Live Blogging the Spelling Bee Finals

The finals are here!!!!!!!! This is gonna be a great night. I need some rum!

8:00 - I just realized that ABC is broadcasting in HD. How sweet is that. The Bee in HD!

8:02 - The kids just talked about how Peyton Manning wasn't flawless in the Super Bowl, but they have to be. Oh those sassy middle schoolers.

8:03 - First shot of Samir Patel, hiding his head in shame. That leaves Jonathan Horton as the favorite of the 15 remaining, with only six girls. But girls have won more of these than guys. Intense!

8:06 - Someone just gave bunny ears. Oh those crazy kids!

8:06 - Jonathan Horton steps up to the plate as the first speller of the night. The word being pitched is "girolle." A widely distributed edible mushroom that is rich yellow in color and has a pleasant apricotlike aroma.

8:08 - Jonathan just spent the past two minutes trying to pronounce it. "G-i-r-o-l." And he's out already?!?!? What? That's what's great about this bee. You never know what's going to happen next.

8:11 - The first backstory. Tia Thomas, one of the six girls left. This is her fourth national bee. And she needs some accutane.

8:13 - And now she's up. Good thing ABC got her some makeup. "Zacate." Forage of grassy plants; herbage. She's one of those that writes with her finger. These kids and their crazy kinks. The way this word is pronounced, it makes me want a Tecate. "Z-o-c-a-t-e." One girl down, five to go.

8:16 - Cody Wang, our first Canadian. Yep, don't really know why the Canadians are in the NATIONAL Spelling Bee, but maybe that's just me. "Apozem." And he missed it, spelling with "i" instead of "o". He also said "zed" for "z." Crazy, eh?

8:17 - Nate Gartke, Canadian number two. They better give him a hard word so he gets eliminated too. We can't let a Canadian win our bee. "Partitur." A full musical score showing each part on a separate staff. He got it. Oh, he happens to play the guitar and cello. Of course he knows it.

8:19 - Anqi Dong, the third Canadian. Yep, still bugs me. "Bouleuterion." An ancient Greek council chamber. We have another finger writer. I bet that works great on dates.

8:21 - Another Canadian bites the dust. Woo hoo!

8:22 - Our first commercial break. That was an intense start. More misses than hits. I wonder how long they will go. I also wonder what kind of company advertises on the bee. We've had Olive Garden, Cingular, Advil, Wal-Mart...no clever spelling-commercials yet. This is why the bee is different from the Super Bowl. One you watch for the commercials, one you watch for the drama.

8:25 - And we're back, with Stuart Scott doing the first post-misspell interview of the night. Aw, poor Jonathan is in tears. His favorite basketball player is Steve Nash. Too bad that's not the same of David Stern.



8:26 - Our first comedian of the night. Joseph Henares. Apparently he says "oh my God" after ever word is announced. "Punaise." A bedbug. He said he prefers "bedbug." Man, this kid is set for life. He'll be trying out for "Last Comic Standing" next week. And he got it, much to his surprise. He just became my new favorite to win.

8:28 - Mujer numero dos. Claire Zhang from Jupiter, Florida. "Urgrund." A primal cause or ultimate cosmic principle. Sounds German. Ah, she added a "t" to the end. She was so close. Another chica says adios.

8:31 - The second backstory. Kavya Shivashankar. Another girl. Um, equal opportunity please. Oh, but her cute little sister who wants to grow up to be in the bee just spelled my favorite word, "humuhumunukunukuapuaa." I'll be rooting for the little sister in a couple of years.

8:33 - Now our third girl gets her word. "Cilice." A shirt or undergarment made of rough animal hair worn next to the skin as a penance. This one's got some crazy pronunciation, so this could be difficult. "C-i-l-i-s." Another girl gone. They are dropping life flies. Six kids already eliminated. Intense!

8:36 - Commercial break number two. And while we step away, this live blogging was fueled by a number 6 at Wendy's. I was excited when they announced the 99-cent buffalo crispy chicken sandwich there. Then I had it. It's horrible. Really just bad. All they need to do was shrink their spicy chicken sandwich. Call in Wayne Szalinkski (spell that, punks!). But they didn't. Boo Wendy's.

8:40 - And we're back with Mike and Mike from ESPN. They look like they belong there like Richard Simmons looks like he belongs at Hooters (wait, they wear the same type of clothes...hmm...).

8:42 - Nithya Vijayakumar. If you can't tell, that's our fourth girl. "Pelorus." Etymology unknown. I love it when they stick them with one of those. And now she's the first person of this round to enter finish time. Drama. And she missed it. All the girls that have gone up have struck out this round. Can the last two keep the females alive??

