In the immortal words of Dwight K. Shrute, “Summer is over. It’s time to get back to work.” NBC has posted a clip on You Tube called “The Office Summer Vacation” where it touches base with all the cast members and asks them what they did for the summer. If you’re a fan of the show you KNOW you have to check it out (Thanks Pop Candy for pointing out the video). Also did you know that when the show returns on Sept 24th the first four episodes will all be an hour long!

In other news, I may* have a place to live in DC. I don’t want to say too much until I’ve actually signed a lease and its officially mine. Beside that there is some family drama going on, but hopefully I’ll be moving at the beginning of next week. Which means normal posting will start once I have internet hooked up (assuming I do actually move).

Updated@2:01p.m. 8/24-2007: Lost the apartment to stupid technicalities and nothing I can do. Now I’m really frustrated and in a bad mood. So back to apartment hunting.

Today I drove to DC, handed in a security deposit and finished initial paperwork for an apartment. The apartment becomes available tomorrow and thats when my paperwork will be processed. Now here’s the catch… chances are I won’t pass a credit check and if so I need a co-signer (Last year at Sarah’s and my place she had to get her mom to be a co-signer. Since Sarah has like beyond perfect credit and finances I’m sure I’ll need a co-signer at my new place). So I’ll know by 10a.m. tomorrow about if I need a co-signer and then I’ll have all weekend to find one (my parents won’t be able to).

The apartment is perfect for me. It’s actually a studio-apartment, but the walk-in closet is JUST big enough to use as a small bedroom. I can fit a dresser, my bed, a night stand and still have some room. That way I can use the main living-room for just a living room/dinning room. The only thing I’m not sure about is WHERE I’ll put my massive library of novels and graphic novels.

The apartment is technically in Silver Spring but its right on right on the border with Bethesda and overlooks Rock Creek Park (I’ll post a view of my window once I move). I’m fairly confident its a nice and safe area. The “bad” parts of Silver Spring are more to the south, north, and east. The good news is that I’m about 2/3rds closer to school than I was last year and I’m on the other side of Georgia Avenue so traffic shouldn’t be anywhere near as horrible as it was last year.
So anyway… as long as I find a co-signer I’ll be packing this weekend and moving on Monday. My classes start Thursday and I’ll have internet whenever Comcast decides to hook it up so it may be a few days. But once they get it up and going I’ll be posting again on a daily basis.

Man I’m really excited about the place… just sucks I’m not getting it with Sarah.

Updated@6:14P.M. 8/13-07: Things are just starting to calm down here. The only problem is that I STILL don’t have a place in D.C. so I’m probably heading up there again for a few days to try and find something. I’m getting super-worried since classes start in like two weeks. Does anyone have any connections in the DC area?

Updated@11:50a.m. 8/6-07: MAJOR Family Emergency, Going to DC to look for a place to live, and Sarah’s last week! So I probably won’t post much this week. Sorry. Once things calm down and I get back to school I should be regular again.

It’s Friday, and you know what that means. Here is your weekly dose of Edit…
Errr correction… apparently this week we have Sarah standing in for Edit. This is Sarah at Fish Tales on Wednesday night, its where we took her New Zealand friends. I’m actually really really upset because Sarah leaves for Ohio (where she will start grad school) a week from today.

I just received word from the Sci-Fi Channel that “The Dresden Files” will not be returning for a second season. It is officially canceled.

People always love a Battlestar Galactica scoop, even when it’s a really small scoop. So here is my present to you: (Read on …)

“Grey’s Anatomy” is getting a fairly big revamp from what was originally planned for this up coming season. The two biggest changes are as follows:

Elizabeth Reaser, who played the Jane Doe, memory loss woman last season was supposed to be off the show, but Shonda Rhimes at the 11^th hour decided to bring her back. Her new arc will last for several episodes but no word yet on how many exactly.

For those of you who love George with Izzie… well bad news. Shonda Rhimes, like most of America, hates having the two together. Rhimes says she had them hook up because the characters are flawed and now that they’ve made their mistake, she can end the relationship.

I’m hearing that Tennant will be leaving “Doctor Who” sometime during the fourth season and that he will be replaced by Irish actor James Nesbitt. The fourth season kicks off in Britain on September 9^th so we’ll know soon if this is true or not.

Word on the street is that “Supernatural” wanted to bring back Jeffrey Dean Morgan, but that JDM’s schedule is so booked that they couldn’t. So don’t expect Daddy Winchester to show up during sweep months.

