Classic! New and improved name for Fleet Center

Derek Jeter Center? Don't think so!
BOSTON (AP) - Could it be possible that a sports arena in downtown Boston, smack in the middle of Red Sox Nation, would be named after one of those hated New York Yankees?

Maybe for one day. Or maybe not.

The FleetCenter has been selling one-day naming rights for charity while it tries to line up a new long-term naming deal.

Kerry Konrad -- a New York attorney -- submitted the winning bid of more than 23-hundred dollars on eBay for next Tuesday's naming rights. And Konrad wants the arena to be known as Derek Jeter Center, in honor of the Yankees' captain and shortstop.

Not so fast, says FleetCenter spokesman Jim Delaney. He says he told Konrad that his naming request may not be accepted. Delaney says a decision may come by the end of the day.

Konrad is a Harvard grad with a 20-year rivalry with some of his old Boston classmates. He told FleetCenter officials that his request could have been much worse: For example, he could have chosen to name it "The A-Rod Center."

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Happy work environment

Today is the kind of day that makes it all worth it.

When I went into the lunchroom this afternoon, I found a plate of salmon and rice prepared by the chef from Jack's Oyster House for the noon news. Mmm... salmon...

Then I returned to the newsroom to discover someone had ordered pizza and there was still a slice left. Mmmm... free pizza...

I took the slice back to my cave and quickly devoured it. When I re-emerged a short time later I noticed the pizza box was gone and in its place was a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts! Woohoo!

So today is a good day.

Do you still believe?

The 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team celebrates after its upset victory over the heavily favored Soviet team by a 4-3 score in the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, N.Y.

I'm watching the Miracle on Ice on ESPN Classic and I'm finding myself getting completely caught up in it. With one second left on the clock in the first period, Mark Johnson just scored a goal to tie the game 2-2 and I found myself instinctively pumping my fist in the air and calling out, "Yes!"

Twenty-five years later, do you still believe in miracles? You betcha!

I Love the 90s

Flying through the air with the greatest of ease.

I just stumbled across these photos. I didn't realize I had them on my computer.

They're from the classic 1990-91 New Year's Eve party in the basement of Marc Colosimo's vacant house.

In the top picture, you can see that we decided it be fun to throw some cushions on the floor, run at top speed from the opposite side of the room and the leap through the air. Makes sense, right?

In the bottom picture we're all singing along to "Piano Man" -- because that's what college students did when they were drunk.


Nice acid wash jeans, Aaron.

Don't click this link if you don't want to see smut!

Lost Remote: 'Worst TV' of the week
This is classic. The folks at the Parents Television Council have gone to the trouble of streaming the "worst TV clips of the week." Quips Rex Sorgatz, "In other words, the best TV of the week."

From Lost Remote

Calling in a ringer

Sox to issue 500 rings, wiping out previous mark

From Boston.com...

The Sox will issue 500 World Series rings to players, coaches, management, and myriad team employees, obliterating the record for the largest order ever received by Minneapolis-based ring maker Jostens Inc.

"That's so beyond the record it's unbelievable," said Al Nuness, vice president of sports sales for Jostens. "The most we've ever done for a championship ring in the past has been the Patriots when they first won their rings [in 2002]. That was about 225 rings. This is going to be a major celebration for the Red Sox."

Who are they giving all of these rings to? Are the hot dog vendors getting rings?

You know, I always said I would have no problem going to Fenway Park decked out in full Yankee gear, but now I don't now. I'm likely to get punched in the face by someone wearing one of those rings!

'Simpsons' surprise

Back in July I predicted Waylon Smithers would be the "Simpsons" character would come out of the closet in the planned gay marriage episode.

However, it turned out to be Marge's sister Patty was the one who decides to surprise everyone when same-sex marriage is legalized in Springfield.


Patty Bouvier declares her love for the ladies in tonight's episode of "The Simpsons."

I should have seen it coming. Smithers was too obvious a choice, and Patty was the one who always sat on the sidelines while her twin sister Selma has been married three times (four times according to tonight's episode -- lucky Disco Stu).

