UNEASYsilence is giving away yet another Nintendo Wii. This time, the way you enter the contest is to mention the contest on another website, ergo this post.
Sadly, the unit doesn't come with Wii Sports, but if the Wii is free, I could easily justify spending the... (*looks up the price*) Fifty bucks? Seriously? Geez. I guess fifty bucks is a small price to pay for a new Wii. Especially since I'm still using a N64 and a SNES (which plays Super Famicom games without the crappy adapter!).
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet. Funday links will open in a new window.
Mr. Deity[del.icio.us]
Mr. Deity is a semi-monthly video series that looks at God and the Universe with a smile (and sometimes, a wink). Thanks to Emily for this one (why haven't I posted this until now?).
Mac PC Spoofs[del.icio.us]
These spoofs of the popular Mac ads by Laurie McGuinness are, for the most part, pretty funny.
Bloons[del.icio.us]
Throw a dart at some balloons. If you pop enough, you move on to the next level. Easy, right?
Territory War[del.icio.us]
A little like Scorched Earth, but with stick men. In my opinion, the game is too easy (the computer is pretty stupid), but it's a fun way to kill some time.
Client Quotes[del.icio.us]
As a web designer, I have to deal with stupid people on a fairly constant basis. I'm glad to know I'm not alone. This is a series of stupid things that other designers have had their clients say to them.
Also, has anyone else noticed that more and more spam is making it past the Google Mail spam filter? I get my fair share of spam messages, and most of them end up in the spam folder, but lately, two or three (or four!) pieces of spam per week have found their way into my inbox. Is this happening to anyone else? Does anyone know why?
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet. Funday links will open in a new window.
Monkey Kick Off[del.icio.us]
Another one of those games where you kick/bat/shoot something over a long distance. This one has some of the better graphics I've seen and the monkeys are really cute. So far, my best distance is 4409 Monkey Meters. What's yours?
PLANned[del.icio.us]
Oh sure, this game seems easy enough. I mean, there are only 18 levels! But it doesn't take long for the game to get pretty tricky.
Bubble Tanks[del.icio.us]
This is a funky little game that gives you plenty of enemies to kill. It's easy to learn, but hard to play with a track pad.
This post is over two weeks late, but it's definitely worth posting.
A few Saturdays ago, Morah and I went to the Bob and Tom Comedy All Stars Tour. A couple of friends of ours had extra tickets and invited us along, so we took them out to dinner beforehand. Dinner was great, but toward the end of the meal we realized that if we didn't leave =right then=, we would be late. The tickets were brought out and divvied up, we payed for dinner, then high-tailed it over to the opera house (which is now called the INB Performing Arts Center, which is a stupid name. I'm still going to call it the opera house).
As we're hurrying in the door, everyone starts pulling out their tickets. That's about where it all started. Morah and I have our tickets, and the other guy has his ticket, but his wife can't find her ticket. She's digging through her purse and we're all a little surprised since she just had the tickets back at the restaurant. Just as we were about to go back out to the car to try and find it, an opera house employee walked up to us.
"Are you trying to find your ticket?" she asked.
"Yeah," we all replied.
"Here," she said, handing Morah and the other girl little slips of paper. "These are near the front. They don't want any gaps."
"Wow, thanks!"
Each slip of paper was good for two people. How cool, right? It gets better.
"Okay, these are in the pit," said the ticket taker. The pit? Really? That really is near the front!
"Enter through door one," she said.
So we proudly marched down to door one and entered. The usher looked and Morah's ticket (well, slip of paper) and pointed down the front row. The very front row. The one where, if you were sitting any closer, you'd be on stage. In the exact center of the front row were four empty seats.
Holy. Crap.
Without those slips of paper, we would have been sitting somewhere in the first balcony! Now, we're so close to the stage I can actually see the comedians eyes!
We quickly discovered why they didn't want any gaps in the front.
The second comedian was Bob Zany. As soon as he got on stage, he grabbed the mic and took a step forward. The moment he stepped forward, I realized what was about to happen. He told a joke, then a moment later leaned down, looked right into my eyes, and explained why the joke was funny. For pretty much the rest of Zany's performance, I was the poor sap in the audience who got picked on. He did pick on a few other people, but I took the brunt of it. It was all pretty funny, though, and he did have everyone give me a round of applause (which was pretty cool).
To thank me for being a good sport, he gave me a T-shirt and a combo pack that had two CDs, two bumper stickers, and a postcard.
