You Write The Caption

Posted Mar 22, 2007 by Janine Dorsey

Updated Mar 22, 2007 at 01:08 PM

The postal service created 400 of these R2D2 mailboxes to promote some new Star Wars stamps coming out this summer. But what are these ladies thinking when presented with this technology? Let’s just hope they don’t mistake it for a garbage can.

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Consistency is the Last Refuge of the Unimaginative

Posted Mar 22, 2007 by Sir Robert Davis

Updated Jun 9, 2009 at 04:10 PM

Yea,  I lies to you by not having a Monday piece.  My grandma died the Tuesday before last and haven’t exactly been in the mood to chronicle much.

I did go to a friend’s (Ann,  birthday girl,  holding the camera) birthday party last weekend,  however:

I’m also retooling my band according to my strange psychic visions and the voices in my head.  Stay Tuned!

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Survivor—- 03.21.07

Posted Mar 21, 2007 by Chris Kuhn

Updated Mar 21, 2007 at 11:48 PM

We’ve got a special Wednesday night edition of Survivor (CBS) this week. And the coming attractions have teased us with a potential tribe switcheroo or merge. Just what my Survivor pool needs…however will I tally points tonight?

Things are tense in Camp Ravu. They’ve lost yet another member of the tribe but a new piece of tree mail promises a reward opportunity with food involved. At what appears to be the reward challenge, host Jeff Probst asks a member from each tribe to step forward. Edgardo and Earl step forward for their respective tribes. Then, unexpectedly, Jeff tells all of them to drop their buffs. These two guys are picking new tribes and holy cow, we’ve got ourselves a different game now.

The guys must pick someone first from the opposite tribe and then each new member selects the next person. Earl and his tribe pick Boo, Michelle, Cassandra, Yau-Man and Stacy. Edgardo’s posse go for the brawn and gusto, picking all guys – Dreamz, Alex, Rocky, Mookie and Anthony. This leaves just one person without a team – for the time being. Lisi. She’s already whining and the show just started. She’s off to Exile Island and will join whichever team loses a member at Tribal Council. She moans and groans because she gleefully thought she was headed home and this really ticks off Jeff, who is quite unimpressed with her lack of interest in the game. Bye, bye, Lisi – enjoy the snakes on Exile Island.

To determine who gets the luxury camp, the two tribe “leaders” play a round of Rock-Paper-Scissors to pick buffs. Edgardo wins the chance to blindly select from a sack – and he picks Ravu buffs, meaning his troupe of strong men will be suffering on the beach with no luxuries and no food. Finally, Earl, Yau-Man and Michelle will get to experience the High Life that is Camp Moto. Aah.

Lisi is her usual unhappy, miserable self on Exile Island. I really don’t think it matters where this woman is. She’ll be annoying.  Meanwhile, the new Moto is living it up in their new pad. And the once fat and happy Ravu guys are joining the always-starving Moto guys in the old Ravu pad and it’s like watching a really primitive bachelor party. It will be just a matter of time before all of this testosterone explodes under one “roof.”  Anthony is already feeling vulnerable since he’s the weakest in the bunch and a self-proclaimed nerd. He knows he’s in a bad spot.

Cassandra is integrating nicely with her new tribemates. She likes Earl and Yao-man (and who wouldn’t? The guys are nice.) She even delivers cups of fresh coffee to each of them while they’re fishing. And Earl realizes that she may be just the extra vote he needs to go all the way in this game.

Alex, Mookie and the gang at Ravu catch a crab and use it as bait and shortly after, they’ve caught five fish. Mookie is so impressive. The days of starvation at Ravu may be over after all.

Immunity challenge time is upon us. Teams must carry beams through a series of bamboo gates. It requires cooperation and communication and I’m not sure if the beefy Ravu guys will work as well together as the slimmer though weaker Moto gang.

The teams are neck and neck and run into each other several times. Both are determined to win immunity. But when it comes down to the final gate, it becomes a tug of war and people are literally being pushed and pulled like silly putty.  In the end, Moto manages to pull through to a victory and the strong guys just couldn’t make it happen.

Everyone’s depressed at Ravu. Especially, Anthony, who knows that he’s being seen as the weak link. He knows that he’s tending to the camp while the tough guys go out and fish and hunt. He hopes that the tribe might keep him around because he’s useful and Rocky is overly emotional and demanding. It’s looking good that the rest of the tribe might see this too. I really hope they get rid of Rocky.

At Tribal Council, Jeff does his best job getting people to reveal their first impressions and feelings about their new tribemates. Only dumb Rocky bites. Anthony keeps his cool but Rocky attacks him again right there in front of the rest of the tribe. I think he’s making the tribe’s decision for them.

