The Decline of the American Movie Theater

While movie theaters are constantly becoming more advanced, more comfortable and more expensive, there are other areas in which they are rapidly declining. I'll be the first to admit that I love going to the movies. I love the new digital super clear surround sound. I love the memory foam reclining seats. I love that the picture is clear and crisp. I love that we are getting to see more mainstream films in IMAX and even some in IMAX 3D. But I can no longer stay silent on the real issue: the RollNap.

Gone are the days of bi-fold or tri-fold napkins stacked and placed into a dispenser, allowing customers to remove the needed number of napkins and distribute as necessary. Now these glorified toilet paper rolls require moviegoers to remove a length of connected napkins and then rip each sheet off of the giant napkin ribbon they have obtained.

As if the annoyance of the roll design were not enough, the napkins provided are thinner and weaker. While you may not be cleaning up spills with these napkins in the theater (in fact, the floors are evidence that even theater employees aren't cleaning up spills), the last thing you want when you are handling popcorn drenched in butter-flavored motor oil is a flimsy napkin. After only a few kernels of popcorn, the napkin becomes saturated and starts to tear. You toss it aside and tear a new one from the now wadded up length you brought into the theater with you. After three or four rounds of this, you realize the futility of this and just begin using the giant ball of wadded napkins. Soon, even that is not enough and you are left with three options: stop eating popcorn, just leave the oil slick on your hands and hope for the best, or wipe your hands on something else conveniently located such as your jeans or the hair of the person seated in front of you.

I say enough. It's time to make our voices heard. It's time for us to stand up to the theaters and tell them: If we have to pay 8 to 10 dollars per person for tickets, 4 dollars for popcorn and 3 dollars for a soft drink, we deserve quality napkins. I don't think it's too much to ask. We don't complain that you put non-movie related ads before the previews. We don't even request that you help free us when our shoes become stuck to the floor. It's only fair that you bring back the old napkins and dispensers.

Moviegoers of the world unite! Take back the theater!

Separated at Birth v. 5

To reinforce my hypothesis first suggested in my recent post about Flash Gordon, here is yet another edition of separated at birth.

Right hand man to Ming the Merciless: Klytus

Right hand man to Cobra Commander: Destro

Trivial Tuesday

Empire Online recently released its list of the 10 best cinematic bank robberies. The top two films both star Al Pacino. In fact, the film the second spot contains the only time Al Pacino has ever shared a scene with Robert DeNiro.

What was that film? (Bonus points for getting the other Pacino bank robbery that ended up at number 1.)

Who Wants to Be a Superhero ep. 5

Tonight on a very special episode of Blossom Who Wants to Be a Superhero...

It's the penultimate episode of WWTBAS, featuring the penultimate elimination. (By the way, I really like the word penultimate. Have I mentioned that?) Down to the last three (Fat Momma, Major Victory and Feedback), we start off with our beloved superheroes doing housework in full costume. And who could blame them; wouldn't you be more likely to clean a toilet if you got to wear a cape and boots while doing it? Yeah, me either.

Stan notifies the remaining three that it's time to face the toughest judges: Children. They visit an elementary school class and have prototypes of comic covers revealed to them. After seeing the covers, they each have a turn explaining their character to the kids. While Major Victory amuses the kids with his typical antics, Fat Momma explains the purpose of her superhero, to teach kids to respect themselves. Feedback attempts to explain his origins and powers to the children, but is met with blank stares and the sounds of crickets chirping. Perhaps if the kids were a bit older, they would have been interested, but at this age, everything he said was beyond their comprehension. His talk with the kids did provide the best line of the night, however. When asked what his favorite video game was, Feedback told the kids that it was Pong, inspiring one of the kids to later say, "I've never heard of Pong. I think he just made it up." After everyone has a chance to explain themselves to the kids, the children must choose their favorite superhero. As expected, Fat Momma wins in a landslide.

