Underrated

Connections - I have to say that I've met more celebrities and various "interesting" people this month than I have in my entire life in total. Most of these people have been guests on the Tonight Show including, but not limited to, Orlando Bloom, Keith Olbermann, Heidi Klum, Cedric the Entertainer, Shaun White, Tina Fey, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Smokey Robinson, Will Ferrell, and Owen Wilson just to name a few. (I realize I just namedropped...multiple times, and I apologize. I hate it to but it's for the good of the article. Bear with me.) The three people though that made the biggest impact on me were Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, and Kevin Smith. I met Ben when he performed on The Tonight Show and could not have been a more humble, down-to-earth guy. He appreciated my fandom and I was able to talk to him like an everyday-guy should. I met Kevin a couple weeks ago when he was The Tonight Show to promote Clerks II. Again, a very nice, polite regular guy. He personally invited me to a screening of Clerks II at the Arclight Theater here in Los Angeles where he would be doing a Q&A afterwards. And last but not least, Eddie Vedder. I met the singer of Pearl Jam after their second show at the Forum here in LA after I met Tim Robbins's niece, Chelsea. It being Chelsea's birthday, Tim and Chelsea's father David (both great friends of Ed), got us backstage where I was able to have an honest discussion about Pearl Jam's music with the man himself. Quite possibly the coolest experience of my life. Thanks again to Chelsea and her dad and uncle. Life becomes more interesting when you have friends in high places.

Wikipedia - For the last couple of weeks I have watched in amusement as my roommate has spent good portions of his day "editing" various entries in Wikipedia (if you don't know what Wikipedia is, find the definition at www.wikipedia.com). From adding a hilarious "fact" to Peyton Manning's page about how the Pro Bowl MVP award will now be called the Peyton Manning award because it's awarded to the player that plays the best when it counts the least to completely true yet so absurd stories about former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher gone haywire that Wikipedia doesn't believe it and deletes the addition. (He really did punch Brody's friend's father Wikipedia police! I'm coming after you.) And now our good friend Stephen Colbert has urged everyone to change all the "facts" on Wikipedia to something different in hopes that everyone will eventually believe it so that we can change reality from being about fact to belief. Way ahead of you, Mr. Colbert. But I like your style.

YouTube - Besides the obvious reasons for loving YouTube (WWF matches circa 1983, ESPN's Top 10 Best Basebrawls, the Aisha video, Gino the Ginny, etc.), YouTube has made history by being the newest vehicle to launch new television shows. Some go-getters put together a show they produced themselves and promptly uploaded it to YouTube. It has become so popular that NBC decided they would take a chance on it and picked it up to be an actual television program. Take that, agents and network execs! Cut out the middleman, baby. The network brass at CBS, Fox, NBC, and ABC are so chalk full of crap and re-hashes that it makes logical sense for the people to finally make tv the people want to see. That's democracy. Now don't miss "Nobody's Watching" when it airs on NBC...some time. It'll probably only last six episodes. Fingers crossed!

Overrated

"Vintage" - Way too many people throw this word around when talking about clothing. I'm not a fan. "Vintage" should only be used when talking about cars, baseball cards, and whores (any trickturner born before 1971). These so-called "vintage" clothes are impostors. Aren't we merely condoning the cycle of fashion trends by slapping someone else's old clothes with a crafty, sexy term? I say down with the term "vintage" and a more appropriate term that I will coin right now: "Uncle Jimmy's clothes from yesteryear that we sold to a thrift store because we refuse to give them away to Salvation Army". Rolls off the tongue.

Being Uber-Famous - On July 20th Colin Farrell made an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Everything was going just dandy (Colin had fulfilled his quota for curse words on air) when a woman walks on stage from the crowd and starts talking to Colin. From my position backstage (yes, I work for the Tonight Show) I thought for about a half second that it was a skit. Then I realized this was some crazy broad. It was, in fact, a crazy broad. A crazy broad that was trying to sue Colin for allegedly making sexually explicit phone calls and text messages to her. Colin has already sued her for slander and damage to his name. Colin quickly and calmly escorted this nut offstage as she was telling him that he's see her in court. Security dragged her away and The Tonight Show had to do what we call a "pick-up" and edit scenes together later. The interruption never made it to air but everyone knew about it the next day...thanks in part to the fact that Access Hollywood literally tapes across the hall. Sometimes it's better to just be a normal guy accused of sexual harassment. This way the entire world doesn't know you're a sexual deviant...allegedly.

Cell Phones In The Gym - I frequent my gym two to three times a week to do my best John Basedow impression. I seriously do six minute abs. Screw that murderer from Something About Mary. Anyway, I've noticed that many gym-goers talk to people on their cell phones while at the gym - while using the machines or not. They could be doing squats or Iriquoi Twists for all I know and they're still on their phone like they're on the employee side of a 1-900 number's $4.95 per minute. It's ok asshole, you can get off the phone for an hour. The world won't stop if you're not on it blathering to your friend about how much you thought Sarah really liked you but instead really likes Sean and you were confusing her signals as flirting instead of honest kindness (you misinterpreting douchebag). So let your girlfriend bang your best friend in peace. You deserve that workout.