TVSquad

Reality show wunderkind Mark Burnett will be launching a reality series for both television and online audiences that seeks to find one person to serve as the political voice of young America. The series, Independent, will launch sometime early next year on MySpace, and will also be seen on television, though at this stage no network has been found for the series.

Back in June I mentioned that comedian Demetri Martin had a one-hour special coming up early next year. Well, it's now early next year, and the special is called Demetri Martin. Person. That seems accurate enough. If you're a fan of Martin, you won't be surprised that the comedy special will include animation, drawings and music all culled from the mind of Mr. Martin. It will air on January 14 at 10pm.

Demetri attended law school briefly but dropped out to get into comedy. I'm not sure why he thought he couldn't do both. I mean, you've got the jury sitting right there, it's like a captive audience. Sure, you'd probably lose every case and innocent people would go to jail for life, but you would have made people laugh, and that's what it's really all about.

(S10E10) Towards the end of this episode, Kyle gives his younger brother Ike the most sound advice I think anyone can give a kid who's immersed in his very first crush:

Kyle: You need to have a life. Have fun. Then ruin it by having a serious relationship.

Ongoing research at Cornell University has revealed a possible link between autism and children under the age of three who watch television. The study found that when cable became more prominent in households in the '80s, autism rates also increased. The study has not found anything specific in television viewing that may trigger autism in young children, only that there is a strong correlation between the two. Some have pointed out it may not be television, but indoor air pollution that may be the root of the problem.

While experts study this and try to come to a consensus, I think laypersons should see this as a reminder that too much television exposure at a young age is not a good thing. As Slate's Gregg Easterbrook points out in his article, humans evolved responding to three-dimensional stimuli, and repeated exposure to two-dimensional images, whether it turns out to be directly linked to autism or not, is still not a good thing in the early stages of development.

[via Netscape]

The unfiltered venue the internet provides, coupled with the promise of anonymity, has made it easier than ever for people to be rude and obnoxious to one another. I've been doing this "Web" thing long enough and seen enough hastily-typed insults from "anonymous" posters that I've learned the best approach is to simply ignore them.

But this isn't about me. This is about Joe Rogan (39), who does not, dag nabbit, ignore anyone who dare to lob a disparaging remark in his direction. When a 20 year old college student sent Rogan (who, again, is 39) this pithy message through MySpace: "Joe Rogan, I hate you... you're not funny... " Rogan (did I mention he's in his late thirties?) immediately shot back, resulting in this e-mail exchange. I haven't seen a battle of wits like this between a young kid and a grown man twice his age since yesterday when I got in a shouting match with a fifteen year old girl over whether Bubbles or Buttercup was the better Powerpuff Girl.

[via Best Week Ever]