A while back, I drew the comparison between Daniel Faraday and the DC Comics character, Pariah. I still really dig the parallel, and my closing remarks in that post are starting to feel pretty on-point.

...Pariah, after being saved from his own dying world by the demi-god Monitor, is forced to witness the destruction of multiple worlds in the DC Multiverse. He is able to speak to the doomed, but is unable to alter their fate. If the parallel holds, there's some serious juju about to be laid down onto that Island. And Daniel Faraday, brought to the Island by a powerful being (Widmore) and witness to past and future events over which he proclaims impotence, will be there to watch it happen.

Suppose that a community’s top scientist determines that something terrible is going to happen, and decides to save his son’s life by sending him away to another world, where he’ll have special powers… Does that story remind you of anything?

After some time away from the DVD player, we've finished the first disc of Project Runway's first seaston. Having seen only the last few episodes of that season, I have to say: this first season really was better than a lot of the stuff in recent seasons.

I promised back in March that I'd offer up a recap in lieu of Season 6. Well, in the time it took me to watch one measly disc, Lifetime finally got the go-ahead to air the new season, and will kick it off on August 15. So I've got to get my ass in gear.

One of the first things I noticed in the very first episode was that Heidi talked to the camera on more than one occasion. I really liked this flagrant fourth-wall-breaking, and wish it was a touch the producers had seen fit to continue. Indeed, by the end of the disc, it was pretty much gone. Too bad.

The terrible ADR is still there, which makes its continued presence in the show so remarkably disappointing. One would think the sound guys would at least have Heidi record the new dialogue in the same room as the original action, so it wasn't so totally jarring. But hey, it's a minor quibble.

I can't believe that Wendy Pepper actually positioned herself as the villain. I'm not at all shocked that a competitor in a show like this would be edited to be the bad guy, but she really actually went out and did it, and consciously. I'm eager to see the finale episodes, when she starts whining about it, because now that I've seen how scheming she was, I suspect I'll find it even more pathetically funny.

It's interesting; Tim Gunn's increased presence on the show--which I am NOT complaining about, because who doesn't love Tim Gunn?--seems to have come at the expense of workroom footage. There's so much of it so far! Through the collaboration challenge (Ep. 4), there's been a TON of scampering around the sewing machines, impalements and cattiness abounding. I kinda miss that, too, but I can't say I'd give up Tim to get it back.

Jay. Oh, Jay. You're so clearly the one above it all, right from the beginning. You're not putting-on, you're not overly or ridiculously dedicated to JUST THE WORK, and not having fun. You're just there, designing, commenting, and smoking like a chimney. I can't imagine he was any different in real life then, or now for that matter. I am no more surprised than I am now that he turned down the prize money to remain independent. Loved his Jesus get-up in Ep. 3.

As for the other designers, they're interesting enough, but I don't think subsequent seasons have really been lacking for personalities (except maybe the most recent--Jerell and Stella, and maybe Korto, were about it for non-character personalities). Austin is a one-of-a-kind, Robert's the original Vincent, except substituting doofiness for quirkiness. Kara Saun is the bitch she turns out to be in the finale, but hidden amidst all the tumult of a full workroom.

Disc two comes next, so hopefully in a week or two I'll have another recap for you.

If you haven't seen it, you should watch the latest mystery viral video, entitled What's in the Box - Test Film 2009. In fact, you can watch it here.



Fans of LOST will recognize the score. Fans of Half-Life will recognize some of the technology. But neither pop culture entity has admitted involvement, even though the website has some intriguing LOST winks (try entering the Numbers when you click on the lowest section of the red ring).

The production value is strong, and there's a definite apocalyptic cool to the action. But what's it for, if not LOST or Half-Life? Follow the clues.

The website is Dutch. The video, upon inspection, was filmed in Holland. There are a lot of conspicuous shots of cell phones, all but one showing dead battery indicators. The one that doesn't? The Samsung.

Samsung. Batteries. Holland. The repeated presence of the word "ON." I'm guessing a collaboration with Philips (Dutch, and very savvy on making new tech pretty and useable) on a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) that's portable and consumer-ready, as opposed to the military-grade DMFC that's just been announced as finally arriving in 2010. Something that might be named the Samsung ON, or something along those lines, and would be handy for powering cell phones and other mobile technology.

The badass viral campaign would serve to enthrall the hardcore nerds who might be put off by the potential namby-pamb-ization of Philips' involvement. The date of 2018 might very well refer to the expected rollout date, but that's a long way off for a viral campaign starting in 2009.

Now taking bets. Payoff is in a decade.

Click to enlarge your teabaggers.

Original photo credit, AP.

If you're a Twitter user (and who isn't), you should be able to use the Tweet this! link at the end of each post on Reading this will not make you popular to send a shortened link and post title to share with all your friends, neighbors, family, random stalkers, and free MacBook spammers.

You've got to be in that specific post, though. Click on the title, and you'll be able to see the Twitter link. From the main page, they're invisible (but I'm working on that).

It's been a week since Eminem's first new single since June 2005 hit the Internet and, presumably, hip-hop radio airwaves. I have yet to hear it, but reading the responses, it seems like he might be trying too hard.

He's always tried pretty hard, though. As much as he'd like to think, or like us to think, that annoying people comes naturally for Eminem, it's clear he put a lot of effort into that bristly persona. The homophobic stuff, the killing-my-ex stuff, the suicide-on-stage bit at the end of "Encore/Curtains Down"... all clearly crafted.

Lyrically, though, I have to say that his ability gives me chills sometimes. "Lose Yourself" was a rightful Oscar winner. Even his self-conscious rapper-beef stuff could be amazing; "Square Dance" comes to mind.

Yeah, you laugh till your mothafuckin' ass gets drafted
when you're at band camp thinkin' that crap can't happen
Till you fuck around, get an anthrax napkin
inside a package wrapped in saran wrap wrappin'
Open the plastic and then you stand back gaspin'
fuckin' assassins hijackin' amtracks crashin'
All this terror America demands action
next thing you know you've got Uncle Sam's ass askin'
To join the Army or what you'll do for they Navy
You just a baby, gettin' recruited at eighteen
You're on a plane now, eatin' their food and their baked beans
I'm twenty-eight, they gonna take you 'fore they take me
Crazy insane or insane crazy?
When I say Hussein, you say Shady
My views ain't changed, still inhumane, wait
arraigned two days late, the date's today, hang me!

It's been a while, but I'm back at the trough for more unusual eats. The new Fringe Foods is posted at The Daily Page, and can be read and enjoyed right here.

I said read and enjoy! ::shakes fist a la Homer Simpson::

An abandoned office building. A parking ramp. The city bus depot. An alley. Sites of recent violent crime? Maybe, but not on Friday. On Friday, these places were the settings for me and the little lady showcasing our luv.

We had our first wedding photography experience this weekend. It was pretty enjoyable, for being subjected to fairly rapidfire shutterclick. Our photographer is not the run-of-the-mill wedding photographer, and that's exactly what we wanted going into the process. No staid, stereotypical, boring-ass shots for us.

I'm comfortable saying that Kristine was the star of the show, even if being a photo subject doesn't immediately agree with her personality. She had her fantastic orange spring coat on, and she's just one fine lookin' woman in general. It's no shock that I wasn't posed alone for any shots, and she was.

Modesty requires that I leave the session un-posted and un-linked. But when the time is right, I'll be sure to post something here. I'll just say that the few shots we've seen so far have been great.