From the latest TiVo newsletter

Don't be too quick with your TiVo remote this fall or you may miss new short-form entertainment that networks plan to air during commercial blocks to keep viewers from drifting. (Who'd do that?) According to Reuters, both NBC and ABC plan to run short dramatic films - for example, one-minute suspense-building vignettes that feature work by some of the network's own star actors and directors - at exactly the time you might traditionally be interested in, well... moving on. Better keep your eyes peeled (and remotes ready).

Ingenious devils, aren't they? I just hope I can keep using the 30-second-skip button. Also:

Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to run for governor of California in a recall election scheduled for Oct. 7 is wreaking havoc on local TV listings. Recently the Sci Fi channel became the second cable network in two days to take his movies off air, pulling an entire night of scheduled Schwarzenegger films. The cable networks are taking the steps proactively, since under current law they are technically exempt from FCC rules requiring broadcasters to give equal air time to all candidates, free of charge, if they air entertainment content featuring a political rival. (Meaning if Arnie's films air on broadcast TV, all of the 134 other opponents in California's recall election race could demand equal time - FREE!) To fill the programming hole and perhaps to prove that truth is indeed stranger and, in fact, more ironic than even Hollywood fiction, Sci Fi offered golden state viewers a slate of California-themed disaster movies instead.

Does Falling Down count as a California-themed disaster movie?

More illicit public art

Back in May, Sonik 3000 put up some Signs of Life in Inman Square. One of them was taken down, but the one in front of the Zeitgeist Gallery has stayed up, probably because it's not on a traffic sign pole. A month or so later, someone put a different sign on the back, made from two VHS tapes; I finally got around to taking a picture of it. Has anyone seen similar signs around? It seems like this one is part of a larger story.

There's been other artwork nearby, such as a smirking guy with a tie and a pastel painting that I never got a good look at, but both of those were taken down. I'd also be curious to see others in those series (if any).

By the way, cthulhia has been recording other Signs of Life in the area. If you see more you might want to tell her about them.