Celebrating Community Media at Access Tucson from Tim O'Grady on Vimeo.

Miguel Ortega, who has proven emcee cred thanks to the Fiesta Grande Steet Fair, and Powhaus' Jared "Kitty Kat" McKinley are co-hosting the Access Tucson TV Telethon live on
Wednesday, Dec. 15, from 6 to 9:30 p.m. There is an encore show on Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. and it replays through Dec. 31. You can watch it on cable on Access Tucson channel 99 (Cox)/74 (Comcast) and there's simultaneous streaming at www.accesstucson.org.

There's also going to be an online auction through the Access Tucson website with chances to bid on a night’s stay at The Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa with two days of golf; Watsu Aqua massages, gift certificates for Bookmans Entertainment Exchange and passes for the Loft Cinema, art by local artists, and dining at spots like Janos' Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails.

Entertainment during the telethon—with all proceeds going to keep Access Tucson running—will be provided by guitarist Gabriel Ayala, Powhaus Productions, singer/songwriter Amber Norgaard, blues musician Tom Walbank, comedian Robert Mac, and Kevin Hamilton of Southwest Soul Circuit.

More from Access Tucson after the jump.

I don't know what this says about me, but running across the AV Club Chicago headline "Cash Cab Is Totally Fake" was the most distressing thing I've seen on the Internet in some time (and there's a lot on the internet you can't unsee):

The A.V. Club hates to be the bearer of bad news, but apparently all the hype has been for naught—Cash Cab is pretty much faked. Well, not entirely faked, but let’s put it this way: It’s basically impossible for a regular pedestrian to get picked up by the Cash Cab.

It’s long been a pretty well-kept secret, but the passengers on the Discovery Channel show aren’t just random travelers—they’re cast, just like actors or Oprah ultimate fans. The process has been detailed online, but here’s the gist: Riders are generally found or screened at a bar or on the street. People who are gregarious, funny, and sometimes half in the bag get told they’ve made it on a non-specified reality show and that a cab will be coming to take them to the shoot. A cab pulls up, and, surprise, it’s the Cash Cab! This might explain why so many improv-comedy types are on the show ...

Other revelations: The cash is fake (winners are mailed a check), and there’s some leeway in the red light challenge.

This is hardly a scandal of Quiz Show severity, but it does ruin the dream of getting in a cab randomly and seeing the colored lights flash on the ceiling.

As someone on Facebook (OK, it was my wife) commented, "I'm shocked. People seem so surprised. This sucks."

Last week, the Internet was abuzz over a brief visual joke on "The Simpsons" poking fun at another division of their corporate parent, Fox:

This week, they went back to the same well for another joke, albeit this time in a slightly less-inflammatory manner:

While I was a somewhat obsessive Simpsons fan for a stretch, the emergence of these screencaps are probably the most I've thought about the show since their feature film was released—so maybe the publicity is worth any Murdochian blowback that comes from it.

[photos from Dave Itzkoff's Twitter feed]

Hopefully, you have something better to do Saturday night than to sit at home at watch a dubiously produced local singing competition at 10:30 p.m., but I totally don't, so I'll be watching Desert Diamond Casino's Lucky Break on KOLD.

From KIIM's description of the event:

KiiM-FM wants to know ... can you sing?

I mean really sing.

Prove it.

KiiM-FM 99.5 is proud to present the Desert Diamond Lucky Break - a brand new TV show where someone can win $10,000 and an audition with record company executives! As long as you're over 21 all you've gotta do is fill out the form at the bottom of this page. Every week we'll randomly select 20-30 individuals to audition in person. Don't worry if you don't get picked the first week - once your name is in the hat we could pick you for ANY week!

After the initial auditions, a limited number of finalists will be chosen to sing on TV and compete to make it to the next round. At the end of the contest one lucky winner will end up with $10,000 and an audition with record company executives.

