- So apparently Michaela McManus is going to be the Deion Sanders of television this season. No, she’s not going to dress in hideous, loud outfits and try to sell a new hot-dog cooker that’s basically a rip-off of George Foreman’s grill. No, just like Sanders was a two-sport star in his heyday, playing both professional baseball and football at the same time, McManus will be a cast member for both Law & Order: SVU, and One Tree Hill. The assumption had been that once she landed the SVU gig, her OTH days were done. Not so, says series creator Mark Schwahn In fact, he told TV Guide that she’ll be back for multiple episodes in OTH’s (inexplicable) sixth season. However, Schwahn says her return doesn’t mean the continuation of the Lucas-Lindsey-Brooke-Peyton love rectangle, because as he puts it, the characters are growing up and maturing, so their high school-esque love messes will do the same. Sure, whatever. This is one of those shows I watch because it’s better than a lot of the crap on TV and I’m kinda, sorta invested in it, but a stellar show it ain’t. So bring on Season 6, which Lord willing will be the last one…..
- Wireless: it may not be only for the Internet much longer. While the technology is still experimental and not ready for mass distribution, computer-chip giant Intel is building on research done last year by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to pioneer the concept of wireless power transmission for laptops. On Thursday, Intel demonstrated how to power a 60-watt light bulb from an energy source stationed three feet away. In the process, only one-fourth of the energy being transferred was lost, a rate that Intel researchers cite as being more efficient than the power pack on your average laptop. Not to go all Bill Nye “The Science Guy” on you, but the way the process works is that electric coils which resonate at the same frequency can transmit energy to each other. With this capability now proven, Intel’s next big challenge in bringing this new technology to consumers is adapting it specifically to laptops and making sure that the electromagnetic fields involved in the transmission process don’t interfere with the other functions of the computer. So it’s not something that you’ll find at your local Best Buy any time this year, but sooner rather than later, you might be able to recharge the battery on your lapper without that pesky AC adapter…..good times.
- Finally….we know who Barack Obama’s choice for his vice presidential running mate is, and I could not be happier…..that it’s not Hank Clinton! Truth be told, I didn’t give a damn who it was, just as long as we made sure that Hank was not only not going to be running for president, but that she wouldn’t be able to backdoor her way into the Oval Office by becoming VP and stepping in if something happened to Obama. So congrats to Delaware Sen. Joe Biden for securing the nod, because although I’m not a big fan of Biden and he reminds me of those two old, crotchety guys on The Muppets who sat in the balcony and heckled everyone, he’s still a better alternative than Hank. Of course, outside of Saddam Hussein, Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot and Fidel Castro, the list of possible VP picks who would be worse than Hank is short and select. With the Democratic National Convention now in full swing out in Denver, it’s time for Obama and Biden, the ebony and ivory of the Democratic Party, to focus on defeating that senile, oft-incoherent idiot John McCain come November…..
- Two closing Olympic thoughts: 1) the U.S.-Spain gold medal game in men’s basketball was NOT one of the greatest international games of all-time, and 2) the only thing that is a bigger waste of time than the opening ceremony is the closing ceremony. First, the basketball game: it was a foul-plagued, poorly officiated contest in which neither side played much defense. Yes, there were some stellar offensive exchanges and clutch shots, especially by the Americans (suck it, Spaniards!), but it can hardly be called one of the great international games of all-time when it never felt as if Spain had a shot to win. The Spaniards (and oh yeah, can we get announcers with enough intelligence and education to call them the Spanish team or the Spaniards, not “the Spain team”? Thanks!) never led by more than five points and never led after the first quarter, so how could anyone outside of their own delusional fans believe they were actually going to win? An exciting game, yes. An all-time great? No chance. On to the closing ceremony…..it was more of the same from the opening ceremony, thousands of Chinese dancers in odd, often-futuristic costumes doing lame dances and chanting. No medals were awarded, nothing was accomplished and tons of money were wasted on fireworks and other trinkets. Aside from the parade of nations at the opening ceremony, we could do away with everything else from the two ceremonies and have a better Olympic experience for it….keep that in mind for 2012, London….
- Hard to see how this one went sour…..Chris Kattan and his bride of eight whole weeks have split, showing that not everyone is sharp enough to realize how annoying Chris Kattan is after just one or two Saturday Night Live skits like I did. Whereas I could watch one five-minute skit and realize that Kattan just might be the most annoying comic this side of Andy Dick, model Sunshine Tutt (her actual name, I kid you not) took more than a month to fully grasp Kattan’s über-annoying personality. The pair married on June 28 in Yosemite Canyon but separated a month later, ultimately filing for a formal separation this past week. You may recall Kattan as that whiny, pesky guy with the annoying voice on SNL between 1996 and 2003, while you might remember Tutt from…..I don’t know, but I’m guessing she’s done an ad for jeans or perfume that you’ve seen at some point, somewhere. The relationship is now over, having had its official beginning when the pair became engaged on Christmas Eve 2006. But hey, they had a great, memorable month together and that’s really all you can ask for from a marriage, right?
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