Before the superheroes have a chance to unwind, it's time to leap into action. The Dark Enforcer has been spotted and they need to find him before he hurts anyone. He doesn't really seem all that threatening, since he isn't doing anything besides standing around with a stopwatch, but who are we to question Stan Lee? They are each given a clue, which leads to the next clue and the next until they eventually know where to locate the Dark Enforcer. Major Victory races around looking for the next clues and cracking jokes. After just over 15 minutes, he meets up with the Dark Enforcer. Feedback is next, and he moves through the clues as quickly as Major Victory. Unfortunately, when he reaches the person with the final clue, he takes a while to help her get her purse back in order, including spending an eternity trying to pick a penny up off of the ground. He finishes helping her and runs on to the last checkpoint, just a few seconds behind Major Victory's time. Last is Fat Momma, who decides that instead of hurrying through the clues, she will stop to borrow a french fry or two from various people. She does reach the end of the course, but not until 40 minutes later than either of the others took.

Back at the lair, the superheroes prepare for the next (and penultimate!) elimination. As they discuss the ramifications of what is about to happen, Fat Momma excuses herself and ends up locking herself in the bathroom and refusing to come back out until she can talk to one of the producers of the show. As she uses her superhero powers to smash through the fourth wall, she tells the producer that she just doesn't think she can go on. She believes that Feedback wants and needs this more than anyone else, and that she should be taken off the show. They talk for a while and eventually, the producer tells her to talk it over with the other contestants. After much talking and crying and hugging, Feedback and Major Victory talk her into staying and they all head up to the roof.

Stan has them all step forward onto the red cubes and prepare for the elimination. He tells them all how proud he is of how they have done so far. He does, however, provide criticism for each of them: Feedback for talking over the kids' heads, Fat Momma for not taking the timed aspect of the challenge seriously, and Major Victory for always joking. When the time finally comes for someone to be eliminated, he has to let Major Victory go, because at times he is "almost a parody of a superhero". Major Victory steps off his cube and goes to turn in his costume, and both Feedback and Fat Momma are stunned. Feedback looks at Major Victory, then back at Stan. He stands back on his cube and attempts to address Stan, prompting Major Victory to tell him to "Shut up. You're not the shot caller," which likely saves Feedback from doing anything that would qualify as both noble and stupid. Before Major Victory can leave, Stan stops him and reminds him of why he entered the contest, which was to show his daughter that he could be a hero. Stan tells him that he has accomplished that mission and points him to a phone where his daughter is waiting to talk to him. He talks to her, they say that they love each other, and she tells him that she's proud and that he is her hero. He cries. She cries. Feedback cries. Fat Momma cries. Even Stan cries. Not one to leave on a sad note, Major Victory tells his daughter that he will talk to her later, more privately and as he walks away asks Stan, "Can I keep the phone? It's a nice one."

With only one episode left (because this was the penultimate episode), I can't help but think that Major Victory had better have a cameo appearance in the comic made for whoever wins this competition.

Trivial Tuesday

I'm running a little behind this week, and unfortunately, it's not because I have a copy of Madden NFL 07. You see, today has been declared National Madden Day by EA Sports, the maker of the video game, in honor of this year's release. Several players share the honor of the highest rating in the game, but only one player made the cover. What former University of Alabama standout graces the cover of this year's game?

By the way, this question is for those of you who thought last week's was easy, but didn't make it here in time. Perhaps you can win that race this time, because I doubt this question will last long either.

Who Wants to Be a Superhero ep. 4

We're down to the last 5, and the real drama has started. Tonight on Who Wants to Be a Superhero, the waterworks will begin in earnest.

After the recap, we see our beloved superheroes helping people on the street. Feedback and Major Victory attempt to help people cross the street. Fat Momma chastises a parking cop about breaking rules while he rights tickets. Creature makes people pick up trash, gets clothing to give to the homeless and almost gets hit by a car while jaywalking. Lemuria...umm...well, she wandered around.

Back at the lair, Stan Lee appears on his monitor again, still hiding from our superheroes as if they were carriers of the Avian Flu. He wants to talk to them about what just happened, but the Dark Enforcer appears on his screen with some bad news. He's talked to the family and friends of our superheroes, and they spilled some secrets. He begins showing the footage, and I realize I'm watching a TV with a TV on the screen and on that TV is another TV, and I'm pretty sure that in at least one of the interviews, there was a TV in the background there. It's close the best demonstration of infinity I've ever seen. Of course, I'm thinking about things like this because the big secrets they tell are not that impressive. We find out that Creature once littered, Feedback has a messy office, Fat Momma isn't always happy with her weight, Lemuria likes to tease guys at bars, and for the 5000th time we hear that Major Victory used to be a stripper (this does at least give the Dark Enforcer a chance to wave a dollar bill at Major Victory). Stan decides to eliminate Creature, making her the first person kicked off a reality show for jaywalking.

