Here are some of my favorites (photos are the property of their respective photographers and all thumbnails are linked to the original full-sized images):
| Kurt MacDonald | ||||||||
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| Barbara MacDonald | ||||||||||
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| Chul Hur | |||||||||
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| Myo Kyawswar | |||
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* Oh alright, so I didn't really write this post "today" (July 24th). The wedding reception went way after midnight, but I usually back-date my posts to reflect the day that the events happened.
** I still love Negin even though she made me shave my mohawk for the wedding.
Mark Sullivan and Me (check out how PURPLE my skin is from swimming in the freezing ocean)
Check out my reflective shorts (I aced this serve BTW)
James Suhr (unhappy he has sand in his shorts)
Pics courtesy of David Badgerow
So I was trimming my goatee and sideburns when Sam offered to trim the sides of my hair. I knew she'd never really cut hair before (she'd shaved Gabe's head but that doesn't require as much fine tuning as layering hair) but I figured, "What the hell, if it doesn't work, we'll just keeping shaving until I'm left with a mohawk!"
Long story short, trimming the sides did NOT work, and so, after a brief discussion about whether or not I should go to a barber to fix it, Sam ended up giving me a mohawk, and a damn fine mohawk indeed.
I'd thought about doing a mohawk for a long time (especially since my widow's peak, receding hairline and the ridge on my skull just beg for it) and I've been sporting a faux-hawk off and on quite a bit recently, but now I finally have a proper mohawk.
Check it out:
Thanx to Donna for the pictures, and thanx to Sam for the kickass haircut (I love you babe 
)
UPDATE (07-24-2005):
Per the bride's request, I shaved off my mohawk just hours before Greg and Negin's Wedding.
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