Great Moments In Live News Reporting

glumbert - Anchor vs Reporter

LOST S4 x E 5 -- The Constant

Really late with this one, but what else is new this season? Here's a nice recap, followed by some very quick thoughts and one big theory.

1. Best episode of the season. Hands down. While the other episodes delivered a bombshell at the very end of each, this episode didn't allow the viewer to blink for close to an hour.

2. Jack and Juliet did a great job of interrogating Charlotte. There's obviously much more to their objectives than just grabbing Ben; especially if Naomi originally landed on the island looking for Desmond. Speaking of Juliet, I believe the episode is centered around her this coming week.

3. The auction scene was interesting in that we learned great grandpa Hanso was the author of the journal regarding the voyages of the Black Rock. The contents have only been viewed by the family, which has probably helped keep the island and its secrets, well... a secret.

4. Charles Widmore is the lucky winner. Surely he celebrated with some 60-year old McCutchen. Perhaps he sets up the race along the island's path after reading about the island in the journal, all in an effort to guarantee the permanent disappearance of Desmond, aka the not-good-enough chap his daughter Penny is in love with. So he hires Libby to give Desmond a boat, and tells Desmond constantly that he's not good enough so that Desmond concludes that winning the race is the only solution.

5. Daniel told Frank to stay at 305 degrees, yet Ben told Michael to stay at 325 degrees. Was Ben lying? Or is Daniel a little bit off? It appeared that things only started getting bad for Desmond during the storm in the sky, at which point the helicopter veered slightly off course.

6. Again with the eyes. What's with the eyes???

7. Minkowski - a bit of a letdown? I was hoping for a better and longer lasting character. Anyway, this is as obscure of a reference as I'll ever throw out, but he kind of reminded me of that guy in the back middle seat in the car in Wayne's World when they're singing Bohemian Rhapsody.

8. Is "2.342 oscillating @ 11Hz" the new "1.21 gigawatts?"

9. For a former soldier who always seems to screw up with respect to his combat plans, Sayid sure knows how to fix electronics and associated wires in record time. This was even more ridiculous than the time he fixed the computer in the hatch so the button could be pressed in time. Yeah, the computer with a freaking bullet hole in it.

10. Contrary to what some have thought to have seen, every date in October was crossed off. It was just tough to see the yellow X's.

11. Daniel had some serious math going on in his notebook and on the blackboard.

12. Time problem: Eloise runs through the maze perfectly because Daniel sent her mind to the future where he taught her how to do so. But now that she's back, he can't teach her because she already knows how to do it, so that event in the future never gets to happen. She's taught without ever being taught in "real life." They made a point of stressing that you "can't change the future," but it seems that was exactly what happened here.

13. The numbers made a guest appearance a few times this episode: Penny's apartment (sorry, flat) number, the auction lot number for the journal, 2.342, etc.

14. Now that Desmond has a constant, does he still jump back and forth all the time? I'm guessing the answer is yes, which will likely be the reason he's ultimately discharged from the Scottish military. Is this also why he subsequently adopts the expression "see you in another life, brotha?"

15. The BIG theory: We know know that those who have been exposed to radiation may suffer complications when traveling to and from the island. While we know certain people who have a logical reason for wanting to remain on the island (Rose and her cancer; Locke and his paralysis; etc.), it would seem that the majority of the Losties would want to be rescued and head back home.

However, we're led to believe that only 6 of the Flight 815 survivors get off the island. So who else might be affected by having been exposed to a major dose of electromagnetism? Certainly Locke, Charlie, and Eko, who were all down in the hatch with Desmond when he turned the failsafe key. Of course Charlie and Eko are dead and Locke would sooner die than go back home to work for Hurley's box company.

Perhaps we can even assume that anyone near the hatch at the time of the implosion is also at risk. Who does that leave us with? Well, while Desmond was busy "saving the world," Michael was leading a team of Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley to go fight the Others and get Walt back. Also away from the hatch were Sayid, Jin and Sun, who were on Desmond's/Libby's boat and planning to launch a surprise attack from the other side of the island - after taking some touristy photos with a four-toed statue, of course.

Interestingly, we already know that Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid are part of the O-6. That leaves two more people. Is it a coincidence that all of them were away from the blast? And if we have to pick two of the remaining three, it doesn't look like Jin and Sun are planning on parting ways anytime soon - and Sawyer is clearly on Team Locke at this point. Hmmmmmm......


Some quick links:

Here's a weird site that is cataloging the many faces of Jack.

This was sent to me by reader Danny M., and it provides an interesting, yet far fetched theory on the whole time space continuum thingy.

LOST S 4 x E 4: Eggtown

Aside from the big shocker at the end, there were a few things to note:

1. Great seeing Ben and Locke in that all too familiar prisoner/captor relationship. It seems Ben will always have the upper hand over Locke, even when he's tied up and locked in a cell.

2. "You just Scooby Doo'ed me, didn't you." -- Hurley to Kate

3. Is Miles really looking for $3.2 million from Ben? And if so, how does he think he can pull off convincing the freighter people that Ben is dead? The whole scene seemed waaaay too fishy for me. Perhaps Miles was speaking in code to Ben. Perhaps he's delivering a message from Ben's "man on the boat." Does Ben really have access to that kind of cash? Maybe the veterinarian industry is more profitable than we ever imagined :)

4. Dharma red wine in a box. Hopefully it tastes better than the beer from Roger Workman's van!

5. Kate & Sawyer: Kate comes back to Team Locke presumably for Sawyer but she won't move in with him. She tells him she knows she's not pregnant and he's the happiest man alive. WRONG ANSWER. Kate pretty much decides she's heading back to Team Jack based on Sawyer's reaction. But why? Everything in that episode led us to believe that Kate was on the same page regarding kids. She doesn't even want to hold baby Aaron while Claire is hanging laundry. From her flashbacks we know that she ran away anytime things got too serious. Sawyer seems like the perfect guy for her.

Kate seemed to be having a tough time making up her mind in this episode. First she needed confirmation from Miles that the outside world knew exactly who she was. But then just when you think that information would help her finally make up her mind she tells Sawyer she's going back to beach. Strange.

6. Locke may be a wimp when it comes to Ben, but he sure scared the hell out of Miles with that grenade in his mouth.

7. Jin and Sun: didn't we get confirmation that the baby is Jin's and not Jae's? Are the writers just screwing with us? Sun makes a point of saying she wants her baby raised in Korea, and Jin corrects her by pointing out it's their baby. Although highly unlikely, maybe it's Michael's...

8. The episode opened up with Locke's eye. Is this a style thing or are we missing one of the biggest clues? Again, many episodes, including the pilot, begin with the camera on Jack's eye. Surely it's not a coincidence, but it may not be anything significant either. Hmmmmm.....

9. Kate's trial - well, we now know the identity of the "he" Kate referred to in last season's finale, and lo and behold it wasn't Sawyer. We now understand why Kate refused to try to involve the child in the case, and why she didn't want to let her mother meet him. But why is Jack so hesitant to have any relationship with the child. Is it because he knows that he's the child's half-uncle? Does he feel responsible for something that may have happened to Claire?

10. Jack's testimony: Jack claims that 8 passengers survived the crash and that Kate was the hero who pulled everyone out of the water. It appears that it was decided either just by the O-6 or perhaps everyone on the island before the O-6 left that by making Kate the hero, she'd have a better chance of avoiding a conviction or jail time.

Most interestingly, Jack says "she tried to save the other two but they didn't..." It would make more sense of Claire is not one of these people because then there's a greater chance that she managed to give birth and that would raise many questions once the O-6 returned safely. Of course, how could Kate - most definitely not pregnant before the flight - manage to have a child in such a short time?

Perhaps the answer lies in the time difference between the island and the rest of the world. If the Losties have been on the island now for probably four months, that would be a lot more time to the outside world. Therefore, Kate could pass Aaron off as her kid by pretending she got pregnant on the island shortly after the crash. Enough time will passed off the island for it to be possible.

11. Which leads us back to Walt. Maybe that's how it will be explained why Walt got so much taller so quickly.

12. Is Aaron a member of the O-6? I don't think he should be simply because he wasn't a passenger and his name is not on the manifest. But I suppose it could be argued (especially by the pro-lifers out there) that since he had a heartbeat in Claire's womb, he should be considered a person and counts as one of the survivors. That would of course seem to be a major reach. However, I'm pretty sure the previews for this episode stated that another member of the O-6 would be revealed, and Aaron is the only person that could possibly be considered.

13. Who is this guy?!!! Someone played the audio backwards and determined that this mystery guy shouts out something like "We hate you." Any ideas?

14. As discussed previously, something's wrong with Daniel. We see Charlotte working with him on his memory and he can't even remember 2 out of 3 cards - yet Charlotte notes this is an improvement. Perhaps the island is helping?

15. Jack makes Charlotte call the "emergency number" and Regina says she doesn't know anything about the helicopter. Uh oh.

16. Any guesses on what happens to Sayid, Frank and Desmond in that helicopter? Do they make it to the freighter? Maybe it's just a time difference thing and they'll eventually make it? Maybe like Desmond's boat, the copter will go in circles and have to turn back to the island? We at least know they don't die, since Sayid is one of the O-6. Thoughts?

17. The Aaron surprise: where does it rank among the top jaw-dropping moments in LOST history? I put it right up there with the moment we found out we were watching Desmond on the hatch and when we figured out we were watching a flash forward at the end of season 3. Nothing else comes to mind as comparable. Any other nominees?

18. Did anyone else get a creepy feeling about the nanny?

In the Spirit of Last Week's Slam Dunk Contest

LOST S 4 x E 3: The Economist

Here's the recap.

1. The timers don't add up. In fact, they're 31 minutes apart.

2. So Sayid is going around killing people on yet another list. We're led to believe that it's the only way to keep the rest of the Oceanic survivors safe. We know Ben is Sayid's Boss, but who is calling the shots on the other side? I'll go with Charles Widmore, although we still don't know what his agenda is other than to make sure Desmond never ends up with Penny.

3. Naomi's bracelet and Elsa's (Sayid's lover) bracelet are very similar, although we know Naomi's was inscribed by someone named RG - there's someone on the boat named Regina. Other than that, it's anyone's guess... The writers have confirmed that there's no story link between the two bracelets; they just used it twice to create a fun connection.

4. Hurley certainly had me fooled. Nice job.

5. Sayid works for Ben, or is he now Dr. Ben? We knew he was a fan of bunnies, but this is just insane. Back on the island, Sayid said "The day I trust [Ben] is the day I sell my soul." I guess any of us would do the same thing for VIP access to such a nice golf course...

LOST S 4 x E 2 - "Confirmed Dead"

Obviously I'm way behind here so I'm just going to post links to an excellent recap and then just add few quick thoughts and observations about this episode. A similar post for episode three will follow.

Here's the recap.

1. Not sure if anyone bothers watching the episodes from the prior week with the pop-up labels, but apparently it was confirmed that in the scene where Daniel is crying, the woman in the room with him is his "caretaker." Not sure what to make of that but we already had a hunch that he's got some mental issues.

2. Polar bears in the middle of the desert - with Dharma necklaces! Just as weird as a centuries old slave ship in the middle of an island. How did Charlotte know to look for it? Also, the symbol on the polar bear is the same as the symbol for the Hydra station - you know, the place where the polar bears were kept on the island.

3. Anyone else not really feeling the whole Miles/ghostbuster plotline? My only guess is that he was chosen to deal with either Jacob, Smokey, Walt, Christian Shepard, or all of the above. These people were apparently chosen for a reason - so said Matthew Abbadon to Naomi.

4. The cow seen by Frank Lapidus was most likely the cow from the communication station where Mikail was stationed and which Locke blew up after beating the computer at a game of chess.

5. We find out that the rescuers are really just there to find Ben. Of course, the assumption is that these people work for the same people the Dharma employees worked for until Ben and the Others gassed them all to death, took over the island, and blocked all signals so that "employer" couldn't find the island anymore.

