Tonight is the last night of band camp. Look for us tomorrow on ESPN Classic.

Wait, wait...don't tell me!

If you've ever driven to shul with me on a Saturday morning, chances are you heard the radio tuned to NPR, and we were listening to "Wait, wait...don't tell me" the NPR news quiz. It's a humorous roundup of the week's news. Though it's aired on Saturday morning, it's actually taped on a Thursday evening. Tonight, I had the chance to see it taped. While some might not see the point of seeing the taping of a radio show as compared to like, a TV show taping, it was actually very entertaining.

Here's the summary:

The Place

"Wait, wait" is taped in the auditorium of the Bank One Plaza downtown. The auditorium was a very nice room that held about 400 people. On stage were two podiums for the two hosts, and a table for the panelists. We had a great view from our seats, though one may wonder what there is to see on a radio show.

The Panel

The Panelists for the show were author Roy Blount Jr., journalist Kyrie O'Connor, and TV personality Mo Rocca. Mo was by far the most popular in the audience, perhaps because of his exposure on the Daily Show. Nearly whenever his name was mentioned, all of the women in the audience went wild.

The Guest

MSNBC's Chris Matthews joined the show via phone to play the game "Not my job" which was pretty entertaining. His segment went on for nearly half an hour with all the stories, comments and everything, not to mention the game. It will be interesting to see what's left after the editors trim it down.

The Show

The show was very funny, but like the segment with Chris Matthews it went much longer than the actual show time, so they will have to edit a lot out. Also, some moments just didn't seem to be as funny as the rest of the show, so those will probably be edited out.

The Aftermath

I got my picture taken with Mo Rocca!


















Listen to the show this weekend on WBEZ in Chicago, or on your local NPR affiliate.

Drumline? More like Bumline

Finally, Prime Time Television has given us some legitimate programming to watch—something that gives a real look into college life today. What is this great, new show? Why, Tommy Lee Goes to College, of course.

Surely you’re joking, Mr. Lehrer.

Well, maybe a little. But Tommy is notable for one thing: Tommy Lee joins the University of Nebraska Marching Band. (We remember that band from the great Battle of the Block “N”s in the 2000 Alamo Bowl—Northwestern vs. Nebraska.) And, of course, they end up performing the song Malaguena. (Haven’t we all played that song in marching band?)

I think the show would be more interesting if it was just a show about celebrities joining marching bands. Give me former President Clinton marching tenor sax, or members of the Black Eyed Peas doing what could only be described as a big ol’ honkin’ rearback.

I’d certainly watch.

Less wise, or more highly evolved?

My two wisdom teeth were extracted this morning, and let me tell you: IV sedation is the way to go. One minute the surgeon was asking if I knew his son who went to grade school with me, the next, it was all over. Now I'm spending my recovery watching Cubs games, TiVoed Star Trek, and rented DVDs of Arrested Development.

In other news, after many positive reviews of my outgoing message for Hillel (including several voicemails left specifically for me and friends of my parents searching for the phone number and calling to listen to it) I have recorded a new outgoing message for Hillel. Call and listen at your leisure.

Any ideas of how I can make money doing this? Any theaters hiring an in-house Moviefone guy?

UPDATE: Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today. Cubs win...finally.

This is a test from my phone.

Beam me up...

Wednesday was a sad day in the Star Trek world. James Doohan, or Scotty to most of us, passed away. Even though I didn't get to watch him in his prime, I enjoyed him in reruns of the original Star Trek episodes and in his guest appearance on The Next Generation. James Doohan is now the second of the original cast members to die, after DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy).

The Chicago Tribune ran a few tributes to him that seem appropriate. One, by Barbara Brotman, on how the passing of the celebrities and legends from our youth shows the passage of time that we might not have noticed.

"Wasn't it only yesterday that Scotty was holding the Enterprise together with the starship equivalent of duct tape? If he has succumbed to complications of Alzheimer's and pneumonia, then 40 years must have passed for us, too...

But then, Star Trek always was about possibilities you couldn't imagine. I could never imagine getting invitations to join AARP, but check my mailbox now. The passage at age 85 of James Doohan is another reminder of the way the unimaginable becomes the ordinary.

Personally, I'd rather imagine warp drive and wormholes."

The other, by Maureen Ryan, who has written several excellent columns about Star Trek, is about how Scotty was the character with whom everyone could identify.

"Why is it that we all still remember the role played by James Doohan, a.k.a. "Star Trek's" Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, who died at age 85 on Wednesday?

It's not just because "Beam me up, Scotty" became a legendary pop culture catchphrase.

It's because we identified with the exuberant chief engineer that Doohan created. Scotty was the working stiff. He was not one of the exalted beings lording over the bridge of the Enterprise. No, he was the overworked guy in engineering--the sweaty, busy guy in charge of keeping the darn thing running...

It's the Scottys of this world who keep it running. And that's why we loved him. Because he was one of us."

That reminds me of one of the more interesting comparisons that I've heard about Star Trek and Star Wars. In Star Wars, people's power came from the Force, a power that was present to different degrees in different people. Some, like Luke Skywalker had a strong sense of the force, and they became the heroes of the Star Wars story. There wasn't an opportunity for someone to work hard and rise up to become a leader and a hero. In Star Trek, however, Captain Kirk and the others weren't born with some power; they worked hard and made their way to the top. The Star Trek heroes were more "American" heroes, in line with the belief that in America anyone can grow up to be a hero; it doesn't take a sense of the Force. Anyone can do it, a Captain from Iowa, a Vulcan, or even a Scotish engineer.

So here's to you Scotty, one last time.


Graphic from startrek.com

...and Carrie Fisher as Glinda

I just saw Wicked tonight with my family. I also saw Star Wars Episode III back in May. You might ask "So, what's the connection?" Well, stay tuned for an in-depth comparison of the two, as they share some interesting themes.

But one brief comparison for now.

At Star Wars, (in digital projection, I might add) the audience was largely male. Wicked, mostly women, including many attractive ones. (The audience for Star Wars included one person who brought his own lightsaber.)

This difference was possibly most noticable during the curtain calls, when possibly the loudest cheers came not for Glinda or the Wicked Witch, but for the attractive male love interest.

Keep watching for my thoughts on Darth Vader and the Wizard of Oz.