Homecoming...and a reminder...

Well, provided everything goes according to plan, it looks like Scott and I will be out of our apartment by the end of July.

Where are we going? To a familiar place...Ted and Larry just bought a house so they will be moving out of the old house (which I had shared with them for four years) leaving that house vacant. Barring any bumps along the road, Scott and I will move into that house.

So, as Tim put it, it's like the old "spinoff" has been cancelled and I'm moving back to the old sitcom but it's the old sitcom after most of the cast has left. In other words, my time at the apartment is "Joanie Loves Chachi!" AHHHH! You look at me...soft as any touch can be...AHHH!

Just a reminder to catch


Thanks to MrGameShow at FLASHGames² for the graphic

TONIGHT on CBS. The show airs at 8 PM ET/PT and features Ricki Lake hosting six celebrities as they play classic game shows like "The Price is Right," "Press Your Luck," and "Match Game."

Tonight's episode is "The Price is Right" and tomorrow's episode (8 PM ET/PT) is "Let's Make a Deal."

I was a consultant on the series particularly with the "Press Your Luck" episode airing next week.

Mark my word...this show is MUST-SEE viewing if you're even just a casual game show fan!

When I've thought I've seen it all...

...I see the image of David Hasselhoff in tears at the end of the "American Idol" finale.

Honestly, it was already one of the best Idol finales I've seen...this was the frosting.

It makes me look even more forward to seeing the Hasselhoff as a judge on "America's Got Talent." I mean, Regis and Hasselhoff...together?!? Or should I say...Regisselhoff!?!? My little head can't take the waiting!

Just in case there wasn't enough self-indulgence on this site

And so...begins a new era in the history of mandelweb.com...

I present to you...

the first....



VIDEO PODCAST!!!

It's a bit trivial at the moment, and it's more of a test run to see how well the iSight on my new computer works. And sure enough, it works pretty damn well!

Enjoy and this is just the beginning... :-D

Hooray summer!

I....

CAN'T...

WAIT...

"David Hasselhoff will judge NBC's America's Got Talent"

Oh, Hasslehoff!

SPOILER ALERT!

If you haven't watched "The Amazing Race" finale, do NOT scroll below the spoiler space...

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TTOW! A big YAY! A huge YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY for BJ and Tyler's spectacular finish on "The Amazing Race!" It shows that more often than not, playing nice can win you big on the show.

Got to watch the show along with a bunch of former Racers and fans at a TARCon gathering in Orange.

Amongst the veteran Racers were the Bowling Moms, one of my favorites from Season 5. And check out the shirts they were wearing:



Congratulations, BJ and Tyler! You guys rocked the "Race!"

Also, added a few more pics to the "2006 pics" section of my photo album. Enjoy!

The city so nice...

I've visited it twice in less than a year...

So, I'm in New York right now. I'm here overseeing a few "Reality Remix" shoots.

I just got back from the Ed Sulllivan Theater, which tonight was home to the "Survivor" finale. Aras won! YAY! He was my pick on the Fantasy Reality Challenge game on the Fox Reality website.

That's the first time in a long, long while that I've picked out the winner from the beginning. Thank you, Aras! Thank you tribal council jury!

Have had a little free time to explore the city a bit more than my last trip. I think it also helps that it's not freezing like it was during my last visit in December.

I've had some time to catch up with old friends like Sam, Jon L., Jon C., Mike, and Ryan...and make some new ones in the process - hey, Rob! ;-)

Even had some time to finally see a show while out here. I checked out "Lestat," the new musical by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It not the disaster that many critics have made it out to be. That being said, the show is unfortunately underwhelming. While the peformances by the actors were great, the show felt episodic and the jumps in time were a bit far apart. There were a couple of numbers which I really liked namely "Right Before My Eyes" and "The Crimson Kiss." But then you also have numbers like "I Want More" which felt like a reworked version of Veruca Salt's "I Want it Now" from "Willy Wonka." I'd give it a C+. To those who have seen it, was I hallucinating or did I hear echoes of Elton John's "Whispers" (from the "Sleeping in the Past" album) in one of Nicholas's violin solos?

Overall, it's been quite an enjoyable and productive trip. Ahh, the joys of bicoastal networking...This weekend here has made me want to visit here again very soon. However, I still don't think I could ever live out here...even if the eye candy quotient for me here is a bit higher than it is in L.A. Not sure if it's because I'm so jaded with the dating scene in L.A., but I've noticed more guys who are my "type" (at least from a looks and style standpoint) out here than on the West Coast. How about a little exporting program, NYC? :-)

Well, off to bed...a morning shoot beckons tomorrow...

Where there's a ying...

...there's a yang.

Just got done watching tonight's "Amazing Race." OH MY GOD! B.J. and Tyler are in the finale three!!!! My furniture's probably all worn out from me jumping on it.

It goes to show you...karma can bite you in the ass...Bye, bye Mojo!

This pretty much makes up for Chris getting the boot on "Idol." * sigh * That means three of my predictions for the final four on Idol were wrong. I honestly don't know how this is going to shake out...I mean, where will Chris's votes go?

Okey...back to catching up on some teevee...onto "Lost!"

What the?!?!

Okey...nobody EVER come to me for any reality predictions...

DAMMIT...DAMMIT...DAMMIT...

TiVO was made for nights like tonight...

