The Smarmy Carny

Which minor Seinfeld characters do you enjoy? I left Newman out because he appeared in 47 episodes. That's a step beyond minor, in my book.

• George Steinbrenner: C- George Costanza could never get Steinbrenner to fire him. Steinbrenner's face is never seen on the show. Larry David did his voice, so there's an extra point right there.
• J. Peterman: A- Elaine's boss made her do all sorts of things just to keep her job. Perhaps it was watching Elaine's awful dance that caused John O'Hurley to host Dancing with the Stars. (And read the interesting story about the post-Seinfeld John O'Hurley and J. Peterman.)
• Susan Ross: C George's poor fiancée who died licking the poisonous wedding invitation envelopes that George bought.
• The Soup Nazi: A No soup for you! The Soup Nazi is probably the best minor Seinfeld character. Not only is he one of the most well known characters from the show, he only appeared in two episodes.
• Uncle Leo: B Uncle Leo was annoying, but at least he was good at it. He'd always talk about his son Jeffrey, who was never seen on-air.

Please feel free to leave a comment. What do you agree or disagree with, and why? I'm sure there are a few characters that people would like to see: Which minor Seinfeld characters do you wish were included that I didn't cover here?

There are two types of people in the world: Moe people, Larry people, Curly people, and people who can't count very well.

• Moe: A- The leader, the (relatively) smart one, and the bully. Viewers always wanted to smack the sense into Larry and Curly, and Moe's the one who did it.
• Larry: B Larry always seemed like the comedic third wheel. Slapstick is fun, but pulling your hair out for the twentieth time isn't.
• Curly: A Curly always stole the scene as the dimwitted, naive, and lovable goof ball. Plus, he was built for the part.
• Shemp: B Shemp often gets the bad rap as being the "Curly replacement," but he was actually one of the original Three Stooges before his brother Curly replaced him. (After Curly's stroke, he returned to the group.) Though Shemp was by far no Curly character, his chemistry with Moe and Larry was always a great fit.
• Curly-Joe: D Once Shemp was out, The Three Stooges just weren't the same.

Please feel free to leave a comment. What do you agree or disagree with, and why? What do you wish was included that I didn't cover here?

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Much like The Beehive, you can choose National or local versions of the site. Unfortunately, the only local version on 24/7Townhall is for Portland, OR.

In my mind, the Atari 2600 is the best video game console of all time. You either had a joystick or a paddle — both of which had just one button. Modern day consoles have nothing on the Atari 2600 with their 80-button, vibrating controllers and frequent crashes. The Atari 2600 blows these out of the water with its 128 bytes of RAM and 1.19 MHz processing speed.

• Basketball: D- I know that the graphics weren't top-notch on the Atari 2600, and that's fine. But playing basketball with a square ball? Something's just not right with that.
• Combat: B It came with the console, so everyone had it and knew how to play it. Somehow, they managed to turn two games (tanks and planes) into 27 games — really just different options on the two themes. For such a basic game, though, getting those tanks to move and shoot the way you needed them to really became an art.
• Missile Command: C- In retrospect, I probably played Missile Command far more than I should have. This game, though entertaining, quickly becomes repetitive. Gee, I wonder what the next level will bring me — perhaps more missiles I'll have to shoot down in the same manner? You basically played until the game outplayed you.
• Pac-Man: A- Pac-Man was the game. Easy to understand but difficult to master, I don't know a kid who was yelling at their television because of this yellow dude.
• Pitfall!: B+ I don't know how many times poor Pitfall Harry fell down holes or got eaten by a crocodile, but this game was addictive. The game used a combination of timing skills and just a bit of strategy that made you want to come back for more.
• Space Invaders: A+ Simple, easy, and perfectly designed for the platform. You have shields, you have bad guys. They inch closer, and you try and pick them off. And just when that might have started to get boring, you've got a UFO to aim at! It even spawned quite a few 80s song, which actually might not have been a good thing.

Please feel free to leave a comment. What do you agree or disagree with, and why? Which Atari 2600 games do you wish were included that I didn't cover here?

Springfield, Vermont has been announced the Simpsons' home state in a vote organized by USA Today. It will host the official premiere for The Simpsons Movie on July 21.

The Simpsons' mystery home state has long been a running gag in the series. For instance, Marge once gave their address over the phone as "742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, Oh-hiya Maude, come on in!," leading the audience to falsely believe that Ohio was about to be named the home state.

According to some research posted on The Simpsons Archive, there are 71 Springfields in 36 states. Each of the following 14 Springfields submitted a video promoting their own Springfield as the home to The Simpsons:

• Springfield, Colorado
• Springfield, Florida
• Springfield, Illinois
• Springfield, Kentucky
• Springfield, Louisiana
• Springfield, Massachusetts
• Springfield, Michigan
• Springfield, Missouri
• Springfield, Nebraska
• Springfield, New Jersey
• Springfield, Ohio
• Springfield, Oregon
• Springfield, Tennessee
• Springfield, Vermont

See the promotional videos from each of these Springfields at USA Today. The other towns will be rewarded with screenings of The Simpsons Movie the night before the movie opens nationwide.

As posted in December, the NewOpenWorld Foundation narrowed the list of the New Seven Wonders of the World from a field of 200 possible sites down to the final seven that were ultimately chosen by the world in a global vote.

And the winners are:

• Chichen Itza Aztec site — Yucatan, Mexico
• Christ the Redeemer — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Colosseum — Rome
• Great Wall — China
• Machu Picchu — Peru
• Petra city — Jordan
• Taj Mahal — Agra, India

America owns gluttony again!

In 2006, there was speculation that Joey "Jaws" Chestnut had a chance to beat Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi, who is the man when it comes to eating competitions. After all, Chestnut was the first American to break the 50 HDB (hot dog and bun) mark in 12 minutes. Chestnut ate 52 HDBs but still fell short in 2006, losing to Kobayashi by just 1¾ HDBs.

This year, however, the record was shattered yet again at the 2007 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Championship. The record of 53¾ HDBs in 12 minutes was set last year by Kobayashi. It was decimated as Chestnut ate 66 HDBs in 12 minutes. That's an average of 5.5 HDBs each minute, or one hot dog every 11 seconds!

Kobayashi recently had a wisdom tooth removed, but still broke his own record by eating 63 HDBs. He said he'll be back next year for a rematch.

The top six eaters all broke their personal records this year. Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas upped her personal best and raised the women's record by downing 39 HDBs in 12 minutes.