No, seriously, I’m about to use SPOILERS for BIG BROTHER 6’s season finale.

If you haven’t wached it on your TiVo yet, go somewhere else until you do.

SPOILERS!

And I don’t want to hear any more complaints if you kept reading.

BIG BROTHER 6: I was close, but off by one. I got Howie wrong. He followed his game-playing partner, Rachel, instead of his playmate, Janelle. That was the vote that swung things to Maggie instead of Ivette. As big an arse as he is, he remains the star of the show. And, really, he can be funny when he’s not being violently obnoxious, crude, and vile.

Ivette did not take it well, clearly. But she was in a no-win situation once she hit the final three, anyway, Janelle’s self-righteous comments notwithstanding. But Ivette looked like a wandering zombie at the close of the show.

America loves its losers. They cheered very loudly for two-time loser Kaysar. (Wait, wasn’t he the greatest gameplayer in BB history? Nope. Guy couldn’t last 24 hours in the house without blowing it all over again.) It was topped only by the bubbly fake-boobed blonde, Janelle.

I continue to be amused by those who confuse being under the radar with playing the game. Maggie did not fly under the radar for much of the game, and she didn’t rely on everyone else to do her dirty work. She’s the one who talked Howie into putting up James and Sarah, for starters. She was the first target for the Sovereign Losers at the top of the show. She did the smart thing as the show was winding down in keeping her mouth shut while others were self-destructing. When her alliance started fighting amongst itself — as any alliance must eventually do — she appeased both sides, staying out of the way. That’s not playing under the radar; that’s playing smart, working to keep friendships and alliances, while not pissing anyone off. That’s easier said than done in a game where a moment’s hesitation can speak volumes. (There’s been more than one SURVIVOR, for example, who’s been voted off the island for failing to pre-announced their voting intentions early enough to their clique.)

I only wish they had showed the clips of James discussing how stupid Sarah is and how he’d be better off in the game without her. I’m sure she’s seen them already, though. I can’t see that relationship lasting all that long.

Kaysar is still taking his loss badly. At least Eric had the chance to call him on it, leading to an awkward moment of silence before Julie realized she was hosting the show still. Kaysar got outplayed, and I hope he’d admit that. Everyone says, “It’s just a game,” but they only believe that until it bites them in the butt. Then it becomes a matter of personal honor or something. Bizarre.

I’m glad this show is over. It was ugly this year. It’s always ugly, I know, but it became difficult to root for anyone, and “America’s reaction” (apparantly, the internet’s reaction) continues to puzzle me so. So, it’s over. Yay.

We can move onto AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL now. At least there’s some fun to be had in that show. =)

* That’s right. There was no link dump yesterday. And you know why? I already had nearly a half dozen other posts. What more do you want from me?

* The infamous Orson Welles frozen peas commercial outtakes. Laugh out loud hilarity. You must listen to this one if you wish to lead a complete life.

* Can BeOS make a comeback? I doubt it, but it does have a lot of interesting features.

* 100 Greatest Mathematical Theorems. (Via)

* This track is suddenly showing up all over the place. It’s an MP3 of a live song called “Fountains of Wayne Hotline,” by Robbie Fulks. I’ve never heard of that guy before, but this is hilarious. Holywood Reporter has the backstory. (Originally spotted over at Mercury Studios.)

If you loathe FoW, you’ll probably nod your head through most of the song. If you like the band — as I do — then you’ll recognize a lot of what’s happening in this song.

* Richard Hatch pleads innocent, which automatically makes him guilty of perjury.

I’ve already mentioned it here today, but CBS has the killer portion of this evening’s lineup with the season finales of BIG BROTHER 6 and ROCKSTAR: INXS. NCIS returns just before that, not that I’ll be watching it.

ESPN continues on with THE WORLD SERIES OF That Game I Dare Not Mention for Fear of Comment Spam.

MY NAME IS EARL premieres, but I have zero interest in it. Redneck humor doesn’t appeal to me.