The main challenge tonight is to perform a secret task while talking with an inmate. Of course, somehow the superheroes don't seem to realize that these aren't real inmates. Lemuria must sit on an inmate's lap for 10 seconds. She goes for a far too direct approach and throws herself onto the woman's lap. This gets the inmate to jump up and scream at her, ending the session. Fat Momma must push and inmate's hair out of her face three times. She manages, despite the inmate repeatedly telling her to stop touching her. Major Victory must rub the inmate's shoulders three times. He manages to almost sneak the shoulder rubs in and completes his task. Finally, Feedback must manage three hugs. He does amazingly well, not only completing the task, but doing so in a sincere way. He may be boring, take the competition way too seriously and need to stop walking around with his mouth hanging open, but he earned some major bonus points on that challenge.

It's time for an elimination, and it really isn't much of a competition this time. Sure Stan complains again that Major Victory keeps taking off his cape, but only Lemuria couldn't complete the challenge. As she turns in her costume, she begins to cry as do her fellow superheroes, who come to comfort her.

Before we end, Stan tells the final three how proud he is of each of them. They all weep in response. When we get to Feedback, he is truly moved by Stan saying that he is proud of him and calls Stan the father he never had. Everyone cries and we see scenes from the next episode in which we are promised an elimination so hard, it makes Stan cry. Either everyone is getting really close on this show, or Stan is just really upset about having to create a comic with one of these people. To find out, I guess we'll have to wait until next week.

Trivial Tuesday

ABC recently revealed the line-up for the newest edition of Dancing With the Stars. Among those on the show this season: Tucker Carlson, Willa Ford, Jerry Springer and NFL all-time rushing leader Emmitt Smith. In 2002, Smith broke the NFL record for rushing yards in a career.

Whose record did Smith break?

Congratulations to Marni, who knew that the record was previously held by Walter Payton. Bragging rights are all yours until next week.

He'll Save Every One of Us

I watched Flash Gordon again recently. It had been quite a while, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Other than the effects being even more dated than they seemed the last time I saw it, not much changed in my perceptions of it. It was still cheesy but fun, and the Queen score was pretty much perfect for the tone of the film. There were some things I picked up on now that I didn't remember from previous viewings. For example:

Dale and Flash met on the plane which crashed at Zarkov's lab. Zarkov told them that there were 11 days until earth was destroyed. Later, with about 3 days until the destruction of earth, he suggests that she save her stories for their kids. She assumes this is a marriage proposal and accepts. They have known each other for just over a week, and she thought he was dead for most of that time. They move pretty quickly.

I'm pretty sure that the people behind G.I. Joe must have watched this movie and gotten a look at Klytus before designing Destro. In fact, they may even have used General Kala as inspiration for the Baroness, but maybe I saw that because I saw Klytus as Destro.

Of all the people in the film, who would have thought that Prince Barin would be the one to make it big. He went from this to eventually being James Bond. Impressive.

On the subject of Barin, did no one else find it weird that his name was Prince Barin? Does he have siblings named Count Dook and Viceroy Erl? While we're at it, I felt kind of sorry for him at the end. Sure he's alive and he gets to be king, but he's still with Aura. While she may have found the ability to cry, does he really think she's done being a tramp? The girl was dating have the population of Mongo and manipulating them to get them to do whatever she wanted. Does anyone really think the bore worms changed all that?

After watching again, I realized that it probably won't matter how many times I watch it, Prince Vultan will still be my favorite part.

Who Wants to Be a Superhero ep. 3

Yet more fun this week as the final 7 contestants vie for the chance to become a superhero, immortalized in not only their own comic, but in a SciFi original movie. And if you don't think I'm going to blog about that, you haven't been reading me very long.

This week starts a new portion of the show, however. Before now, the challenges were set up by Stan Lee with a few twists to make things more interesting. Now there is a supervillain to match the superheroes, the Dark Enforcer. Ok, fine, so he doesn't really do anything except claim responsibility for the twists to the challenges that would have been there already, but it's amusing. Before the first challenge the competitors are told that there is a new supervillain, and as the lights flicker it is revealed that the Iron Enforcer has switched sides. They all look on in shock, and Tyveculus leaps to his feet, shouting, "What is this?" He delivers it with more than a touch of melodrama yet not a bit of irony. Really, I think I saw that same performance at a local high school play recently. I can only hope he's not on this show to become an actor. Speaking of...

