Wow, that was an awful lot of action last night. They’re not slowing down this season. There are no “set-up” episodes. Everything is “gun and run.” The second one dramatic bit has its payoff is the second the next one gets put into motion.

I’m really happy to see the current Big Bad Guy start to show his colors this early, and not just drag everyone mysteriously around for 12 hours making all of us wonder, “Why haven’t they caught on yet?”

And I’ll never think of a power drill in the same way again.

We’ll have full spoilers in the comments, of course. Just remember — no discussion of the “Coming Next Week” stuff. NONE. Zero. Zilch.

24 Link Dump:

• This just in: Audrey Raines has been cast in yet another new network pilot. That’s one busy actress. . .
• 100 Great 24 Moments — complete with YouTube clips for each. Fantastic! (Thanks, Chris H!)

GREASE is doing something smart. They’re letting the voters pick the bottom two Sandy and Danny contestants, and then letting the judges decide who to toss. Since it’s reality TV, there’s also a “sing-off,” in which the four contestants take turns singing one song to prove they have what it takes to stick around, but we all know that’s a farce. The judges, I’m sure, know who to get rid of before that sing-off ever happens.

And, not surprisingly, the two contestants who were last minute additions to the show were the first to be kicked off it. Matt and Ashley A are gone, which means Ashley Spencer can now just be “Ashley.” For what it’s worth, Ashley A sang a lot better this week than last, though Matt didn’t improve much.

The other odd thing this adds to the competition is that two singers are training for a full week (or two, in this week’s case) to perform a song that they’ll never actually do on air. That seems like a gigantic waste of time, but I suppose it maintains the mystery for the week and keeps everyone on edge. In the guys’ case, that has to be particularly annoying. A lot of them were learning choreography this time. They had backup dancers with them and serious moves they had to learn. Imagine going through all that and not being able to ever perform the number? That would be disappointing.

I imagine we’ll see the girls learning more choreography for next week’s show now.

Overall, the singers are far superior to what you see on AMERICAN IDOL or even ROCKSTAR. They just emote and gesticulate more than the other shows’ contestants. These are people who’ve already been trained and who have worked hard on their voices. There’s some serious talent in there, and I’m sure more than one or two of them will have no problems finding work on Broadway in some show now. I think the girls have more of the talent than the guys, but there are still some strong guys in the show, too.

Finally, from a design geek’s perspective: I love the font they use on the contestants’ names as they introduce them. Anyone geekier than I out there that can identify it? It would make a nice bouncy comic book font.

Really, it’s the little things.

• The Temperature Gauge. No, not the one that tells you your engine is overheating. I mean the one in the displaly that tells me how cold or warm it is outside. It’s not really all that necessary. I mean, does it really matter whether its 30 degrees or 35 degrees? Does it matter if its 39 or 49? And in the summer, is there a big difference between 89 and 99? Heck, no, but that kind of stupid knowledge is required of you when you get to work or get to your family gathering and people seem obsessed with the weather. “Wow, can you believe how cold it is outside?” “Yes, I can. It’s 34 degrees. Isn’t that crazy weather to be having in the dead of winter? Wait, it isn’t.”
• Time Delay: I also like the way it takes a few minutes for the temperature sensor to fully acclimate itself. I live in an area that is generally a few degrees cooler than where I work. When I drive to lunch with people from work, they immediately latch onto my car’s temperature gauge and laugh at how wrong it is. So I play the global warming card on them.
• Temperature Control: I love it when it rains and the windows fog up, because then I have my personal choice between two forms of torture: Extreme cold, or extreme heat. Either will defog the windshield, and both will make me painfully uncomfortable. Plus, there’s that initial blast of the air that completely fogs up the windshield before it starts to disappear. This is always a fun maneuver to make at 65 MPH. (Yeah, like anyone on the highway does only 65. . . )
• Fog Lamps: Other cars on the road will frequently mistake them for high beams and flash their own lights at you. Also, they’re very useful in the fog to help light the fog up and blind you even worse than what you started with.
• Headlight Windshield Wipers: No, my car doesn’t have those, but I wanted to mention them here as the Most Useless Addition to a car that I’ve ever seen. You really have money to burn when you order that option.