6. Ben has a man on the boat. My original guess was Michael and/or Walt, and I'm sticking to it for lack of a better idea. Any guesses?

7. Picture of Ben - definitely appears to be off the island. Also, he looks handcuffed and most people seem to think it looks like the pic was taken at an airport. Interesting observation because Ben was an airport employee in Boone's hallucination when Locke put the goo on his head. Or was that in one of Charlie's hallucinations from the withdrawal?

8. What's the deal with Oceanic 815 being found on the bottom of the ocean? Did someone go through all the trouble of dumping an identical plane and some dead bodies in order to cover up the real story? Or maybe it's......purgatory? Just kidding. I HATE the fact that people still bring that up as a guess as to what's behind the whole story. The flash forwards confirm that these people are very much alive.

Now That The Strike Is Apparently Over, When Do We Get Our Damn Shows Back?!

While it's great news that the strike is over, it appears that at least for some shows, the hiatus left an inadequate amount of time to crank out the remaining episodes for the current season. TV Guide has a list which they claim to be updating hourly with information regarding most shows. Sadly, "Cavemen" isn't on the list...

LOST S4 x E1 : Beginning of the End

All I can say is that it's great to have this show back. Before we get to the season premier, I just want to briefly explore something from the season 3 finale. There was much speculation as to who was in the coffin. The guesses I've heard were mostly that it was Ben or Locke, simply because they presumably had no friends anymore (although Locke now appears to be back in favor with at least some of the people in season 4).

Based on the neighborhood in which the funeral parlor was located, I naturally assumed it was someone of African American descent. That would leave Michael, Walt, or someone we haven't yet met. Anyway, someone did a nice job enhancing the obituary Jack had with him and it apparently reads:

"The body of John Lantham of New York was found shortly after 4 am in the 4300 block of Grand Avenue.

Ted Worden, a doorman at the Tower Lofts complex, heard loud noises coming from the victim's loft.

Concerned for tenants' safety, he entered the loft and found the body hanging from a beam in the living room.

According to Jaime Ortiz, a police spokesman, the incident was deemed a suicide after medical tests. Latham (sic) is survived by one teenaged son.

Memorial services will be held at the Hoffs-Drawlar Funeral Home tomorrow evening."

At this point, I'm convinced it's Michael, particularly based on the fact that nobody else on the show has a teenage son (as far as we know).

Anyway, here are some thoughts regarding the premier....

1. The car Hurley's driving is the one he was working on with his Dad. Not the greatest picture, but whatever. (Thanks to JP for making the connection)

2. The car Hurley hits is the same gold Pontiac Bonneville we've seen throughout the series, including, but probably not limited to the car that hit Locke in the parking lot when he met his mom; the car that Kate and her doctor childhood boyfriend crashed into during her escape from the hospital; the car that hit Michael and put him on disability long enough that his girlfriend decided to dump him for a lawyer. Does this car have any significance?

3. We get our first mention of the "Oceanic 6." It would appear that Jack, Kate, and Hurley make up half the group, with the remaining three yet to be revealed. What does this number represent, exactly? The actor who plays Sayid has an interesting quote.

4. The car chase ends in front of an electronics store, which explains how someone would have a camcorder handy to tape the whole thing. The employee who ran out of the store to try out his paparazzi skills? None other than Randy, Hurley boss at Mr. Cluck's and Locke's boss at the box company owned by Hurley. Was Hurley just running from the police, or was he also running toward Randy for some help?

5. The cop questioning Hurley is Ana Lucia's former partner. Hurley pretends not to know who she is, and this is our first clue into the fact that the "O-6" have withheld information about those who don't make it off the island. When the cop leaves, Hurley sees Charlie swimming up to the two-way mirror, and has a message on his hand that you may have missed: "They Need You."

6. The guy who comes to visit Hurley in the mental hospital claims to be an attorney for Oceanic Air, and says his name is Matthew Abbadon. In Hebrew, this means "place of destruction." Anyway, he promises to upgrade Hurley to a better facility - one with an ocean view. Perhaps an offer to take him back to the island? Hurley doesn't bite and the guy demands to know if "they're still alive." At this point, I'm assuming that this guy is part of the Widmore Corporation and/or Hanso Foundation that we still haven't been told much about.

Hurley is painting an eskimo and an igloo. Lots of possibilities there, such as Desmond's quote that the island is a damn snow globe; Desmond's riddle to Locke in the hatch ("What did one snowman say to the other"); the igloo kind of looks like the dome with the computer in the hatch; the guys Penny Widmore hired to look for an electromagnetic anomaly, etc.

7. Hurley comes upon Jacob's house and hears whispers. Some people have said they thought they heard "somebody's coming," "can you tell who it is," "I think it might be Desmond," and some other gibberish. Nothing is clear at this point, including a)who is in the rocking chair, and b) whose eye was in the window. As to the rocking chair guy, it looks exactly like Christian Shephard, especially with the same white sneakers we saw for a split-second. He was also in the episode's credits. As to the eye, it looked like the Jacob eye we saw last time, but it could have also been Locke's considering he was with Hurley in a matter of seconds.

8. Hurley is outside relaxing when he's told someone is staring at him. Hurley looks up and sees Charlie, who admits he's dead, yet still here. Not sure what to make of that. It's possible Hurley imagined the guy who alerted him about Charlie. It's also possible that the guy was talking about another guy in this picture standing behind Charlie. Hurley is told "They need you - you know they need you!" - a similar quote to the one on Charlie's hand in the interrogation room.

9. Great line from Ben: "Better call the boat. Tell them that she's getting a really big bundle of firewood." Anyway, I'm glad Naomi is dead, as I found her to be terribly annoying...

10. Back to the "O-6" for a second. Remember when everyone thought there was a script error in the season 3 finale when drug addict Jack says something like "why don't you get my father down here and if he's more sober than I am, [something, something] ? Well maybe his dad isn't dead; maybe he's one of the "O-6" and maybe he was back at the hospital in the flash forward. Merits discussion...

11. Speaking of the flash forwards, it's very possible that after Team Jack splits from Team Locke, that the former does get off the island and we'll only see them in flash forwards from now on.

12. Jack visits Hurley at the mental hospital. This is obviously taking place before the season 3 finale flash forward, because Jack is still sane and says he intends to grow a beard. But we know that the secret(s) being kept by the "O-6" will ultimately mess him up like Hurley. Jack is there to make sure Hurley won't reveal anything and Hurley calls it. Hurley tells Jack he thinks "It wants us to go back." Jack says "Never" and Hurley says "Never say never!" -- how right he is about that... so it seems that they will all come to regret their decision to leave the island, but why? Is it because the other characters are in some sort of serious trouble? It may take two years until we get an answer on this.

13. Naomi covers for Kate and the rest of the crew and we're told help is on the way. A helicopter seems to be having a lot of trouble and instead of landing, some guy jumps out. That guy is apparently going to be named Daniel Faraday. In the writers' continuing quest to name characters after philosophers and scientists, Faraday is another example (if you care).

Here are two links regarding some of the unanswered questions of LOST:

5 Questions the Lost Writers Need to Answer (And Why They Won't)

'Lost': 48 pending questions


Here's the preview for the next episode:

It's all in the Slogan

February Simply Cannot Come Soon Enough

Simpsonize Yourself

Upload your picture onto this website and they'll make you into a Simpsons character. Someone spent a loooong time getting the whole cast of "LOST" Simpsonized:

In Case You Were Wondering Why Your Train Was Delayed Yesterday Morning

This is a clip from the almost always reliable Port Washington line (at the Great Neck station platform):



Credit to Carolyn S. (who previously sent the Dayeinu Burger Lady)

Just Another Day at Work in Midtown Manhattan

Well I suppose it was bound to happen eventually. After three and a half months at my relatively new job, we had our first full-scale terrifying experience. At first I heard what I can only describe as "amazing thunder," however, after it remained constant for ten seconds, I decided to peer out my window, which faces 42nd St. between Lexington and 3rd Aves. All of a sudden, I saw hundreds of people running away from the 42nd and Lex intersection. I immediately ran to a co-worker's office that faces Lex and saw what looked like the huge cloud of off-white dust and smoke we remember all too well from 9-11, and decided that the building next door to us must have collapsed or had at least began the process. I was soon informed by a co-worker that it appeared that only a steam pipe had burst and pointed me to a window with a better view, at which point I saw what appeared to be a blown up school mini-bus. That was all I needed to see...

Those employees still in the office went to the designated fire alarm spot to await further instructions that come through the emergency PA system. At first someone announced that we should remain on our floors (which are pretty high up), but about two minutes later, the same person came on and began to repeatedly say "Evacuate the building immediately!"

Naturally, we ran to the door that leads to the stairwell (which if opened in a non-emergency sets off a whole bunch of alarms) and joined a stampeding crowd of frantic co-workers in what I can only describe as a race against time before our own building would seemingly collapse. Between the deafening sound and the vibrations felt, I was honestly very fearful that I wouldn't make it out.

I'll also never forget two co-workers in particular who were pushing everyone else out of the way, as if everyone else's lives were less important (very George Costanza-like). I doubt they even realize how shitty and selfish their actions were during that time of panic. As I advanced downward, I noticed a lady who appeared to be having a tough time getting down the stairs. I asked her if she was alright, and she assured me she was, and said thank you. I continued down the stairs.

The person making the announcements was now saying that as soon as we reached the emergency exit, we should immediately run away from Lex and head towards 3rd. There were shoes (particularly loads of flip-flops), headphones, and other items all over the stairs as we made our way to the ground floor, and even more as we got outside to the sidewalk. Everyone seemed to take a split-second look at the explosion to their right, and proceeded to haul ass in the other direction without looking back. I imagine most people assumed the big cloud was coming straight for us. I'd say we were about 50 yards from the explosion, if not closer.

The police were rushing us out of there, but I managed to take a quick 15-second video from my phone at what I figured was a safe enough distance, before crossing 3rd:


Here's a clip showing a crowd of people from my building coming out and running for cover (I haven't been able to spot myself). The 40-second mark sums up our collective state of mind pretty well.

R2D2 Has Nothing On This Guy

When The Pool Blows (Revisited)

Here are the standings going into the championship game. According to the scenario generator, "Nicoleyrok" wins if Ohio State defeats Florida. If the reverse happens, I win. Go Gators!

LOST -- S 3 x E 14: EXPOSE

Before I begin, I just want to declare this the best episode of the season. WoW.

Moving right along, Nikki is a B-movie actress* in a Billy Dee Williams production. Did anyone else have a craving for a Colt 45? Anyway, she teams up with chef Paolo (having just returned from a little battle with 300 Spartans) to kill Howie Zuckerman in order to get the key to the safe with the $8 million in diamonds. As soon as Nikki told Paolo not to light up a cigarette because "ashes are evidence," I immediately thought of the Pearl station where there was either a cigarette or at least some ashes on the desk when Locke and Eko discovered it. Of course it turns out that I was wrong, but I guess I was close enough since the Pearl did come into play.

* (maybe it was just me, but one of the patrons in the strip club looked exactly like Ando - Hiro's friend - in Heroes, which is funny since that character had a major affinity for webcam lady "Nikki")

So it turns out that not only did Nikki and Paolo know a lot of things (the plane, the Pearl) that the rest of the Losties only caught onto much later, but Ben was watching Jack and the gang in the Swan the entire time! That scene answered a few questions for us, namely that Ben did purposely get caught or was at the very least was planning on vacationing with Jack in the Swan. The plan was always to manipulate Jack into doing the surgery, and lo and behold, he used Juliet to make it happen.

We see Shannon and Boone fighting in the airport and Nikki makes Paolo promise they'll never end up like the brother and sister. Well, it looks like they did - DEAD. We're then taken back to the original crash scene and we see some familiar dialog as well as some new things. Boone is running around asking people, including Nikki, for a pen. That relates to when he was annoying Jack, who said "You want to make yourself useful? Go get me a pen." He needed it for a tracheotomy. I thought this whole scene was great. In fact, all of the nostalgic scenes, if we can even call them that, were fantastic. Artz and his insect collection, Ethan being ultra friendly, etc.

