The Smarmy Carny

On the finale of My Name Is Earl this week, another Spanish-language joke was included for latinos and the rest of the Spanish-speaking viewership.

A drunken Joy receives her certification to give body piercings and blathers, "I'm legal, [to Catalina] unlike you." Catalina points her finger menacingly at Joy and says:

Con esto concluimos nuestra primera temporada de Earl. Estamos muy agradecido acompañamiento. Anticipamos verlos el proximo otoño.

After Catalina says this, Joy laughs heartily and passes out onto the floor. Again, the tirade appeared to be an insult (probably profane) thrown in Joy's face. And, once again, the comment was actually directed at the audience. Here's the translation:

With this, we conclude our first season of Earl. We are very grateful for your viewership. We hope to see you next fall.

The show has included a few Spanish language stunts. Read up on the other jokes at the My Name Is Earl category.

Coin collector Scott Travers has New Yorkers sifting through their change looking for hidden treasures.

A month ago, Travers intentionally used three valuable pennies for three separate purchases in Manhattan. One of the purchases was made at a pretzel stand in Times Square. Somewhere out there, these pennies may still be floating around: a 1908-S Indian Head cent, a 1914-D Lincoln cent, and a 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent. The last of these pennies may be worth about $1,000. That's quite the change for your 99¢ purchase.

Why would Travers spend the pennies like that? Simply put, he is an avid coin collector, author of ::amazon("0375721274", "The Coin Collector´s Survival Manual"):: and ::amazon("0609807463", "How to Make Money in Coins Right Now")::, and formerly the V.P. of the American Numismatic Association. This stunt will, no doubt, get many people interested in coin collecting that may never have found the hobby. And there you have the motive. It was Travers, in Times Square, with the penny.

Travers has tried similar stunts at least three times before. Though many have claimed to have found his coins in the past, Travers has never seen any of his coins turn up again.

Tonight's episode of Lost (titled "?") is the episode that Darren Aronofsky was to have directed, except that he had to pull out a couple months ago.

You can read more about the initial announcement and subsequent reneging.

This information was proffered by Damon Lindleof and Carlton Cuse in the Official Lost Podcast, a somewhat entertaining and always informative show that airs the Monday before each new episode. If you haven't already, definitely head to the site and start listening, or search it in iTunes and subscribe to it there. For the anti-iTunes folks, here's the RSS feed for the podcast.

Here's the synopsis for tonight's episode, titled "?":

Mr. Eko seeks Locke's help in finding a secret location he believes holds the key to the island's mysteries; Jack and the other survivors grapple with the horrific situation in the hatch.

Enjoy! (But try not to think about what the episode would be like if Aronofsky directed!)

I finally received an invitation to Google Analytics!

Google Analytics, much like Performancing Metrics, tells you about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site.

Google Analytics is on a "sign up and wait" system in order to keep their servers under control. Finally, my number came up.

For many, this allows marketing masterminds to "focus their marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve their site to convert more visitors." For me, it just lets me pour over statistics, which I love to do.

Besides, it's always nice to know that people sometimes actually visit the site and read it and click links.

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.