If you haven't seen The West Wing season finale yet, don't read any further!

One more quickie link... The West Wing season finale was, as I expected, fantastic. The only complaint I have is that I had been waiting all week to hear President Bartlet give those reporters an earful, and the damn thing ended right before he was to begin speaking! When Leo said to Toby, "Watch this...", I swear, my goose bumps had goose bumps.

My favorite scene from the finale: In a demonstration of the real power of this show, I was driven to tears as the President railed against God, alone in the cathedral after Mrs. Landingham's funeral; he wasn't yelling, and he was speaking line upon line of dialogue in Latin, yet I didn't need to hear him yell to feel the anger in his voice, nor did I need to hear the words in English in order to understand what he was saying to God. [if you're wondering what he did say, click here]Knowing that he is a Catholic and a religious person was enough to lend significance to the metaphoric act of extinguishing his cigarette on the cathedral floor. Jesus, I'm getting goose bumps again. Oh, it is going to be a LONG four months.

posted at 3:46 PM | link |

The X-Files will be returning to FOX for a ninth season. Good news? Bad news? I'm going to reserve judgment until I see the season finale (this weekend!) and learn more of the particulars. I read somewhere that Chris Carter may only act as a consultant, and that scares the crap outta me. Is he handing creative control over to FOX?? God, I hope not.

posted at 2:34 PM | link |

This Thing of Ours...

The TV season is winding down, and we have another season finale on Sunday. HBO's "The Sopranos" will be wrapping up its third season that night. I have no idea what will happen and I cannot wait to find out.

So today we pay tribute to The Sopranos. Enjoy!

On CNN's Larry King Live:

May 18 - "The stars of the award-winning "Sopranos" pay a visit to Larry in their first joint television interview. The 'administration' will be Edie Falco, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, Tony Sirico, Joe Pantoliano and Robert Iler. Will they keep 'their code of silence' as they talk about fame, the family, and preview this Sunday's season finale? Find out -- they will be live and taking your calls "

Yo! What the heck did Sylvio just say? If you wonder like I do, go check out HBO's Made Guy Glossary.

Salon.com has a great interview with the actors who play Uncle Junior, Furio, Artie and Bacala. It's very funny, and nice to hear from some of less-scrutinized cast members. Uncle Junior's lust for Angie Dickinson just kills me.

posted at 2:07 PM | link |

I got this horoscope in the mail in the mail today, and it had me cracking up.

"You may be feeling like a snail who is emerging from her shell, Regina....Be careful of letting your defenses down too much, however, because a big hungry chicken is coming along who is looking for his dinner."

Chickens make me laugh. So sue me.

posted at 11:36 AM | link |

Why? Because it's there. Breathtaking.

posted at 7:11 PM | link |

Well, Ladies and Germs, tonight is the big season finale of The West Wing, on NBC at 9:00 P.M. EST. The story of the President's failure to disclose his illness has been gripping, but the last 5 minutes of last week's episode knocked me on my ass. And it looks like we can expect more of the same tonight.

How about some quotes from the show in honor of this being Finale Day?

"When I think of all the work you put in to get me to run, when I think of all the work you did to get me elected... I could pummel your ass with a baseball bat." President Bartlet, Sea. 1, Ep. 13

"Today for the first time in history, the largest group of Americans living in poverty are children. One in five children live in the most abject, dangerous, hopeless, back-breaking, gut-wrenching poverty any of us could imagine. One in five, and they’re children. If fidelity to freedom of democracy is the code of our civic religion then surely the code of our humanity is faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says we shall give our children better than we ourselves received. Let me put it this way: I voted against the bill because I didn’t want to make it hard for people to buy milk. I stopped some money from flowing into your pocket. If that angers you, if you resent me, I completely respect that. But if you expect anything different from the President of the United States, you should vote for someone else" President Bartlet, Sea. 2, Ep. 1

"There are two things you never want to let people see how you make ’em: laws and sausages." Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry, Sea. 1, Ep. 4