It's time for the night's first challenge. They are all asked to go across the street (still in costume) and get lunch. Stan wants to know what they bring back that would be fitting for a superhero. Before I go on, a point about them going in costume, they haven't worn street clothes except for the "quick change" challenge, and they've done a lot of running. Do you think they get to wash those costumes or are they all starting to smell kinda funky? Anyway, back to the challenge...They go in one by one to the cafe and order lunch and bring it back to the lair. As they prepare to present the food to Stan (once again on a monitor in front of them), the Dark Enforcer comes up on another monitor to announce that he's got something to tell him. It seems that some of the people may have broken the biggest rule: Never reveal your secret identity. Apparently, in addition to make you worthy of having your own TV screen so you don't ever have to be in the same room as anyone else, being a supervillain makes you a tattletale, proving once again that evil doers are really just big kids who need attention.

After we recap who gave up their name (Everyone but Fat Momma and Feedback. It seems that slightly flirty members of the opposite sex might as well be kryptonite for all the others.), it's time for an elimination. Rather than going through all the trouble of picking three this time, Stan singles out Monkey Woman. Not only did she give up her name without even being asked (completely flustering the actor playing her waiter), but it turns out that she lied about her job when starting the show. She revealed to the waiter that she is an actress, but had claimed that she was a real estate investor. This doesn't sit well with Stan, who says that honesty is the most important characteristic of a superhero. Unless it has to do with your secret identity, apparently. As he dismisses Monkey Woman, and she sobs...again, I can't help wondering if I'm the only one curious about what they all brought back for lunch. I would have gotten a hero sandwich.

The second challenge of the night is fairly uneventful. The superheroes must rescue a woman from an adjacent rooftop. Stan has a beam raised between the two buildings with a rope alongside to help guide them. To prepare themselves, the superheroes go inside where Tyveculus tells them that they are all going to die. Especially you, Lemuria. You're afraid of heights, so you might as well kill yourself now. (I might be paraphrasing.) Somehow, I think he forgot that they were on a TV show that would be responsible for any injuries they get. As they go back out the Dark Enforcer blindfolds them and leads the to the beam. If he were a real villain, shouldn't he just push them off? Fortunately, he doesn't, and he leads them to a beam that is only an inch or two off the rooftop. As they walk across, thinking that they are high in the air, the Dark Enforcer points a fan at them to simulate a fierce cross wind. It all ends up being pretty pointless as everyone makes it across and back with no problems.

Since the challenge went so well, Stan asks them for help in deciding who to eliminate. Each person has to stand up and tell everyone who should be eliminated. Starting with Creature, almost everyone takes the easy way out and says what amounts to "I can't pick anyone, get rid of me." The only two who don't are Tyveculus who chooses Lemuria and then lectures her about how she is a liability to everyone else and Fat Momma who, after some prodding by Stan to pick someone, chooses Feedback because she worries that he is too hard on himself. Of course, just as one might expect, the right answer is to choose yourself. This means that when we move up to the rooftop for the elimination, Fat Momma and Tyveculus are on the chopping block. Stan has doubts about the motivation behind Tyveculus choosing Lemuria, and decides to eliminate him.

Back in the lair after elimination, Fat Momma says that she thought the others nominated themselves just because they thought it was what Stan wanted. I can't say I disagree with her since I felt the same way when they did it. Tempers flare, superheroes yell, superheroes cry and the drama has started. It's officially a reality show now.

Optimus Prime...Ain't Got Nothin'...On Me

For your entertainment, I present a video of robots playing soccer.

A few thoughts about this video:

1. No, I don't have a clue what they are saying.

2. No, I really don't have a clue what's up with the music.

3. When a robot scores about 1:45 in, I wish it would run around pointing or pumping its fist or in some other way mocking the other robots. Fortunately, this is remedied toward the end with a cool robot celebration of a penalty kick.

4. There needed to be some sort of robot wearing disturbingly small shorts running around showing yellow and red cards to the other robots.