After the show, all of the comedians were shilling selling their crap merchandise and signing stuff, so I went up to Zany.
"Hey, some jerk on the stage threw this crap at me," I said to him. He chuckled.
"Here, let me sign those for you," he said, indicating the CDs. "Thanks for being a good sport."
I appreciated that he said that and didn't just pick on me, which is exactly what one of the other comedians did.
When Tim Wilson came out on stage, his show started off to be quite promising. He told some funny jokes and sang The Jeff Gordon Song (I'm an Earnhardt fan and yes, I do know what the song is saying). The show took a swift and unexpected turn when Wilson decided to pick on me. Like Zany, he picked on other people, but I took the brunt of it.
Suddenly I was known as "25" (my age) and the brunt of Wilson's performance was comprised of jokes that I was "too young to understand." The problem was, I knew what he was talking about (when I could understand what the hell he was saying. Where I was sitting, the echo made it really hard).
He sang a song about drive-in theatres (I've been to one), station wagons with seats that face out the back (I've ridden in one), station wagons with wood paneling (I've seen them), and a bunch of other things that he assumed I knew nothing about.
The only time he really stumped me was when he asked what my favorite Hank Williams Sr. song is. Now, even if I knew any songs by Hank Williams, I wouldn't have known it (I have since found out that Your Cheatin' Heart is a song I know).
Being the butt of Wilson's jokes didn't really bother me (water on a duck), but I was significantly less amused with him than I was with Zany. I think what bothered me the most was that he doesn't know anything about me, but he made me fun of my life experiences anyway. The difference between Zany and Wilson is that, when Zany made fun of me, it wasn't really making fun of me, it was making fun of his own joke. I'm sure no one in the audience actually thought that I didn't understand his jokes, but it's still funny when he explains them. With Wilson, people in the audience probably thought that I didn't have any experience with drive-ins or old station wagons because, hey, I am 25 and those are things that haven't been around for a long time. Plus, Wilson never thanked me for being a good sport, he just lambasted me and walked away. But again, I know it was all in good fun, and it's not like anyone I know (besides the people I was there with) had any idea that he was making fun of me. If it really bothered me, I wouldn't be blogging about it.
Here's the video from the interview. Yes, the video is a little out of focus (I didn't shoot this, but the reason the focus is soft is that the camera guy couldn't back up enough). Also, the audio goes out of sync (stupid YouTube! Anyone know how to fix that?).
SpaceX will be launching Falcon 1 (which is being described as, "the first original American liquid fuel launcher in four decades") in about an hour. I'll be watching the live webcast!
From the SpaceX website: "Falcon 1 is a two stage, liquid oxygen and rocket grade kerosene (RP-1) powered launch vehicle. It is designed from the ground up for cost efficient and reliable transport of satellites to low Earth orbit."
UPDATE - After a forty-five minute delay, the launch was aborted with one minute and two seconds remaining. I'm still waiting to hear why and whether or not they will attempt to launch again today.
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet. Funday links will open in a new window.
clownpenis.fart[del.icio.us]
Here's a classic SNL commercial for Dillon/Edwards Investments and the only domain name left on the internet. Probably safe for work, but they do say clownpenis.fart a lot.
Electricman2HS[del.icio.us]
The Tournament of Voltagen, apparently. Stick men never kicked so much ass (I'm sure Phoenix will find an example of stick men kicking more ass, though).
Why Linux will not displace Windows[del.icio.us]
Wow. If you're even the slightest bit geeky (computer geeky, that is), this should make you laugh out loud and shake your head. It's truly sad what some people believe.
Kris has a great post on his blog positing two questions, "What is more beautiful, a universe as complex as ours being the product of a)infinitely small probability, random mutation and quantum whimsy or b) the hand of a divine, intelligent creator?" and "What is more profound, a sense of moral purpose and ethical behavior as the result of a) a desire to treat other human beings with respect and kindness for the sake of the human condition or b) a fear of God or the desire for reward in the hereafter?" In both instances, he chooses the first option, and I wholeheartedly agree.
In my opinion, a complex universe that mutates and evolves to create what we have is truly miraculous and beautiful. To say that God (or anyone else) created it all cheapens the wonder of nature. The same is true of ethical behavior. To say that I'm a well-behaved member of society out of fear (of God or otherwise) is truly an insult. Aren't people capable of being good for the sake of, I don't know, being good? I have come to a rational, logical decision not to anger the people around me (for various reasons), and for the past several years, I have successfully navigated life with a secular moral compass.
