Our Friend Jason Swinks died unexpectedly on Saturday.
Today we attended his memorial service.

Even though we've only known Jason for a little over a year, anyone who knew him became GOOD friends with him immediately.

Jason hung out at all the same bars we did. Jason decided one day that it would be funny for all of us to only drink Pimms, a british gin-based alchohol, at all the bars. So when the bar staff went to make their weekly orders, they'd be scratching their heads trying to figure out why Pimms was flying off the shelf. Then they'd talk to other bar managers at other bars, and they'd be trying to figure out the same thing. Also, Pimms tastes like shit, so this plan really took dedication.

Today at Jason's funeral service the entire chapel was packed, people stood in the isles and in the back, people stood in the doorways and in the chapel lobby, even more people spilled out onto the lawn. So many people came to pay their respects, it was a testiment to Jason's ability to make friends with anyone he met. We were one of the lucky ones that got to meet him.

(A nice story from Jason's Memorial, as delivered by a friend of his - "A Revered, a Cop, and an Outlaw Biker walk into a bar... That sounds like the set-up for a bad joke, but those were just 3 guys waiting to drink with Jason.")

Heroes took the lead last night.

On and on I go, about how great television is... Then out of the blue (sort of) two of our most favorite shows get all crappy. Seriously, what's the deal?

We are 3 episodes down the bad television rabbit hole with our beloved Lost. I keep waiting and waiting for something important to happen, and important things keep *almost* happening. But not quite... Tonight they have another opportunity to disappoint me, and I'll be there, waving my Lost 2006 TV Show of the Year Pennant like a true fan. Even the Stephen Hawking and Black Hole easter eggs haven't been enough for us, and they won't be until they are backed up with something of substance. Like a plot point!

Oh Battlestar Galactica! Why are you doing this to us? The first sign of trauma was the much hated "Boxing" episode. Where the entire cast takes a break from being hunted by killer robots to HAVE A BOXING TOURNAMENT?!?! We've even begun a meme in it's honor, anytime an episodic drama pulls the "one-off" episode that has painfully nothing to do with the overall story arc we call it a "boxing episode." Like when the SG-1 team on Stargate would go to "Hurricane Planet" or "Lord of the Flies Planet" Those are the Boxing Episodes. Battlestar has become NOTHING BUT BOXING EPISODES. And here's the really sad part, at least the original Boxing Episode had people hitting each other in it, the newer ones don't even have that!

What are we supposed to do, as children of Television? Thank the stars for Heroes, for without it, we would be reduced to watching reruns of Scrubs on Comedy Central every day. Important things happen on Heroes in every episode. Almost every episode gives you what you want, and leaves you wanting more. It reminds us of Lost, when Lost was good.

One thing that's been helping us through this dark time in television is the prospect of Lost/Heroes crossovers. The creators of both shows have gone on record as being fans of the other. (having worked together previously) Even going so far as to say they wished they could do big crossovers, but that this would be impossible because they are on different networks.

Maybe not big crossovers... but what about small ones?
- While catching up on old episodes of Heroes, we noticed that the head of Mohinder's University in India is also the same guy who plays Desmond's Theoretical Physicist friend on Lost. Coincidence?

- The brochure that Nikki/Jessica gets in the "Run" episode of Heroes is from Gannon Car Rental. This same rental company can be seen making appearances in many scenes from Lost.

- Finally, more of a *nod* to Lost than a *crossover* When Simone asks Petrelli to go public about the Heroes powers, he says... "Don't you know what they'll do? They'll round us up and put us in a lab on an island in the middle of the ocean somewhere."

Tight.

Some talented fans of Frisky Dingo were kind enough to build an entire fan site for our cartoon.

Go to Babar's House
It's only recently opened, but there's still lots of great content, and more to come.

This is the part where I'd link to our Official Adult Swim Web Page... Except we don't have one... At least we got an "un-official" page! thanks guys!

Oh Snap! We got a page.

We watch the Food Network, a lot. And generally we really like it. But mostly for nostalgic reasons.

I think we've seen just about every episode of the Original Iron Chef, Fukui-san style. We're big fans of the "Delacroix of French cuisine" Hiroyuki Sakai. And while we can only barely tolerate the New Iron Chef America, it is hosted by our beloved Alton Brown. He can do no wrong, and we can watch him talk about almost anything. Unfortunately we've also exhausted Food Network's library of Good Eats episodes.

But there is a lot of crap on the Food Network, and they just keep heaping shows on the pile. I guess they've got 24 hours of air to fill up, but come on. In a fearless move to sum up it's crapiness, Chef Anthony Bourdain takes the fight directly to Food Network's Celebrity "Chefs."

Anthony Bourdain on Rachel Ray:
"Complain all you want. It’s like railing against the pounding surf. She only grows stronger and more powerful."

Paula Deen:
"I’m reluctant to bash what seems to be a nice old lady. Even if her supporting cast is beginning to look like the Hills Have Eyes."

Sandra Lee:
"Pure evil. This frightening Hell Spawn of Kathie Lee and Betty Crocker seems on a mission to kill her fans, one meal at a time."

Check out his stint as guest blogger for more biting commentary.

Still trying to find a Nintendo Wii?

It's hard. People are still lining up at Best Buys and Targets just to get a Wii off the next shipment! Here is the site we used to figure out where to look for ours. You put in your area code, and it tells you when stores near you are rumored to get their next shipment, and how many. The accuracy of these are not always 100%, but it's better than trying to get info out of Best Buy employees, who are corporately TRAINED to LIE to your face ABOUT EVERYTHING.

It's still next to impossible to find extra controllers for the Wii! In the meantime, why not wear this T-Shirt bearing the Wiimote in exploded view! [via infendo]

We're big fans of television here on the space station. You know... Good television. Not just because we have a vested interest in it, but because there's lots of great television on right now. The death of the reality show (slow and laborious) has lead to the re-birth of the drama. And we couldn't be happier.

We've been catching up on episodes of Heros while we wait for our beloved Lost to return to us.
Tonight our wait is over, Lost returns.

We watched the whole first half of the Lost "mini-season" and to be honest, it didn't blow us away. Splitting the season in half didn't help the show that much either. The mini-cliff hanger they left us with just didn't compare to the real season ending cliff hangers we're used to. But we haven't given up yet.

With the overwhelming success of Heros, it's up to Lost to regain it's rightful crown as Supreme and Greatest Show on Television.

"Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music."

Apple's Steve Jobs puts the onus on the big four record comapnies concerning DRM (digital rights managment) and the future of online music sales.