Hey, DragNFly Wireless, time to fix your logo

The logo for DragNFly Wireless, a wireless broadband Internet access provider, bugs me.
The logo purports to show a dragonfly like the company name. Unfortunately it uses a damselfly, not a dragonfly.
I have a 5 ½-year-old son who’s really into insects. He owns probably a dozen books about bugs and collects specimens, ranging from a praying mantis to a carpenter bee. Along the way, I couldn’t help but learn a thing or two about insects.
Damselflies are similar to dragonflies, but the adults can be differentiated by the fact that the wings of most damselflies are held along, and parallel to, the body when at rest. By contrast, the wings of most dragonflies are held away from, and perpendicular to, the body when at rest.
Eden Prairie, Minn.-based DragNFly obviously chose its name because dragonfly connotes speed and power. Damselfly sounds dainty. And damsels are always in distress. Not something you want from your Wi-Fi service provider.
DragNFly provides service at Life Time Fitness cafes, as well as hotels and restaurants.

Fascination with celebrity offspring shows Americans support eugenics

The New York Post’s Page Six column recently reported that Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz tried to sell photos of their new baby boy, Bronx Mowgli, to every single celebrity magazine. But there was little interest. An “insider” told the Post that nobody wanted the photos because covers of them do not sell well.
You could argue that no one is interested in Simpson and Wentz because they are B-list celebrities. She’s the lip-synching pop singer better known as Jessica Simpson’s younger sister. And he’s a second banana in a popular rock band, Fall Out Boy.
But the truth is Americans are really only interested in seeing the children of the beautiful people. They prefer beautiful celebrities to marry each other and reproduce.
Ashlee Simpson is a pretty woman and was so even before her nose job made her just generic pretty. But her husband is short, strange and kind of odd looking.
A main reason the top celebrity tots last year as ranked by Forbes.com were Suri Cruise and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt is because they are the children of beautiful people. It helps that their parents (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, respectively) are A-list stars.
But let’s face it, these are very attractive people. And Americans want to see what their offspring look like.
The public gets excited by the prospect of attractive celebrity couplings. When sizzling Latina movie and recording star Jennifer Lopez was dating People’s Sexiest Man Alive (2002) Ben Affleck, I’m sure people wondered what their kids would look like.
When Lopez eventually had children with singer Marc Anthony, people weren’t interested. Why? Because he’s kind of ugly. TheSuperficial.com says he “looks like Skeletor’s Latino cousin: Bones Gonzalez” or “a freaking alien.”
Celebrity Web sites have been atwitter with rumors that handsome, Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady and Brazilian supermodel Giselle Bündchen are engaged.
You don’t see the same excitement over the marriage of megawatt star Beyonce Knowles and rapper-music producer Jay-Z. She’s gorgeous, but he’s gross.
Contrast that with the pairing of actress Halle Berry, Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive 2008, with model Gabriel Aubry. One wag wrote that their child, a girl named Nahla Ariela Aubry, was the first baby ever born with a modeling contract.
Every time someone buys a magazine with a cover showing the children of beautiful celebrities, they’re subconsciously showing their support for eugenics. (Eugenics is defined as the study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding.)
Late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien has gotten a lot of mileage over the years with his “If They Mated” comedy bits. Of course, he has more fun with the odd pairings than the beautiful people.