Pooch party

Chester, Spike and Winthrop (left to right) wait for the treats to be handed out.

Chester had some of his canine comrades over in the backyard today. There are several Basset hounds in the neighborhood. The two who live closest are Spike and Winthrop. The three of them are like best friends.

Spike (in the middle in the picture above) is the youngest of the bunch. He just came to the neighborhood on Jan. 1. His owners adopted him from a Basset rescue group after their previous Basset, Charlie, died in October. This was actually the first time Chester and Spike have had a chance to run around together off leash -- and they had a blast!

Chester was always the most energetic of the three when Charlie was around. But young Spike is more than a match for Chester. They chased each other around the yard today, while Winthrop just watched and waited for the treats. It really was fun to see them in action.

Home Improvement, Part 4

Houston...we have sheet rock.

The sheet rock went up in the basement last night. A crew of three guys arrived around 4:30 p.m. and were done before 8 p.m.

The walls still need to be taped, which will probably take place Sunday or Monday.

Then all that will be left is to put in the molding, finish the outlets, cover the lights and hang a couple of doors.

We're going to paint it ourselves. Kris picked the paint up yesterday morning. After that, we'll have carpet put in and the room will be done.


Here's the stairs going up to the kitchen. The doorway leads to the other side of the basement where the washer and dryer are. To the left of the stairs is a small closet.

International FF trailer

The new international version of the "Fatastic Four" trailer is now available online. While I still have some reservations about this movie (I want it to be good, but I'm worried it won't be) this trailer is much improved over the last one.

Don't panic!

Now Playing on Amazon.com: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The new trailer for "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" made its debut on Amazon.com today. Check it out!

Phone upgrade

A happy employee seen in a picture taken with his new phone.

I just got my first camera phone today at work. This is the first picture I took. Despite the image, I'm actually quite happy about it!

Brand new 'Sith' pics!

Jeditemppeli.net

Obi-Wan and Anakin, most likely in the film's opening sequence.

Found a link on Cinescape to a page with loads of great pictures from "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith." Most of them were shots I hadn't seen yet.

Get 'em while you can before Lucasfilm hands down a cease and desist order.

Be warned, there are some minor spoilers...

Big Brother is Watching

That's me in the upper right.

Check out this shot of me in a promo for a sweeps story on security cameras. I'm pretending to be rocking the vending machine to get a free candy bar.

Yeah pretending...I would never do that for real!

What's more frightening than the threat surveillance cameras pose to our personal privacy is the apparent bald spot on the back of my head I never noticed before.

'Time' for a new commercial

If I hear Vanessa Carlton belting out "Time Is On My Side" in that damn Time Warner Cable commercial one more time, I'll scream!!! She has officially joined the ranks of Billy Fusello (HUGE!) and Justin Resnick (the mattress guy).

Home Improvement, Part 3

Work contiues on our new basement room.

I'm really impressed with how fast the basement is coming together. The room is all framed now. Today they insulated the walls and started putting in the floor.

The carpenters will be back one more day this week to finish up the floor and run a couple of phone lines I requested today. Then on Saturday the sheet rock is scheduled to go up.

Gearing up for 'Guide'

Quint kicks the Improbability Drive and sees THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY!!!
AICN has posted a largely positive review of an early screening of "Hitchhikers's Guide to the Galakxy."

I'm about a third of the way into the third book in the series, " Life, the Universe and Everything," and I'm starting to lose a little interest. I just think it's time to take a break.

But I still can't wait to see this movie!

From the People With Too Much Free Time Dept.

Explicit snow sculpture amuses, shocks drivers

GLEN AUBREY, N.Y. (AP) - An explicit snow sculpture had some drivers on a rural road north of Binghamton doing a double-take this week.

The much larger-than-life icy depiction of male genitals was on display for several days in a front yard in Glen Aubrey.

One neighbor -- Bob Hodges -- told Binghamton radio station W-N-B-F that "it was the talk of the town for awhile."

Hodges said many people who saw the six-foot-tall display just chuckled.

