I love No Reservations. Great show. Still, after hearing about the set-up and some of the places he visited, I had basically zero expectations for the episode. Interestingly, it both exceeded and fell short of those limited expectations. It exceeded it because I too am a fan of The Friends of Eddie Coyle (both the book and the movie,) so the bits that touched on that were pretty cool.

The part that was disappointing was the "local" guide being from Hingham. I mean, really? Some guy from a wannabe GG Allin band that I never heard of who grew up in Hingham is the best they could come up with for a guide? Did you notice his "banned in Boston" court papers were for Northampton? Pioneer Valley FTW. That's even less Boston than Hingham. So basically we had a tourist leading a tourist through Boston. It's like doing an episode in Manhattan and the guide grew up in Connecticut.

At least they had the good sense to make fun of him in the show and showed several instances of locals clowning him. Still, I would rather have had someone actually from the city involved.

Anyway, I did this page while I was watching the show

Wondering what "pedal stool" is all about? Feast your eyes and ears on the IT Crowd:
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Who will I talk to about it? Will I be stopping strangers in the street?

Currently, we have in-depth discussions all season (and often in between seasons) at lunch. Up until now, if I ever wanted to talk about Lost I've had a willing audience gathering every day at noon. We went through the geekiest stuff possible.

Next week? I'll be on my 3rd day at the new gig the day after the season premiere.

Maybe I'll wear a Dharma button on my lapel or something.

Or I could put that numbers screen saver on my machine?

Should I just stand in the middle of the place and scream "does anyone want to talk about Lost?" That would set me apart.

*sigh*
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Read up on The Mighty Boosh at BuzzFeed. But only after you watch this clip from "The Legend of Old Gregg" (NSFWish?)

"I'm Old Gregg!"

Intrigued? Here's the whole episode on Google Video.

OLD GREGG on myspace

I'm especially interested in the taunting. Because if there's one thing (other than typing in the magical patterns that make computers go*) I would imagine a Defcon organizer being good at, it would be taunting. Hackers can be really fucking funny**

Edited… Now with youtube video!

Kicking and running, Michelle Madigan*** has left the building

August 03, 2007 (IDG News Service) — It's a story of betrayal worthy of an episode of Dateline NBC — and they're already a step ahead on their at-the-scene-reportage.

Dateline NBC Producer Michelle Madigan was publicly outed at the DefCon security conference in Las Vegas Friday after show organizers were tipped off that she was trying to film show attendees with a hidden camera.

Madigan ran from the show after organizers publicly threatened to escort her from the event at the beginning of a 4 p.m. conference session by noted hacker HD Moore. "She literally kicked the door open," said "Priest," a show official who declined to be identified. "She made the mistake of running. Had she taken it like an adult, she would have been treated with kid gloves, treated with respect.

Update: Undercover TV producer booted from DefCon

Make sure to check out the photo gallery here:

amishrabbit : photos : Michelle Madigan of Dateline NBC Being Chased Out of Defcon – powered by SmugMug

More from Wired:

Dateline Mole Allegedly at DefCon with Hidden Camera — Updated: Mole Caught on Tape

The DefCon site:

Welcome to DEF CON, the Largest Underground Hacking Convention in the World

*which is what I tell little kids I do for a living

**some day, when I'm not up to my eyes in shit, I'll dig up some examples from back in the day that will make your eyes water with laughter

***I know the shelf life on the meme is not infinite, but I'm sorely tempted to create a lolmole, if just to make myself laugh- "i'm in ur defcon filmin ur dudes"

[edited to add- i did it. it was too tempting. I did chuckle a couple of times making it. I bet it will still make me chuckle tomorrow when I'm not drunk]