KissaBoo

ESPN the Geography

To celebrate their 25th anniversary, ESPN posted a breakdown of the last 25 years per city/region. Before clicking on the link, I was wondering what they would do with Charlotte and Raleigh. These are two very distinct and distant (170 miles / < 3 hours) areas, but it would help each other's profile by combining the two. ESPN's decision was to combine, however, the "winner"of this contest was San Francisco with Oakland placing below Char-leigh and San Jose also listed separately. That's right, ESPN considers San Francisco / Oakland / San Jose three separate markets while they are only separated by some water while cities over 150 miles apart are in the same area. That is just insane! Other corrections should be the combining of Los Angeles and Anaheim, Washington and Baltimore, and New Jersey and New York.

If 150 miles is considered the same area, then Hartford / Boston, Sacramento / San Francisco Area, Orlando / Jacksonville (or Orlando / Tampa), Cincinnati / Indianapolis, Philadelphia / Baltimore, Los Angeles Area / San Diego, etc. should all be combined.

When Parodies are Plausible

Due to the fact that I receive it for free, I read Stuff Magazine. Well, near the end of the May issue (I'll trust it was that one since I can't find it at the moment), they had a picture of an attractive redhead dressed in slutty-country style next to a well with a headline like "Baby Jessica is all-grown up" in honor of her just turning 18. Well, the sixth blurb in this Daily News article describes how Jessica's parents are upset by this portrayal of their daughter and how this spoof has upset her.

What I find interesting is that the Stuff editor states, "I think it was obvious that it was a parody." Well, I'm a regular reader of the magazine and I have to admit that I wasn't sure. I was about 60% positive it was a parody, but I could have easily been convinced it was real.

Admittedly, it was in the area where they usually have fun / parody material, but they've been changing up their sections and having "future stars" so it seemed like it was plausible. The fact that she really did just turn 18 was cliche, but things become cliche for a reason. Also the text with the picture was written in their usual stupid banter pattern, but there wasn't anything over the top in the material.

Probably the most "obvious" clue it was a parody was that if the real Jessica looked like that, she would have had a whole layout. Stuff is definitely not scared of going over-the-top with their material, so in future similar scenarios I hope they play up the absurdity more. I definitely believe they were trying to leave some doubt in the reader's mind over the seriousness of the portrayal.

Advertisements as Content

During an unplanned detour recently to find a link for a commercial, I discovered the site Visit4Info, which allows one to view commercials and download them for 2 pounds (!!) ~ $4. It insults my sensibility to pay to download something which is purely an advertisement for a company's product, but some of these are pretty entertaining, especially from an American point-of-view.

Christina Aguilera's commercial for Virgin Mobile will definitely play a role in my near future cell phone plan purchase.

PALs don't solve terrorism!

It's always neat to see debate topics mentioned in real life. Well, it turns out that PALs probably weren't that effective, given that their unlock codes were all set to OOOOOOOO.

That little tidbit would have been useful on the China topic way back in the day... and it could have cut about 20 minutes out of Broken Arrow

Football Tales: Bright, Fowler, and Williams

This is from a couple of days ago, but when one post has three stories that interest you, why not mention it?

1. There has been many ridiculously horrible incidents in the short history of the Panthers - near the top is Steve Smith's beating of Anthony Bright (on the plus side, it probably lowered his contract value). Well, Bright has finally gotten around to obtaining (Chris Rock Voice) Johnnie Cochran (/Chris Rock Voice) to sue Smith and, of course, the Panthers. He probably deserves some money, but I can't believe that much
2. When you're school's best draft prospect goes undrafted, that doesn't say much about the program. It's even worse when he gets cut for being hurt.
3. Wha' happened to Rodney Williams? The guy was the greatest punter I had ever seen when he was at Georiga Tech - we're talking consistent 60 yarders in the air. How did he not catch on in the NFL?

A Look Back at a Tech Company

For some reason today I thought about a company called Porivo - a Durham-based company that used P2P to measure Internet performance (aka, did a lot of things I liked). Well, that link is now a redirect since they were sold to a MA-based company called Gomez in 2002.

Love the concept, though the GT project sounds like it has more legs.

Laundry Time

When friends of yours go to a restaurant like the French Laundry, you're going to hear about it (even a year later). So here are some links about the French Laundry, all courtesy of NYC Eats - a fine blog - which reminds me that I'm forming a collection of restaurant related blogs, so if anyone has any good resources, please post.