OK, so I’m a little late to talking about it, but I finally watched the return of LOST last night. Did you? Have you jumped off the bandwagon for good now, replacing your weekly serialized fiction fix with HEROES? Did ABC officially screw the pooch by splitting this season into two parts? Is LOST the next O.C., doomed to flare up brightly, only to die quickly?

And is this episode the one that SHOULD have ended the first mini-season?

Share your SPOILER-FILLED thoughts in the comments below. Just don’t talk about the coming attractions for next week. We like some surprises around here. . .

It’s a possibility.  Sort of.

‘Idol’ all-star show may happen - Newsday.com

An “All-Star American Idol?” It’s been one of those intriguing ideas that has echoed around the “Idol” universe the past couple of seasons, but so far it has remained just that — an idea.

But it could be a real possibility. Nigel Lythgoe, the show’s executive producer, Thursday confirmed he has approached Fox about a plan that would combine an all-star edition with a songwriting competition.

Tech Geek Stuff:

• Amazon’s “Unbox” video download service will soon work with your TiVo! That’s pretty cool.
• Nintendo version of Guitar Hero confirmed.
• The new Windows Vista theme music was created on a Mac. Bwah ha ha
• Meanwhile, Bill Gates is out there daring people to hack Vista. Be careful what you wish for, Bill. . . Funny enough, his plan to outwit the hackers is to issue patches quickly. In the same interview, he talks about how the Mac can be hacked every day. As big a lie as that is, you know what Apple’s fix for security issues is, Bill? Issue patches. Except Apple has been doing that for years, not Microsoft. And unlike Microsoft, they don’t wait for the next scheduled release of a patch to correct their errors. They do it right away. As does the open source world, I might add.

Music:

• Billy Joel’s new song can now be heard at People Magazine’s website.
• O.A.R.’s concert at Madison Square Garden last month was recorded for a DVD to be released in the spring. I didn’t make the concert this year, so I’m looking forward to the video.
• The Barenaked Ladies’ new video is for their song “The Sound Of Your Voice.” It’s one of the few I really liked on their latest album. But here’s the catch: You can watch the video on YouTube. It stars a bunch of viral video stars, including the Evolution of Dance guy and the Mentos/Diet Coke guys. Really funny, and very trendy for the kids today.

Last night’s final hour of auditions turned out to be not so much a “Best Of/Worst Of” thing, but rather a complete hour of non-geographically specific auditions in much the same mold as the previous 10 or 12 hours of auditions. And yet it was still entertaining.

Tami Gosnell sang “Whipping Post.” At first glance, I wasn’t sure if it was a he or she, and that lip ring looks painful. She’s a pedi-cab driver during the day, and now an AI contestant at night. She made it through to Hollywood.

Paul Kim wanted to prove that William Hung doesn’t represent all Asian-American singers. So he sang like an R&B black man. But he sang very well. Five or six years ago, he would have been in a boy band. The judges happily gave him a golden ticket.

Gina Glocksen I recognized from last year. This is her third audition, and her second year going to Hollywood. Not a bad track record. I just checked the V&S archives — I didn’t mention her by name last year. But, then, I wasn’t writing up EVERY audition episode last year, either. She sang “Black Velvet.” I thought she was a little borderline, but she’s still good.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to see a round of auditions where only the good singers made it through, and the judges had to make their decisions based on marketability, nerves, performance quality, and the overall level of talent? Yeah, keep dreaming. Right now, whenever the judges pass on someone who can sing just because they’re not original enough, you almost hate them for it. They listen to those AWFUL singers all day. They should leap at the chance to put through a decent singer, right? Nope.

Then came the roller skating trio, of which only two could make it through. I didn’t think any of them were bad, though the judges likely cut the right one. Given that they only let the first two singers do about ten seconds, I can’t imagine how they made the decision so quickly. Maybe the rest of their auditions got cut in editing.

Heather Rennie is the one who didn’t make it through, and you have to feel sorry for her. On the other hand, I’m sick of Rascall Flatts and “God Bless the Broken Road.” I’m almost happy when someone doesn’t make it through who chooses that song. I almost want people to go back to Mariah and Whitney songs, of which we saw a lot fewer this season.

