I hate Olympic coverage on TV.  Since most of the sports are pre-recorded, NBC really just dicks with you for the whole night.  Each commercial is followed by teaser after teaser, and you’re forced to watch a ton of sports that really no one cares about.

And being forced to watch male figure skating for two days is a bit much.  Really, God Hates Fags protests Adam Lambert contests, but they let this atrocity take place?  I swear, a big hard cock seemed just a bit more tasty after the second day of male figure skating coverage.

This is why watching the Olympics on the Internet is so great.  You can choose what you want to watch, and watch it whenever and wherever you want to.  It’s also a great way to pass time at work.

At first, I was getting pretty annoyed after having to install Microsoft Silverlight on all my computers, but actually the technology is pretty good.  Silverlight measures how much bandwidth I have, and adjusts the picture accordingly.  It also buffers the video well, so it’s mostly studder free HD quality.

I also like how the NBC website shows compilations of crashes.  For many sports, crashes are the only interesting parts, and it’s like someone at NBC read my mind when these put these clips together.  I highly suggest aerials crashes and super G crashes.

It is kind of annoying that you have to watch a commercial before every video.  But you can really just mute your computer and surf the web for 30 seconds.  I also hate how they show the same commercial over and over.  I mean, it doesn’t make me want to buy a product any more if I see the same commercial every two minutes.  If anything, it makes me annoyed and less likely to buy.

The best coverage on the net so far IMO has been hockey.  They have game highlights, as well as clips of just shootouts.  And hockey is a great sport in the Olympics now since there are actual NHL players playing.  That way it’s still pretty interesting to watch the Swedish team or the Czech team, for the example, because you’re really watching some pretty great players.

There are also full hockey games on the NBC site.  This is probably the only place you’ll see most of these games, because NBC doesn’t broadcast them in primetime.  How does that make sense?  Hockey is a big professional sport in America and instead they show dudes with half buttoned shirts and tight pants.

You will have to wait to see video on the NBC website, however.  You need a paid subscription to watch a lot of the most recent or live coverage, which is kind of a pain.  But since Google News will blast any big news to you before you watch the actual event on delay you really aren’t missing much by waiting a day.

You can check out the NBC video site here.  The site isn’t well designed and it’s kind of a pain to find stuff, but the ‘Most Popular Video’ page is pretty good, as is the daily recap page.

I like the airline’s policy of making fat people buy two seats if they can’t fit into a single seat.  Sure, everyone has a right to be fat, but that right ends when it starts poking into the sides of fellow, non-obese travelers.  Not to mention the safety risk of having a fat guy crammed into a tiny airplane seat during an emergency.

That’s why I have zero sympathy for Kevin Smith, the writer and director of Clerks, who recently generated a ton of press for getting kicked off a Southwest flight for being too fat.  Apparently, Smith had purchased two tickets, according to Southwest’s rules, but then decided to take an earlier flight where only one seat was available.  Once it was discovered that Smith couldn’t fit into his seat, a fact that Smith apparently already knew since he originally purchased two seats, Smith was booted from the plane.  After the incident, Smith took to Twitter, claiming that Southwest kicked him off because of his size.

I don’t get why Smith is angry here.  He knew that he was too fat to fit into a single seat, that’s why he originally bought two tickets.  It was also his choice to take an earlier flight where only one seat was available.  Really what Smith was doing was inconveniencing another traveler because he wanted to take an early flight.  That’s a dick, selfish and inconsiderate move on Smith’s part.

I mean, have you ever sat next to a fat guy, particularly on Southwest’s tiny seats?  It’s an awful experience, and completely unfair for the person who paid full price for a ticket yet ends up with a fat arm in their side for several hours.

Southwest wasn’t discriminating against Smith, as he claims, because he is ‘too wide for the sky’…they’re trying to create a comfortable environment for their normal-sized passengers and making Smith pay for the real estate that he’s consuming.

