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Wednesday night – a rerun of the Jay Leno hanging out with the “Friends” post-series finale. Like, this just happened three weeks ago, and they’re already rerunning it? Eh?

A curiously interesting op-ed from NY Times’ William Safire – he’s advocating the end to the U.S. penny, because no one uses it, everyone loses it, and it’s useless. He says it’s only being continued because:

The answer, I think, has to do with zinc, which is what pennies are mostly made of; light copper plating turns them into red cents. The powerful, outsourcing zinc lobby — financed by Canadian mines as well as Alaskan — entices front groups to whip up a frenzy of save-the-penny mail to Congress when coin reform is proposed.

But when the penny is abolished, the nickel will boom. And what is a nickel made of? No, not the metallic element nickel; our 5-cent coin is mainly composed of copper. And where is most of America’s copper mined? Arizona. If Senator John McCain would get off President Bush’s back long enough to serve the economic interests of his Arizona constituents, we’d get some long-overdue coin reform.

What about Lincoln, who has had a century-long run on the penny? He’s still honored on the $5 bill, and will be as long as the dollar sign remains above the 4 on keyboards. If this threatens coin reformers with the loss of Illinois votes, put Abe on the dime and bump F.D.R.

Umm. Okay. Sure, Mr. Safire. Let’s see the penny really come to an end and go the way of the Indian-head coin.

Well, this was an interesting article in the NY Times on Ken Griffey, Jr., getting there as a star baseball player in his hometown team, Cincinnati Reds. One gets a flavor of his lavish lifestyle, frustrations with the slumps and injuries, and enjoyment at coming back (although he says he was never gone – understandably so – but he sort of was gone). Interesting…

All the stories in the news about the race horse Smarty Jones – it’s about to be horsey time in the NY area at Belmont Park on Saturday; will there be a Triple Crown??? Haven’t we had this story last year? Hmm. A Triple Crown remains to be seen.

What is not a rerun? – check out the strange Six Flags ads – Weird, Frail, Bald Old (WFBO) Man; family quibbling over when to spend quality time together; and then, cue the music; and WFBO Man is surprisingly able and energetic, dancing his way to lead everyone to Six Flags (Great Adventure in the East Coast USA). I got curious to figure out the music and went on-line – it’s “We Like to Party” by the Vengaboys. Ah. Knew it was too familiar. As the link above notes:

The surprisingly spry, bald-headed character featured in the television spots travels in a colorful retro style bus bringing his signature music – “We Like to Party” by the Vengaboys – and an irresistible invitation to leave the boredom, stress and pressures of everyday life behind, to families across America. He quickly has Dad dropping the rake, Mom putting down the garden hose, and Junior abandoning the lawn mower in an easy decision to take the short trip to Six Flags and a day filled with sheer enjoyment.

Okay. Yes, the music is great and catchy. But, I just think that WFBO Man looks a little scary. I can’t tell if he is actually WFBO or an actor with pretty good prosthetic make up. Anyway, check out the Six Flags website for the latest commercial. So goes life…

I saw a rainbow today… so did half of Brooklyn. After the miserable rains of the day, the bow arched over the Brooklyn House of Detention, joining Smith Street and Jay Street. You don’t see that happen every day. Pot of gold, anyone?

The weekend was quiet; for the photos of the Sunday wedding featured on today’s banner, look here.

Midnight riding the bus, billy joel playing. Wonder where this message leads.

Uh hmm. Finished reading Entertainment Weekly – pretty good issue. I want so much to dislike anything about the new movie, “Day After Tomorrow” (anything depicting the destruction of my hometown has earned my ire of late the last couple of years), but there’s enough reporting that “Day After Tomorrow” is more cheese and camp than any attempt at Serious Moral Story ™ (I’m weary of listening to the director telling news folks that he’s hoping the movie would make us think more about global warming – there are other ways to do that than with a cheesy movie). I loved this odd paragraph in Entertainment Weekly’s article on “Day After Tomorrow”; writer Gillian Flynn notes:

[T]he film demands not just killer tornadoes and instafreeze hurricanes, not just a storm swell that swallows much of Manhattan, but [a] freighter busting down Fifth Avenue in the wake of a wave the size of the Statue of Liberty. And wolves – did we mention wolves? Their furry animatronic heads loll on a lunch table nearby for a scene in which Sam [played by actor Jake Gyllenhaal], after scrounging food and medicine from the ship, must outrun the pack back to his [NY Public Library] safe house.