I'm sure I wasn't the only person who kept saying to themselves "There's something a little too strange about their facial expressions - like they're just frozen, but not actually dead."

Best line of the night: After Sawyer runs over and spills out the water Jin took out from Paolo's bag, Hurley yells at Sawyer for ruining the crime scene, to which Sawyer replies "Oh I'm sorry! Is there a forensics hatch I don't know about?!"

Dumbest line of the night: Nikki crying to Paolo that they missed Thanksgiving two weeks ago. Yeah, I'm sure a guy from Brazil living in Australia really gives a crap.

I'm glad they explained what Paolo was doing in the bathroom the day he and Nikki went with Locke, Desmond, and Sayid to investigate the Pearl and saw Mikhail for the first time. And as for the ending, what an unbelievable job doing a Seinfeld-esque backwards episode. The spider idea was great, and the way they shot the scene with Nikki opening her eyes just as the dirt is falling on her was awesome. At least they have their diamonds down there.

The show is definitely on a roll, and should continue to carry the momentum into season 4, which had some news this past week:

ABC has announced that LOST, amongst other shows, will be picked up for a fourth season. There has also been discussion about changing the scheduling next year to a shorter season with all new (or almost all new) episodes. Think "24". The season would start in January, and run through May, with no major hiatuses.

Looking forward to the catfight between Kate and Juliet next week. I'm personally rooting for Juliet.

Web 2.0 Explained Fairly Well

Cross Country Trip - Sponsored by.... YOU?

These three friends are hopping in their van and traveling all over the country, hitting most of the premier spots this great nation has to offer. How can they afford to do it? On your dime! They're selling every square of space on their van for $100 each.

All the details are here and the van is basically ad-free at this point.

Coming To A University Near You

It's Millenium Pong!

LOST -- S 3 x E 13: The Man From Tallahasse

Quick thoughts:

Alex is really dumb. And what the hell is up with Rousseau?!

Sayid is the worst soldier ever. All he does is get caught, lose gun battles and fail to get any answers from people through torture.

Jack probably wouldn't want to leave if he knew his half-sister and nephew were still on the island.

Locke blowing up the submarine saved the show mucho dinero in production costs.

The Locke window scene totally caught me off guard. I thought Cooper would maybe hit him from behind or even pull a gun on him when he went to get the phone, but I never imagined THAT would happen. Poor Locke; pretty much the most awful life ever.

What a cliffhanger ending! First of all, the guy wheeling Ben around is the same guy that recruited Juliet. Second, I hope Locke gets to kill his "dad."

Everyone seems to love 60-year old MacCutcheon.

And what's up with the Blair Witch-like promo for next week's episode?

LOST -- S 3 x E 12: Par Avion

I know this post is long overdue, and I don't have much time to go into great detail, but I wanted to at least provide a forum to discuss the episode.

Just a few quick thoughts:

Was it necessary to drag out Claire's flashback the way they did? We already suspected she was Jack's half brother (because we saw Christian go to an Australian woman's house and demand to see his daughter - Ana Lucia stayed in the car), and they never explained how the accident was her fault.

Any significance to Claire working in a tattoo parlor? Her half brother is certainly fond of tattoos.

Totally unrelated to the episode: I'm continually amazed at the creativity of LOST fans. Here's a great video spoof of The A-Team:



Locke will stop at nothing to stay on the island. As soon as he became aware of Mikhail's knowledge regarding Locke's paralysis, Locke decided to kill him.

Rousseau is acting awfully strange about Alex being alive.

The Desmond seeing the future and Charlie marked for death stories are getting a little repetitive and stale. But the real question is: Did Charlie only pretend to attach the note to the bird?

We'd Like To Buy A Vowel Brain, Pat

I guess they don't always give them the answers in advance, like they did with this lady.

American Idol: Who Do You Love?

I've been a Melinda fan since day one, but I thought tonight's best were Jordin Sparks, Haley Scarnato, Chris Richardson, and Blake Lewis. Granted, Melinda did fine - it just wasn't my favorite performance of hers. She fell somewhere in the middle with Lakisha and Chris Sligh. Having said that, Sanjaya is a joke. He better be gone this week. This has gone on waaay too far.

What did you think of tonight's episode and who do you think will land in the bottom three tomorrow night? Who goes home?

My guess: Sanjaya, Phil Stacey, and Stephanie Edwards (who I usually like, but she sucked tonight) in the bottom three. Phil goes home, and Sanjaya gets to torture us another week.

This Guy Has Every Right To Let Out A Cry Like That

Slalom Skier Nutshot - Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

(Found on Deadspin)

Friendster Sucks and I Can't Wait Until They Go Out of Business

Most people have heard of Friendster, arguably the website that gave birth to the internet phenomenon known as social networking sites. After many crucial business errors (mostly having to do with the site crashing all the time), the site has gone from number one to not even in the top 20 for sites in this market. The NY Times has a four and a half minute video story about the site's downfall which came right around the time Myspace began its rise to dominance. Facebook also joined the party shortly after.

Bottom line: Friendster is dying a slow death, and while some venture capitalists have pumped some cash into the company, it's too late. What's most frustrating to me aside from the sites tech problems (which seem to get exponentially worse at precisely midnight) is the fact that nobody seems to work there. Have a problem? You can try to e-mail "customer service," but I guess he sleeps every now and then and isn't available to answer your questions.

Most recently, I noticed that a familiar face had viewed my profile. Only the face (it was a picture of one of my best friends) didn't match the name. Someone from Malaysia essentially stole her identity by taking all the pictures from my friend's page and using them on their own page. Several e-mails have been sent to "customer service" but no replies have come back and the imposter-profile still remains on the site. Myspace would have deleted the profile in question in a matter of minutes - after the first request. This situation just highlights why Friendster should just close up shop. It's never a good idea to throw good money at bad money, but that's essentially what this latest group of investors is doing. They're slowly introducing all the features that have already been on Myspace and Facebook for years, and Friendster's attempts at these things (adding music or video to your profile, blogs, the who comment wall concept, etc.) are still worse than its competitors.

Just stop. You're embarrassing yourselves (on your own dime, too).

"It Really Cuts The Fat! Cooking Time!"

NY Times columnist David Pogue is at something called the TED Conference and mentioned this piece of cooking machinery awesomeness: the TurboChef Double Wall Speedcook Oven.

It cooks things 15x faster than conventional ovens by using a special technology that creates "elegant tornadoes" which move around at 60 miles per hour. Some examples of its speed: A frozen pizza in 90 seconds, or a 12 lb. turkey in 42 minutes instead of close to four hours!

....and it can be yours for the low low price of $7,500 ;)

Dare I Say This Actually Looks Pretty Good?

When "Buy One - Get One Free!" Doesn't Quite Work

This story comes from reader Dov. It turns out that coffee and Porsches are quite different. I especially like the final quote in the story from the company's national spokesman.

What Was The First Place Guy Thinking?!

For the first time ever, there was a three-way tie on Jeopardy! a few days ago. After seeing the clip, I'm not quite sure I understand what the leader's strategy was. Clearly the other two guys were going to bet all they had, which would leave them with $16,000 each. All the other guy had to do was bet $2,401. Wtf?!

And here's my favorite SNL Jeopardy sketch.

CGI Brilliance

Enjoy The Neighborhood

I saw this a few days ago on Digg and forgot to post it. Here's a picture of what happens in China when developers offer you money to move and you continue to hold out:

300

Saw it in IMAX. Loved it. Go see it!

Baseball's A-Comin' - From a Few Inches Away

While some of us are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the MLB regular season, here's a great clip (no sound necessary) of what we've been missing during spring training (found at Deadspin):



Also, stay tuned for previews of both the AL & NL East divisions.

Complete Television Unhappiness

There's a thread going on over at the Noy G Show regarding what was once the greatest show of all time: "24." Now in it's sixth season, it appears the writers have simply run out of thrilling storylines and believable twists. It also seems they're trying to create what I would liken to a grand finale at a fireworks show - but it's not working. The show's popularity always gets a bump when something happens worthy of water cooler talk the following morning and I suspect they've been trying awfully hard this year (to no avail).

[SPOILER ALERT]

In past years this has included Terri's death, Allen York not really being Allen York, Chappelle's death, Edgar's death, David Palmer's death, Charles Logan being a terrorist of sorts, etc.

This year, they've given us moments which I believe they figured would create similar buzz including bluetooth guy being Jack's brother, Wayne Palmer as President, Wayne Palmer almost being blown up by an inside assassination attempt involving the Vice President and resulting in the kidnapping of the Secretary of Defense inside the nuclear bunker, Jack's dad being involved in nuclear weapon trafficking, the Russian Consulate being behind all the terror attacks, Charles Logan coming back, crazy Martha Logan stabbing him right in a key artery, etc.

Unfortunately, these moments had the effect of dropping our jaws for only a split second before we realized "hey, this is completely and utterly ridiculous." Even more unfortunate is the fact that the water cooler talk these days has been mostly about the show's decline. At this point, I'm calling for drastic measures: kill someone untouchable. I don't care if it's Chloe (who hasn't had many of her famous one-liners this year) or Bill Buchanan. Hell, I'm even torn as to whether killing Jack would give the show a rebirth or just absolutely destroy it - probably the latter. But something needs to happen, and it needs to happen fast. DAMNIT!!!

Of course, it will take much more than some crappy storylines to get me to stop watching. Why? I suppose partly because of inertia, as Noyam says. But I think mostly because of wishful thinking that the show will at some point return to its glory days. But while I'm still committed to "24," I think I may start watching "Heroes" in real-time...

Seventeen Hundred Thousand, Bob

Time for another awesome game show moment. This time it's on "The Price Is Right," courtesy of Best.Week.Ever.

Selection Monday

Now that the teams have been announced for this year's NCAA Tournament, it's time to start filling out your brackets. All the details on how to join us can be found here. Again, this is a totally free, just-for-fun pool.

If you're looking to do some research before making your picks, here are a few sites with info:

ESPN

Yahoo!

CBS Sportsline

Fox Sports

Sports Illustrated

LOST -- S 3 x E 11 : "Enter 77"

Well, we finally got meet Eye Patch Guy aka Mikhail Bakunin, and for a second there he almost had a great backstory. Unfortunately, it appears he's not the "last surviving member of the Dharma Initiative," and is in fact an Other (I'm not going to start referring to the as the Hostiles). He told Sayid and the gang that everything he said was true except the first part. Most people took that to mean that he was saying he's an Other and was never part of Dharma. I think that's too easy. The quote has a couple of possible interpretations:

1) Maybe he was a Dharma member at one point, but isn't anymore.

2) Maybe he is still a member of Dharma (albeit a compromised one), but not the last surviving member = there are more. He is, after all, the only one of them to wear a Dharma suit.

I suppose we can finally say for sure that the Others and Dharma are separate groups.

Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876) - a Russian revolutionary considered one of the fathers of modern anarchism.

Here is the letter that was shown for a split second last night (with translation!) It mentions the war with Afghanistan and has a handwritten note reading "My name is Andrey too."

For a guy who figured out pretty quickly that Mikhail was an Other, Sayid sure sucks at tying up prisoners, and he's not very good at making people talk either. First he failed with Ben in the hatch, and now with Mikhail.

Locke sure has bad luck. He's now responsible for the destruction of two Dharma stations. Both had running water, some sort of link to the outside world, and the newest one even had refrigerators and probably some other essential stuff.

I'm going to miss Sawyer's nicknames. But his best line of the night had to be when he looked at Nikki and said "Who the hell are you?" Of course, we know where Hurley learned to play ping pong, although I don't remember him being so good in the loony bin.