Stephen Lang (”A Few Good Men,” “Defiance”) and Michelle Rodriguez have joined the cast of James Cameron’s “Avatar” scheduled to hit theatres Memorial Day 2009 reports Variety.

Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, CCH Pounder and Wes Studi have already been cast, and in most cases shot many of their scenes for the performance-capture feature currently in production in Los Angeles.

Lang plays a Marine Corps colonel and Rodriguez an ex-Marine pilot. Production on the $190 million 3D feature, which combines live-action with photorealistic virtual characters and environments, moves to Wellington in New Zealand this October for a month of shooting.

“Avatar,” which will be filmed in a new digital 3-D format, is skedded to debut on May 22, 2009.

An ATM in Louisiana spit out $20’s instead of $5’s resulting in customers making $7,000. What’s lame is that the police are tracking down the people who were giving the cash.

DeSoto Parish sheriff’s Lt. Toni Morris said the automated teller machine has records identifying the 26 people who received the extra cash during five days in late June and early July.

Morris said charges could be brought against the people who got more money than was debited to their bank accounts.

That just seems wrong. Its like if you are at Wal-Mart and the clerk gives you back the wrong amount of change, you don’t arrested if you keep it. It’s Wal-Mart’s fault. So if an ATM give you money when its not supposed to that’s the bank’s fault. It would be different if it was hacked or something, but I’m betting some stupid bank clerk refilled the ATM wrong and put $20’s in the $5’s slot!

Going out with Sarah tonight! Should be a crazy crazy time. She has friends from New Zealand visiting so we are doing the cliché Ocean City tourist thing. So in honor of that I decided this old old photo of me and Sarah from seven years ago. Of course… depending on how late the night gets, posts tomorrow may be scattered or delayed. Though in my defense, most of the news this week is nothing but recapping SDCC stuff, which I refuse to do.

I went out to dinner with Sarah over the weekend and the restaurant had fried alligator on the menu. I’ve had snake, snails, octopus… but never alligator. So I couldn’t resist ordering it. It was lightly fried and served with a raspberry sauce.

It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. It just kinda was. It tasted a lot like pork and the crispy pieces definitely tasted like bacon. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be willing to eat it again, but at least I can say I tried it once.

I made a rule that I’m only allowed to talk about one thing that happened at Comic-Con and I’ve decided I want to talk about Jeff Smith. I’ve been a fan of his since I was a little boy. “Bone” was the first comic I ever read. Then it and “Ultimate Spider-Man” were the comics that made me start reading comics again when I was in college. So needless to say I’m super excited about “RASL” (pronounced “rassle”) and if anyone bought one of the 6 page previews in San Diego, I’ll totally pay good money for it.

In an interview with Newsarama, Smith described the book as:

The story is about a thief — an art thief — who is known to the police as “RASL,” because that’s the tag he leaves whenever he steals a piece of art. He spray paints RASL on the wall in the spot where the art was. RASL has this … how do I describe it? … a full spectral immersion suit that he’s invented that really, basically, is made of these giant jet engines that he straps to his shoulders and his knees that have magnets in them, and he can create thermal-magnetic disturbances through space-time and step between dimensions. So if you were a really rich person who wants to collect, say, a Mona Lisa, you could pay RASL, and he’ll go to another dimension and steal the Mona Lisa for you!

Where as “Bone” lasted 60+ issues “RASL” will be put out five to six times a year for the next several years and will later be collected in a 200-250 page graphic novel. Even crazier is that Smith wants to publish it in an 11×17 format!

Man I’m so excited for this. Here is the six page preview (click to make larger):

Where you disappointed with how “Harry Potter” ended? Do you really want to know what happens with the characters? Then you may want to read this super-long interview with J.K. Rowling where she reveals tons and tons of info. It took me a good 30 minutes to comb through the whole thing.

Be careful though! ((one spoiler after the break so if you’ve not read the book then stop reading now)) (Read on …)

I’ve posted over and over again about the whole Isaiah Washington scandal on “Grey’s Anatomy” but it seems Shonda Rhimes (the shows creator) finally broke her silence. In an interview with TV Guide she really tears into Washington:

So the decision to fire Isaiah was not something that was imposed on you?
Rhimes: The great thing about [ABC Studios head] Mark Pedowitz and [ABC president] Steve McPherson is they never imposed anything on me.

