- When I see episodes of any of the many, many incarnations of CBS’ CSI franchise, I tend to assume that the accounts therein are not based too strictly on reality. After all, a lab and police department full of beautiful people, solving crimes in less than an hour while a few of them intermittently hook up with one another just doesn’t seem that realistic. But when I hear tales like that of former corrections officer Mark Barber, I have to reconsider that stance. Barber is accused of turning the Nassau County Jail into his own harem, using his power to threaten female inmates to have sex with him. The alleged hookups took place in isolated, remote locations Barber had access to throughout the jail. I have to assume these are electrical closets, boiler rooms, empty staff bathrooms, etc. According to District Attorney Kathleen Rice said that says if an inmate rejected Barber's advances, he would threaten to makes their lives a living nightmare. On the flip side, if a prisoner gave in to his efforts, Barber would funnel with jail contraband like cigarettes, candy and phone calls her way. "He used his position to seek out vulnerable inmates he could terrorize and sexually assault," said Rice. "Many of these woman had histories of drug abuse, prostitution and even mental health issues." Those are disturbing and vile accusations and they are made all the worse when you learn that Barber was the officer inmates had to go to if they needed any help at all with the very sort of problems he was creating for them. Those reprehensible (alleged) actions have netted Barber a whopping 58 criminal charges, including rape, sexual abuse and forcible touching. His douche-baggish ways came to light thanks to allegations made by six inmates over a two-year period. His attorney, Fred Annibale, claims the allegations are all lies. "We deny all the charges outright," said Annibale. That is not what Rice is saying, not when she claims that authorities have more than enough evidence to put Barber away for the maximum 16 years he faces if found guilty. What’s eerie about this story is that I can specifically remember once seeing a CSI episode in which a prison guard was revealed to have had sex with (and impregnated) an inmate. It’s one horrible example of life imitating art imitating life that I could do without…………
- Heroes returned tonight….just in time to prepare for time change, sort of. The show is “moving” to the 9 p.m. Monday time slot it occupied for its first couple of seasons as the ever-awesome Chuck comes back to take the 8 p.m. time slot next week. In its return, the show brought in most of the main characters fans have grown to know and love. The most obvious place to start is with Claire Bennet, still kickin’ it at the Sullivan Bros. carnival but becoming less sure by the day if she’s down with what Samuel Sullivan is selling. Samuel is readying for a trip “into the city” and tells Claire that she is free to stay or go as she pleases. She intends on heading home and going back to classes Monday, but as he exits the carnival Samuel tells his second in command, the replicating man Eli, to do whatever is needed to keep Claire from leaving. Over the next day, Claire becomes extremely uneasy with Eli seemingly following her everywhere and staring at her. She looks to Lydia, a.k.a. the Tattooed Woman, for help because she knows Lydia isn't one of those blindly following Samuel and might have some insights for her. Lydia subtly steers Claire to Samuel’s trailer, where Claire finds a box of files belonging to her father, H.R.G. Samuel doesn’t deny anything, but he also isn't forthcoming about why he has the files. Once he leaves on his trip, Claire sneaks back in, looks at the files and finds a map of the valley near where the carnival is located. She wonders its purpose, but her sleuthing is interrupted by Eric Doyle, the Puppet Man. He uses his power to pin her to the exterior of the trailer and hold her there while he chastises her for trying to ruin what Samuel is building at the carnival, collecting people with powers as a family. Eventually Doyle weakens and can’t hold Claire in place, so he gives in and tells her to go talk to Lydia again. Lydia admits to Claire that Samuel murdered his brother Joseph, which sets Claire off and convinces her more than ever to leave the carnival. In the meantime, Samuel is on his trip to the city and he’s there to visit none other than Emma, the deaf woman who recently discovered that she has the power to see sounds as colors and use sounds in powerful ways. Emma has also just received the disappointing news that her attempted return to medical school has failed and as she tosses the rejection letter on the table in her apartment, Samuel knocks at her door. He knows all about her, which takes her aback, but he also