We got to see Miss Klugh again, and it turns out she speaks Russian! Curious as to what she said? Here's the exact exchange between her and Mikhail. But what was down in that room besides Dharma manuals such as the food drop protocols and operations? I guess we'll never know thanks to the number 77. And why would she give herself up like that? She'd rather be killed? It makes no sense, especially since after he'd shoot her they'd take him prisoner. Ben didn't have much of a problem as a prisoner; in fact, you could almost say he enjoyed the mind games.

Speaking of prisoners, do you think Sayid really tortured the woman back in Iraq? I say yes, while others on the message boards are suggesting he just told the lady what she wanted to hear. By the way, did anyone recognize the lady's husband? He played the Iranian father/storeowner in Crash.

It looks like Sayid, Locke, Kate, and anyone else they can round up will try to ambush the Others at the "barracks" as they're referred to by the map. But before that happens, they're going to bring Mikhail back to the camp (why not take the cows too?!). Remember when the crew went to the Pearl Station and first saw Mikhail on the monitor? Also don't forget that Paolo went to the bathroom and as I've indicated before, my guess is that he somehow alerted Mikhail right beforehand. I definitely think we'll get some major background/explanation on Nikki and Paolo once Mikhail is brought to the camp. And it wouldn't surprise me if they set him free.

Not the best episode; not the worst. Thought? Post 'em....

The Black Donnellys

Just wondering if anyone caught either of the first two episodes of The Black Donnellys, and if so, what they thought. Personally, having seen an episode and a half, I'd say it's by no means the greatest show ever made but it certainly has potential. It took a while to realize that not everyone is named Jimmy, and it gets too slow a little too often, but otherwise there's some good action and interesting side stories. I also like the music choices.

The best part about the show isn't even really about the show at all. From the NBC website, you can actually watch episodes up to a week before they air. Plus, since it's a show on network television, it's limited in what it can show - as opposed to a show like The Sopranos. As a result, the site is showing extra episodes with content that isn't otherwise suitable to be shown.

Two Little Pigs - In One Pig's Body

No, this isn't a photoshop contest - it's the real deal.

(Credit: Drudge)

The 50 Greatest Local TV Commercials

Courtesy of "The Phat Phree," here are some of the strangest, but wildly entertaining local TV commercials. This builds on my post from last week which outlined the top 10 most annoying TV spokespersons. Enjoy.

Name All 50 States In Under 10 Minutes

No cheating! How quickly can you do it? I had five left with six and a half minutes to go and finally banged out the rest with 2:19 remaining. Pretty embarrassing but there's always those last few that just don't register for a long while...
Good luck!

(Credit: Gorillamask)

I Want This.

How many times have you done something that made someone nauseous? So nauseous that they begged you to stop lest they throw up all over the place? Well now you can save some energy because instead of coming up with something gross to do each time, all you have to do is point this device at the person. They will allegedly get super-dizzy to the point of falling over, and in some cases will even begin to vomit. The best part? It even works through walls!

The Navy is considering using these things (which use radio-frequency waves that screw with a person's brain) in combat because it's a fantastic way to conquer the enemy without causing loss of life (probably also the fact that they thought it sounded cool being able to make people fall over and puke).

(Credit: Gizmodo)

Mad Dog Chris Russo Absolutely Loses It - Pacman Jones Needs a Bodyguard

Thanks to Bill Simmons for the clip. Russo's rant is primarily in regards to this. If you don't have six and a half minutes to spare, start watching at around the 4-minute mark (when the headset gets a mind of its own):

When The Pool Blows

Now that it's officially March, allow me to invite you to the first annual "When The Pool Blows" NCAA Tournament League. I chose Yahoo! Sports over ESPN, CBS Sportsline, and Facebook for several reasons but it really doesn't matter. The point is that it's a free, just-for-fun league and everyone here is welcome and encouraged to join. Here's how:


1. Go to http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/

2. Click on "Join a Group" (at this point you may be asked to sign in to your Yahoo! account)

3. Click on "Join Private"

4. Enter the group #, which is 18327

5. Enter the password, which is blog

6. Create a team name

7. You can't pick your winners until Selection Sunday, which is March 11th. You will have from that night until March 15th to fill out your bracket. Good luck!

When A Slam Dunk Goes Terribly Wrong (according to some people)

Hey, if Marv Albert and Jason Kidd were judging this thing, the guy would have gotten 10s and probably won.

The Latest Brilliant Idea for a TV Show They'll Surely Screw Up

Does this clever ad campaign have enough stamina to make it as a sitcom? The ABC network is betting it does. Variety.com has the details here.

First piece of advice: Don't cast Brendan Fraser as one of the leads.

Boston Isn't Looking Too Smaaaaht These Days

After last month's Lite Brite fiasco, you would think the Boston bomb squad would think twice before shutting down the city and blowing stuff up. Unfortunately, someone called the police about a suspicious device chained to a no parking sign, and Wonkette has the rest of the story here.

Also, "Homeland Stupidity" links to a local news segment on the story.

Possibly My Favorite Video Ever

This is an oldie - but a damn goodie. The Japanese must not have a lot of time on their hands because they take care of their aerobics, self-defense, and learning English all in one video. And they say "I was robbed by two men" with such nice smiles!

I haven't been able to find anything that tops this:

LOST -- S 3 x E 10 : "Tricia Tanaka is Dead"

Not much to discuss this week. This was obviously a filler episode, but a fun one at that. At least they didn't make any claims they couldn't back up like they were found guilty of last week. Sawyer was on fire with his one liners and Hurley also had some great ones too. We learned not to drink Dharma beer while driving a Dharma van, thanks to Roger ("workman"). Most importantly, we learned that the writers of LOST watch The Family Guy.

A few things I noticed during the episode worth mentioning:

1) Was that the first time we were told that Hurley's good friend stole the girl from the record store?

2) Did anyone notice the two new characters (Nikki and Paolo) acting strange when Hurley came back? It appeared that Paolo grabbed onto a belt loop on Nikki's shorts and pulled her back. I read somewhere that one of the writers said that although the two characters seem insignificant and annoying, we'll at some point how just how crucial they are based on their backstories.

3) Was this the first episode ever (besides "The Other 48 Days") which didn't include Jack? (credit to reader Jen P. for pointing this out)

4) It looks like a meteor really was responsible for destroying Mr. Clucks - not the black smoke monster.

5) Does Vincent have any special abilities? He sure seems to show up at the right place at the right time. I'm still waiting patiently for a Vincent flashback.

6) The candy bar that began Hurley's eating disorder was not an Apollo Bar, but rather a "Glacier Bar"

7) The dart - from the hatch? I think they had a dartboard in there.

Anyway, next week looks interesting, unless the stuff with eye patch guy happens in the 59th minute... also, did anyone catch what Locke and Sayid were saying about having a bearing based on Mr. Eko's stick? Also, there's talk of a big white ball following above Hurley's head when he's running after Vincent - did anyone catch that?

Oh and this is just plain awesome.

Thoughts? Post 'em...

Now You Have No Excuse

According to something called "NBC Universal Media Village" (even calling it NBCUMV seems way too long), the network will be adding even more shows to its collection of streaming episodes available for viewing.

But the biggest news is that NBC will be adding EVERY episode of Heroes and Friday Night Lights. I know some people have expressed their displeasure with the fact that there were episode gaps on the website, so this should pretty much fix the problem.

(credit: PopCandy)

Great News - I Just Saved a Bunch of Money on My Car Insurance TV Set (and other assorted electronics)

I just came across this loophole which basically allows you to lower the price of big ticket items at your local electronics superstore such as Circuit City & Best Buy. The trick involves that extended service warranty they always try to get you to buy at the end of the sale. With this brilliant strategy, you can now save money by taking that overpriced piece of junk insurance policy.

How to Shower: Woman vs. Man

You've undoubtedly gotten that e-mail forward dozens of times. The message describes in step-by-step detail the difference between people of the opposite sex go about their shower routine. Well a real life man and woman decided to turn the e-mail into a video demonstration. While there's no nudity, one could possibly argue that this contains "adult situations" - namely, showering:

Things You Can Do To Help Thwart Global Warming (Besides Not Farting)

Al Gore is catching a lot of bad press lately. First it was all the talk about the amount of carbon dioxide he's producing from his trips on private jets while traveling around the world convincing everyone to rollerblade to work. Today, there's a report from The Tennessee Center for Policy Research that he's using energy for his home at a rate of more than 20 times the national average. WWTDD has the story here.

Regardless of what Al Gore does or doesn't do, here's a list of the "Top 50 Things To Do To Stop Global Warming," and of course, a special announcement from the man who defeated Al Gore in 2000:

The Top 10 Most Annoying Commercial Spokespersons Ever

10. "Crazy Eddie" - I think this guy was single-handedly responsible for Magnavox coming up with that SmartSound technology which put an end to "loud commercials." Fortunately Dolby is working on a similar technology. It's one thing to let people know you have the lowest prices but can't you do it after taking a few Vicodins? Otherwise, start doing late night infomercials for the latest bathroom cleaning product or get into the Baltimore used-car business (language NSFW). Who the hell would ever want to walk into an electronics store with a nutjob like this screaming his ass off (at least before these babies were invented)?!!

9. "The Orbit Gum Lady" - Talk about an ad campaign that was never funny to begin with, but refuses to be put out of its misery. Is it her terribly annoying voice/accent, or is it the awful commercial itself? I don't know; I just want it to stop after all these years.

8. "Zack The Legomaniac" - Who did Zack think he was fooling?! Certainly not this six year old at the time the commercial aired. Nobody thought he was cool, and most kids immediately stopped playing with LEGO toys for fear of being called a "LEGO Maniac." Between the stupid sunglasses, tacky leather jacket, and all the toys Mr. Zack never really built himself, it was more than enough to piss off an entire generation of kids. The antithesis of Zack was probably that kid with the leather jacket from the "Simon" commercial. Now HE was cool.

7. "Dick Lewis" (and everyone in this Newmark & Lewis commercial) - I don't think it made anyone the least bit comfortable knowing that Dick Lewis might be watching.

6. "Flea Market Montgomery Guy" - I have so many questions for this guy. Who did you hire to come up with this idea? Why is it so damn long? Who taught you how to dance (and that's coming from a white guy!)?? Is it really just like a mini-mall?? If you want an example of how to make a furniture commercial, be sure to check out Mark from Norton Furniture - a true classic! Oh, and to everyone who just watched that last video: good luck trying to get to sleep tonight.

5. "DUDE You're Getting a Dell Guy" - Yes, there is a god, and the proof is in the fact that he set certain events in motion leading to this guy getting busted for drugs and subsequently getting dropped by Dell. Did anyone find this guy amusing? Who, after watching one these commercials, was actually inspired to buy a computer for their own crackhead kid?! Dell should have just made this infomercial-gone-wrong into an ad campaign.

4. "The Encyclopedia Britannica Kid" - This kid probably endured more ridicule than Vanilla Ice and I wouldn't be surprised if he's in a mental institution by now. I'm sure after seeing the commercial, children of all ages swore to never open an encyclopedia, and parents swore to enrich their kids' lives in other ways. The risk of someone becoming a carbon copy of madibula-boy was just too high. Between the stupid hairstyle, bright red shirt with the top buttoned, high pitched voice, and those damn glasses, how could you not want to hurt this guy?

3. "David Arquette for 1(800)C-A-L-L-A-T-T" - Perhaps the most extreme case of wondering "WTF were they thinking?!!" This guy made Carrot Top seem tolerable. Just dial down the center, huh?

2. "William Shatner for Priceline.com" - To this day, I still don't know what they were thinking with this one. At least the Orbit gum commercials have a point (albeit not a very good one). Instead of collecting a salary, Shatner should have covered the cost of all medication prescribed to people who went insane or killed someone after watching him sing. About nothing.

