TV

Which is which? Who is Governor Eliot Spitzer of the great state of New York? And Who is bus driver Stu Benedict of the great TV show The Adventures of Pete & Pete?

answer: they're the same person!
UPDATE 2/28: Evidence that Spitzer agrees that he's a "bus driver"

Anyone who knows me knows of my near-pathological love for The Wire. But long before I was resident Wire-ologist, I was a big fan of OZ - HBO's very first (yes, even before the fucking Sopranos) one-hour drama from the late 90s. With The Wire (aka the greatest piece of literature emerging from my lifetime) nearing the series' end, I wanted to offer this suggestion for a series, sharing many of its qualities as well as its actors, to queue up on your Netflix in order to avoid that hollowing feeling we will all inevitably experience in a few weeks. The actor crossovers alone should keep you satisfied. Who and what do they have in common?

On the hot seat is a 33 year old married man who used to be a professional football player and is now a personal trainer. in his audience are his wife and his best friend. the first few questions were softballs, and it was easy to ask yourself: will it take all 21 questions before they pop the question: have you ever cheated on your wife?

it doesn't.

but that doesn't mean you should get your hopes up...

so jumping right into it...

that answer is false.

he lied and the polygraph caught him! he loses everything. you can't beat the polygraph!!

ok, contestant 2.

he's a divorced marketing exec from florida. he lives with his three daughters and his girlfriend. all of his teeth are capped and he's wearing a rug. this guy is a living lie. let's see if he can make it to the $500k.

we have a bunch of george's loved ones in the audience: his chinese girlfriend, boss, and chinese would-be father-in-law. i'm curious how they pay this off...

Q: have you ever gone through a co-worker's private belongings without their knowledge...

Last night was the premiere of Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow on HBO, a cavalcade of spinning stages, projections on gauzy columns, lasers, walls of space age sound equipment, hydraulic risers, and scantily clad dancers. The only people that rivaled the lack of clothing were the permed bridge-n-tunnelers shown in the audience, screaming their eyes out, beer cups raised in joy.

While JTim might be this generation's Michael Jackson, he lacks the consummate showmanship of Jacko.

For example, let's look at how each one ends a show to decide which is better:

• Justin Timberlake ended his show with a ballad on the piano and then, with tears in his eyes, thanked the audience, truly and sincerely, for coming.
• Michael Jackson on the other hand decided to end his 1992 concert in Bucharest by taking off from stage strapped to a jet pack and flying over the audience, presumably on his way to meet Captain EO:

winner: MJ

Also of Note: One person who didn't benefit from the broadcast of the show in high definition was Timbaland, who would randomly rise from and then lumber onto the stage. Dude looked like right before the show he bench-pressed a cow then dipped it in nacho cheese and ate it.

This is really taking viral marketing to the next level. Click the above logo to go to the website of all the corporations that have partnered with The Simpsons to hype the upcoming release of The Simpsons Movie.

To their credit, each of these companies has done an amazing job of making the hype feel like highly personalized excitement for Homer and the gang. I confess, I did a fist pump when I saw that there would be an entire channel dedicated to The Simpsons on my JetBlue flight to Chicago last weekend; and I admit, I did shed a tear when I saw photos of the Kwik-E-Mart of Los Angeles. I never thought I'd see the day. But is this going too far? A website devoted strictly to the commercials?

More ads that get us hard after the jump...

Unsurprisingly, Supreme Court Justice/orgy-participant Antonin Scalia is a big fan of 24. What's a little more surprising is that Scalia thinks the show is real.

At a recent conference in Canada, Scalia took exception to a Canadian Judge's comment, "Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe to the mantra 'What would Jack Bauer do?" Scalia proceeded to throw down:

"Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles... He saved hundreds of thousands of lives... Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?... Say that criminal law is against him? 'You have the right to a jury trial?' Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer? I don't think so."

Scalia's delusional faith in the decision-making of great men notwithstanding, the trend of mentioning of Jack Bauer in serious political/legal debate is disturbing. A little over a month ago, Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo invoked Bauer to great effect (at least in the audience's opinion) during a debate question over, essentially, a 24 scenario.

While 24 does bring up torture as a discussion point, the show never, as far as I can remember, shows a downside to torture. Those that are not in favor of torture (read: liberals) are seen as pussies because they don't realize that Jack always gets things right. Like so many action heroes before him, he is basically infallible. So yes, Antonin, if you can find someone else that is completely infallible, I'll be happy to excuse them from the law.

All of this makes arguing over Jack Bauer scenarios in the context of a debate on torture akin to invoking John Rambo's work in Vietnam and Afghanistan in a debate over how we could end the Iraq War. Although I shouldn't count that out - perhaps Rambo is this Administration's master plan for withdrawal from Iraq; we'll find out that Rambo IV is a documentary in which Sly Stallone single-handedly wins the war.

Read on...

You have to watch this... Staged or Real? Without researching, what do you think?