Did the chest-waxing scene in 40-Year-Old Virgin make you cringe? Then you're not gonna like this contest finding the hairiest chest in America...

I'm getting pretty tired of going to concerts and having people behind me complain that I'm too tall. Yes, I'm 6'3". No, there's nothing I can do about that. But if you're stuck behind me and can't see the stage, you're out of your mind if you think I'm gonna give up my spot for you. You should've averted the problem and gotten there earlier. Or, even better, you can step 4 inches to the left or right so that I'm not blocking you.
This is your problem, not mine. So leave me alone.

I think StileProject was right on when they named this woman Cameltoe of the Year. That thing looks like Audrey 2 with its mouth shut in Little Shop of Horrors.

And while we're on the subject, during Spamalot there is a moment where 7 members of the cast are trying to spell out "CAMELOT" with signs. They first spell "MOLECAT," then spell "CAMLTOE." When the 2nd spelling came up, the guy sitting right behind me (who had been silent up until that point) yells out "Cameltoe! Now that's funny!"
It is? Thanks for clearing that up, jackass. I never would've known. And I'm sure the cast and crew are ecstatic that a one single joke out of 2 hours struck your fancy. Now sit the fuck back and shut the fuck up.*

*Note: this marks the long-awaited return of Angry LastStop. Enjoy!

TRL Quote of the Week
"(indecipherable mumbling) fucking (indecipherable mumbling) balls!"
- Lindsay Lohan, our guest co-host on Tuesday, in reference to our using a lotto-ball machine to pick a winner for a giveaway. For some reason her microphone had been left on as she hung out backstage, thus broadcasting the comment for all the world to hear.

This Spike Jonze-directed Gap ad must've been a dream come true to shoot.

Being a big fan of Lost and an even bigger fan of Requiem for a Dream, this is a very enticing rumor. I just hope it's true.

A bluegrass CD of Def Leppard covers could be one of the worst ideas ever thought of... and yet, here it is.

Long Kong (Beware Spoilers!)
Last night I went to an advance screening of King Kong. Being a huge fan of the original, I was extremely hesitant with my expectations of the new film (especially hearing of its 3+ hour runtime). And after the (excruciating) first hour had come and gone (which definitely could've been boiled down to about 20 minutes), and they still hadn't reached Skull Island, I almost began to panic. But at about the hour-and-20-minute mark, the film kicked in. And never stopped. One jaw-dropping action sequence after another, including a Brontosaurus stampede, Kong taking on 3 T-Rexes, and a nice destruction of 1933 NYC. Plus the relationship between beauty and the beast is surprisingly heartfelt. More than one person left the theater misty-eyed.
The film does have its flaws: Jack Black is terribly miscast, it's definitely too long, a lot of special effects (especially when dealing with water) look fake, there's an annoying subplot with Jamie Bell as a stowaway who compares this trip to "Heart of Darkness," and a terrible inside joke about how Fay Wray isn't available for the movie-within-the-movie because she's filming a picture for RKO. But for at least 100 minutes, I was captivated.

I was not, however, captivated by Spamalot, which I saw on Sunday. Having waited for Hank Azaria to return to the cast, I'd heard nothing but raves about the show. And I love Monty Python & the Holy Grail. But half of the play is cut straight from the film (and the cast is not nearly as funny as the Pythons), and the new stuff is mostly filler and recycled jokes from other Python bits (such as the Lumberjack song and the fish-slapping sketch). With a few exceptions, the songs are instantly forgettable. The cast tries hard and mostly do well, especially David Hyde Pierce and Sara Ramirez. But it certainly doesn't live up to the hype.
Oh, and one more thing… to raise money for Broadway Cares: Equity Fights AIDS, Spamalot is holding a silent auction. High bidder gets Hank Azaria to record an outgoing voicemail message in the voice of any of his Simpsons characters. Minimum bid is $500. Anyone want to get me that as a gift?

For all you techies, The Office genius (and Extras bungler) Ricky Gervais has a weekly podcast. Get it here.

TRL Moment of the Week
Uh-oh, alert the FCC... on Monday, MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago gave a report on the Nick & Jessica divorce. He gave a brief history of the break-up rumors, including Joe Simpson's response to an US Weekly story, saying it's the "usual bulls@*t."
Which is how we posted the text during the story.
But that's not how Gideon read it.
And yet even as a wave of panic crossed his face and a ripple of disbelief ran through the audience, he didn't miss a beat and continued with the story.
Don't know how many complaints (if any) we received, but I'm glad he at least tried to spice up the show.