But the artwork provoked a frosty reaction from one woman, who called the Broome County Sheriff's Department to complain about what she described as an "offensive" snow sculpture.
A deputy who went to the home was told by a mother that the unconventional display was the work of her sons.

While the mother said she wouldn't knock it down, she told the deputy she'd have her sons take care of it.

The sculpture was gone the next day.

(Bob Joseph, WNBF, Binghamton)

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Blogger improvements

Good news, everyone. Blogger has improved the way comments work on their blogs. You no longer have to be a registered Blogger user to leave a message with your name and site info, which has been a frequent complaint from non-Blogger users. Before if you wanted to comment, you had to select "Anonymous." But not anymore. Good deal.

Home Improvement, Part 2

What will eventually be walls are taking shape.

All of the meteorologists in the area completely blew the forecast for today. It was predicted we would get well over 12 inches of snow. Instead we got a lot of rain and eventually a dusting of snow.

But that's ok -- we got the best of both worlds out of the deal. Not only did we not have to cope with any snow, the concern that there would be snow got our contractors to come. As I mentioned before, the work on our basement wasn't supposed to start until the spring. But they dropped some materials off a few weeks ago and said they would come to our house if they had a job outside and couldn't work because of the weather.

They started framing the walls today. They also moved around some wires so that we could still have access to them once the room is finished. In the process they discovered for us that there was an extremely simple fix for the lamp post in front of our house, which hasn't worked for years, and solved the mystery of the switch in our dining room that's never seemed to go to anything (everyone with an older house has one of those). It turns out the switch goes to the aforementioned lamp post.

The workers will return tomorrow.

Sorry, everybody

Giambi apologizes, says he told grand jury truth
Jason Giambi broke his silence today and apologized profusely to everyone under the sun without eve ractually saying what he was apologizing for.

"When I went into that grand jury, I told the truth."

That was the closest we got to an admission, considering he never once actually used the word "steroids."

"I feel I let down the fans, I feel I let down the media, I feel I let down the Yankees -- not only the Yankees, but my teammates."

I hope he means it. It will be interesting to see how he performs this season and what sort of fallout this has in baseball.

No good deed goes unpunished

Teens' cookie deliveries crumble into $900 lawsuit
I would love it if I had neighbors that wanted to bring me cookies.

But a Colorado woman got so freaked out when some well-wishing teenage girls knocked on her door one night that she had anxiety attack -- and sued the girls, who just thought they were trying to be nice. A judge ordered the girls to pay the woman's $900 medical bill.

'24' memo

Next on '24': Bureaucratic Reform Goes Nuclear
Feb. 8, 2:01:07 . . . 2:01:08 . . . 2:01:09

From: Erin Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge, Los Angeles Domestic Unit, Counter-Terrorism Unit

To: All L.A. personnel

Re: New civil-service rules

I know you're all very busy at the moment, but I wanted to let you know about some important changes here at CTU. As you may know, our parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, will be the first in the federal government to implement a sweeping new personnel system. As announced in Washington by the Bush administration on Jan. 26, the new rules will overhaul the way 110,000 civil-service employees are paid, promoted, deployed and disciplined.

How will these new rules affect CTU? Let me offer a preview:

Too damn funny, if you're a fan of the show. Thanks, Lindsay for passing it along.

The root of the problem

I found out on Thursday that I have to have a root canal. Oh joy. For gross reasons I won't bother you with, I am not in any pain right now. But the dentist asures me that could change at any moment. Yippee.

Happy dating anniversay

It was 14 years ago today that Kris and I became a couple.

I was a freshman in college and she was a sophomore. We had been friends since we first met at the start of the school year. But on this day in 1991 I quite nervously sat her down and told her I like liked her.

And not a moment too soon, since she was getting tired of waiting for me to get off my butt and make a move (dealing with the opposite sex was never one of my strong points during my teenage years).

It turned out to the be best move I ever made. The rest, as they say, is history.

Groovy!

