I'll take potpourri for $1,900, Alex

Where the hell was this 20 or so years ago? Aren't the most brilliant ideas the ones that are so obvious, yet never thought of before?

Or, thinking beyond the keg, isn't this quite the tailgating set up?

Good interview with Matt Keeslar, The Middleman.

Speaking of my summer TV recommendations, here's where I stand a month later:

• The Middleman: definite must watch. Funny, quirky and engaging. The most DPM (Dialogue Per Minute) since Gilmore Girls, and cheeky, geeky fun.
• In Plain Sight: staying in the season pass list. Continues the USA tradition of character-driven procedurals, and Marshall is deadpan hysterical. Give him more time and ditch the family, though (or at the very least, the mom). Good guest stars like Sherry Stringfield and Dave Foley help, too.
  
• Secret Diary of a Call Girl: still on the fence about this one. I watch it mainly for the breezy charms of Billie Piper, and if each ep was more than 20 minutes, I don't know that I'd stick around.
• Swingtown: accumulating on the TiVo, untouched. Not sure why I haven't watched.

Here's another take on Secret Diary, along with thoughts on Denise Richards' "reality" show. Plus, use of the term "whoring sea donkey," which is always fun.

The "hospitality rider" from Barack and Hillary's "unity" appearance.

Good news and bad news for that BSG movie. Bad news? Bradley Thompson and David Weddle are leaving the script to join CSI: Original Recipe full time. Good news? The awesome Jane Espenson picks up the job. Actually, that's just lots of good news. I guess one of the reasons I like CSI so much is the quality of the writing, and they have a staff full of writers with geek cred over there, including scribes who have worked on all the Treks, BSG, Buffy, Angel and Farscape.

The BBC has done a spectacular promo for an upcoming Kubrick special. Follow the link over on AICN to see the brilliant tracking shot.

I'm sure all my fellow whedonites have seen this. But just in case you haven't, here's the trailer for Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog:



I found a link to this on Pop Candy, and it's a video of David Tennant as The Doctor blabbing to a video screen when he knew that the dialogue wasn't going to be used (Martha was just fast forwarding through it). Cute.

Why does Obama hate Tiger Woods? Yep, the lesson here from the messiah? Don't be successful.

I enjoyed Primary Colors, but Joe Klein? FUCK YOU and keep your tree-hugging and bleeding heart hands off my goddamned air conditioner. 65 or nothing, douchenozzle.

Are you kidding me? I think this would cause the homicide rate to increase dramatically.

Right on, brother. Big ups for "intellectual consistency."