Posted by Cubicle QB

Who’s ready to get their bee on? We’re live bee-logging the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals along with the ABC telecast.

To get you caught up from today’s earlier rounds, A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago has an outstanding recap of the action. Darren Rovell at CNBC.com handicaps the bee and gives some analysis on the favorites. You can see all the results here at spellingbee.com.

Here are the big stories so far: Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan (No. 45) was my favorite to win, but got smoked by “castresian” in Round 5. And Samir Patel (245), considered the favorite to win, got his “clevis” handed to him shortly after. He appealed the pronunciation but was denied. So the Samir Gupta vs. Samir Patel final I was hoping for will not materialize. Now I’m rooting for Cody Wang vs. Anqi Dong.

I’ll be consulting the Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary I got when I was about 12 and I. Moyer Hunsberger’s The Quintessential Dictionary along the way.

So enter the live blog action below starting at 8pm ET. And no matter what Johnnysweeptheleg says, I’m pretty sure most of the kids in the bee can bench press more than he can.

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Categories: Sports by Cubicle QB
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Posted by RabbitEars

The 1982 movie Poltergeist seems to have been ahead of the times in predicting “ghosts in the machine” (i.e., the television viewing machine), since that appears to be the trend these days. Back in the pre-cable, antenna era, I suppose it was possible in a way to see “ghosts” of the staticky, disrupted signal sort on your screen, but nothing truly scary (unless you were trying to focus in on Charlie’s Angels and couldn’t quite make it out). Today, while ghosts are not literally reaching their hands out to pull us into the TV screen like poor Carol Anne, those very screens are filled with phantoms; or, at least, people whose television livelihoods depend upon a popular belief in phantoms.

The next few weeks the airwaves will be haunted by a number of eerie presences (and I’m not just talking about Larry King):

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Categories: TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Posted by Cubicle QB

So here’s there’s a heated debate brewing around the office in which Cubicle QB’s cubicle resides: Was a rain-soaked Ashley Judd at the Indy 500 Sexy or Not Sexy? I watched the end of the race and remarked to myself how Not Sexy I thought she looked. Here are some more moistened Ashley Judd Sexy/Not Sexy photos.

Johnnysweeptheleg finds a saturated Ashley Judd to be Sexy, but due to his exceedingly low standards (he’s got a thing for Smurfette), I cannot trust his judgment on the matter. A certain female who blogs here seems to think it’s Sexy. But I am still on the fence. I guess I’m going to have to watch the race re-air on ESPN Classic after all. Cripes.

So, you be the judge: Sodden Ashley Judd: Sexy or Not Sexy?

Categories: Sports by Cubicle QB
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Posted by Ryan

While on the set in Pittsburgh for Spike’s action/drama series The Kill Point, I had a chance to sit down with actor Frank Grillo, who plays one of the ex-soldiers turned bank robbers. Grillo’s had steady gigs in TV and film, highlighted by roles on The Shield and Prison Break. Soap opera fans might remember him from the few years he worked on Guiding Light. He’ll have a prominent role in The Express, a film currently in production about Ernie Davis, the first black player to win the Heisman Trophy. He also filled me in on a cool new project he was trying to set up with two Hollywood heavy hitters. Plus, as the photo reveals, he can totally kick your ass with kung fu.

What attracted you to The Kill Point?

Frank Grillo: Probably the fact that these guys are veterans of Iraq, and given what’s going on currently with the situation of these guys coming back. I don’t know if you know, but the government is not exactly stand-up as far as taking care of these kids when they come back, and the problems that they have from post-traumatic stress and so forth. That aspect of it is what attracted me to this.

Is there a political message to The Kill Point?

FG: I think it is desperation. These guys aren’t necessarily criminals, but they’re desperate. And they’re alone. Like with Vietnam, these guys come back from the war and nobody really cares about them. They have some emotional issues that need to be dealt with, and they don’t have the funds to take care of themselves. So they’re kind of lost. I think that’s the message, that we have to take care of these people, these kids that we send there, these men that come back damaged.

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Categories: Action by Cubicle QB
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Posted by Cubicle QB

I know they’ve been scraping for ESPN Classic content lately, and here’s another example:

Indianapolis 500 an Instant Classic; ESPN Classic to Re-Air Thursday

ESPN Classic will re-air Sunday’s dramatic Indianapolis 500 as an Instant Classic with a two-hour telecast at 4 p.m. ET Thursday.

