Issaquah Menorah

While the Puget Sound gears up for the Christmas and New Year Holidays, the festival of Chanukkah is drawing toward a conclusion. This is the giant menorah in downtown Issaquah, WA at the corner of Front and Dogwood Streets.

Seahawks Turn It Around--Defeat Lowly Panthers

It started looking like their season was over and ended like their season was just beginning. Marshawn Lynch scored three second half touchdowns to lead the Seattle Seahawks to a 31-14 win over the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina, with a 1 and 10 record, scored a touchdown on it's first drive, while the Seahawk offense looked just as listless as the defense. The second half started with the Seahawks pinned at their own 4 after Leon Washington bobbled a kick-off. However, Matt Hasselbeck was able to sustain a drive to the end zone and Lofa Tatatupu intercepted a Carolina pass on the next drive and it into the end zone. Washington later took a punt on what should have been a touchdown, however, an early celebration allowed the punter to catch up and trip him. Lynch took the ball into the end zone on a subsequent play.
Seahawk great Walter Jones, who retired last spring, was honored at the 2-minute warning of the first half.

Chicago Cubs Legend Ron Santo

Baseball legend Ron Santo passed away this week from cancer.
When I was first following baseball in the late 60s, it was a toss up between Brooks Robinson and Ron Santo for the best third baseman in the game. I became a big Cubs fan for a number of reasons, one is I had baseball cards of Ferguson Jenkens and Billy Williams, and also because it's Triple A farm club, The Tacoma Cubs were on cable channel 11. I also thought thought Ernie Banks was cool as well.
The Chicago Cubs have not been to a World Series in my lifetime. Ron Santo was a native of Seattle and considered one of the best athletes to come out of this area. He was not in the Hall Of Fame, but many writers say that he may get in this year.

Finalists Chosen For This Season's Apprentice

Brandy Kuentzel and Clint Robertson are this year's final two candidates to compete for The Apprentice. Liza, the last of the final three was fired at the beginning of this week's episode. Trump said that although he had faith in Liza, none of the other candidates did.

As in every season, each finalist has a separate final task to complete. Brandy, who won the first task gets the first pick, which is whether to chose her team or chose the task. Apparently there are some people she would not want to work with again, she picks her team. She has to pick amongst the fired contestants that Donald marches out so she picks Liza, Stephanie, and Anand. It is a surprise to see Anand, who was caught cheating in a previous episode, but he says that he wants a chance to redeem himself. Clint is lucky to get Steuart, to whom he is tight with, along with Mahsa and Poppy.

Since Brandy picked her team, Clint gets to pick the task, which will be putting on a dinner with a live performance of Liza Minnelli. Clint is from Texas and picked that task to show that he can excel in something that is not his forte. That leaves Brandy to put on a celebrity golf tournament at Trump National. Brandy knows little or nothing about Golf. The strange thing about that is that there is usually some related golf task in each season of The Apprentice. Her ace in the hole, surprisingly is Liza, who we find out, was on the Kenyan Women's Golf Team at one time.

The usual series of missteps that are inherent in the final task take place, leaving a great cliffhanger for the finale.

Have A Happy Chanukkah

Barers Featured In The Issaquah Press

During the treacherous drive from work to home on Monday, November 22nd, I decided to go on twitter as soon as we hit the Issaquah-Hobart Road, it was an attempt to illustrate to anyone following that a drive that normally would take 15 minutes at the most, would take one or two hours. One of the people who picked up on the tweets worked for the Issaquah Press and quoted me in this article about the messy commute.
"Mike Barer spent hours on a slow trip from the Crossroads area in Bellevue to Maple Valley. Barer inched along Issaquah-Hobart Road Southeast past a stalled tractor-trailer and snowplow, plus numerous cars stuck in roadside ditches...
We barely were able to safely pass the carnage on the street and turn onto Cedar Grove” Road Southeast, Barer said."

M&M Candy Commercial - Go Fish - 1972

Retro-M&Ms commercial. I was too young when it aired to "get" the punchline.

Home Cookin' No Longer Seahawks Edge

The Seattle Seahawks were soundly for the second home game in a row as they lost 42-24 to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs were bolstered by Quarterback Matt Cassell, who threw a career high 4 touchdown passes. Seahawk QB Matt Hasselbeck threw for 282 yards and had two touchdown passes, but also had two interceptions and a costly fumble.

