I know I've been rather boring of late.  As usual, it's work getting in the way of blogging....

So here's what's on my mind (other than work):

AI:  Is it rigged for Katherine?  I love Taylor, and I hear he kicked her ass up between her shoulder blades tonight.  Will he win?

House:  Is it all a dream (a la Pam Ewing and Bobby) or does House really get shot and punch Wilson?

24:  Best moments of the night: 1) Marty's face as President Weasel was led away (there's a great line in the Count of Monte Cristo about Edouard smiling a "secret smile" as he "watched a scene that was truly comprehensible only to himself and two others".  Her look was exactly as I imagined his face...
2) Anyone notice the name of the Chinese freighter?  The "Shanghai" LMAO!!!!

Do I watch any other networks besides Fox?  Evidently not....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 05:54 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The cable's out at the hotel, so somebody better liveblog the AI results show!

Elliott and Taylor RULE! </fangirl>

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:18 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Oh, I didn't liveblog... I was sad to see Elliott go. Did you hear about the split of the votes? Neck and neck and neck....

Posted by: Marie at May 18, 2006 05:41 AM (TpiPX)

2 no cable in the hotel? that is cruel and inhumane treatment, hopefully it gets fixed fast

Posted by: jack steel at May 18, 2006 05:57 AM (w26Tt)

3 Yikes! I have been boycotting for awhile.

Posted by: oddybobo at May 19, 2006 07:16 AM (6Gm0j)

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Was anyone else happy to see Dr. Romano with both of his arms back?

BTW, according to the 24 site, his character's name is "Graham" and he is a "power broker"... and may have had something to do with the plane crash that screwed up the previous president....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:47 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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T1G asks, if you were building a house for the Almighty, what would you include?

"Last night, I watched that house makeover show. I don't remember the name of it, but it's host is way too wired, or slightly insane. They go around destroying people's houses, and then remodelling, or rebuilding them. It was alright...

Anyway, during one of the commercial breaks, it looked as if they were going to rebuild a church, which got me thinking. How would they hide their project from Him... do they make some special bus? And, if Gott were to have a house built, what special appliances, or features, would he desire?"

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:46 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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You Are Cindy Brady

Warm hearted and sweet, you have a childlike innocence that lets you see the good in everyone. But you're also a bit of a baby. You stick your nose where it doesn't belong... and cry when you get caught!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Matt and Trey RAWK.

In last night's SP, they
- blasted Scientology
- Killed Chef off
- Brought Chef back in a way that doesn't need Isaac Hayes' voice.....

Evil Servants of the Dark Lord Xenu indeed....

The Episode is here (download and BitTorrent).
The BBC review is here.

Spoilers below the jump.... more...

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:41 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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More tomorrow, I hope.  Work is catching up with me....

Just a reminder, the new season of South Park starts tonight!

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Gosh Darn American Idol...

Of course this means that I am free to watch as much Dog the Bounty Hunter as I like before TAR starts at 10.

Yes. I said Dog the Bounty Hunter. I love it. I'll probably watch it again on the 12am rerun, too.

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"Stop spitting in the face of Americans and maybe we will go to the movies," [Stein] said.

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As you may have heard, Comedy Central abruptly decided to replace the anti-scientology episode "Trapped in the Closet" last Wednesday with "Chef's Salty Chocolate Balls". Many blog reports indicate that this is due to a threat from Couch Jumper McXenu himself, stating that if the episode ever aired again, Paramount would pull all it's MI:3 advertising from Comedy Central, and perhaps all of the other Viacom channels. He is of course, denying the rumor, which has to fight for space in the denial bin with the "Tom is gay", "Katie is leaving", "Tom's not the father", and "Tom's Crazy" rumors.

Of course Matt and Trey had something to say about it:

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"

It was signed "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu."

The new season starts next week, folks. Stay tuned!

Mwahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:08 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef for 9 years on South Park has called it quits, evidently because he was insulted:

Hayes said the show's parody of religion in general was part of what he saw as a "growing insensitivity toward personal spiritual beliefs" in the media, including the recent controversy over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.

"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs ... begins," Hayes said.

South Park co-creator Matt Stone was quick to point out the inherent hypocrisy in Hayes' statement:

"In ten years and over 150 episodes of 'South Park,' Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons or Jews," Stone said in a statement issued by the Comedy Central network. "He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show."