I Pity the Fool Who Don't Follow My Directions!
My infatuation with Mr. T continues with this news report... yes, you can practically have Mr. T in your car with you! What could be better?

Repent! The End Is Near!
I mean, I'm sure she is an expert on the subject...

Another disappointing e-mail (at least from my perspective) from my friend stationed in Iraq:

Wow...what a crazy past couple days. Life over here often changes in a heartbeat and that's exactly where I find myself right now. Most of you know how I've been wavering on the "getting out, staying in" question for the past six months, but yesterday I made it final. I just signed my life away for the next 5 years.
I know, why why why? Everybody I talk to can only tell me how much they want me to get out of the army. But I think that was the problem, I was listening to what they wanted me to do, rather than what I wanted to do. So, after a sleepless night, I walked into the re-up officer's office early yesterday morning, and committed the next half decade of my life to Uncle Sam. Wow...
Today was the swearing-in ceremony and I felt like I was in a coma, words came out of my mouth like somebody else was saying it. I heard this guy named _____ swear to protect his country, honor the constitution, and all that...just hard to believe that guy was me.
My plan is sound however, I charted out my career path which, if all goes well, will send me to Ranger school when I get back, and then have me going to Special Forces selection by the end of 2006. If I don't pass (but I will), my fall back is to go to warrant officer's school and learn to fly helicopters. Either way, I win. I like the army life...nowhere else can you focus so entirely on self-improvement, and I feel I still have a long way to go.
To me, life is about challenges. After meeting them and succeeding, you ramp up and find other peaks to summit. That's what this is all about...what are my limits? And there's no doubt the next 5 years will test just that. Most guys will tell you that after they re-up they feel like they just swallowed a lead weight, but I feel exactly the opposite. A little nervous perhaps, but excited to see what's around the corner...both body and mind are going to be pushed to the envelope and I can't wait to be there and see how I measure up.
What a crazy couple days... ;)
Stay cool and I'll talk to you soon.
-K

I really thought he had reached his breaking point with the Army, so hearing this is pretty disheartening. I hope that he is still planning on swinging through New York during his leave in January so I can ask for a better explanation. At least it sounds like his training will take him out of direct combat for a while, but the idea of him in the Special Forces worries me.
Bush, if you're reading this (and I'm sure you are), get the fucking troops out of fucking Iraq right fucking now!

The U.S. House of Representatives should follow in Idaho's footsteps and pay respect to Napoleon Dynamite. You can't argue with points such as:
- WHEREAS, Kip's relationship with LaFawnduh is a tribute to e-commerce and Idaho's technology-driven industry
- WHEREAS, Uncle Rico's football skills are a testament to Idaho athletics
- WHEREAS, Napoleon's bicycle and Kip's skateboard promote better air quality and carpooling as alternatives to fuel-dependent methods of transportation

Saw Ray Davies perform at the Supper Club last night... what a thrill to see such an accomplished musician perform in a small venue. He played quite a set, mixing new with old, hits with deep album cuts. He even performed a mini-Village Green Preservation Society set ("Village Green," "Johnny Thunder," and "Animal Farm"). Some of his new songs are good, but it's strange how 60's musicians who once wrote perfect 3-minute pop gems now feel the need to write songs that meander for 5-6 minutes (McCartney, I'm looking in your direction). Davies is a great showman, performing with non-stop energy, cracking jokes and telling stories between songs. He played for over 2 hours, including 2 encores packed with hits like "You Really Got Me," "Lola," and "Waterloo Sunset." As far as I know, this was his only U.S. concert of the year. But if he tours when his new album comes out, it would benefit you to see it.

Fans of Family Guy will find this interesting... creator Seth MacFarlane's student film Life of Larry, which eventually evolved into the current series. Same type of humor (some of these jokes even made it into episodes of Family Guy), but much crappier animation. For some reason it's broken up into 2 parts... watch here, then here.

