Technically this is not a "mismatch" (where the source messes up with the story/headline and accompanying photo combo)... this is a mismatch of a headline and my brain...
... and proof positive that my mind can be in the gutter even before 8 a.m.
Here is a screen-cap from this morning's front page of Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Oh yeah... rodeo... of course, rodeo!
(My reaction to the headline of the feature story... about 7.8 seconds later)
WARNING: "Lost" Nov. 1st spoiler alert below.
Okay, it nearly took a month to have item #2 in my new "MisMatch" feature... but here is today's headscratcher....
We have a story about the television ratings from Wednesday Nov. 1st -- with CBS' "Criminal Minds" beating out the once nearly untouchable "Lost" on ABC...
So that brings me to my mismatch...what's up with the accompanying photo?
Is Howie Mandel, host of an NBC game show airing on Mondays and Thursdays, going to show up on the island as ask Sawyer ... "Deal or No Deal?".... or put his fingers together and say "Jack, open the case!"... or did someone just mistake the bald guy for John Locke?!
Anyhow the actual story (link below) is a good segue to something else on my mind... given the decline in its ratings... do you think Lost has... well lost its way?
I am still intrigued by the show, but it hasn't been doing all that much for me this season. Sure the opening of the season, with The Others witnessing the Oceanic plane crash, was pretty cool... but there hasn't been too much else to grab on this season. My biggest concern from this most recent episode was my indifference over the death of Mr. Eko... which only made me wonder about the focal point of last season... the "tail-ies" are now history... with Bernard being the lone survivor (though we have yet to seen him or wife Rose this season) from that quartet. I still don't think the creators have a "big picture" scenario for this show.
I am going to keep on watching... it's still good. But my enthusiasm level is not quite what it used to be (a syndrome that I am also suffering with Desperate Housewives)... but perhaps that will change with the cliff-hanger for next week's "fall season finale"... but it will have to be a pretty darn good one to keep me hanging for Lost's 3-month hiatus.
(Original link: CBS' "Minds" draws more viewers than "Lost" - Yahoo! News)
On a daily basis, I usually head on over to Yahoo to check out news items (ok, usually this is limited to the entertainment section)... and occasionally, there is a photo that doesn't really match, often quite comically so, to the story that is attached to it. These graphics are not doctored/photo-shopped, etc... and oh, they also tend to be eventually corrected...
But if I catch them in time, I thought I would share them with you... so without further ado, here is my inaugural W&C mismatch:
While a $10 million libel suit related to American Idol is certainly news... I would think the bigger story here is that Elton John is apparently Fantasia Barrino's father! Now that's interesting on so many fronts (race and sexual orientation immediately pop to mind)... and c'mon Elton do you really need $10 million more?!
But I guess 1 out of 487 is not too bad... unfortunately the bad idea made it to the cover of what perhaps should be called...Harper's Bizarre!
I am not sure quite what Britney Spears is trying to accomplish with this upcoming cover/photo shoot. For someone who was crying to "just be left alone"... umm, this seems to be sending a bit of a mixed message and certainly isn't "mother of the year" material.
Now I don't think Brit is a bad mother... every parent makes mistakes and has their share of oopsies with their babies, it is just that most moms are not being photographed and filmed around the clock.
That said, I watched the Dateline NBC interview a couple of weeks ago (not that I was planning to, TiVo nicely picked it up as a "suggestion" on the next-day re-broadcast) but given that I was looking for some TV to watch at that time, I did... and, well... let's just say I wasn't too impressed with what has become of our Britney.
It was clear that NBC was trying to gain sympathy for Spears. The poll question that ran during the show was "Has the paparrazi gone too far with Britney?" (or something like that)... and the overwhelming majority (83%?) said "yes." Heck... I even agree with that. While they are public figures, I totally think celebs should be able to get some iota of privacy and respect when they go outside their gated compounds.
However, I was starting to feel a little guilty... as did not think Britney was not accomplishing her "goal" of getting the "truth" out and/or repairing her public image. I thought it was doing just the opposite. She dodged a lot of the questions... and didn't come across very convincingly (or sincere) when talking about her marriage and/or mothering... and that's pretty bad given the softball questions thrown out by the equally and oddly attired sockless Matt Lauer.
But according to this article, Britney Bares All, I guess I wasn't in the minority. I know US Weekly and The New York Post are not the bellwethers of journalism, but the former said that 87% of respondents to a poll had less respect for Spears after the Dateline interview... while the latter reports that the NBC film crew feared they had show up on the wrong day given Spears' disheveled appearance.
So, I don't know what Britney should do next... I don't think this cover is gonna help... just a continuation of her slide from America's Sweetheart to Sexpot to Trailer Park... oh, excuse me "Country" Queen.
We built this beautiful new stadium and no one shows up!
That is what the folks in Shanghai have been saying this week. It has not been a good first year for the brand spanking new Qi Zhong Stadium. The stadium is supposed to resemble a magnolia blossom... and even cooler yet, the roof is retractable!
