If there's one major benefit to being off work for holidays, it's the opportunity to watch daytime television that usually goes missed. It's almost enough to make someone want to be at home everyday to watch such quality programming. A few observations:

- While the Today Show can be usually considered entertaining and informative, the decision for Kathie Lee Gifford to be on the show is mystifying. Who knew she was even still around. Now that her beloved kids are grown up and Regis replaced her with a far cuter and (slightly) less annoying cohost, is she relevant in the least? Let's hope not. Maybe it was some special thing since some of the regulars on the Today Show are off for the holiday. Either way, she was on there with this Hoda lady and it's less-than-even-tolerable.

- The Price Is Right with Drew Carey hosting just is not as good as the Bob Barker version. Sure, Bob was 147 years old and had been doing it a long time, but it's easy to miss his performance. Drew Carey has been great in pretty much everything he's done, but it just feels forced and a little bit of a farce that he's the guy on TPIR. Yes, that's "TPIR" just like they put on the fake license plates on the giveaway cars on the show. Or at least they used to do that. Maybe that has changed too, which would be almost as disappointing as Drew Carey's performance as host.

- The past two days of daytime television have been augmented by the inclusion of much pro football yesterday and much college football today. Daytime television would be great if there was live football on everyday, but that simply isn't the case. Even watching old games on ESPN Classic isn't super-great, so a conclusion can be drawn. Daytime jobs should be kept and extremely crappy television should stay on during daytime.

While endorsements are still chic, here's one: this dude. He writes quite well and does so on interesting topics. His first book, Now The Hell Will Start, has just gone into the "finished reading" column and it was pretty good. Certainly not a masterpiece, but a solid first effort. Especially commendable/scrutable is that there aren't many confirmed details for the topic he chose to write about in the book. Any interesting story nonetheless.

However, his articles, specifically on Slate, are the highlight. For one, a comprehensive look at the extinction of Zima. There's also a study on the popularity of shrimp, including hip-hop references. Good stuff.

The big election may only be a few weeks old, but while everyone is "thinking globally", it may be time to start "acting locally". With that in mind, the voting public of Tennessee should start planning for a new brand of "hope" and "change"...and some rowdy friends on Monday night. Yes, Hank Williams Jr. is planning to run for the US Senate in 2012.

Ok, surely everyone know that it's bad to let kids watch too much TV, or even the slightest bit of certain programming. However, even that effort might fall a bit short of good parenting. If your kids become obsessed with TV, specifically reality TV, dangerous results may occur. In all seriousness, let the truly disturbing video of hardcore David Archuleta fans below be an example of this:



Maybe this is staged, but even if it is, it's scary.

Ok, time for some pictures to liven things up a bit...

This is the first ever class of inductees into the Please Shut Up Forever Hall of Fame. Congratulations.

It is such a relief that gas prices have gone down just in time for the holidays. Lots of travelers will be very appreciative for whatever it is that is causing this. We'll just assume it a harmonious combination of our friends in the Middle East, consumer apathy, favorable conditions in the Gulf of Mexico and of course, a new president. This change business is fun so far.

Another big relief of the gloriously low-priced gas is that it can be cool to drive huge SUVs again. The poor gas mileage is no big deal when it only costs $50 to fill up a 25-gallon tank. There's still that nasty issue of these land barges not fitting in the following:

-Lanes of traffic
-Parking spaces
-Garages
-Alleyways
-Drive-thru windows,

but that's OK. So long as there is plenty of room for about 7 potential children and personal DVD/TV monitors, life is good. At least nobody can spit that crap about supporting terrorism by driving a gas-guzzling SUV. We're back to loving America by visiting the pump and hitting the road in Escalade-style.

The NFL is 88 years old and has contested thousands of games, yet today, something happened for the first time ever: a game ended with a final score of 11-10. Just take a minute to let that soak in and let it stay with you as you go through life this week. Ok, it's not that big of a deal and definitely less so these days.

A week without blogging is like, well, a week without really having to think too much about what might sound interesting to someone else. That's not such a bad thing and not-such-bad things are always welcome.

On a similar note as the post regarding what defines a good television commercial, is a show good just because it makes you want to watch it? Can a show be bad and yet completely addictive? Ok, probably. Such is the case with True Blood on HBO. It's pretty much the worst show ever, but it makes itself want to be seen and manages to hold the viewer's attention quite well. The story isn't particularly good and the acting is make one step above local community theater rejects.

Normally there should be nothing appealing about a show that focuses on the relationship between vampires and non-vampires in the Louisiana bayou. Not only is the premise dumb, but the actors are so heavily cliched and in possession of such awful accents, that this might be the most "ignorant" show ever. In spite of all this, it must be watched every week, be it on Sunday night at 8 or during the week OnDemand.