Trivial Tuesday

Almost 80 years ago, a Scottish biologist made an interesting discovery. He discovered that mold contaminating a petri dish he was using had inhibited the growth of bacteria near the mold. He isolated an extract from this mold which contained the antimicrobial molecule which he named penicillin. Who was this famous scientist who would go on to share the Nobel Prize for his discovery?

Congratulations to Invisible Lizard who gave us the correct answer. Alexander Fleming was the scientist who first isolated penicillin, one of the most important medical discoveries of the 20th century.

This Post Is Rated C for Carnivorous

This weekend was Ribfest, a time when many pigs sacrifice their lives for charity and to make me fat. As always we worked our way from vendor to vendor sampling their wares and judging who we thought was best.

Some thoughts on each vendor, as we move down the row:

Cowboys

Ribs were smoky, but tough and dry. The brisket...well, let's just say if I'd wanted a dry pot roast, I already knew where to find it. From the almost exclusively female front staff to the "cowgirls wanted, apply in bunk after 10:00" sign, Cowboys seemed sure that sex would sell the ribs. Unfortunately, I'm of the opinion that when it comes to barbecue, it should sell itself.

Howling Coyote Southwest BBQ

The ribs were a little dry, but tender. Good smoke flavor, but nothing spectacular. Sauces had a good taste, but it was almost impossible to tell which was which even though they were supposedly very different.

Desperado's

Ribs were tasty: meaty and smoky if a little tough, but when they taste that good that's not too major of a thing. Sauce had a nice blend of smoky, tangy, sweet and hot.

Chicago BBQ Company

Ribs were both tough and dry. The chicken managed to be both fatty and dry at the same time.

Johnson's

Incredibly good. The ribs were incredibly tender, smoky and had a great meaty flavor. A little heavy on the sauce, but it was good enough to overlook that.

Rasta Joe's

Possibly the best sign of any of the places, but I have to admit we skipped this one because it hasn't impressed us in any of the previous years.

Big Moe's

A local competitor, who had (in my opinion, which is the only one that matters on this site) the best ribs last year. I was disappointed this year because the ribs were not up to the same standard. The big swing from top last year to more so-so this year, just goes to show how tough it is to consistently be the best at something like this.

The final results:

Craig's ratings: 1. Johnson's, 2. Desperado's, 3. Big Moe's, 4. Howling Coyote, 5. Cowboys, 6. Chicago BBQ.

Melissa's ratings: 1. Johnson's, 2. Desperado's, 3. Chicago BBQ, 4. Big Moe's, 5. Howling Coyote, 6. Cowboys.

Who Wants to Be a Superhero ep. 2

As the rerun of last week's episode ends, I'm still in awe that the Iron Enforcer didn't get kicked off already. Let's face it folks, Nitro G got kicked off for being boring. If that continues to hold true, Feedback could be the one to go tonight. There are only 9 left, let's see who's next.

To start off the night, Stan asks the contestants questions written by the other competitors. Mostly this is a chance for them to insult each other by proxy. The question session ends with Iron Enforcer getting asked about steroids and whether that is a good example for the kids. His response without saying whether he does use them is that if "they are used for a good thing, then that's a good thing." Indeed, Mr. Enforcer. Eloquent as always.

The first challenge of the night involves helping an elderly woman who is locked out of her house. The contestants must go over the fence and to the back door of her house. Oh, and did we mention the two trained attack dogs in the backyard. Each superhero wears a protective suit and has to try to touch the back door. If they dogs get to be too much, they can call them off by giving up and saying "Uncle."

Tyveculus goes first and reaches the door in 16 seconds. He is followed by Creature, who is immediately flattened and says uncle in 12 seconds. The Iron Enforcer, by far the biggest and strongest, is hit right away and knocked back through the fence. He struggles for a while only to give up after 23 seconds only a foot from the door. Feedback continues being boring while fighting hard to get to the door at 33 seconds. Fat Momma attempts throwing her doughnuts to distract the dogs. It doesn't work and she's done at 13 seconds. The dogs go eat the doughnuts as soon as she says uncle. Major Victory continues to be as cheesy as possible, shouting "Feel the love" as he drags the dogs to the door at 17 seconds. Lemuria was taken down quickly and dragged around before giving up after 19 seconds. Cell Phone Girl is flattened and gives up right away, lasting only 4 seconds. That's ok, because she had a headache. Finally Monkey Woman, who is determined not to fail Stan Lee again, fights forever against the dogs. The dogs won't let go and she won't give up. After 9 minutes and 42 seconds, she finally drags the dogs to the door. I didn't really like her before, but that took guts.