1. "Jared from Subway" - Listen, we get it: Jared used to be a very fat man, ate a lot of Subway food, and now he isn't so fat anymore. Why do you insist on reminding us about this daily? I'm sure there are plenty of less annoying weight loss success story people you could have chosen, or better yet, you could have used a different former-fatty in each commercial. Jared's smugness knows no bounds, as he continually reminds the world that he used to wear a size XXXXXXXXXL t-shirt. Well you know what Jared? I don't know if you ever saw the movie "Dodgeball," but I'm predicting you'll one day end up like White Goodman did.

I'm sure I've left a few worthier people off this list, so feel free to nominate someone by leaving a comment...

"ZEROES"

Heroes Zeroes

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LOST -- S 3 x E 9: "Stranger in a Strange Land"

No, this wasn't the best episode ever, but after two great episodes we were bound to see one that was "just ok."

Tom tells Jack he's being moved and goes into a Ben-esque "we're the good guys" type of speech and FINALLY someone (Jack) stands up and says "Oh really?! What's so good-natured about kidnapping kids, killing innocent people, etc. ?!!" Tom replies by telling Jack he's not such a great guy himself.

But is Jack really a bad guy? His marriage was failing and he slipped for a second by kissing that girl, but his wife had been cheating on him for months (at least). He had a rough relationship with his father Christian, but even if Jack led him to drink to the point where he died, surely that can't be placed on the same level as what the Others have done, right?

Flashback in Thailand. Great shout out to Indiana Jones with the kid screaming "Dr. Jack! Dr. Jack!" Anyway, Jack gets a kite flying lesson from Bai Ling (who every viewer seems to hate from her other acting roles - why?), as well as some other lessons at night. I'm not sure why, but I think there might be something to the scene where Jack tells her she tasted salty and she quickly replies that she just came back from a swim in the ocean. Otherwise, it was weird dialogue to throw in there. Any guesses?

We get to meet "Sheriff Isabel," who speaks and reads Chinese, and is leading an investigation into the murder of Danny Pickett / the attempted murder of Ben Linus. Jack has already declined to help Juliet (in the form of looking at Ben's infected stitches), but when he's called in for questioning, he lies in an effort to save Juliet, however they don't believe her or Jack and subsequently schedule a trial. Jack asks to be taken back to his cage, where he wakes up to find a group of people staring at him.

The first person to walk over is Cindy, who gave Jack an extra vodka on the plane and disappeared from the Tailies in the middle of season 2. She says "We're here to watch, Jack." While we don't know exactly what she meant by watching, it didn't seem to be to watch Jack himself. My guess is that they were there to observe the trial of Juliet. The little kids who were kidnapped are also there, and the little girl asks how Ana Lucia is. I'm sure I'm not the only one pissed off that Jack didn't spill the beans. It also leads me to wonder just what the heck these kidnappees have been told.

Bai Ling is followed by Jack, because he loves to follow women (like he did with his ex-wife) and stumbles upon her tattoo parlor. She reveals that she has a gift and can see people. "My work isn't decoration - it's definition." She marks them and then gets paid afterwards. Jack is told that he's a leader but it makes him feel alone. He makes her write that on his arm after pleading with him (to no avail) that "there will be consequences." The next morning, the soda boy won't go near him and an angry mob proceeds to kick his ass and tells him to leave.

Jack is visited by Alex, who is so perplexed as to why Jack saved Ben. When he replies "Because I said I would," she seems choked up a little. Why?

Upon finding out that Juliet is going to pretty much automatically be convicted with a punishment of an eye for an eye, Jack goes to Ben and makes a deal. Isabel adheres to Ben's instructions (because apparently everyone listens to Ben even when he's on his side and in danger of dying), and Juliet's trial is stopped. She shows up later to bring Jack his grilled cheese with toothpicks and shows him her new mark on her lower back. While I'm not entirely sure, the best guess so far looks like it's a Scientology symbol.

Then the Others all decide that they need to leave because Sawyer and Kate will tell the Losties about the second island and will come to fight. Speaking of Sawyer and Kate, I thought they could have grilled Carl a little more about the Others and at least something along the lines of "Dude, what the hell is the deal with that smoke monster thingy?!!!" Whatever. Also, why are the Others all of a sudden afraid of the Losties? I understand they have to go to their homes (with backyards) at some point, but why the big rush? My only guess is that they don't want to kill the Losties. We're still not sure how bad the Others really are. Maybe they just need the Losties alive longer. Who knows. Guesses?

Isabel tells Jack the tattoo reads "He walks among us, but he is not one of us," to which he replies "That's what it says but not what it means." Jack and Juliet have both been marked. I'm not sure why exactly, but it does seem that Jack is being slowly welcomed into the Others, and even possibly being groomed to be some sort of leader by Ben. So while the irony seems to be that Jack doesn't belong because he's a level below them, perhaps the irony lies in the fact that he's really going to be a level above them.

Anyway, here's my theory: we've been hearing bits and pieces about this "Jacob" character. What if Jacob doesn't really exist YET (it's a fictional leader created by Ben), but is the name by which Jack will be referred to when and if he becomes the leader? The pieces seem to be in play.... thoughts?

Hillary Clinton Will Never Win American Idol

...although she could probably crack the top 24 this season, considering the for-the-most-part awful collection of talent we've seen over the past two days.

Plans For Tonight?

While I'm trying to decide what to watch in the 8-9pm slot tonight (between Jericho, American Idol, and Friday Night Lights), I realize there may be some non-TV fans looking for something to do tonight.

Well, if you think you have what it takes in the sports knowledge department, I encourage you to stop by "Kings Head Tavern" for the first night of the Jeffrey Leonard Invitational, hosted by Mr. Deadspin himself, Will Leitch.

All the pertinent details can be found here.

The Disappearing HIV Magic Trick: Coming to an Arena Near You

Most people know former heavyweight boxer Tommy Morrison from his role as Tommy "The Machine" Gunn in the movie we'd all like to pretend never existed aka "Rocky V." Morrison, a career 46-3-1 (40 knockouts) fighter, was banned from boxing after testing positive for HIV way back in 1996. Since then he hasn't really been in the news.

Until now. Morrison is going to be reinstated by the boxing commissions of at least several, if not all states, because he hasn't ever tested positive for HIV a second time. Over the years, Morrison has had what doctors called tests that could not detect HIV, but weren't officially negative. I don't know what that means nor does Morrison. But recently, he has taken several HIV tests which have in fact come back negative. As a result, he's going to be allowed back to fight.

His girlfriend claims she's been having unprotected relations with him for years and she's tested negative every time.

This sounds very very strange to me. If he tested positive and it was a mistake, why didn't they have a "B sample" available to test as well, like they had with Marion Jones and the Tour de France guy? Why were his blood tests not finding HIV but not going so far as to say it was absent from his blood?

Is it possible there's a drug on the black market that has the ability to trick an HIV test? Or did he really never have the "virus that causes AIDS" to begin with? If he never had HIV, it's a shame that a fighter with such a great record had to take a ten year hiatus from his sport, career, and livelihood. We most certainly haven't heard the end of this story.

Where Do I Sign Up?

Reader Laffytaf just sent me this article about a guy who gets paid to surf the web all day for videos most likely to attract the most traffic. Could there possibly be a better job out there than this? Surely not.

Two New Shows To Check Out

Sarah Silverman, formerly known as Jimmy Kimmel's comedian girlfriend or the comedian from Crank Yankers who got all the bad skits, has a new show on Comedy Central named "The Sarah Silverman Program." Lately, Sarah has been doing the talk show circuit promoting the show, and the second episode of the season airs Thursday night on Comedy Central (the premiere was hilarious).

How is this different from any other comedy show? If you've been fortunate enough to see her film "Jesus Is Magic" - which you can watch on Showtime on Demand if you hurry - you know that Sarah has a unique way of talking about things that are horrible (9/11, AIDS, global warming, Jews driving German cars, etc.) and somehow making you not feel guilty when you crack up.

The next show on my radar is a new show on FOX called "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" I'm sure it will get old pretty quickly, but for at least the first few episodes this should provide some sad entertainment. I'm not sure whether having Jeff Foxworthy as host makes the show better or worse.

Have you watched Sarah Silverman's show yet? Are you planning on watching "5th Grader?"

Dear Tim Hardaway: Run For Your Heterosexual Life

In response to the Tim Hardaway fiasco from last week, Jimmy Kimmel came up with this public service announcement:



(First seen over at Technorati)

UPDATE: Just found this gem over at The Onion

"The Only Tool You'll Ever Need"

(hat tip: oneredpaperclip)

What DID The Survey Saaaaay? "You're an Idiot"

I haven't watched Family Fued in ages; I didn't even know it was still on television, for that matter. Well, apparently "Al from Tool Time" has been replaced as the show's host by none other than Mr. Peterman and the show is alive and kicking. My guess is it's because of the geniuses they borrow for contestants from The Jerry Springer Show:



(from BestWeekEver)

Not sure where this ranks with "Millionaire Boy."

Not Much Originality In The Mind Of Carlos Mencia

I used to think I was the only one who didn't find Carlos Mencia's show on Comedy Central to be the least bit funny. I figured it had to do with the fact that I was a big fan of Dave Chappelle's show (who wasn't), and this replacement was a cheap copy. Then everyone started to HATE Mencia, and not just his crappy show.

Here's a recent parody video of what many people think of Mencia and his comedy.

Other comedians were getting sick and tired of Mencia stealing their jokes, which he's allegedy been doing his whole career. Nobody was as pissed as the Fear Factor & Man Show-hosting, Ultimate Fighting Champ-announcing, a fairly decent comic Joe Rogan. Rogan finally confronted Mencia at "The Comedy Store" (on a night when they were both performing?) and completely destroyed him. Mencia didn't know what to do, so he just kept denying the accusations. Then Rogan brought out a comedian who had jokes stolen from him by Mencia. Then Rogan went so far as to reveal that Mencia isn't even Mexican - apparently his name is Ned and he's half German. The clip ends with more arguing outside the club where pretty much every comedian standing there takes Rogan's side and agrees that Mencia is an unoriginal punk.

Enjoy:

LOST -- S 3 x E 8: "Flashes Before Your Eyes"

Best episode ever? It was up there, but I'd still put it behind "The Other 48 Days" and "Man of Science; Man of Faith." How about best episode of the season - but with a *for now* only because the preview for next week's episode looked insane. Of course, the preview for this past week's episode had lots of stuff about Locke organizing a militia to go rescue Jack, Sawyer, and Kate, so who knows what next week's episode will really be about.

Anyway, as Locke tells Charlie and Hurley that "the island killed [Eko]," Desmondo, or Desmond David Hume (a nod to a famous philosopher) takes off toward the beach and rescues Claire. At this point I said to myself "that's the second time Desmond used his abilities to save Claire - maybe he can only see the future when Claire is involved and in danger." I was obviously wrong.

Desmond's flash(back?) shows him turning the key, a sequence of images flash before us, and he wakes up all bloody. No, It's red paint! Great fake out. Furthermore, it's called "Future" paint. Desmond is in his apt. with Penny Widmore, but terribly confused because this isn't a flashback - he had just turned the key moments ago. Also, memories from the island are popping up all over the place: The clock reads 1:08, the microwave makes the same beeping sound as the computer in the hatch, there's a delivery "for" Suite "8" "15," etc.

He goes to see Charles Widmore, whose office is a bit telling. First, he has a nice painting on the wall, with the word "Namaste," as well as a polar bear and possibly our four-toed friend from the season 2 finale. Widmore turns out to be a prick, but that shouldn't surprise us. After all, last time we met him he was bribing Desmond to leave town and stay away from Penny. We also have to wonder whether Widmore had anything to do with Desmond's shipwreck, even if it meant hiring Libby to give Desmond a boat that would have problems or installing something on the boat to lead it off course and toward the island.

We're treated to an interesting moment when Desmond confides in his friend and presumably tells him the whole story about the island. This could explain how Penny knew what to look for at the end of season 2.