NIP/TUCK is back with an extra long episode on fx.

DANCING WITH THE STARS gets a special return engagement just to show America how wrong they got it the first time again. That one starts at 8:30 (East Coast time) on ABC.

Updated to add: Yes, and BONES and SUPERNATURAL are also both on tonight. And GILMORE GIRLS. But I’m not name-checking ACCORDING TO JIM, dangit! (Whoops.)

Who is right for our band, INXS?

Post your predictions in the comments section below.

I really don’t know who’s going to win. I could make an argument for any of the rockers at this point.

Thanks to Brandon, though, for e-mailing me this link to one grand conspiracy for MiG. If you put weight into that report, then you have to predict MiG tonight.

I’m rooting for Marty, but I’m predicting J.D. will win.

BIG BROTHER 6 wraps up tonight, crowing a winner to follow in the footsteps of such luminaries as Eddie, Will, Lisa, Jun, and Drew. Yes, I did all of that from memory, though it took me a second to remember Lisa’s name. I also double-checked with the Big Brother entry on the Wikipedia. (Check it out for a lot of great BB trivia at the end.)

I think it’s looking good for Ivette tonight.

The jury is:

• Janelle
• Howie
• April
• James
• Beau
• Jennifer
• Rachel

We know Beau is voting for Ivette. James likely will, as well, since they had a friendship in the house and James did everything he could to get Maggie out. He loathes her. Janelle pretty much told Julie on Friday that she’s voting for Ivette, and Howie will blindly follow the blonde.

April will vote for Maggie, since she can’t stand Ivette and likes Maggie more. Jennifer will likely follow her partner, April.

The only one I’m not entirely sure of is Rachel, but her vote doesn’t count at this point. For argument’s sake, I’ll predict her vote heading over to Maggie, based on superior gameplaying power.

Ivette wins 4-3, then, ironically proving The Great Gameplayer Janelle wrong. Remember: Janelle said that Ivette picked friendship over money when she kicked Janelle out of the house. It had nothing to do with being ticked off that she had just lost. Oh, no.

Who do you think is voting for who? Make your predictions below.

From those lovable scamps at DVDJournal.com:

The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl in 3-D (2005)

Robert Rodriguez did a kid flick in 3-D and SIN CITY all in the same year. Yowza. The one thing they both have in common: Green screens. And lots of ‘em.

Batman: The Man Who Would Be Batman: Season One Vol. 2
Teen Titans: Fear Itself: Season Two Vol. 1
Justice League: Joining Forces: Season One Vol. 2

There’s your DC superheroes fix of the day. It’s too bad Marvel was never able to put together a serious run of animated series the way DC did. Sure, Marvel had a few Spider-Man series and a Fantastic Four series, but they never caught on the way the series initiated by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm did.

Battlestar Galactica: Season One (2004) (5-disc set)

I know I lose all my geek cred by admitting this, but here it goes: I didn’t watch it. I’m not picking up the DVDs.

Dead Women in Lingerie (1991)

I thought that was a funny enough title, until I saw the one that followed it:

Desperate Housewives: Season One

There’s some karmic link there, I’m sure.

Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood: Special Edition (1996)

It’s the movie title of the week. How did they fit that all onto one poster? Here’s how.

The Longest Yard (widescreen) (2005)

If you can’t get enough jokes about men bending over in the shower, here you have it.

Mallrats: 10th Anniversary Edition (2-disc set) (1995)

The original discs for all these Kevin Smith movies had a lot of great bonus material. I guess the temptation to double dip was just too much.

Ned and Stacey: Season One (3-disc set)

So, was this one any good?

Scary Movie 3.5: Special Unrated Version (2003)

Another double dipper, but at least this one has Leslie Nielson.

Wallace & Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures

Can’t go wrong with those two.

Next week: Tons of good stuff, including THE AMAZING RACE (Season 1), THE FAMILY GUY movie, and ROBOTS.

