For a brief period of time, I was the Tina Fey of mocking the Food Network (#humblebrag)

Because many people who have to come to know me from my recent professional exploits are somewhat unaware of exactly how odd my career has been -- seriously, seriously odd -- I'll just take this moment to remind everyone I was once the lead writer for an online-only ripoff of The Daily Show dedicated entirely to mocking The Food Network.

This was the pilot for that show, which I wrote. The series ran for the better part of a year. No, I have no idea how that happened, either.


FN Crazy: Nutrish and Other Food Network Crimes by FNCrazy

The host, for those asking, is Sarah East. She still works as an actress here locally. She was amazingly good at handling my awful and complicated scripts.

One of my stable of writers was none other than Chris-Rachael Oseland, who went on to found Kitchen Overlord and author the mega-popular Unofficial Dr. Who Cookbook.

My boss at this bizarre enterprise? Rob May, founder and CEO of cloud-to-cloud backup pioneer Backupify. (Or, as I prefer to think of him, author of Coconut Headsets.)

I cannot explain how I was lucky enough to get this job, nor luckier still not to have this job prevent me from getting more muggle-based work. As I said to Jeff Patterson the other day, I'm a beneficiary of an amoral universe.

Nerd Word of the Week: Schminternet

Image by Steve Rhodes via FlickrSchminternet (n.) - A version of the Internet that does not operate under net neutrality standards and thus has tiered access and "surfing tolls" for certain content, services, or websites. The phrase is named after Google CEO Eric Schmidt who notably reversed course on net neutrality when Google forged a traffic prioritization pact with Verizon. The term was coined by Jeff Jarvis who snarked on Twitter: "The Schminternet = not the internet. Comes with new fees."

I bring it up because: The Google-Verizon wireless traffic pact just won't die. Wired referred to Google as a "net neutrality surrender monkey" (earning extra points for the Simpsons reference) and Jon Stewart took shots at Google from his perch atop The Daily Show. While some predicted Google would sell out years ago, it is nonetheless disillusioning that the company once seen as the champion of the open internet is now playing the same self-serving corporate games it formerly opposed. If things keep in this direction, the backlash is only going to get stronger and calling Google's tiered internet the Schminternet is the nicest thing web activists will say about Eric Schmidt or his company.

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