Really, Smith is acting like a petulant child who got caught doing something that he already knew was wrong.  Smith’s tweets are selfish and juvenile, and I hope Southwest doesn’t change their policy because of this incident.  In fact, I’d prefer to fly an airline who gets rid of fatties, rather than one that coddles them.

Was it just me or did the Olympics just creep up all of a sudden?  I had no idea that the Opening Ceremonies for the games were today, until  an athlete died in a luge crash.

Apparently, the Olympic committee decided to introduce a crazy death sport into this year’s olympics that involves sledding down a half tube made of ice at 80 miles per hour without any protection.  While I’m all for entertainment, I have no idea how this sport ever seemed like a good idea.

Then, during the ceremonies themselves there was a big technical glitch with Vancouver’s bizarre, four armed torch lighting machine.  The glitch created a few minutes of awkward waiting.  As you can see from Gretzky’s face above, it was not comfortable at all.

It didn’t really help that NBC’s announcers were analyzing the technical glitch as it happened.  You’d think they’d try to play cool, but no, they not only mentioned the technical glitch but gave a play-by-play account of the whole spectacle.

Personally, I’m looking forward to hockey…and that’s about it.  Skiing and snowboarding are cool to watch, but in the end I really don’t care at all who wins.  I mean, it’s not like skiing or snowboarding are actually sports.  Figure skating is tedious, especially when one of the skaters isn’t suspected of ordering a hit on another skater.  Really, the whole Tanya Harding thing ruined figure skating for me forever, because no Olympics after that could ever match that drama.

You may have heard rumors last week that Howard Stern may replace Simon Cowell as a judge on American Idol.  Cowell is leaving Idol next year to do his own show called X-Factor, leaving Idol without a key player in its judging panel.

Filling Cowell’s shoes means being brutally honest, if not downright rude and crass.  That seems like something Stern could do, right?

I’m not certain, but it appears that rumors of Stern’s possible move to Idol came from Stern himself.  Stern has mentioned that he is one of the few people that could replace Cowell, although many of these comments were made in passing.

Once Stern started the ball rolling however, the media picked up on the story.  In response, Stern has commented that he would replace Cowell for $100 million.

At the end of the day though, I think this is really just a ploy by Stern in a contract year.  Negotiations to renew his contract with Sirius XM are just around the corner, and he’s likely just trying to create demand.  It’s a brilliant move.

Also, Fox may not even want Stern at all.  He doesn’t really seem like a fit for Idol’s target market, which I’m guessing includes teenage girls and families.

And even if Idol did want Stern, it wouldn’t make sense to pay him $100 million.  At most they’d match Cowell’s $50 million salary, which may be a bit too low for Stern.

Finally, Stern hates to travel, and he is firmly rooted in New York with his wife.  Filming for Idol in LA, not to mention the satellite trials would be very inconvenient for Stern, who rarely leaves the State.  You’d also have to wonder what would come of his radio show if he took a few weeks off to judge Idol.

I’m hoping Stern does replace Cowell, because that would truly make the show entertaining.  But, I think it’s highly unlikely….somewhere in the 10% likelihood range.

Still, Fox does need to make a strong move if it wants its Idol franchise to survive, and hiring Stern would definitely get them a ton of attention.  I’m not sure if audiences would stick around though – Idol is already losing its legs and even if Stern does join the show it’s hard to imagine that the show keeps up its ratings without Cowell.

Yesterday, bills that would allow a casino in Hawaii passed through the House Judiciary Committee.  Sadly, I don’t really know what that means, but it appears that Hawaii is at least one step closer to getting its first casino.

According to the Advertiser, the bill gives the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to allow gaming casinos on Hawaiian Homes land parcels.  Another bill that passed would create a gaming commission that would issue a five year gaming license to a single casino.

The poor economy was a key driver for these bills.  The State would get 20% of proceeds from the casino, while the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands would get the other 80%.

The downside to a casino, of course, is crime.  I think that’s a legitimate concern, but really, if you’re not able to control your gambling addiction you’re probably gonna get hooked on something else…I mean, have you tried crystal meth?  It’s wonderful.