I could go on and on about this, so I'll wrap it up here. I just wanted to point out that Kris made an excellent point and it's a position that I've taken for quite a while.
While I'm not a huge fan of country music (or American Idol), it was fun to meet Bucky. We went to a local radio station where he was being interviewed on the air. We entered the booth (which was quite large; there were over a dozen people, my group included, all comfortably in the booth at the same time) during a commercial break, and Bucky had a huge smile on his face. He shook everyone's hand and asked their names. He was a really nice guy and went along with everything we asked of him.
One of our video production guys was there shooting some video and our promotions director had interview questions. She didn't want to do the interview and asked me to do it, which I did (of course! I enjoy interviewing people). I even slipped a couple of my own questions in there.
So, to recap how cool my job is, I got paid to interview Bucky Covington (and if that's not cool enough for some people, there were free gummy bears, as well).
This afternoon, I'm going to meet Bucky Covington of American Idol fame. Not that it's going to be the highlight of my life, but it's still pretty cool. I have to say, working where I do has some undeniable benefits. I'll be sure to post a photo when I get back.
I've used Movable Type as my blogging software for several years now, but I've never taken advantage of Trackbacks before. A few years ago, Trackbacks were being heavily abused by spammers, much like commenting systems have been (in fact, the abuse of Trackbacks was probably partly due to increased protection against comment spam).
I've always been curious, but sort of confused about Trackbacks. I mean, understand how they work, but because I've never played with the technology before, I must admit that I'm still rather mystified about it.
Considering that the internet is supposed one big interlinking orgy, I've decided to finally dip my toes into the world of Trackbacks. Now if you write an entry on your blog that builds off of, or was inspired by, or is in response to something that I wrote, you can use the Trackback URL (instead of the Permalink) and increase your chances that I and my readers will come read your entry.
I do want to point out that this is an experiment and that I don't have any real experience with Trackbacks, so if I decide they're not working out, I'll yank them (but not without trying to make it work first, of course).
UPDATE - Looks like the Trackback URLs begin only recently, so the older entries don't have the ability to accept Trackbacks. I'm looking into a way to fix this, but the sad reality may be that it's just too late. In the mean time, I wouldn't suggest creating any posts that use Trackbacks back to this site, in case I have to manually create Trackback URLs (or do something else that might really mess up the existing URLs).
UPDATE - I now understand what the problem is, and I sort of know how to fix it, but it will probably take a little more time and understanding. I e-mailed someone who went through the same thing previously and found a solution, so hopefully it won't be long now!
UPDATE - Got it! And I managed it by myself, no less.
It's about time! This is a huge step in the right direction for non-theists. I completely agree with Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Coalition for America, who says that, "the only way to counter the prejudice against non-theists is for more people to publicly identify as non-theists. Rep. Stark shows remarkable courage in being the first member of Congress to do so."
I continue to encourage all atheists, agnostics, and people with alternative religious beliefs to be open and forthright about their points of view. Thank you, Pete Stark, for your courage to tell the truth, especially since Atheists are the least trusted minority in America.
I just watched today's episode of The Show, which was made by stringing together short videos made by sports racers from around the world (including me!). It was a nice sentiment, but it made me kind of sad. The Show has been a lot of fun and Ze's quirks and humorous points of view have been highly entertaining. Much thanks to Phoenix for introducing me to The Show in the first place.
Many of the messages in today's episode had messages stating that author would miss everyone. Why? Ze has given us The Org so we can continue to communicate and collaborate! So, sports racers, The Show may be over, but our friendships have just begun. I'll see you all in The Org; my username is mwproductions.
The five year old grandson of a woman whose blog I read recently fell out of a fifteen foot high window, landed on a woodpile, and walked away without a scratch. On her blog, she wrote, "Praise The LORD".
Her evidence that God exists: Her five year old grandson fell out of a fifteen foot high window, landed on a wood pile, and walked away completely unharmed.
My evidence that God does not exist: Her five year old grandson fell out of a fifteen foot high window.
Either way, I was shocked to read what happened and am glad to hear that her grandson is safe. She said she would probably have had a heart attack had she been home; I know I would have!
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet. Funday links will open in a new window.
