DennisMansfield.com

iQuestions.com Earthquake. The next Hulu.com?

I'm in a brief meeting with about 100 leaders. Michael Boerner (the founder) is giving an amazing presentation about what may well be the next Hulu.com (which is the NBC/Fox Internet partnership). Never heard of iQuestions?

You're not alone ...until now.

Check out my imbedded link to the right and see. It's the safe and trusted site for answers to the most difficult (and at times personally awkward) questions.

And guess what...like the TV...it came from Idaho (yeah, no kidding!) Media leaders: if you haven't seen/visited the iQuestions' folks you just might to cover them before the LA Times does or the NY Times. Michael Boerner is clearly one of my dearest friends. For me, it's a little like watching Steve Jobs start up Apple...and KNOWING that the product he would soon produce has nothing to with fruit. Den

What does "it" matter? - 50,000 page views later

Get this, on September 2nd of 2006 we launched this blog with the following text:

What is "it"? There have been a lot of "its" in the past and many quotes like "it's the economy stupid" and many others. For this website the "it" for now is an attempt in fusing politics, culture, business, personality, religion, you and me.

No longer will there be a perceived hidden agenda - you'll get the straight scoop right here. There has never been a hidden agenda in my life; I like to lay myself right out there. Along with some friends there is a plan to bring many thoughts and plans to help businesses succeed, to help people reach their true potential and see a fusion of different perspectives become a stronger entity.

You'll see video, documents to download, links to other sites and people that speak into this dream - hang on & hope you like "it"!

Well....it's been 23 months since that first post (and 50,000 pageviews later as well - we hit that today.)


I'm sure that's not a big deal for some folks, but on this blog, it's fun to see us tip the scales at 50,000. ( I think that's more than the total number of election votes I've ever received - tee hee)


We've had a bunch of posts and we'll have a bunch more....

Keep hangin' on...and thanks for joining us, lo these many , many days/weeks/months and now years.

Den

 PS: Let me know which ones may have been "favorites", ok?
I just may sprinkle this month of August with a few "Best Of's"

Greater Tuna....Texans on a platter

Had a great night at the Stage Coach Theatre with my bride watching "Greater Tuna" be performed by Ben Hamill and Rob Tromp, directed by Randall Webster.

With all my interest in plays and musicals, I'd actually never set foot in the SCT until tonight. It was quite a treat, while at the same time realizing its limitations (small stage, limited seating, threadbare feel to it).

The theater itself kinda reminded me of Scarlett O'Hara, wearing her newly sewed old-drapes-to-evening-gown outfit as she set off to visit Rhett Butler....nice, but.....well, you get the picture. Still, the perfomance was wonderful.

In the second half of the play, a pastor character delivers an impromtu eulogy of a newly-deceased Judge Roscoe Butler.

It reminded me of every bad political speech I've had the discomfort to deliver...and others have had the greater discomfort to sit through. Click above and watch a You Tube version of the hackneyed, used up and public domain expressions of this poor speech and laugh!

Den

Opey, Andy, Barney, Aunt Bee and a whistle....

Will your legacy be reduced to a whistle or is there more to you?

Den

© AP

Earle H. Hagen

Earle Hagen, 'Andy Griffith' composer, dies at 88

May 27, 2008, 10:25 PM EST

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Earle H. Hagen, who co-wrote the jazz classic "Harlem Nocturne" and composed memorable themes for "The Andy Griffith Show," "I Spy," "The Mod Squad" and other TV shows, has died. He was 88.

Hagen, who is heard whistling the folksy tune for "The Andy Griffith Show," died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, his wife, Laura, said Tuesday. He had been in ill health for several months.

No redeeming value...Harold and Maude, Dirty Harry and always look on the bright side of life.

Enough of politics. How 'bout a little black comedy and death? I hope to offend at least a couple of you....

Go with me to a few of my very odd and favorite movies.

Harold and Maude: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOei679kY-g

Dirty Harry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YykfDFEk3y8

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maBJzJgYjto

Life of Brian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1loyjm4SOa0

and just for good goofy measure:

Star Trek meets Monty Python: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luVjkTEIoJc&feature=related

Den -

More cow bell.....yeah, more cow bell...

