Ken Carr gets eaten by giant head

Ok, I actually DIDN'T get eaten by a giant head.

But, we had a little fun with a green screen!

Here's what happened:

We were shooting pieces a few weeks ago for the Mega Movie on the CW Tucson.  We did this episode in front of the green screen where the weather forecast is normally displayed on the KGUN 9 news set since I had a guest with me (a gypsy from the Arizona Renaissance Festival).

A poster from the Renaissance Festival was displayed behind us thanks to computer / TV magic.  Mark stepped in front of the camera where the poster was being shot to be displayed behind us, and it created the image on the TV screen of us about to be attacked by a giant head (Mark's).  Of course, the gypsy and I hammed it up a bit and here's the result of the screen capture (thanks to Mark Herman):

Kenparazzi classic: February 2007

Three years ago I groped this inflatable Mardi Gras decoration inappropriately and was wearing my weight in beads.  I'm still surprised the inflatable didn't press charges.  Or tip me.



Bonus (also from February 2007):  I think pictures of people sleeping are funny.
I don't Alex Aikin felt the same way.  But he was sleeping.

Hot dogs top list of choking hazards for kids

We live in such a politically correct world these days.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is calling for hot dogs to be redesigned.

Food is apparently the leading cause of non-fatal choking hazards for children.  60% of emergency room visits for children are food related.  The leading cause of those food related visits are hot dogs.  1,700 emergency room visits are associated specifically with choking issues related to hot dogs.

The Academy of Pediatrics wants to have a warning label added to packages of hot dogs warning of the choking risks for children.  To take it a step further, they'd like to see hot dogs redesigned to limit the risk of choking on hot dogs for children.  What kind of design should a hot dog have?  Giant, square, and the size of a watermelon?

I like kids.  I don't want to see anything bad happen to them.  However, if everything they could choke on came with a warning label all that would be left are whole watermelon, a whole cow, and mid-size cars.

My friend Brandon's son pulled a hot cup of coffee off of a counter after it was unattended for a second by the boy's babysitter.  Little Brandon Jr. got second degree burns on his leg and foot.  Horrifying?  Sure.  Unavoidable?  Probably not.  Because kids are not programmable.  They do things that get them in harm's way every day.  As a parent you can protect them the best you can but accidents are unavoidable.

It used to be okay to be a kid and have fun.  Fall down and scrape your knee.  Eat too much hot dog because you thought it was funny.  Just be silly and carefree.  Now, a warning label needs to be attached to every possible thing that could even in the slightest cause you harm.

The folks at the American Association of Pediatrics are idiots.  Let kids eat their hot dogs.  Its one of the only things left that might actually be fun anymore.

Wall Street Money Never Sleeps - New trailer

I loved the first Wall Street movie back in the 1980's starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen.

I just saw a new trailer for the movie (its in theaters April 23).  I'm looking forward to seeing the sequel!

Check it out:


Wall Street 2

Kenparazzi: Connor's 1st birthday party

I was invited by Mark and Sara to Connor's 1st birthday party.  I love kids!  (Maybe that's because I really am one at heart).

I got to wear an Elmo birthday hat!  Anth thinks I look silly.


Will carries the birthday boy's cake.


Mark cuts the cake.  He makes sure he navigates around the balloons.  I have a feeling he wants all that extra good icing for himself later.


Connor gets cake.  All over!  (I wish I could eat like this and nobody cared).


I have my hat.  I have my cake.  Ken Carr is happy.


I get to watch these boys play ping pong.  Not well I might add.


Action shot!

Kenparazzi: Meeting Dani

I met Dani at IBT's.  She and I are friends on Facebook and finally got to meet each other on Friday night.  Meeting someone new requires a Kenparazzi photo!

Kenparazzi: Meeting Jeff

I met Jeff at Cosmic Bingo.  We follow each other on Twitter.  Meeting someone new requires a Kenparazzi photo!

New Quik Trip / QT convenience store on Speedway Blvd. in Tucson is now open!