• Restaurant Magazine ranks French Laundry #1, again (nyc)
• Per Se vs. French Laundry (nyc) - numbers may not lie, but what do they mean?
• Walk-In Reservations no longer taken (nyc) - OpenTable.com still an option

Making the World Unsafe Through Music

Once KissaBoo creates a real link section, one of our first targets will be EOTM and their blog. However, let's throw a link their way since they are trying to answer that famous pop-culture question: what songs make you clap and/or gesticulate? This is to help a Duke student who for whatever reason wants to make a CD of songs that forces you to take your hands off the wheel while driving, or otherwise distracts you. Let the comments (I guess on their site) begin!

Bring the Funny

Not news to regular readers of this site, but I just want to provide proof that Duke students are the cleverest, funniest, and just the best damn lookin' people out there.

Mitch in Wonderland
The Drinky-Drink Kids

Mitch's most recent comic should be especially relevant for regular readers of this site.

Seriously, any other university, post your two best comic strips from current students or past graduates. You have all been served.

However, the Drinky-Drink site loads incredibly slow, so right here, right now, I'll suggest that readers of this site should reach into their wallets and pull out some cash to get him better hosting. Thank you.

Don't Doom the Franchise!

Sometimes you're just going about your business and then out of nowhere the most crazy thing will sneak up behind you to smack you on the head. Today's example of this is ESPN's Mock Lottery. Admittedly, it was more fun last year when I believe I could hear the painful screams of Cavalier fans each time Cleveland didn't appear at the top of the list. This year I just played it a couple of times for the heck of it and noticed an odd thing. The Bobcats are already slotted at 4 due to the past luck of the Hornets and Orlando Magic and with each role of the dice the selection ESPN gave at that slot was Josh Childress.... Let me repeat that, Josh Childress.

Josh, I played on a mediocre team who ran up a terrific record in a horrible conference, Childress.
Josh, I was player of the year in a conference who was having its weakest year ever, Childress.
Josh, why wouldn't you pick Alabama to beat them?, Childress.

Someone at ESPN must be drinking the juice because someone wrote he's the second coming of George Gervin - not to mention that if George Gervin was coming out today and was 22, he wouldn't be the second coming of George Gervin - and I like George Gervin.

Let me say this now: Josh Childress is not the second coming of George Gervin, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, or even Ron Artest. If he's lucky, he'll have a nice mediocre career.

This might not be the greatest draft ever, but if you're drafting 4th, you take whoever is left of Okafor, Howard, Deng, and Livingston. The first two will be quality NBA big men, Deng could become what Hill would have been if he wasn't crippled, and Livingston might be the best point guard prospect to enter the NBA since Magic. Childress will be an average 3. Livingston has almost the same body with 3 more years and he can actually play point guard - arguably the most important position in basketball.

I was hoping that this was just ESPN-hype insanity, but Bernie apparently really does like Childress. Bob, please, save the franchise now and forbid him from selecting Childress. Don't force us to have Larry Johnson (post playoff injury) again when we're watching Shaun becoming Magic. PLEASE!! PLEASE!!

Do you understand your rights?

"I didn't pass the bar, but I know a little bit" - JayZ

We here at KissaBoo have been incredibly lazy at picking a Creative Commons license and since I see from /. that the new bright and shiny 2.0's are out this seems like a good time to pick one. Does KissaBoo need a CC license? Well, I only know of two links to KissaBoo that haven't been generated by trackbacks so either no one is talking about this site yet or y'all thievin' like crazy...

My suggestion is the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 license (human form and non-human, aka lawyer, aka transaction cost form) with the goals of having sites link back to us if they reference our content and maintaining the right to negotiate any commercial ventures that might be derived from this work (yes, this is very likely).

I'll suggest 2 days for any discussions and if no one objects, the license will be added.

Radar Golf - Radar Love?

Golf is a game I enjoy occasionally playing and also to an extent watching. Unfortunately, I never posted my stories from a day at the greatest tournament ever, the Wachovia Championship. One of the greatest obstacles impeding me from playing the game more, besides the fact that I'm horrible at it, is that I can never manage to keep an eye on my ball (or anyone else's) after it is hit. The problem is naturally that I pound the ball so far away that even though it's in the middle of the fairway, it can be hard to find. The answer is for technology to make our lives better with Radar Golf (mentioned on Engadget).

For the not horribly unreasonable price of ~$250, you get a scanner and 12 golf balls with imbedded RFID tags. I didn't read enough to see how these tags affect the flight of the ball, but RFID tags are small and if you need this device, that isn't your greatest problem. If someone wants to send me a device to demo, contact me here and then send away...

