What an opener

Let's see that imitation Aussie top this!
Ladies and Gentleman, I give you...
Hugh Jackman's opening performance of the 2009 Oscars!

Anne Hathaway isn't half bad, either ;)

Motivation

I'll admit it, I may be a bloody genius but I'm also a lazy bastard, and sometimes I need a kick in the pants to get me going. So I made myself a motivational poster, and damned if it doesn't get the job done. Being a considerate, lazy genius, I thought I'd share, in case anyone else needs a slap upside the head, too ;)

NCIS

Yeah, I'm an NCIS Fanbois, and a dorky one at that, with my satchel strap across my chest. (Idiot! Take your bag off next time! Whadda ya trying to do? Ruin an excellent fan pic?)

Gibb's famous black Dodger Charger

He was driving it earlier that day, Mark Harmon was, that is. He drives just like Gibbs too, which makes perfect sense when you think about it.

Per Crucifer's request here's more on my NCIS encounter.

* * *

On Tuesday our HR Rep forwarded a Memo from Building Mgmt. about filming that would be taking place in our building the next day. A month or two back the Heroes crew had been by so I opened this one to see if they were back or....NCIS??? OMG!!!!

Yep, it was kind of like that ;)

Actually when I'd arrived for work that morning a crew was already setting up, and it didn't occur to me later when I got the Memo that NCIS were already here because big productions rarely shoot for just one day.

I was in a late afternoon meeting when I heard a pitched gun battle from the alley. Easily 10 or 12 shots were fired, which is unusual for NCIS. Up until that point none of NCIS' gun fights (at least none I'd seen) had run that long, most were over after the exchange of just a few shots. (*edit* They were filming ep. 6.20 Dead Reckoning, and this was the opening scene's gun fight involving Trent Kort)

Today Liz came into downtown to join me for lunch (& hopefully see someone ;) so when she called to tell me she was almost there I headed downstairs where I found a crew out on the sidewalk. From where I stood I could see Michael Weatherly (aka DiNozzo) chatting with a couple of folks. A minute or so later a crew member came over and asked me and a couple of other people standing next to the alley to move back, because Mark Harmon was going to be driving into the alley hard & fast, just like his alter-ego 'Gibbs' :)

Sure enough Mark emerged from the alley and as a cop directed traffic around them he walked out and got into the familiar black Dodge Charger. When they were ready the cop stopped a couple of cars to give them room and with that "Gibbs" emerged, the Charger roared, and with tires screeching it hammered into and down the alley and out of view.

I chatted with the crew member and found out they were about to break for lunch themselves, but he told me where they'd be shooting afterward, which was just a couple of blocks from where I'd be catching my bus.

Liz arrived as they were getting ready for another take, and she actually drove past Mark & Michael in their car. If she'd come along a minute or so earlier or later she would have been stopped by the cop and had an excellent view of Gibbs doing what he does best: driving like a maniac :P

Instead she picked me up then did a "Gibbs U-Turn" of her own, right in front of the man himself.

Without enough room for her Highlander to get all the way around in one shot and with oncoming traffic quickly approaching, Liz was forced to drive up onto the sidewalk to complete her U-turn. As she pulled back out onto the road we passed Michael and Mark still sitting on the other side of the road. The driver's window was down and Mark was looking right at us.

In Liz's words, "I didn't know until I made the turn and I was facing him when I was finished. He flashed his famous grin at me. *swoon*"

I don't know if Michael made a comment to him about how "she drives just like you", but Mark really was looking right at Liz and he had a big grin on his face.

After lunch Liz dropped me back at work. The crew were still on their own lunch break so Liz went on home.

At the end of the day I swung by the second location and while walking down the street I saw the Charger first, then Cote de Pablo (Ziva) chatting with a few guys. When I got closer and was finally able to take my eyes off her :P I realized Michael was standing beside her. On meeting Cote in person it was very hard to picture her as diamond-hard Ziva. She is a strikingly attractive woman.

I had to interrupt their conversation with two crew members (who I found out later were Donald Bellisario and his assistant) but they were really good about me intruding on their work. When I asked if I could get a photo Donald said sure, waved his hand and stood back.