Raimi to direct EVIL DEAD 4... as well as produce EVIL DEAD remake!
Now this is more like it. No one wants to see a remake of "Evil Dead" without Sam Raimi behind the camera or Bruce Campbell in front of it.

But an "Evil Dead 4" with Raimi directing and Campbell back as anti-hero Ash? That's great news!

The passing of Dean Wormer

Brilliant Character Actor John Vernon Is On Permanent Double Secret Probation
"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

Long live the Queen!

Queen Members to Reform
This is truly great news!

A Farewell to Arms

Bruce Campbell not in EVIL DEAD remake
I have officially lost any interest in the "Evil Dead" remake that's in the works.

Back to Bond's beginnings

Casino Royale is next Bond movie
How cool is this? The next Bond film will be an adaptation of Ian Flemming's first 007 novel, "Casino Royale." It is the only Flemming story not used as inspiration for an "official" Bond movie.

There were two earlier versions of "Casino Royale." In the 1950s, before Sean Connery sipped his first martini on film, the story was produced as a live tele-play on CBS, featuring an Americanized "Jimmy" Bond (Bond's CIA buddy Felix Lieter was British in this version). Then in 1967, during the height of the Connery era, Columbia Pictures secured the rights to "Casino Royale" and produced it as a spoof of the spy movie genre.

I've never read "Casino Royale" (or any of Flemming's novels), but I'm told it was Flemming's most violent story. For a long time, Quentin Tarantino has expressed interest in making the movie and keeping it very faithful to the book.

Instead, it's being made by Martin Campbell, who directed "GoldenEye." The script is being written by the same team who worked on the last couple of Pierce Brosnan movies. It will be interesting to see if they remain close to the book or if it's turned into another big budget, big action spectacle that has made so many Bond purists critical of the Brosnan era (I'm not one of them).

Speaking of Brosnan, he will not be back for a fifth turn as 007. There is still no word yet on who will be getting the part.

The FINAL Frontier

UPN Cancels 'Star Trek: Enterprise'
It's official. UPN announced today it is cancelling "Star Trek: Enterprise." The show ill wrap up production in March and the series finale will air in May.

I'm conflicted about this. For a while I've been saying we need to take a break from Trek. But at the same time, part of me will be sad to see "Enterprise" go. Next fall will be the first since 1988 that there hasn't been new Trek episodes on TV. I know that, in and of itself, was part of the problem. But the voide will ltake a little getting used to.

"Enterprise" may have been the weakest of all the Trek shows, but unfortunately it's being cancelled just as it was getting good. I always liked the concept for the show and thought it had a lot of potential, but it floundered under the guidance of Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It finally started improving once Manny Coto took over the reins this year, but by then too much damage had been done. It's too bad.

I hope this means the writing is on the wall for Berman. It's time for a change. When Trek makes its inevitable comeback, lets hope someone else will be at the helm.

You're fired...and that's a good thing

From the official news release:

NEW YORK – February 2, 2005 – NBC announced today the network would broadcast an additional version of the hit reality show "The Apprentice" featuring Martha Stewart as host. The new edition will be titled "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart." The announcement was made by Jeff Zucker, President, NBC Universal Television Group. Donald Trump and Mark Burnett will serve as Executive Producers of both series.

Google can read your mind

Google Suggest Beta
Check out this new feature from Google. As you start typing, Google offers suggestions for what you are probably looking for.

You and Google...like an old married couple finishnig each other's sentences...

Thanks, Lindsay.

Rodney Not Available

Even in death, Rodney Dangerfield gets no respect. The late comedy legend's longtime publicist, Kevin Sasaki, got a call from a booker at CNN last week asking him if "Rodney would be available to share his comments on the passing and legacy of Johnny Carson." Sasaki replied that unless CNN had a new way of linking up to the afterlife via satellite, that would be impossible. Dangerfield, of course, passed away last October. Ironically, his new DVD set, "Rodney Dangerfield - The Ultimate No Respect Collection," was posthumously released last month, and includes clips culled from his more than 70 appearances on "The Tonight Show." (PAGE SIX - NY Post)