Games Kids Shouldn't Play

I saw via Tivo that Tough Crowd on Monday beat me to this story, but the Post reported that an 11 year old was expelled from her Catholic Elementary school for tattling about girls (and boys) playing a game called Snap or Sex Bracelets. 20-somethings and college kids are known to play this game (though I never knew this until just now), but as Snopes reported in December, it was unknown whether younger kids were doing the same. Hopefully, this is a case of all talk and no action, but looking at the color chart I can guarantee I didn't know what half those things were when I was in junior high. Are older siblings responsible for this education, the Internet, the television, or is it just in the air now? At this rate, we'll have to talk to our kids about such subjects when they're 5.

Btw, I'm only a year removed from walking around the quad everyday on a college campus and I have no memories of women wearing jelly bracelets. If this was a real trend of a campus, couldn't a guy just carry around a pocket full of broken ones and pretend to snap them off.

"Purple? I didn't think I had one of those on today. Oh well, let's go behind the dumpster."

3 Stories about 2's

This post will keep us from getting Google Ad's for a while longer.

Since this site loves Internet trivia games, here is one for those that have an eye for geometry - curves, angles, points, and the such : WARNING: Content for adults ... and surprisingly, also for small babies.

I actually got a 17 on it, but that just shows you how easy it is. In fact, I'm only surprised by one answer.

And if you're a master at that last game, then you can throw out your opinion on how Lindsay Lohan became all grown up (the ever reputable Star story plus imdb). I for one really have no interest in dissecting a 17 year old's body, but anyone who saw her appearance on SNL can admit she isn't afraid to reference it.

Watch out though, Lindsay, while you might feel now that "if they're gonna write about anything to bring attention to my chest, why not!", it might lead you to one day being on stage in New Hampshire screaming to a crowd "stop looking at my teeth and look at my breasts" (courtesy of the robot).

Gossip or truth? blame the deacons

As a UNC grad, I love hearing bad gossip about dook and esp its players. My friend, while visiting with some Wake fans in good ol' NC, heard some stories about what the kids are up to these days.

Well apparently, with speculation that JJ Reddick is a cokehead (might explain his erratic playing) the Demon Deacons throw bags of flour at him when he runs on and off the court.

This coupled with the chanting of "No means No" while Sheldon Williams crudely attempts free throws, gives me a new found respect of Winston Salem.

Mostly Harmless

I just discovered that today (May 25th) is Towel Day (seen on web graphics). I'm not really planning on participating, but I'd thought I'd mention it since I cherish these books. Someone recently on this site made the utterly ludicrous comment that Stars Wars is still not the greatest Sci-Fi / Fantasy / heck, Fictional film trilogy of all-time and if the universe was just, a Hitchhiker's Trilogy (of 5 films) would take its place, but I don't have high hopes. One of the limitations of film is that it cannot compete with one's own imagination.

Film's Website (plus imdb)

This Guy at White Castle Asked Me for My Autograph...

Apparently, the Anaheim Angels ate 240 burgers and 25 bags of fries from White Castle while their charter was stranded on the tarmac in Detroit. Granted, they were White Castle burgers (Ratio= 4 White Castle burgers:1 regular burger).

In a really sad epilogue, I know exactly which White Castle they went to and have been there a number of times myself. White Castle burgers are OK (if you're really hungry and there's nothing else open), but they're no In-N-Out, or for that matter Five Guys (which, for you DC/NoVA residents who haven't had the pleasure, really gives the In-N-Out a run for their money).

Still Can't Read, Though

As a Duke grad, I have never really cared for Rasheed Wallace the player. However, even I have to admit: 'Sheed is pretty damn funny (those who remember the "Both Teams Played Hard" press conference will back me up on this).

To further prove this point, take last night's Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals: 'Sheed said immediately after Game 1 that the Pacers would not win Game 2 in Indiana. As the game ended (a Pistons win thanks to a sick block by Tayshaun Prince), 'Sheed turned to a mike--unknown whether he knew it was live--and announced, "I told you motherf***ers!" The quote was clearly, if barely, audible on the ESPN broadcast.

This is especially funny for me because it is exactly what I would have done in the same situation...

The Art of Collecting Media

Two related stories about DVD's.

1. Treating VOD like renting DVD's.

2. A community effort to compete with Netflix (courtesy of Unmediated)

I find both these stories interesting because they are related to ideas/discussions I've had recently.