"Because I’m tired of it. Year, after year, after year, after year. Having to choose between the lesser of who cares. Of trying to get myself excited about a candidate who can speak in complete sentences. Of setting the bar so low I can hardly look at it. They say a good man can’t get elected. Well, I don’t believe that.” Chief of Staff Leo, Sea. 2, Ep. 1

"Obviously there’s one story that’s gonna be dominating the news around the world for the next few days. And it would be easy to think that President Bartlet, Joshua Lyman, and Stephanie Abbott were the only people who were victims of a gun crime last night. They weren’t. Mark Davis and Sheila Evans of Philadelphia were killed by a gun last night. He was a biology teacher and she was a nursing student. Tina bishop and Belinda Larkin were killed with a gun last night. They were twelve. There were 36 homicides last night. 480 sexual assaults. 3411 robberies. 3685 aggravated assaults. All at gun point. And if anyone thinks those crimes could have been prevented if the victims themselves had been carrying guns, I’d only remind you that the President of the United States was shot last night while surrounded by the best trained guards in the history of the world." Press Secretary C.J. Cregg

"You know, I’m so sick of Congress I could vomit." Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh Lyman

Enjoy the show!

posted at 2:07 PM | link |

In Science News...

A "washing machine" that separates important forensic evidence from soil is developed.

[speaking of washing machines, ours broke last night, right in the middle of a wash. Grr]

Live bacteria are cultured from a meteorite, but are they just little Earthlings?

posted at 1:30 PM | link |

I know at least one of you is a Lord of the Rings fan. I read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit many, many moons ago, but never finished the entire LOTR trilogy. Despite that, I'm looking forward to theatrical release of LOTR, which was previewed to rave reviews at Cannes to this week. The specially selected audience was shown a 26 minute preview of the movie trilogy.

Cool beans!

posted at 3:04 PM | link |

Holy Crap, Batman!. Make sure you read to the end of the article to find out how much a doctor in Russia makes in a month. I wonder how many US doctors would still be doctors if that was all they made in a month.

posted at 2:41 PM | link |

Hmm, could this be...an X-File?

posted at 12:12 PM | link |

Filmwise.com has Invisibles #23 up.

posted at 11:00 AM | link |

My essay on last Sunday's X-Files episode, Alone has finally been posted at ex post facto.

I'm going to try to get my thoughts down on "Essence" by Wednesday night, before I head up to Massachusetts on Thursday night for a weekend with fellow X-Files fans (and friends) and the big season (series?) finale on Sunday. Oooooo!

posted at 8:21 PM | link |

A British man shows off his putter at the Benson & Hedges International Open golf tournament.

posted at 8:12 PM | link |

When people ask me what I majored in long ago in college, I secretly dread their reaction. I know that as soon as I tell them that I have a B.A. in Mathematics, their eyes will glaze over and then widen a bit. They'll say, "Wow! You're kidding me. I was never any good at math." The subject will then be dropped faster than a hot potato. I will occasionally try to explain my view that a person who can "do" math is not any smarter than someone who can't, but that usually falls on deaf ears. This is the point at which I stop trying to explain since I'll only end up sounding like a condescending pompous ass.

So, I was more than pleased to read this little article. At least now I have some research to back me up ;).

posted at 8:02 PM | link |

I think we are back in business, folks. Unfortunately, I have to get some work done before I leave today. See ya in a couple of hours.

[I apologize for all of the "is this thing working" posts!]

posted at 4:15 PM | link |

Oh my gosh, I think blogger may be functional once again.

posted at 4:03 PM | link |

I was just here. Where did I go?

posted at 3:59 PM | link |

Ev says things should be working by later today. Oh please please please.

Please.

posted at 8:12 AM | link |

This is verging on painful. My entries are posting in the Blogger interface, but now things aren't publishing here. I've finished my "Alone" review, but haven't posted it yet. Even if I had, you wouldn't know it was there because you probably still won't be able to see this post!

Patience, gina, patience...

posted at 11:23 PM | link |

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm on my way to spend the day with my mother. Nothing extravagant. We'll pick up something to eat on the way, and she wants to watch The X-Files Movie, so we'll all curl up and watch together. Have a good day, everyone!

[Blogger is still acting up, sorry. I'm not even sure this will post.]

posted at 12:20 PM | link |