TCA: CW extends ‘Model,’ pencils in ‘Geek’

The CW has inked a deal with Tyra Banks to keep “America’s Next Top Model” on the air through the 2009-10 season, with the show heading back to New York after the upcoming Los Angeles-based cycle.

In addition, the CW will kick off its fall schedule Sept. 18 with the two-hour premiere of “Beauty and the Geek,” which will have a twist in the upcoming installment in that the male “geeks” and female “beauties” will be joined by a handsome male and a “geeky” female.

I hope they do both shows in HD now. . .  If Hell’s Kitchen can do it, so can these two!

Drew Carey Lands ‘Price Is Right’ Gig - Popular comic will replace Bob Barker - Zap2it

Drew Carey will appear on “Late Show with David Letterman” tonight (July 23) to announce that he will be replacing Bob Barker as host of “The Price Is Right.”

And that’s TWO game shows he’ll be hosting this year.   The Powers of 10 show begins in a couple of weeks on CBS. . .

I’m happy.

I stopped at Best Buy last week, where I found their Harmony Remote display endcap.  I got to look and touch both the 550 and the 880.  Just my luck - I like the more expensive 880 much better than the 500.  For starters, it doesn’t use the rubbery chiclet buttons that the 550 includes in its center section.  It also has a full color screen with more options on it.  And, also handy, it has a recharging base station.  While that does mean Yet Another Thing to plug in, it saves on battery recharges and we have a place hidden neatly away to plug that in to handle the problem.

So it looks like I need even more Amazon Associates points!  Seriously, I’m humbled by just how much you’ve all ordered in the last couple of weeks since I asked you to consider clicking through VandS before purchasing.  Whether your purchases were large — go, Play Station 3s! — or small, they all added up very quickly.  Please continue to do so, especially if you want the goodness of a Blu Ray player combined with a gaming console. I highly recommend the PS3, if only out of enlightened self interestr.  Heh heh.  I’m almost all the way there to the points I need for the remote.

The only problem is that I’ve just read the small print and realized there’s one major gotcha.  Amazon only calculates the points at the end of the month, from which they send you the gift certificate.  And then they don’t send the money out until 60 days after the end of the month.  In other words, I won’t have the points on hand to buy the remote until, quite possibly, October 1st.

That sucks.

From the book FOUNDERS AT WORK, here’s a clip of an interview with the guy who created Google Mail, Paul Buchheit:

“AdSense, the content-targeted ads, was actually something that, if I recall, I did on a Friday.”

So nonchalant, isn’t he?

Oh my god.

Don’t look at her web site.

Who am I kidding? It’s a train wreck that can’t be avoided. Her resume includes such “acting/model” parts as:

• “Las Vegas” (Felt up girl at Pacific Tropic Contest 2007)
• Soon: “Hitting the Nuts”-Ill be in and I am line producer
• Smart, Sexy, and Jewish -Groupie #1 2007

She’s also done CSI: MIAMI and was a contestant on “Wheel of Fortune.”

PIMP MY RIDE is coming to an end, but they’re starting its successor:

MTV parks “Pimp My Ride” - Yahoo! News

“Ride” will be paired up with new car-makeover competition series, “Trick It Out,” hosted by former “American Idol” contestant Becky O’Donohue, which debuts at 10 p.m. Sunday.

Don’t remember the twin, Becky? This ought to jog your memory.

Oh, he’ll be perfect for the show, though I have no idea why he’d want to bother with it.

Poker “Brat” Phil Hellmuth to Appear on Surreal Life with Miss Cleo

Though VH1 has not made an official announcement on the air date and casting for Season 7 of the popular reality series featuring a group of “has beens”, “have beens”, “have really beens” and “still ares” (in the case of poker brat Phil Hellmuth), both Phil Hellmuth and Professional Wrestler Randy Savage have announced the casting.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage, Dabney Coleman, Nikki McKibbin, Miss Cleo, Carrot Top, and Phil Hellmuth are all slated to appear.

And Nikki McKibbin, an old IDOL favorite! Such fun. But I’ll never bother to watch it.

This is the album that I interrupt my incessant podcast listening for.

I might be one of the few They Might Be Giants fans who didn’t think the last few albums sucked. I think the problem that TMBG has faced in recent years is a certain dilution of brand. They’ve put out live albums, kids’ albums, and podcasts, all while composing music for TV shows, commercials, and movies. They’re not just the two guys who’d come out with an esoteric album of oddball influences every year or two. They’ve even made a couple of songs that sounded like stabs at reaching mainstream radio program directors, but those didn’t go anywhere. That’s just what they sounded like.