First off, IANAL. I have friends that claim to be lawyers, but I don't even think of them as lawyers... During a discussion with one of them, I made the claim that if you believe in fair use and the right to make (and lend out) personal copies, then the only real problem with P2P networks is the lack of accountability of one current play for one purchased source. I would bet that when you are playing that MP3 you obtained from the ether that the original source is sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. I would even claim that the other copies of the song are not being played at the exact same moment you're playing the copy you obtained. Therefore the problem is just one of accountability, which is the dodge the company in our first tale is perpetrating - much like mp3.com once did with its electronic storage of your CD's. Now, in America, mp3.com couldn't make its case - perhaps due to not having the best "transaction costs", but in theory this could be a legal service. Now if it is really cheaper for DVDstream to treat its videos as a "personal" collection and thus having to account for their use rather than pay these VOD costs, I have no idea.

Our second story I find interesting because they hold a common belief with me: that owning a DVD collection is rather wasteful. I'm looking right now at the less than 30 DVD's I own and while I don't want to get rid of any of them, I probably have only watched a few more than once. Now imagine owning several 100 DVD's and this waste is even more prominent. The idea I developed to be more utilitarian was analogous to Blockbuster while Peerflix went the Netflix route. My goal was to set up a store (and eventually stores) where one could keep their DVD collections and where they could be shared with other members of the cooperative (whether this has to be technically a cooperative or not I have not thought too deeply about). Participants would receive credits to watch other members' DVD's and perhaps make a few dollars - all while having their DVD's not too far from their grasp. The problem I have with the distributed model is what happens when I never get my DVD back from a Peerflix participant? In the blockbuster scenario, either a credit card is charged or their DVD collection can be held, but I haven't found on the site what their policy is - though I imagine it's charging a credit card. Though I admit there isn't much difference between having a store down the block that is lending my DVD's out to strangers versus sending them out in the mail, I at least find the first option more comforting.

Kate's Coke

During the Daily Show a few days ago there was a Diet Coke commercial that featured a bikini clad woman by a pool. Near the end of segment I thought to myself "That woman looks familiar... wait, is that Kate Beckinsale?". Turns out, it was. What interests me about this development is that her look has changed so dramatically in recent movies, can a significant number of people identify who she is? Admittedly, the important part of the commercial is "bikini clad woman", but if that is all that is needed, then why pick a movie star.

Btw, I do have an average quality copy of this commercial, but I'm not sure what is the best way to link it and save the bandwidth. Freecache may be the answer, but I can reduce its size to 4 Megs, which is below what they recommend. Also, I'm assuming Coke wouldn't mind the free advertisement it would provide.

For those who might be wondering, I believe this is only the second image in a kissaboo entry, which sets the standard as being pictures of attractive women we do not know.

Garfield and Austin: A Comic Collision

Saw a story about a pre-screening of Garfield in Austin, TX - I do not know why there. Readers of this site know there is only one reason (I refuse to say two) to watch this movie. Perhaps this event will inspire one person to make a trip to visit another person in order to witness this master piece.

Modern Enchantment

Last of the posts from visting imdb. Has anyone seen the short film DysEnchanted? They have a decent flash website. Apparently, my only two chances will be the Atlanta or Nantucket Film Festivals in mid-June and I doubt the 8 minutes of this film are worthy of an out-of-the-way road trip to either of those places. The Cleveland International Film Festival is now 10 months away.

Rangers in the Pink

More from my stumblings around IMDB. I saw a comment mentioning (post if this link breaks) that 4 female Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (tv and movies) have gone on to do nude scenes in films (and I have witnessed one of these instances in the rather good N.C. horror flick Cabin Fever). Now, I was of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles generation, so I know almost nothing about the Power Rangers (like, how did they get their "powers"?), but I don't think this is the end of the world.

Some posters apparently feel these women are "letting the kids down" (who will think of the children?). My first reponse to this is that CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE WATCHING THESE MOVIES. The majority of films that have nudity are meant for adults - they are not designed for kids. Also, I don't understand this fear of nudity. A lot of jokes are made about America's acceptance of violence while abhoring sex (or nudity), but it is really an issue that our culture will have to sort out since it is quite ridiculous.