He added: "Of course we will release Isaac from his contract, and we wish him well."

I'll miss Chef, especially as the entire point of the show is that NO ONE is above parody based on religion, wealth, education, sexual orientation, ability, or gender. Or anything else for that matter. To leave the show because it hit a little too close to home is hypocritical and pissy.

I hope Xenu is happy with him.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:21 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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So last night was a Twofer.  We lost the Hobbit and Tony, both.  Oh, and Harry the security guard.  But he doesn't count thankyouverymuch.

After everything, I was sad to see the Hobbit go, even though I hated his wretched ass.  And Tony?  Well I still haven't been able to get past thinking he was the terrorist in the first season.  He's with Michelle now.

What about this DHS chick with the bad smoker's wrinkles?  And the Veep?  Now what?  And where are they planning to hit with the canisters?

Will Kim Bauer and C Thomas Howell escape?  Will Jack punch him in the mouth?

Who's next to die?  Bill?  Audrey?  Curtis?  Aaron?  Mike?  Martha?  The Prez?

House and TAR on tonight!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:14 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I came to a realization this morning while the coffee was brewing:

I am a reality TV junkie.

Funny thing, though, it almost happened by default.  See I have always been a people watcher.  Get me to Disneyland and I love nothing better than to sit out in front of the castle on a bench, eat some overpriced ice cream and see who walks by.  So I suppose watching reality shows is a natural extension of that.  Don't get me wrong, I don't watch them all, in fact, I am pretty discriminating in my choices.

For example, my "must watch" shows this season include AI (but only AFTER the top 24 are picked), TAR, Survivor, Dog the Bounty Hunter (on the 12 am rerun), EM: Home Edition, and the recently concluded Dancing with the Stars, Skating with Celebrities, and Project Runway (yay Chloe!).  The only scripted "must watches" on the list are House (which is the bloody best show on TV!) and 24.

One step down, the "will watch" list includes a lot of scripted shows, like the various L and O franchises, CSI, Criminal Minds (love it, never remember when it's on), and Numbers.  The reality "will watch" list includes Mythbusters (on at the SAME F-ING TIME as House and Dog), various Discovery Channels series (I was soooo hooked on Dangerous Catch and Iceberg Cowboys), Queer Eye, and Supernanny/ Nanny 911.

Ok, maybe I do watch a lot of TV, but as the inimitable Tim Gunn says, "It relaxes me."  Watching stupid people do stupid things is a great way to wind down from a long day of BS.

Also, like Ben, it's wallpaper much of the time.  Just sound on for noise to help me concentrate on whatever I'm doing at the time.

Yeah, I'm weird.

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WooHooooo!

House is on at 9 (new ep: Sex Kills), and TAR is on at 10!

For once, I can watch both!

So stoked!

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Ok, so you probably know I was hooked on Dancing with the Stars this season like it was my own personal crack.

Yes, I even skipped Survivor to watch it a couple times.

Last night I was the ultimate reality show buffoon. Yelling at the TV, calling my show buddy (CaltechMom) repeatedly, and generally being an idiot.

At least I didn't throw anything. (ask my DH about football and why my remote on/off button barely works....)

As you may know, after Thursday's final dances, Drew and Cheryl led with a perfect score of 60.  Stacy and Tony were behind with a score of 56, and Jerry and Anna were in the rear with 53.  Well, there was a final dance last night to complete the judges scores.  Jerry and Anna went first, and scored 27/30 a personal best.  Then Stacy and Tony did a good number and scored a perfect 30/30.  I agreed, as it was the best dance I had seen from them in the 8 weeks of the show.  Drew and Cheryl were last, and they were fabulous.  But they only scored 27.  Enough to stay in first place by one point....

I call my mother.  "Rigged!" I scream when she answers the phone.  I agree, she says, and then my dad chimes in with "Crap!"

Which is about as bad as he'll get.

We agree it's rigged for Stacy, and we hang up.

10 min later, they announce the third place contestant---- (wait for it....)

Stacy.

Wha???  Ok.  I was convinced Drew and Cheryl were done for.  Sweeeet.

