On "America's Got Talent," Oakland schoolteacher Michael Strelo-Smith (check out his Web site and tell us just what the hell that thing in the upper left hand corner is) had a cold during his second performance, but sang anyway. Whether it was the cold, or his rather boring presentation, we can't say, but the judges deemed it not good enough, and he didn't make it to the Top 20. But Kashif and Boy Shakira......

On "America's Got Talent" a local dance troupe called Hot Pink Feathers failed to impress the judges with their Carnaval-inspired gyrations. See the YouTube clip above for a sample. Santa Cruz dancer Shauna Noland was voted into the bottom three on "So You Think You Can Dance," but "danced for her life" and was kept around for another week by the judges. For some reason, our TiVo forgot to record "American Inventor" last week......

There were a lot of locals in the world of reality TV this week! "America's Got Talent" included an audition from an East Bay music teacher named Michael Strelo-Smith. He had an OK voice, but he was kind of boring. He swears he can sing anything and everything, but so far we are unimpressed. "Last Comic Standing" continued its trend of finding comedians who have been around for years, and presenting them as new......

Previously on "Pirate Master" the show sucked, but we continued to watch hoping to spot local contestant Nessa. And she was nowhere to be seen. This time around, she showed up right away, dissing John, the exotic scientist dancer who was cast adrift last episode. Not much happened during the first 20 minutes or so, which just gave us more time to get completely annoyed by Captain Joe Don and how he wears his......

And by "tonight" we mean this afternoon...and then tonight. First off, if you haven't read The Road by Cormac McCarthy yet, drop everything and do it. It's a fast read. It's also one of the most amazing books we've ever encountered--don't let Oprah's choosing it for her book club turn you off of it. In fact, be thankful, because she has also managed to nab an interview with the incredibly press-shy author. You can......