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Just a few things that I hope I can keep quick:

TIME Magazine reveals their Person of the Year tomorrow, and I get the sick feeling that it’s going to be Al Gore. Why do I think this? Because he has just had all the Nobel publicity on him, on top of all the other Me-Too awards this year, and TIME is such a shameless bandwagon jumper, just as all the Old Media dinosaurs are these days.

PLUS it’s a liberal cause, PLUS it’s an election year and what a better note for them to start the year on.

I won’t start on the Gore and the Global Warming thing here — except to say that I do believe that we need to drastically reduce our emissions (and also our fuel consumption, and thus our national SUV addiction), and that, contrary to Gore’s policy, so-called developing nations like China and India need to make sacrifices right along with us, since they pollute more.

But I think that was isn’t realized internationally is that Gore is actually hurting his cause in the U.S. more than he’s helping it, because a lot of us here realize that Global Warming is his Golden Meal Ticket, and that he conveniently disregards any data that doesn’t support what he wants to preach.

See, you got me started. I’ll rant more at a later date, but for now … You just watch, those idiots will pin him for this prize too.

Okay, I already ranted, so I won’t go on about how much I HATE HATE HATE Windows Vista.

Suffice it to say that I’m glad we’ve only got it installed on our laptop PC.

We’ve been watching Clash of the Choirs on NBC this week, and it’s pretty good. My wife is a huge Patti LaBelle fan, plus she loves being in the choir, so of course she wouldn’t miss something like this. And apparently, unless there’s a sequel (always a possibility), I think the whole thing will be over by week’s end. Tonight was the second night, so if you’re going to watch, better start tomorrow.

It’s pretty interesting, but I wish Michael Bolton’s group had been the first kicked off tonight — and no, not because of all the crappy music he’s brought us over the years, and not because of the people in the choir.

I just felt — and my wife agreed — that he did the worst job with his choir, trying to form it in his own image as a solo singer: He had one singer (male, of course) sing most of the song, with the rest of his choir as his backup … singing only the melody, and very little harmony!

That’s right: Just like his act, but worse.

Okay, I’ll stop ranting now.

I saw a great movie trailer on Attack of the Show today for 10,000 B.C., by the director of Independence Day (which was sort of epic, but very stupid) and The Day After Tomorrow (more epic, much less stupid).

This new movie looks more epic still, and could still be really, really stupid, but could also be really cool.

It’s like Quest for Fire meets The Mummy meets Ice Age 2 meets Apocalypto, with a little Ten Commandments and Cleopatra and Road Warrior and Aliens and Raiders of the Lost Ark and 300 thrown in, just in case it’s not blockbusterish enough.

Okay, so it does look like it could be just a tad and a half stupid, but with just enough really crazy crap going on to make the fun part of your brain overpower your logic center and sit on it while the fun part eats popcorn.

Just the massive-woolly-mammoth-stampede-over-the-pyramids alone does it for me.

Anyway, I was hoping to find a video I could embed, but I could only come up with a link, so just quit complaining, click here, and watch this incredible movie trailer.

And to make up for not having that video embedded here, here’s more totally different stuff, starting with this 10 seconds that’s a lot funnier than you would think it could be: “I’m a bee!”:

On a totally unrelated note, here are some NBC Fall Premiere promo commercials from the years 1966-1968, including two for a brand new series called Star Trek and one for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (and if you’re a fan of NCIS, you can get a glimpse of what “Ducky” looked like 40 years ago!):

I’m totally having a flashback right now; and I really need to find one of these for Get Smart.

Three news items from friends, ranked from gladdest to saddest:

1. This isn’t actually news, but I had mentioned that Yay Kim was participating in National Solo Album month, and, for a limited time, you can download and listen to her finished work!

I listened to it last night, and it’s great — you wouldn’t know (if you didn’t already) that she knocked the whole thing out in just a month.

2. I don’t know if I’ve told you about my friend Nick back home. He and I had been friends since we were babies together in the church nursery, then I moved away, and for the last 20 years or so I’ve only seen him when I go home to see my mom.

Ten years ago last April, he was diagnosed with Multiple Myaloma and given six months to live. He eventually beat the cancer through a combination of chemo, radiation, and bone marrow transplant.