Holy crap!

The second Quik Trip in Tucson is open on Speedway Blvd. one block east of Rosemont.

There's been a lot of talk about Quik Trip coming to Tucson. It looks nice for a convenience store. Lots of gas pumps for starters.

I understand the killer part of Quik Trip is the food they make. For example, sandwiches.

This store opened on February 18, 2010 at 8 a.m.

This is the second store opening in Tucson. The first is already open at Irvington and Benson Highway. Two more are under construction and should be open by late spring.

The Penis Tree

A guy in Tempe, Arizona has a dead tree in his backyard. He asks his friends that have chainsaws to come over and cut it down while he's away. He returns and they left him a gift.

So, he decides to sell it on ebay.  They took the listing down though before he could get it sold.  Apparently ebay has something against selling penis shaped wood.

The "tree" even has its own Twitter.

Officials in Tempe made him cut it down because it was apparently upsetting a few neighbors.

The whole story made me laugh. Of course it wood! Ehhh, would.

CW renews series for 2010-2011 television season

The CW has renewed 90210, America's Next Top Model, Gossip Girl, Supernatural, & Vampire Diaries for next season.

Of course, the Mega Movie locally on the CW Tucson continues hosted by the lovely and talented Ken Carr Saturday nights at 9 p.m. and Sunday nights at 7 p.m. Feel free to watch!

The Kevin Smith lesson

I have read with great interest the saga today involving director Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines.

The short version: Kevin claims Southwest kicked him off a flight because he was too fat to be on a flight.

Kevin's version of the situation can be found on his Twitter blog at http://twitter.com/thatkevinsmith

Very few of us can do what Kevin is doing. Complaining in the manner that he is.

Kevin can complain because he doesn't stand to lose anything in his public grandstanding. He'll actually probably gain because its become a national news story.

Complaining or grandstanding only works if you have nothing to lose. I have read many Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace posts and blogs where people have ripped the companies they work for, the people they work with, and the experiences they have had doing various things.

We all like to think we have power over our lives. The truth is that power is limited. Mad at your wife? Put it online and you're adding evidence to a divorce. Hate your job? Regardless of how much power you think you have it's a privilege to work there and that privilege can be easily removed.

Kevin will gain because Southwest won't want to look bad and they'll come up with something that makes it a win for Kevin and a public relations win for Southwest. He has no monetary investment in this situation so he has nothing to lose.

Very few of us will ever have the chance to do that. I know from my own experience that its nearly impossible to talk smack about any bad experience I have with any business because they could be a client of my radio station or company. I have my job to lose for being a complainer. I need my job more than they need me.

I think all of us hope one day to have the chance to right a wrong. Unfortunately, most of us never will.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is over.

I have always felt a little funny about Valentine's Day. If you love someone then you should show it every day in some special way. The fact that a day was created by someone (who probably didn't get much love in their own life) to highlight that seems kind of silly to me.

I did have a nice Valentine's though. As always, there were Ken moments. The highlights:

I had a live broadcast on Saturday night at Monsoon Nightclub at Desert Diamond Casino. We are normally there on Fridays so it was kind of a special deal. They had the "Old School Love Jams Band" which included members of Slave, LTD, and a guy who was with The Delphonics for a while. It was a good show and the crowd seemed to enjoy themselves.

Anth came with me. He was super tired but toughed it out. We got a couple drinks in the casino and I won $40 on the Red Hot Jackpots slot machine. Clap clap clap.

Sunday was sleep in day. The original plan was to go for Sunday brunch but we slept in too late. So, we ended up going to BJ's for a late lunch. I had grilled shrimp tacos. I had never tried them and they were amazing. I always have trouble finding food at restaurants that doesn't make me feel over full and I end up belching up whatever I ate for hours. I think I just found what I'll be ordering at BJ's from now on.

There was a funny moment while we were eating lunch. We had a table near the front door and two priests walked in (sounds like the beginning of a tasteless joke!). They were dressed in these flowing priest outfits that sort of looked like dresses. I couldn't help but Tweet on Twitter jokes about it. Its not often you see priests out having some BJ's!