Suddenly nervous I stammered & stuttered but managed to convey that I wanted my picture taken with Cote and Michael. Thinking back I have the impression that Donald knew what I wanted all along and was just messing with me. I handed over my camera but he passed it on to his assistant. When I stepped up to Cote and Michael they parted so I could stand between them, and when I did, Cote put her arm around my waist. I'm not joking. Seriously! Look how she's leaning into me! So I returned the favor and did the same to both her and Michael ;) I'm not sure what he thought about that, although it shouldn't have come as a surprise to him, I mean he is a good looking guy ;) We may be the same age but he's aged a heck of a lot better than I have :D

After the photo was taken Cote demanded photo-approval rights before letting me go, which got her a ribbing and a friendly shove from Michael. Clearly their onscreen chemistry is mirrored off screen as well, although rumor has it that while Cote would like their characters to hook up, Michael is averse to that idea.

I asked if Mark was still around and was told he'd already left. I mentioned that I'd seen him driving into the alley near my work that morning and told Michael he was taking his life in his hands when he rode with Mark. (Yeah, my nerves were calm now. I was shooting the breeze with Ziva and DiNozzo ;)

"Every day," Michael said with a laugh. "Every single day!"

And that was it. Off I went to catch my bus, and send Liz a text message: "No Gibbs, he'd already left. But I did get a photo of his car. I also got a photo of me with DiNozzo...and ZIVA!!!"

Her reply was short and direct: "U sux!"

A heroic weekend

Not much to report. Thursday at our Cub Scout Den Meeting I had the boys do Paper Mache, with the plan to make masks for the Pack Meeting later this month. Friday morning the DISH Guy turned up and took a little over 2 hours to install our Dish. He did a pretty good job so I tipped him $10. After lunch we picked up the Paper Mache (I'd left them in the Teacher's Lounge at the school where we meet), then dropped off our old DVR Cable Box. When we got home I discovered The Blood of Heroes DVD had arrived from Netflix so I popped it in and watched it. The final match between Hauer's "challengers" and the League team was just as intense as I remembered.

Afterwards I popped in the first Disc from Heroes season 1, in spite of Liz's protests that she was already over it even though she hadn't really started watching it.

2 1/2 DVDs and several hours later, we crawled into bed at 2am after watching the first 7 episodes. Saturday we got up, and while Liz took the bunny to Ballet class I cleaned the house. Liz bought home In 'n' Out for lunch and after we'd scarfed down our Double-Doubles (Animal-style, of course) we resumed watching Disc 3 of Heroes...then put in Disc 4, and so on :D

This morning JE and I sold Popcorn outside the local Trader Joe's for 3 hours to raise money for the Cub Scouts. After we got home we had lunch...and then it was Heroes time. We've just eaten dinner, and now it's time for the season finale. We watched 23 episodes of Heroes this weekend! :P

Irony...

Thy name is Geoff Paine.

Geoff is a fairly well known actor in Australia, at least physically memorable. Even though he's starred in two of Australia's biggest Soap Opera's, one of those being Neighbours which helped launched the careers of Kylie Minogue and Guy Pearce, most people probably know Geoff's face but wouldn't remember his name.

On a recent trip to the Australian Consulate in west Los Angeles I passed Geoff going down the escalator. I immediately recognized him as an Aussie actor, but I was darned if I could recall anything he'd been in, and I certainly couldn't remember his name.

The most recent show in which I've seen Geoff is actually The Adventures of Lano & Woodley. In "The Pool" episode, Geoff plays Garth, an Olympic Gold Medalist who has been reduced to dressing up in a penguin costume for various television commercials, and as 'Penguinman' Garth receives far more recognition than he ever did as an Olympic Gold Medalist, and this is a very sore point for him. So much so that he suffers a nervous breakdown and when Colin Lane (Lano) dresses up as Penguinman, Garth chases him down and tries to kill him.

It's probably a good thing I couldn't remember where I knew Geoff from (until much later), or I might have blurted out "Oh my God! Penguinman!"