The albums have sounded more like anthologies than complete records. That’s not all together new, mind you, but it did seem more pronounced recently. On top of that, the quality of those songs was much more variable. At the This is the album that I interrupt my incessant podcast listening for.

I might be one of the few They Might Be Giants fans who didn’t think the last few albums sucked. I think the problem that TMBG has faced in recent years is a certain dilution of brand. They’ve put out live albums, kids’ albums, and podcasts, all while composing music for TV shows, commercials, and movies. They’re not just the two guys who’d come out with an esoteric album of oddball influences every year or two. They’ve even made a couple of songs that sounded like stabs at reaching mainstream radio program directors, but those didn’t go anywhere. That’s just what they sounded like.

The albums have sounded more like anthologies than complete records. That’s not all together new, mind you, but it did seem more pronounced recently. On top of that, the quality of those songs was much more variable. At the very least, even the hardcore TMBG listener isn’t going to be a fan of all of those styles. So TMBG painted themselves into a corner where they almost couldn’t win.

Their last album, THE SPINE, had a few great songs in there: “Experimental Film,” “Au Contraire,” and, uhm, that’s all I can pick out from the song title list at the moment. Before that was MINK CAR, which had more good songs like “Bangs,” “Cyclops Rock,” “Man, It’s So Loud In Here” (the catchiest of the bunch), “Hovering Sombrero,” “Yeh Yeh” (a cover that made a commercial), “Drink!”, and “Finished With Lies.” The problem, again, was that the large number of songs (17 on that record) made even half the album being less-than-stellar sound bad.

TMBG’s latest album, THE ELSE, isn’t perfection. I’ve seen it called their best album since APOLLO 18, which is one of my favorites. I don’t think I’d necessarily agree with that, either, but it’s the best album of new material in a number of years, for sure. There’s only 13 tracks on this album, and no filler. There’s a variety of sounds on here, from the Fountains Of Wayne-esque “Careful What You Pack,” to, well, I couldn’t tell you. I’m not that good a musicologist. Most of the rest of the album sounds TMBG-ish to me. And I mean that in the best possible way.

I’d go so far as to say the last album on the track, “The Mesopotamians,” is the best TMBG song in a decade. It’s got eveything I love from TMBG. There are obscure references, witty word play, a catchy hook, and a melody that zags when you expect it zig in one or two spots. If I only have time to listen to one song, that’s the one I got.

The song just before that, “Feign Amnesia,” is right up there. It’s another classic TMBG tune, offering suggestions of the most extreme and bizarre sort to get through an otherwise not-abnormal situation. And, again, it’s catchy. It does sound a little like a previous TMBG song, but I haven’t picked out which one that is, yet. I haven’t had the time to listen to the back catalog.

“The Shadow Government” would have been huge a decade ago when X-FILES was in its prime. The driving drum beat and rock guitars make this so memorable. You’ll find yourself humming the chorus at the oddest times, perhaps when you’re being followed. . .

Other songs are enjoyable and blend into the ebb and flow of the album pretty well. But it’s those three that I had to spotlight as being particular five-star-ratings-on-iTunes favorites. If you’re a wayward TMBG fan, I invite you to come home again. THE ELSE might just be the album for you.

• Gaming’s Top Ten Scandals.
• Top Ten Worst Web App Names (link corrected!)
  
• Top 10 Most Expensive Domain Names
• 10 Examples of Why Guys Shouldn’t Drink and Invent
• Top Fifteen Skylines of the World
• Top Ten Articles All Bloggers Should Read

Does anyone here have experience with selling stuff on the Amazon Marketplace?

I’m looking into it right now as a way to get rid of some of the excess DVDs I’m indexing here at home, but the fees look almost more excessive than eBay’s. They’ll list for free for sixty days, but there’s a one dollar transaction fee, plus it looks like a 15% commission on the final sale price. It almost wouldn’t be worth selling a $5 DVD on there, because you’re only lined up for a $3.25 return. That’s a big cut. A $10 sale nets you $7.50. Lesson to be learned: Sell bigger, or don’t bother.

But, then, maybe the Amazon listing will attract more business than eBay, which charges you for the listing even if it doesn’t sell. I’m not sure.

So, any opinions out there? My ears are open. Thanks!

Nearing 500 DVDs scanned into Delicious Library now. Some stray thoughts from the scanning tonight:

I have the first seven seasons of THE X-FILES on DVD. How many seasons did they make? Nine, right? There’s this completist inside of me that wants badly to go to Best Buy and pick up 8 and 9 while they’re on sale, even though I never even took the wrapping off of Season 7. It’s a sickness, I tell ya!