The 91st running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” won by the popular Dario Franchitti, ranks as one of the best in the storied history of the event. It featured dramatic moments, including several lead changes throughout the rain-delayed race, which ended under caution 34 laps shy of the scheduled distance.

Among the highlights was Marco Andretti’s quest to overcome last year’s heartbreaking loss to Sam Hornish Jr. on the last lap. On Sunday, Andretti flipped down the backstretch near the end of the race. Other highlights included Danica Patrick’s run, which put her in second place late in the race before she finished eighth, and veteran Michael Andretti telling the ESPN on ABC audience that the race would be his last Indy 500 start.

I don’t know which race they were watching, but this was maybe one of the worst, most forgettable Indy 500s I’ve seen. Take the rain out of the equation: This race just plain sucked. The reason there were so many “exciting” lead changes is because half the field didn’t know how to drive and would just randomly spin out, leading to all the cautions. Perhaps ESPN realizes most people wisely abandoned Indy and switched over to the NASCAR race, and they wanted to give viewers another chance to see it.

What else is an Instant Classic? The Liddell vs. Jackson UFC stinker? Andy Roddick’s awesome French Open? Cripes.

Categories: Sports by Cubicle QB
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Posted by RabbitEars

Hey, gang, it’s bathing suit season, and according to E! network, swimsuits have been turning people’s heads “since the dawn of time.” While I doubt that one of Homo sapiens‘ first achievements was the creation of the thong bikini, there is no doubt that swimwear has been a prominent (and sexy) part of pop culture starting in the 20th century.

So E! has taken on the rough task of choosing the 25 most memorable swimsuit moments from film, television and magazine history. While the list is primarily populated by women, there is a little something for the ladies with a couple of Speedo-clad guys making an appearance.

The countdown premieres June 2 at 5pm ET/PT, and includes the following:

* Kate Bosworth in Blue Crush (I know I had a crush on her)

* Jake Gyllenhaal in Jarhead (let me know about that one, ladies)

* Cheryl Tiegs (the classic fishnet bathing suit that graced the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1978)

* Demi Moore and Cameron Diaz in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (Demi looking pretty good for 40-something!)

* Carrie Fisher in Return of the Jedi (which may have unwittingly turned kids into S&M fans)

* Matthew McConaughey & Lance Armstrong running on the beach shirtless (some of you have been doing a lot of searching for Matty on this blog, so I’m sure you’re familiar with these images)

* Elizabeth Hurley in Bedazzled (Yeah, baby! Oh, wrong movie)

* Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. (hey, maybe early man did invent the bikini after all!)

* Jacqueline Bisset in The Deep (add her suit to her wet T-shirt scenes and you have one of my all-time favorites)

The network cruelly left off the Top 5 from their list and is making us tune in to see it. I’m betting we’ll see the heavenly Ursula Andress rising out of the surf in the first James Bond thriller Dr. No, and perhaps Halle Berry doing the same in the later 007 flick, Die Another Day, and maybe even Daniel Craig turning the tables as Bond himself walking onto the beach in his tight trunks in Casino Royale.

However, I will be extremely disappointed if #1 doesn’t turn out to be the legendary Farrah Fawcett poster from the ’70s during her Charlie’s Angels prime. Ah, I wish I still had the one I owned as a kid (which I won at a church festival, of all places).

Let me know what you guys and gals think — or else I’ll start posting pictures of Cubicle QB wearing a Speedo.

Bedazzled: © 2000 20th Century Fox — All Rights Reserved

Cheryl Tiegs: Photo by Walter Iooss Jr.

Return of the Jedi: © Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Categories: TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Posted by Cubicle QB

The Indy 500 is one of those events on the calendar that has lost a lot of its luster, but I still feel compelled to watch every year out of pity, or because I suppose I should watch the biggest event in open-wheel racing. Plus, it’s a long weekend and I don’t mind spending a few hours of it in a state of temporary Danicamania. Last year’s race had a sweet finish, with Sam Hornish Jr. nosing .0635 seconds ahead of Marco Andretti, so maybe IRL’s starting to turn this thing around.

Here’s a supersized edition of the 4th OT for the supersized weekend:

Tonight

UFC 71 Weigh-Ins Live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas (ESPNEWS). Outstanding! Just when I was starting to worry that I couldn’t watch two ugly dudes strip down and stand on a scale in Vegas!