Maybe it's just me...

although from what I read on the Internet, it's not, but Russell Brand, the alleged comedian who hosted last night's MTV VMAs, didn't seem that funny to me.

For starters, when has MTV been about politics? Is there a silent (invisible) P in there somewhere?

Two, if there's a good reason to vote for Obama, "To prove you're not a racist" is not it. How would you feel about someone who said, "Obama has done nothing which warrants him being a Presidential candidate, but I don't want people thinking I'm racist so I'm going to vote for him, anyway..."?

Three, George W. is a "retarded cowboy"? How long did it take Brand to come up with that drivel? Or did he just watch the last few VMAs and steal Chris Rock's gag? Perhaps he just watched reruns of The Tonight Show, or The Late Show. A "retarded cowboy"? Wow. He insulted retards, cowboys, and most of Texas, all in one hit. Actually, that's pretty good.

Four, I fail to see the humor in making fun of a group that, while working in an industry that surrounds them with promiscuity, still tries to promote a message that abstinence is A-OK. In a world where teen pregnancy is rampant to such an extent that (at least) 17 High School-aged girls made a pact to deliberately get themselves pregnant (thanks, Wolfgang ;), we have Pop Stars (who are role models, as much as real moms and dads might wish otherwise) who are trying to promote abstinence and say "It's okay to say No to sex", and this idiot is making fun of them. Maybe I'm just old fashioned.

I will say this, though. Russell Brand has a lot going on up top; It's just a pity all of the activity seems to be occurring on the outside of his head.

Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible"

I've not been here yet, but knowing the genius that is Joss Whedon I'm not sure how he can go wrong.

"Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog" is only available online for a limited time.

ACT ONE went up on Tuesday July 15th.

ACT TWO goes up today, Thursday July 17th.

ACT THREE (the finale) will go up Saturday July 19th.

All acts will stay up until midnight (PST? GMT -10?) Sunday July 20th.

After that you may only be able to see them if you're prepared to pay for them. But for now, they're free to view.

I'm not saying Dr. Horrible is the best thing since sliced bread or the next Rocky Horror Picture Show. This is just a PSA for those who might have otherwise missed it, like Liz and I did with Firefly and Serenity.

Andy Dick

He's a strange lad. I've watched his performances and always thought they were a little off, sometimes it seemed like he wasn't really acting.

Then he was on an episode of Trading Spaces and he was a little zany but not overly so. He was obviously having fun but he wasn't getting carried away like "Andy Dick the Comedian".

Now he's gotten himself arrested and booked on suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance (Xanax aka Alprazolam), misdemeanor sexual battery (he allegedly pulled down the front of a 17-year old girl's tanktop) and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Xanax is a drug commonly prescribed to treat acute anxiety and panic attacks.

Common side-effects of Xanax are:
* decreased inhibitions, no fear of danger (increased risk taking behavior)
* depressed mood (with thoughts of suicide or self harm)
* hallucinations, agitation and hostility
* hyperactivity
* speech problems
* unsteadiness and clumsiness, impaired coordination and balance

I don't know about you, but I think those side effects describe "Andy Dick the Comedian" almost to a tee.

John Barrowman aka Capt. Jack

John Barrowman was born in Glasgow, Scotland, but moved to Aurora, Illinois with his family when he was 9-years old. When his new school mates made fun of the way he spoke Barrowman imitated their accent, but continued to speak with a Scottish accent when at home and with family.

Openly gay, Barrowman was considered for the role of Will in Will and Grace but was rejected because the producers felt he was "too straight".

"The sad thing is it's run by gay men and women," said Barrowman, expressing contempt at the idea that all gay men act the same way.

Barrowman owns two homes, one in London, and one in Cardiff, Wales (the setting for his series Torchwood) where he lives with his partner of 15 years, Scott Gill.

Barrowman told Scotland's The Herald newspaper that he had no plans to marry, saying, "Why would I want a 'marriage' from a belief system that hates me?" They did become Civil Partners on December 27, 2006, but the couple insist this is not a marriage.