8:45 - Connor Spencer. His word is German to Yiddish. Yikes, don't wanna know how that happened. "Helzel." And he conquers!



8:47 - Matt Evans with backstory number 3. This kid just spouted off "Hamlet." Not funny kid. I hope you study engineering. "To b-e-e or to not b-e-e. That is the question." Ugh. Let's hope he misses "genizah." No such luck....he advances.

8:49 - I just heard someone's cell phone go off in the spelling room. Show some class, people!

8:50 - Commercial break number 3. I really want to know how much 30 seconds of advertising time costs for this thing. It must be a bargain.

8:51 - An ad for the new "Fantastic Four" movie. Seriously, who is going to go see this? Well, probably someone sitting at home watching a spelling bee...but...um...I'm not going to go!

8:54 - Our first musical number from "The 25th Annual Putnam County Bee." Now we know the rules...54 minutes in. Don't you think that should have come sooner??

8:56 - The last girl steps up. Amy Chyao. Not to judge a book by its cover, but she looks capable. I'd bet she makes it. "Grognard." An old soldier. Oh, and she's a finger speller! She only does it when she's nervous. She knows all of...most of...some of...a few people of America are watching. And she takes bonus time. Don't let me down Chyao! And she does...only one girl can make it to the next round.

9:00 - Backstory number four. Guess what? It's a girl. Isabel Jacobson. Wow. Total slight to the guys left. And this chick has 25 bracelets on her arm as good luck charms. "Helodes." And she nails it. I bet it was the 25th bracelet that did it. Just 24 wouldn't have cut it.

9:02 - One girl left. And that's the end of this round. Seven remain.

9:03 - Commercial. I need a refill.

9:06 - Matt Evans was just called the favorite now by one of the commentators. Boo. Now the backstory on Evan O'Dorney. No more girls left to do. Now he's making some annoying sound. He's the youngest competitor at 13-years-old. Wow, I hope he loses soon. He loves math. He loves the numbers and the patterns. And he just admitted he doesn't like the spelling bee, that he just has to do it. Way to go mom and dad.

9:11 - And we start the next round. Evan O who sailed past "rascacio" in the last round gets "schuhplattler." The definition was a paragraph long. But he knew it.

9:12 - Nate the Canadian is back. Let's see if we can get rid of him with "abseil." He knew it was German. He must be on to us. They must teach German in Canada besides French 'cause he got it.

9:14 - Joseph the comedian is back. My favorite. He threw out the "oh my God." Didn't get the big laugh this time. He needs new material fast because he can't go out this round. "Triticale." He got it! Use that chair time to work on your routine.

9:16 - Commercial. Juicy Juice! Yeah, now we're talking.

9:21 - Connor Spencer just missed his word. Which brings us to Matt Evans. Please miss it. Miss it! He's sweating. And he missed it! Take that! Telling you, money is on Joseph the comedian.



9:25 - Prateek Kohli, facial hair and all, nails "randkluft."

9:26 - Isabel is up to keep the girls alive. "Epaulement." And she doesn't even flinch. Five make it to the next round. It's all about the bracelets, baby.

9:27 - After the commercial break we hear about the kids visit to the White House. You know the White House. Home to a great speller. Can anyone spell "nuclear?"

9:31 - Oh, they met Laura Bush. She made them spell government words. How cute! I bet they spent a long time thinking of that!

9:33 - Evan O up to start the next round. "Laquear." Bam! He's moving on.

9:34 - The Canadian's back. And they gave him a French word. "Rognon." He didn't waste anytime. Ridiculous. Maybe next round...give him some Armenian word. Bet he didn't study that!

9:38 - We get a visit from the "Mary Poppins" cast. Yeah, we all know there's a big word in that.

9:39 - Joseph the man's back (yep, he's the man now)! "Aniseikonia." A defect of binocular vision in which the two retinal images of the same object are of unequal size. If he nails this he really is the man. NOOOOOOO!!! He threw in some "c's". I don't want to watch anymore. This is like the Phoenix Suns going out of the NBA playoffs.

9:42 - Facial hair's turn. He gets a Polish word. "Oberek." And he can't handle the truth. So championship words will be used after this round no matter what happens with our sole lady.



9:43 - And speaking of, here she goes. Wow. If she nails this word, she's the man! "Cyanophycean." A blue-green alga. Use those bracelets, just like Wonder Woman. And it wasn't good enough. She's not the man.