Hehehe. Wolves. Hell, I didn’t even knew there were wolves in the five boroughs. Anyway, what is with this movie? If someone sees it, let me know – in the meantime, I’ll watch other stuff. I mean, I like cheesy movies as much as anyone, but disaster movies that are Really Ridiculous just… well, there are other movies out there to watch.

My e-mail inbox had the latest ABA E-Journal newsletter – and an article highlights a reality show where law graduates compete for a job in a (gasp!) law firm. Molly McDonough writes:

After all, as recent grads who passed the bar after April 2003, they are qualified to try out for the show. These would-be contestants are vying to be picked for mock trial teams of Ivy Leaguers versus graduates of lower-tier schools. And they are lured by the prospect of fame and a “major career opportunity.”

Fox announced last week that the program, developing under the working title The Legal Show, is scheduled to air on Sundays beginning in November. The “courtroom showdowns” will take place in front of a yet-to-be-revealed high-profile judge, real jurors (except for the pay) and a national television audience.

Few details have emerged about the show, such as which law firm or company would be willing to turn over a coveted legal job to a game-show contestant.

Career opportunity? From a reality show? And, what law firm is agreeing to be a part of this? (maybe they’ll get something out of this, but maintaining their good reputation is the hard part). Top tier vs. lower tier law schools? Good grief, now that’s just mean (watch the lower tier grads cream the higher tier ones with the skills they acquired from their law schools’ clinics; watch the higher tier kids’ get all arrogant about their higher tier schools; blah, blah, blah). Plus, any concern of embarrassment isn’t there: one law graduate/unemployed gentleman notes, “‘If we could survive law school, we could survive a reality show.’” Yeah, sure. Do we really have to present our profession to the lay people like this? I thought we’re trying to improve the perception of and appreciation for lawyers, not make us look sillier.

Cool stuff: analysis of how television affects or reflects society can be scholarly stuff, as seen in the upcoming conference of “Buffy”-ologists – academians who have analyzed implications of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and her universe (which would cover “Angel”). The Yahoo article links to the related website, which was also fascinating. And, yep, as I suspected, someone did get around to drafting a paper on how “Angel” depicts the Evil Law Firm as it violates codes of professional conduct. Too cool.

Enjoy the weekend. Here comes the unofficial beginning of summer (but I wish spring would stick around as long as it can).

This is just plain freaky. Saturday/Sunday was summery. Today is April weather – in the 50 to 60 degree range, partly cloudy/drizzly/increasingly overcast/expected hail/thunderstorm/etc. Huh? Where oh where is spring?

I got around to finally watching an entire “24” episode last night – wow, that’s quite a season finale. I kept thinking, “No way is Kiefer Sutherland going to do that. No way… Holy s—, he’s going to do it…”

Spoiler —

Kiefer as Federal Agent Jack Bauer is trying to stop germ warfare bomb from blowing up; but, his partner/protoge Chase is attached to the bomb – Chase locked the bomb onto his wrist to prevent the Nasty Villain from taking off with the bomb; poor Chase. Jack glances at the fire extinguisher/fire axe combo at the corner – and one wonders, No, Jack, no! Chase, though, is a Good American – tells Jack to do his duty. So, one gasps as Jack runs to break the glass to get the axe…

Somehow Jack saves the day, even if it means chopping someone’s wrist off. Chase, I think, will live and those snazzy doctors may be able to reattach his arm. But how many really crappy 24 hours can one agent have? Jack seems to have one almost every year.

