Since I've Been Gone: TV Land

Rosie quits (after contractual negotiations brake down), and former Survivor chick Elisabeth is preggers. Poor Babs now has to find at least two new co-hosts for the surely beleaguered View this fall.

The pretty boy and his ditsy girlfriend (former season 9 racers Eric and Danielle) won The Amazing Race: All-Stars edition! Wasn't this the one team that no one wanted to win?

The second, and far superior, season of Workout seemingly focused less on Sky Sports owner Jackie Warner, and more on her ensemble family of trainers. The slow build towards the death of 44-year old hottie Doug Blasdell brought tears to hottie Brian's (and my) eyes!

Shear Genius is sheer genius (and I'm not the only one who thinks so)! With Jacklyn Smith, an eclectic mix of accented stylists, hair brawls, short cuts, final cuts and the stylist who brought us the 'shag,' what's not to love about Bravo's latest, and campest, Project Runway-esq reality show?

According to Edward James Olmos it seems that those Battlestar Galactica folks will reach Earth in the fourth, and final (or is it?), season of the show when it returns to the airwaves in '08.

Whitney, Lana's first BF on Smallville, is officially the Sci-Fi Channel's new Flash Gordon (not, as previously rumored, the stripper guy from The OC). Super hot Gina Holden will play his beau Dale Arden.

The best show of the 2006-2007 season, Friday Nights Lights, has been picked up for its sophomore season. Yeah! More of Connie Britton's terrific Texas twang!!!

And in an unprecedented announcement by a network, Lost will officially end in 2010! Only 49 more episode left to go!

(And now it's 3 hours of the Survivor:Fiji finale, and I'm currently rooting for underdog Boo!!!)

Since I've Been Gone: MINI Haters

In the past month my little MINI has been vandalized not once, but twice!!!

The first time it happened the passenger side view mirror was twisted/yanked off, and left dangling by its electrical cord from the side of the car without another scratch on it; someone had simply taken it upon himself or herself to “bash” the side mirrors of a number of cars on parked on Laurel (the truck behind me had been similarly defaced). Four hours, and $727.00 later it was all fixed, but what a truly great way to spend a day off work!!!

Then just this past Wednesday, some jackass tore off the fender trim from two of my wheel arches, again on the passenger side. This time however it wasn’t on Laurel when it was “bashed”, but instead parked just off of Wilshire and 9th in Santa Monica while running an errand. At least this damage it purely cosmetic and doesn’t require an immediate fix, which is good ‘coz so far I’ve been quoted $185.00 a piece (plus labor) by the MINI dealership. However I’ve also found one of the pieces on ebay for just $15.00, plus shipping (a big thank you to the stranger at the gym who suggested this).

I keep trying to tell myself that these recent incidents are purely coincidental, but a nagging little voice in the back of my head keeps telling me that my MINI (sadly oh-so distinctive with it’s Union Jack roof and GB sticker) has been targeted. Maybe it’s that fat homo with those two nasty little pugs who I had words with that time. Or maybe it’s the MINI people themselves so they can charge inflated prices for parts and labor. Or maybe I'm just unlucky these days!

Since I've Been Gone: Back into Tivo Hell!

Why do I do this to myself?

Do I really need BBC America and the Game Show Network added to my channel lineup? Do I really want an unsightly digital cable box (that's too big for the compartments of our TV stand) and add to an already tangled mess of cables?

Is the trouble I've gone through over the past 24 hours, searching through my cupboards for that vital little IR Control cable, having to repeat "Guided Setup" multiple times to find the right channel lineup, getting up at 6am to repeat the whole process upteen more times (all in vain), all so we can watch one channel and Tivo another, is it all really worth it?

Is the $5.00 a month that I'll supposedly be saving really worth it?

At this exact moment in time, I think not!!!!

Countdown to Celebration: Body Art

I'm somewhat jonsing for tattoo #2.

Although I initially planned to wait until I reached that magical 200 lbs to celebrate with some more body art, with the impending Celebration IV I think it's time to re-evaluate and re-ink.

I was considering getting another of the galactic era symbols to join the Rise of the Empire logo on my left shoulder, or just a simple copy of the famed Mandalorian "Mythosaur Skull" insignia on my right.

But a new coffee table book, The Force in the Flesh, written and compiled by Shane Turgeon, creator of http://www.tattoosandtoys.com/, puts my simple tats to shame. From single images and basic symbols like mine, to complex full torse or whole sleeve works of art, the book showcases the elegant and intricate work of 45 artist and tattoo enthusiasts from the world over. Maybe I should reconsider just what my future insignia should be?

The book will be released during the convention and will also be available on their site.

Countdown to Celebration: Another One?

Yes, Hasbro has revealed a third exclusive figure to be sold alongside R2 and 3PO at the upcoming Celebration IV here in LA and Celebration Europe in London.

Though already rumoured to be one of the McQuarrie Signature Series figures accompanying Hasbro's regular waves of figures, Luke Skywalker, formerly known as Luke Starkiller, joins the growing ranks of characters from Ralph McQuarrie's concept illustrations to be immortalized in plastic.

Over at Sideshow the've just released images of one of their convention exclusives, the 12" version of Luke Skywalker dressed in his I've-just-blown-up-the-Death Star finery. Priority pre-ordering for these beauties begin Thursday, April 12th at 10AM (Pacific Time). Unfortunately I think I'll be passing on this one.

Sunkist, Sunkist, Rah! Rah! Rah!

Rock 'N' Roll Ralphs on Sunset is always out of Diet Sunkist!

No matter what time or what day you go, they're out. They have rows and rows of Coke, Cherry Coke, Pepsi and 7-Up, but no Diet Sunkist, in fact it seems like Diet Sunkist is the only soda they're ever out of!

For some reason, they also no longer sell my other favourite soda Diet Coke with Lime (in the 2-litre bottles), so of late, when faced with this lack-of-Sunkist dilemma, I've been taste testing a number of the other sodas, sampling from the plethora of choices available in the pop aisle, to see what else could possibly hit the spot.

Tropicana Sugar Free Orangeade had a disgustingly artificial aftertaste, Pineapple Fanta had no chance (having been raised on Lilt, and it's totally tropical taste), but the Caramel Cream flavoured Jazz, from the makers of Diet Pepsi, well, that was a lovely surprise.

Fearing that it too would be too saccharinely sweet, Jazz knocked my taste buds out of the park. Just enough caramel, not too much aspartame, and snazzy packaging. What more could you ask for from a soda. I'm almost hooked!

New York Pro: 6 Weeks Out

Guest posing at last weekend's 2007 NPC Northern Colorado show in Boulder, CO was Branch Warren, my fraking favourite bodybuilder and at only 5'7" and an off-season weight of around 270 lbs, one of the ultimate mass monsters in the sport.

Branch is currently prepping for the New York Pro championships on May 12th. At his last show, the Arnold Classic in March, he placed 7th, narrowly missing out on automatic qualification for this year's Olympia (only the top 6 qualified, the top five in New York will also qualify). Branch hasn't placed too highly in his last few competitions. Back in 2005 he took home back-to-back first place trophies (at the Charlotte and Europa Super Shows), but since then, although he's gained a good 20+ lbs of muscle, he hasn't been able to dial it in quite as well. This guy is all fraking muscle however, check out the following quick clip:

Later this summer Branch will turn promoter when he hosts The NPC Branch Warren Bodybuilding, Figure and Fitness Championships in Houston, TX. Until then however he's got the New York Pro to win, and if his current 6-week out conditioning is anything to go by, he's got grown men running scared!