Major League Baseball: Chicago Cubs at L.A. Dodgers (WGN). Nice matchup with Ted Lilly vs. Derek Lowe.

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Categories: Sports by Cubicle QB
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Posted by Cubicle QB

I thought I was borderline insane when I thought it might be fun to live blog the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but I see it was done last year. So now I don’t feel so alone in my psychosis.

I’m excited/crazy to announce we’re live blogging (bee-logging) the bee finals along with the ABC (and ABC HD!) broadcast. Join us here on May 31 at 8pm ET for lots of temerity and schadenfreude. Perhaps I’ll break out my mad glottochronology skills on all y’all.

ESPN’s announcement that Mike Greenburg and Mike Golic are going to join the bee broadcast only makes this endeavor more noble.

So stop over here on May 31, sign up and post your brilliance in the comments while we blog the bejesus out of this thing. Johnnysweeptheleg is going to be here, too, so you’re guaranteed a good time. If not, you are all free to crane-kick him.

Categories: Sports by Cubicle QB
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Posted by Ryan

(Click here for a recap and review of Episode 2 of The Kill Point)

In Part 2 of our posts from my set visit to Pittsburgh for the filming of the Spike action/drama series The Kill Point premiering July 22, I talked to cowriter and co-producer Todd Harthan (at left in the photo) about the series’ origin, why it ended up taking place in Pittsburgh and more about his plans for world domination.

How did you come up with the series?

Todd Harthan: [Co-writer James] DeMonaco and I, two of our favorite movies are Dog Day Afternoon and Heat, so we were big fans of bank robbery shows. The problem is there are a bunch of bank robbery movies, a bunch of bank robbery shows. We wanted to do a bank robbery show, but we were just trying to figure out a way to turn it on its head a little bit. So given that there’s this ongoing, seemingly never-ending war going on, we thought, “Is there a way to blend the two worlds?” It was the idea of having a bank robbery show, and then [DeMonaco] woke up one day and it was actually his idea to make them soldiers and that’s really what the network responded to. … Now that we had [Spike’s] interest, the next step was sitting in a room with DeMonaco for a couple of weeks and coming up with what the eight hours would be. A hostage situation over eight hours of television is a little tricky, coming up with enough things to do to stretch it over that period of time. So there’s a twist, there’s a reveal at the end of Episode 1, in the pilot, that sort of is the thing that really solidifies the show. It’s an element that I don’t think we’ve seen in a bank robbery show before. [whispers] But it’s very secret.

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Categories: Action by Cubicle QB
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Posted by RabbitEars

Hey, gang, with the 30th anniversary of Star Wars upon us, several networks are getting into the act of exploring its cultural significance, but all next week, CNBC is taking a new approach: It’s discussing the profound business impact the film has had on the way that big budget films are produced and marketed. CNBC’s media reporter Julia Boorstin, senior correspondent Scott Cohn, Silicon Valley bureau chief Jim Goldman and business news reporter Jane Wells dissect the Star Wars financial phenomenon in a series of special reports that air throughout CNBC Business Day’s programming, beginning each morning on Squawk Box (6am-9am ET):

May 21: “How the World Changed …” Scott Cohn looks at what it cost to go to the movies on May 25, 1977, when Star Wars premiered. How much did it cost moviegoers to fill their gas tanks to get to the theater? At what level was the Dow that day?; “How Hollywood embraced Silicon Valley” Jim Goldman gives an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the technological wonderland, Industrial Light & Magic, which ushered in a new era of visual effects

May 22: “How the Art of the Hollywood Deal Changed” Julia Boorstin looks at how Star Wars happened and what prompted Fox to make the huge-budget film at that time. Boorstin also analyzes how the film changed Hollywood.

May 23: “How Movie Merchandising Exploded” Jane Wells reports on the $13 billion Star Wars merchandise empire that George Lucas owns all the rights to. Only Walt Disney had such foresight.

May 24: “The Ultimate Collection” Jim Goldman takes an exclusive look inside the world’s biggest Star Wars memorabilia private collection.

May 25: “What’s Next?” Goldman profiles Industrial Light & Magic, focusing on its importance to Hollywood and filmmaking around the world; CNBC reports live from the definitive fan celebration, Star Wars Celebration IV, at the Los Angeles Convention Center

Special segments will also be available at CNBC.com.

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Star Wars action figure photo courtesy of 12back.com

Categories: TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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