This is the thirty-eighth DVD podcast:
Listen directly to the MP3 file (~5 minutes, ~2 MB)

Vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley.com.

Read about this podcast in PODCASTING HACKS.

Show notes:

* Francis Ford Coppola on THE OUTSIDERS

Where to find release lists:
DVDJournal’s release list
TVShowsonDVD.com - monthly release list

Where to find more information on these movies:
Internet Movie Database

You can also subscribe to the podcast

E-mail me or send voice comments to AUGIEDB *at* GMAIL *dot* COM. Or leave your comments in the comments section of this message.

It was three years ago this past Saturday that I wrote this:

Various and Sundry

This web site exists for me to shoot my mouth off on a variety of topics that I follow from day to day. These are topics outside of comics, which I discuss twice a week at Pipeline Commentary and Review. There won’t be any direct comic book talk going on here. This is all about books, DVDs, movies, television, computers, video games, and whatever else happens to pique my interest from day to day.

And no politics. I promise.

Well, some politics crept in eventually, but they were pushed off into their own blog in the end.

And Pipeline Commentary and Review is down to a much more manageable once a week schedule.

Otherwise, everything else is holding steady. This blog has been updated daily, missing only a day here and there in the past year. The topics have expanded, including new topics such as hybrid cars, diabetes, podcasting, and Apple computing (more on this on Wednesday).

Thanks to everyone for passing through, being part of the conversations, and all the links back. It’s been a fun three (!) years, and there are no plans to quit.

My mind is all aswirl. So many shows return to the networks this week. It’s dizzying.

And we must ask the questions again: Will they continue to be annoying and let shows run a minute over their scheduled time? Are LOST and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES going to be 1:01 long, just to screw up all of our TiVos? And how many less shows do I plan on watching this season? Right now, I can’t name a single new show I plan on picking up, and I’m already thinking of dumping a couple of shows from last season.

Thinking about tonight:

CSI: MIAMI returns. I just finished watching last season about three weeks ago, thanks to the glory of TiVo. I still like this show, even when Horatio gets a bit obsessive about his dramatic sunglasses.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER looks cute, but I’m not excited about it. I doubt it’ll last more than one season, too.

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL looks promising, but I don’t have time to watch it. Monday nights are bowling nights. I’m not home until 9:30. I can’t time shift everything.

Time marches on.

* The Digital Bits announced at the end of last week that there’s a two-disc collector’s edition of the GARFIELD movie coming this fall. This might just be the ultimate example of a double-dip I’ve ever seen in DVD history. Who wanted a special edition of that one?

* Someone crankier and grouchier than I am redefines the terms of the internet. Very funny, though there is some language involved. (Thanks, Adam!)

* Weird Al Yankovic sang about Velvet Elvis (”He’s so fuzzy! Never puts on weight!”) and Yoda (”Y-O-D-A Yoda!”) This is what happens when you combine the two.

* Peerflix helps you trade DVDs across the internet, for a buck a pop. My biggest problem with the service is that you don’t get the packaging. You’re just trading the discs. I like those DVD cases, though. Otherwise, I’d strongly consider singing up tomorrow. I’ve got a bunch of discs I could do without.

* Yes, indeed, LOST won the Best Drama award last night at the Emmys. Well deserved, I say. Is this the first Best Drama award to go to a genre show (science fiction/horror/fantasy)? I know X-FILES and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION were both nominated in the 90s, but never won.

* I only made it through about 10:00 p.m. with The Emmys last night. Couldn’t sit through any more awards being given to directors and writers of more obfuscated categories.

* That said, the packages for the writing staffs of Best Comedy, Variety, Whatever Shows were all good, but I think the Writers As Porn Stars thing that DA ALI G SHOW did has been done before. Liked THE DAILY SHOW including The Drudge Report, and Conan O’Brien getting the limelight in his.