Things go absolutely insane when the jewelry lady (whose last name is Hawking - another reference to Stephen Hawking, whose book was being read by the guard last week) tells Desmond "You don't buy the ring...or every single one of us is dead." Then when they go for a walk and she points out the guy with red shoes, she says "The universe has a way of course-correcting...it's your path to go to the island." Desmond figures out that she's his subconscious or another part of his mind and seems determined to change his fate. Yet when he and Penny take that same picture again with the marina background, he breaks up with her and chooses to repeat things all over again.

Question about the picture: If she walked off with the picture, how do they both have one? Desmond's copy was in the hatch and Penny's was on her nightstand when she got the call from the guys in the Arctic. But only one picture was taken.

Desmond heads to the bar, sees the bottle of 60 year old whiskey, and then orders their cheapest pint. As he watches the soccer game (complete with ads from all of our favorite companies), he realizes that he had the wrong night the night before - everything he told his friend really did happen. Then he gets hit with a cricket bat and wakes up naked on the island. So he's back because, as the lady said, "the greatest thing [he] will do is push the button?" The hatch is gone though. Hmmm...

Charlie finally gets something out of Desmond and it's a great shocker with which to end the episode: he's been saving Charlie - not Claire. According to what we've learned during the episode, Charlie will die somehow. Fate, as John Locke will be happy to hear, can't be changed - only altered. Of course, the producers have never given us anything that easily, so I doubt Charlie will really die (or at least anytime soon).

A mind-blowing episode makes it difficult to organize thoughts coherently, but here's what I think:

Desmond was dreaming the whole time. That's why weird things were going on such as the microwave beep, seeing Charlie (btw, if you unscramble the letters of Charlie's middle name, it can spell "Heroin's Yum!" I forgot where I read that, but thought it was pretty funny), and seeing the numbers everywhere.

But that theory runs into a few loose ends, namely, how are there two pictures, and how does Penny know where or how to be looking for Desmond? My only guess is that when they really had the picture taken, they got two copies, and Penny must have been snooping around her father's papers and figured something out about the electromagnetic anomaly.

What about the future predicting? Either Desmond is re-living his life over and over and therefore knows what's going to happen (not because he's predicting the future per se, but because he's been there before and it used to be the present), or he's always had future-seeing abilities. Either way, he's known way too much in advance in order for it to be a coincidence, including the fact that Jack would fix crippled Sarah. Plus, they guy is always saying "See you in another life, brotha." Damnit, I'm just as confused as everyone else, I guess....

I think it might be easier to post comments if we number the questions, so feel free to post your theory on the following topics and be sure to include the number:

1) Did Desmond go back in time? Was he just having a lucid dream?

2) Can Desmond really see the future? Or is he just reliving the past?

3) Will Charlie die?

4) Was this the best episode ever? If not, how high (or low) does it rank?

"The _________ Show"

Here's an interesting topic for discussion:

If you could pick anyone on the planet for a 30-minute TV show each week, who would you want to see? The person will have total discretion on details such as the design of the set/scenery, content, guests, etc. They could even spend the entire episode just talking to the camera.

The person can be any actor, politician, athlete, average joe, or even a 9-year old Turkish midget - they just have to be alive and coherent. It has to be someone who you think will generate a decent audience; so if you're going to nominate your neighbor Fred, be sure to explain why he'd be awesome. Also, the person can be in jail, but the show would have to take place there.

My pick is Iron Mike Tyson. In fact, I would gladly pay a couple of bucks extra a month on my cable bill to see this. What could be better than this?! The unintentional comedy scale would break in the first few minutes (even without subtitles!). And since Tyson has had his share of legal and monetary problems over the years, wouldn't this actually work for him in real life?

Who's your pick?

Sometimes Love Can Be So Cold

If you live anywhere near NY, you're probably pretty glad to be reading this because it means you're indoors (I can't imagine anyone's taking advantage of those outdoor Wi-Fi hotspots today). Of course, on a cold and snowy day like today, you've most likely already gotten the "You think it's cold outside?!" e-mail more than a few times this morning. More pics can be found here.

Women (the taken ones) in the NY area are undoubtedly freaking out because there's a chance they may not get to celebrate Valentines Day with their significant other due to the inclement weather. At the same time, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that men aren't as affected (not even close).

Since the weather and V-day seem so intertwined today, may I suggest a romantic getaway to the "Ice Hotel Glace" in Quebec? Or if you're really feeling adventurous, you can head to the "ICEHOTEL" in...you guessed it - Jukkasjärvi, Sweden!

Have you gotten your loved one a Valentines Day card yet? iMockery has some ideas (which are not all safe for work viewing).

Either that strawberry stem is supposed to be an "L," or Googe (I mean Google) screwed up the V-Day logo on its homepage.

Sorry, Brits! V-Day doesn't stand for Viagra Day.

Finally, here's a "Geek's Guide to Valentine's Day."

Don't Mess With Tiger Woods

Animal Lover Is Cheetah-d On

While I hoped a story like this would have finally inspired EDS to get back to posting, his blog sadly remains frozen in time (no posts since October 27th?! Work can't be THAT bad, can it?).

Anyway, you have to hand it to these animal lovers. PETA is always making headlines, and individual animal-lover extremists are always getting into trouble. Meet Karen Aerts, a 37-year old BIG fan of cheetahs. In fact, Aerts was such a huge fan of these super speedy animals that she hid in a Belgian zoo until closing time - and not so she could be first in line for U2 tickets the next morning like our pals from Bayside High at the mall that one time.

No, Aerts simply wanted to play with her beloved cheetahs. But, as the zoo spokesperson said:

“Karen loved animals. Unfortunately the cheetahs betrayed her trust”

Riiiiight. Or as I see it, "Karen betrayed human intelligence." What's highly ironic about this story is that:

"One of the cats that killed Aerts was named Bongo, whom the woman had adopted under a special program. She paid for Bongo’s food, Libot said."

Oh she paid for Bongo's food alright... but let's give the cats some leeway here, because, after all, it 'aint easy being cheezy:

Heroes vs. 24 (but not really)

It's Monday afternoon, which means you only have a few hours to decide whether you'll watch the live version of either 24 or Heroes, while taping the other. Normally I prefer to watch 24 live, mainly because I'm terrified someone will call, IM, or e-mail me with some sort of spoiler before I've gotten a chance to watch the episode. That's much less the case when it comes to Heroes. Tonight's decision is slightly different because 24 is a 2-hour episode (that's correct: no Prison Break this week - which kind of sucks, because last week's episode was awesome), airing from 8pm-10pm. If you record 24 and watch Heroes live, you can save yourself a good 40 minutes of commercials vs. the usual 20.

Why is 24 a double episode? I haven't heard anything, but my guess is that something crazy must happen very early on in the second hour. If the episodes had been split up, it would have resulted in a crappy episode this week, and a strange episode next week with the big moment happening in the first few minutes without much for the remaining part of the hour.

Anyway, remember those guys who made a real-time 24 commercial break video? Well they're back with a new episode of what they call "Guys Watching 24" and it's pretty damn funny (and timely, considering it deals with Heroes being in the same time slot):


For some reason they decided to cut the episode in two, although the second video is only two and a half minutes.

If you still have more time to kill at work, check out the BEST.TONY.ALMEDA.IMPRESSION.EVER. (too bad the guy playing Bauer is so awful).

Oh, and here's the trivia question of the day: Which network television show had the highest ratings in the 9pm slot last Monday? The answer will most certainly surprise you.

Gilbert Arenas is the Muhammed Ali of Basketball

Every sport has its share of loudmouths; guys that talk a huge game, but don't back it up enough on the field/court/ice. Terrell Owens immediately comes to mind, especially after having so many dropped passes this past season.

While the loudmouth category has ample members, there is a very exclusive group of athletes past and present who have managed to back up their big-time talking. First member should probably be Babe Ruth, for sticking his bat out toward the outfield and pre-calling his own home run. Ranger fans will argue I have to put Mark Messier in here. Fair enough, because of the high stakes involved. And of course, Muhammed Ali would be the "King of the Court" in this group.

I now submit my prediction for the next member of the latter group: Gilbert Arenas. As most of you know, Arenas has made many a headline with his antics. One could probably make a fortune just following him around all day with a video camera and selling the clips. But Arenas is most known for his predictions.

Some recent highlights:

- On January 15th, Arenas, in a pre-game chat with a teammate, predicted he'd score 37 points including the game winner against the Utah Jazz. Actual result? He scored 51 and also hit the game winning 3-pointer (they only needed a '2' to tie). Not only that, he started celebrating as soon as the ball left his hands.

- On January 23rd, Arenas predicted on his blog (which is hilarious) that his next 50-point game will be held February 11th against Portland:

"The most important game is on Feb. 11. Well, it's not the most important, but that's the game I'm going to say is my next 50-pointer. ... Tune in. I think ESPN or TNT needs to pick that game up."

- Upon hearing about the Portland prediction, Phoenix Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said jokingly:

"I can't wait to see what he does against Duke. He's gonna KILL Duke."

- In response, Arenas took an educated guess on what his point total would be:

"He'd like to see what I'm going to do against Duke...One college game that's five fouls, right? ... 40-minute game at Duke, they got soft rims I'd probably score 84 or 85. I wouldn't pass the ball. I wouldn't even think about passing it. It would be like a NBA Live or an NBA 2K7 game, you just shoot with one person."

- Most recently, Arenas bet teammate De Shawn Stevenson that he could more college 3-pointers out of 100 attempts with one hand than Stevenson could hit from NBA regulation with both hands. The stakes? $20,000. Here's the video of the competition:



Update: Arenas not only fell short of his prediction today against Portland, but he missed by a mile.

Breaking News: Anna Nicole Smith DEAD at 39.

Here's the latest.

And here's Rosie O'Donnell yesterday morning with awful timing.

(Hattip: dov)

LOST -- S 3 x E 7: "Not in Portland"

ANNND we're back (in a big way). We find Juliet sitting on a beach looking depressed; almost as upset as when we were first introduced to her (she burned the muffins and was crying on the floor). She heads inside, passes Ethan, and continues to what we're later show is her sister Rachel's apartment. Her sister is undergoing chemotherapy for some kind of cancer and Juliet injects her with some special medication. The sisters make some reference to what they're trying to accomplish and when Juliet appears skeptical, here sister says "Are you saying that because you don't think it will work, or because he'll find out?" Then Juliet opens up the curtains and an Oceanic plane flies by.

We soon find out that Dr. Edmund Burke (Juliet's ex-husband and boss) is the man they're referring to. He runs the Miami Central University Medical Research Lab and soon finds out what Juliet has been up to. He offers to go 50-50 with her, immediately upping her street cred. After all, he's an acclaimed biologist and she's doing unethical experiments like impregnating male field mice and women with cancer undergoing chemo. Before she has time to think about it, she's in a meeting with the guy from "Suddenly Susan" (his accent has vanished). His name is Mr. Richard Alpert and he represents "Mittelos Bioscience," a privately funded organization supposedly based in Portland, but not really. Also, "Mittelos" can be unscrambled to read "Lost Time." Juliet kindly rejects their offer and places the blame on Edmund, who would never let her do it and would need to be hit by a bus in order for her to be able to leave.

Back in the operating room, Jack is told his friends are going nowhere because they're on the wrong island. He immediately rats out Juliet's plan with the cue cards, and then Ben wakes up. What kind of crappy anesthesia does Widmore Labs manufacture?! I hope their pregnancy tests are slightly more dependable, because Rachel is pregnant according to one of their tests (more on that in a moment). Ben requests a moment alone with Juliet, and Tom, while observing from the "Junior Mints" section, simply says "they've got history."

Alex comes to rescue Kate and Sawyer. "Nice to meet you, Sheena." She agrees to get them a boat if they help her free her boyfriend Carl (the guy who was in the cage across from Sawyer). Aldo, the guard who we met on Ben and Sawyer's walk to see the other island, is reading "A Brief History of Time," by Stephen Hawking. Aldo refers to Ben as Alex's dad and after Kate threatens to blow off his kneecap, he tells them that Carl is being held in room 23, which is probably the same room Walt was threated to be taken to by Miss Clue at the end of season 2. When they get in the room, it's pure chaos. Most significantly, we get another mention of this "Jacob" character.

