dimblr.com Welcome Guest | Login or Register

Reality TV justice has been served. And guess what? It turns out good guys (and girls) do sometimes finish first. Oh, if only the fate of all tired axioms rested in the hands of Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio!
But what a long, strange trip it was. Mid-season, who ever would have guessed that hometown gal Stephanie Izard would have to duke it out with Lisa in the finale to win the title of Top Chef? Even Stephanie herself says she wouldn’t have placed Lisa in the top four—at least, that’s what she told us last week.
The finale wasn’t all smooth sailing for the first female Top Chef. Our hearts sank as we watched the judges’ reaction to Stephanie’s ricotta pound cake, and for a moment, we thought it might all be slipping away. Then we remembered that this was the same woman who impressed
pastry queen Gale Gand with her wedding cake a few episodes back. How bad could it be? Certainly not any worse than the slow death-by-repetition offered by yet another banana “scallop” from Richard. (It’s a shock he didn’t serve it with ras el hanout ice cream.)
Really, it came down to the third course. Note to Lisa: When you’re serving dinner to the man behind Craftsteak, you can grunt and pout all you want, but you don’t mess with his
restaurant she told us about last week. If they don’t, we fully expect Ted Allen to be there asking his server if he can at least get a bowl of braised pistachios.
No word yet on when Season 5 of “Top Chef” will launch, or how it will possibly stack up to the double thrill of a Chicago chef winning a Chicago-based Season 4. As soon as we know more, you’ll be the next to know.

chicago.metromix.com

Here’s the schedule of college graduations in Georgia
With a toss of the tassel, thousands of Georgia’s best and brightest will graduate from junior and senior colleges in the next few weeks. Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper director Sally Bethea, CNN Headline News host Nancy Grace, a handful of regents from the state’s university system and other prominent speakers will make the rounds, imparting words of wisdom and best wishes. It’s graduation time! Here’s a recap of some commencements across the state:
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Tifton: 6 p.m. May 2, Gressette Gymnasium. Speaker: U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, (R-Ga.). 150 graduates.
Agnes Scott College, Decatur: 9:30 a.m. May 10, science quadrangle. Speaker: Mayor Shirley Franklin, 208 graduates.
Albany State University, Albany: 10 a.m. May 3, James H. Gray Sr. Civic Center. Speaker: Dan Pallotta, founder of Pallotta TeamWorks. 335 graduates.
Andrew College, Cuthbert: 11 a.m., May 3, gymnasium. Speaker: Ruth Knox, president of Wesleyan College. 41 graduates.
Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah: 10 a.m. May 3, Savannah Civic Center. Speaker: None. 633 graduates.
Atlanta Christian College: 10:30 a.m. May 10, New Hope Baptist Church in Fayetteville. Speaker: Millard Fuller, founder and former president of Habitat for Humanity. 65 graduates.
Atlanta Metropolitan College: 10 a.m. May 9, physical education complex. Speaker: John H. Eaves Jr., chairman, Fulton County Commission. 236 graduates.
Augusta State University: 10 a.m. May 10, James Brown Arena. Speaker: Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver. 1,059 graduates.
Bainbridge College: 7 p.m. May 9, Decatur County Memorial Coliseum. Speaker: James A. Burran, retired president of Dalton State College. 240 graduates.
Berry College, Mount Berry: 2 p.m. May 10, Memorial Library lawn. Speaker: U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). 306 graduates.
Brenau University, Gainesville: Women’s College, 6 p.m., May 9, Georgia Mountain Center. Speaker: Dean R. Hirsch, president and CEO of World Vision International. 201 graduates. Evening, Weekend and Online College, 10 a.m. May 10, Georgia Mountain Center. Speaker: Dean R Hirsch. 552 graduates.