* Why are the Emmys still so obsessed with WILL & GRACE? At least it’s not winning everything anymore, but all those nominations are taking up space other shows and actors could be getting.

* Thought Veronica Mars cheated horribly by lip-synching FAME.

* The guy from CSI looked horribly lost in singing THE JEFFERSONS’ theme song. Bet he was nervous. Macy Gray covered him, though.

* I was hoping The Shat would sing the actual lyrics to the original STAR TREK theme song. No such luck, altough the woman singing was impressive.

* People tell me Trump won the singing competition. Hunh. Has anyone ever seen Trump wearing a t-shirt before last night?

* Ellen wasn’t all that funny, though she had a couple decent lines. Most of the jokes just caused the show to drag on, particularly the jokes about the show dragging on. Funny that.

* Although I thought the bit with Eva Longoria sitting in the cheap seats was funny.

* Nice to see Hugh Jackman win for the only show on TV watched by even less people than ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.

* Liked the Carson salute from David Letterman. Laughed out loud at the line about how Carson became a star. Found it interesting that Letterman hosted the tribute while Leno was sitting in the audience. I’m sure it’s easily written off as being a CBS-staged show promoting its own, but I thought the Letterman/Leno feud had cooled off just a tad. Maybe not.

* Glad The Shat won, but still wish Terry O’Quinn had taken it. I hope you’ve all watched at least the first six episodes of LOST Season One’s DVD set by now, because the Emmys just spoiled the end of Locke’s Big Revelation episode (”Walkabout”) for you.

* The Red Carpet is classic train wreck theater, as TV stars have to put up with Star Jones’ bug eyes asking insipid questions. Kathy Griffin was funny there, though, on occasion. Still, it was leagues better than Joan Rivers.

* ABC did a great job in not counterprogramming The Emmys. They showed PEARL HARBOR.

* On a semi-related note, Jennifer Garner didn’t drag Ben Affleck to The Emmys.

* The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC has a rather large and old baseball card collection donated by its collector before his death 40 years ago. One writer visits the collection. (Via)

* Flash game of the day: Antkendo. Samurai ants fight! I lost my first try 10-6 after breaking out to an early 2-0 lead.

I haven’t pimped this in more than a week, and we’re less than 20 days before it’s release. So:

* Nintendo unveils their new game controller. It’s not the traditional gamepad. Far from it. Looks like it could be either incredibly fun, or frustrating. At least they’re trying something new. Gotta give ‘em credit for that.

* Very quietly, iTunes has added support for video podcasts.

* I really need to see TRANSPORTER 2. It looks like such good cartoon fun. Two clips from the movie are available on its website. Love the water hose bit.

* The Complete and Utter Idiot’s Guide to Cooking a TV Dinner

Feel free to talk about the premiere of SURVIVOR: GUATEMALA in the comments section of this post. Spoilers for the episode are welcome, but please don’t spoil any upcoming episode surprises you may have read about.

This is definitely the episode that cements my decision to never to be a contestant on the show. I couldn’t handle an 11 mile hike through the jungle even with all the supplies I needed being carried by someone else. But to do it with a bag of corn, bananas, or water on my back? And be racing someone else? No thanks.

(Don’t worry — they wouldn’t take me on SURVIVOR. I’m diabetic. This show wouldn’t be a prime environment for me. I doubt they’d accept my application, based on that alone.)

It’s good to have Stef back again, and even nicer to see her win something.

How long would Billy Jo Bob Benet Ramsey’s eyes have to be rolling into his brain before the camera guy would call paramedics in, I wonder? He’s just lucky Jim was down an arm, or the voting would have been tough.

How dumb is Jim for voting for the nurse? There’s gratitude for you. That team’s lucky they have her with them.

I like the job descriptions next to the names, as always. There’s a “Magician’s Assistant” this year.

Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that they put a sports radio talk show host on the same series as an ex-NFL QB who’s trying to hide his job description? I’m surprised they kept them on separate teams.

I think the show’s off to a good start this year. What do you think?