The Greatest Thing to Be Thankful for Since September 29, 2000
It has been 105 days since Big Brother ended.

Not the real Big Brother, of course -- that one's still going on. But the other one one, that voyeuristic excuse-for-some-kind-of-modern-day-socio-cultural experiment. You know the one we mean.

The Price is Right

Interesting note -- I had to do a search to find that bit of information, and in the course of clicking on one of the results, I was greeted by Our Friends at AOL, who launched a lovely pop-up ad on my screen, touting up to 700 -- count 'em! -- free hours! Interesting that they no longer even have to explain what they're talking about, so ominpresent have then become. More interesting to The Band, however, is that they continue to do this. We remember back when they offered a whopping 10 free hours to get you hooked. Unless we're wrong (and we, of course, are not), today you don't have to pay a dime for your ISP, unless you really, really want to, or you make your living off of something that involves a connection.

But, by all means -- keep sending those free installation/registration CDs, 'cuz they continue to make bitchin' coasters. And, in this not-Napster era, The Band predicts that, as a decorating accessory, they're well on the way to attaining "Retro" status.

If you don't, you oughtta be happy with NetZero. They've been around long enough to know better, sure, but they still do it, and have outlasted most of the other free ISP players. And they even provide an option where you can pay for it, if that's your thing. The catch? -- you have to use over 40 hours/month to be billed. (Shouldn't be a stretch for any self-respecting blogger.)

TBH's Testimonial: Recently, The Band had a few questions about some recent service changes at NetZero. So we sent e-mail to the company's Chrmn-CEO, Mark R. Goldston. Did we receive a reply the next day? The next week? No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o.

Actually, we sent the mail at 9:04 OST (Our Server Time) this morning. And we got a thorough response at 9:08 OST. This morning.

A four minute turn-around. Not bad, gang....not bad atoll.........

Friday Night Brain Poison

So, have you seen this show, CSI?? It's a tried-and-true formula: Couple overacting with spectacularly dumb dialogue -- and give it a well-known theme song that, while making sense on paper, is too dated to make any sense in practice (we presume another one of our influences, The Who, must be hurtin' for royalties, or worrying about their retirement funds -- is there a difference?) -- and you've got the makings of an hour of TV that can be, at its best, mildly amusing (read: Dumb enough to earn a nomination for a Golden Globe Award). The Band is confused by how a show of such questionable intent ends up with great color and snazzy editing, all the same. Must be a glut of techies in The Biz.

G'night.