Said Barrowman, "We're just going to sign the civil register. We're not going to have any ceremony because I'm not a supporter of the word marriage for a gay partnership." Forty family members and close friends attended their ceremony ;)

Barrowman's autobiography Anything Goes was written by his sister Carole, and is due to be published in the US later this month.

In February, 2008, Barrowman and Gill adopted a Jack Russell terrier, whom they named...Captain Jack :D

Would you watch this?

It seems to me that if shows like "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" can make it on the air, a show like I'm about to describe should also be hugely popular.

It's a variant of American Idol, but the contestants have to play Guitar Hero 3.

Wait! Wait! Don't change the channel just yet!

When you play GH3 the object of the game is to beat each song, but you don't have to play perfectly to beat a song. In the game when you beat a song you get a score based on how many notes you hit in a row, and when you used (if you used) your Star Power. You're also shown a percentage score, based on how many notes you hit. On "GH3: The Showdown" we'll multiply your score by your percentage to give you a Song Score. So the people who hit the most notes and use Star Power at the right time will get the highest Song Score.

Just like in American Idol there will also be Judges, who will be judging your stage presence. See it's not enough for you to hit every note and rack up a huge Song Score while standing there looking like a zombie; part of being a Guitar Hero is looking like a Guitar Hero. So the Judges will score you based on how well you can rock while playing, then your Song Score will be multiplied by your Judges' score to give you a total score.

The show will be filmed before a live audience who can dance and rock along to the music because there won't be any seats; yep, it's standing room only, folks. Because our Guitar Hero has to face the audience but also needs to see the notes he has to play, there will be a large screen TV at the front of the stage, facing him; but there will also be a projection screen on the back of the stage showing the audience what the Hero is seeing, thus they can see just how well the Hero is playing and egg him on when he's playing really well.

At the end of each night the two Heroes with the lowest score have to battle each other using Guitar Hero's very own in-game battle mode, with the loser being eliminated.

The final episode will have the last three Heroes battling it out for the title of Ultimate Guitar Hero. They'll each play a couple of songs with the lowest scoring Hero being automatically eliminated, then the remaining two Heroes will face off in a Best of Three Battle. The Ultimate Guitar Hero would get two customized GH3 guitars, their choice of a PS3, XBox360, or Wii console, plus a copy of GH3 for the same, along with a 60" Sony HD-TV and a home theater/surround sound system. The runner-up could get one customized GH3 guitar, choice of console w/ GH3, and a 46" Sony HD-TV. As far as final prizes go, it may not be a million dollars like you'd get for winning Survivor, but the people most likely to compete for the title of Ultimate Guitar Hero wouldn't be complaining, and the prizes could also be donated by your potential sponsors, being Sony, Microsoft and/or Nintendo, thus keeping your production costs down waaay low.

So if you're in The Industry or know somebody in The Industry and you like my idea, please feel free to steal it and plug it to somebody who can make it happen. I'd love to see a show like this, and if it knocked out A Shot at Love, that would just be gravy :)

Waiting for Kimmel

The more correct title would be "Waiting for Rimes" as it was LeAnn Rimes holding up the show, but Waiting for Rimes doesn't have the same ring to it as Waiting for Kimmel.

Around 3:50 we headed over to the El Monte Bus Station where we caught a 484 bus to Union Station, followed by a ride on a Red Line Train out to Hollywood & Highland and the El Capitan Theatre. The eTicket told us the doors would open at 5:30, so we were in line and waiting around 5pm. Sometime between then and 5:30pm a staff member told us the egotistical diva known as LeAnn Rimes had arrived late (don't ask me how when she drives a Dodge Viper) and she wanted to practice her songs so we were forced to wait some more. It was almost 6:30pm when the doors finally opened and the line started to move, and it was 7pm by the time we'd been seated and Jimmy made his first appearance. I must admit, for a 1-hour show, I was seriously impressed that Jimmy managed to get the job done, interviews completed, etc, in about one hour. Nice work, Jimmy.

