Jack Bauer is one bad Mofo

I am going to assume that everyone has seen last night's episode of 24. If you haven't you really should be watching it now instead of reading my blog; last night's episode was another example of why 24 is the best show on television. It is so good that even the commercial breaks are too long to wait for more action - much less the week in between shows.

Some points from last night:

• Does President Logan realize how close Jack was to killing him? Jack says that Cummings was responsible for President Palmer's death I'm thinking the two first words out of your mouth shouldn't be "I know". If he weren't the President I'm sure we would have had our second beheading of the series.
• Has there been a bigger pussy in Presidential TV history than Logan? Speaking of which, I'm guessing he's not getting any tonight.
  
• How bad is Jack? He found those responsible for Palmer's death in under 6 hours! JFK has been dead for almost 32 years and there are still questions revolving his assassination.
• Who made a bigger mess of their pants last night? Samwise Gamgee (Lynn) or Walt?
• What the hell is Audrey's problem? She apologizes for being distant? Jack's been at CTU for 30 minutes, been interrogated and attacked. I'm thinking he didn't have a ton of time to worry about how distant she's been. And could she pick a better time to call? BTW - the new girlfriend is way hotter and even with annoying son, less annoying than Audrey.
  

Question for next week: Who was behind the bed? Kim? A cougar? Nina? (I know she's dead - but don't put it past the producers to do it and make it plausible). My vote - Agent Charlie Brown (Agent Chase Edmunds from Season 3).

24

Money to burn

The following is from a CNN article about the record profit Exxon/Mobil collected in Q4 2005.

Exxon Mobil's 2005 net income for the year comes to $1,146 a second. That per-second profit is enough to pay for gas for the average American vehicle to be driven 10,294 miles, at current gasoline prices.

This makes me so angry. Our President does nothing. Our Congress does nothing. Seemingly we do nothing. We've let corporate america run amok in this country.

New Music January 2006

Been bad at this - didn't really have a good new music list over the holidays while trying to figure out what were my top 2005 releases. OK - so 2006 is a new and Cat Power's release is the first big release of the year (as far as I'm concerned). Here's what else is on my (new) iPod:

Andy Stochansky - Radio Fusebox
Carey Ott - Lucid Dream EP
Cat Power - The Greatest
Film School - Film School
The National - Alligator
Neko Case - Blacklisted
Sylvie Lewis - Tangos and Tantrums

Believe it or not all of these can be found on eMusic. The Cat Power is all I expected and so far Film School and The National seem to be excellent releases.

Vote for our new names

Bennifer, Brangelina, TomKat...I'm sensing a trend. So I've decided that Kristen and I need a couple name. I know we're not stars, but I'm nothing if not ahead of the curve. Everyone will have a couple name soon. Here are your choices:

• Krincer
• Krispen
• Spensten
• Spisten

Help me out - we need to know how we will be referred to when we go on our pilgrimage to help the poor of the outer banks.

Sad news

Actor Chris Penn died tonight at the very young age of 43. Every news story will describe Chris Penn in reference to a famous brother and that's a shame. He was a fine actor and the loss will be felt by his family, friends, and fans.

Condolences to his mother Eileen and his brothers Michael and Sean.

Much too young.

Please post your thoughts and condolences. I will pass this link onto Michael.

Jack Bauer Facts

Funny site that lists random facts about 24's Jack Bauer.

Here's the funniest:

When Jack Bauer requested a cookie in kindergarten, his teacher told him no and laughed. Jack replied by saying, "Look lady, I have crushed three rib cages since recess, rigged the fire alarm to go off right before the spelling test and stolen a total of $7.50 in lunch money. So maybe you should be a little more scared of the situation you're in and just give me a goddamn cookie."

Michael Penn on the Tonight Show

This is a video from last August (8/4/05).



The song is "On Automatic" and can be found on Mr. Hollywood Jr. 1947

Public Speaking by George W. Bush

If you want to see how it's done:

A Bone to pick with Fox

The girlfriend and I will be losing our favorite drinking game this week when Bones (1 drink anytime the word "bones" or "bone" is said; 2 when Bones says "I don't know what that means") is moved to Wednesdays opposite Lost and Veronica Mars. We usually watch Lost and record VM. But in Fox's great wisdom they have decided to move Bones against two shows that have the same audience and fanatical fans. Why do networks do this? What a huge mistake Fox is making. The move shows little respect or concern for the fans.

So I wrote a letter to Fox and I will be watching Lost and recording Veronica Mars leaving no room for Bones. Hopefully they will reconsider or at the least show it at a second time during the week such as the WB does with shows like Smallville and Supernatural.

Write Fox to express your disappointment

Starving cats

Apparently we must starve our cats. This I found out this weekend when I discovered that Cordy (pictured in a pose that is indicative of the kind of life she lives - I couldn't pan out to include the slave boys fanning her) has been rooting through the garbage disposal to finds scraps of who knows what.

Before you ask - yes she was a stray, but come on!



Oops - gotta run and feed the cats - they've had a tough day.

Anyone out there?

So yesterday I wrote a very last minute post about last night's episode of 24 that divulged what happened in the first 15 minutes of the show. This morning I awoke to a comment from someone admonishing me for the inadvertant spoiler. What I realized as I rode the train in is that people actually read this thing and that means I have some sort of responsibility. What the hell?

