Several days ago, I posted some pics of the ESPN set that my employer built for today's Super Bowl in Indianapolis.
It is AWESOME.
Here are a few more shots of the completed product.
(That's the "Mike And Mike In The Morning" group on the far right.)
This isn't a working fireplace, but it plays one on TV. Those are clear acrylic cubes with lighting beneath.
Once again, totally awesome.
Here's a pic that I found on another site. I think that's Jon Gruden on the far left, Steve Young in the middle, Jerry Rice second from the right (?), Michael Strahan on the far right, and I'm not sure about everyone else.
If you need to dress up your retail store, your shopping mall kiosk, or your broadcast stage for the greatest athletic event in the world, call Infiniti Decor in Godley, Texas. 1-800-810-9971
Go Giants. Go Eli Manning. Defeat the forces of evil. (Preferably in digits ending with 3 for the Giants and 0 for the Pats. Long story.)
My employer owns a subsidiary called Infiniti Decor. They specialize in retail and convenience store custom design and millwork. (Hit the link to see more of their fine work.)
Here are a few generic samples:
They can do "theme" stores, featuring the location of the store, Mississippi Delta Blues, NASCAR, fresh produce, the local university, or in some situations, beer.
They've done these types of installations all over the United States.
Last year, ESPN contacted Infiniti to design and construct their downtown Fort Worth booth for the Super Bowl. Despite all of the ice and snow, the thing held up well.
Then Infiniti Decor built the ESPN set for the Indy 500.
They did a good job on the Indy 500, and this year's Super Bowl just happens to be in Indianapolis.
■More than 110 hours of television and radio programming; ■More than 25 on-air commentators (hosts, analysts, reporters and contributors) on site in Indianapolis – in all, an analyst team of former players and coaches with a combined 19 Super Bowl rings in 29 appearances in the NFL’s biggest game; ■Content across 18 ESPN platforms: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Classic, ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, ESPNEWS HD, ESPN Deportes HD, ESPN International, ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNRadio.com, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPNdeportes.com, ESPN The Magazine, WatchESPN, and ESPN Mobile properties; ■Super Bowl XLVI aired live in more than 68 million households in 162 countries and territories via ESPN International.
The on-site operation includes:
■A 62-by-40-foot outdoor set, enclosed in glass and overlooking Lucas Oil Stadium; ■A 24-by-48-foot demo field; ■Aerial views via a “flycam” that spans 300 feet and is suspended 30 feet in the air; ■Two 16-by-9-foot LED screens for fan viewing of ESPN’s on-site programs; and ■Two pod camera locations at Pan Am Plaza that showcase the downtown skyline, Union Station and the stadium.
And we're building a lot of it !!!
Here are some pics of the framework. I'll post more as they dress it out with footballs, memorabilia and Talking Heads.
I love this stuff. Love it, love it, love it.
If you need to dress up your retail store, your shopping mall kiosk, or your broadcast stage for the greatest athletic event in the world, call Infiniti Decor in Godley, Texas. 1-800-810-9971
One other thing....GO GIANTS !!! GO ELI MANNING !!!
Write without pay until somebody offers pay. If nobody offers within three years, the candidate may look upon this circumstance with the most implicit confidence as the sign that sawing wood is what he was intended for. - Mark Twain
Mississippi Land And Lodges, an upscale hunting and fishing magazine, recently published this tale that I wrote about a year ago. Hit the link if you have 10 minutes to kill.
It's in the August/September/October issue, the one with the antler chandelier on the cover.
Check it out if you get a chance. If you're a Mississippi hunter, you need this magazine on your coffee table, opened to page 20.
They pay well, and I have a daughter at Texas A and M. Let the editor know that you like my stuff. That's all I'm saying.....
Here's an idea for a great Libertarian political ad for October. The text is from The Boston Globe's Jeff Jacoby, on the Cash For Clunkers travesty.
IN THE market for a used car? Good luck finding a bargain: The price of “pre-owned’’ vehicles has climbed considerably over the past year. According to Edmunds.com, a website for car buyers, a three-year-old automobile today will set you back, on average, close to $20,000 — a spike of more than 10 percent since last summer. For some popular models, the increase has been much steeper. In July, a used Cadillac Escalade was going for around $35,000, or nearly 36 percent over last July’s price.
Hit the video. Seriously. Hit the video of these guys pumping Sodium Silicate into the engine of a Volvo, under orders from our President. You don't have to watch, just listen while you read the rest. Now, back to our commentary from Mr. Jacoby.
....Part of the answer is that the supply of used cars is artificially low, because your Uncle Sam decided last year to destroy hundreds of thousands of perfectly good automobiles as part of its hare-brained Car Allowance Rebate System — or, as most of us called it, Cash for Clunkers. That was the program under which the government paid consumers up to $4,500 when they traded in an old car and bought a new one with better gas mileage. The traded-in cars — which had to be in drivable condition to qualify for the rebate — were then demolished: Dealers were required to chemically wreck each car’s engine, and send the car to be crushed or shredded.