Then, they vote. I’m completely blown away. By a vote of 6-1, even nice guys Alex, Edgardo and Mookie vote out Anthony. What?! Are they nuts? Why would anyone keep Rocky in camp? He’s such a bozo.

Were you shocked by the outcome of tonight’s Tribal Council? I don’t see Lisi blending all that well into this camp. A few days with Rocky, and I see her putting up the fists and starting something. And we all know how well she and Dreamz get along. It ought to be nutty next week. Stay tuned…

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Spudcast v6.0

Posted Mar 21, 2007 by TBO.com

Updated Mar 21, 2007 at 11:10 PM

For our last few podcasts, we’ve focused primarily on movies and television, so this week we get back to good ol’ video games.

In the wake of the Game Developers Conference two weeks ago in San Francisco, there’s plenty going on in the industry right now. We were hoping to be joined by someone from Sony to discuss their new products, “Home” and “LittleBigPlanet,” which may or may not be the saving grace of the PlayStation 3. Unfortunately, however, Sony pretty much blew us off. Apparently they don’t need any publicity, even though the PS3 sold about a third as many units as the Wii in February, and only about half as many as the Xbox 360.

But whatever. No guest just means more of me and Wes. Lucky you.

Along with Sony’s near future, we also talked about:

* The upcoming, upgraded Xbox 360 with HDMI and a 120-gig hard drive. And – ooh! – it’s black.
* The “Gears of War” movie.
* The Silversun Pickups concert.
* The possibility of a PS3 price drop later this year.

And probably some other stuff I’m forgetting about. You’ll just have to listen and find out.

Couch Potatoes, Episode 6 [link]

Download it now at the link above, or subscribe via iTunes by clicking on the button to the left of this post.

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American Idol—- 03.21.07

Posted Mar 21, 2007 by Chris Kuhn

Updated Mar 21, 2007 at 10:44 PM

It’s time to find out if America got wise and FINALLY voted out the talentless Sanjaya Malakar on American Idol (FOX/Wednesdays). Did you put this horse out to pasture? Please, oh please, say it’s so.

After a montage of last night’s performances which were particularly good for this early in the competition, we’re treated to Peter Noone singing “There’s a Kind of Hush” and he still sounds good and has held up nicely. I’m surprised he didn’t do “I’m Into Something Good” since more young people would probably know it from The Naked Gun.

We get to see this week’s quirky Ford commercial and it’s “Another Saturday Night” sung in a sudsy laundromat. It’s cute and forgettable, but not as unfunny as the next segment. Brad Garrett of the not-so-funny FOX show “Til Death” joins the contestants and is swiftly voted out.

But it’s time to find out who’s safe. Phil, Melinda and Blake learn they are not going home. Chris Sligh, Jordin and LaKisha are safe, too. Next, Sanjaya, Haley and Gina are called up. Clearly, these are the bottom three, right?

Wrong. Surprisingly, these three are safe, meaning Chris Richardson who sang his best performance all season and Stephanie Edwards who while a little off last night, is always better than Haley and Sanjaya, are the bottom two tonight. This so stinks.

Ryan reads aloud another super easy trivia challenge question (something like which of these Idols has brown hair) and it’s time to push the big Idol Gives Back charity show in April. Yawn. But finally, we’re back to the competition, right?

Nope, it’s time for more entertainment. Lulu treats us all to a soulful rendition of “To Sir with Love.” She clearly doesn’t have the oom-pah-pah to pull it off anymore, but she looks great. (Geez, I’m sounding like Paula giving a critique now, don’t I?)

Okay, we’re going to really find out who’s going home tonight. Neither one deserves to leave the competition. But I’m relieved that Chris Richardson gets to stay. Stephanie Edwards is going home tonight and she’s being a real professional about it. They don’t force her to sing, which is good because that’s just a painful thing to watch the ousted contestant struggle through their final performance with tears rolling down their cheeks.

So what did you think? Were you surprised that Sanjaya hung in there? I wasn’t. He was much more memorable than usual last night and for him, it was definitely his best. Of course, his best is still worse than EVERYBODY else in the competition. But, if he could stay in the race with some horrendous performances, then something as bizarre as last night’s out-of-place rocking performance is sure to keep him in the running.

Everyone left will be going on tour. I’m just so happy that Chris Richardson survived but I just may have to vote for the boy next week, because clearly he is not safe one bit.

Chris Richardson fans, everywhere – unite. And vote. And vote often.

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