Dead pools betting on who’ll croak in 2009

The New Year always brings lots of predictions from the media.
One class of predictions that doesn’t get much coverage – because it’s frankly in bad taste – is “dead pools,” where people predict which celebrities and public figures are going to die in the coming year.
Some online dead pools allow players to bet on their choices to win cash. The Stiffs.com jackpot for first place last year was $2,008.
The winner of Stiffs.com’s 2008 Lee Atwater Invitational Dead Pool accurately predicted eight dead public figures. (The survival of Basketball Hall of Fame coach Jack Ramsay and politico Eunice Kennedy Shriver kept him from a perfect 10-for-10 record.)
Only one of the top 10 vote-getters in the 2008 Stiffs.com dead pool died last year – Suzanne Pleshette. Holding off the Grim Reaper were fellow top 10 picks Fidel Castro, Ariel Sharon, the Rev. Billy Graham, Farrah Fawcett and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
The top vote-getters on Stiffs.com’s dead pool are typically old or infirm or both. An exception, at No. 65 on last year’s list, is English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, 25, who has had a very public battle with drugs and alcohol.
Pop singer Britney Spears, 27, came in at No. 87, just ahead of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, at No. 88.
Stiffs.com has not yet posted its 2009 leader board. It is sure to include several notable public figures who have had health scares or terminal diagnoses last year and didn’t even make the 2008 list. They include Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, political columnist Robert Novak and actor Patrick Swayze.
TheDeadPool.com gives players points based on the age of the deceased celebrity. Scores are 100 minus age, with a minimum of one point. Players pick 20 public figures. The more young celeb deaths you get right, the better your chances of winning.
It’s interesting to note that no one dared put 78-year-old Clint Eastwood on last year’s Stiffs.com dead pool. Maybe it’s because people remember Eastwood as police detective “Dirty” Harry Callahan in the 1988 movie “The Dead Pool.”
In the film, Eastwood’s character is investigating the deaths of celebrities on a Hollywood dead pool. He tells the manager of the game, “Maybe I’ll start my own dead pool, and put you on it.”

Anxiously awaiting The Beast, Dollhouse, Cupid

The New Year will bring many things: A new president, prospects for an economic recovery, and most importantly, the winter television premieres.
After last fall’s TV premieres fizzled, here’s hoping that the networks saved their best shows for mid-season.
Three new shows I’m looking forward to checking out are “The Beast” (premiering Jan. 15 on A&E), “Dollhouse” (Feb. 13 on Fox), and “Cupid” (March 24 on ABC).
The plot of “The Beast” sounds cliché. Patrick Swayze plays “an unorthodox but effective FBI veteran … who takes on a rookie partner,” according to A&E’s Web site. The draw here is Swayze, who looks worn and grizzled, which helps his cop-on-the-edge look. I’m rooting for Swayze, who last January was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Plus, the show was filmed in Chicago, which gives the previews a gritty, realistic feel.
Up next is Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse.” On the basis of Whedon’s previous TV work (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Angel” and “Firefly”), this one is a must-see. Eliza Dushku stars as Echo, a member of an illegal, underground group of “Actives” who have their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. They’re confined in a secret facility known as the “Dollhouse.” The Actives carry out engagements for their organization’s wealthy and powerful clients. After each assignment, their memories are erased. Or are they? Dun-dun-dun.
And finally, there’s “Cupid,” a remake of the 1998-1999 comedy-drama series, which also ran on ABC. The original series, starring Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall, lasted just 15 episodes. It was a great show, but wasn’t given a chance to find an audience. I wish it were out on DVD. Perhaps it was cursed by Paula Marshall, who has starred in at least seven failed TV shows.
Anyway, the show is about a psychologist who is given charge of a man named Trevor, who believes he is Cupid. Trevor, who may or may not be the Roman god of love, says he was sent down from Mt. Olympus by Zeus to connect 100 couples without his powers, as a punishment for his arrogance.
“Cupid” was created by Rob Thomas, whose last TV show was the under-appreciated “Veronica Mars.”
Last fall, I had high hopes for “Fringe,” “Life on Mars” and “The Ex-List” but none of those new shows kept my interest.
Among returning shows last fall, “Heroes” started off its third season with promise, but now I have to agree with the critics: It’s a mess.
“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” has been inconsistent. “Leverage” had a decent pilot but follow-on episodes have been just plain silly.
The most consistently entertaining shows I follow are “Supernatural” (returning Jan. 15 on the CW), “30 Rock” (Jan. 8 on NBC) and “The Sarah Silverman Program” (season over).
“The Office” (back Jan. 8 on NBC) and “House” (Jan. 19 on Fox) are still good, but are showing their age.
Good shows making their seasons premieres in upcoming weeks include “Battlestar Galactica” (back Jan. 16 on Sci Fi), "Lost" (Jan. 21 on ABC) and “Reaper” (March 17 on the CW).

Here's E! Online's winter TV premiere dates calendar.
Happy New Year!

