enter baby.

awesome stuff. thank you!

add me to the "who needs tivo?" clan. never even owned one, but hopped onto the DVR bandwagon when adelphia started offering them. record two shows at once, AND watch a recorded show while two other shows are recording. it's the height of convenience. i can't even imagine wanting or buying a DVR that didn't have two tuners in it.

yeah, i'm really a bit disappointed in everyone's disappointment, honestly. we are watching the past seasons on DVD simultaneous with the new season (we're about 1/3 into season 3) and there's no question Sorkin's West Wing is godly television. this season has been iffy, but in last episode and this one, I think they've hit a stride. I'm with #20 all the way--this was an AMAZING hour of television that, while different in many ways from Sorkin's show, did NOT do any disservice IMHO to the characters, premise, or spirit of the show. i am a liberal myself and can understand the impulse to want our favorite TV lefties dancing through the halls of the White House making political magic happen, but the truth of the story is that this is a president near the end of his term, many of the brilliant people who made him great have moved on, and those who are left seem tired and running on fumes. the betrayal and sadness of both CJ and Bartlett fit perfectly to me--and again, this is coming from someone who was watching season 3 west wing just hours before the latest episode of the show. I think Bartlett was right, too: Toby always HAS thought he was better than everyone. his arrogance bled onto the rest of the staff and was fine and dandy when they were the bully boys in charge. now it's the end of the road and Toby has taken one step over the line. A big step, and it's got to have consequences in the relationships. I mean, honestly--this man put his own morality above an ideal that he and all of his friends had been working SO hard for over the past seven years. who wouldn't feel betrayed, hurt, socked in the stomach? having said all that, i am intrigued by the theory that bartlett colluded with toby on the leak, and i also must say that while I like garofalo on the show, her character sucks. rather, it does not exist.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=40-1442 wouldn't this fit the bill speaker-wise? $9.99, radio shack, plugs into the headphone jack. someday, oh yes, someday, whence I own my ipod, i was just gonna get a cheapo setup like this for my office. or maybe apple has some trick that makes these cost efficient options moot, thus necessitating the $1000 iNoise or whatever the hell they'd be called.

I'm sure there will be a flood of questions, but here are my two anyway: 1) I would LOVE to see analysis of the iPod plugged into a TV as soon as someone is able to do it...i'm guessing those cords aren't out yet but I'm dying to see how that looks! 2) sound quality. i've read about distortion problems on the ipod photo that involve notes in the higher register. specifically, piano solos seem to cause distortion. is that an issue with the new ipod? and generally, how IS the sound anyway? can't wait to read the official review...

I wish they'd slot in Vinick too, but the theory on WW ending after this season sounds solid as well. Kind of a crappy season to end with--action all over the place, regulars often barely visible, some clunky writing--but at least we still have seasons 1-4. Vinick has so much going for him--he's moderate, so it wouldn't necessitate a complete transformation in the show's politics, just a shift. He's played by an amazing actor. And he IS a republican, giving us loads more drama and juice to extract from the show. Politically, I'm more Bartlet than Vinick by a long shot, but I'm getting a bit sick of all the liberal flag-waving from a storytelling perspective. I get it, they're doing great work, America is awesome. Gimme something fresh.