Additionally, don't blame these actresses. I would wager that the majority of young actresses are forced to do nude scenes because that is what's out there for them and that is what helps to bring people to the theater / video store. I would hazzard that most current actresses have done their fair number of these scenes (and some that claim they will never do them have been found naked in other media). Even "respectable" actresses perform in such scenes. Halle Berry and Gwyneth Paltrow won Best Actress Oscars for films in which they appeared nude. The most recent winner, Charlize Theron, had a memorable scene in The Devil's Advocate (are any of the readers of this site familiar with this movie?). In fact, the most recent winners that I believe have never done a nude scene are Julia Roberts in 2000 (though some say you can see her nipples in her love scene with Gere in Pretty Women, so I let the readers decide, plus she obviously isn't opposed to exuding sexuality on film), Hillary Swank in 1999 (never saw Boys Don't Cry), Frances McDormand in 1996 (she been in a lot of films I've never seen though), and Jessica Tandy in 1989. So in the last 15 years, only 4 "respectable", award-winning actresses have not appeared nude on film.

In summary, these female rangers are fine, you're kids are fine, enjoy your popcorn.

You get the pudding and then you have to educate the kids

My trip to imdb led me to this story that might be in the national news, a friend I haven't visited in a while, about some controversial comments Bill Cosby made at a NAACP event celebrating the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education (note that the article's picture must be from his I Spy days) - coincidentally, Cosby spoke almost exactly a year ago at my college graduation - he does speak at a lot of them. I've only read what he supposedly said in the article, but I think his remarks have some validity. I believe parents in general are not encouraging and supporting their children's education enough - a conclusion I have arrived at due to discussions with a mother who was a teacher and a good friend who was teaching. Bill Cosby does have a degree in education, so perhaps his opinion should at least be considered.

Now I'm unsure how much contact Bill Cosby has with "lower economic people" nowadays and I have to admit that my hands-on knowledge has been pretty limited recently, so perhaps we're a little out of touch. When I hear comments like these (especially when they are made by politicians), my next thought is always, so what should be done? Politicians NEVER ANSWER these questions so we are always left with the mystery of what they will actually do when they are in office. Whether Bill Cosby has a suggestion was left out of the article. The best suggestion I can come up with is volunteer efforts to help these children (and parents) by having postive role models in their lives. I don't foresee direct monetary benefits having any effect (aka, if you're below this economic threhold and your child gets an A, then he gets X money put away for college or some clothes or actual money). This would either lead to corruption or complaints that these results are biased to individuals who find "learning easy" - because people who do well at school obviously put no effort into it.

There is no easy solution. Is the problem really that parents let their kids feel compelled to comply to popular culture? I actually feel that some "hip hop" performers like Outkast and Kayne West have some positive messages. Part of the problem is that I would wager the majority of individuals (black and not) think that black culture solely consists of hip hop musicians, non-uplifting comedy movies, and athletics. This perception will not change over night, but with role models such as Bill Cosby around, I do believe the future is open for the fight.

News Flashes and the other Moe's

These are the kind of things that I discuss over meals - Is Barry White dead? The not-so-startling answer - he died almost a year ago. In fact, I'm pretty sure I heard some talk show bits that involved his passing - "Lookout, Ruben Studdard!".

What raised this discussion is that we were dining at a local franchise of Moe's Southwest Grill where they were featuring a huge picture of Barry White and they do in fact have the policy to hang pictures of dead musicians on the walls while playing their music - something I find just a little morbid. I appreciate they are honoring great musicians, but do they really have to be differentiated by the fact they are dead?

For example, if I started a sports bar that featured only pictures of dead athletes and videos of their performances, would they really be a draw? At a place where you eat and drink, do you really want the walls lined with memories of death. If one were to open an establishment that featured Renaissance painters, then they would be remembered for being outstanding artists, not for their lack of breathing. Since they are terrific living athletes and musicians, drawing this line feels different for me.

However, since we have entered the land of the slightly ghoulish, this had led me to wonder about a trivia question. In this day of constant sports highlights, when was the most recent team game (pro or college) that was captured on film/video where all the players have passed? I would guess mid-50's, but what sport? Football players generally have shorter life spans, but there are so more of them on the field. It would have to be a basketball game. I also don't remember any instances where both teams that were participating in an event had plane accidents or the like, so I imagine that the majority of players would have had to die by "natural" causes or at least separately.

Anyway, while there apparently will be 3 Moe's coming to Cleveland, I'm much more excited about the proximity of Chipotle's.

Thought of the Day

The thing about A Tribe Called Quest is that they could get down....

George Lucas Strikes Back

Two pieces of Star Wars news:

1) According to various sources, Episode III will be entitled "Birth of the Empire." Lucasfilm has not commented as yet, but it sure beats "Attack of the Clones." (On a side note, since the movie sucked so much, wouldn't it have been a more fitting B-movie title to include an exclamation point? "Episode II: Attack of the Clones!"--sort of like "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!").