Netflix instant-viewing queue gets slashed

Online movie rental service Netflix has done a good job bulking up its Internet streaming video library, but the vagaries of Hollywood movie licensing are causing quite a few titles to disappear from the service lately.
Nearly 20% of the movies in my Instant queue today are set to expire soon. The 20 movies range from classics like “The Wild Bunch” and “Dirty Harry” to documentaries like “Little Dieter Needs to Fly.” Some will be available until Dec. 31, others Jan. 1, and one – the foreign film “Lilya 4-ever” – expires Jan. 16.
The “Watch Instantly” option, available on PCs and various set-top boxes, is a nice extra for subscribers of Netflix’s DVDs-by-mail service. It gives subscribers the flexibility to watch something other than the DVDs they have on hand from Netflix.
But unlike the set-it-and-forget-it management of my DVD rental queue, I actually have to actively keep track of which movies are expiring and when in my Instant queue.
Cnet posted a good article explaining how TV broadcasters can lock up licensing rights for certain movies, causing them to disappear from Web services like Netflix and Apple’s iTunes.
I’ve raced to watch some movies through instant viewing, but 12 have slipped through and fallen into a “Saved” list. They’re saved until they become available for Internet streaming again. Whenever that is.

Routine bust gets big media coverage thanks to beauty queen and her not-so-routine bust

Many news stories would barely get coverage if not for some odd twist or titillating detail that moves the story to the top of the pile.
Such was the case this week with a routine drug-related bust in Mexico.
Major U.S. news organizations looked at the story this way:

Police in Mexico arrested eight people in two trucks at a military checkpoint on Tuesday.

Boring.

They found a large stash of weapons, including two AR-15 assault rifles, .38 specials, 9mm handguns, nine magazines, 633 cartridges and $53,300 in U.S. currency.

Yawn.The men were suspected gang members from the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa.

Never heard of it.About 90% of the cocaine entering the U.S. passes through Mexico, generating billions of dollars a year for powerful and vicious cartels that corrupt segments of society ranging from the police and army to musical groups.

So what else is new?Oh, yeah, and one of the people rounded up is a 23-year-old model.

Really. Tell me more.
She’s the reigning beauty queen from the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Still don’t know where that is, but I’m very interested. What else?She’s smoking hot and there are pictures. Lots and lots of pictures, including bikini shots.

I love it. Let’s give it team coverage.

In July, the woman, Laura Zuniga, won the Sinaloa beauty pageant, which gave her the right to compete two months later in the national competition in Monterrey. She came in third overall in the contest, which sends the winner to compete in the Miss Universe pageant. In October, she won the title "Hispanoamerican Queen 2008" in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
The Associated Press wrote this about the suspect lineup:

Miss Sinaloa 2008 Laura Zuniga stared at the ground, with her flowing dark hair concealing her face, as she stood squeezed between seven alleged gunmen lined up before journalists.

According to CNN, Mexican newscasts referred to the former preschool teacher as “Miss Pistols” and likened her situation to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
Apparently the story wasn’t salacious enough. The Mexican press had to spice it up a little.

Triceratops could go extinct again

Hasbro’s Kota the Triceratops got great reviews from toy critics when it debuted earlier this year. Unfortunately the pricey product launched during one of the worst retail periods in decades.
Hasbro bowed Kota at New York’s annual American International Toy Fair in February 2008, after announcing it a year earlier. Kota is an animatronic baby dinosaur big enough for little tots to sit on.
The Playskool-branded toy is a life-size baby dinosaur with sophisticated electronics. Measuring 40-inches long, Kota reacts to touch and sound with realistic dinosaur noises and movements. It features sensors in 11 areas on its body and reacts to touch by moving its head, tail and horns. Kota even comes with leafy greens that the dinosaur can munch when fed. Priced at $300, Kota wasn’t cheap.
And based on price cuts necessary to move the toy off store shelves, it looks like this one might go the way of the dinosaurs.
Kota was made available to the public on Oct. 1 for $299.99. The price soon dipped to $239.99, then $199.99. Target had it on sale for $99 a week before Christmas. Today Sam’s Club was offering it for $75.41.

The price has cratered – like Earth being hit by an asteroid.
Hasbro also has seen price drops for its expensive FurReal Friends products, such as ponies named S’mores and Butterscotch that are big enough for kids to ride. They boast realistic animation, movement and pony sounds and come with a toy carrot, brush and halter.
Take the 3-foot-tall animatronic brown and white pony S’mores. It had sold for $299.99 this fall, but now is available from Sam’s Club and Amazon.com for $150.

Kids now can pretend they’re riding their pony to the glue factory.