I was generally squeamish about the biological terrorism storyline of this season’s “24” (enough to only follow it from commercials or TV Guide summaries) – but watching the last two episodes have been very impressive. “24” is pretty solid, even if it has some overwrought moments.

Slate.com’s Dahlia Lithwick – the woman’s one smart cookie and I so enjoy it when she writes Slate.com’s “Jurisprudence” column. Last week she did “Slippery Slope,” slamming the slippery slope argument against gay marriage (i.e., the argument that proposes that gay marriage paves the way to bestiality, incest, and other sins – as if any “sin” is very similar). Putting aside whether one is for or against gay marriage, one must reasonably expect proper development of legal argument – and slippery slope arguments are not exactly the best one, as law school has taught us, and I really liked how Lithwick nailed the argument as a specious one (if not, at least a boring argument).

This week, Lithwick analyzes why Justice Sandra Day O’Connor bemuses us – very interesting reading, as we continue the struggle to understand the justices in Supreme Court.

Interesting NY Times’ editorial – I always perk up a little when the Times does a human interest type of editorial: “Merry Times for Commoners.” The editorial board notes that this month has been the month of the weddings of the Crown Princes of Europe – Prince Frederik of Denmark marrying an Australian commoner; and this past weekend, Prince Felipe of Spain marrying a Spanish anchorwoman/commoner/divorcee. (sidenote: yep, on Saturday, even I was watching a little bit of the Felipe/Letizia wedding on Spanish TV – I don’t understand a word of Spanish, but I’m transfixed as anyone with a nice old-fashioned royal wedding; and, more yep, ladies – let us all bow our heads that the previously most eligible bachelors of royal Europe are no longer eligible). The editorial’s odd humor (odd, because I didn’t think this was really in the Times’ editorial bunch):

English tabloids would have enjoyed imagining that conversation over tapas in the royal palace, “Mom, Dad, there is something you need to know about Letizia. . . .” But this was Spain, not England, and the royal family is no subject for mockery.

Indeed, far from a national ornament, the father of the groom, King Juan Carlos, is widely admired for his forceful oversight of Spain’s transition to democracy. And though the ceremony was toned down in remembrance of the March 11 terrorist attacks in Madrid, it was watched by millions of former subjects throughout Latin America, whose fascination for Spanish royalty is not unlike Americans’ interest in the Windsor clan.

Above all, these May royal weddings are a tantalizing form of reality TV. It’s no longer about evoking fantasies of being born a prince or a princess. All aspiring contestants need to do is go out and woo one.

Umm hmm. The Times gettin’ with the times, I guess. Personally, I think royal weddings are better than so-called reality tv; we may not expect to marry ourselves to princes or princesses, but as national figures, they mean something (at least, to Spain or Denmark, they do).

Fantasia Barrino – the new American Idol. Too predictable; Diana Degarmo got weak there with two of her songs and so it was clear who would be the winner, short of America’s bad voting conduct. Ah, well. Congrats to the winner and the runner-up; So goes spring tv.

Yahoo! News – Gum Returns to Singapore After 12 Years

To think that we have prescription drug problems — because the US badgered Singapore about it during a free trade agreement, now it will allow the sale of “therapeutic” gum — but the stuff costs $11 and it’s a controlled substance — you have to have your ID recorded before purchase. “Therapeutic” gums include Nicotine gum and “whitening” gums like Orbit. Critics on the one hand decry the increasing number of gum spots on the sidewalk, as well as the fact that it’s legal and cheaper there to get cigarettes and prostitutes without having your identity recorded.

Quest USA, Da Tiao Zhan – The First Chinese Reality TV Show in the US

Imagine four Chinese teams doing the Amazing Race, just on a smaller scale — from Boston to Miami… welcome to Quest USA. I’m just curious about how it will go and how much budget they put into this one.

See it at midnight ET Sunday/Monday on SinoVision or on the International Channel if you’re on Cablevision. Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles.