Lost: Season 3 1/2

Ok, we're finally on a role here with three solid episodes and last night was why I love the show. The character driven plots with intense dialogue make for some exciting hours of TV and these episodes usually have Sayid, Locke, Jack, and now Ben. The storyline last season when they were trying to figure out if Ben had landed on the island comes to mind as quality writing and acting.

But next week we're back to the beach where I find myself caring less and less about the story lines even though someone kicks it. I feel the show has diversified too much. They created several different paths, through them out the wall, let them slide down, and a couple of them really need to fall off.

I've had a few ideas and theories over the past two years, but now I'm stumped. Some weeks I completely forget there are supernatural events occurring and it will be interesting to see how they reconcile it all. In case you haven't heard, they are working on and end date for 2008 which should eliminate those "dead without a purpose" hours.

Last night when Locke was talking to Ben did it occur to anyone else that he should have said, "Lived here your whole life hotshot? Are you even aware there is a black smoke monster out there that steals people's thoughts and then kills them? Put that in your submarine and smoke it."

Idol Update

I have only really watched the last two weeks and I'm not that impressed. The music selections this week featured numerous boring and uninspired numbers so I'm not surprised Simon was in a pissy mood all evening.

Sanjaya Malakar is a karaoke disaster in the making and this was only exemplified further when the concluding montage alowed you to directly compare him. At least he knows he has a gig in 20 years at that girl's wedding who was all waterworks for him. Explain to me again why that girl is now "famous" as I saw her on the Today show this morning.

Melinda Doolittle definately has the most skillz out of anyone, but has the favorite ever won?

Phil Stacey also had a poor night to the level of which I was laughing out loud

Ning It

This week I found something cool after reading a Newsweek article on Marc Andreessen, creator of Netscape. After selling Netscape and working as the CIO for AOL, Andreesen has returned with www.ning.com.

Ning allows you to build a social network(think My Space) with a theme from sports to TV to culinary interests. Check it out to create or join an already existing network. Pretty cool stuff with more of a focus than it's more well known predecessor.

Practical Tax Tips

I'm not going to go on some long winded explanation on capital dividends. Here's some layman advice.

1. Use the online Turbotax or H&R Block programs. They're user friendly, use normal language, and you don't pay anything until you file. You can also import your W-2 to avoid mistakes
2. Get them done by the March 31st or the price to file goes up significantly
3. There is a very good chance you have access to a reduced rate. Personally, the company that provides my paycheck, my bank, my inusrance company, and Vanguard all offer me a discount.
4. Enjoy your rebate
   

The Fall of Education

If you find yourself in a conversation where you use the phrase, "I looked it up on Wikipedia...", please stop yourself and realize you have just quoted an entry a high sophomore contributed at 2:00 A.M. while watching Teen Wolf

This site scares me because research is going the way of the tabloid and I'm relieved to see some schools have banned it as a bibliographical source.

Two Become One

Tonight, after Bethany and I reacted in unison with the same comment I recognized we've reached that fateful level where we instinctively know how the other will react. Of course, I made the logical conclusion we could compare ourselves to COBRA espionage experts Tomax and Xamot who finished each others sentences. Only with less gymnastics and ballistics expertise.

She looked at me like I was crazy.

Yo Joe

Warm Up

Treat yourself one night this week to a cup of hot chocolate with a shot of Kahlua. You deserve it and best of all, it tastes great

Bluedeviled

How is everyone doing in their brackets? Currently, Bethany has a healthy lead on me and is ranked in the top 5 percentile nationally, but I still have a legitimate shot.

If you haven't been watching you already missed the greatest day of the event when Duke lost on day one.

I don't think I hate Duke as much as I hate Duke fans. As a one time "super fan", I have yet to see or hear a story of why The Cameron Crazies are really basketball's number one fans as everyone claims they are. They strike me more as a bunch of pompous, know it alls who think they're entitled to win. No organized cheering. No humorous signs. No entertaining comments. Just screaming.

I will never forget the stunned look on 5,000 faces on the video feed from Duke as their undefeated 1998-99 team lost to UCONN. Priceless.

Go Friars!!

The Storm of March 16th

We had a decent storm rock our bodies yesterday up here in New England leading to mayhem on the roads and in the air.

Did anyone notice Jetblue cancelled a major amount of flights to avoid the operations nightmare in February of days of cancellations and stranded passengers. Serves those fools to finally do something right.

WRONG.

In fact, while Jetblue did have serious problems in the previous storm and became the object of numerous late night jokes did anyone aside from me and one other person I know notice they stepped up and actually held themselves accountable for what happened? There was no lame-o PR piece explaining "how they were deeply sorry, but the circumstances was beyond their control." Instead, they admitted screwing up, offered significant refunds, and outlined guidelines for customer satisfaction for the future. I say good for them and I look forward to flying with them in the future.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

And just like legend has it, you must rent all four Leprechaun movies and watch them in succession while eating raw potatoes and drinking Guinness. Erin go Brah.

ID Please

I watch a good deal of TV and by default I watch a good deal of MTV. That being said, can someone please tell me what the legal drinking age in California is? From what I can tell it's apparently 15 and if anyone out there thinks changing the law or legalizing drugs is a good idea I implore you to watch five minutes of any reality program on MTV to see why it's not. You may think you or someone you know can handle the situation responsibly, but for every one of those people there are eight Jasons from Laguna Beach/The Hills.