When you write thinking no one is reading, you can say what the hell you want - not worrying about feelings or in this case, spoiling a night's good tv. Alwayswrite wrote something similar on her blog awhile back and I find it interesting that here I am in a similar situation.

Do I censor? Do I care?

In the end I want people to read this blog, but I also loathe censoring myself. I do remember avoiding all press, blogs, etc. while reading the last Harry Potter due to the fear that the end would be spoiled for me. How could I ever do that to someone else? So I will take care not to spoil things for others, but I will not refrain from discussing them.

A rather fine line don't you think?

TV is back

Woo hoo - the first 2 hours of 24 rocked!

Read comments for thoughts.

Are you watching? You won't breathe until the show is over.

Deadly Dog Food Recall

If you have a dog and you haven't heard about the Diamond Dog Food recall, please make sure you read the following news stories and go to the manufacturers website. Over 100 dogs have died in recent weeks so this is important.

MSNBC News Story
Diamond Pet Foods Recall Website

If you have a blog you should repeat this message there.

Macintosh Intel: Obsolescence by innovation

I knew this day would come. Apple introduced a new iMac that uses Intel processors. This effectively makes the iMac G5 I purchased in October 2004 obsolete. This doesn't bother me as I expect that computers will go obsolete. I didn't expect that a new, top of the line computer, wouldn't be obsolete so soon but this is what happens with computers. What does bother me is Apple's habit of providing significant upgrades so soon after minor ones.

Apple knew this computer was coming when the last iMac was released in October 2005. So my question is this: why release the last one? Many people purchased new iMacs for the holiday and then what does Apple do - release an even newer one 10 days after the holiday season is over.

Of course Apple has a habit of doing this. Last August I bought the newly released iPod thinking "this is a new upgrade, I'm safe for a bit." Of course a little over 2 months later they release the iPod Video. Last winter they upgraded the iPod Mini only to eliminate it by releasing the Nano a few months later.

I've owned 5 macs since 1986 and am a professed Mac fanatic and Apple's innovation is legendary but it comes with a price borne by those that are their most ardent supporters. We are taken advantage of.

I will never buy another computer other than one running an Apple operating system. It used to be counter culture, but now it's really about owning a machine that's better than a Windows machine. All that said, I warn anyone buying a Mac to wait and really think about it. Do your research. Look at the rumor sites. Only after you're sure do you buy a new Mac.

Not they are out to screw you but they're out to screw you. Trust me I will be following my advice the next time I need a computer - which unfortunately is too soon for my taste.

Mormons on the rampage

Maybe you've heard that a Utah Theater decided to ban Brokeback Mountain this week so I thought it would be interesting to see what movies they find acceptable. Here are some of the more interesting ones being shown at the Megaplex chain in Utah:

Hostel - ...Initially distracted by the good time they're having, the two Americans quickly find themselves trapped in an increasingly sinister situation that they will discover is as wide and as deep as the darkest, sickest recess of human nature itself--if they survive.

Casanova - ...In Venice, a fifth-generation Casanova meets his match when he falls for the sister of the boy he is hired to tutor on the ways of seducing women. A re-telling of the Casanova story set in the 18th century.

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 - obviously mormons will watch crap.

So bloody massacres are fine with the Mormons but love stories not? If they're going to censor they need to stop being selective about it. I would think that the violence that many current films portray is much more damaging to our country than a story like Brokeback Mountain.

I really wish that we could just relegate all the religious freaks to one state.

Disaster whore

Oh it's a fine line the media attempts to walk. Take Anderson Cooper - during the whole Katrina situation I said to the girlfriend "I really like that Anderson Cooper". Well that day has passed. Note to Anderson - if you show up at every disaster you go from being the next Peter Jennings to being the next Barbara Walters in a flash.

BTW - I don't care, I'm taking credit for the term disaster whore.

(Image from the Onion)

Kiss my ass

Thanks to Todd for pointing out this Whitney Houston Bobby Brown clip:

Get back on the bus

The following video is one of the funniest things last year. It's from MTV's show Next.

Enjoy.



Girl falls out of the bus on Next

So wrong - So Sad

Newspapers all over the U.S., especially here in the east, went with the story of the miners surviving the blast. It's a testament to how difficult a job it is to accurately report the news.

I can not imagine the joy the families felt only to have that joy dashed a mere 3 hours later.

There's so much pressure to put blame here. This was a horrible accident followed up by a horrible mistake. Everyone was so excited that it got away from them.

My sincerest condolences to these families that have suffered too much over the past 2 days.

Do yourself a favor and watch 24

The most exciting show on television is about to start its new season. 24 is coming back with 4 hours over two nights on January 15th and 16th. Even if you've never seen an episode I still recommend giving the show a try. If you don't know, each season of 24 covers 1 day with each episode being one hour of that day played out in real-time. The writers and directors of the show make the most use of this format by packing it with the most thrilling situations on TV. To make things even better they've moved to a January through May format that allows them to show 24 new episodes without taking weeks off. No re-runs. No American Idol breaks. No month long hiatus (take that Lost).

Because each episode covers a different situation over the course of a day, it's very easy to begin watching the show midstream. Don't worry that you haven't seen seasons 1-4, it doesn't matter; not seeing 24 before this year should in no way diminish your enjoyment.

Do yourself a favor and give it a shot.

Click here to view a trailer for the upcoming season.