Ashley Cleland also made it through. I thought she started a little weak, but built up nicely before Simon cut her off. Paula was right, though — she wears about five pounds of makeup, which is too much.

Ebony Jointer rounded out the group and turned out to be the most talented of them all. She’s going to be a major threat in Hollywood if she can keep her nerves and learn the songs fast enough. She’s a natural with great range.

Lakisha Jones might also be another strong contender. Not only does she have a great voice, but she has a three year old daughter, too. America loves voting for the mothers. Or, she might turn out to be this year’s Frenchie. . . Who knows?

172 people made it through to Hollywood, all together. And Hell Week begins on Tuesday. I can’t wait.

Recap of AI6 Audition Cities:

• Minneapolis
• Seattle
• Memphis
• “New York City”
• Birmingham
• Los Angeles
• San Antonio

At last, we reach the end of the auditions. Well, almost. Tonight is another episode of bad auditions, good auditions, and highlights culled from leftover footage. I’m sure there’s plenty of material to fill the hour, but the excitement and the soap opera truly begins next week with Hollywood Hell Week, where golden tickets are exchanged for broken dreams. Sounds vaguely poetic, doesn’t it?

I loved the opening bit of confusion, wherein we started by talking to people who traveled from all over the country to make the auditions. From there, we cut to crowd scenes of people with southern accents singing and chanting about Texas. While I’m sure most of the 11,000 at the Alamo Dome were Texans, I just found the juxtaposition funny.

Bryan Kyrish started the night with the energetic fist-pumping rendition of “Rebel Yell” that we’ve seen in a preview here and there this year. He calls himself an energetic performer whose idols include Billy Idol and Ozzy Osbourne. It’s not a good start.

Haley Scarnato does better. She’s very cute and has a well controlled voice. She has experience as a wedding singer, but I don’t think I can afford to fly her out for mine, so there goes that idea. She looks a little distracted when she sings, though, as her eyes dart around the place.

Jasmine Holland, though, becomes the walking highlight reel for possessing The Most Pronounced Camel Toe in American Idol History. It was bad. Oh, and she couldn’t sing, either. But she liked to insult the judges, which makes for good Idol TV, right?

Baylie Brown was going through to Hollywood from the moment she appeared before the commercial break. After all, they had worked up a whole video package about her life in small town Texas, living on a farm and dreaming of the city. She’s only 16, so she’ll be learning a lot quickly when she gets to Hollywood. She made it easily. She could use another year or two of training, but Simon called her commercial, and she’s better than most.

At the 26 minute mark, Idol finally gave us what we’ve all been waiting for: The Wrong Door Montage. It’s been the best running gag on TV all year, and now we got one long series of people trying to exit out the wrong door and looking funny in the process, straight through to the person who pushed on the wrong door and opened it wide. Good for her!

William Green gave us an “Amazing Grace” that sounded like a long foghorn rumbling deeply throughout the room. Not a note of it was on OK, but that’s OK, he made me laugh. He warned the judges that he had to “represent,” and so staged a fight with them as he walked out the door. That’s one of the funniest things from the season so far.

His cousin, Akron Watson, though, was really good and got through to Hollywood. He’s got a very bluesy, controlled voice. With his second song choice, he really blew the judges away enough to get the Golden Ticket. Once he learns to force more of his personality out in his singing, he’ll be ok.

No, he won’t be. Akron’s been busted on marijuana charges, and disinvited from Hollywood.

Sandie Chavez was much funnier than William Green, singing-wise. She came with a long resume, including singing for the mayor of Houston. I hope it was with a large group, because her solo singing was hideous. She claimed to be singing “Black Velvet,” but you really couldn’t make out the words or the melody. She reminded me a bit of the Mexican singer on ROCKSTAR: SUPER IDOL last summer. Maybe she worked better in her native tongue.

And, yes, she’s a music teacher. There is no hope for the future.

Ashlyn Carr is best known for being the girl who got the second chance. She originally got bumped for being too expressive with her singing. I thought her main problem was that she never opened her mouth up wide enough. I could take all the funny faces, but the inability to open her mouth wide on the big notes bothered me. It made understanding the lyrics more difficult, as well.

After rejecting her, they wrangled her back, gave her another song, and brought her through.