What am I thankful for after this holiday weekend? Certainly not the cab ride home from the airport last night... 3 minutes in, an SUV cuts in front of the cab I'm in with my sister, causing our cab to slow down... he's then plowed into from a cab behind going about 40 MPH (the photo is that car), which slammed our cab into the SUV. This led to our standing in the mud on the side of Grand Central Parkway for an hour and a half as the police filled out their paperwork. Eventually we were free to go, and since our cab was still in working condition, we hopped back in and rode into the city in a car whose back-left wheel was rattling and which was leaking exhaust.
Fortunately my sister and I (and everyone else) are okay... my neck and back are sore, but I'll get past it.

Other "highlights" from my time at home:
- Jetblue delaying my flight to Florida on Tuesday night from a 9:45pm departure to a 12:50am departure. I was able to switch flights to one that was supposed to take off at 9pm, but it didn't actually leave until 11:20pm. Still better than the original, which didn't land in Florida until 4:35am.
- Also, Jetblue, when you are giving announcements about delayed flights, it's not cute or funny to continually make jokes about "Even though Jetblue is so great, believe it or not we can't control the weather." Nobody is laughing. Just shut the hell up and get the plane to the gate.
- Went to see Good Night & Good Luck with my grandma*. The opening credit sequence is a montage of the cast at an awards banquet interspersed with the credits... set to music, no dialogue. It is a few minutes long. As it fades out, my grandma says (in a non-inside voice), "Wow, that preview looks fascinating! I wonder what it's for."
- The Seminole Hard Rock Casino looks ritzy and glamorous from the outside, but inside it's just a bunch of crotchetyhety smokers playing slots and poker. No blackjack (or craps or roulette). What gives? Can't Native Americans count to 21?
- I found out that my high school crush is dating "some short guy." She likes short guys? What the hell? I probably have even less of a chance with her now than I did in high school.

* Note: Talking to my grandma, especially about pop culture, is becoming equivalent to conversing with The Riddler. For example:
- that tall Daly woman = Geena Davis
- Anderson = Jason Alexander

Happy Birthday to Me!
Wow, with all the excitement in my life (or maybe it's due to the total lack thereof), I missed the fact that Last Stop has now entered the Terrible Twos. Amazing that I haven't tired of this yet... or written something that's gotten me fired. But we'll leave both possibilities open.
And just like that, I'm going on sabbatical... heading to Florida tonight for the holiday, so most likely no new entries until I get back on Monday.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

So far I've been pretty pleased with my new gym. It's bigger, more equipment, better air-conditioning... and much better music. Instead of techno crap and remixes of top-40 songs, it's mostly 70s and 80s... lots of Cars, Blondie, The Cure, etc. And the other day they played this, a mash-up of Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and Oasis's "Wonderwall," with some of Travis's "Writing to Reach You" and even an Aerosmith / Eminem post-script. I think mash-ups are very hit-or-miss, but in my mind the simpler they are, the better... and this one is about as simple as they get.
The guy who mashed this, Party Ben, has some other good ones on his site (and some not-so-good ones). Give 'em a listen.

TRL Moment of the Week, Pt. 2
Also on Thursday, our studio was packed with guests (Ryan Reynolds, Natasha Bedingfield, and Big Boi). When VJ Qud-dus arrived to the studio and started to walk into his dressing room, a wardrobe assistant informed him that he would be changing in the office of one of the production accountants. Qud-dus balked, but was told that his dressing room was needed for the guests. He looked to me and said, "You'd think I would get more respect around here, seeing as how I've been doing this 5 years."
"Well, guess that shows how high up you are in the TRL totem pole," I replied.
He laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. As he headed down the hall, he stopped to take a look at the studio schedule, which lists what talent is placed in what dressing room. When he saw that he was, in fact, not assigned to his own dressing room, he exclaimed "Well ain't that some shit!" and walked away.

An hour after this incident, he was called to the stage to shoot the Live Hit (the promo which airs 10 minute before TRL saying what's happening on that day's show). He asked the stage manager if he could hit the bathroom first, and was told yes but that he had less than 5 minutes until the LH.
With 3 minutes to go, no sign of Qud-dus.
Ditto 2 minutes, even after he had been paged over the intercom system.
With 19 seconds to air, Qud-dus strolls through the control. At this point he has been eliminated from the LH. Our producer asks where the hell he's been.
"Sorry, I was in the bathroom and lost track of time."
And thus he cemented his place in the bottom of the totem pole.