____________

No, seriously…

Pittsburgh hospital takes a stand against crocs.

AMC doesn’t carry nickels?

Apparently life is tough when you share a name with a boy wizard.

___________

Well-rounded news…

The University of Iowa could become the first university to name one of its colleges after a corporation following a $15 million gift from Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Disney has pulled the plug on its plans for a ‘Ratatouille’ wine.

Even investment bankers love them some Facebook.

Blogger thinks new Bourne film is an attack on the Bush administration.

Wyclef says Lauryn Hill is the reason there hasn’t been a Fugees reunion.

Halo 3 to feature online multi-player co-op.

Tech blog Valleywag urges Facebook to stop counting its money and fix the site.

First season of Heroes to come out on DVD later this month. YES!

John Mayer, Dave Matthews and Nas set to play gig at Virginia Tech in September.

Cinematical reviews The Bourne Ultimatum, which I am excited beyond words to see tomorrow night. Another review from Time Magazine.

Robert Downey, Jr. talks about playing Iron Man.

Rumors swirl over the title of J.J. Abrams’ new project. Some production stills from the set.

The Detroit Free Press interview Cold War Kids frontman Nathan Willett.

Not everyone was a fan of Rocco Dispirito’s cameo on Top Chef last night.

Entertainment Weekly wants to know who you like more: Bond or Bourne?

American Airlines will test in-flight broadband next year.

If you get bored, I’d highly recommend Kevin Smith’s Smodcast that he does with longtime friend and producer Scott Mosier. Really funny, insightful stuff on a variety of topics, the least of which appear to be movies. Here’s the link if you’re interested.

__________

No, seriously…

Who knew an exclamation point could be so expensive.

__________

Well-rounded news…

The Consumerist is reporting that Best Buy has fired some Geek Squad personnel following newspaper articles about “agents” taking files from customer’s computer.

Select Best Buy stores open mini-Apple stores.

NBC wants the sometimes-funny Jimmy Fallon to replace Conan O’Brian as late night host.

Premiere’s 20 fresh faces of comedy.

A major investment group has called for the resignation of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey after it was discovered he was posting to a Yahoo! stock forum anonymously.

The Federal Trade Commission may block Whole Foods’ acquisition of rival Wild Oats. Seriously, consumers need two places where they can buy overpriced health food. Good lookin’ out, FTC.

The New York Times and NBC News will collaborate on their coverage of the 2008 Presidential Campaign.

A first look at the Lost videogame. Warning: You should secure your brain before you watch this! I almost lost mine. No pun intended.

A teaser trailer for the Dark Knight. Oh man. I don’t usually get excited about trailers, especially one that is 45 seconds long. But I’m a dork and I like Batman so this made me excited.

New Cold War Kids video for “Hospital Beds”.

Kathy Griffin on her date with Andrew W.K.

Kevin Smith to write and direct episode of Heroes spin-off.

Some Lost news from Comic-Con.

A 16-year-old drove his truck to an island in the middle of a shallow Pennsylvania river and couldn’t get back.

Inmates split on Woody Allen.

__________

Well-rounded news…

USAToday profiles fanboys.

Naomi Watt, Stuart Townsend and Joseph Fiennes have all been cast for roles in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Not so fast.

Blockbuster may be losing money but it’s beating Netflix, says BusinessWeek.

Facebook founder finds himself in court; being sued by former colleagues.

Though relatively small companies, XM and Sirius merger is huge for the future of satellite radio, says Washington Post.

Has the mystery behind J.J. Abrams’ “mystery” project been solved?

How a movie poster got me totally excited for a Western.

The cover of Bottom Line fav. Kanye West’s new album, Graduation.

Blender’s top 25 most influential people in online music.

The Huffington Post’s Eric Williams thinks a Seth Rogan-led Green Hornet movie, or any Green Hornet movie, is a bad idea.

New York Magazine’s List of the 10 fictional characters who must be killed off.

Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch previews tonight’s Top Chef reunion show.

Disney has vowed to remove smoking from its family-oriented films.

A look at what Coldplay’s new album could sound like.

More Kayne news: The rapper cast Bottom Line fav. Zach Galifinakis in video for “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” AMAZING!

The New York Post has an interview with a former consultant from the riveting Discovery Channel show, Man vs. Wild, who says the show’s host, Bear Grylls doesn’t really have it as rough as it would appear.

Mark Weinart, an Oregon-based survival expert, told the Post:

“If you really believe everything happens the way it is shown on TV, you are being a little bit naive.”

According to Weinart, the survivalist spent some nights in a cushy lodge with the show’s crew when he was shown on the show to be staying, of course, in the wild in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.

I guess I’m not awfully surprised by this, if not a little disappointed. What a viewer has to consider when watching a show like this is that the production has every advantage in portraying reality in any way they wish. If they want to make it look like he has to make a makeshift hut out of sod or narrowly escape a death by yetis, they can do that regardless of whether or not the danger was that imminent or if yetis are real.

I still find the show and Grylls impressive, I’ll still watch it when it comes on (my girlfriend will still roll her eyes when I do) but I think now every time you see something on the show you have to wonder if it really happened that way.

For my money, I like Survivorman. Les Stroud is a poor man’s Canadian Bear Grylls.

The French government has installed two toilets at the top of Mont Blac, Europe’s highest peak, which will have to be emptied by helicopter.

Great white sharks apparently don’t like kayakers.

__________

Response from last night’s YouTube debates is in. (New York Times/Time Magazine’s TV Blog/Jeff Jarvis). To be honest, I didn’t find this all that spectacular. The questions were predictable and kind of average. They certainly were no different than any question posed to the candidates during a traditional debate. I’ve decided that while I think Obama is the more viable candidate and certainly someone I would vote for, I love Joe Biden, even if he puts his foot in his mouth — a lot. Oh and as anyone who watched last night will tell you, Sen. Mike Gravel is nuts.

Premiere Magazine’s list of 10 TV shows that should be movies.

Is Netflix in trouble?

NBC is being sued after someone caught on Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator” series killed himself. While it is difficult to argue with the intent of this series, as a journalist, I do not feel in any way that reporters should be doing the police’s job for them and making the news. It was really only a matter of time before this happened.

Teen Vogue to fold? Where will LC “work?”

Part 2 in Entertainment Weekly’s Top 50 Best Love Songs ever.

John Mayer addresses the 63 fan arrests at his gig in Hershey, Pa.

The Cinematical on how much a critic should spoil a film when writing a review. When writing reviews and when we did the Industry Outsider podcast, I tried to always be respectful of the readers and listeners who hadn’t seen the film. To not do that, in my opinion, is an arrogant and pompous things to do because at that point you are not writing the review for anyone else, you’re writing it for your own self-satisfaction.

TiVo to debut a $299.99 HD DVR. Nice. I think this will prove to be the right price point for this product.

CBS’ Public Eye on how the internet has become the destroyer of financial models.

Zimbabwe authorities are pissed at a medium that led them on a hunt for diesel fuel the medium said was in the northwestern part of the country.

__________

Well-rounded news…

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Best Buy’s Geek Squad taking stuff off your computer. Consumer rights blog The Consumerist led the way on this story. Good job, guys.

University of Kansas students will have their internet privileges taken away if they are caught file sharing.

The assistant managing editor at the Birmingham News is a genius!

An amazing map of Web 2.0.

Netflix has lowered their subscription fees in an effort to keep up with Blockbuster online. $1 guys! That’ll show ‘em!

Flying Gonzo!

Part one of Entertainment Weekly’s Top 50 Best Love Songs Ever.

Bottom Line fav Nada Surf to hit the road in the fall to preview new material from their upcoming, yet-to-be-named album.

Police arrest 63 at Mayer gig.