Then the cancer returned, so he beat it again. Six months has turned into almost 11 years now.

Still, not everything is totally peachy; something unexpected has happened:

Early this morning, his house burned to the ground, and he and his family escaped with only the underwear they had on.

Bet that’s not what you thought I was going to say, is it?

But anyway, my mom says they’re all okay. His parents have a big house, and lots of people in town are pitching in to help.

First order of business: Getting everybody some pants.

Then, shirts.

Seriously, though: He’s taking it all in stride, and compared to two bouts with cancer, this is probably nothing to him.

Dodging death is his specialty, it seems.

3. Our good blogging pal Pamibe‘s sweet chubby little dachshund Zoe passed away late last month, and she wasn’t even ten years old.

And you know us: Somebody losing a pet, even if we’ve never met the person or canine in question, is often sadder than when a close friend loses a family member, especially for my wife.

Because let’s face it, dogs are better than people. It’s a proven fact.

Anyway, go check out little Zoe’s pictures, read her memorial, and grieve with the rest of us.

I guess they’ve exhausted the young-gamer demographic for World of Warcraft, so now William Shatner and Mr. T are doing commercials for it, alleging that they actually play.

I suppose it’s possible, but since Shatner does commercials for anything and everything these days, I have to wonder what his endorsement really means these days. Of course, a quarter-century ago last September, when The Shat had only shilled a handful of products, it was his appearance in TV ads that was at least partly responsible for my decision to make the Commodore VIC20 my official vehicle into the rabbithole of geekdom.

I’ll always be grateful to him for that, but now he pushes the trust thing too far.

But anyway, I just happened to find that very commercial on YouTube, so here it is:

“The Wonder Computer of the 1980′s!”

Since Thanksgiving’s over, out comes the Christmas-themed bullet points!

We’re not out of leftover turkey yet — not by a longshot! — but we’re a little tired of eating beige after three days, so tonight we froze what was left and I made some chili. It was a nice spicy change.

Another reason my wife was in the mood for chili is that it finally got cold this week. Until Wednesday, the highs had been in the 80s for about a month; not your typical autumn weather, but still fairly normal for Texas these last few years.

Anyway, it’s been downright nippy, at last, though not below freezing where we live. It’s been a nice change. Also, it’s been raining quite a bit today, and it’s been dry for a while, so that was nice too — as long as we can keep Molly and Bristol out of the mud pits in the corners of the yard, which are there because she has trampled all the grass within four feet of the alley totally out of existence.

Ah, doggies: What can you do?

Each Saturday night, G4TV has been replaying the previous Monday’s episode of Heroes, and afterward having a half-hour “Post Show“, where they analyze the show, chat with viewers, and interview cast members. It’s too bad more shows don’t have this kind of audience participation and independent analysis — but notice that it’s not NBC or any of the other big networks doing this, but a relatively minor cable channel (hey, it’s no TBS) that’s making the innovation.

That’s why the majors are going down the tubes.

Anyway, it’s great to get a second chance to see this extremely complicated show, especially because it’s been getting really, really good recently. I won’t spoil it for those who have recorded but not watched it yet, or who are waiting to see the whole season on DVD, or for those overseas that can’t see it yet, but … man oh man! Mohinder is crossing more and more lines he’s drawn for himself … Claire’s dad teamed up with her boyfriend, whom he had “tagged and bagged” for the Company years before … Matt Parkman is expanding his powers …

Anyway, if you don’t watchthis show, and you can, you really really should.

Speaking of G4TV, I saw this on Attack of the Show last week and forgot I hadn’t posted it yet: “Nascargot”!:

And in case snails is not what you wanted to end this post on … here’s Pomeranian puppies — lots and lots of them! And the William Tell Overture!

Let’s start off the holiday by thanking those who need it most, the ones doing the heavy lifting for the rest of us, by texting a nice Thank You to our fine military personnel. “During this week of Thanksgiving, let our troops know we’re thinking about them through the Pentagon’s America Supports You program. You can send your message of thanks by texting to 89279.”

Read more about the project at www.americasupportsyou.mil.

