Saturday, November 15, 2008

Today's Video Link

Meet my magical buddy Mike Peters, the Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist and the creator of the newspaper strip, Mother Goose and Grimm. This clip has obviously been carefully edited to make Mike seem somewhat coherent...

• Posted at 8:41 AM · LINK

From New York

Yeah, that's where I am. American Airlines now charges $15 for your first checked suitcase and $25 for your second. I had but one...and for some reason, I'd almost rather pay more for my ticket and not go through that at the airport. It feels like, "Okay, now that you've purchased your new car, would you like to buy a steering wheel to go in it?"

One problem with this new fee is that people now have a new incentive to go carry-on...and American hasn't increased the number of overhead bins on their planes. Ergo, you have a fine mess of folks fighting for space and quite a few wound up having to check their carry-ons on the plane. Seems to me the whole thing just delays the boarding process. And then our plane sat on the runway for 45 minutes, which is always fun.

Then, as we were landing, a flight attendant announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, as you know we're getting in late. We have thirty people aboard, all seated towards the rear of the plane, who need to make a connecting flight on Iberian Airlines to Spain. They may just barely be able to make it so we'd appreciate it if when the plane reaches the gate, the rest of you would remain seated and allow our friends who need to make their connecting flight to get off first."

Everyone more or less nodded that, yes, they'd remain seated while the thirty people deplaned. And then, as soon as the Captain turned off the seat belt signs, the folks on their way to Barcelona were forgotten and everyone filled the aisles and started hauling down their carry-ons. I suspect some travellers missed their connections.

Still, all in all, not a bad flight. The inflight TV got stuck or something and ended up showing the same commercial over and over — that American Express one with Tina Fey and Martin Scorcese in the Admiral's Club. And then in the airport after landing, I nearly crashed into Arianna Huffington. But you expect that.

You don't need (or care) to hear what I did yesterday except that last night, Carolyn and I went to the new, acclaimed revival of South Pacific. Boy, what a great and thrilling production. I'll post a full report in the next day or three. And now, it's off to the con...

• Posted at 8:40 AM · LINK