But the stadium is probably the biggest attraction at this year's Tennis Masters Cup - the big year-ending event on the professional men's tennis tour.
The event is supposed to feature the Top 8 players of the year in a round-robin event. Astonishingly enough, 3 of those 8 either did not make over to China due to injury/personal reasons and 2 more withdrew prior to or shortly after their first match. The ATP Tour is having a hard time explaining this to tournament officials... calling it a "perfect storm" and promising there will likely not be a repeat any time soon.
I am guessing those who do not follow tennis likely are more familiar with the players NOT playing... Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, and Marat Safin... than those who ARE on the court. So the Cup is pretty much just left with #1 Roger Federer, who has been a bit hobbled with an ankle injury of his own. Heck, even as a pretty rabid tennis fan, I am finding it hard to muster up some enthusiam over a Nikolay Davydenko vs. Mariano Puerta match!
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What exactly did Jennifer Aniston do to be named "Woman of the Year"? Well, except to agree to be photographed on the cover of a men's magazine with half a breast exposed.
Despite being accused of some recent Jen bashing in my household, I really do like her just fine... she genuinely seems like a nice person and I do think she is quite a attractive. It is just every so often, I experience some "Jen fatigue." Like when news of the divorce from Brad Pitt hit... or during the never-ending "Friends is ending" media coverage... or when she got married to Brad Pitt... or when "the Rachel" hair-do was all the rage... but other than those times, I really don't mind her at all... seriously!
Now she has publicly handled the divorce with all the grace and dignity you can ask ... but I just tired of seeing her have to dance around the topic on every single talk show in the country (and also her new non-relationship with Vince Vaughn)... it is really no one's business, despite these talks shows trying to convince us otherwise.
But Woman of the Year? Now, I realizes this is not Time Magazine... so it is of no real consequence... more of a marketing ploy... but c'mon she got a divorce, made a movie (or two), and had to go on the press junket from hell... is this really an accomplishment? Now, Angelina Jolie wooing Pitt away from America's Sweetheart... now that's doing something!
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Note to future Survivors: You want to keep the annoying guy!
It was another classic Survivor repeat blunder on last night's show. With all the tribe shuffling, I have lost track of who was on what tribe... but going into the merge it was 6 vs. 4... the plan (as it always is) is for the 6 to get rid of 4 before turning on each other. But this never ends up happening... and "the plan" got thrown to the curb again last night.
Now I could certainly sympathize with the Survivors, we only saw part of Jamie's paranoic ramblings on last night's show and I was rolling my eyes and thinking to myself "shuuuut the ff&$#ck up" ... but this is the under-rated "survival" part of Survivor. Sure the elements, lack of food, physical contests, being away from your family are all tough... but keeping around a person you (and no one else!) can't stand ultimately ends up being the one challenge most Survivor contestants fail at.
I think anyone could have won in the finale over Jamie. Heck, even Lydia... who Probst just stopped short of calling a "capital-L" Loser during last night's challenges.
Now, we'll just see if the women are smart enough to take advantage of this abandonment of the 6 vs. 4 plan. The ladies now have a 4-3 advantage... pick off each of the guys.... barring an individual immunity the following week the original trio of Steph, Cindy and Lydia then knock out Danni... Steph and Cindy battle it out to take Lydia to the final and take the crown. Easy, huh? But we all know that is not going to happen... it never does!
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Finally (!!), Oprah's topic yesterday was When I Knew I Was Gay.
Well, actually the first half hour was devoted to that specific topic... with the remainder of the show focused on an 18 year old lesbian dealing with her mother's not-so wonderful reaction to her relationship with a 21 year old "I never was attracted to another woman before her" girlfriend (in the name of Anne Heche, run young girl run!)
So that got me thinking... when did I know? "Know" not being acceptance or action (that's a whole other post...or not!).
But one memory does stand out to me... and as embarrassing as it is, I guess I will fess up. One time when I was shopping for spiral-bound single-topic notebooks for the new school year, I remember being drawn to one featuring a shirtless Dirk Benedict of Battlestar Galatica... well, not he had a sweater with the sleeves thrown over his shoulders and tied together over his chest (quite the fashion statement, huh?). Not this picture here... which is really quite more gay than this particular notebook cover (don't you just love the unbuttoned denim shorts?). The funny thing is I don't even remember if I watched the show... but Dirk was pretty hunky at the time. So how old did that make me... well a quick check shows Battlestar aired in 1978... so that would have made me 10 or 11.
But I am sure I "knew" well before that... flipping through 70s pictures to find that Dirk picture stirred up some other memories. I seem to remember being a fan of Nancy Drew (played by future Dynasty star, Pamela Sue Martin), but having a pull towards the Hardy Boys (Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson)... both of those were circa 1977... and I think I was even guilty of getting an issue of Tiger Beat (or two)... so gay, gay, gay, gay... I guess I should stop my mental teasing of Carson Kressley!