Had all the political stuff of the season hit me, had all the national news blanketing me and bummin' me out, had all the serious sams of blogville bringin' me down. Cussing, mean spirits on the left and the right....I felt sick. What'd I have?

I had a fever and well, it's hard to explain, but I went to the eminent theologian/philosopher/healer/record producer Bruce Dickinson and here's what he told me:

"And the only prescription, is more cowbell."

-Bruce Dickinson, yes the Bruce Dickinson

Click Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v5Jd3bW1dA&feature=related

The Professor and "Mary Jane"...here on Giligan's Isle...

Just came across this AP story. You've probably seen it, I had not.

Thought back to my 1960's TV watching days...I was young and wondered what it would be like living as a castaway on Gilligan's Island. Forget about the Skipper and Ginger or the Howells....forget about The Professor or even L'il Buddy (goofy as Gilligan was). I just always loved Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) and wanted to  meet her. She was just so much like my sisters...so pleasant and pretty.

Fast forward all these years, add Idaho to the mix and throw in a touch of New Hope....

© AP

Dawn Wells

'Gilligan's' Mary Ann on Allegedly Caught With Pot

March 11, 2008, 2:52 PM EST

The Associated Press

DRIGGS, Idaho  -- Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island," is serving six months' unsupervised probation after allegedly being caught with marijuana in her car.

She was sentenced Feb. 29 to five days in jail, fined $410.50 and placed on probation after pleading guilty to one count of reckless driving.

Under a plea agreement, three misdemeanor counts — driving under the influence, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance — were dropped.

On Oct. 18, Teton County sheriff's Deputy Joseph Gutierrez arrested Wells as she was driving home from a surprise birthday party that was held for her. According to the sheriff's office report, Gutierrez pulled Wells over after noticing her swerve and repeatedly speed up and slow down. When Gutierrez asked about a marijuana smell, Wells said she'd just given a ride to three hitchhikers and had dropped them off when they began smoking something. Gutierrez found half-smoked joints and two small cases used to store marijuana.

The 69-year-old Wells, founder of the Idaho Film and Television Institute and organizer of the region's annual family movie festival called the Spud Fest, then failed a sobriety test.

Wells' lawyer, Ron Swafford, said that a friend of Wells' testified that he'd left a small amount of marijuana in the vehicle after using it that day, and that Wells was unaware of it. Swafford also said several witnesses were prepared to testify that Wells had very little to drink at the party and was not intoxicated when she left. He said she was swerving on the road because she was trying to find the heater controls in her new car.

Starbucks Clause and a George Bailey of today.

Nothing about Santa or Jesus or ex-inmates....not this posting. Lee Gaupp sent this great CBS TV story to me and I think you might benefit from reading it, as I have.

I'd like you to be encouraged without all the "faith-talk" that can sometimes be a put-off to folks who don't care Who the Reason for the Season is. Sometimes God likes to be invisible, I think.

It could be about George Bailey and an angel named Clarence, but it isn't.

It's about a man named Michael Gates Gill and an angel called Starbucks. No kidding. Plus you'll be seeing Tom Hanks bring this to the big screen! Now read on and always go forward.

Den

Michael Gates Gill was an Ivy League graduate and a successful ad agency executive with a six-figure salary. But downsizing, divorce and health problems sent his life spiraling downwards — until he happened upon a coffee shop that was hiring. (CBS)

By his own admission, Michael Gill was a child of privilege.

"I was born with just about every advantage you could imagine, or even wish for," he told Mason.

He went to an Ivy League college, was a top executive at a world renowned ad agency, and had a six-figure salary. But now at age 67, he's trudging through the dark just before 5 o'clock in the morning, to make the early shift for his new job.

He's a barista at Starbucks.

"This was not on my goal list when I went to Yale."

This is the story of an affluent man's fall from grace, and how he found redemption in an unexpected place, a story Michael Gates Gill tells in his book, "How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else."