Naughty Super Bowl Sparks Beefs To FCC[del.icio.us]
Oh. My. Science. It never ceases to amaze me (or entertain me) that people feel the need to complain about the stupidest things. Even when they have legitimate complains, they are often lodged in a poorly conceived manner (and often with a lot of unnecessary swearing). Here are some of the actual complaints that the FCC received after this year's Super Bowl.
Fat cat HOT + FUNNY funny fun kitty kitty[del.icio.us]
This video had me laughing out loud (at work, no less), although a few things about it left me scratching my head. For example, the title of the video (yes, Fat cat HOT + FUNNY funny fun kitty kitty is the actual title someone gave it on YouTube). Also, the video is from japan-fun.com, but the language in the video is clearly not Japanese. It looks a little like Urdu or some other Indian language (it also sounds like it's from that area of the world).
The Stupid Test[del.icio.us]
According to this test, I'm only 1% stupid. I just wish the stupid test would tell me which question I answered incorrectly. A lot of these were way too easy. So, how stupid are you?
The U.S. Mint has struck 50,000+ George Washington dollar coins without adding "In God We Trust" to them. Now the coins are worth fifty to sixty times their face value. Does anyone else find it humorous that the value of the money went up when the presence of God was removed?
Handling Multiple Posts on the Same Day in Movable Type
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 0830 hrs
The previous version of ALLO (v4) was designed to display only the most recent post, regardless of how many posts had been written that day. It was a decision I made for aesthetic reasons, but because of it, I had the tendency to put off posts if I had already posted once that day. The problem was that I would then forget to post the next day (or something more timely would come along), and after a couple of days, I had forgotten what it was I wanted to write about in the first place. This was especially common on Fridays, when the Friday Funday post needed to be in the spotlight.
One of my goals for v5 (the current version as of this post), was to be able to write multiple posts in a single day. This goal had two parts, only one of which had been heretofore accomplished. The first (and easiest) part of achieving the goal was to show more than one post on the front page. This also eliminated the need for a "5 Most Recent Entries" list in the navbar, which allowed me to add the Dailies and not feel like a taxidermist trying to fill a rat with the entire Gobi Desert (bonus points for getting the reference (I'm looking at you, Brynna)).
The second part of the goal proved to be more difficult, but nowhere near as difficult as I had thought it would be. As it turns out, all I needed was a little direction and a better understanding of some of the less commonly used Movable Type tags.
Each entry on the blog has a date box next to it, which is cool and all, but I thought it looked kind of dopey for there to be several date boxes that all had the same date on them. The ideal situation would be one date box per day, regardless of how many posts there were for that day. I had no idea how to accomplish this, or even how to search for how to accomplish it, but after Googling a few different phrases, I finally found an extremely useful article by Brad Choate (Brad actually contributed the MTElse tag, which I'm going to talk about).
Brad's solution was to use three Movable Type tags that I hadn't had much (read: any) experience with. Those tags are MTDateHeader, MTDateFooter, and MTElse. The sample code on his site was intimidating at first, but once I understood what was going on (with a little help from the Movable Type website), I was able to rewrite it in a way that made the code much less intimidating:
<MTDateHeader>
<MTDateFooter>
Header is true, Footer is true
Insert Date Box
</MTDateFooter>
<MTDateFooter>
<MTElse>
Header is true, Footer is false
Insert Date Box
</MTElse>
</MTDateFooter>
<MTElse>
<MTDateFooter>
Header is false, Footer is true
Insert Nothing
</MTDateFooter>
<MTDateFooter>
<MTElse>
Header is false, Footer is false
Insert Nothing
</MTElse>
</MTDateFooter>
</MTElse>
</MTDateHeader>
MTDateHeader and MTDateFooter are conditionals, meaning the code inside the tags is only executed when the condition is met. MTDateHeader signals the first post of a given date, while MTDateFooter signals the last post of that date. In this case, the code I want to execute is represented by the statement, "Insert Date Box". Where it says, "Insert Nothing", there is literally nothing there in my actual code. Also, while this is obvious to me, it bears pointing out, just in case: The "Header ture, Footer true" and the rest of the statements like it are not actually part of the code, they're just there so that you understand the conditions in each section.
The key here is understanding how MTElse works. MTElse must be put inside of another Movable Type tag, and when you do that, it basically says, "this means the opposite." So in the first section, the logic works out like this:
<MTDateHeader>
<MTDateFooter>
If the header is true and the footer is true, return true.
In plain English: "Do this when the header is true and the footer is true."
</MTDateFooter>
<MTDateFooter>
<MTElse>
If the header is true and the footer is false, return true.