With the show over shortly after 8pm, and with the El Capitan being right across the road from the Hollywood & Highland station we managed to catch the 8:22 back into downtown, where we waited for our 484, and waited, and waited, in the cold, at the entrance to the Freeway, wearing not much more than jeans and light, short-sleeved shirts. For me, an ex-pat Aussie and former Victorian, it was nice, cool but nice. For Liz, a long time southern California resident, it was particularly chilly. We saved a few dollars on parking and wear & tear on our car by taking public transport, which cost us $6.25 total (for Liz, I already have my Metro pass for getting to work & back). Tickets for Jimmy's show were free, just in high demand, so we were lucky that Liz was able to get them.

We finished off the night with a late supper at the Red Ant, a local Chinese restaurant (somewhere on Valley Blvd. in Temple City) where you get a large portion of quite good food for a fairly decent price. For $20+change we were both fed to bursting, with food left over. All in all, it was a rather good evening.

MTV Awards

Or What most people are probably talking about around the Water Cooler this morning?

And it's not who won what award, but, OMG! Did you see Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen kiss?!?!?

I'll confess, I have not seen either Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for make blah blah blah, or, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, which narrowly avoids a blah blah blah of its own for an excessively long title. Will Ferrell has some classic moments, and I've seen some clips from Borat which I also thought were rather amusing, and I'd probably sit down and watch either movie if they were on and enjoy them, too.

I found last night's Kiss (which I think deserves a capital K) and the preceeding interaction between Will and Sacha to be hilarious, and brilliant off-the-wall comedy. By contrast, when Sacha came out to accept his award for Borat (the movie), and he apologized on Borat's behalf (Borat the man/character), I felt his acceptance speech was rather flat, especially coming on the heels of The Kiss (now with a capitalized The ;)

I think a better acceptance speech would have been if Sacha had thanked Will Ferrell, and stage-whispered an "I love you" to him, but while funny that would have had no relevance to Borat (the movie). Borat himself could even have made the acceptance speech, and perhaps Sacha should have gone down that road, instead. Perhaps pre-recording a segment as Borat (in Kazakhastan) then talking with him as if it were live footage. Sacha as Borat's straight man might have been a winner.

The Beginning of the End?

Or is House about to jump the shark?

Last night on the season finale Dr. House fired Dr. Chase, while Dr. Foreman and Dr. Cameron handed in their resignation.

Now the show is called House, and the X-Files was not called "Scully & Mulder" but the same principle holds true with House as it did for the X-Files. Hugh Laurie is a brilliant actor and while his dry, sarcastic wit as Dr. House is the icing, it's his interaction with his fellow staff that make the cake. Just like the X-Files fell apart when there was no more Fox Mulder (or very little of him), House would never be the same without its supporting cast. That's not to say the producers couldn't replace one actor at a time, after all, how often do real doctors stick around in general practice? Usually they want to finish their internship and go into private practice as soon as possible. House could survive the loss of one character here, one character there, etc, but for three characters to leave in one episode? That's a serious hemorrhage that would kill any show.

Fortunately the internet scuttlebutt says the three will be back next season. House avoids jumping the shark...for now.

American Idol...NOT!!!

Liz watched the auditions for American Idol last night. In case you missed it, it wasn't just auditions, there were also interviews with the candidates prior to their audition. Man, I hope most of the interviews were rehearsed, or the candidates were actually paid actors or something, because most of them were terrible and had absolutely no business trying out for Idol.

I can carry a tune, and I have a good singing voice, but I would not try out for American Idol because I'm too old for starters, and I'm also not good looking enough. That doesn't mean an American Idol has to be young and gorgeous, but they at least have to be easy on the eyes. And let's face it, if you think of "American Idols" the names that probably come to mind are Justin, Britney, Christina, etc. The most popular main-stream artists of today are almost all good looking (to some degree). Unattractive people who cannot carry a tune and do not have good singing voices should not be trying out for American Idol.

One guy tried to sing Unchained Melody. I can't even sing Unchained Melody. You've got wicked high notes in there, but in his pre-audition interview this guy bragged about being able to hit the high notes that nobody else could. First of all he started off high, and the song only gets higher as it goes on, but this guy didn't get any higher he just got more painful to listen to.

Another guy was actually able to carry a tune and he hit almost all the right notes (I forget what song he sang), but he had a terrible voice. He was still easier to listen to than Mr. Unchained Melody because at least he could sing.