2) According to Ain't it Cool News (insert reliability joke here), George Lucas has (Gasp!) make some scene tweaks in the new Star Wars DVD trilogy. One of the tweaks he has supposedly made can be seen here (scroll down).

If you recall, in the bonfire celebration scene in "Return of the Jedi," Luke sees the ghostly specter of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and his father (Anakin Skywalker, now without the Darth Vader mask and suit). However, in the screen capture that AICN claims to have obtained, the old Anakin is replaced by a *much* younger Anakin--presumably that twit Hayden Christensen.

I'm not saying that this is true (in fact, being as it came from AICN, it probably isn't), but it really causes one to wonder why it is that George Lucas keeps doing his level best to undermine the fan base and the lasting legacy of (until Lord of the Rings) the best sci-fi/fantasy movie series in the entire genre (not to mention his own). It is also this attitude that is supposedly preventing him from pushing out another Indiana Jones film (and let's face it--Indy isn't getting any younger). Mee-sa outraged!

Senate Staffer Scandal # 3,423,507

It appears that one of Sen. Mike Dewine's (R-Ohio) staffers has created a blog detailing her sexual exploits. Among her revelations is the fact that she gets paid for sex by older men. She is also convinced that "everyone" in DC does it, because obviously nobody can live on $25K a year in Washington.

I'm really having a hard time with this, and it seems that there is only one party to blame: Syracuse University. Syracuse is Wannabe University--wanna be Duke, wanna be Georgetown, wanna be anybody but Syracuse. Plus, the city is a hellhole.

Senators, Part III?

So, Bud Selig says that the Expos will find a permanent home by mid-July. Please pick DC. Northern Virginia is acceptable, too, but DC is better. I would love to be able to hop the Metro after work and go to the game (especially since the planned stadium is no more than .75 miles from the office)...

Lucky 13

I just learned that I'm a member of the 13th generation. Luckily, my fiancee was born in 1981 so there won't be a generational gap...

Icky vs. Oh Yeah!

I saw a blurb today about Anna Faris, a best friend of one of the authors on this site (aka, had lunch with once), having a small role in Brokeback Mountain. I had never heard of this film before today and after discovering that the story involves Heath Ledger's and Jake Gyllenhaal's characters having a 20 year long romantic relationship, I plan to never think of it again. However, the fact that Anna Faris is in it reminded me of an old double standard because in the last movie I saw her in (before I saw her in Lost in Translation the other day), was the 'quirky' horror movie May where she played a perhaps not realistic but at least entertaining lesbian. Oh well.

PTI, the sitcom

I've been saying to myself lately, "I wish there were a sitcom based on Kornheiser's life". Well, my prayers have been answered. The program, Listen Up!, features George Castanza and Theo Huxtable arguing on a show called "Shut Up and Listen".

It's not in Tivo's schedule yet, but it's supposed to begin airing on Mondays this fall.

A Week Too Early for Independence

Unfortunately I'll be traveling between the Triangle and Boston a week before they start their service, but I learned from this story (there must be a local source) a new airline called Independence Air will begin flying on June 16. Cleveland will join them in August, but it looks like Charlotte will be kept out of the loop. Since flying is an industry that has regressed over the years, I'm always excited to see some competition in the area. If only JetBlue would come to Ohio and/or N.C.

H-Bomb to Detonate

Google Alerts are useful for something. The Crimson tells us that while there is a delay, H-Bomb will be available soon. They even have a website up (flash!) with an unavailable preview and a purchase form. For those of us planning to be in Cambridge in the coming weeks, I expect the homeless to be selling these on street corners along with copies of Spare Change.

I.O. West

I just found out that our favorite sketch comedy troupe, Employee of the Month, will be participating in the Second Annual L.A. Improv Comedy Festival (Acme Stage).

Now I'm not saying (or even know if) it's a competition (or if there are any prizes involved), but they better win or I'm going to make this kitten cry.

James Cameron, Charlotte Tourism Director

The Simpson writers have some competition for throwing Charlotte into a script. Kuroshin had an article recently about some of the best unproduced screen plays. I started reading James Cameron's Avatar, a sci-fi film about a desolate Earth a 100 years in the future. I only read the very initial part of the script because I stopped upon discovering Charlotte as the film's location ("but you could be anywhere"). I can understand why he picked this city, though I have no knowledge of him ever visiting it. The most farfetched part of the story is the utter impossibility of Charlotte having a subway in a 100 years....

Hitler City, N.C.

On behalf of Charlotte, thank you, Simpson's writers, for including us in the show.... and associating us with Nazi's.... AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Amazing Predictions

I saw a white Mustang today with the license plate: U H8 ME

Amazingly, he was immediately correct....