Adam West Has Growing Facebook Page

He is a native Walla Wallan and a graduate of Whitman College. He is also without a doubt a television icon. Adam West, who played Batman in the 1960s, is held in high esteem in the Eastern Washington town that I grew up in. He apparently has staying power worldwide, a Facebook fan page where West frequently contributes has almost 50,000 participants.
Here is the description of West on his page..
"Adam West is a true American icon whose career in entertainment has spanned half a century. He is most well-known for his role as TV's classic Batman and for his work as Mayor West on Family Guy."
Last year, a page wanting Betty White to host SNL went viral and earned White an invitation to host the show, perhaps Adam West will be the next star of yesteryear to do so.

The Apprentice--Steuart Walks The Plank

Trump walks into the suite while the candidates are celebrating. First thing he does is redo the teams. Brandy is put with Liza. Clint and Steuart remain teammates. It is now Men vs Women again.

In this week's task, the teams will fly by helicopter to West Chester, Pennsylvania to the QVC studios. They will pick a product and then try to sell it on the shopping channel, the team that makes the most profit wins.

Steuart and Clint plan strategy on the chopper. They will pretend to go for selling watches and then pick purses, which can sell for a higher mark-up. Liza is project manager for the women, her only plan is too let Brandy present. Brandy, has had success in the past as a presenter. Steuart will present for the men.

The Men's strategy goes as planned, they give the Women the choice of product, while they choose the time slot. Women will sell watches, the Men will sell purses. The Women are comfortable with that decision. Their presentation seems rocky because Liza is overwhelmed as a director.

The surprise is that the Women win. After a mostly friendly boardroom, Steuart is fired.

Big Snowstorm Hits Seattle Area

The Barers of Maple Valley are home safe after a huge snow storm that blocked the roads and made for a 3 hour drive home last night. Today, we are driving to work a little later as one inch of snow can shut down the whole area.

The Mayors--A Great History Of Seattle

You can see Burl if you chose to watch the entire video!

Saints Shred Seahawks In Superdome

Drew Brees had a career day, throwing for 382 yards and 4 touchdowns to lead the New Orleans Saints to a 34-19 victory over the the Seattle Seahawks. Seahawk quarterback Matt Hasselbeck played valiently, throwing for over 366 yards, despite a broken left wrist. It was the most yards surrendered by the New Orleans defense this season. The problem was, the 'Hawks were only able to get one touchdown, a two yard pass from Hasselbeck to Ben Obumanu. The rest of the points were Olindo Mare field goals. The photo above is courtesy of the Seattle Times.

Brandi Carlile The Story

A highlight from last Friday's Concert.

Homegrown Brandi Carlile Dazzles Benaroya Hall

Brandi Carlile, who grew up in Ravensdale , near Maple Valley, performed last night with the Seattle Symphony to a screaming, toe tapping, hand clapping audience.

Starting with only her band, Carlile began with probable her best known song "What Can I Say" pointing the microphone to the crowd who was singing the chorus along with her.

Many of Carlile's song are somewhat dark, lending themselves well to the strings in the orchestra. She spoke fondly of the venue, Benaroya Hall saying that she frequently drove past the place in her youth, only dreaming of playing there.

Her ablility to engage the crowd was reminiscent of another home grown band "Heart". Brandi announced that she was making a live album with last night's performance included.

The Apprentice: Weak Player Trips Contender

It has been pretty clear throughout this season that the women's team does not work well with Liza, it seams that she has squeaked by this season through team wins and weaker players, her teammate Stephanie is very capable and qualified, but impatient and cannot seem to own up to her own errors. On the other team, Clint and Steuart work well together but cannot seem to find synergy with Brandy, the only woman on that team.

This week's task is to do a 30 second TV commercial for AT and T and FloTV a system that allows TV streaming on a cell phone.

Stephanie is project manager for Fortitude, while Steuart is PM for Octane.

Stephanie begins by rejecting all of Liza's ideas, preferring to make her a "go-fer". Her concept is to shoot in a sports stadium, however Liza cannot secure filming rights for any ball field. She tries the idea of a back drop, which also does not work. The final idea is a board meeting where a boss complains about the lack of enthusiasm amongst his workers. One of the workers, watching his favorite team score on Flo TV stands up and cheers to the delight of his boss.

Although Steuart is Octane's PM, Clint take charge right away, setting up a potential problem for Steuart later, should he go "head to head" with Clint in the final. Clint gets to be in the commercial as someone who is left out of everything until he gets Flo TV. Their commercial includes a shot at the AT and T store.