David Chase addresses The Sopranos finale.. sort of.

The Sacramento Bee will begin posting video letters to the editor on its site.

What to do with that Joan Obsborne CD you can’t believe you own.

XM and Sirius execs continue to try to convince the FCC that its merger is good for consumers. No way.

Chicago’s famous Car-Kabob to be demolished.

MTV moving up the coast for its vapid teenage drama.

Let me just say, well done JK. You have managed to not only wrap up the saga with a Martha Stewart worthy bow, but you’ve managed to take the final book in directions I never expected. There was so much new mythology, so many new details on the characters. So much backstory! This is an author who truly loves her characters.

And now that it’s over? I don’t know. I’m completely satisfied with the seventh book. All my questions have been answered. And yet I’m oddly sad. It’s hard to believe the whole thing is over (and don’t say, “but there’s still two movies left!” The movies don’t count). All the waiting for the next book, the midnight release parties, the one day that the publishing industry triumphs over movies and video games and television shows.

I hope something else comes along the gets kids excited about reading, I really do. It was such a joy to see children clammering for a book. A BOOK. CHILDREN. READING. Wow… The first book was released in the US in 1998. A good chunk of the children lining up to get the last book weren’t even born yet, and still they were part of the excitement.

The whole thing is bigger than the story. The Harry Potter series has left an indelible mark upon popular culture, and I hope part of that legacy is that it gets kids to pick up other books, latch on to another series. I know my childhood was richer, my imagination more vivid, because of the rabid reading I did. I hope if I ever have kids they’ll pick up books with the same enthusiasm.

And if it seems like their interest is tepid, I’ll just hand them Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Today’s topic: Top 5 overlooked television shows

5. Beg, Barrow & Deal – ESPN – ESPN’s ripoff of the Amazing Race was amazing. Originally aired in primetime, when this show began airing at like midnight, I figured it was a bad sign.

4. Swan’s Crossing -My guess is that if I actually went back and watched this teen soap opera that aired for 13 weeks in 1992, I would think it was awful but I have super fond memories of the show from when I was 9.

3. Blow Out – I think my favorite part of this show was watching hair stylist Jonathan Anton try to convince the world that he was straight every week. Dude, you have tattoos and you finish every sentence with “man,” you like chicks, I get it.

2. Bands on the Run - I was obsessed with this show when it was on. I just didn’t miss it. If anyone from VH1 ever reads anything I write, I hope it’s this.. BRING BACK BANDS ON THE RUN AND RELEASE THE FIRST SEASON ON DVD. Who can forget the hard-drinking, hard-living guys from Flickerstick going toe-to-toe with corporate rock schmoozers Soulcracker. That show was epic.

1. Degrassi: The Next Generation – I know as a 23-year-old white guy, I’m hardly this show’s target demo but Stephen King’s love for Veronica Mars makes me feel like this is ok. This show is completely mindless and melodramatic and fantastic. If you don’t believe me, I’ll give you an example of the power of Degrassi. A couple weeks ago I was at home in Indiana for the wedding of my blogging colleague L-Mo and my girlfriend, myself and my friend Zac were sitting around my parents living room watching television. I turned on Degrassi. What started with “This is so dumb” quickly turned into wait “Who did Emma sleep with?” and “Why is Jimmy in a wheelchair?” That’s right, it’s social commentary brought to life by Canadian teenagers.

A smaller, cheaper iPhone may be in the works. And in related news, I still don’t care.

CNET teaches you how to ghost hunt.

Young adults and teens aren’t reading the news. Wow, great stuff, guys! Really!  

You’re less likely to die in a plane crash if you’re sitting in the back.

This guy is the new Green Hornet:

Huffington Post’s Tony Sachs talks about losing his wife to Harry Potter.

Top 10 things you can do with your time before reading the new Harry Potter. 

The New York Post’s Top 100 cover songs of all-time.

Newsweek’s Devin Gordon on the Emmy nominations.