Up in Smoke

Wired (courtesy of /.) has a story about how the current generation of hybrids fall significantly short of their gas milleage claims. However, intelligent people are not buying these cars for their bogus efficiency, they do it so they can run people down in the street without them hearing them coming....

Duhon sighting

Recent Duke graduate Chris Duhon will be appearing on Cold Pizza the morning of Wednesday May 12, aka this morning, where he will discuss his draft prospects. I believe he'll be an early 2nd rounder (perhaps the Bobcats can get Deng and Duhon to totally alienate the UNC contingent), but we'll have to wait and see. Perhaps someone living in NYC will stop by the draft....

Van Helsing!!!!!

1.0 on the Movie Lens scale and that is with a +0.5 bump for Beckinsale and her corset.

I saw this movie a few days ago with some other authors on this site and left more amazed than anything (mommy, mommy, how did they get funding?). It's not that a summer "blockbuster" has to make sense, I can accept that aliens use mac-compatible, but one can't take well-known tales and just develop bizarre/ nonsensical off-shoots around them. Plus, I beg you Hollywood, stop using bastardizations of Catholicism as the back drop to develop your multi-million dollar binges, some people will start actually believing you.

SPOILER ALERT!

It's not that there are so many plot holes, it's just that they are so large. We could go on all day with the insane logic of this movie, but here are some questions that I don't even want anyone even to bother trying to answer.

How can a woman who manages to escape unscathed when falling off a roof manage to die without a mark when someone falls on her? Just because a vampire is undead, why does that mean that their offspring would be hundreds of inanimate pods? I mean, the vampires themselves are undead and they can function. What is the significance of the events happening exactly a year later? Why does shocking someone and then shocking something else bring those things to life.

Actually, my biggest compliant with the movie is that I didn't even realize that Josie Maran (imdb link), my favorite model / actress since "discovering" her when she appeared last year on JKL, was in the movie. Of course her character is CGI for most of the movie, but I did think one of the brides looked like her during one of their brief moments in human form. I mean, movie studios, if you have Josie in your film, you should feature her and not have someone find out she was in the film a few days later.

Btw, if anyone knows how I could get a chance to watch The Mallory Effect, let me know.

Math Enthusiast / Bad-Ass MC

Somebody stole my calling card!

3.5 4.0 on the Movie Lens Scale with a +0.5 for Lohan and +0.5 for Mathlete references.

Finally saw Mean Girls (a surprisingly long movie), and it was pretty much what I thought it would be: a funny movie (nothing ground breaking) with a strong performance by a very watchable Lohan. Definitely solid for an SNL movie, though the four SNLers were not too prominently on display. Meadows had some of the funnier moments in the film, Fey was solid, but the usually hilarious Poehler came across as "plastic" in her character with Gasteyer barely being in the film.

I have to admit that I whiffed on the all so crucial final math question, but hey I'm 10 years removed from my last calculus class and I forgot to examine the limit from both sides (though I am proud that I did quickly reduce it correctly).

Memorable lines:
Everybody in Africa speaks Swedish.
Seriously, you don't have to make a speech.

The People's Champion

Having watched every minute of Survivor for 8 seasons, I feel my opinion should be highly valued when you consider who you should vote for to win the second million this season (voting on CBS here). First, I encourage everyone to watch the final pleas (or non-pleas) of the contestants.

Before you vote, I encourage you to develop a criteria: one strategy would be to vote for who you "like" best, while another would be to vote for the best player. Thinking of these two options, the following players can be crossed off your list.

Alicia, Kathy (yeah, I always underestimate her), Richard, Shii Ann, Susan, and Tina.

These players all have inflated and unjustifiable views of themselves as excellent Survivor players. The odd thing about Survivor is that really ever year the 2nd worst player should win since all the strong players should be ganged up on and voted out early (needing strong players to help you "survive" in the wild has been shown to be overrated). The common characteristic of the above 6 is that their longevity (at least for their first appearances) was due to the fact that they were so unthreatening. In fact, so unthreatening that two managed to win in their first go arounds.

Now the second group - I would encourage you to not for these people, but can understand if you did since each is sympathetic for some hard luck reason.