So you agreed with the decision?
Rhimes: Of course I did.

When was the moment when you realized, ‘You know, we’re going to have to make a change here?’
Rhimes: Again, I feel like this is stuff that happened in our family, and I don’t want to give specifics on sort of how and what happened. But there was a moment when I was sure and felt good and comfortable about the decision and that it was the right decision to be made for everybody.

We may not get to see Daddy-Gilmore anymore since “Gilmore Girls” is canceled, but I’m excited because Edward Herrmann has been signed to do a guest arc on “Grey’s Anatomy.” He’ll appear in at least three episodes and will play a doctor. No other details are being shared at this time.

We all know Sony isn’t going to let the “Spider-Man” franchise die. It’s just a matter of figuring out who will direct, write, and star in the next sequel. But it seems Raimi is really thinking about returning. Raimi said that screenwriter David Koepp is no longer attached to the project and that:

“I want to help contribute to the production. I don’t know if I’ll just be a producer on it but if I can work with the writer in such a way so that directing would be right for me, I don’t know. We’ve had our first meeting on Spider-Man 4 and we’re looking for the writer.”

Years and years ago… Joss Whedon said he was making a TV show called “Ripper” which would follow the life of Buffy’s watcher Rupert Giles (who was called Ripper as a teen). Well it seems that may actually be happening. Whedon has said that he is currently working out a deal with BBC to produce the series.

MTV posted the above picture which is a teaser photo for “Hellboy 2.“

Does Uncle Scrooge’s “lucky dime” exist in real life? A man just had to deliver a dime worth $1.9 million from Oakland to Manhattan.

Feigenbaum said he put the dime, which is encased in a 3-inch-square block of plastic, in his jeans pocket. Accompanied by a security guard, he drove to the airport.

Shortly after boarding the plane, Feigenbaum transferred the dime from his pants pocket to his briefcase.

“I was worried that the dime might fall out of my pocket while I was sitting down,” he said.

All across the country, Feigenbaum kept reaching into his briefcase to feel for the dime, one of only 24 minted in 1894 in San Francisco, as far as collectors know.

“It’s the Holy Grail of coins,” he said.

This is a creepy site that was covered by CNN. It’s a site that maps out everyone who is dead, but has a MySpace.

Whenever Samantha drags me to an Ocean City bar we always end up playing one of those touchscreen games where you stare at the pictures of naked ladies and point out the difference between two photos (we don’t play the naked-guy ones because she says its too distracting to her when she’s drunk).

Well it seems Megatouch Gametime is now making those game machines so that you can install them in your home. They come with 100-built in games… but of course they cost $3,800 bucks!

OXO is a company loved by chefs for designing better versions of old kitchen staples like the carrot peeler. The company’s stable of inventors may have outdone themselves with their latest kitchen innovation: the ergonomic corn stripper. Get your minds out of the gutter folks; this computer-mouse shaped gadget cuts corn off of a cooked husk of corn-on-the-cob and stores it in a little measuring cup. It’s sure to go down in history with other useful gadgets like this butter slicer and banana peeler.

OXO knows just how much time and energy you put into stripping kernels off of corn everyday, and it feels your pain. For just $12, you can say goodbye to corn kernel scattering nightmares, and greet a new day full of fresh corn chowder and succotash.

Before the robot hordes rise up and kill us all, we best get them to do our bidding for a while longer. Instead of going gigantic, scientists have been working to bring automatons down to size, and the researchers at Harvard think they have something perfect for the military.

Professor Robert Wood has developed a life-sized robotic fly for use in military surveillance. The robot fly can beat its wings at 110 beats per minute without breaking off thanks to carbon fiber joints. With a wingspan of just over an inch, paint this thing black and you’d be hard pressed to tell this from the real thing. Well, except it doesn’t have those weird eyes or legs, and it keeps wanting to look at your top secret documents instead of that candy bar on your desk.

Privacy is an important thing, and not everyone pays attention to those “do not disturb” signs you can hang on your doorknob. If you really want to send a message, The Doorknob Condition is tough to miss. It’s a fancy knob that can be pulled right into the door, making it impossible for anyone to even try to enter.

It’s a pretty neat idea, and a cool looking one at that, although I don’t know how much more effective this would be compared to, say, locking your door. Unless people trying the knob and rattling it is really, really annoying to you, your current doorknob probably has all the features you need to ensure your privacy already. But this one looks so cool!