ajc.com

Microsoft will end OEM and shrink-wrapped sales of Windows XP on June 30, 2008, forcing users to shift to Vista. (System builders, meaning those who do white-box PCs, can sell XP through December 31.) Don’t let that happen!
Millions of us have grown comfortable with XP and don’t see a need to change to Vista. It’s like having a comfortable apartment that you’ve enjoyed coming home to for years, only to get an eviction notice. The thought of moving to a new place — even with the stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and maple cabinets (or is cherry in this year?) — just doesn’t sit right. Maybe it’ll be more modern, but it will also cost more and likely not be as good a fit. And you don’t have any other reason to move.
That’s exactly the conclusion people have come to with Vista. For most of us, there’s really no reason to move to it — yet we don’t have a choice. When that strong desire to stick with XP became obvious in spring 2007, major computer makers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard quietly reintroduced new XP-based systems (but just to business customers, so as not to offend Microsoft). Come June 30, however, even that option goes away.
So what to do? Let Microsoft decide where your personal and enterprise software “lives”? Or send a loud and clear message that you don’t want to move?
We’re going for the loud-and-clear option. Join us, and tell Microsoft that you want to keep XP available indefinitely. Not for another six months or a year but indefinitely.
And ask your friends and colleagues to join in, too. Just point them to SaveXP.com for a quick link to this page. And if you’d like to publish our countdown animation on your Web site to help promote this petition, e-mail Executive Editor Galen Gruman for the code snippet.

weblog.infoworld.com

The hype around Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is not diminishing even with the official launch of the game earlier today at midnight. It doesn’t take a market analyst to know that the game will leave its mark in the annals of 2008’s gaming history, but said analysts might be able to provide a better estimate over just how big that mark could get.
For example, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter explains to GameSpot that Take-Two stands to sell at least 4 million copies of the game (for both console platforms) during its first week alone, growing to 6 million by its fourth week in the market. While Pachter believes the Xbox 360 edition of GTA IV will outsell the PS3 release by a "three-to-two" ratio, sales between the two versions should be more evenly split come December.
By the end of December 2008, Pachter predicts sales for GTA IV could well hit 11 to 13 million units. After its first year, sales should slow somewhat, making for an overall "lifetime" sales number of 16 to 19 million units. This will actually be a little lower than the 21.5 million unit liftime-to-date sales garnered by GTA: San Andreas. Time will tell, naturally!
Take-Two itself is confident GTA IV sales will beat all these expectations, and then some. The publisher appears to be betting on first week sales figures of $400 million USD, or about 6 million copies of GTA IV sold. This is already being compared to Halo 3’s stellar launch week revenue of around $300 million USD through selling 5 million units.

neoseeker.com

All three editions of American Idol — the performance show, the results show and the “Gives Back” show — wound up in Nielsen’s top ten ratings for last week; however, the total number of viewers who tuned in to watch them was significantly lower than last year’s count during the comparable week. But then, the total TV audience was down significantly as well, as the aftereffects of the recent writers’ strike continued to linger. Idol’s Tuesday-night show topped the list with a 14.2 rating and a 22 share, followed by the Monday-night edition of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, which posted a 12.8/20. A new episode of CBS’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation followed in third place. For the week, CBS retained the ratings crown with an average 6.6 rating and an 11 share. Fox followed in second place with an average 6.1/10. ABC placed third with a 5.3/9, while NBC trailed with a 4.3/7.
The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research:
1. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 14.2/22; 2. Dancing With the Stars, ABC, 12.8/20; 3. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 12.5/19; 4. NCAA Basketball Championships (Kansas vs. Memphis), CBS, 12.1/20; 5. American Idol (Thursday), Fox, 12.0/19; 6. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 11.1/17; 7. Idol Gives Back (Wednesday), Fox, 10.4/16; 8. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 10.3/15; 9. Without a Trac e, CBS, 9.7/16; 10. NCIS, CBS, 8.8/14.