If you're looking for an excuse to watch this week's episode and the terrible storyline/acting isn't reason enough, they play Ryan Adams' "Two" on the radio in the car in tonight's episode. Oh yeah, don't forget that one of the characters is a "shape-shifter" and assumes the role of a stray dog when he needs to get out of a fix. So yeah, Ryan Adams and a guy that turns into a dog...and the vampires, of course.

There is absolutely no point in trying to figure out which Arcade Fire album is better. Ok?

Go ahead, listen to both albums all the way through and just try to come up with a bad song on either album. It's a dare.

You might as well think of your favorite Chuck Norris-ism and replace "Chuck Norris" with "Arcade Fire".

So now that there's a new president-elect and he's made everyone's life better by pursuing personal achievement, how long will it be before people start making good on actually living better lives and doing better things? Can it be safe to assume that children in 30 years will learn to read and write at Obama Elementary or the Obama High School will be fighting for a place in the State Playoffs this time of year? For once, this isn't meant to be sarcastic. Seriously, since most new schools being built are named for whichever suburb they happen to sit in, is it passe to name a school after someone like a president?

Of course, many of us went to a school named simply for the suburb it belongs to and there's nothing wrong with that. It eliminates the issue of whether an individual wants their education to be received in a building named for someone they might or might not respect or even consider significant. This, of course, is of particular issue when a school is named for a Confederate General or something like that. It would, however, be interesting to find out how long after their presidencies ended that schools began to be named for Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, etc. Granted, Kennedy is probably a bit of an exception because of the whole assassination thing.

Tuscaloosa city schools made a masterful move by naming a new high school after Paul W. Bryant a few years back. Unfortunately, due to restrictions stemming from the integration of Tuscaloosa schools, none of the same school mascots can be used in that system in the future. In cruel twist of irony, the old Tuscaloosa High School's mascot was the Black Bear. That ruined the immaculate notion of the Paul W. Bryant Bears taking the field. Instead, the "Stampede" and their navy and gold color scheme do.

So, if there are Obama High Schools in the future, will the mascot be the "Changers" or the "Hopers" or maybe the "Husseins"? One thing is for sure, though. When Wasilla High in Alaska chooses a new mascot, how can it not be the "Palins"?

Is the sign of good advertising solely if the ad gets stuck in your head or does it actually have to elicit a positive response? The commercial that is prompting such a vitally important question is the Subway "Five Dollar Foot-Long" commercial with the 1980s New Wave music and refrain of, not surprisingly, "Five Dollar Foot-Long". It's hard to decide if it's that otherwise completely annoying aural experience or the stupid scenarios on screen of various characters holding their hands about a foot apart to indicate the length of the sandwich. Yes, the sandwich is called a "foot-long" and is approximately this long.

Upon further thought, the gesture of holding up five fingers to signify the "Five Dollar" part of the refrain might be the most annoying. The smugness of those hula dancers or that football referee is just obnoxious. Ok, this entire argument is probably floundering at this point, so hopefully you're not looking for some big revelation about advertising in America right here on a Friday night spent primary in front of the television.

Subway has managed to earn a unique place in modern television advertising infamy, though. The jerky robot dancing around and trying to sell foot-long sandwiches joins Jared Fogle, who might be the most annoying smug person ever to sell deli sandwiches in the pantheon of annoying advertising personalities. So basically, Jared Fogle, those hula girls, that referee and that robot can enjoy their Subway sandwiches, regardless of how long they are or how much they cost.

One redeeming quality of Election Day is that everyone can be proud of their constituents that come together on the first Tuesday of November to form part of the greatest democracy on Earth. Regardless of who you voted for, you can take solace that you're not one of those filthy people that voted for the other guy.

If you're into Obama, peep this.
If you're into McCain, check it.

Ok, so it's almost over. Today is officially Apocolypse/Greatestdayever-Eve and change truly is in the air. From distant corners of this great country comes a resounding voice echoing the same sentiment: "Man, I'll be glad when this election is over." In just 30-odd hours, America can return to its restful state of not caring about politics again. Gone will be automated Facebook statuses (Robots4Obama!) and workplace discussion can rightfully return to college football (shameless plug here).

The box office returns for John and Barack Make An Election seem to indicate a great success, but the reviews seem mixed for the most part. It's one of those stories that you have trouble getting into because none of the characters are very relatable. It's all so scripted, it feels more like the hysteria regarding a new season of Lost than an election. Better yet, will America agree with Simon Cowell in crowing the next American President?

One thing is for certain, the Hope/Change/Audacious/(Fill in buzzword here) Express in the Sky has no room for the Straight-Talk Express, but did anyone ever take that thing seriously anyway?

This already smells like a conspiracy. Voter fraud! Bradley Effect solved!

Oh yes, just in case anyone was wondering, Oprah endorses Obama (old news, duh). On a related note, Cindy McCain endorses John McCain.