The scariest part was the way Simon was rubbing his man boobs in his hands so absent-mindedly while judging her at the end. Shudder.

Carr, by the way, was once arrested for pouring sugar in her ex-boyfriend’s gas tank. Girls will be girls.

And things wrapped up with Jimmy McNeal, who Simon compared to a fun little Ruben “when he used to smile.” Ouch. He’s a strong singer, though, with a great voice and a memorable personality. Seems like a good guy, too. So he’s through.

22 people made it to Hollywood and we’ll see them all next week.

This is an excerpt from the latest Borders mailer:

That’s right — the book is available now, and you can reserve it today! I’m so confused.

Full list.

My excerpts:

• Anything But Love: Season One (3-disc set)

This was a big critical darling back in the day, wasn’t it? Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis were the new Dave and Maddie, but with a more caustic wit. It’s best remembered at Chez De Blieck for Lewis’ line, “What’s a Belgian accent?” during a MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS spoof.

• Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (2007)

May I quote a WWII catchphrase? “Was this trip really necessary?”

• Flags of our Fathers (2006)

Wow, I didn’t think Clint Eastwood’s WWII film would be out so quickly. It should help him in the Oscars race.

Correction: I got this movie confused with “Letters from Iwo Jima.”  Sorry about that.  Too many WWII movies these days, I suppose.

• Flicka (2006)

Maria Bello is cute. And the original movie from 60 years ago is also out this week

• The Last Unicorn: 25th Anniversary Edition (1982)

Quite the cast lineup for this one, from Rene Auberjonois to Christopher Lee. Angela Lansbury, Alan Arkin, and Jeff Bridges also star. I don’t remember this one. I think it might have been one of those weekend movies that the local stations aired on Saturday afternoons back then, but I never watched it.

And for all the comic book fans out there:

• Ben 10: Season One (2-disc set)
• Hellboy: Sword of Storms
• Hollywoodland (widescreen) (2006)
• Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo (2007)

As for next week: We see the debut of the BEAUTY AND THE BEAST TV series with its first season. And the Oscar season heats up as THE DEPARTED jumps to disc quickly.

Disturbing, but must see TV:

Hip Hop Harry - Where We Love To Learn

It’s a kid’s show, but you will need the volume to fully appreciate its wonder and magic.

Kids today.

(”Thanks” to Shawn.)

Poor Jack.  As if his day wasn’t bad enough. . .

I’m not sure what I could possibly say without spoilers other than:

• Good episode!
• Dwayne is still a weak president when he starts making speeches.  Completely unmotivating, and unbelievable.
• Why Chloe is now sexy. (Of course she is!  Geeky is the new sexy.)
• 24 is two hours next week!  Whoo-hoo!
• Congrats to TFO last week for correctly predicting the identity of Fayed’s new scientist friend.

Fill the comments with spoilers, but DO NOT talk about any previews they might have shown at the end of the episode.

Did anyone else catch the commercial for the HD-DVD format during the game last night?  Were you watching it on a high def TV?  Did you notice that the commercial wasn’t in high definition format, just plain old 4:3 letterboxed format?

The next generation format wars are over, and nobody wins.

(And, yeah, no Apple commercial, after all.  We’re all sad.  But they did settle with the Beatles.)

• The french word for “To Flip Through TV or Radio stations/channels” is zapper. C’mon, who here hasn’t known a person who called the remote a “zapper?”
• My spam mail volume this weekend is way up, and most of it is offers for cheap copies of Windows Vista. Score another one for Microsoft.
• Your new word of the day, from the Urban Dictionary: pluto, v., to pluto someone or something is to downgrade, demote or remove altogether from a prestigious group or list, like what was done to the planet of the same name.

Crossword Puzzles:

• The New York Times Crossword Puzzles: A Nintendo DS game! Very cool.
• A 2005 article about “Wordplay,” the crossword puzzle documentary. I got it for Christmas on DVD, and still haven’t watched it. Darn you, American Idol!
• Do crosswords keep your mind sharp into old age?
• Crossword puzzlers hate sudoku.
• Ken Jennings reviews GRID LOCK, a book about crosswords and the people who make them.
• Merv Giffin’s new game show has a crossword puzzle theme.