Octane wins, Stephanie and Liza go back to the board room. Donald, Jr says that the only energy Liza shows is in the boardroom, however, Trump hated Stephanie's idea and fires her with a warning to Liza that he does not like her performance either

King Felix Wins Cy Young Award

In what has really been the most dismal year in Seattle Mariner history, there is finally some good news. This year's American League Cy Young award (best pitcher of the year) is our own Felix Hernandez. Known as "King Felix", he had 13 wins against 12 losses in spite of pitching on a team with essentially no offense. Congratulations to Felix Hernandez!

Windstorm Does Damage

A vicious windstorm hit the Maple Valley area Monday evening, knocking out power in the area for up to nine hours. This house in the Belmont Woods area sustained damage to it's fence.

Seahawks Defeat Cardinals Again

Matt Hasselbeck passed for 333 yards leading the Seattle Seahawks to a 36-18 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Hasselbeck hit Deon Butler for a touchdown in the second quarter,
while Seahawk running backs Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett added rushing touchdowns. Olindo Mare had 5 'Hawk field goals.
This is the first time that the 'Hawks have swept the Cardinals since 2005 and gets them back on the winning track after ugly defeats on the road in Oakland and at home against the Giants. After the 49ers overtime victory against the Rams, the Seahawks are in first place in the division with a 5-4 record.

Cougs Rise Up And Defeat OSU

The Washington State Cougars ended their 3 year draught of wins against conference opponents, defeating the Oregon State Beavers 31-14.

Fans Pay Last Respects To Dave Niehaus

Thousands of Seattle Mariner fans showed up at Safeco Field today to pay tribute to Legendary broadcaster Dave Niehaus today. The above displays was placed at the gates to the field. Although entry into the stadium was easy, there was a very long line (above) to get on the field were there were additional displays. The television screens carried Dave's play by play. It was billed by the Mariner organization as an informal tribute with a formal remembrance to be announced.

Thanks, Dave.

The Apprentice--A Cheater Gets Caught

In a move that has never happened before on the show, the teams were called to the boardroom before the task. Trump says that one of the candidates had sent a text message to the outside world, a clear violation. Anand is fingered and tries to lie his way out. It is to no avail and Trump fires him.

This week's task is to sell a the Kim Kardashian brand of perfume. I don't know much about Kim Kardashian, besides the fact that she seems to have replaced Paris Hilton as every one's favorite "rich girl". The teams are evened as Liza joins Stephanie and Poppy to take on Stueart, Brandy, and Clint.

Clint gets frustrated that Brandy is not putting more input into the task. Clint is PM and Brandy, the only woman on the team, is expected to help the guys, who are not well versed in the art of selling cosmetics. Poppy is PM for Fortitude, she immediately isolates Liza, who cannot get along with anyone and is considered a weak player. Poppy must not be familiar with Kardashian because her display does not seem to conform to her tastes. Octane wins the task. Poppy is fired for being PM on the losing team.

BOMV Honors Our Vets!

Seattle Mariners - Edgar, Joey & Junior Amazing 95 season

In honor of the great Dave Niehaus, I believe that this will go down as his "signature" call.

Seattle Mariner Voice Silenced

It was like a wrecking ball crashing into the Space Needle, it was announced on the radio today that Dave Niehaus, broadcaster of all but 90 Seattle Mariners games since the team's inception, has died from a heart atack. I know of no other figure who had captured the heart of this town in the way that he had. So long, Dave, My Oh My!

Tributes To Jan Curran Around The Blogosphere

The picture above was taken at my parent's wedding in 1956. Jan Barer, my cousin, is second from left, a bridesmaid. This was posted on facebook by my brother, Steve in honor of Jan, who passed away a week ago yesterday. Jan, a journalist by trade, made her long struggle with cancer public by her blog Jan Curran Events. With her style and positive sense of humor, she made life better for both for cancer patients and their loved ones, many whom she never met or may not even have been aware of. Anne Erdman, the Public Information Director for Pasadena, CA, was a longtime friend, she writes this about Jan.
My dad, Jan's first cousin, knew her since her birth he has some funny stories from growing up together in Walla Walla. Jan's brother, Burl, included the write up in the Palm Springs Desert Sun in his story, Jan's cousin on her Mom's side, David Zarkin, also has some childhood recollections. My brother Danny weighed in also.
Finally, Jan's son, Lee ties it all together in this lovely piece.