We had dropped off a couple of prescriptions at Walgreen's to be filled while we had lunch. I am still having lingering effects of the bacterial skin infection I got weeks ago so I'm going through another round of antibiotics. Dr. Maximov thought I may have gotten it from nicking myself shaving. Only I would be so lucky. I also am going to try a new blood pressure medication.

The doc wanted me to get a blood pressure machine to get a series of readings before starting the new medication so there would be a starting point to be able to tell how its working. I've written blogs about the blood pressure adventures on my Myspace blog back in the day so if you're dying to read all that you can check it out on my Myspace blog.

Anth was determined to make sure I got the prescriptions filled and the blood pressure gadget. I had been blowing it off because I get busy and that kind of stuff takes time. Since I had the day off I had the time to deal with it and he apparently doesn't want me to have a heart attack. Isn't that nice?

I was horrified to discover that blood pressure gadgets are expensive. Everything medical is expensive. The medical profession continues to be the greatest ripoff in history. $50 to $100 dollars for that? I wasn't going to waste good money on that.

Then, on a whim I decided to see if it could be charged to my Health Savings Account card. Cha ching! I bought the stupid thing.

I got the prescriptions, the blood pressure gadget, and then we went back to my apartment so I could learn how to use the thing. Its pretty odd. I put it on my arm and push a button and it saves the last 120 readings for two different people.

Here's a funny thing: I sat at home tonight working on a few projects for work on my laptop and had a couple of beers. My blood pressure is way higher after two beers than it was before the two beers. I had a cinnamon roll and a donut earlier tonight and it was lower after eating those. The conclusion I've drawn is: More fat and sugar makes less blood pressure.

I hope you had a nice Valentine's Day. I have to work on President's Day (my company doesn't consider Presidents important enough to give us a day off) so its a regular workday for me. If you have the day off I hope you enjoy it!

MTV is no longer Music Television

February 8, 2010 marks the end of an era.

MTV, which debuted on August 1, 1981, has always had the term "Music Television" at the bottom of its logo. It was a cable channel that became explosive thanks to the novel concept of playing music videos hosted by a "VJ".

I've been asked many times in recent years why MTV doesn't really play music videos anymore. Its a programming question (and since I'm a radio programmer it must be assumed by some people that I have the answer). The answer: Music videos are too short.

Television ratings are calculated the same way that radio ratings are: How many people are watching and how long they watch a particular channel or program.

MTV got to a point where they saw ratings declining back in the 1980's. Audiences would watch and if the next song wasn't one they liked they changed the channel. 3-4 minute viewing periods aren't nearly as effective at generating ratings share as 30 minutes (such as standard full length shows). "Remote Control" debuted in 1987 and was the first show on MTV that was longer than a music video. It was very successful and began a change in how MTV was programmed.

Fast forward to 2010. Music videos are a rare occurence on MTV. They run a lot of youth oriented reality shows now. It doesn't make sense to continue to have that on their logo so....

February 8, 2010: The official day "Music Television" has been removed from the MTV logo. The rest of the logo still looks basically like the original logo above where "Music Television" was.
MTV Music Television revolutionized the way music was consumed and thought of throughout the world. Its a historic moment to see a channel that changed history officially walk from that brand.

Deadliest Catch star Phil Harris has died

Discovery Channel "Deadliest Catch" star Phil Harris has died at the age of 53.

Harris was the captain of the F/V Cornelia Marie. He suffered a stroke on January 29 while his boat was offloading its cargo at a port in Alaska. He's been hospitalized since then at a medical facility in Anchorage.

He and all of the fishermen who fish for crab in the dangerous waters near Alaska are truly brave men. They have been kind enough to let us all watch the work they do through the magic of television on the Discovery Channel. On a side note, Deadliest Catch has been one of the Discovery Channel's highest rated series.