Crank up the volume on the video. Hear the whine? Does it sound like vandals destroying a car? Destroying the economy? Destroying employment? DO YOU HEAR THE NOISE OF BARACKAGANDAN LUNACY?????
Congress and the Obama administration trumpeted Cash for Clunkers as a triumph — the president pronounced it “successful beyond anybody’s imagination.’’ Which it was, if you define success as getting people to take “free’’ money to make a purchase most of them are going to make anyway, while simultaneously wiping out productive assets that could provide value to many other consumers for years to come. By any rational standard, however, this program was sheer folly.
Briefly cut away to a clip of some obviously low-income people wandering through a used car lot. Then go back to the shrieking Volvo.
Of the 700,000 cars purchased during the clunkers frenzy, the estimated net increase in sales was only 125,000. Each incremental sale thus ended up costing the taxpayers a profligate $24,000.
Show a Cash For Clunkers-era clip of some Yuppies driving a new Prius out of a parking lot. Be sure they've transferred their Obama bumpersticker from the Clunker to the Prius. Then go back to the whining Volvo.
Even on environmental grounds, Cash for Clunkers was an exorbitant dud. Researchers at the University of California-Davis calculated that the reduction of carbon dioxide attributable to the program cost no less than $237 per ton. In contrast, carbon emissions credits cost about $20 per ton in international markets.
The whole carbon credits scam is environmentalist bullshit, but some people believe in it. Kinda like Catholics used to believe in purchasing Indulgences. Let it stay in the ad.
Using Department of Transportation figures, the Associated Press calculated that replacing inefficient clunkers with new cars getting higher mileage would reduce CO2 emissions by around 700,000 tons a year — less than Americans emit in a single hour. Likewise, the projected reduction in gasoline use amounted to about as much as Americans go through in 4 hours. (And that’s only if you assume — contrary to historical experience — that fuel consumption decreases when fuel efficiency rises.)
When all is said and done, Cash for Clunkers was a deplorable exercise in budgetary wastefulness, asset destruction, environmental irrelevance, and economic idiocy. Other than that, it was a screaming success.
Cut to the 3:55 mark on the video. Watch the guy with the fire extinguisher. Listen to the vandals giggle.Cut to a graph of declining employment. Cut to a quick graph of declining home sales. Cut to a quick graph of increased automobile prices.Then go to one more voiceover.
Do you really want to send the people who did this back to Washington?
My name is The Whited Sepulchre, and I approved this message.
"Health care 'reform' passed by a Congress that hasn't read it, signed by a President who smokes, administered by an obese Surgeon General, financed by a Treasury Secretary who didn't pay his taxes, and paid for by a country that is broke - what could possibly go wrong?"
This article was on the cover of today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the greatest daily newspaper on this (or any other) planet:
By DEBORAH YAO The Associated Press
I've never met Deborah, but I've made a followed her fine work over the years. She specializes in media issues. You can read more of Ms Yao's fine work by going here. It's worth the time and effort. Deborah Yao and The Associated Press - the only way to start your morning.
The Federal Trade Commission will try to regulate blogging for the first time, requiring writers on the Web to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products.
I don't understand how people can live without the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I mean, can you really claim to have experienced a Dallas Cowboys game until you read Randy Galloway's analysis the next morning? Can you call yourself a "Fort Worther", and not read Bud Kennedy every day? The great Paul Harral has left the editorial page, but it still carries the lingering aroma of Paul's greatness. Sometimes when I finish reading my Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I spread it on the floor and roll around in it.
The FTC said Monday that its commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the final Web guidelines, which had been expected. Violating the rules, which take effect Dec. 1, could bring fines of up to $11,000 per violation. Bloggers or advertisers could also face injunctions and be ordered to reimburse consumers for financial losses stemming from inappropriate product reviews.
The last time I went hunting in west Texas, I was walking through some brush and another hunter (a lawyer from Dallas) thought I was a deer. (BTW, have you bothered to look through the Dallas Morning News? What a substandard product!) Anyway, this guy shot at me with a 30-06, and the bullet entered my hunting vest at about 3,000 feet per second. I should've been dead.
What saved me? Tucked away inside my hunting vest was an old Fort Worth Star-Telegram ! The bullet went through the front pages, the comics, sports, life & arts, and finally stopped at a Molly Ivins column.
Did I take this as a sign? You betcha.
The commission stopped short of specifying how bloggers must disclose conflicts of interest. Rich Cleland, assistant director of the FTC’s advertising practices division, said the disclosure must be "clear and conspicuous," no matter what form it will take.
My Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I love it, love it, love it. You should too.