But don't these people have friends. Why didn't someone tell them "American Idol? Dude! Don't do it!"

Something else I hope was staged (edited in ipso facto) were the reactions of Simon, Paula and Randy during these awful auditions. Smirking, giggling, laughing. Very unprofessional. But then if the Simon just stopped the audition and said, "Thanks, but no thanks" that wouldn't make for good TV, would it. Far better is to show someone simply butchering a song then show the panel covering their mouths with their hands as they try not to crack up at how dreadful the person is.

I think I just empathize with the applicants too much, even as I suffer from their horrible singing. Nobody deserves to be made fun of...except for Mr. Unchained Melody, who not only seemed to think he had what it takes to be the next American Idol but was extremely arrogant about it. Dude, you can't sing. Next!

How to watch American Gothic

Liz got me the boxed set of American Gothic for Christmas. I watched this years ago in mid to late 90s in Australia, and it wasn't until recently that I found out why the series seemed so disjointed when I watched it.

Both CBS here in the U.S. and whichever station aired it in Australia showed the episodes out of order. When Universal released the boxed set they arranged the episodes on the discs according to CBS's airing date, so if you watch the discs from 1 thru 6 you're doing yourself a disservice, because Disc 6 (or Disc 3) contains unaired episodes which need to be seen partway through the series at certain points, and in one episode one of the major characters leaves the series (for good) but returns in the very next episode, at least he did if you watched the original series or will if you watch the discs from start to finish.

Here's how to watch American Gothic. Note that it involves a lot of disc changing and flipping.

1 - "Pilot" Disc 1, Side A:Episode 1
2 - "A tree grows in Trinity" 1A:2
3 - "Eye of the Beholder" 1A:3 (so far, so good, right? Now flip Disc 1 to side B to watch...)

4 - "Damned if you don't" 1B:1 (now change to Disc 3, side A to watch...)

5 - "Potato Boy" 3A:4 (missing episode, never aired. Now, back to Disc 1, Side B for...)

6 - "Dead to the World" 1B:2
7 - "Meet the Beetles" 1B:3
8 - "Strong Arm of the Law" 1B:4

9 - "To Hell and back" 2B:3 (Yes, Disc 2, Side B:Episode 3)
10 - "The Beast Within" 2B:2 (Yes, Episode 2, the one before the one you just watched. Now flip Disc 2 to Side A.)

11 - "Rebirth" 2A:1 (then change to Disc 3, Side B)

12 - "Ring of Fire" 3B:1 (another mid-season episode that was never aired. Now back to Disc 2, Side A.)

13 - "Resurrector" 2A:2
14 - "Inhumanitas" 2A:3
15 - "The Plague Sower" 2A:4

16 - "Doctor Death takes a holiday" 2B:1
17 - "Learning to crawl" 2B:4

18 - "Echo of your last goodbye" 3B:2 (never aired)
19 - "Strangler" 3B:3 (that's two episodes in a row that were never aired)

20 - "Triangle" 3A:1
21 - "The Buck stops here" 3A:2
22 - "Requiem" 3A:2

So you had 6 discs (or three double-sided discs), but you needed to change/flip them 10 times to watch the series in the correct chronological order. I'm still going to do that when I watch them, because even now, almost a decade later, I can remember things didn't quite make sense when I originally watched American Gothic.

Net down!

We had no internet last night so I watched the Backlash 2003 DVD from Netflix. There was an excellent match between Goldberg and The Rock. The Rock changed his persona for this match to a less than confident wrestler, and I didn't like it anywhere near as much as the cocksure, arrogant Rock of yesteryear, but it worked very well for the match. Goldberg was clearly the aggressor and the crowd favorite while The Rock's whimpy but still somewhat confident persona made him an excellent Heel.