In plain English: "Do this when the header is true and the footer is false."
</MTElse>
</MTDateFooter>
...
</MTDateHeader>
As you can see, adding MTElse makes it so that the code will execute even when MTDateFooter is false, as long as MTDateHeader is true. If I didn't have the second section (which is exactly the same as the first section, except for the addition of the MTElse tag), then the plain English would go something like this: "Do this when the header is true and the footer is true, but if the header is true and footer is false, don't do it."
Remember how MTDateHeader and MTDateFooter signal the first and last posts respectively? If we look at the first section of the example above, they're both true, which would indicate that the entry in question is both the first and last entry of the date (in other words, it's the only entry for that date). In the second section, the header is true, indicating that the entry is the first one, but the footer is false, indicating that there are additional entries for that date.
One last thing I want to point out about this code is that it should be placed where you want the conditional code to be executed. I know that sounds daft, but in Brad's post, he says that the code should go just before the closing MTEntries tag. He's right, but only for the example he's giving. In my case, I want the code to go where the date box code should go, which, as it turns out, is just after the opening MTEntries tag.
Hopefully this helps someone else out there. Movable Type is a great program, but sometimes it can be hard to find solutions to problems, especially when the problem seems kind of obscure, or you aren't sure what words to use to search for the answer.
And, of course, now that I have achieved my goal, I plan to start posting multiple entries from time to time, so now you have another reason to check my blog several times a day!
Today at work, I went upstairs to fill up my water bottle. On the way to the water... Thing (I don't know what to call it), I passed by the mail slots. I glanced at my slot, expecting to see nothing (as per usual), and was quite surprised to see a small manila envelope with something thick inside it. After filling my water bottle, I grabbed the envelope and returned to my desk. To my surprise, 250 HTML and Web Design Secrets was inside!
The book, by the unparalleled Molly E. Holzschlag, has been on my Amazon Wishlist for quite a while. Though I doubted it to be the case, I initially thought I must have bought it along with some other web-related books a couple of months ago; it's not uncommon for Amazon to ship some items later than others. I checked my recently purchased items and, as I suspected, I hadn't ordered the book.
Next I checked my wishlist to make sure that the book was on there. Sure enough, it was. Not only was on the list, but it showed that it had been purchased.
So, to whomever purchased the book for me, I extend my deepest thanks! I'm excited to look through it and see what tips and tricks I can learn and apply to my sites.
My shaver broke today. Well, it may have broken on a different day, but I didn't know about it until I tried to shave for work this morning.
I use an electric shaver and have ever since I started shaving. I've never used a razor before, and frankly, the thought of rubbing a blade around on my face and neck isn't exactly inspiring. I got my razor sometime around high school (so, about a decade or so ago) and it worked pretty well until college, when my roommate unplugged it in the middle of a charge. Doing that messed up the battery, which eventually died completely. Rather than replace it (which, admittedly, probably would have been pretty inexpensive), I just plugged it in every time I needed to use it. That worked for several years, until this morning.
When I turned it on, it made a low, slow whirring sound; quite unlike the high-pitched buzz it normally made. I wiggled the plug around, switched it on and off a few times, and even popped off the blades to see if they were jammed. None of it worked, of course, so I had to go to work without shaving (after having not shaved for a couple of days). Thankfully, no one at work said anything.
After work, Morah and I went to Costco. We hadn't planned on going quite this soon (we were probably going to wait until the weekend), but since I needed a new shaver, we figured it would be a good time to go.
Now, I don't know what the deal is with Costco and their website, but the shaver I bought cost twenty dollars more in the store than online. The price on the website was part of the reason we went to Costco in the first place! So in the end, I paid about ninety (yes, nine-zero) dollars for a new razor. For that price, this thing had better last me another ten years.
Another problem was the online production registration. The registration card has a little line of text that says something like, "to register online, visit http://www.philips.com/norelco." The problem is, when you visit that URL, you get a 404 error! I did have to laugh at two of the suggested pages, though: "Philips Speech Recognition Systems" and "Sense and simplicity". All that technology and they can't just set up the URL to forward me to the correct part of the site? Apparently not, as I had to poke around for a few minutes to try and find the Norelco section of the site.
So I finally get there, and here's what I see:
What should I click on? The text, "Register your shaver" isn't a link, so should I click on "More Info" or the image above "Register your shaver"? As it turns out, you can click on either one, but why isn't it more obvious? Why doesn't that image have some big text on it that reads, "Click here to register your shaver"?
