short takes

Guest reviewer on Ebert & Roeper this week is the writer/director of the movie Jersey Girl, Kevin Smith. I think he did some other stuff, too. Last week, Jay Leno sat in for Roger Ebert, who's having medical issues.

My most recent cellphone gripe was somebody being way too loud in the cafeteria, not about their personal stuff, which is annoying enough, but about someone else's personnel issues. "Please make them stop," he said to no one in particular.

"Yesterday at the annual SpeechTEK conference in New York, Paul English announced in his keynote address the creation of a new "GetHuman Standard" for customer service phone systems. Microsoft and Nuance are working with Paul, and other companies are expected to join. Learn more about the Gethuman Earcon."

Here's hoping the loser of the Democratic primary for the US Senate race in Connecticut supports the winner. The Democrats' chance of being the national party in 2008 will not be helped by a third party run in 2006.

I got in the mail yesterday the Billboard Albums, which includes every album that made the Billboard charts through 2005. This makes my Top Pop Album book of a decade ago pretty redundant. I also have that Complete Directory to Prime Time Network Shows 1947-1992 by Brooks & Marsh gathering dust since I posted that list of shows on more than one network. So I will send these two older, but still useful, reference books to the first person who can e-mail me the correct answer to these two questions:
1. Angelina Jolie's uncle wrote a #1 hit that came out in 1966. What was it? And who performed it?
2. Based on the number of seasons it was broadcast and its audience size, 60 Minutes is the #1-rated program of all time, according to Brooks and Marsh. What's #2?

I see that this page is working again, no doubt due to the skills of the mother of Julie Hembeck.