March Madness

March Madness starts this week which even non-basketball fans have to admit can be a fun week especially since the competitive gods smile down upon us and always give you a game a day with a fantastic finish. Have you ever thought how 65 teams begin the tournament and the last game for 64 of them is a loss? I find it interesting at least.

Here at the ol homestead we're about to engage in our annual March Madness competition with an ice cream cone on the line. I believe I'm leading 3-2 since 2002.

And if you're playing for higher stakes, say an ice cream cone AND a cookie my advice is this: No matter how much fun you want to have picking upsets early, try to safely figure out two teams that reach the Final Four.

I'll close with this fun fact. In last year's ESPN challenge only three people correctly had the Final Four and one those thought he was picking George Washington instead of George Mason when completing his bracket.

The Britney Chronicles, Stardate 3/12/07

Oh boy, this doesn't get any better and two tales in one day no less.

First, we have leaks out of Promises that Britney has been suffering from bulimia since the age of 16, however, the good news surfacing indicates she seems to be doing better.

Later in the day, however, a story surfaced regarding a security video from a night club in early February where Britney can be seen changing clothes with two house dancers and engaging in some "serious partying" with her new friends. Stay tuned to find out what that even means....

If I can print it

My Space

Whoever wants it can have my space on MySpace. There's something about it that make me feel too old for it. Or maybe I'm just too lazy to maintain the page and am paranoid about not having enough people who want to be my friends.

Of course this is from a guy who writes a blog about Britney Spears and knows all the lyrics to the Gummy Bears theme song

Drop the Puck

I spent last Thursday and Friday night watching the BC Hockey team dismantle Northeastern 4-1 and 7-1 to advance to the semi-finals of the Hockey East tournament. I may be biased here after having season tickets for 10 years, but I truly believe a hockey game is the best sporting to watch in person due to the consistency of the action. Sure, a game can be boring and believe me, I've been there, but if you have two teams on their game the night is filled with Oohhs and Aahhs.

There's also nothing like watching a truly skilled forward on his game and right now BC has two in sophomores Nathan Gerbe and Brock Bradford who over the past month have been doing things at full speed on the ice that should be illegal. The behind the back pass Gerbe made to himself on Thursday shows amazing confidence and skill. Check them out against crosstown rival BU Friday night at 8 on NESN.

Here's to another run deep into the NCAAs

Dancing with Sanders

I have barely watched Dancing with the Stars except to see George Hamilton in season two. I don't know why, but the sight of him makes me laugh out loud.

This season, however, Ian Ziering, better known as Steve Sanders from Beverly Hills 90210 will be on and I'm tempted to tune in.

I have a televison theory that Pacey Witter(Dawson's Creek) grows up to become Steve Sanders who (im)matures into Michael Mancini (Melrose Place).

If you are under the age of 25 you probably have no idea what that last sentence means.

Bonus Quiz: You get a hig from me if you can tell who played Michael's sister and what was her name on the show?

Bonus Quiz II: What two former Melrose castmates are currently married?

Bonus Quiz III: What did all those girls really see in Dylan McKay?

Knocked Up

There has been a large amount of uninteresting movies out there.

Good news! Check out the preview for the new Judd Apatow movie Knocked Up

Is it me or has Paul Rudd gone on the Nicole Ritchie diet? Dear Lord, eat a sandwich my friend

Whose in trouble this time?

It's been 7 weeks so which of these following celebrities has found his way into the news for all the wrong reasons?

Doc Gooden
Maurice Clarret
Darryl Strawberry
Ron Artest
Bobby Brown

Sorry, Bobby fans you're reign ends at 4 days with Ron Artest comes out on top after being involved in a domestic dispute.

These guys should really live in a house together.

Any other ideas for this list of winners?

Oops, I imploded my life

Holy Crap, Britney what in the heck happened? As much I want to make fun of this, I find myself holding back out of concern she'll legitimately be dead by the end of the month. In case you're in the dark let's recap the events of the past few months:

• K-Fed is Fed-Ex.
• Where is second son Jaden(rumor has it, he is severly special needs)
• Numerous naughty up skirt shots
• Partying with Paris and Lindsey
• Rampant rumors of her liking the ladies
• And now she's bald after checking in and out of rehab in one day only to check back into and out of rehab again before finally kind of sort of maybe possibly entering rehab for a third time

This week's reports indicate Britney isn't holding up well and there has been a rumor of a suicide attempt. I don't know what her issues are, but let's hope she figures them out soon.

Because it's going to be one circus of a publicity battle

The Return

It's been several months since our last post. Some things have changed. Some are the same. Anyway, if you know us, you know we both our pop culture fiends. Here are some highlights from the past few months.


Bee Movie Trailer Very unique trailer for Jerry Seinfeld's new animated feature. Rumor has it this movie's success will make him inelligible for hosting the 2008 Oscars.

Guys Watching 24 II Good friend Chris White returns with his all star cast for the latest adventures of your favorite 24 fans

Robin Sparkle One of the most creative things I have seen on TV in a long time. How I Met Your Mother makes Robin a former teen pop star AND has her shoot a full music video. Do I dare say this show has been consistently better than The Office this year?

Backstreet Boys If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?