When you click on one of the links, a new window pops up (WHY?) and presents you with a not-too-long form. In fact, less than half of the fields are marked as required, so that's pretty cool, right? Sure, until you try to submit the form and it doesn't work. But how do you know it doesn't work? Is there I gigantic red warning placed obviously on the page to let you know what you did wrong? No, of course not; that would actually make sense! Instead, the page reloads and looks just the same as it did before. There isn't an obvious error message or confirmation message (which makes me wonder how many people stop here, assuming that they've registered their shaver). If you didn't resize the window, the error message appears below the fold as a line of red text (next to a pre-existing line of red text, I might add).
A quick aside here, if you select "other" as the product model, the form returns an error saying that you have to put in the product number. The problem is, they don't provide a place for you to enter it!
So why hadn't my registration worked? Because I didn't enter my e-mail address. But wait, there isn't a red asterisk next to it to indicate that it's required, so what gives? Okay, apparently it is required, but for some reason they didn't tell me that. I typed in my e-mail address, clicked on "Next" and...
More questions?
Oh, I see, these are optional. I'll just click on "Next" again to skip past them. An error? What's going on? Oh, I see, this survey is "optional". Got it.
The URLs are also kind of borked. You start out on the Philips website (philips.com). When the registration window pops up, you're now viewing a page at harte-hanks.com (they're a direct marketing company). After you submit the initial section of the registration, you're taken to insightexpress.com (another marketing firm) for the "optional" survey. WTF?
Finally, after half-heartedly answering the questions in the "optional" survey (which was longer and more invasive than it really should have been), I finally, finally made it to the confirmation page. So at least I know my shaver is registered. Once again, this thing had better last me a long time.
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet. Funday links will open in a new window.
The Internet[del.icio.us]
A news report about something called, "internet" that really starting to catch on. An oldie, but a goodie. And I'm 99% sure I haven't posted this in a Friday Funday before.
Steampunk Star Wars[del.icio.us]
As the artist said: "whenever anyone reimagines anything, they either make it a) adult and edgy (99%) or b) steampunk (1%)." This is the latter.
Wannaspell.com[del.icio.us]
This is simple, but cool. It's like magnetic letters on a fridge. You can even fight with other people about how the letters should be used!
FOX's new show, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader, premiered on Tuesday night with mind-boggling ratings. Last night, it kicked butt again, and fingers are crossed for yet another ratings bonanza tonight.
I predict that the show won't last, however. At least, not unless some changes are made very soon.
The basic problem is that it's way too slow. It's boring! On Tuesday night's show, we only saw six questions answered in thirty minutes. The UCLA graduate was a moron. He walked after hearing the fourth question (a question in the subject for which he holds a degree from UCLA, and which he would have answered incorrectly) and he didn't correctly answer a single question on his own! In other words, the only reason he won any money at all was because the ten year olds did it for him!
The second contestant was a little better. She managed to answer several questions on her own, but still hesitated to answer fantastically simple questions. I know that when people get into game show situations, their minds blank and they question themselves, but give me a break! Answering the question, "which star is closest to planet Earth," shouldn't take five minutes!
Part of the reason the show is so slow and dull is because they're trying to build tension. The problem is, we know the answer to "which star is closest to planet Earth," is "the sun" and we know she has it right, so trying to build tension by making us wonder doesn't work; we don't wonder because we already know!
The only real tension on last night's episode (for me, anyway) was whether or not the classmate got the right answer to "which star is closest to planet Earth?" The contestant got it right and the rest of the class got it right, but the contestant's classmate hesitated for quite a while before writing down an answer we never got to see. They even pointed out that she was thinking about it for a long time, so why not show us in the end?
Another problem with the show is that it follows an all-too familiar formula. Just like Who Wants to be a Millionaire, 1vs100, and several other similar game shows, 5th Grader has the "money ladder", where each successive question is worth more money. The contestant also has three "cheats". They can peek at or copy their classmate's answer. They can also be saved by their classmate, if they answer wrong and the classmate answers right. Just like Millionaire, just like 1vs100.
Is it a funny show? Yeah; you know I like to laugh at stupid people. Is it an interesting premise? I think so. Is it worth watching? It would be, if only they'd pick up the pace. With FOX ordering additional airings of the show, I'll be watching those Nielsen numbers very closely.
was inside!
