Sleeping On It

Here's another reason to love sleep.

Apparently, the science section of The New York Times (or the Science Times) is devoting a special issue to examine "a cascade of research into the science of sleep."

According to the article, deep sleep, on which healthy sleepers spend more time earlier in the night, improves memory of learned facts, such as names, numbers, or places. This could mean that those who need to remember facts for exams would do better to sleep and arise early than to stay up late studying. Also, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep enhances pattern recognition learning, such as grammar or chess. The bulk of REM sleep comes later in the night, which means those who need to learn grammar, chess, or the like would benefit from staying up later rather than turning in early. Moreover, Stage 2 sleep, which is the intermediate stage between REM sleep and deep sleep, boosts learning motor skills, such as playing the piano or guitar, or playing hockey.

Pretty cool, eh?

This article was written by Benedict Carey and was published on 23 October 2007.

Sounds Familiar?

For anyone who's not Beyonce Knowles or Justin Timberfake - I meant, Timberlake - this year must suck.

First, Kelly Clarkson's summer tour was scrapped because of poor ticket sales. She has now started her fall tour and, according to reviews, is proving everyone how fantastic and real she is. Happy ending, indeed. Then, JC Chasez left Jive Records, but he hasn't inked a deal with another record company. Rumour has it that he's in talks with Interscope to do a joint venture with Timberfake's - once again, I meant, Timberlake's - Tennman Records (why, oh, why???) and Timbaland's Mosley Music Group.

Now, it looks like Kelly Rowland's fall tour is going to be scrapped altogether.

CRAP.

MediaTakeOut.com reports that the Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco shows have been cancelled. Worse still, the same site reports the entire tour may be axed. Here's the brief report, in verbatim:

October 23, 2007. For all you looking forward to Kelly Rowland's tour (and we know that's not a lot of you), you may be upset with this report. MediaTakeOut.com is hearing whispers that Kelly Rowland's upcoming tour with Mario is on the verge of being cancelled. The organizers of the tour have already cancelled the Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco legs of the tour. And word is - they're about to scrap the whole thing. The problem, MediaTakeOut.com is hearing, is that very few people were buying tickets to the shows. 2007 hasn't been a good year for Miss Rowland...

Of course, the writer just had to stress that not a lot of people are looking forward to her tour.

Oh, well. I wasn't gonna go to the Seattle concert anyway.

But still...

In a perfect world, Kelly Rowland will have the same respect that Beyonce has. It's a shame we live in an imperfect world.

The Only Bad Thing About Being Canadian

I love Canada. If I were to choose between living in the U.S. and living in Canada, I'd chose living in Canada anytime. I don't have anything against America, really. I have American friends and relatives. Americans, in general, are great. But, of course, Canadians are better.

However, America doesn't let me access the things that I want - want and need - to have access to. There are two things.

First, I can't stream episodes online because I'm a Canadian resident. For example, LOST - the best show on earth - episodes are available online. Unfortunately, I always get this message:

Only viewers within the United States can watch these full-length episodes.

I get the same message when I try to watch CSI, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY episodes on the CBS website.

Sucks.

Second, I can't buy TV episodes and movies from iTunes because they're not available on the Canadian iTunes store. If I try to buy them from the U.S. iTunes store, I fail as well because I don't have a credit card or bank account in the U.S.

Seriously?!

I don't know why I can't access shows and movies because I live in Canada. Tell me why!

I'm getting an iPod so I can download episodes of LOST, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Ugly Betty, etcetera, and watch them on the go. But I can't because I'm a Canadian resident?!

Bull!

Would somebody be willing to download the new episodes of the above-mentioned shows and/or gift them to me? Please? Please?!

One Truly Horrible Dad

Check this out: Anthony Cooper, John Locke's dad in LOST, made CTV's "honourable"-mention list of worst movie dads.

Anthony Cooper,
the ruthless con man (actor Kevin Tighe) on "Lost." TV dad M.O.: Push your son out an 8th floor window, paralyze the poor bastard and then show up on the island wanting to abscond with his kidney.

Although he's not technically a movie dad, because LOST isn't a movie (not yet, anyway), the description of the horribly wicked character is spot-on. I've always referred to Anthony Cooper as a "heartless SOB" and I don't regret it. I'm quite thankful my parents aren't like him - or anyone else in the list of worst Hollywood parents, for that matter.

JC Chasez on Britney Spears, 5 October 2007

I chanced upon this YouTube video on JC Source.




JC has always said nice things about Britney. That is, except when he unofficially confirmed that Brit cheated on Justin. But whatever.

Anyway, I only saw this hilarious MMC clip with JC, Justin, and Britney.




Be back later. I'll watch *NSYNC's PopOdyssey tour DVD for the nth time.

Darlton Broke Radio Silence - AGAIN?

Well, well, well.

Apparently Darlton offered SCI FI Wire some season four "spoilers". Some of it I actually know or guessed about; the others (what? Others?) are kinda new to my ears (or eyes).

As announced at the Television Critics Association gathering (I think) the day before the 2007 Comic-Con, Harold Perrineau will come back as a regular in LOST. Damon Lindelof did say that they planned for Malcolm David Kelley's sudden growth (he's fifteen years old, playing a ten-year-old). I've guessed that his character, Walt, will only appear in flash-forwards. And as we've seen in the season three finale, he appeared to Locke on the island, which can be either a manifestation of the smoke monster or a proof that Walt does simultaneously appear in two places.

As for Jacob, Carlton Cuse said this: "Yes, we do know how Jacob will be depicted. Notice the careful wording of my answer. And, no, Jacob did not appear before he was met by Locke." According to the Compact Oxford English Dictionary, to depict is to represent by a drawing, painting, or other art form. It also means to portray in words. So we may see a painting or a photograph of Jacob in season four. Or maybe a written/verbal description. My theory is that the four-toed statue represents a part of the ginormous statue of Jacob.

Also, now that they have introduced the concept of flash-forwards, we're now going to see a combination of flashbacks and flash-forwards in season four. Now, we have to guess which character (who) the episode is focusing on and the time period (past or future) they are focusing on.

Damon Lindelof said this regarding Charlie Pace's death at the end of season three: "The reverberation of that death echoes right into the premiere of season four." Okay, Charlie went down to The Looking Glass station to stop the jamming and, in turn, to enable Jack and Naomi to contact Naomi's freighter. This, in Desmond's premonition, will result in rescue (specifically, Claire and Aaron's). Unfortunately, Ben kept saying that contacting the freighter people is a big mistake and is "the beginning of the end." Locke also told Jack that he "wasn't supposed to do this." Anyway, this may be an indication that the freighter people will bring harm to the Losties and the Others. So the supposed rescue may turn out to be really bad for them. That's one very serious consequence. Another is that Desmond will be affected by Charlie's death. After all, he was the one who predicted it. However, we never saw this particular flash (the producers may not have thought of it relevant to show us in season three, but whatever), so Des may have been acting on his own agenda, whatever it is. Not to mention, that Claire, Hurley, Jack, Kate, Rose, Bernard, and everyone else who love Charlie will be devastated upon learning that Charlie died.

The article ended by unofficially killing all Monday time slot rumours. It says season four starts on February 6, 2008. Check your calendars, to be sure. It's a Wednesday. I said "unofficially," because the network has said nothing official about it.