9:46 - And then there were two. Evan O and the Canadian. If the moose wins this one, no more spelling bee for me. I'll dog it for years to come. I won't be able to bear it. I'm so good...championship words after the break.

9:48 - Another "Fantastic Four" commercial. I just puked a little in my mouth.

9:50 - Let's see if ABC can wrap this up in the 10 minutes left. Evan O looks like he's about to make out with his mom. Must be home-schooled.

9:51 - Evan O bats first. "Zoilus." And hits a homerun.

9:52 - The canuck "metaphorically picks the wings of the butterflies in his stomach when he's nervous." Get this kid in therapy stat! Perhaps after "vituline." Of, relating to, or like a calf or veal. Argh! He makes it.

9:55 - Commercial. This baby is going overtime.

9:56 - I have a sudden craving for gummy bears. Weird.

9:57 - Just grabbed a handful of gummy bears. Be prepared.

9:58 - Here we go Evan O! Yeah, put that on a t-shirt. "Pappardelle." He made that look easy. Championship word? "Oh please," says Evan O.

9:59 - Mountie..."videlicet." Too easy too. Come on!

10:00 - Another commercial. Wow. Milk it, ABC.

10:01 - Kelly Ripa in a commercial. The hottest thing on this channel in more than two hours!

10:04 - Time and temperature from Commerce Bank.

10:04 - Evan O, ready to kick "yosenabe" to the curb because he's a black belt. But even I could spell that one. Too easy.

10:05 - Eskimo must battle "coryza." He didn't take his time and....MISSES! (Another use of "zed"...crazy Canadians.)



10:06 - Evan O must nail this word to claim the prize and keep the Northerners down (or is it up?). "Serrefine." I hope he goes crazy when he spells this. He nails it and...nothing. Wow. Jump around a little bit kid.

10:07 - He's presented the trophy and can barely hold it up. Who cares! The Canadian got schooled. He back to across the border now before we sick Homeland Security on you. And even though Evan O doesn't like spelling bee, he likes it a little bit more now. Just a little bit. Way to protect the homeland. Hi-ya!

10:11 - And we're out. Wow...must we wait another year? They should start broadcasting regional play. Then really build up to this event. Now that would be sweet.

The Best Sports Day of the Year!!!

Some call it Super Bowl Sunday. Others like the Kentucky Derby. But they all pale in comparison to the National Spelling Bee!!!

Think about it. When else do some many home schooled kids get released in public? What other event sees players faint while they are in the heat of competition? Where else could you see the comedy stylings of Samir Patel?!?

Speaking of Patel, this heavyweight got knocked out early. But now he's challenging and trying to work his way back in. (Update: He was denied!!!!) Oh the drama! I'm so glad this event is now on network television. I heart you ABC!

It is also very confusing. It's the National Spelling Bee, but there are competitors from places like Canada and Jamaica. I guess it's spelling and not vocabulary that really matters.

247 Days to New Lost

Well, that's an estimate. That's taking into account 219 days left in 2007 (so, 212 days 'til Christmas!) and assuming a start date for Season 4 as the last Wednesday of January. That's the most likely date to start a 16 episode season that will ride into May.

Needless to say, that's a looooooooong ways away. So what to do in the meantime...

A) Watch the entire series over again. Yep, that may take awhile, but you have awhile. I felt the first three season were really building up to this past season finale. I think things should be viewed from scratched to see how the puzzle piece really fit together. And I know some people that have already started!

B) Start watching "Heroes." There are a lot of similarities between the two shows and enough differences to make them both watchable. Plus, you only have one season to catch up on with it and can start up with Season 2 in the fall. Less wait time, more fun!

C) Find a local bar and conduct "Lost" philosophy nights. Yeah, first start with your closest friends but advertise and see how many people you can get to come in and debate what's really going on on the island. Stupid you say? Seriously, when was the last time you engaged in such conversation. It's good for the brain. And the alcohol will help you think of a lot more theories.

D) Look up all the Dr. Shephards and Shepherds in your phone book. Dial them up. Then call them pussies. 'Cause that's what they are, apparently. Everyone with that name on television really does suck.

E) Read this blog. Cha-ching!

Why We May Be in for More Flashbacks

This would published today on EW.com in an interview with "Lost" producer Carlton Cuse.

EW: What are the chances that he'll return in one form or another?
Carlton Cuse: The irony of Lost is that a lot of characters work a lot more once they're dead. Charlie could exist in someone else's flashbacks. Look, the island is capable of conjuring up things from people's pasts. It is entirely possible that Charlie will appear in the show again. We've actually talked a lot about it, but to say more about that right now might blow the element of surprise.

