The Smarmy Carny

Fat Man Walked

Steve Vaught's journey is complete.

Back in June, I wrote about Steve Vaught (aka Stephen James Liller), a 40 year old father of two. Vaught decided to take action against his balooning weight. On April 10, 2005, he began walking across the United states from San Diego to NYC to lose weight and regain his life.

Today, 394 days later, Vaught walked across the George Washington Bridge, crossing into New York City and completing his journey.

Steve's website should be updated in a few days, but it is running on a low-bandwidth version right now to reduce the strain that the completion of the journey has brought.

Unfortunately, it looks as though Steve and his wife will be getting a divorce. I know that, when he left, he had talked about being happily married and that his wife was very supportive of him and his journey. Steve has said that he will focus his energy now on being the best father he can to his two children.

As I mentioned before, you too can Walk Away the Pounds.

Today, Saturday May 6 2006, is Free Comic Book Day!

To find out which comic book shops in your area are participating, head over to the Free Comic Book Day site and enter your zip code. There are a surprising number of participating shops, so you shouldn't be disappointed.

Of course, you can't just walk in and snag that signed, rare edition. There are a limited set of comics available for free.

By now, the geeks have already snagged what they wanted, but you should still call and head out to your nearest shop!

No Pants Day!

Forget Cinco de Mayo, it's No Pants Day!

On the first Friday of every May, you owe it to yourself to experience the freedom of not wearing pants! Today is "a day where everyone, be they students, respectable businessmen, or cherished community leaders, leave their pants behind."

If you're a MySpace addict, add No Pants Day to your friends list!

Unfortunately, I'm sick today, so I'll probably be celebrating a pantsless No Pants Day in bed, which really isn't much of an experience if you think about it.

President Bush was literally beside himself during his speech at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, thanks to presidential impersonator Steve Bridges.

It is traditional that the president shows up and delivers a speech lampooning himself. (You might remember Laura Bush's dirty horse joke from last year's dinner.)

The highlight of the speech is a mental run-through of a phrase followed by the actual words uttered by Bush:

Internal President (Bridges): All right. Maintain. Be cool. Let’s give this a try: "We must enhance non-compliance protocols sanctioned not only at IAEA formal sessions, but through intercessional contact."

External President (Bush): “We must enhance non-compliance protocols sanctioned not only at E-I-E-I-O sessions, but through intersexual conduct.”

Allow me to begin by giving you some viewing advice for this week's Lost episode: Watch the commercials! Normally, I advise everyone to get a DVR (or Tivo, if that's your thing) and quickly skip past the silly commercials. This week on Wednesday night is different, though. A special game will be launched during the show (including commercials) on the May 3 airing of Lost. (The Brits will see it on May 2 when the episode airs there.)

Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse announced on The Official Lost Podcast that the show would be launching an interactive internet-based game this month. In fact, the Lost Experience Alternate Reality Game will primarily take place online, but will also incorporate other forms of media, too. For instance, the first clue is in the form of a toll-free phone number.

The game is not dependent on the current story-lines of Lost and will extend from Season 1 through portions of Season 3. The game should continue through the summer, so we Lost addicts will have something to discover during the horrendous off-season. Though the story played out in the game is not dependent on the television show's plot, it is related to the series through characters and plots. We know that the game will stay true to the show because Lindelof and Cuse are involved closely with the project.

So, keep a sharp eye out on Wednesday! We should be learning plenty more about the Lost mythology soon!

Update: Call 877-HANSORG and also check out thehansofoundation.org for the first sets of clues!

Google Maps now has detailed satellite imagery of European hotspots. Here are three posted by Google to get you started:

• Eiffel Tower
• Olympiastadion – Berlin
• Grand Canal – Venice

Also, be sure to check out my extensive list of Google Maps U.S. pictures and links from a year ago.