Next: Here’s a public service announcement warning about a sinister possible use for the traditional Thanksgiving meat dish:

And if you don’t have a Turkey Day food plan by this time, you’re probably down to chicken tacos at The Bell, but that doesn’t mean you can’t live vicariously by drooling over this holiday menu by Alton Brown and other Food Network heavyweights.

And finally this has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, except that it’s today’s (Thanksgiving Eve), and the host wishes U.S. a happy TG weekend.

It’s called Epic-Fu, and it’s like a micro news-variety show for a way-post-MTV world. The host and production values are really professional, there are lots and lots of interesting finds, and if you don’t like what they’re talking about, keep watching and in four seconds they’re on to something else. Check it out:

Apparently it’s been around for a while, so I can’t believe I’m just now finding it (or remembering that it exists). The upside is that I’ve got lots of episodes I can go back and watch at once. I just wish that even 1% of the stuff on YouTube was even half as good as this.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving, and enjoy your tryptophan coma!

Things keep happening, and there’s never been any time to spell it all out, but here’s the big thing from the past weekend: My cousin from Austin was in town with her husband to see an old school friend on friday, but her husband fell in the hotel shower and hit his head, so he’s been in ICU here locally ever since then.

So I’ve been going up there everyday and just sitting around with them, and catching up with her and her daughters. It’s especially good to see Becca again, who I practically grew up with (during holidays and vacations, anyway), but who lately I’ve been seeing about everyh 6 or 7 years: Last year at Thanksgiving, before that in 2000, and before that in 1993. I’ve got other relationships like that too — Spook, Terry, James — friends that I spent a lot of time with for years, and now I’ll see or communicate with them about once every two presidential terms (or more) , and we’ll catch each other up on our lives in the interim, then we’ll go our ways again. (Except for the Spook, of course, who has been keeping contact by email these past five years.) I think that must be a common experience these days.

It’s like a really good TV series that you used to watch, but now they only make two episodes a year. It’s kind of a weird feeling, but it’s better than no contact at all.

Anyway, this next thing is unrelated, but I saw it today, and if I wait until it’s on-topic, I’ll never remember it so here goes (via Attack of the Show:

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has been trying to find something to differentiate himself from the rest of the GOP pack, and it looks like he’s found TWO things: 1) Chuck Norris, and 2) A sense of humor.

Anyway, tomorrow’s another day of job-hunting, and I’ve got a lead on a place that’s only five miles from my house. I can put up with a lot of crap for only a five-mile drive. Wish me luck.

My wife has always described me as “eclectic” — that is, when she’s in a good mood; I can’t mention how she describes me when she’s not …

BUT SERIOUSLY: She especially refers to my musical tastes as eclectic — and as if to prove her point to the world, pictured at right are the four CD’s I checked out from the library last Sunday. They are, clockwise from upper left, Days of Future Passed by the Moody Blues (their first post “Mersey Beat” album, and one of the few I don’t have on CD); a faux-exotic New Age compilation double album called Krishna Beats; a fairly new band with their self-titled album Morningwood (Get it?? Get it?? Ha!) — not exactly Chicks with Guitars, just Chick Lead Singer Who Really Rocks; and finally (Texas in the house!), Willie Nelson’s magnum opus from 1977, Red Headed Stranger.

A fine collection, all told. Who says the unemployed can’t have fun?

But let’s go back to Morningwood (heh!) for a bit: The album’s really great, and I’m really, really fond of one song in particular, To the Nth Degree, even though I usually shy away from songs based on cliches.

And now you can hear it for yourself, decorated nicely by this cool album-cover video. Enjoy!

Tomorrow (Friday the 16th) is my wife’s birthday — why don’t you make her day and leave a nice birthday greeting in the comments for her?

Because if you know her, you know she’d do the same for you. And if you don’t know her, trust me: You’d like her because there’s nothing not to like. So she deserves a birthday wish.

Thanks much!

Yeah, yeah, I need to post. Excuuuuuse me, I’ve been job-hunting.

Details later, but for now … I mentioned Oblivion (on Saturday, keep up), so here’s a hilarious (for the first 2 minutes, you can blow it off after that) “modded” sequence. Check out the innkeeper about 54 seconds in, and the monks at 1:30:

Everybody dance now!