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Starbuck calls her "Stardoe"
Goodness gracious. Dirk Benedict, the original Starbuck on the original Battlestar Gallactica, rips the present incarnation of the show on the conservative site Big Hollywood. The tone of the piece will offend most women, and probably all men born after 1980.

It's funny. I kinda like Benedict's piece, even though I disagree with just about everything in it. The latest Battlestar Gallactica was my favorite show until they lost me in the third season. (I hear the fourth is better.)

I dunno. I like rants.


Yes, you can have fun in Vegas
"Do you know where Cranfills Gap is?"

The question came from my father-in-law, who was visiting over the weekend. He expects me to have a store of West Texas knowledge.

And of course I know where it is -- all of 30 miles southeast of Hico.

My father-in-law told me he had learned about the town on the web and watched some of the commercials. Then I remembered -- or realized that I had forgotten -- about the place and how the town had won a trip to Las Vegas as part of a promotion.

They now have episodes of the trip up on a visit Vegas web site. I guess the best term for it is "reality advertising." The bits have some cute moments in them -- lots of people saying "yeehaw," old women acting inappropriately with male strippers, etc. My favorite part is when an old man refers to the bubbling wine as "cham-PAG-nee."

It's nice, but what struck me about the trip was that the Cranfills Gap people were given the full VIP treatment. They stayed in the luxury suites, ate at the best restaurants, got free trips to the day spas.

In other words, they got a vacation that 99 percent of us could never afford. The overall effect is like watching an ad that explains the good points of winning the lottery.


Friday Night Lights
The season premier Friday was a whole lot of awesome. I'll admit I felt kinda cheated. The show stopped in midseason last year, and they didn't bother settling all of the plot points before starting this season.

On the other hand, the plot points of the last season were never that strong in the first place. Nerd guy Landry kills guy, joins football team, dates hottest girl in school. Uh-huh.

I like the idea of nerd-quarterback getting competition from new stud-boy quarterback; I enjoy watching the white-trash girl claw her way towards college; and I hope that Smash gets his Mojo back.

Which is why the show is great. These are real characters they've created. You care about what happens to them.

I don't get how Lyla bounced from good Christian girl to not-so-much girl, but, whatever. Half of the show's charm comes from the feeling that it's all about to fall apart.