I'm going to go on a bit of a reality/elimination show rant here. Mike has been keeping up with a particular contestant on the show America's Got Talent who calls himself Boy Shakira. Basically, he skips around the stage in a wig and a skimpy outfit. There is no talent involved whatsoever. But the only judge who seems to realize this is David Hasselhoff, so Boy Shakira keeps getting bumped to the next round. With apologies to the Hoff, any show that makes him look like the voice of reason is a show that should not be on television. He can play the rescuing hero (The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, Baywatch) and the fool (Hooked on a Feeling, the drunky drunkerton video in which his 9-year old daughter tells him off for his alcoholism), but playing the only person in the room who gets it right is not a role that fits him.

The other day the show America's Next Top Model was on the TV in the break room at work. My issue with that show is really an issue with fashion in general. The girls on the show are downright scrawny, with ribs and shoulder blades and hipbones jutting out all over the place. They are obviously trying very hard to maintain extremely unhealthy weights, and are still complaining that they are too fat. It's disgusting, sad, and unattractive. It's a problem on a cultural level that has been discussed in much more depth than I can handle, but it'd be nice if people (women especially) could be happy with whatever size is healthy for them instead of constantly striving to be skeletal. I think with men the ideal image is more of a muscular build that causes some people to take steroids and whatnot in order to get huge, often with tragic results like the recent murder-suicide involving pro wrestler Chris Benoit and the debacle that is Barry Bonds' pursuit of the career home-run record. In either case, folks need to wake up and realize that some of us will never look like Arnold or whatever emaciated model is famous right now and instead concentrate on being healthy.

In happier news, my miniature pirate force is about to get a lot bigger as I snagged 40 Old Glory pirates for $0.75 apiece from a poster on The Miniatures Page.

My little brother is pretty excited to come over for the weekend, so that's good. Hopefully we'll be able to get a lot of different games in while he's here.

We got a new rat today to keep Herbert company. We haven't named her yet, but they're having a great time chasing each other around the cage. It's going to make my Basset Hound crazy as he seems to think they're squirrels that need him to bite them.

I played through the computer game Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far again. I think it was originally released in 1997, but I still enjoy it. It's sort of a WWII RTS that takes you through Operation Market Garden. I'd really like to get a couple of games from Matrix Games, but they are rather expensive and very time-intensive. I'd say they come close to being a computerized Avalon Hill game on a huge scale. Probably not the sort of thing to get into just before school starts. They do have a Close Combat title based on the Eastern Front that I'd like to try out.

I think that's everything. I'll close up with a video featuring some advice from Mr. T.