After the challenge, it's time for an elimination. Cell Phone Girl and the Iron Enforcer are the first two on the block. Stan debates between Lemuria and Creature, causing Lemuria to cry and Creature to look perplexed. He eventually decides on Creature for the final one up for elimination, but it doesn't matter because despite being told that a headache isn't a good excuse Cell Phone Girl replies that she still has a headache and is eliminated.

Feedback looks stunned after the elimination, or maybe he's just a mouth breather in general.

After the elimination, it's time for a costume makeover. Lemuria (who Stan Lee insists on calling Lumeria) is up first. With any luck the new costume will be able to contain her boobs. Most of the costumes are just slightly better looking versions of the current ones. Tyveculus, however comes out of the makeover looking like a gladiator chicken. After being mocked, he goes back to talk to Stan Lee who tells him to change back to his original. Stan continues to tell Iron Enforcer that something isn't quite right with the makeover.

It's time for another elimination, this time up on the roof. At this point, with Stan Lee always on monitors I'm wondering if he agreed to do this show only if he didn't have to have any contact with the contestants. The three up for elimination are: Tyveculus, who lied to Stan about loving his new costume, Iron Enforcer who has been up for elimination four times in two episodes, and Feedback, who made fun of Tyveculus with his new costume. After some deliberation, Stan eliminates Iron Enforcer, who throws his giant gun forcefully into the trash can.

As always, they show an exit interview with the eliminated contestant, and it becomes evident that Iron Enforcer still doesn't get it. As he walks away from the lair, Stan Lee stops him and in a twist worthy of a comic book offers him a second makeover to become his new super villain, the Dark Enforcer. With that, the second episode ends, and we must wait until next week to see if he's as incompetent a villain as he was a hero.

Not quite as much fun as the first episode, but still ridiculous enough to be enjoyable.

Running Diary: World Series of Pop Culture Finale

10:00-Continuing the semifinal match between El Chupacabra and Almost Perfect Strangers from last week's episode. The first category is Taglines.

10:01-It's ok Larry, I thought it was Ghost too.

10:02-Home Alone came out in 1990? I thought it was earlier than that.

10:03-I'm currently screaming "Grosse Pointe Blank" at the television. Unfortunately, Larry doesn't hear me and is eliminated.

10:04-Next category: Famous Cars

10:05-Whoa! Kim from Almost Perfect Strangers towers over Alexandra from El Chupacabra.

10:06-Kim pulls out a great answer with Ecto I after seeming to have no idea.

10:07-Alexandra can't remember that Starsky and Hutch drove a Grand Torino and is eliminated. We're down to the last person for each team.

10:12-New category: Video Cameos

10:13-Ali G isn't a comedian. He's a character played by a comedian. For some reason the answer is still acceptable.

10:15-Easiest category ever, but Kim misses "Crazy" and Mason steals to send it to a tie breaker.

10:16-The tie breaker category: U2 Studio Albums.

10:18-Each player names two before running out, sending us to a second tie breaker, for CMA Entertainers of the Year.

10:19-It's over quickly as Mason wins 1-0. El Chupacabra wins. VH1 tricked us all with the faux spoiler in their previews that seemed to indicate that Almost Perfect Strangers would be making the finals.

10:25-It's time for the finals. Boeghy Bunch versus El Chupacabra. First category for the finals: Tom Cruise movies

10:25-Pat reveals that the categories in the finals are ten questions rather than 6.

10:27-Could you be alive in the 80's and not know that Maverick sang "You've Lost That Loving Feeling"? Apparently so.

10:28-We're now getting into Tom Cruise movies I've never seen or care to see.

10:29-After being down two points, Mason has tied it up with only two questions remaining.

10:31-I'm starting to think that they write some of these questions just to get Pat to read them. Tonight's example: "Austinpussy"

10:31-First category and we already have a tiebreaker. Best Supporting Actresses.

10:32-Mason is eliminated on the first question of the tiebreaker. Boeghy is up 3-2.

10:33-Amanda from Boeghy is at the mic. Perhaps we'll hear about how she got engaged after one of the earlier rounds. Again.

10:33-TV Teen Dramas. I'd be dead in this category.

