Tabloid Wars on DVD?

Am I really the only person wishing the first (and only?) season of Tabloid Wars was on DVD? (Even CJR Daily liked it!) I know, it’s available on iTunes — I just don’t want to watch it on my computer unless I have to.

Congratulations on your new iPod, Mom

So, last year, I did a three-part series for new iPod owners during the holiday season. This year, my father got my mom one of those iPod nano (PRODUCT) REDs, here’s the breakdown of what I wrote last year at this time:

• Congratulations on your new iPod, part one (Cases and freebie content)
• Congratulations on your new iPod, part two (Podcasting software)
• Congratulations on your new iPod, part three (The podcasts I listened to in December 2005)

I’ll post an updated list of podcasts I listen to now later in the week. Peter’s out of town, so I have a lot of freaking out work to do to get next week’s paper out.

Fun with Wikipedia

If Bill Postmus has a Wikipedia page, why doesn’t Sheriff Gary Penrod?

Cats + Air Purifier = Cats – Smell

So, my family has had cats since I was in kindergarten or first grade, and they’re great, especially when I hit upon the brainstorm of having the litter box(es) outside on the balcony and letting the cat(s) use a pet door to go in and out.

Well, that’s not available in the Hesperia townhouse, and the smell of scoopable cat litter clay and the output of two cats (one of whom is half-again as large as his sister) created, if not an odor, the looming hint of an odor.

As a Christmas self-gift, I ordered an air purifier. (It’s somewhat expensive, since I didn’t want to futz around with expensive replacement filters.) I put it in the bedroom next to the bathroom where the litter box Superfund site and turned it on.

Sitting in the living room, I thought there was a window open somewhere: There was suddenly cool fresh air blowing through the house. (It even gets rid of the fine dust that seems to always been in the air and the mouth and the nose in the High Desert, which is a welcome treat.)

I like it so much, I’m considering getting smaller versions of the air purifier for my study and my desk at the Star.

I wish someone had told me about these things years ago …

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

(I know I haven’t been posting a lot this week, sorry. For the first time in my career, the news hasn’t slowed down in December. If anything, this has ended up being a pretty busy few weeks.)

At last, we know the title of the final book in the Harry Potter series:

J.K Rowling announced on Thursday that the seventh and final book in her teenage wizard saga will be called “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

No publication date has yet been set.

So what is a “hallow?” According to the Oxford English Dictionary (thanks, Nicole!), it’s “shrines or relics of saints; the gods of the heathen or their shrines.” I think it’s a good guess that this relates to Voldemort’s artifacts of power, and/or relating to Harry’s scar.