Posted 11:37 PM by Matt
Best. Test. Ever.--Thank god Entertainment Weekly brought back for another year their anual "Great American Pop Culture Quiz." This year's focuses on the 90s and tests your knowledge from Oprah's Book Club to Twin Peaks to "How many days were there of 'The Chevy Chase Show?'" I scored a 79, which tells me that "You're a race car in the red; you're Superfly T.N.T.,; you're The Guns of Navarone!" Pick it up. Tons of fun for the whole family.

Posted 3:41 PM by Matt
What? Seacrest Wasn't Available?--According to Reuters, Brian Dunkleman (late and unlamented former "American Idol" host), will host the new VH1 show "Gaydar," in which contestants compete to fool a celebrity panel as to their sexual orientation. Yes, now that "Black and Decker" have split, Black (or was he Decker?) has found a new way to express the Ho!Yay!

For those of you who have forgotten, Dunkleman was apparently unceremoniously terminated from his "AI" co-hosting duties when, at an "AI"-related concert, he said something along the lines of "Ladies, you think this is a party? The real party's in my pants!" Apparently, that was too edgy for Fox, which, as we all know, is known for its kind, helpful nature toward family programming.

Posted 12:20 PM by Matt
America's Next Top Lawyer? American Litigator?--Should have known it was coming This morning's Variety discloses that Fox has agreed to bring the next reality show to the screen--The Partner. Ingeniously, it will pit a team of Ivy League educated attorneys again a team of scrappy small school attorneys for the ultimate prize--partnership! They claim to be "in talks with several well-known lawyers" about participation--will it be my former next-door neighbor Alan Dershowitz? Will it be Johnnie Cochran? Or will we have to settle for some guy no one's ever heard of. Continuing coverage is promised, and hell, maybe I'll even give some thought to auditioning.

Posted 2:23 PM by Matt
Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is--I'd read an excerpt from copyright scholar Larry Lessig's new book in the most recent issue of Yale's Legal Affairs magazine (which is great, but well overpriced--there's NO reason it should cost nearly 8 bucks for a 60 page issue. The excerpt was fascinating, and I decided to pick up the book. As you may know, Lessig is one of the most prominent advocates for increasing the public domain and limiting the scope of copyright. So, the book is available for the taking on the web, here. You can print and bind your own copy of Free Culture for almost nothing. Wonder how much it's costing him in royalties.

Reminds me of two professors from my undergrad school. Both required books that they received royalties on for reading. One, two weeks into class, came into class with a crisp five dollar bill for each student, representing the royalty he gained off each student's purchase of his books. The other made a gift to the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity of his royalties. Most folks, I think, would have preferred the cash.