So Drew and Cheryl were eventually named the winners, and I couldn't be happier.

To see what all the fuss is about, here's Drew and Cheryl's "Thrilling" Pasa Doble, and here is their perfect score freestyle dance from Thursday, set to Big and Rich's "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy"

And Drew's brother Nick? Daypass material. Especially now that he ditched Daisy Duke.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:03 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 I figured when Stacy got voted out Jerry Rice was going to win. I mean come on, he's a nice guy, but he's not a great dancer. But if one of the two couples I thought deserved to win got knocked out, I figured Drew was a gonner too. What's daypass material?

Posted by: Ith at February 27, 2006 03:52 PM (2EfyX)

2 You watched Dancing with the Stars over Survivor?? Shameful behaviour!

Posted by: Amanda at February 27, 2006 04:15 PM (L4Sch)

3 What was the deal with the "brokeback mountain" comment? Are people making it out to be a bigger deal than it is?

Posted by: Amy at February 27, 2006 04:31 PM (UxaeN)

4 I think so. For those of you who have no idea what we're talking about: Bruno said Drew should try out for BBM, and he took the cowboy hat off Cheryl's head and covered his bum with it in what I thought was a playful gesture. But people being the idiots they are, somebody got creeped out and ABC didn't show it after the live (Eastern and Central)... I myself saw it on ET on Friday night.

Posted by: caltechgirl at February 27, 2006 04:35 PM (jOkK0)

5 "The Office" is my own personal crack. I don't even watch TV. Or I didn't. Tricksy iTunes.

Posted by: Katie at February 28, 2006 05:05 PM (lzWTc)

6 Survivor is my personal crack but I admit I started watching Dancing with the Stars the next to last show and then I was HOOKED. I even (shh, swear you won't tell anyone!) voted...for Jerry Rice. Sorry I'm a HUGE football fan and I figured it took an enormous amount of guts to do something like disco number. Drew and Cheryl did deserve to win in my opinion so I'm happy with the outcome.

Posted by: Janette at March 01, 2006 09:02 AM (OcgcA)

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You may not have heard this one, as Hollywood also lost Barney Fife and Mr. Furley today, but one of my favorite Hollywood Dads passed away today as well.

Darrren McGavin, who played the Dad in A Christmas Story, and in many other films, died today in Los Angeles of natural causes.

God bless, and I hope you spirit flies as freely as the clouds of obscenity still floating somewhere over Lake Michigan

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:12 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I love YouTube.com!

The Sesame Street 12 video

and myriad gems from Square One TV:
The intro
The 9 song
MathMan (there are several others here)

BTW, just got this.  Can't wait to watch it!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:40 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Didn't see much of the girls on Tuesday, but did see all of the guys last night.

My top 4 guys:
Chris
Taylor
Elliot
Ace

My bottom 4 guys:
David
Kevin
Gedeon
Bobby,

David and Kevin, Adios.

For the ladies:
Top 2:
Mandisa
Lisa


Bottom 2 (those I would send home):
Stevie
Brenna

What do y'all think.  Other than that I need a damn TiVo?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:52 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 My top two girls are Mandisa and that McPhee girl.

Posted by: oddybobo at February 23, 2006 12:53 PM (6Gm0j)

2 Yeah, Katherine is in the top few. Me no likey Brenna. Yuck. Taylor me likey a lot.

Posted by: jen at February 23, 2006 02:12 PM (UMVKj)

3 I didn't see Katharine. I heard she was good, though.

Posted by: caltechgirl at February 23, 2006 02:17 PM (/vgMZ)

4 Even with my DVR, I had to give up something, and it ended up being Idol. I'm drowning in TV Hopefully I can start watching it next week again.

Posted by: Ith at February 23, 2006 02:57 PM (2EfyX)

5 I like Katharine, Lisa and Paris. As far as the guys, Chris or Elliot. Ace is to pretty for me. I think I like the bad boys. Tivo rocks when it comes to Idol. I watched the singing episodes while it was recording who they kicked off. Then I got to watch it right after that. I hope Brenna goes next time and I was not suprised at who what voted off this week.

Posted by: Amy at February 24, 2006 06:16 PM (UxaeN)

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Despite one of the worst traffic snarls of my life (Thanks Clippers), I managed to get home in time for House last night.

