James Brown, dead at 73.

For some reason, The Areas of My Expertise is available for free download on iTunes. Get it while you can.

Merry Christmas!

Bless this mess.

Dr. Phil is such a tool:

Okay, Dr. Phil, you've booked the maker of Bumfights on your show. You've shown a 90-second promotional piece for his product, and in the heat of the moment, you have second thoughts, and kick the man off your show. You know what you do next? You don't air the interview! Jesus Christ, man, it's not that hard a concept to grasp. Of course, if you just had the man on to kick him off your show, to make yourself look good, that's another matter. But I don't know if you're that hypocritical. I mean, it's not like CBS uploaded this clip to YouTube themselves, to promote your show...oh, I see...

Notwithstanding the fact that the whole thing seems staged, with the Bumfights dude knowing his role and two security guards straight from central casting ready to escort the fellow off-stage in as camera-friendly a way as possible. I'm not a fan of Dr. Phil, but I must say I expected more of him than this.

Mallard Fillmore's creator is a big stinking drunk. I'd make a joke, but if I've learned one thing from Fillmore's Ted Kennedy strips, that statement alone is always hilarious.

Yes, I know, I've been lazy about keeping this site updated. If I didn't pop in occasionally to tell you that someone died, you'd probably think I had. There's a few reasons why I haven't been around too much. There's school, for one. But primarily, I'd say my absence is due to two things. I've been sick for quite a few weeks, a really bad case of the flu over two days or so, and then a low-grade version I've had trouble shaking, and, probably related, a marked deterioration in my chronic insomnia (I'm lucky to fall asleep before 3:00 these days). The result of which is, I've accomplished very little recently. The second reason I've been lax in updating is that most of my time online has been spent nurturing my obsession with the Wii.

Which I now own. I got up a bit before 6:00 this morning, and was at the Target in Grossmont Center around 6:30 or so, where I found no line. I pulled into a space facing the first-floor entrance, where the line-ups for this sort of thing take place, and saw no one in line, which actually worried me a bit, but I saw people in the cars on either side of me, so I rolled down my window to ask one if they were there for the Wii, which of course they were. Then the guy on the other side of me says he was told they don't have the Wii. At first I thought he was trying to fake me out to get me to leave, but it was soon apparent he was telling the truth, but as I was assured they would have 40 or so units, I figured the loading docks guy was simply misinformed. I sat in my car for a few minutes, but apparently my arrival was the tipping point, as a line quickly began to form, with myself in the third position. There were probably ten or so groups in line when it first formed, and about thirty in line around 7:30, when the manager came out and confirmed that they had 42 units. He also confirmed that they had no extra controllers for sale. Which is fine, as I intend to wait for the release of Wii Play, which will come bundled with an extra controller. By 8:00, the line was fairly long, to the point that the people at the end probably went home empty-handed. But within about five minutes, I was walking out with a Wii. I didn't buy any games, as I've ordered Trauma Center and Zelda online, and intend to pick up Rayman Raving Rabbits on my way home from work. Wii Sports should be more than enough entertainment for a week or so, at least, and I do intend to get at least one game off the Virtual Console, just to try it out (probably Sonic the Hedgehog, or possibly Super Mario 64--I can think it over, since it's all moot until I get a wireless network set up).

It is a bit frustrating to wait in line for ninety minutes or so, get my coveted equipment, and then have to set it aside and go to work, but that's life. I'll have time this evening to explore my new best friend--to quote the great man, "Teacher, mother, secret lover." I actually have a little more time than I could normally expect, as we're closing early tonight for our holiday party. I was planning to go, but with the excitement of the Wii, the fact that I got less than three hours sleep (I actually feel quite alert, considering), and seeing as my recent illness would preclude much drinking, I'm skipping it. It's on a boat, which is nice, our last party on the boat was a lot of fun, but it means I can't just pop in for an hour or so, so I'm just skipping out entirely. I'm sure I'll have some Wii-flections for you all soon.

The question is, now that I own a Wii, can I stop pouring over the Wii search results on Google Blog Search, or will I just become even more obsessive and disturbed? I won't share all the articles I found, but I will point to this one, which might just be wishful thinking, but it is definately true that the Wii has the potential to revitalize the adventure genre. The article made me feel all warm and fuzzy just for reminding me of the existence of the Tex Murphy series. My impression is that Max Payne might follow at least in the tone of that series, but since I've never actually gotten around to playing it, I couldn't say for sure. As far as Space Quest is concerned, I loved it as an adolescent, but my revisitation to the series finds that they do not hold up as well as I hoped, at least as far as gameplay. A new iteration of the series could definately work, though.

Robert Altman, dead at 81.

Dueling campaign commercials, courtesy of Rifftrax's Michael J. Nelson:

Perhaps at least one good thing will come from the existence of Justin Timberlake--Grey Kid is bringing Paxil back:

"Weird Al" Yankovic finally has an album in the top 10.

Ken Jennings discusses his appearance on 1 vs. 100. He confirms my opinion, that the show is heavily weighted against the mob. I did see one contestant lose, because he confused the Jessica who fell down a well with the Jessica who mocked Iraqi's genitalia [UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that I had Jessica Lynch confused with Lynndie England. I regret the error. But the important thing to note is, neither of these women fell down a well]. Members of the mob won a whopping $750 or so a piece, while the more successful individual contestants had winnings in the six-figures. It doesn't pay to be part of the mob (they didn't even pay Jennings' travel expenses, apparently).

CNN weighs in on Aldomania.

Freddy Fender, dead at 69. I only had the opportunity to see him perform once, at a free concert at Golden Acorn Casino. Not a bad show, but I would have loved to see him as part of Texas Tornados.