Sister Rachel informs Juliet that she's preggo. Did Juliet make it happen with science? Did Alpert and Ethan tell her to lie to Juliet? Did Ethan, who had just come from the direction of Rachel's room before Juliet arrived, possibly inject Rachel with some sort of medication that falsely gives a positive result on pregnancy tests? Either way, this news sends Juliet to Edmund and as she's telling him about the latest breakthrough, he's hit by a bus (with an Apollo Candy Bar ad!). I guess we can now call him Dead-mund. I crack myself up...

Jack raises an interesting point: If the Others can leave the island whenever they want, why didn't Ben just go get the surgery on the outside? Tom begins to answer "Ever since the sky turned purple..." We've learned in a prior episode that the sky turned purple when the hatch imploded. The real question is, what's the end of that sentence? Is it "...we can no longer leave the island," or is it "...we can finally leave the island." Luckily for the writers, Jack accidentally messed up the surgery so Tom didn't have to tell us. Thanks for screwing us over, Jack.

Juliet catches up to Kate, Sawyer, Alex, and Carl, who are being held at gunpoint by Danny. Then she kills Danny, who had just said "Ben would rather die than let them go." Juliet seems to suggest otherwise. Perhaps Danny was right and Juliet is lying to everyone, including Jack.

Juliet told Jack that she's been on the island for 3 years, 2 months, and 28 days. There's a rumor that if you do the math, it brings you to 9/11/01. Anyway, the fact that she's been keeping count leads me to believe that she really does want off of the island. She wants to see her sister and the baby. Speaking of the baby, check this out:

Go to the Mittelos website, click on "projects," then type in for login: jburke and for password: rachel

Click on "current projects" and you will see a map being drawn... with THREE islands. Also, stay patient, and an alert will pop up reading "new message." Click on it to find an e-mail from Rachel, and be sure to click the link to a video from her.
Update: the Mittelos site is getting hammered, so here's the video clip in the meantime...



All in all, I thought this was a great episode. This was the first time we got a flashback focusing on an Other, we learned that at least some of the Others are being held against their will on the island, we found out that The Dharma Initiative is probably evil, that Alex thinks Ben is her biological father, etc.

Things to ponder:
1. How long were they following Juliet before making an offer?
2. How high up on the Hanso chain was Ethan?
3. What did Ben really say to Juliet? Is she telling the truth?
4. Will Ben let Juliet go?
5. What was Ben really doing when he was captured by Rousseau? Did it have something to do with Alex?

Next week's preview can be found here.

Alpha Epsilon Pi - We're Not Just About Donkey Punching Anymore

Language not safe for work.




(Hat tip: Carolyn S.)

"I'll Have the Roast Duck with the Mango Salsa"

Geico just put up a site called "Caveman's Crib" - I love that caveman ad campaign (certainly much more than the stupid gekko)...

(Hat tip: Gorillamask)

Hang up and WALK!

As most people are aware, talking on a cellular phone (without using a handsfree device) while operating a motor vehicle in the state of New York is a violation worth a decent fine and a couple of points. The law went into effect a few years ago after it was determined that the two activities, when done concurrently, created a substantially higher risk of an accident involving that motor vehicle. Did the law result in fewer accidents? Beats me, but retailers of bluetooth earpieces certainly aren't complaining.

As someone who is more of a driver than a pedestrian, I would say the biggest hazard on the road isn't the large number of drivers ignoring the handsfree requirement, but rather the number of idiotic pedestrians who become absolutely oblivious to the rest of the world while crossing the street if doing pretty much anything else at the same time. This includes talking on their cell phones, e-mailing from their Blackberrys, or the worst by far, listening to their iPods (I'm terrified of the day the iPhone is released; it could bring traffic to a standstill all over the country).

I know what you're thinking: "If you have headphones on, how does it affect your vision of the road?" Well, I think it affects things greatly. First of all, the pedestrian can't necessarily hear a car coming, and in some cases, depending on how loud they have their music on, may not even be able to hear the car's honk of the horn. Second, people don't always keep their iPods in their pockets. Every now and then, that song that they can't figure out how it got on their playlist comes on and there's an abrupt need to change the song. Out comes the iPod and eyes are affixed to the LCD display. Finally, and this is just based on my personal observance, MANY people in Manhattan simply can't seem to do these two things at once. It's mind boggling, yet a reality...

A new bill is being proposed today in Albany which will carry a fine of $100 for crossing a crosswalk while using certain electronic devices such as cell phones, Blackberrys, and of course....iPods.

If you're a pedestrian, you have to hate this. As a frequent driver in Manhattan, I freaking love it, though I can't see how in the world it can be enforced on a grand scale. There simply isn't enough manpower in the NYPD for this sort of thing. I should add that while I'm in favor of such legislation in urban areas, I don't think there's much of a need in more suburban or rural areas.

The biggest problem I can foresee is whether requiring a handsfree device would make any sense at all. If having earbuds in your ears isn't allowed for iPod use because it causes a "tune out," how is an earpiece for the phone any less pf a distraction? Moreover, the main point of the driving requirement was to keep drivers' hands on the wheel - does a pedestrian really need their hands to be available when crossing the street?

Does this bill have a shot at being passed? Can it otherwise be refined?

Urban Legend or the Real Deal?

Does anyone want to volunteer and venture out in this excruciatingly cold weather to see if this actually works?



Make Traffic Lights Change!! Amazing! - video powered by Metacafe

LOST Returns Tomorrow @ 10PM

WoW. It's been way too long of a hiatus for "LOST." There is no way that the show managed to retain even 85% of its audience after this break. Of course the ratings will tell us more, but I believe splitting the season may have resulted in a worse result than the old format of a couple of new episodes followed by a couple of repeats. At least the producers have suggested they'll follow a "24"-like format next season.

The fall finale (may the concept burn in hell forever) left Jack holding the cards and had the Others wondering just why exactly did they allow their leader to go under the knife of their own prisoner. While we can debate whether or not this was enough of a cliffhanger (I now feel it was), the producers were gracious enough to give us a few sneak-peek clips throughout the break. The "LOST Moments" were supposed to air during commercial breaks for "Groundhog Day: The TV Series," I mean "Daybreak," but after the show got canned after a few weeks, the clips were aired some other time. But that's not important, thanks to Youtube, and of course the guy who put all 13 clips together into one video:



Significant details:
First, Desmond seems to confirm that he has acquired some degree of ESP. I don't like that, because it's supernatural, but maybe (hopefully) there's a better explanation. Second, if you don't remember who Cindy is, she was a flight attendant who survived the crash and was with Ana Lucia and the rest of the Tailies until she suddenly disappeared on their way to merge the two camps and get Sawyer to Jack. Was Cindy always an Other? Or did she "convert" after being captured?

Third, it looks like we'll finally be getting at least a glimpse of what Jack was doing in Thailand, and what those tattoos mean. Finally, the arm Vincent comes running out of the forest with appears to have a key attached to it at the wrist. Could this be a key to another hatch? A similar emergency shutdown key similar to what Desmond had? A key to Michael's boat (one can only hope the arm belongs to Michael).

If the last few paragraphs haven't gotten you back up to speed and your memory is still a bit fuzzy, you can always brush up on the ABC site, with this great flash presentation called "LOST Connections." Additionally, IGN has compiled a list of the "Top 50 LOST Loose Ends" - it's a must read.

Speaking of must reads, this article has some very interesting theories on things such as who "Jacob" is, who Paolo might really be, why the ratings have taken a hit, as well as why LOST is moving to the 10pm time slot. By the way, there is a one-hour recap episode tomorrow night starting at 9:00pm and leading straight into the new episode at 10:00pm. If you know someone who has wanted to give "LOST" a try but was afraid of the commitment, this may the answer.

FINALLY, it seems two students at Tufts University convinced the powers that be to add a 13-week "LOST" Seminar titled "The Future is Lost: Economic, Social, and Technological Impact of a Cult (and Cultural) Phenomenon" to the course listings.
Pop Candy has the entire week-by-week syllabus here.

Milestone

This is post # 100! What started out as a way to organize and store all the interesting things I come across online every day (as well as a decent way to kill time) has blossomed into a genuinely fun hobby.

A few thank yous are in order.

First, to everyone who reads this blog even occassionally: even if you don't post comments, the fact that I know someone is reading helps to keep me motivated.

Second, to those readers who do comment often: laffytaf, dov, noyam, jeremy, and many others. It's one thing to know that people are reading the blog, but nothing keeps a blog going more than the "post-post" discussion. Thanks for adding extra life to this place.

Finally, thanks to everyone who has forwarded me potential content for the blog. I know I've usually already seen said content, but every now and then there's something great that I haven't yet seen and makes for a good post.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Think You Know Dunder Mifflin?

Here are two fun games if you're a fan of "The Office." And quite frankly, how could you not be?

The first game simply tests your knowledge of where each employee sits, as well as where the bathrooms, conference room and a few other rooms are located.
I got 95% in 53.3 seconds - how well did you do?

The second game is much tougher, and takes longer.

Good luck, and feel free to post your high scores!

No Posts For A Few More Days

In the meantime, feel free to check out the sites on the sidebar to the left.

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Internet Superstars

While you're busy deciding which blockbuster hit TV show you'll be watching live at 9pm tonight, the folks over at Web Junk TV (a collaboration between VH1 & iFilm) have come up with a list of what they call the "40 Greatest Internet Superstars" - with video clips, of course. You can even vote for your favorite (in fact, you're encouraged to, so they can actually rank these people). But please, for the love of "the man upstairs," don't vote for those dumb Asian Backstreet Boys kids. They're just not funny, and I can't really understand what separates their video from any other boring lip-synching clip.

What's In A Name? Beats The Hell Out Of Me At This Point...

After you read this and this, watch this:



I like his poor man's "Jim Cramer" machine...

Hockey Fight Action: Up Close

This, courtesy of Mr. Irrelevant, is pretty cool, even if you're not a hockey fan. The difference between this fight and and all the others you see in hockey is that one of the players actually had a mic on himself because he was doing an interview during the game. You can hear him before the faceoff ask the other guy if he would kindly like to exchange blows to the head. Only after the other gentleman agrees, they schedule an appointment for... right after the faceoff. Then they proceed to beat the hell out of eachother.

And who said hockey players were a bunch of animals? Look at the manners these classy guys have! Also be sure to check out hockeyfights.com.

In Case You Missed This Gem Of An Acceptance Speech

Jack is Back: Discuss.

Don't read any more of this if you didn't watch the first four hours yet. Season 6 is moving right along and definitely didn't disappoint. In particular, here's what I liked:

- "Jackula" taking a big fat bite out of that guy's neck. Perfect way to introduce the character to people having never watched the show before and were wondering "Just what exactly makes this Bauer guy any different from every other special agent we've ever seen?"

- Bill and Karen. If Bill's happy, then I'm happy for him.

- Milo's back! I met him at a club last March and he was a really nice guy. Always liked him on the show in season one.

- People dying: it's about time there was a major catastrophe on the show. Season 3 did a decent enough job at the hotel, but last night's explosion should annihilate those numbers.

- Wayne Palmer has been a surprisingly good president so far. He's calm, rational, and listens to his advisors but isn't afraid to do his own thing. Then again, given Wayne's sleeping around and being involved in a murder cover-up, I'm pretty surprised the American people voted him into office. Wait, no I'm not.

- Islamic terrorists are so much more convincing than those Russian dudes from last season. Of course, it looks like Mr. Bluetooth (Dr. Romano) is back, so the focus may end up on him and the guys sitting around in that room. Kudos to the writers for not just forgetting about that subplot from last season.

- Kumar turned out to be a pretty good successor to Behrooos. Don't ever call anyone AH-med!