Which was a good thing.  With the Stacy plot out of the way, I guess the writers thought it was time to bring the H-man back in full force.  A great ep, especially the subplot with the sleazy researcher.

It's widely known in the medical research community that doctors and scientists who want to take shortcuts or outstep the FDA take their work overseas.  Usually, that means India because the medico-legal system hasn't caught up with technology.  India is unique in that it is a chaotic third world country, but it is also home to a wide array of state-of-the-art medical technology.  Doctors like Weber and sleazy pharmaceutical companies can test their drugs on people you've never heard of who would otherwise suffer in silence without having to go through the normal procedures, including long periods of expensive animal testing (which usually is done to verify that 1) the drug isn't lethal at normal dosage, and 2) it actually has some worthwhile effect)

Furthermore, India (and other small countries) is home to a number of questionable medical science journals.  Like most other professions that utilize the written word to communicate, biomedical science has a number of trade publications, commonly called medical journals, in which doctors and researchers publish their findings.  These journals, however, are not equal.  The top journals are the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and for more preclinical work, the journals Science and Nature.  There are also many specialty journals such as the Archives of General Psychiatry, or Alcoholism in Clinical and Experimental Research.  Both types of journals, general and specific, have their strata.    At the top are journals that most researchers strive to get published in.  At the bottom are journals that will take ANYTHING, as long as you pay for the pages you submit and it looks vaguely scientific.  Sometimes good researchers who feel they are on to something important will use these journals to get their ideas published ahead of someone else, but most commonly these crappy journals are used to publish work that no one else will touch, because after all, the university administration  only looks at the number of paper you put out, not the quality of your publications, although that is slowly changing.

When House accuses Weber of publishing in the New Dehli Journal of Medicine, what he's really saying is that Weber's work isn't strong enough to be published in the US and that the drug isn't good enough to be FDA approved.  And he proves it, if only to himself....  though that was a pretty damn bad migrane, I must say.

Best line of the night: "House, you can't keep doing this.  Get a hobby.  Get a Hooker."--Wilson.

Anyone else notice the confirmation of House's address at the end of the show?  He indeed lives at 221 B Baker St.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:03 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Yippee!!!  Guess what I found in Target today? THIS

And it turns out that my favorite episode of all time just happens to be #6, which is on this set!  YAY!!!!

Update: This is one of the BEST DVD sets ever. Lots of artwork and extras, and the menus are cool. There's even a section with 50 profiles of not only the main characters, but several minor characters as well.

The cartoons are remastered and cleaned up and they look and sound better than they did in 1983!!!

PS does anybody else not remember the Orko music sounding quite so much like the Macarena?

So, who is YOUR favorite He-Man character? Me, I love the Sorceress.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:07 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 I LOVE He-Man!! My favorite was Shera (sp)?

Posted by: Sissy at February 09, 2006 05:09 PM (gCk3+)

2 I always like Nancy Pelosi, er, Skeletor. But, I've always been a mark for the villans - only hero I really liked was Batman...

Posted by: KG at February 09, 2006 05:10 PM (7SapW)

3 ah yes, She-Ra. I always liked Teela better.

Posted by: caltechgirl at February 09, 2006 05:11 PM (uI/79)

4 err, I've never seen He Man

Posted by: Ith at February 09, 2006 07:02 PM (sCBe0)

5 She-ra, Princess of Power! That's going on my Christmas list. Maybe I can get it for the girls. Ya, that's the ticket!

Posted by: Amy at February 09, 2006 07:24 PM (JFN4H)

6 I liked the tiger...wasn't he cowardly and green before the "by the power of Greyskull" thing?

Posted by: ktreva at February 09, 2006 07:51 PM (e8b4J)

7 Yep, Cringer became Battle Cat when He-Man pointed the sword at him.

Posted by: caltechgirl at February 09, 2006 08:24 PM (uI/79)

8 Orco. He was a weird, magical thing with no face. Tell me what's cooler... --Akshun J

Posted by: Akshun J at February 09, 2006 08:49 PM (7fhgR)

9 I always thought Orko must look like Gonzo under his hat. He is blue. after all (his ears are anyway)

Posted by: caltechgirl at February 09, 2006 09:44 PM (uI/79)

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