Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Monday, April 25, 2011

ONE MAN SHOULD NOT HAVE THIS MUCH POWER ON AN ISLAND, BUT I'M GRATEFUL THAT I DO:  While you should listen to every episode of the Firewall & Iceberg podcast, of course, you should especially listen to this week's edition because Dan and Alan discuss my question -- should he win, where does Boston Rob's performance on this season of Survivor rank among the all-time performances on reality competitions?

Part of why I asked is because so many of the performances I think of as dominant -- Stefan Richter (Top Chef 5), YaYa DaCosta (ANTM 3), Colin and Christie (TAR 5), Kris and Jon (TAR 6), Eric and Jeremy (TAR 9), Daniel Vosovic (Project Runway 2), Adam Lambert (American Idol 8) and Rob himself (Survivor All-Stars) -- are from folks who ended up as runners-up. In terms of folks who dominated and won, the list is narrower -- Richard Hatch (Survivor 1), Hung Huynh (Top Chef 3), J.T. Thomas (Survivor: Tocantins) and Michael Voltaggio (Top Chef 6) come to mind, but only the first two come close to the "no one else deserves to win this thing" sense of control that Mariano is now.

Of course I'm forgetting someone, which is why I have y'all.
IF THIS HAD BEEN THE LONG FORM, HE'D BE DEAD BY NOW: You may recall that terrific video, F**k me, Ray Bradbury. Proof that there is justice in the industry awards universe, this video is a finalist for a Hugo Award.
NO [RETURN]:  The world's last typewriter factory has closed?  Not quite, say the folks at Swintec, who still manufacture and sell typewriters to prisons and other government facilities.

I remember it was a big deal in 8th grade (1985-86) that they changed the name of the class at my middle school from Typing to Keyboarding.  I have to imagine the demise of correction fluid and carbon paper is soon to follow.
NO, I HAVEN'T GOTTEN THE CALL YET, BUT ...  If you were selected to appear on Jeopardy!, on what subjects would you focus your preparation?  (For me: classical music and opera, British monarchs, and Final Jeopardy! wagering strategy.)
SIX HOURS A DAY, SIX DAYS A WEEK, FOR SIX YEARS:  A complete novice is testing Malcolm Gladwell's theory by seeing if he can become a professional-quality golfer by putting in 10,000 hours of practice.