Things I'm not liking too much:

- The way they killed Curtis. Look, I'm all in favor of killing off major characters, with the exception of Jack and Chloe; everyone else is fair game. But the way they made Curtis act completely out of character was strange and forced. At the very least, they should have disclosed his relationship with Assad earlier instead of Jack kind of realizing something was up. It would have made a little more sense...

- The Ally McBeal guy. He's just not doing it for me.

- The whole subplot with Wayne's sister and the guy who's a dead ringer for Barack Obama. My guess is that after people complained that the show portrayed Arab-Americans unfairly, the writers decided to throw them a bone and put in a side story about some good Islamic people. At least they didn't make the ACLU look good.

- Chloe's boyfriend / ex-husband (so far). This guy was hilarious when they brought him in at the end of last season. At this point he's just been annoying. Give him back some of those great sarcastic lines he used to have! For the love of Edgar!

All in all? Amazing start to what hopefully will be more like the first three seasons and less like the last two.

Post your thoughts in the comments section...

How Does He DO That?!

Many people say Danny Gans is the best impressionist out there, and his wildly popular (and expensive) show at the Mirage in Vegas certainly lends support to those statements. On my last trip to Vegas I was very tempted to get tickets to his show, but then realized I wouldn't really know if certain impressions were any good - such as Gans singing as Dean Martin - because those celebrities were popular well before my time.

Anyway, my cousin JB recently sent me a link to an impression video that's a little more from my generation. Aries Spears (no relation to the Britney) from Mad TV was recently on some morning radio show and was asked to do some rapper impressions. He ended up doing a medley of LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, DMX, and Jay-Z. For some unintentional comedy, be sure to pay attention to the guy behind him:




And just in case you were wondering if he does the same performance every time, here's another video of him doing the same rappers (plus Jesse Jackson) to completely different lyrics:

Dumbest Invention Ever?

As many of you know, the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas is stealing all the headlines this week with new products such as Apple's iPhone (about which I plan to write a more detailed post fairly soon), and LG's hi-def DVD player which can play discs in either Blue-Ray or HD-DVD format.

I'm sure for every product that's wow-ing everyone, there are at least five that leave people scratching their heads.

For example, this is probably the greatest invention of all time, and every company should give one to each employee. This, on the other hand, is my vote for "Dumbest.Invention.Ever." (Credit to Popcandy)

Honorable Mention:

"Golf Ball Launcher"

"Horny Remover"

This one's just funny:



If you've seen anything dumber, please post about it (preferably with a link) in the comments section.

Saddam Hussein - Still Dead (Graphic)

Google Video has another clip of Saddam, this time post-execution:

A Tale of Two Teams

What a strange day for New York football fans. Both teams got into the playoffs as wild cards and were subsequently knocked out immediately. But the big difference, as evidenced by most of the people calling in to sports radio programs, is the completely opposite outlook going forward.

Giants fans seem depressed, angry, exhausted, and in a weird way even glad the season is over. Having been eliminated last year in an embarrassing loss to the Carolina Panthers, the Giants came into this season as not only the favorite to win their respective division, but as Super Bowl contenders. The retained pretty much all of their stars, their young potential super-star quarterback had another year of experience under his belt, and there would seemingly be collective intensity by a team looking to make up for last year's shortcomings.

The season started out well enough and the Giants were atop their division. Tiki Barber kept chugging along (although everyone who had him on their fantasy teams must have been pissed that Brandon Jacobs was stealing all his goal line rushes), Amani Toomer was near the top in several wide receiver stat categories, etc. But then the injuries started. Toomer, Strahan, Osi, even Plax was out for a game. Tiki announced he was retiring at the end of the season. Eli just looked like a deer in headlights.

Next thing you knew, the Giants had gone 2-6 to finish the season including some painful and embarrassing losses, but had managed to squeak into the playoffs. Then they lost another heartbreaker to arguably their most bitter division rival, and suddenly the season was over.

Pretty much every Giant fan whose voice was still intact was calling for coach Coughlin's head, blaming Tiki for the retirement distraction, blaming Eli for being "just not that good," berating the offensive playcallers for not involving Jacobs enough, etc.

The outlook for next season? Everyone seemed irate that Coughlin might be allowed back, worried that Tiki won't be adequately replaced, terrified that Eli won't get better, and mostly concerned that the other teams in the division (at least the Cowboys and Eagles) are only going to get better while the Giants seem poised to get worse.

On the other hand, the Jets were projected to win 4-5 games all season. Nobody had any idea if Chad Pennington's shoulder would remain attached to his body through the first couple of games. Curtis Martin was placed on the injured reserve list with no real optimism that he'd be back ever again. Eric Mangini was the youngest coach ever. The Patriots and Dolphins were supposed to battle it out for the division and be Super Bowl contenders.

Half way through the season, the Jets had already met their projections with four wins, Pennington was healthy and making fairly smart decisions on the field, and even the heartbreaking losses came against teams considered way out of their league (Colts & Pats). Leon Washington showed signs of competency, Justin Miller led the league in punt return yards averaged, Mangini did at least one of those trick plays that end every football movie - at least once a game, and the defense did a great job to carry the team through the end of the season, including a fantastic win at Gillette Stadium.

The Jets made the playoffs having won twice as many games as originally thought. They got a tough draw in the Patriots for the first playoff game, but they played tough for about three full quarters, until the Pats simply took over on two scores in 22 seconds. But the Jets walked off the field with a sense of accomplishment, and both the team and its fans seemed excited about next season. Nobody was calling up the radio shows demanding that Mangini be fired, or Pennington let go. Most of the hopes were that the Jets try to get their hands on a running back, and prepare for a return trip to the playoffs next year.

Same city. Same sport. Same time of exit from the playoffs. Completely different feelings on Monday morning.

Weekend Links

This should hold you until at least Monday...

Drudge links what looks to be a very convincing reason not to move to China. Ever.

Hey, Brett Favre: Let's play "Retire or No Retire" with Howie Mandel.

Britney gives new meaning to "letting oneself go."

Speaking of Britney, K-Fed was recently on "AL TV" (for some reason I think I may have posted this a few weeks ago).

Retrocrush's "100 Most Annoying Things of 2006" is pretty damn good. (from Gorillamask)

Here's a super-handy list of shortcuts to get those sometimes-needed special characters such as ©, ¶, §, ®, etc.

Welcome to Minnesota, where Muslim extremists are trying to impose strict rules on the taxi industry. Maybe people can call their Congressman to complain (or maybe not).

Uh oh. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmask$ghjg#6kjh,jh may have just gotten much more powerful.

If you use T-Mobile, here's a way to make free unlimited calls.

Some girl (whose parents must be beaming right now) made a response video to SNL's "D**K in a Box" video and calls it "Box in a Box." (Technically safe for work)

This movie grossed a whopping $30 at the box office. Sadly, more money was probably spent on refreshments.

And I'm spent..... GO J-E-T-S !

Spiders on Drugs

The Best Show on TV, Ever? Now THIS I Gotta See.

Bill Simmons (aka The Sports Guy) is a huge TV fan. He watches everything from "LOST" to "24" to "The OC" to "Real World," etc. So when he declares something to be the best TV show of all time, it's probably worth a shot.

The biggest problem I've had so far is that the show is four or five seasons in so there would be major catching up to do (although each season is only 12 episodes long), and I can't imagine it's as easy to plow through episodes like people do with the "24" DVDs ("Oh, what the hell; I know it's 3am but I'll just watch one more"). The next problem has been the cost of the DVDs. Season 3, for example, is selling on Amazon for $66 - That's $5.50 per episode, plus tax of course.

Anyway, on my way home from the golf course yesterday - that's right! Golf in NY in January - a bus pulled up alongside my car and had on it a billboard from heaven:

"The Wire -- Watch it from the beginning on BET. Thursdays at 9pm. 3-day Premiere Event begins January 10th."

I really hope it's worth all the hype...

Around the Country in 50 Days

Not sure if I've ever posted about Kyle MacDonald, the guy who started a website with the goal of trading up from a red paper clip all the way to a house. Well, he did it. Not only that, he pretty much paved the way for all of these other people and their extraordinary goals.

One of these sites is called "Hitch50" and it belongs to Kyle's brother Scotty and a guy named Fiddy. Their goal was to hitchhike to all 50 U.S. state capitals in 50 days. They started out in Times Square, NY, then up to Albany, and ended up in Honolulu, Hawaii on the last day (very interesting how they "hitchhiked" from Los Angeles to Honolulu).

Of course there are always those people with sites who haven't come close to reaching their goal(s). Poor Guy.

Happy New Year

...from Japan.

Here's a link to the New Years performance on Japanese television that made everyone forget about "Nipplegate."

"Bounce with me! Bounce with me!"

I guess the only thing to do with a crappy song like this is either sell it to Kevin Federline, or hire dancers in outfits that make them look naked....

Oh, and here are the top 40 pictures of 2006, at least according to Reuters.

Saddam Hussein Executed (graphic)

Then there's this (courtesy of Drudge).

Night at the IMAX

Last night I saw "Night at the Museum" at an IMAX theater. It was my first time seeing a movie on this type of screen and I have to say it was definitely worth the extra couple of bucks. The movie won't win the Oscar for "Best Picture" and if you couldn't stand Ben Stiller in "Meet the Parents," you probably won't be able to sit through this one either. Owen Wilson (whose credit is mysteriously missing on IMDB.com) does a great job in his fairly limited role, and Robin Williams could have easily been replaced by pretty much anyone (saving the directors some $$$). Ricky Gervais, from the original "The Office" absolutely steals the show. All in all, it's a fun movie if you're in the mood to have fun and know what to expect going in (kind of how I felt about "Snakes on a Plane")

Anyway, the whole time during the movie I couldn't help but think what it would be like to play Madden on a screen like this. Well, a few guys came up with a similar idea - they set up their Nintendo Wii on a standard movie theater screen and it looks like the ultimate gaming experience:

How to Save The New Jersey Nets in One Year

I'm pleased to put up the first guest post on WTTB, and it belongs to my good friend and HUGE Nets fan, "DHM." He's come up with a not-so crazy plan to save the team (beginning this season), and I think it merits discussion:

"Okay Nets fans...I found our one-year rebuilding plan. We trade Vince Carter to the Bulls. The Bulls have been looking for an exciting/scoring/dunking fan fave since Michael Jordan left and boy do they need a scorer. We trade him there for Ben Gordon and the Knicks' first round pick which the Bulls have from the Curry deal and PJ Brown's expiring contract to make the salaries work.

Next, we tell Richard Jefferson "Thanks for everything but your ankle's not well and we need you at 100% for next season so you have surgery tomorrow at 2pm and you're done for the year. Thank you."

Then we tell Kidd "Listen, we know you want to win but right now we have the 6th worst record in the NBA, we already have the Knicks' pick and they're one of the worst teams too...go avg. your triple-double and develop the young kids. Next year we'll have a healthy backcourt of you and Ben Gordon and a healthy frontcourt of Jefferson, Krstic and someone...we'll be under the cap (no Carter), and ps...we'll have two really high picks (ours and the Knicks) in one of the supposed best big man drafts ever.


Next year's lineup:

PG- Jason Kidd ===> Reserve- Marcus Williams
SG- Ben Gordon ===> Reserve- Hasaan Adams
SF- Richard Jefferson ===> Reserve- Antoine Wright
PF- Hopefully Noah or Oden ===> Reserve- Jason Collins
C- Nenad Krstic ===> Reserve- Josh Boone and Mile Ilic

Oh and by the way--we're under the cap to sign free agents as well (we also have our mid-level exception)

And that 12th roster spot? Don't forget we have that other draft pick (either ours or the Knicks' whichever doesn't land us Oden or Noah (or imagine we got both?!)"

"I'm telling you, Vince -- Chicago has some of
the most beautiful beaches in the country."

Soda Can Trick

Here's a great trick in which an empty and crushed can of soda is brought back to life. The trick is explained at the end...

Soda Can: Healed & Sealed Revealed!! - video powered by Metacafe