Interview with Stephen Colbert in New York magazine.

Randy Newman was on The Colbert Report last night, performing "Political Science" after his interview. To the best of my knowledge, this was Colbert's first musical guest to perform a song (he's had musicians on, but not to perform, though Neil Young tried to sing "Let's Impeach the President," but was quickly cut off by Colbert). Newman carried himself fairly well, I thought. I was hoping he would perform his new song, "A Few Words in Defense of My Nation," which he's been doing in concert, but maybe he feels it's not ready for a national audience yet. Besides, "Politcal Science" could practically be Colbert's theme song, the musical embodiment of the arrogance the show parodies four nights a week. And Not to give away the punchline, but at the end of their interview, when Newman explains the concept of the unreliable narrator in his songs, and that in "My Life is Good," he's merely pretending to be an obnoxious rich guy, Colbert, in a very meta moment, chastizes him, explaining, "Nobody wants to listen to somebody pretend to be an obnoxious rich person, and not mean what they say, sir." To which Newman, thinking back on his recent studio album sales, no doubt, responds, "I'll say!"

I. Nelson Rose analyzes the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Overall, my feeling that the law won't make a big difference is unchanged, but it still remains an open question as to how this will impact Neteller. It seems possible that government regulations developed in response to the new law could ban transactions with third-parties like Neteller as well as casinos, but time will tell. It is worth noting that the law changes nothing regarding the legality of placing on-line bets (the one breaking the law is the person taking the bet or facilitating the wagering, not the bettor). It is also worth noting that the bill was rushed through so quickly that at least one portion seems blatantly contradictory to the rest of the bill, and most likely is simply a typo, that, like the notion of corporations as people, shall now be the law of the land.

Joe Glazer, dead at 88.

As I recently mentioned, my iPod was having issues, and had to be sent in under warranty. I'm pleased to say I got it back on Friday, and am even more pleased to report that Apple had some very good news for me: There was nothing wrong with it. According to the letter (which isn't in front of me, so I'm paraphrasing), either my iPod was found to be operating well within acceptable parameters, or otherwise did not require replacement hardware (the letter was deliberately vague, I presume, to avoid calling me an idiot or a liar). So apparently freezing up and not turning on are now features. I am trying to be optimistic, that perhaps in diagnosing the problem they took the iPod apart, and perhaps tightened up some loose part that was the cause of the problem. But I've noticed the iPod is a bit sluggish in opening menus or selecting songs, which makes me worry that nothing has changed. When I took the iPod out of the box, it wouldn't turn on, which I found quite amusing, considering the problems were supposedly in my head. I think they didn't complete the restore process, which requires the attachment of an external power source, because once I plugged it in to a charger it turned on (and I was able to verify that the battery was charged).

I must say the experience left me less than satisfied, and would make me less likely to consider an Apple computer in the future. Though to be fair, the experience was far more pleasant than my contact with Dell customer service, though ultimately neither was useful (but at least Dell acknowledged that my computer was non-functional). Of the two iPods I've owned, I should note my first iPod is still working fine, despite suffering several catastrophic-appearing drops (hard falls onto my concrete driveway, for instance). And even the troubles with my current iPod mostly have been only moderate, crashes repaired by simply resetting the iPod (though that was an inadequate solution for reparing the most recent crash). So while I am less confident in the long-term reliability of the iPod (in my opinion, the life cycle of a $350 piece of electronics should be at a bare minimum two years), I still see no better choice for large-capacity MP3 players.

I did look at some of the competition in the 60 gig+ MP3 player market, but really never seriously considered buying anything other than another iPod as a replacement. Especially when I realized there was an easy solution to the problem of my disillusionment with Apple technical support. I will purchase my next iPod at Costco, home of the 100% satisfaction guarantee, which will take almost anything back anytime. So if my next iPod acts up, I'll ignore Apple's warranty and simply return it for a full refund and buy the most recent iteration of the iPod, and simply continue to get free upgrades every time my iPod acts screwy, or I just fell like an upgrade. Love that Costco.

The situation did encourage me to take a look-see at the forthcoming Microsoft Zune. And I had to laugh when I learned that the Zune will not support "Plays for Sure." So for all the MP3 manufacturers and music stores who supported Microsoft's standards, Microsoft is rewarding you by engaging in direct competition with you, and undercutting the standard you adopted. I'm not a Microsoft fan, but I still expected better of them. If you don't buy an iPod, the most likely reason is the proprietary nature of their DRM. So why would you buy another manufacture's inferior product with an equally (or more) restrictive DRM (though unlike Apple, it does support a subscription service--though only their own)?

Iva Ikuko Toguri, AKA "Tokyo Rose", dead at 90.

Okay, I know, I haven't really said anything in this space in some time, and now I'm back, and I'm making another post about Mary Worth. I'm sorry, but I can't help it. I probably spent about four hours today going through the comments to a single post at the Comics Curmudgeon, aptly titled Why, God, Why? I would venture to say that virtually every person under 60 who reads Mary Worth could be found their coming to terms with their grief. Some bizarre and amusing theories were floated to how Aldo might still be alive. A few even made video montages to express their pain:

(see also "The Wind Cries Mary Worth")

It was a bleak day. And the question that was on my mind, and many others, remains unanswered: Now that Aldo is gone, do I keep reading Mary Worth? Of course, it's been mentioned that there's no telling how long it will take Mary to overcome her grief and guilt for essentially killing this emotionally-disturbed man with her intervention-cum-ambush. But I imagine I'll stick with the strip for at least a little while longer.

Oh, and here's an article on "Aldomania", including an interview with writer Karen Moy, which confirms the resemblance to Captain Kangaroo was intentional.