10:35-Ok, I've had to yell at them for missing that last two questions, and I don't watch any of these shows.

10:37-The former Secretary of State was on Gilmore Girls? It's one thing to have a Vice President on Futurama, but that's just going too far. Amanda is eliminated and we're tied at 2 team members each.

10:42-Category 1990's Lyrics. As we all know, lyrics without music is not my specialty.

10:43-That is not Ironic, Alanis.

10:44-I got the right group (All 4 One) but the wrong song (I Swear).

10:45-Mikey, your Random 10 is much harder than this, and there isn't $250,000 on the line.

10:46-Both players guess Tom Petty songs instead of Counting Crows, and El Chupacabra is up 2-1.

10:47-New Category: Fictional Locales.

10:47-Once again, Pat has to ask a question that was written just because it's amusing to hear him say it. This time: Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

10:48-Jodi, who is from Georgia, almost misses a question with the answer Georgia, leading to a lecture from Pat.

10:51-Ok, if you don't remember that the floating city in Empire was Cloud City, you need to go back and watch the trilogy a few more times.

10:52-Our second Magnum P.I. question of the night. If Jodi can steal, she'll win the whole thing. She can't.

10:55-10th question in the round. If Jodi gets it or if Jason doesn't steal, El Chupacabra wins. But first a bunch of commercials. This pretty much ruins the suspense since she has to get it right for the show to end on time.

10:58-She misses, but Jason confidently gives a real college as an answer to a question about a fictional college. El Chupacabra wins!

I love this show. I only wish that there were more episodes still to come. Oh well, there's always next season.

Make 7...

If you've been watching television recently, you've probably seen ads for 7-Up in which they proclaim the soda to be "all natural" and containing "just five ingredients." After this marketing campaign, I had to see what all the hype (at least from the company itself) was all about.

First the "five" all "natural" ingredients: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural flavors, potassium citrate. First off, let's deal with numbers. You can't really say that there are five ingredients when one of your ingredients is plural. Listing natural flavors implies that there are at least two distinct flavoring agents used, bringing the total to a minimum of six. What about 100% natural. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are using naturally carbonated water rather than doing it themselves (I'd love for the 7-up company to tell us the location of the spring giving them this water). I'll even concede that using very broad definitions, the ingredients on the label are natural. I will not, however, agree that the ingredients fit the definition of natural as implied by the advertising campaign. Look, nobody is going to go pick high fructose corn syrup off a tree in the orchard. Hopefully there weren't any Diet 7-Up trees there, because that's full of Splenda which can't pass for natural under any definition.

Uh oh. Get ready for a tangential rant. I'll try to keep it brief.

Ok, speaking of Splenda and intentionally misinforming or ambiguous ad campaigns
I hate: "Splenda. Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar." This is the most
ridiculous advertising campaign ever. No matter how hard they try to make
everyone think it's sugar, sucralose is not now, nor will it ever be sugar. It
is made from sugar, but the sugar has been chlorinated in three locations, making it
no longer usable to the body. Using the same theme as the original slogan,
couldn't we also say "Splenda. Made from chlorine so it tastes like chlorine."
Or if we weren't thinking about sucralose itself, but Splenda which is mostly
maltodextrin as a bulk agent to carry the sucralose, we could have the slogan
"Splenda. Mostly maltodextrin, so it tastes like cornstarch." Look, I've got
nothing against sucralose or Splenda, but it's not sugar. Don't try to call it
sugar or make people think that it's just the same as sugar.

Side rant over. Sorry about that.


After establishing just what made 7-Up 100% natural and what those five ingredients (actually four ingredients and a category) were, I decided to give it a taste. I have to applaud the 7-Up company for converting to a 100% natural formula and still making a drink that tastes like crushed up SweeTarts in stagnant water. Good stuff.

Separated at Birth v. 4

Flash Gordon villain Ming the Merciless

Ice cream topping Magic Shell

Trivial Tuesday

Did you know that on this date in 1981, MTV played its very first video? I won't ask you what that first video was (though I'm guessing most of you know). I won't even ask you what the second video was (though I'm guessing that at least some of you know that too). What I will ask you today is to name the five original VJs on MTV.

Post your answers in the comments section. If you don't know them all, give it a try anyway. The person with the most names will be the winner.

Congratulations to Danielle who named off all five of the original group. Bragging rights are yours for a week.