Well...after watching Idol last night, all bets are off. Elliott brought it last night...wow...If you asked me months ago whether he would have been a major contender, I would have thought you were crazy. But after last night and the past couple of weeks of shows, I'm definitely converted. I would be thrilled to see a Chris/Elliott showdown at the end...no, not "Get a Life's" Chris Elliott...thought seeing "Cabin Boy" on the Idol stage would be interesting...damn those fancy lads...

Chomping at the bit about tonight's "Amazing Race." B.J.'s been quite the good boy and has not spilled anything about the race, so I'm just in the dark about what's gonna happen as everybody else. Mojo can't make it to the final three...they just can't!

And then tonight's Lost? And Deal or No Deal? And America's Next Top Model? And the season finale (or is it?) of Unan1mous?

My head can't take it...And on top of this, I'm going to a friend's stand-up show tonight so I'll have to watch it all later through the miracle of TiVO. Oy...looks like it's gonna be a late night tonight!

Revisions, additions, and more...

Back from a little blogging respite and much to report...

First of all, there are plenty of new pics to be seen! Got down to business and did a hell of a lot of HTML-ing to produce these new photo pages...

A FEUDIN' BIRTHDAY PARTY - Photos from the birthday my roomie Scott and I threw for ourselves last January

AMERICAN IDOL TOP 24 PARTY - Some pics my friends and I took when we attended the Top 24 "Idol" party back in February

VEGAS 2006 - Pictures from a trip to Vegas that Tim, Brandon, Scott, Phillip, and I took last weekend

RANDOM PICS 2006 - I added a bunch of pics to this section including pics with several guests who've dropped by the "Reality Remix" set in the past few months

And now...some musings I've been keeping bottled up for the past few weeks...

VEGAS - As mentioned, Tim, Brandon, Scott, Phillip, and I went to Vegas last weekend to check out "The Price is Right - Live!" As always, Todd Newton and Randy West did a marvelous job. It's so great to see the show finally in Vegas. It was also great to see some of the old gang there from the previous runs of the show.

Scott rented a Toyota Prius to see how well the mileage really was on the car. Well, we used 3/4 of a tank on the way there...not too shabby!

Oh, we're in love with the Wynn buffet...Thanks to a generous gambler with a comp card he wanted to pawn off on us, we got to eat there for a slightly discounted price. Mmm...bananas foster gelato...mmmm....

And I've realized that blackjack is my game. Thanks to it, I came out even for the trip. Woo-hoo!

PANTS OFF DANCE OFF - At first, I thought this show was a joke...and well, it's for real. It's not quite the insomnia-inducer as the late-night airings of "Yo Momma" were, but it's definitely a remote stopper...

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - Heading to New York next weekend to be there with "Reality Remix" as they cover the "Survivor" finale. Quite excited especially since I'll have some time to catch up with a few old and new friends while I'm there...

NINTENDO WII - So, the new Nintendo gaming machine is going to be called Wii. That's pronounced "wee" as in "we don't understand why Nintendo would pick such a weird...or should I say wiird-ass name." Wii??? Honestly, now...Curious to see what E3 reveals about the system. I'm especially curious to see how those new controllers are in action. In the end, it's all about game lineup. C'mon, Nintendo...let's have a must-have game for this one...And Mario Party does NOT count...as fun as the title is, it really wasn't one that made you say, "I must have a Nintendo Gamecube." The intriguing thing about Revolut...I mean, Wii, is access to the past NES and SUPER NES library...

AMAZING RACE 9 - Last week's episode...yipes...The past few weeks, I've been able to watch the show with B.J. at his viewing gatherings. I even got a chance to meet Tyler at one of them. I'll say it again, I'm proud of those guys. Final four? Quite an achievement. And to think, just seven years ago, B.J. was less scruffy and taking over the reins of the game show I hosted for Harvard TV.

And in those weird coincidences, at the last party, I got to meet one of B.J.'s friends, Hunter, who just happens to be one of the "rich kids" from The WB's recently finished "Survival of the Richest." Again, worlds colliding...worlds colliding!!!

GAMESHOW MARATHON - The dates are set! Gameshow Marathon is premiering on CBS, Wednesday, May 31st. The show airs June 1st, 7th, 8th, 15th, 22th, and 29th. This seven-part series features six celebrities competing in a sort of game show Olympics. The celebs include Tim Meadows (from "SNL), Leslie Nielsen (from "The Naked Gun"), N-Sync's Lance Bass, and Kathy Najimy ("Sister Act").

Each night is a different classic game show done in the classic style complete with replicas of the original sets!

The shows are "The Price is Right," "Let's Make a Deal," "Beat the Clock," "Press Your Luck," "Card Sharks," "Match Game," and "Family Feud."

I did a little bit of side work consulting on the "Press Your Luck" episode and all I'll say again is that you "Press Your Luck" fans won't be disappointed!

MYSPACE V. FRIENDSTER - It finally happened...the number of friends on my Myspace friends list has finally surpassed my Friendster list.

FALL MUSIC - Looks like fall's when the CDs to look out for are dropping. Two of my favorite artists will have new music to unleash to the world: Scissor Sisters and Bleu. Hopefully it will make up for last year's so-so crop of new albums.

STAR WARS DVDs - Ok, it means putting more money into George Lucas's wallet, but still...YAY for the original movies coming out on DVD this fall!