Seahawks Game--Suite But Not Sweet

While I have blogged reports about the Seattle Seahawks since their Super Bowl year of 2005-2006, I usually filed the report from my observations on TV. This was the first regular season game that I have attended at Qwest Field in several years. My Father-In-Law, Bob and I had tickets to the KIRO TV suite as a result of a UPS Store summer contest.

Although it was a fun afternoon, it wasn't victorious or even close, the 2010 New York Giants appear to be the 2010 team of destiny and even a raucous loud crowd and the hallowed "12th Man" was not going to stop it. Charlie Whitehurst was starting in place of Matt Hasselbeck and the result was disaster. The Seahawks suffered their first loss at home 41-7. Next week, Hasselbeck should return as the 'Hawks head to the desert to face the Cardinals.

The Apprentice--Another Character Gets Axed

This episode begins with the remaining contestants sitting in the suite. Once again they get in a fight as Anand chides Stephanie for what he sees as negligence on her part during the last task. It's obvious to the viewers that more arguing and fighting is shown this year than ever before.
The task starts in front of Macy's in Herald Square, Trump says it's the largest department store in the world. There is a Donald Trump line of clothing out and teams will promote it with a 4 page print ad. Before beginning, as he does every season, Trump realigns the teams. Clint, Brandy, Steurt, and Liza become Octane, David, Anand, Poppy, and Stephanie are on Fortitude. That will be harder to remember than when the teams are separated by gender.
David, volunteers to be PM and starts out with some good ideas, and it seems like he is getting serious, until he gets in a big fight with Anand and gets hung up on some male model. Fortitude has the misfortune of not having models show up, so they decide to go it alone with Steurt and
Brandy.
Fortitude wins with an ad that may have been thought to be risque. However Donald Trump often rewards a team that takes a risk. David seemed to be getting into the swing of things since the previous week. Being on the losing team, he brings Poppy and Stephanie into the boardroom, but David's luck has run out. He is fired.

Apprentice Update To Be Late

Due to time constraints, this weeks wrap up of "The Apprentice" will be late. Look for it tonight. Thanks for reading.

Farewell To My Beloved Cousin

Jan Curran has passed away at 73. Jan was my second cousin, my father's first. Her blog, Jan Curran Events, inspired me to begin a blog of my own.

Jan was born in Walla Walla and graduated from Walla Walla High School, she went to the University Of Washington and met and married Alan Goldberg. Together they had 4 children. Jan and Alan divorced in the early 70s. She was briefly married to Donald Curran. Although she lived in California for almost all of her adult life, she would bring her children to Walla Walla every summer to visit the Grandparents, which is how I would meet Lee and Karen and later, Linda and Tod. Just about a year ago, she completed the book "Active Senior Living" a warm hearted comedy, based on life in a senior living center.

Through her blog, she was able to start what she called the "Jan Curran Fan Club", the idea behind it was for members to donate their old magazines and books to cancer treatment centers rather than throw them away. The Jan Curran Fan Club currently has a group on facebook with over one hundred members.

Click here for a wonderful article in the Desert Sun, the daily newspaper in Palm Springs.

Halloween Nightmare In Oakland For Seahawks

After a win on the road against the Bears and a victory over conference rival Arizona, the Seattle Seahawks seemed to take a step backwards against the Oakland Raiders, losing 33-3. The Raiders amassed 545 yards for the first time in their glorious history and also set a record for having their second game in a row with over 5oo yards of total offense. Running back Darren McFadden ran for 111 yards. As for the Seahawks, their offense was horrible with only 4 yards of total offense in the first quarter. The 'Hawks take on the Red Hot New York Giants next week at Qwest Field.

Happy Halloween!

Get Out And Vote

In this impassioned plea, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's explains the the dangers of a "Tea Party" takeover this Tuesday.

