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Great interview with Damon and Carlton of LOST over at the AV Club. (LOST returns for 5 more weeks on thursday, april 24). I especially liked this quote from Lindelof about how the group of writers approach writing the show:

There are six or seven other incredibly talented individuals that we spend many, many hours with in a room. The fact is that nobody can get territorial about any one idea, because it fundamentally always becomes a hive mind, and the best idea always wins. Carlton has always said, and I think he’s right, that we’re just trying to write a show that is cool for us. And the reason that we all work so well together is, we all think the same things are cool. We’ve never gotten to a point where somebody pitches something, and they think it’s really cool, and everybody else goes, “Oh, that’s not cool.” We all sort of get onboard and rally around it.

That’s sort of how I’ve approached writing my book. I am trying to write something that i think is poignant, inspiring, and funny. If it’s good enough for me and my friends, then it will probably be good for other people too. And if not, that’s ok.

Feeling guilty about watching American Idol? Instead of wallowing in your shame, would you like to do something about it?

Before each episode pick a charity to donate to and keep score throughout the length of the show. You have to donate $1 for each time one of these events occur:

• Simon Cowell rolls his eyes
• A judge uses the phrase “song choice”
• A contestant uses their fingers to tell you which number to dial following their performance
• Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell flirt with each other
• The crowd applauds after one of Paula’s inebriated complimentary rants
• Randy says “you know dawg”, “it was just alright”, or “that was hot”
• Paula says “you are a shining light”or “i love you and want you to buy me a drink”
• Simon says “awful”, “i enjoy ogling female contestants”, or “karaoke”

If you’re fast enough to keep track without losing count, you’ll probably raise over $100 for your charity of choice.

And if you’re one of those folks who thinks David Archuleta is a lock to win this year, just remember that people were saying the same thing about Melinda Doolittle and Lakesha Jones last season.

I mean, not that i watch or anything. That’s just what i heard at, umm, the water cooler at work.

Tags: American Idol, Charity

+ With Dan Patrick leaving ESPN Radio, I’ll cast my vote for his replacement as Eric Kuselius. Eric did the Sports Bash show on ESPN during my commute home for many years and I came to love his insightful commentary, his enthusiasm for sports, and they way he did his job. I’ve missed him since he went to do NASCAR Now for ESPN TV. (His replacement John Seibel grates on me like nails on a chalkboard, i can’t take him). If Eric takes Dan’s place as the 1pm-4pm host on ESPN Radio, it will become appointment listening for me while I’m at work. The only other person who would do that for me would be if Tony Kornheiser came back.

+ Big Brother 8 has been enjoyable as always in its first week. I have one suggestion for them to improve the show however. They need to fix the Power of Veto. It’s still broken. There’s very little incentive for anyone to ever use it, because doing so usually puts you at odds with those in power in the house. Here’s my suggestion on how to fix it. There needs to be a veto bank. At the beginning of the show, stock the veto bank with $2000. If whoever wins the first veto chooses to NOT to use it, $2000 is added to the veto bank for the next time. This continues until someone uses the Power of Veto, at which point they win all of the money in the Veto Bank. Then the bank goes back down to $2000 (or whatever value works better as a starting point) and it starts all over again. Like i said, there’s just not enough incentive for folks to use the Veto right now, and tugging at their wallets and purses with a little cash would make Tuesday nights so much more interesting. what do you think, geof?

+ An alarm clock that wakes you up without noise? Sounds good to me. you put those rings on your finger and they vibrate to wake you up (and not the other person in your bed). pretty cool, i say.

+ going golfing today…woot!

Everyone is blogging about the Sopranos today so i thought I’d throw my hat in the ring with 10 not-so-salient points about the show:

1. I have never watched a second of the show. Some would say this is tragic. I’m not too concerned about it.
2. People are pretty bent out of shape now that the show is over. I can’t relate, but know that i will be feeling like that in May of 2010 when LOST ends
3. Apparently Tony had a different shirt on when he entered the diner than he did sitting at the table in the final scene? i don’t know if that’s true or not, or if it has significance, but I like spreading rumors.
4. The ending left things up for interpretation, in case you hadn’t heard. 25% of folks think it was genius. 70% are ticked off and disappointed. The other 5% think Paris Hilton should be freed so she can go cry to her mommy.
5. Will Leitch, huge Sopranos fan and David Chase apologist, had a great take on why he was hoping that there would have been more closure over at Deadpsin.com:
   

   “Years of television have trained you to expect a conclusion, he [David Chase] seemed to be saying, but you’re not gonna get one. To which we respond: Years of “The Sopranos” have trained us to expect nothing. We just thought you might be nice and give us something anyway.“

6. Most popular theory out there now is that when the screen went black it was Tony being shot by the guy who went into the bathroom. Earlier in the season Tony said something to the effect of “you never hear the sounds of the bullet that kills you”.
7. I thought the show’s creator David Chase was, like, 31. Googled him today to find out he’s a few years into his sixties. doh.
8. James Gandolfini apparently wants nothing more to do with the character of Tony Soprano. We’ve seen this before, when Bronson Pinchot swore off everything to do with Balki Bartokomos that he could.
9. Some say “The Wire” on HBO is every bit as good as “The Sopranos”. There’s another show i’ll probably never watch.
10. David Chase told me not to say anything, but, i just can’t hold my silence any longer. I shot Tony Soprano. It was me. And then i shot Meadow and A.J. and Carmela. I would have shot Phil, but apparently his head got crushed by a car. I shot Paulie Walnuts too, though i don’t know if he is still alive or if they killed him in Season 5. I tried to shoot David Chase, but i shot the wrong guy because i thought David Chase was 31. Turns out i wounded a key grip from the show’s production staff. He’s in stable condition and recovering quite well. I’m looking for a good lawyer. Leave a comment if you know of any.