The Bay Area is dotted with card clubs where you can play poker, black jack, pai gow, etc., and we’re not living in fear of gambling-related crime.  It seems a bit overbearing to prohibit gambling on a small scale just because there is a small portion of the population that is not able to control their behavior.

Plus, you kind of have to feel bad for the Hawaiians.  I mean, they got nothing except Kam…and that’s definitely what you would call the short end of the stick.  In the meantime, Indians on the mainland are raking in cash from their casinos.  That doesn’t seem very fair to me.

The next step for the casino bills is the Finance Committee.  Again, I don’t really know what that means, but I really do hope this bill passes.  At the very least, it will save Hawaii residents an expensive plane fare to Vegas and the cost of digs at the Cal.

So the nominees for 2010 Oscars were released a few days ago.  Avatar got nominated for a shit load of awards, and I’m sure this year they movie will dominate the Oscars.  Here are my thoughts on the nominees, and there are a few spoilers, as well.

Avatar:  Look, I agree that this movie was visually stunning.  The 3D and CGI really placed you in this alien planet.  But the story was long, generic and predictable.  The characters might as well have been wearing ‘good guy’ ‘bad guy’ shirts on.  And you could tell how the movie was going to end 15 minutes into the film.  So, can Avatar still be best picture?  I dunno.  The film really looked great, but it’s like of like a super hot Miss USA contestant winning the title, even though she has been hooking on the side  – giving her award just kind of makes a mockery of the competition.

Precious:  This movie made me think I could be a screen writer.  Just take a minority, place them in an awful situation that involves minority problems like lack of education, drugs and throw in a little incest for good measure.  Sure, Monique played a crack head well…but then again, a crack head isn’t a very complex character, is it?  Who knows, she may have just been on crack during filming.  And the girl who played Precious was really just playing a fat black girl…again, not too much of a stretch.

District 9:  I like how District 9 took a new approach to the alien genre.  I also liked the gritty, documentary feel of the movie.  The alien costumes were at times a bit low res, but overall this was a pretty good movie.

Inglorious Basterds:  A decent movie, but not best picture material.  Also, I’m skeptical that a movie that shows jews killing Nazi’s and Hitler is in the running for best picture.  Talk about a home field advantage.

The Blind Side:  Not surprisingly this movie was a pretty sappy sports movie, and I’m surprised it got nominated for best picture.  I enjoyed watching it, but really the storyline was really just a recycled generous-white-person-helps-minority tale.  Still, this was one of the few movies nominated for best picture that really leaves you with a good feeling at the end.go

Up in the Air:  This movie was kind of over hyped way before it was in wide release.  When I finally saw it, it was somewhat of a let down.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t hard to sit through at all.  But the idea of a guy who travels a lot…not very unique to me.  Neither is the idea of a guy with no wife?  And they say Clooney is a good actor in this movie, but really he’s kind of too good looking for this part.  In reality, if Clooney was in this role he’d be banging girls left and right, and he’d have to settle down with the ones he got preggers.

Up:  This movie actually wasn’t bad.  It was a lot more serious than other Pixar movies, and surprisingly this worked out well with CGI.  The whole balloon thing was not very realistic…but whatever, it’s a cartoon so you kind of have to forgive that.

It seems pretty clear that Avatar is gonna take away a ton of awards, including best picture.  That’s too bad, because I’d rank it behind Basterds, Up in the Air, District 9 and Up.

I also think Bruno should have been nominated for something.  Really, when you look at these actors half of them are playing characters pretty close to their actual persona.  Clooney is a guy who travels a lot and bangs random chicks he meets at hotels?  Not a big stretch.  Monique is playing a fat black lady…is that really deserving of an Oscar?

But Bruno played a gay guy, even though Cohen is straight in real life.  Plus, he did this all in one-take scenarios where his acting was critical to keeping the bits alive.

Well, the Oscars are in a month.  Check it out.