Came across the original edition of THE ROCK that was amongst my first DVD purchases. The case was broken the day I got it. The DVD doesn’t stay put inside the case. Never has. But it’s never gotten scratched, either.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Season One doesn’t want to appear in any searches on Delicious. This is a big problem. The bar code was on an attached piece of paper glued to the back of the box. I’ve long since lost that paper, so I have no bar code to scan

I had similar troubles with the first two seasons of THE SIMPSONS. I have the first four seasons there. I tried to stop buying them, but each box would have two or three classic episodes I couldn’t live without.

I have a complete set of THE PRISONER. I’ve watched it, enjoyed it, and am ready to move on. In the days before Complete Series boxed sets, these shows came two discs to a box, with two episodes per disc, for a total of five boxes. Very annoying, in retrospect. If shipping wouldn’t be such a pain, I’d eBay ‘em tomorrow.

I still treasure my COMPLETE BLACK ADDER collection. You’re never tearing that one out of my cold, dead hands.

BASEKETBALL is a great movie, I don’t care what the critics say.

Amazing to think that Mel Brooks released BLAZING SADDLES and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN in the same year, isn’t it?

Ack! I didn’t realize I owned SPACEBALLS twice. That’s the last movie I would have thought I’d do that with. Still funny, though.

Is NATIONAL LAMPOON’S LOADED WEAPON Samuel L. Jackson’s finest moment? Nah, probably not, but it gets some laughs.

Miscellaneous:

• Faith Hill gets Photoshopped for magazine cover. We know they’re all fake, but wow. Seeing is believing.
• TiVo HD Series 3 Lite officially announced. 160 GB hard drive. Only $299
• How to solve your e-mail problem: Five Sentences.

Gaming: 

• Chuck Jones’ “Duck Amuck” becomes video game on Nintendo DS. You draw, hilarity ensues.
• RockStar’s Tabble Tennis game coming to the Wii! Whoo! I imagine the graphics will take a hit, but I look forward to a slightly tougher version of Wii Tennis.
• Time Crisis comes to the PS3. I really like the arcade game series. It’s a “guilty pleasure” at Dave & Busters. With the Wii gun control coming, is there any hope of a Time Crisis on that platform, too? I hope I hope I hope. Imagine using the recently announced Wii fit board as the pedal to push to duck and refill your gun, while using the Wiimote as the gun. I’m such a geek.
• Sims Bowling on the iPod? Might be time to buy one of those iPod games, at last. The scroll wheel could work well for a bowling game.
• Early Team Fortress 2 impressions.  Yes, the game is nearly here!

A Domain Name Worth Million - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

The Answers Corporation, which runs Answers.com, just announced it has paid $100 million in cash to buy Lexico Publishing Group, a privately held California company whose main business is running the Dictionary.com site.

Wowzers.

Net radio negotiations hit snag over DRM | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Now a new spat appears to be brewing between the Digital Media Association (DiMA), a lobby group representing large Webcasters like Pandora, Yahoo, RealNetworks and AOL, and SoundExchange, the group that collects and lobbied for the new payments on behalf of musicians and record labels.

The issue? Whether Webcasters should be required to cloak their streams in technologies designed to prevent “streamripping” as part of an agreement to cap the administrative fees they owe to SoundExchange.

I don’t use any net radio web sites, but I do enjoy watching the music industry forming a circular firing squad on this issue.

I’m finally all caught up on Big Brother’s new season, so let’s have some initial impressions of the first two weeks in the form of Bullet Points:

• I miss Carol already.
• Her antagonist, though, is an airhead worthy only of that squeeky-voiced annoyance who was in love with Jace not so long ago. Thankfully, I’ve forgotten her name already.
• The cast is pretty strong. While there are still a couple of “characters” that need to be fleshed out, there’s a lot to follow and be entertained by already. Dick is a lot of fun. Jen is the stupidest and most preposterosuly self-absorbed characters of all time and thus lots of fun to follow. Eric is a lot of fun as America’s Player, though I could do without seeing the pierced nipples or that smug one eyebrow lifted up so darn much.
• Joe’s complaint about how Jen won HoH because of her own stupidity was classic. I still laugh when I think about it. I need to search around for that moment on YouTube somewhere.
• The Jen Drinking Game is hilarious.
• Still surprised that nobody’s brought up the idea of a “decoy” yet. Maybe they HAVE been paying attention to previous seasons long enough to realize that that trick rarely works.
• How long before someone gets “back doored,” do you think?
• Putting Daniele on slop two weeks in a row ought to be considered abuse on CBS’ part. I mean, the girl looks like a skeleton bobble head doll as it is. No solid food for two weeks ought to put her into an early grave.
• Is Jameka still on the show? I never notice her until the camera glances across her shadow.
• There’s only one major alliance so far? And they don’t have a cutesy nickname for themselves yet? I’m surprised.
• This show needs more of Doctor Will.