The Early Show

Had an amazing time in New York City!!! We had few bumps regarding transportation, errr, thanks Greyhound. Great service. We almost missed our bus on the way there and almost missed the metro on the way back. Apparently the times on the ticket are just guidelines. But life wouldn't be very much fun it everything went according to plans.

We went to an early, yes, very early taping of The Early Show on CBS and appeared on TV numerous times although I have no proof of the fact. My mom taped cartoons instead of the show so we'll never know how great we looked waving at the cameras.

We did however, get a picture taken with the weather man, Lonnie Quinn, so yes, we're practically famous now. We also took a tour of the studio which was, in typical TV show fashion, not nearly as big as you would imagine. The set was rather small and all of it was a product of TV magic. The sofa was customized to be firmer or softer depending on where different hosts sit to make them all appear the same height. The floor was concrete but painted to look like wood. The stage where stars perform is really as big as a closet with 3 sheets of plastic behind them that are colored by fancy lights. The fans stand around the CBS gates in the middle of an open air plaza, so even the smallest handful of people can look like hundreds.

Never believe what you see on you see on the telly.

Cookie Monster Turned Yam Monster?

I was recently reminiscing about the joys of watching cookie monster chow down excessive cookies as a child, so I was intrigued to see this news story about taking Sesame Street to Nigeria.

Funded by USAID, this new Sesame Street, renamed Sesame Square, will teach Nigerians about subjects ranging from AIDS, malaria nets, gender equality to yams. Their version of the Cookie Monster obesses not over cookies but over yams. He sings, "I can fry the yam. I can toast it. I can boil it. I love yams!" It's no chocolate chip cookie, but that's the beauty cross-cultural adaptation. Yay, for educational television programming everywhere!

America Picked the Wrong Idol

What? Really? America got it wrong. After over 97 million votes total, how on earth did David Archuleta not win American Idol? He had it in the bag, especially after last night's performance. What was the population thinking? I was SURE he was going to be the clear leader. Looks like my prediction after the first episode this season was unfortunately wrong.

I suppose there is consolation in knowing that David Cook, the winner, is a good singer too. He had his moments.

About American Idol:

It remains both the most popular show on U.S. television and a pop culture phenomenon, having produced a list of successful stars from both its winners and losers.

I'll still buy Archuleta's album when it comes out. He's still going to be a winner in the hearts of the 44% of the 97 million people who voted for him.

LeVar Burton

Remember the guy from Reading Rainbow, LeVar Burton? Of course you do...if you had a meaningful childhood. Well, he came to Shippensburg Thursday night. I was super excited to meet him and hear what he had to say.

He talked a lot about his role on Roots, Star Trek, and Reading Rainbow. He said if you had to tie him down and whip him to pick his favorite, he'd pick Reading Rainbow. That made the crowd clap. He he.

He also talked a lot about religion or rather his disdain for it, and his belief that there is no "capricious energy" in the universe. I believe his philosophical bent was perhaps not appropriate for this audience, but if he wants to promote his own agenda, whatever.

Every time he opened his mouth, his voice reminded me of his show. I grew up with that voice. It's just so soothing, and distinctly LeVar Burton. It made me happy.

All day I have had that theme song stuck in my head; I can go twice as high, take a look, it's in a book...Reading Rainboooooooow. Meeting Levar was like reconnecting with my childhood. And he ended his talk with "But you don't have to take my word for it."

Phil of the Future

I was thinking about the future (again) and I was reminded of my favorite Disney Channel show, Phil of the Future. Have you seen it? I know it's supposed to be for kids, but it's so adorable. Phil is from the future but the time machine he used to travel our current year is broken. His haphazard dad can't ever seem to fix it, so he is stuck here till the machine is repaired. Phil uses his cool gadgets to impress a girl from his school and his little sister uses them to torture her classmates. I love the episodes. They are such fun.

Future related, I finally submitted my last grad school application today. Boston University is crossed off my checklist. I've been getting emails almost everyday saying: urgent, your application is incomplete. Deadlines are panic, my friend, sheer panic. I am waiting for tragedy to happen. I don't want something bad to happen, but I fear awful mailing mishaps.

Choir Clash

A guy from Shippensburg is actually on Clash of the Choirs on NBC. He is part of the Oklahoma City choir directed by Blake Shelton. That's exciting. He was stationed at a military base in OK and made it onto the show.

About the show: Writer's Strike evident, no big news flash there. I hate how every clip had a sob story. "Oh, something bad happened to me and I overcame it. Vote for me and my choir." If you are good at singing, then you don't need the sad, sad story. The melodramatic edge was really insulting and over the top by the end. The only choir that didn't have one of those stories was Patti LaBelle's, and hers was amazing--exactly what you think of when you think of the Southern Baptist church choir, only from Philadelphia

Naked Mole Rat

I have a dirty little secret. I like PBS. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone else. It is my guilty pleasure. The Antique Roadshow? The History Detectives? British movies? Sesame Street? Arthur? V-me? Nova? Documentaries? Special Performances? Educational Programming? It's great. Come on.

The other day I saw an episode of Nature: The Beauty of Ugly. Oh my gosh. It was so cool. They hunted down the ugliest creatures in the world, and made a show about it. There is a contest at some elementary schools to find the ugliest bug. Why didn't my school do that? huh? The best animal, by far though, was the naked mole rat. Ewwwww. They are so ugly they are almost cute!

PBS' website about it.

Those New Yorkers

I think I heard about this website, Overheard in New York, on an episode of Six Degrees that was on ABC last year, but that was canceled mid-season. I actually liked it too--or at least the idea that everybody is interconnected by at least 6 completely random links.
But anyway, the website is an interesting idea. People living in New York City send in snippets of conversations that they have overheard from strangers during their day. I think the only conclusion is that there are many New Yorkers who are mean, weird, don't believe in privacy, and lack intelligence. See for yourself my random sampling (of ones that have PG content).

Coworker #1: Is it just me, or are the rats in New York getting smaller? Seriously!

Coworker #2: Maybe you're just getting bigger.

Tourist man: Pardon me, officer, can you tell us where Orchard Street is?

Cop: See that naked Chinese guy?

Tourist man: Ummm...Yeah.

Cop: Walk down to him and make a left.

Tourist man: Um, thanks.

Cop: No problem.

Drunk girl: Kool-Aid is my most favorite drink in the whole world. When she moved in, it was like great, because it was like, "You love Kool-Aid, too? Awesome, we're going to get along great." But then it ended up, she tried to kill me with a steak knife.

Man: How much for two double-A batteries?

Bodega worker: The good ones or the one-dollar ones?

Man: The dollar ones.

Bodega worker: One dollar.

Man: I'll take two.

Bodega worker: That will be two dollars.

Man: Two dollars?!

Pilot: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm just going to power off the plane for a minute and restart it. Kind of like control-alt-delete on your computer.

Girl #1: As Shakespeare once said: "Thou shall not kill."

Girl #2: No, that would be God.

So You Think You Can Dance

My favorite summer tv program is by far So You Think You Can Dance, and last night was the finale. Sabra won. I voted for her, and last year I voted for Benji, who won then too. I am eeriely good. Or maybe my votes count for more? heh.

My favorite dance of the season though was Hok and Jaimie's flower and hummingbird number. It was so beautiful and I will never forget it. Another favorite was Neil and Sabra's table negotiating dance and the cool group matrix doodad.

Also, I find a lot of music I like from the show. All my new downloads are from SYTYCD including two of my new favorites: One Republic and Joshua Radin.