He said flashbacks. Hmm...

Things You Need to Know About Lost, Part 4

1. If you shoot a man and think he’s dead, double check. It just takes two fingers to the neck to be sure. Or shoot about five times in the forehead. Take your pick. This is not just a rule for “Lost.” It’s any television show or film…or life…in case you’re planning on shooting anyone. You never know when they might pop back up and blow out your window with a grenade.

2. There’s something I’ve been noticing lately. I think Kate, Danielle and Alex look an awful lot alike. It’s not just the actresses, but the hair and the way they look covered in dirt. It’s almost like they are making the up to look similar. I wouldn’t be surprised if down the road we see a connection between these three.

3. I love Julie Bowen. I think she's so sexy. She makes Jack’s flashbacks (or forwards…or was the time on the island the flashback this go ‘round) bearable. Jack is annoying and whiny. Just like another Dr. Shepherd on ABC. But at least we get to see Julie Bowen in them. It’s like a double dose each week along with “Boston Legal.”

4. Why didn’t Ben talk up the fact that Juliet was no longer with the group? Here was the perfect chance for Ben to manipulate. He could have said, “I know you’d be here because Juliet told me. We captured Sayid, Bernard and Jin because Juliet told us your plan. You’ve been a sucker all along. And now she’s gone and killed Sawyer and is back with us.” It was the perfect setup. I would have thought Ben was that smart. However, I did believe him when he said Naomi is not who she said she was.

5. When did the purge take place? I get the feeling it could have happened right before Juliet got there. And the gasing may have caused women to die during pregnancy. That’s why the Dharma Initiative is still dropping supplies. They may have been thinking everything is okay. But now they might have thought there was trouble and sent Naomi. The picture of Desmond? That’s because Desmond is a part of the Dharma Initiative and the only one in isolation. So, he’d be immune to any sort of trouble on the island and could be trustworthy in Dharma’s eyes.

6. If the Dharma Initiative found out their operation was compromised, wouldn’t it make sense they would destroy the island? I think Ben was spot on there. Or Naomi is a part of a group that's infiltrated Dharma to steal it's secrets and what it's discovered. That's why they are the big threat Ben said is out there. Before this show ends, I bet the survivors and the Others join together to overcome some other force.

7. What to make of the flashfoward? I still have to think on that. Though I do believe Sawyer of Locke was the one dead in the coffin. They seem like the two people no one would come to a viewing.

8. There was one main reason why I thought Locke might really have been dead. His background story had been pretty much explained. There were no more mysteries about his past. After tonight's flashforward, I realized that most, if not all, of the character's backstories had pretty much been explained. So a flashfoward totally makes sense. So we have three seasons of "Lost" remaining. The first three have had flashbacks. Watch the next three have flashforwards, of what happens to these people after they got off the island. When you think about it, won't you wanna know what happens once they get off (because I assume the series finale will be them getting off). What a great way to show it! I think the writers might be on to something great.

Is Lost Racist?

Now, let’s think about this for a moment. The island is full of white people. And I can’t recall any black people among the Others either (I don’t use African-American because the Others are clearly not American so it wouldn’t fit.)

But what of the minorities on the Island:

Hurley – an overweight, lazy Latino who used to work at a fast food joint and got rich by playing the lottery

Sayid – the Middle Easterner who used to fight for the Republican Guard in Iraq and (still) tortures people

Jin and Sun – Koreans with ties to the Asian mob

Michael – a lowly construction worker who can’t keep his marriage together (and has been written out of the show)

Mr. Eko – an African druglord

Ana Lucia – a hot-tempered Latina police officer who murders a man

Here’s another tidbit. Yunjim Kim, who plays Sun, originally auditioned for the role of Kate. But was made the daughter of a Korean mob boss instead.

The shows creators – J. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Jeffery Lieber – are all white. This is in stark contrast to another ABC show, Grey’s Anatomy, which has a great diverse cast, and also was created by an African-American woman.

Granted that all the characters on the island have their fallacies, it seems like the minorities draw on stereotypes and are more severe than other characters.

Still, there is one minority character that seems to be strong and pure, and that’s Rose. But Rose has disappeared this entire season. The writers and producers don’t view her as a priority. Perhaps she is just too good to be shown, which would be a shame.

But apparently she will return in the last two episodes of the season. Does that mean Rose is pregnant too? She, incidentally, is the only plane crash survivor never to have contact with the Others. Sounds like somebody is due. (Get it?)