Colby, Ethan, Jenna M., Jenna L., Jerri, Lex, Rob C. Rudy, and Tom

You can almost flip a coin to decide whether Colby or Ethan was the most overall dominant survivor during a season. Colby is especially sympathetic to me since he was one of my two picks to win this year, but somehow he just didn't dominate. Ethan already has his million, but some might feel bad for the way he was dismissed by his "friend" Lex plus he claims his goal is to donate the money to each of the Survivor's charities. Jenna M. left to be with her mother before she died, plus she'll pose with a frog, so you have to throw her some consideration . Jenna L. definitely overrates herself as a player, but she is/was a single mother with twins, so you'd like to toss some money her way. If you want to see the art form of the reality tv show pushed to the extreme, then 3-time reality star Jerri deserves your money since she plans to fund her own show apparently, plus you have to feel bad that she was booed off stage. If you like Lex and appreciate his comeuppance in the art of back stabbing, then he deserves a vote. Rob C. was/is my favorite Survivor player of all-time due to his amazing manipulations in the Amazon, so he is sympathetic to me since he was duped so easily by Rob M.'s promise of an alliance (which Rob made with about everyone). Rudy's old and Tom embarrassed everyone who knows him with that fake hand shake trick and his dancin', so throw them in the sympathetic category.

This leaves Amber, Rob M., and Rupert and where your personal criteria comes into play. Everyone believes Rupert should win, but really he's not as much a player as a nice guy. His whole strategy was to pretty much fish and form friendships with the lesser players, which obviously didn't work out too well in terms of the game. Now Rob M. was by far the most dominate player physically and strategically in the game. He won the most challenges, yet managed to avoid being voted off when the opportunities presented themselves. His worst move was falling into the curse of having to pick the player to beat him (I believe only 2 times in the 8 shows has the player who won the last immunity challenge won the million). Additionally, with his impending marriage to Amber, perhaps the world would like them to join on an equal footing. However, my vote went for Amber, who by far made the greatest evolution on All Stars morphing from being the mousy shadow of Jerri in Australia to a confident, fierce competitor in All-Stars. Considering the fact that she did win fair and square, it only makes sense to me that the winner of All-Stars should make more than the previous winners.

There we go folks, a quick and comprehensive look at who you should vote for.

It's Just Common Sense

I came across a NY Times op-ed saying that Eats, Shoots, & Leaves is the WORST BOOK OF ALL-TIME ... or at least that correct punctuation is overrated.

Horror-nets

ESPN has a little tidbit about the free fall of the Hornets, who are currently partcipating in the longest and least cared about series in the history of the NBA Playoffs.

I hate them. I hate them so much. Not only do they deserve worse, then only thing that will make me happy is for their existence to stop.
This whole ordeal is also a blight in my opinion on New Orleans and Louisana, who will be hemoraging money on guaranting this team a profit instead of spending it on education and/or safety.

Though I do have to disagree with one point in the article, while I would be shocked if the Bobcats had the best expansion season of all-time, in the weak East and with free agency they should at least have a respectable losing record.

Darkness Falls

I learned via an entry on J.D. Lasica's New Media Musing blog today that not only can you take a peek at his new book Darknet: Remixing the Future of Movies, Music and Television (official site), you can actually comment and make edits via a SocialText Wiki. While I haven't had time to read much of what's been posted, just from glancing at the cast of characters (Valenti, Lessig, Rheingold, and Clarke all stand out for me) I know the reader's of this blog should be greatly intrigued by this book. However, perhaps my mind is just freezing, but I don't believe I've ever heard the term Darknet before, but I may or not be a participant in it...

Someone's going to get fired over this one

The official favorite show of this blog, King of the Hill, had an interesting blooper in this night's episode about the Quiz Bowl team, Stressed for Success. I actually watched the clip 3 times to make sure I heard it correctly. I'll let people guess what it was before I post.

Just got script confirmation - so I am not hearing things.

My first (and probably only) hint about the error:
Hint 1

Yes, I am being annoying, but I was on a quiz bowl team and this was the first competition question asked in the program.

Win by not watching TV

ReplayTV is currently running an interesting contest, which they will apparently be repeating, called Pause and Win where a prize code is displayed when you pause your television. I'm not sure how great this is, but at least they are trying.

I "won" the worst coupon that I imagine everyone receives which saves $45 on a refurbished 4504. I'm not going to use it, but if anyone who is reading this entry on the day it was posted wants it feel free. Note: expires today.

Why are they famous?

I don't understand how these girls have gone from Full House to teen queens, but I feel compelled to post this mildly amusing (if somewhat off-putting) piece of animation - mentioned on Gawker - to commemorate the event of the century which is shortly coming up.

P.S. A similar reference to Lindsay Lohan's age during last weekend's SNL was also disturbing by its mere entrance to the main stream.