The Apprentice Hits Broadway

This episode begins with the men's and women's team chilling in the boardroom. Mahsa has some definite opinions on who should be fired from last week's task. No one at this point knows who was fired from last week. Liza and Stephanie returns and all of a sudden there is a big fight. The women are telling Mahsa to be quiet. We later find out that this will play itself out in this week's boardroom.
This week's task is to create a presentation for a specific Broadway play in order to get corporate backing. Liza steps up to lead the women, but has never actually seen a play nor does she get the concept. The men have to deal with David, after calling him out in last week's boardroom. The big surprise is that David is good when it comes to this work. Apparently his "acting out" masks a very creative streak. Although Steuart (it's actually spelled like that) is PM, he gives David full reign as soon as he sees that it will work in their favor.
The task takes second stage in this episode with the boardroom. Stephanie and Mahsa are in charge of creating a flier to promote the play. It is a miserable effort with no contact information, should an investor be interested in backing the play. Stephanie says that she has a music background and had studied for years in a conservatory. Trump asks her why she did not step up as PM. She said she did not know it was a musical. Trump calls her bluff and suddenly it looks like she may be fired. She retracts her story. Trump is suddenly angry with Mahsa because she cannot give a straight answer to one of his questions. Pretty soon the women are piling on her, it is revealed that on last week's task, Mahsa told the Men's team what her team had made. She says that she did so after the men shared their information. The men's team, who had been watching at the suite are enraged. They come back into the boardroom to protest what they say is a fabricated story. No one in the boardroom will back Mahsa up. She is fired to the relief of everyone, including, it looks like, Trump's receptionist.

Omare Kicks Seahawks Into First Place

Olindo Mare kicked 5 field goals as the Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals 22-10. The Seahawks scored their only touchdown in the second quarter on a 2 yard pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Mike Williams.

The Seahawks will travel to the Bay Area next Sunday to take on the Oakland Raiders.

Lee Vs Lincecum In World Series Opener

The two outstanding pitcher's who oppose each other in Game 1 of this year's World Series have Northwest ties. Tim Lincecum grew up in the area and attended Liberty High School in Renton and the University Of Washington. Cliff Lee, is kind of a stretch, he spent the first three months of this season as a Seattle Mariner. The two pitchers are a contrast in styles, Lincecum is long hair and has an unorthodox style, Cliff Lee is button-down and business. Amazingly though, Lee is the journeyman playing for his fourth team in four seasons. Lincecum has been a Giant his entire career. Both men have won the Cy Young, Lincecum won his second last year. The Rangers are seeking their first World Series championship, the Giants have not won a title since 1954 when they were the New York Giants.

Local Man's Presidential I-Pad Autograph May Be First

Sylvester Cann, with whom I worked with on the Dean Willard campaign, has garnered national attention. Sylvester attended a rally at the University Of Washington featuring President Obama. When Obama went into the crowd, Cann asked the president to sign his IPad, it may be the first IPAD autograph of a president.

The Apprentice: Whose Got A Ticket To Ride?

The men are looking to regroup after a disasterous presentation last week, presenting a fashion show. The task this week is for teams to set up a pedicab business in New York. Anyone who lives in or near a city were pedicabs are employed, know that they are used primarily by tourists, mostly for fun, rather than a basic need of transportation.

Kelly, who thinks her team made her look like a weak player, steps up to run the women's team. Anand, who has been under the radar all season, will be PM for the men.

The Men's gimmick is to dress like gladiators with swords and promote the cabs as chariots. Wacky David seems to be a unifying factor on the team, they all want him gone. The men set up outside of Trump Tower.

The women run into problems right away when two of the members fail their riding tests including PM Kelly. That seems to be when she lost her team. She does not like the location that is picked (Wall Street) , but says nothing and seems to fade into the background. The women's team decide to sell sex appeal, calling their team "babes on bikes". When Eric Trump comes to check on the team, Kelly points out a couple of team members that she thinks have been doing well, this angers the other players as they all seem to have a "me first" attitude.

When the teams come back to the boardroom, Clint immediately calls out David for his bizarre behaviour. Everyone on the men's team backs him up, but Trump says the men have won and he cannot fire someone from the winning team. Of course, most viewers know that he could and would had he wanted to. The women have lost badly and everyone points a finger at Liza. Liza didn't do much this week, but Kelly thinks that she threw her under the bus on last week's task. She also fingers Stephanie for picking a bad location, Trump agrees that it is a terrible location, but thinks that Kelly was a poor leader. He fires her.

Fall Evening

On a clear night, you can see the full Moon above the Issaquah City Hall.

The Bell At l'Ecole No. 41

Our one winery visit on our trip to Walla Walla last weekend was to l'Ecole No.41. l'ecole means school in French and the winery is in an area known as Frenchtown. Visitors to the winery are invited to ring this bell, formerly used when the winery was actually the Lowden school. One of the first wineries in the area, the winery was started by descendants of the Baker family. The same Baker family who started the state's oldest bank.