The Rock spent most of the match trying to avoid Goldberg until he dodged a Spear and unable to check his momentum Goldberg flew through the ropes and into the corner post. Goldberg appeared to legitimately hurt his right arm & shoulder and blood was clearly visible on his right bicep. It was not running like the blood from a traditional wrestling head wound, so it was most likely a scrape, albeit a large one, but it was definitely a Hard Way injury. The Rock capitalized on this for a while (the injury was probably in the script, just not to that degree), and focused on Goldberg's right arm but despite this neither man was able to gain the upper hand. The match was in a similar vein to Wrestlemania VI's Main Event between The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan.

When the Rock set him up for a Rock Bottom, Goldberg countered with a Spear and went for the Pin, but The Rock kicked out at the 2-count. When the Rock later landed the Rock Bottom then hit Goldberg with the People's Elbow it was the big man's turn to kick out, and The Rock looked shaken and stirred. The Rock is one of wrestling's best mat actors. Shortly after that Goldberg took The Rock down with a Spear and then quickly ran to the opposite corner and assumed the position. No, not a mating position :P

With Goldberg poised in the far corner, The Rock slowly got to his feet and touched his arms and his legs as if to assure himself they were all there. With a pleasantly surprised look on his face that everything was intact and he was still alive, The Rock brushed himself off and turned around just in time to receive a third Spear! Goldberg then hoisted The Rock up onto his shoulder before driving him into the mat with his signature finishing move, the Jackhammer. 1-2-3 went the Ref and Goldberg was declared the winner.

With the wrestling over and nothing to watch on TV, I hopped on my computer and bemoaned the lack of the internet. I played some Single-Player Quake III Arena, I played a few levels of Neighbors from Hell, but shooting robots and playing practical jokes on a balding, perverted slob of a neighbor was just not that amusing. I couldn't even be bothered trying to string every joke together for the ultimate 100% Super Joke.

Finally I called it quits and went to bed early for a change. This morning I looked at the Cable Modem and sure enough, we had a solid internet connection. Typical.

House is getting interesting again

It was getting boring.

Hmm, I wonder what disease she has? Oh my goodness, it's the Bubonic Plague! Why didn't we think of that sooner?

Hmm, I wonder what disease he has? Oh my goodness, it's the Ebola Gulf Virus! Why didn't we think of that sooner?

Now it's getting more interesting again.

House: I need my Vicodin!

House's buddies: We're not writing you a prescription, and you're not getting our prescription pads to forge yourself more, either.

House: I need my Vicodin!

Copper (up whose bum House apparently stuck a thermometer): Mwah hah ha! You goin' down, House!

Yep, House is getting very interesting, now that it's taken a detour from the same old cliche "What disease does he/she/it have this week?"

Not the House you know

Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry were a brilliant comedy duo. I love this clip.

Jumping on the band wagon...NOT!!!

Mel Gibson got a little bit drunk, drove his car a little bit fast, then made a few racist /antisemitic comments. Why do we care? Because he's Mel Gibson! If I did the same thing, would you care? No, but then I'm not Mel Gibson. I'm also not Naveed Afzal Haq.

Mel just made a few inappropriate comments while under the influence, not unlike a lot of people when they get drunk. I know I've done it, if you've been plastered before you probably have too. But Naveed...he did a whole lot more than make a few inappropriate comments. No prizes for guessing who received more attention from the Press though.

Paul Hogan gave an interview a few years back, after he left Australia and traded in his wife of 30+ years for a younger model. Hoges copped a lot of flack from the Aussies over that, and in this one particular interview he said something along the lines of how his actions hadn't changed the way people perceived him. He said he'd always had his knockers (not boobs but detractors & critics) and they'd always been looking for something to hold against him. Those people had never liked him, and his leaving Noelene for Linda was just another reason for them to rag on him. Hoges said his real fans, the people who loved him, they understood that not all marriages last so his leaving Noelene for Linda was no big deal.

Back to Mel Gibson. How do I feel about Mel making antisemitic comments? I don't really care either way. When Liz told me what had happened I shook my head and said "Aah, Mel." and that was it. If you loved Mel before this, you probably still love him, and maybe even feel a little sad for him. If you hated Mel, then this is just more anti-Mel ammunition for you. If you, like me, don't really care either way, you probably still don't care either way. After all, he's only Mel Gibson.

Titanic 2 : The Sequel

A very well done trailer.