knows sign language and is able to communicate with her. He talks his way inside the apartment after explaining that he’s the one who sent her the beautiful cello she recently received as a gift. Samuel wastes no time in explaining that he’s in New York to find a man with mysterious powers. This man can make plant life grow merely by his touch, but he has become freaked out by his power and is now a lost soul, roaming Central Park without a purpose. Samuel informs Emma that her powers are greater than she knows and that by playing music on the cello, she can actually draw people to her. In the park, he asks her to focus on a picture of the man he’s seeking as she plays and sure enough, the man comes up to them. As this bearded mystery man listens to the music, he leans up against a tree and his mere touch is enough to cause the tree to immediately begin blooming and sprouting leaves. Samuel and Emma take him to the hospital to be checked out and once that is taken care of, Samuel and his new friend, Ian, head back to the carnival. He invites Emma as well and gives her one of the compasses that lead PWP to the carnival, but Emma elects to stay where she is for now. On the way out of the hospital, Samuel sees a news broadcast on TV about Nathan Petrelli’s supposed death in a plane crash. This is a lie, of course, as Nathan was murdered by Sylar in last season’s finale. and has been “kept alive” with his mind imprisoned inside Sylar’s body since then, right up until the last episode before the holiday break of the show. But now that Sylar has seized his body back, the Petrelli family must face up to Nathan truly being dead and put on a good show to explain why. The last main storyline from the first hour was Hiro Nakamura, who was last seem having his brain scrambled by one of Samuel’s super-powered carneys at the Sullivan Bros. carnival in an attempt to prevent Hiro from using his powers to leave and go find his beloved girlfriend Charlie, who has been imprisoned somewhere in the space-time continuum by Samuel. The ploy didn’t work and Hiro spouted a line of Star Trek-speak and then teleported away. His destination was his hometown of Tokyo, where he lands in the middle of a marketplace and begins speaking lines from Star Trek, Don Quixote and other works of fiction. He helps stop a mugging by pretending to be a Star Trek character, slicing the strings of a purse a thief is attempting to steal – only Hiro does this using only his mental powers and no weapon. The befuddled police assume he actually has a weapon and arrest him, but when they find his Nakamura Industries business card on his person, they take him back to the company’s office building where his pal Ando meets them. Ando is equally befuddled by Hiro’s speech, but assumes that Hiro’s brain tumor is the cause. When Hiro’s sister Kimiko wants to call in a neurosurgeon to help her brother, Ando suggests a different approach. Realizing that much of Hiro’s nonsense talk is comic book-centric, he suggests going to the room where Hiro stores his extensive comic book collection in an attempt to decode his speech. The comic book room does provide clues, as Ando pieces together Hiro’s scattershot pop culture references (including Spiderman) and figures out that Hiro wants to go to the Riverdale Mental Hospital in Florida, the one where Hiro took Mohinder Suresh after saving him from an angry Samuel in a hotel room in Texas. The hour winds down back at the carnival, where Samuel returns with Ian in tow and is immediately confronted by Claire. He fesses up to murdering Joseph but attempts to justify it by saying that Joseph had ratted PWP out to the government. He then shows Claire what his plan for the valley is, taking her out to a large rock where Ian is waiting. After Samuel uses his power to crack the ground and bring up water, Ian plants his hands on the ground and immediately grass, flowers and foliage begin to cover the formerly barren valley. The three of them watch in amazement and marvel as the valley’s beauty. Samuel explains that it’s the new home he’s been dreaming of for his “family” and urges Claire to stay. She declines even though she’s beginning to see Samuel’s vision and purpose. Instead, she walks away and checks her voice mail as she leaves, with several messages from H.R.G. and one from Peter. She hears news of Nathan’s death and flies back to New York, where she attends the (fake) funeral but is clearly not happy with her dad. She knows the truth about the plan to cram Nathan’s memory and mind into Sylar’s body and blames those responsible for fooling her with the plot. The first hour ended in this fashion and the second hour picked up with Peter and H.R.G. meeting outside New York 86 hours before the rest of the episode takes place, with Nathan’s body inside H.R.G.’s