The Cody Blog Has Moved

The Cody Blog has moved, to update your RSS feed, click here.

To access The Cody Blog, Click here

The Rock n Roll Spirit of AC/DC Is Gone

You know, I complained awhile ago when AC/DC sold their classic jam, "Back in Black" out to the black Razr from Motorola. But now I notice all the places it's used including the Lewis Black segment on The Daily Show and it's ruined the song for me. And now....it's used for a Gap women's pants commercial featuring Audrey Hepburn? Oh, man, that's just brutal -- and don't get me wrong, I love that Audrey woman -- but she don't mix with AC/DC!

CW on the Real Story

I chatted with my main man Aaron Task, Executive Editor at the TheStreet.com about the DJIA, Microsoft, and what else I’m looking at right now. Fun stuff, click here to check it out.

Welcome to the revolution hitting full bloom.

Bulls Dance on Dead Bears

A picture like that 8”x6” picture on the front page of the Money and Investing section of the Wall Street Journal … well, that can’t be a bullish thing.

Just sayin'.

EPSN MNF -- Can't Get Much Worse

I don't really know how to rant about how bad the commentary on ESPN's Monday Night Football was last night. Did anybody else catch that interview with Steve McNair in which a good 90% of the questions were, "Well, back to Brett Favre, Steve, how do you think it must feel to [fill in blank here]."

Here's an revelatory idea, Joe Theismann, et al: Ask Brett about Brett and ask Steve about Steve and the Ravens!

Sheesh, some heads need to roll at ESPN before they completely blow this MNF franchise to hell.

A Cody News Spot: Ivory Coast Dump Tragedy

Global Sludge Ends in Tragedy for Ivory Coast

By LYDIA POLGREEN and MARLISE SIMONS
Published: October 2, 2006

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, Sept. 28 — It was his infant son’s cries, gasping and insistent, that first woke Salif Oudrawogol one night last month. The smell hit him moments later, wafting into the family’s hut, a noxious mélange reminiscent of rotten eggs, garlic and petroleum.

Mr. Oudrawogol went outside to investigate. Beside the family’s compound, near his manioc and corn fields, he saw a stinking slick of black sludge.

“The smell was so bad we were afraid,” Mr. Oudrawogol said. “It burned our noses and eyes.”

Tough, tragic story here from the NYTimes about these criminal enterprises who dumped toxic waste in Ivory Coast, leaving civilians in the area in a major health crisis and even killing at least 8. The article's wrong to call this an "underbelly of globalization", but these criminal enterprises who are guilty of murder must be prosecuted by the global courts. And yet again, where is the UN when it could be helpful? Of course if they do get involved, I suppose Kofi's kid can finagle another new Mercedes out of this deal anyway.

CW in FT: New Windows promises a breath of fresh air for tech

As oil spurted from the $30s to the $70s during the past few years, as the price of petrol at the pump in the US exploded from about $1.50 to nearly $3.00, as copper quadrupled, the handwringing was all about how the consumer would collapse and inflation would skyrocket. It turns out that the positives, a strong global economy, a friendly Fed and the coinciding booming housing market, trumped the negatives of spiking raw material costs and energy prices, writes Cody Willard. | Read

Channeling Positive Feedback

Got this email on Friday and it sure made my day heading into the weekend. I get a lot of very supportive email from readers — my only question is: Why not post it in the comments to counter the negativity there? I think the reason why is that the readers who reach out with positives want to make sure it doesn’t get lost in the comments. Anyway, I thought I’d share this one, and the author gave me permission to use her name to boot.

Dear Cody,

Hope all is well for you in New York ! I was looking at your new video today and I thought it looked very nice! You look and sound great. I am sorry to read so much "off" stuff on your blog this week...My letter to you earlier this week was a joke...You got that, right? Not interested in meeting you in the ring, only if I can buy you a drink whenever you are stranded in Dallas as promised in my first email to you:). But thank you for posting my blog about global warming. I hope others share in my passion and I hope you appreciated the sense of humor along with my message.

I must confess you are quite a trooper when it comes to all this criticism. The way you press on is impressive and I am learning from you how to be more like that....It is a good thing for me to remember your character and how you continue and not give up. That is the kind of thing that separates men from boys.. Anyway about your new video, for some reason your face on my Mac screen goes in and out in a bizarre pixel looking blur and then the video stopped halfway before you finished. Don't know if you know that or if it is just my compute screen r, but it did that on the last video too, just didn't stop halfway.

As I said you look great and I like when you are more poised. I am up for a television gig myself in Philadelphia and so I can understand having to be "on" and pulled together in front of a video. It is a lot to keep together...Take care, Cody..press on....Sincerely, Ellen Borlenghi

Thanks, Ellen. Press on — and ROCK ON!

'Til Death Killed by Overexposure?

A few months ago I went with my friend Mitch to see his client Bill Maher at the Apollo theatre. After a quick meet and greet afterward Mitch and a couple other Hollywood biz biggies and I took a car downtown to some incredible hidden gem of a classy Italian place. It must be a Hollywood secret hangout or something because not only did we meet Jennifer Anniston (I smiled and have to admit I found myself a bit addrenalized as we chatted) but we also sat next to Brad Garrett at the bar while we waited for our table.

I sure thought Brad was good in Everybody Loves Raymond. And 'Til Death, which I've seen a few minutes of a few times and found pleasant enough that I didn't immediately switch the channel, seems like, if given a chance, might develop into a decent enough family sit com. But why is Fox intent on killing it with immediate overexposure before the show, the characters, the plotlines, the nuances and inside/recurring jokes that make a sitcom are even revealed, much less developed?

I mean, I think I've seen the show multiple times every night I've flipped through the channels on the television for the last two weeks. I'm sick of it already.

Looking to Leave Blogger

So, I'm so sick of Blogger because:

1. You have actually program the html when you post from a Safari browser on your Mac.

2. My blog is oft-slow to load.

3. The log-in pages from which you post are too often unavailable.

4. There are more, but mainly, I'm sick of Blogger because it won't let me tag posts and then categorize them by subject.

So we've exported my blog and all the archives and comments from posts past to typepad. We're beta-testing it right now, but I'm loving typepad relative to blogger right now and am about to point this site and the URL TheCodyBlog.com to http://thecodyblog.com.typepad.com. I'm afraid my RSS subs will have to re-subscribe from the new site's feed, if and when we make the move official.

I like the idea of being able to categorize by subject matter though, as I think some readers come here for my personal stuff, others for music, and others for stocks. or whatever. I also get a lot of emails from random posts asking if I've elaborated on the particular subject in past, so now readers will be able to find that with just one click. Anyway, before I make the official move, I figured I'd float it out there for readers to check out and give me some feedback.

Post a comment or shoot me an email with your thoughts and comments.

http://thecodyblog.typepad.com