His sons, Jake and Josh, were also members of the Cornelia Marie crew.

More info on the Cornelia Marie website: Click here

The Ken Carr Diet

I just had a Jumbo Meal Deal from Jack In The Box. Other than cookies that's the first thing I've eaten today. Two tacos, a Jumbo Jack hamburger, fries, and a soda for $3.99. Can't beat it.

Yes, it's true. I do eat more fast food than the average person (I think). I think its magical. Drive up, get handed food, its dirt cheap. The eating experience is quick and nearly painless!

If you have zero time for eating like I do then here are a few suggestions:

*The drive thru is your friend. Its the fastest way to get grub, eat, and get back to more important things like writing stupid blog posts like this one or posting Tweets on Twitter from the bathroom.

*Less is better. I'm not talking about food, I'm talking about price. I'm up for any meal that costs less than five dollars. There really isn't a need to buy anything more expensive than that. Menu options like "dollar menu" and "extra value menu" are truly wonderful and if restaurants are literally going to give food away like that who am I to say no?

*Vending machines are like finding lost treasure. They are one of the lowest cost options for eating outside of hitting a drive thru. I can eat extravagantly for less than $2 including the soda and I only have to walk down the hall from my desk or the studio. I pay a little extra for the convenience (probably could knock breakfast down to less than a buck if I did the same thing at the grocery story) but its totally worth it.

*Only eat when you're hungry. This is the most important rule. Its a waste of money (unless someone else is paying) to eat when not hungry. There's no reason to eat three meals a day when you're only hungry once. It also keeps you from being larger than you should be. I'm 6'2" and 180 lbs. Pretty normal weight for my size.

Bonus: Put fast food ringtones on your phone. I have ringtones of the Taco Bell "Bong" bell, "I'm Lovin' It" from McDonald's, and the old school "Where's The Beef" quote from Wendy's all downloaded. It makes eating a lot more fun if the matching noises accompany the meal!

Superbowl 42: New Orleans Saints 42 Indianapolis Colts 17

Superbowl 42 is in the books and New Orleans beat Indianapolis to win its first ever Superbowl 31-17.

I took a nap after my live broadcast at the Big Game Party at Desert Diamond Casino so I only saw a few minutes of the first quarter.

I was able to multitask. I took a refreshing nap while the game was going on and got all of the good parts of the game neatly packaged after it was over thanks to the internet.

I had a little trouble finding highlights and then discovered the exclusive highlight video is on the NFL's website (NFL.com).

The direct link to the highlights: Click here

Men's Health Magazine ranks Tucson 9th drunkest city in U.S.

Men's Health Magazine has rated Tucson the 9th drunkest city in the U.S. according to an annual survey the magazine does of 100 cities. Fresno, California ranked #1 in this survey.

The survey takes into account death rates from alcoholic liver disease, drinking related car crashes, frequency of binge-drinking, number of DUI arrests, and severity of DUI penalties.

Boston, Massachusetts was ranked the most sober city out of the 100 surveyed.

The list of the top ten drunkest cities:

1. Fresno, CA
2. Reno, NV
3. Billings, MT
4. Riverside, CA
5. Austin, TX
6. St. Louis, MO
7. San Antonio, TX
8. Lubbock, TX
9. Tucson, AZ
10. Bakersfield, CA

Heinz is redesigning the ketchup packet

After 40 years using the same ketchup packet design we've all used at one point or another, Heinz has announced that they have redesigned the ketchup packet.

The new design will have three times as much ketchup, a tear off part at the top for squirting onto sandwiches, and a pull off part at the bottom if you want to use the ketchup inside for dipping.

Dipping is now a part of American culture. We're no longer just squirters, we're also dippers.

See a photo of the new design courtesy of NBC's Today Show: Click here

Darla's Birthday Cheesecake

My co-worker Darla's birthday is on February 6. She'll be in Las Vegas on vacation so we busted out the cheesecake for her now to celebrate. (She's turning 40, shhhhh.)