trunk. They talk of covering up what really happened with Nathan’s death, but no more is shown to that end. Instead, we see a large crowd gathering at Petrelli’s home after Nathan’s funeral. The somber affair brings together several key characters, including Claire and Peter, who hide out in the kitchen and talk. But Peter isn't in a big talking mood and soon excuses himself to the roof for some quiet. Claire has come solo, having told H.R.G. he’s not welcome after the lies he’s told her about Nathan. At the wake, Angela Petrelli asks Claire to go up to the roof and try to help Peter as he struggles with his grief. She finds an empty roof and a police scanner, with Peter gone off to try and be a hero once again. Following the police scanner’s lead, she races to an office building where Peter is attempting to subdue an angry gunman who has shot up his former place of employment. Peter and Claire end up tending to a woman who has been shot, but Peter soon finds himself face to face with the gunman. After a heartfelt speech about his brother’s death and the terrible day he’s having, Peter appears to have calmed the gunman, but the man, Adam, shoots him anyhow. Peter suffers only a wound to his shoulder, but as he waits to be loaded into an ambulance, he takes Claire’s hand, absorbs her power to heal and is back to normal in no time. Claire attempts to convince him to stop playing hero and face his grief, but Peter isn't willing to do that just yet. The evening is also interesting for H.R.G., who receives a surprise visit from Samuel’s former right-hand man Edgar, the super-speeding, knife-wielding madman who sliced him up not long ago. H.R.G. spots Edgar long before the attack in his apartment and hits him with a Taser blast before Edgar can carve him up. H.R.G takes Edgar to the Japanese restaurant of an old friend, Mr. Nozawa, and calls in former Company compatriot Lauren for an interrogation of Edgar inside the restaurant’s freezer, which keeps Edgar’s power in check. A health dose of physical abuse and sodium tripentathol lead off the evening, but Edgar still won't tell H.R.G. what he wants to know. Having been kicked out of the carnival when Samuel attempted to cast blame on him for Joseph’s murder, Edgar is without a way back to the carnival and not eager to talk. When Lauren suggests that H.R.G. take a more diplomatic approach, he reluctantly agrees. Edgar warms up to the new approach and shares some limited information about Samuel and the carnival. H.R.G. suggests they work together to take down Samuel and a new partnership takes root. That partnership lasts a couple of hours, right up to the point when H.R.G and Lauren take Edgar back to H.R.G.’s apartment and attempt to convince him of a new plan. Their plan is to first take out Samuel, then disperse everyone else from the carnival back into society. They contend that not isolating these people in one place will prevent persecution, but Edgar sees through them and realizes they are merely attempting to use and control him. In a rage, he grabs the papers for the new plan and super-speeds out the door, destination unknown. H..R.G. is left in his wake, worried about Samuel’s effect on Claire and what to do next. At the carnival, all hell breaks loose when Sylar comes back. Now with his mind and body whole again, he is looking for blood. But when he attempts to slice Samuel’s head open and take his power, Sylar can’t pull the trigger. Samuel summons up a dust storm to stop Sylar, then dispatches him to Lydia’s trailer and orders her to use her wiles and powers to figure out what’s wrong with him. She fools around with Sylar long enough to realize that he is lonely and wants to be loved, but he sees that she’s just trying to manipulate him into her plan to topple Samuel. Sylar charges out to find Samuel and asks to be injected with Samuel’s magical ink that forms tattoos that show people what they want to find. He says that if the tattoo shows that he belongs at the carnival, he’ll stay, but if not, he’s gone. When the tattoo appears on his right wrist, an intrigued Sylar says that Samuel was wrong and leaves. He ends up outside Claire’s dorm room as she returns from her evening out with Peter, using one of his many powers to hover outside her second-floor window. “Hello cheerleader,” Sylar says to no one in particular, referring back to Claire’s stint as a high school cheerleader when he first met her. The tattoo on his wrist is revealed and it’s Claire’s picture. What is its meaning? Tune in next Monday at 8 p.m. to find out and then stick around the next hour for Chuck, which actually premieres with a two-hour blowout Sunday night and then comes to Mondays at 9 p.m…………
- Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson is fast – really fast. He was timed in the 40-yard dash at 4.24 seconds at the 2008 NFL scouting combine and has done nothing during his first two seasons to dispel the belief that he is the fastest man in the league. It is widely known that last offseason, Johnson was among a collection of NFL players living and training in Miami and he allegedly challenged Miami Dolphins receiver and former track star Ted Ginn Jr. to a race. With Ginn’s teammate Joey Porter the de facto promoter of the race, the expectations were high…..right up to the point that Ginn no-showed for the race, or so Johnson says. Ginn denies those claims, but as this offseason rolls around, Johnson is clearly setting his sights on a new, non-football target: the world’s fastest man, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. After becoming just the sixth NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season, Johnson turned his sights to Bolt, who ran the 100 meters in 9.58 seconds and the 200 meters in 19.19 seconds medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, setting world records in both events. That world-class speed has allegedly inspired Johnson to challenge Bolt to a race, with the proceeds from the event to benefit charity. It was reported Sunday that representatives for Johnson and Bolt Jamaica have spent recent days trying to set up a race between the two men to determine who really is the world's fastest human. But just as the buzz was beginning to build and reports of the race were making the rounds, Bolt’s handlers stepped in to squash talk of the race and suggest that all of the speculation was complete and utter gossip. “Usain doesn't follow the NFL too closely and is not really familiar with all of the players. He likes [international] football and cricket," agent Ricky Simms said. "But more importantly, he has a schedule and a coach to follow and there is no chance that we would set up this type of event.” Thanks for nothing, agent Buzzkill. Even if we all knew that Bolt would smoke Johnson like a cheap cigar in a race of any distance, it would have been awesome to see the event take place and it would undoubtedly have raised quite a bit of money for charity. There is also no need for Simms to act like he and his client are so much above an event like this and that they couldn’t possibly be bothered with such an endeavor. Johnson did rush for 2,006 yards and break Marshall Faulk's NFL single-season record with 2,254 total yards from scrimmage, so give the man a little respect. His offseason is officially underway and racing the reigning fastest man in the world would have been a great way to spend part of it…………
- Tech dorks of the world, this is unquestionably a huge week for you. This week, the annual massive Consumer Electronics Show takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here’s how Consumer Electronics Association the president and CEO Gary Shapiro described this year’s event: "In my 28 years of attending the CES and participating in it and being a part of it and running it for most of that time, I can honestly say there will be more innovation at this show than any one in history.” CES is the year's largest consumer technology trade show and offers tech dorks the opportunity to see new technologies before they hit the market. The show has been the launching point for all manner of huge advances in technology over the years, including compact disc players, high-definition television and Blu-ray. Industry analysts have speculated that this year’s show could be a bit more subdued and low-key because of the lingering economic recession and the fact that Google and Apple both have major announcements planned in the days surrounding the show. Tuesday is when Google is expected to launch its own mobile phone called Nexus One, while Apple will reportedly unveil a touch-screen tablet computer January 26. Keeping those plans in mind, neither of the tech giants is scheduled to exhibit at CES. That could be bad news for CES, which saw attendance decline by 20 percent from 2008 to 2009. Estimates for this week’s attendance are in the range of 110,000, even though some market analysts predict a brighter future for consumer electronics this year. The big items and technologies at this year’s show are expected to be tablet/touch screen devices, electronic readers, smart TV (TV and Internet) and mobile TV. And while Apple will not have an exhibit at the show, there will be an iLounge at CES featuring 100 exhibitors with Apple-related products, including new mobile phone applications, touch-screen cameras, a third generation of USB data cables and GPS add-ons for smartphones. Not that I need to tell any true tech dorks this, but if you are not already in or in route to Vegas, view now as the optimal time to rectify that…………
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