Posted 10:40 PM by Matt
Is Jennifer Garner Losing the War on Terror?--I'm rewatching a couple of old episodes of Alias tonight, and I realize now how silly a major plot point has been. When the evil Lauren is off doing evil-ness, her "cover" is that she's doing work for the NSA. Now, apparently, no one bothers to call the NSA and check on what's going on. I mean, you're SPIES for christ's sake! Couldn't you bother to call and find out what's going on here? And you don't have tracers and bugs in your agents' cell phones? I mean--c'mon!

Posted 2:07 PM by Matt
YOU'RE FIRED--(Hey, decided I'd try headlining, so if I'm ever lucky enough to get linked again, we'll have something catchy). Something we can all get behind here, where fired contestants from "The Apprentice" discuss their mistakes.

Some are just bitter, in particular, Jason, who says that his firing was "a waste." Others are mildly delusional, like Bowie, who says "I was fired because I won't tear other contestants." (I thought he was fired because he couldn't hustle Planet Hollywood merchandise.) My favorite, though, are those players who have mastered the obvious. Unsurprisingly, the big two accomplishments here are Omarosa, who notes her mistake was "not focusing on relationships" (Really? You think?), and the ever popular and borderline-insane Sam, who says "I should have talked less." Yes, though the incoherent football analogy was funny, perhaps had he shut up, he might have been competent.

Posted 11:07 AM by Matt
For all four of you NOT finding your way here from Wonkette (and I'll have some things to say about getting Wonk'd later--does it make me a celebrity on the level of, say, Matthew Yglesias ?) unrelated rampaging gorilla news here. What really confuses me is how the gorilla managed to escape. Maybe Congo really was accurate.

Posted 2:00 PM by Matt
Per Smoking Gun, Donald J. Trump has filed an intent to use application for the mark YOU'RE FIRED on games and playthings and in connection with casino services, and for the mark YOU'RE FIRED! DONALD J. TRUMP on Clothing. Now, honestly, who's going to wear a YOU'RE FIRED! T-Shirt?

Posted 6:16 PM by Matt
Some interesting trivia, courtesy of Fundrace, about the political contributions of celebrities. You can also track down mailing addresses that way, but I'm not going to do THAT--even I have ethics--I'll leave that to Wonkette.

Despite his savage ridicule of the Dean campaign in Doonesbury, Garry Trudeau gave $2,000 to Howard Dean.
Actor "Gerald Stiller" (who I assume is better known as Jerry), gave $2,000 to Joe Lieberman.
Artist "Charles Close" gave $2,000 to Wesley Clark
Author "Jonathan Larsen" gave $2,000 to Howard Dean
Jann Wenner gave $2,000 to Howard Dean (he also ponied up for Clark, Kerry, and Edwards)
Alan Alda (and his wife as well) gave $2,000 to Wesley Clark
Bobby DeNiro gave $2,000 to Dean, Gephardt, and Clark (has yet to pay Kerry)

In more thematic interest--the cast of West Wing gives generously:

Bradley Whitford--$2,000 each to Dean, Kerry, Gephardt, and Clark (his wife, Jane Kaczmarek, has $2,000 each to Dean and Gephardt)
John Spencer--$2,000 to Gephardt
Martin Sheen--$2,000 to Gephardt (no gift listed for Dean, the candidate he stumped for extensively)
Joshua Malina--$2,000 to Gephardt
Thomas Schlamme (director/producer)--$2,000 each to Dean and Gephardt
Aaron Sorkin(writer/creator)--$2,000 each to Edwards, Clark, and Gephardt, $1,000 to Dean.
Allison Janney, Dule Hill, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, and Stockard Channing--No listed gifts

I can't resist: "Writer" Ben Affleck gave $1,000 to Dennis Kucinich (and $2,000 to Wes Clark)

Other fun suggestions are invited.

Posted 12:16 PM by Matt
I normally stay away from work-related blogging, but feel the need to bitch. I've been stuck on this one case since the day I started here. I've begged and pleaded to be relieved from the case--it's one of those that simply never ends and no one seems to want to deal with. The judge ordered a hearing last week. We checked with everyone on our side and the date worked. Opposing counsel indicated that the date worked. As we were finalizing arrangements, I get a phone call from opposing counsel saying one person is not available after all and we will have to reschedule.

I call everyone to attempt to reschedule. Some folks call me back. Others don't. I finally get a date that I think works, run it by the partner, here who says he already told me that date wasn't workable (he'd said the morning was full, but not the afternoon, when I was trying to schedule the hearing for). I get ordered to arrange a conference call to discuss scheduling. I call the same people again--increasing frustration is evident. All say that they're available tomorrow, except one, for whom I've left a message and an e-mail asking him when he will be available. So now, I'm waiting for a person to call me back (who took forever to get back to me earlier) about when he's available to have a conference call about when he's available for this hearing.

And people wonder why I want off the case?