Here's Leslie lighting the candles. The cheesecake did have writing on it but it mysteriously melted leaving an orange top!


Happy Birthday Darla!


Here's Darla blowing out what looks like way too few candles...

Meeting Dr. Maximov

I spent a part of my day yesterday at the doctor's office.

I've had a primary care physician since I moved to Tucson and I was never really happy with her. She seems to be a good doctor but I found myself disappointed with the experience of going to see her. We never really hit it off. For me, if I'm paying fat bank to get medical care you should be kind enough to laugh at my jokes and accomodate my wishes.

I put a Tweet up on Twitter asking for doctor recommendations about a month ago. I ended up getting a suggestion from a doctor I follow on Twitter. I figured that was a solid recommend since usually someone recommending another person in their same business works well.

I made the appointment and yesterday had my first visit with Dr. Michael Maximov.

His office is about ten minutes from the radio station but across town from where I live. I looked up the location on Google Maps and then made the mistake of not printing that information out (oops). I ended up driving out into the middle of nowhere before calling and realizing I was lost. In a rare moment for me I had left early so in case I got lost I wouldn't be late for the appointment. I ended up walking in on time instead of early. I know myself better than I think I know myself!

I like the guy. He's pretty up front, was able to address my concerns, and had me stay when the appointment after mine got cancelled to add on a general physical. I'm not suffering anything mind blowing or life threatening. Just needed to get checked up on a skin issue I have and get a relationship established. I walked out with a couple of prescriptions and he's taking a pretty cool approach to bringing my blood pressure down a bit. He did tell me I'm in good health and the little voice in my head said "yaaay!" One other note: I did like the approach he had when I got there. We sat in his actual office so he could ask some questions and have a normal conversation before any examining stuff occured. That was good.

Social networking once again was a win. I have gotten many things accomplished thanks to the connections made on Twitter, Myspace and Facebook and finding a new doctor can now be added to that list!

Happy Groundhog Day

The results are in: Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who predicts whether we get an early spring or not every Groundhog Day, saw his shadow this morning. When he sees his shadow we get six more weeks of winter.

I'm disappointed but is it really worthwhile to be angry at a giant rodent with very little education?

Free Grand Slam at Denny's

Denny's is going to do the same after the Superbowl promotion this year that they did last year: Free Grand Slam Breakfast!

The date is Tuesday February 9 at all Denny's locations from 6 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Last year's free Grand Slams brought out big crowds so you might want to get an early start.

And, bring a tip for the wait staff. They'll be earning it!

We Are The World 25th Anniversary remake

The list of music stars spending their day today participating in the 25th anniversary remake of "We Are The World" has grown to more than 100.

The song, which was originally written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, is being remade today to benefit earthquake victims in Haiti, because of the large concentration of people in the music business who were in Los Angeles last night for the Grammy awards. Lionel Richie along with Quincy Jones is heading up the remake effort.

The list of artists reportedly now includes Lady Gaga and U2's Bono (who were both recruited at the Grammys last night), Usher, Akon, Carlos Santana, Enrique Iglesias, Toni Braxton, Jason Mraz, Trey Songz, Natalie Cole, John Legend, Sting, Fergie, Alicia Keys, and Justin Timberlake. Also, its reported that Michael Jackson's memory will somehow be included on the track.

I'm sure my phone will ring any minute with my request to be included......

Text messaging: One of the biggest ripoffs around

Ever wonder if you're getting a good deal with text messaging?

It turns out its one of the worst deals as far as markup that cell phone users can get.

It costs a cell phone company approximately 1/3 of a cent to transmit a text message. If you are on a pay per text plan of 20 cents for an outgoing message and 10 cents for an incoming message that is a 6500% markup!

Even on an unlimited text plan it costs nearly nothing for overhead for cell phone companies. So its still a high profit margin item.

The cell phone companies say they use the money to invest in new technologies. So, if that's the case, then when something new comes out it should be cheaper!

Maybe its time to make more phone calls. At least you're getting more of your money's worth!