There's quite a few mystifying aspects to the show, from the fact that they barely announce who the judges actually are (maybe people from KIIM? Otherwise, I think former Wildcat basketballer Joseph Blair was one the week I watched) to the largely disinterested audience who showed up for this show for some reason. The singers range from comically amateurish to not that bad, but the very idea that these glorified karaoke singers would end up signed to a recording contract is absurd. I hope the winner enjoys their $10,000, however.

Still, if someone in charge of this thing, I'd love to judge some night. Just call me at the paper. I'm even willing to use a fake British accent, if that helps.

Local author C. Michael Bennis' new book, Rules of Engagement, has been published by Book Surge Publishing ($18.99, 258 pages).

Book summary (from publisher):

Unrestrained passions and exotic locales are key elements of Rules of Engagement, a savvy debut by C. Michael Bennis. With a pitch perfect prose and unforgettably naughty characters, new romance author Bennis offers a winning combination that tells of the underbelly of the advertising world and the softest sides of true love. In the summer of 1964, two college graduates meet in a London club. While their attraction is palpable, Nicole is engaged to the premier’s son and is Parisian aristocracy; dutiful to a fault she can’t help but fall headfirst for Alec, a Colorado native who is a little rough around the edges. As they decide the course of their affair, Nicole comes up with the Rules of Engagement. Over the next nine days they agree not to fall in love and not to reveal their identities. Reunited by chance over two decades later, the magic is still there. One is married, one is not—both will begin to understand that love and passion endures despite time, circumstance, and reason.

About the author (per a press release):

C. Michael Bennis is a toy and advertising industry executive. Bennis attended Universidad Complutense in Madrid and later graduated from the University of Colorado, where he was a member of the 1961 Big 8 Champion football team and the 1962 Orange Bowl squad. Bennis also graduated from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He is bilingual in English and Spanish and lives in Arizona. Rules of Engagement is his first book.

Tina Fey was awarded the Mark Twain Prize recently. The show aired on PBS, and the network said that because of time, it edited out part of Fey's acceptance speech—and it just so happens the edit got rid of some pointed comments she made on Sarah Palin. The edits feel more like censorship:

According to a CBS news report:

Brandy broke down in tears. Dancer Derek Hough was slackjawed. Judge Bruno Tonioli leapt to his feet and urged audience members to vote.

But the most violent reaction of all to Tuesday night's "Dancing With the Stars" results show came from a 67-year-old Wisconsin man, so enraged over Bristol Palin's performance that he blasted his TV with a shotgun, leading to an overnight standoff with a SWAT team.

Mr. Cowan, you are obviously having a crisis of some sort, but The Range has to agree with your criticism, and understands what drove you to take a pistol to your TV. Cowan told police he felt Bristol wasn't a good dancer and was only kept on the show because of her famous mother.

Two things that made me happy today:

1. That Family Feud (much improved with Steve Harvey as the host, for what it's worth) has a YouTube account.

2. This clip from the aforementioned YouTube account. I'd like to think this guy was going to use that answer no matter what the question was.

Apparently, the Canadian answer to Jersey Shore hasn't found a full-time television home yet, but I will say this: The very existence of this trailer makes me feel a whole lot better about America.

Sure, that Snooki and the Situation are likely permanent American citizens might be a little embarrassing, but the United Nations of morons ofLake Shore make the American originals seem like MacArthur Fellowship winners. At very least, I don't recall J-Woww ever saying anything as wildly ignorant and offensive as Karolina's "I hate everybody equally. Especially Jewish people."

One thing I did learn from this abomination: I need to get myself a series of nicknames like Tommy Hollywood so I can spout off a series of "AKAs" when I meet new people.

Yesterday was Carl Sagan's 75th birhday. If you don't know who he is, then you need to check him out here. When I was a kid, luckily we didn't have Bill Nye the Science Guy. We had the real thing in Sagan, a planetary astronomer and writer, who made science and the stars cool in his show Cosmos.