contactmusic.com

The Final Four finally is the Best Four.
For the first time since seedings began in 1979, the four No. 1 teams at the start of the tournament are the four survivors who will play in the two semifinal games Saturday.
This has to be the most exciting Final Four yet.
Here’s how I rate the four monsters:
1. KANSAS. The Jayhawks are deep and balanced. They won their four NCAA Tournament games by 24, 19, 15 and 2 points.
2. NORTH CAROLINA. The Tar Heels won their four tournament games by 39, 31, 21 and 10 points. Hustling Tyler Hansbrough has lived up to player of the year accolades and the elimination of Davidson’s Stephen Curry makes him the favorite for Final Four MVP.
3. MEMPHIS. The problem was supposed to be free-throw shooting, but the Tigers had only one poor performance from the line in the four games so far. They were 15 of 32 against Mississippi State and it nearly cost them. They won 77-74. They shot 78 of 106 (.736) in the three other games and won by 24, 18 and 18 points.
4. UCLA. The Bruins are an excellent team. That’s how good this Final Four is. But they have the least firepower in the Final Four and will be facing better offensive teams than they’ve beaten so far (Mississippi Valley State by 41, Texas A&M by 2, Western Kentucky by 20 and Xavier by 19).
Here’s the rundown on the first 60 games in this year’s tournament:
Las Vegas favorites were 48-12 outright and 39-21 against the point spread. This year’s tournament has held more to form than usual, and the Las Vegas legal sports books are likely to lose money because the public tends to bet on favorites.
The higher seed was 46-14 outright.

democratandchronicle.com

Eddy Curry can be rehabilitated and is a keeper. He has (and will) respond much better to a pat on the back than a kick in the rump. If he can’t rebound, pass or defend, he can score when he catches the ball with at least one foot in the paint. Surround him with the right players and Curry can be a factor.
David Lee is more effective coming off the bench. His energy can single-handedly change the tempo of a game, and he doesn’t play sufficient defense to pair him with Curry for too many minutes.
Jamal Crawford has huge upside as a shooting guard, but is a minus at the point. At either spot, however, his defensive deficiencies are troublesome. Still, if placed in a highly disciplined system, Crawford can be an impact player on a consistent basis.
Nate Robinson would best be utilized as the second scorer on the second unit. He’s a keeper.
Quentin Richardson’s physical ailments make him too risky to keep. In any case, the perfect role for him is also to be a scorer off the bench. Lose him.
Jared Jeffries should be retained, simply because he’s still an effective defender. However, asking him to do things he can’t do well — like shoot, pass and handle — only emphasizes his deficiencies. He’s a part-time stopper off the bench.
There’s only one job that fits Jerome James’ resume — being a personal bodyguard for Isiah Thomas.
Malik Rose can still be an effective defender in spot duty and is certainly a good influence in the locker room, but the Knicks will have to get younger in order to get better. Perhaps Rose would be willing to stay in the organization as a scout or assistant coach.
Renaldo Balkman is another useful backup. He’s a scrambler and defender who needs consistent daylight to blossom. A keeper.

msn.foxsports.com

If you’re not a basketball fan, this isn’t exactly a stellar night — the best offerings are movies that have aired many times before. Although tonight’s 20/20 might catch your attention.
Stuff to watch or record
Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament: It’s the second day — and night — of first-round action, with UT-Arlington making its first tournament appearance in tonight’s late game against powerhouse Memphis, which has only lost one game all season. That game is scheduled to start about 8:55 p.m., but it’s just one of many today. 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 6-11 p.m. (concluding times approximate), KTVT/Channel 11
Hannah Montana: Gilbert Gottfried guest-stars as a music critic (perhaps the most grating-voiced music critic ever) who’ll be reviewing a Hannah Montana concert, and Anchorman’s David Koechner guest-stars as Miley’s hillbilly uncle, who wants to be a rock star — and wants to play during the concert that’s going to be reviewed. 6 p.m., Disney Channel
‘Til Death: The marital sitcom, starring Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher as jaded longtime spouses Eddie and Joy, and Eddie Kay Thomas and Kat Foster as their newlywed neighbors Jeff and Steph, lands in a new time slot. But it’s an old episode: a repeat from November in which Eddie (Garrett) forgets to get a birthday gift for Jeff (Thomas). And, you know, hilarity ensues. Irony aside, this is a pretty amusing episode. 7 p.m., KDFW/Channel 4
Doctor Dolittle: Now here’s a double-feature: the funny but crass 1998 hit starring Eddie Murphy, followed by the gentler and much longer 1967 original. The original won Oscars for best visual effects and best song, for Talk to the Animals. 7 and 8:45 p.m., AMC
The Wizard of Oz: When I was growing up, the annual airing of this movie was a big deal. Now, it airs a lot more often than once a year, so it’s not the event it once was. But that doesn’t make the movie any less of a classic. The 1990 documentary The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic follows. 7 p.m., TCM

star-telegram.com