Seahawks Sneak Past Bears

Congrats to the Seattle Seahawks for getting their first road victory. The 'Hawks beat the Chicago Bears 23-20.

Toy Store Mural Upsets Walla Walla City Government

It did not seem so long ago that what would be big news in Walla Walla, Washington would be of little consequence anywhere else, but thanks to the reach of the world wide web and a newly acquired reputation as the wine capital of the Northwest, a story about a legal battle between a locally owned Downtown toy store and the city has attracted attention from around the world.

It's all because of a mural posted above the Inland Octopus (top picture), located at 7 East Main Street. The notice is posted on the front door (bottom picture). It says that the store will be fined 100 dollar per day until the mural is taken down.

The Apprentice: Men's Team Angers Trump!

This week's task is to put on a fashion featuring Rockport shoes. Women will put on a show featuring men's shoes. Men will put on a show featuring women's. Wade is PM for the men, after failing to step up as he promised on the previous task. Stephanie, a highly motivated candidate volunteered to be PM for the women. Stephanie had already shown leadership in previous tasks.

Stephanie tells her team to focus on the task at hand. She leads with an iron hand. Wade does not seem to show any of the leadership that he talked about in the board room a couple of weeks ago. He has Gene and David emcee the event and does not have a rehearsal. As a result, the men's show is a disaster. The women have Brandy emcee and although she said that she had not done it before. The event goes on without a hitch.

Trump is so angry with the men's performance on the task, he let's the women go and does not even let Wade pick 2 people to come into the boardroom. He lets them all have it and fires Wade and Gene. He could easily have fired the whole team.

Rusty In The Winner's Circle

A proud Mom poses with Rusty who has just won First Prize for Savy Senior in the Fido Fest.

Bye Bye Branch

The Seattle Times reports that Deion Branch has been traded back to the New England Patriots. Since giving up a 2007 first round draft pick to acquire him in September of 2006, Branch was frequently injured and was unable to play a full season.

Former Walla Walla Padre Tony Gwynn Facing Cancer

It has been a lousy fall for fans of San Diego baseball, the Padres did not make the post season after leading the National League West for almost the entire season. Now Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn who spent his entire career with the Padres, has been diagnosed with cancer of salivary gland. Gwynn of course, began his professional career with the Walla Walla Padres in 1981.

Movie Review: The Social Network

For anyone wondering how Mark Zuckerberg became the world's youngest billionaire ever off a service that is offered to it's customers for free, The Social Network offers little information. For those seeking a drama based on how facebook was conceived, this movie delivers. On paper, it is 'matter of fact" in the Aaron Sorkin style rather than Oliver Stone's "in your face",yet,it somehow keeps your attention as it shuffles between court dispositions and the evolution of how facebook became the cultural phenomonon that it is now.

Jesse Eisenberg's Mark Zuckerberg is the main character, a brilliant but socially awkward young man. He is not someone who you would want to have a beer with or have sympathy for. After posting rude comments on the internet about the girl who had just dumped him and about the women at Harvard in general, Zuckerberg seems oblivous to the disdain shown toward him. Zuckerberg's partner-in-crime Eduardo Saverin (played by Adam Garfield), on the other hand, is a very likable sympathetic character who tries to keep Zuckerberg down to earth while seeking advertising revenue to make Zuckerberg's venture work. Eduardo's personality contrasts to Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake), the founder of Napster, who seems tries to encourage Zuckerberg to expand big, think later. The preppy athletic Winklevoss twins were both played by Armie Hammer. The Winkelvosses are fellow Harvard students who are suing Zuckerberg claiming that he stole their idea for a campus link up site, after inviting Zuckerman to bring his technical expertise in the early stages.

The main attraction of the movie is that we are all familiar with what facebook is today. Even a movie of this quality would probably not work if it was about an unknown product.

The Apprentice:The Men Pop Back

This week's task was to promote Popcorn. According to Trump, 17 billion quarts a year are sold. Popcorn, Indiana sells the product in stores and this week's task was for each team to create a viral video to promote the brand. .

The women come up with what seems to me to be a lame idea, showing people in a health club eating popcorn while they work out. It looks to me like an invitation to choke to death.

The men on the other hand, come up with an idea that can at least attract attention, they stage a popcorn fight in the middle of Manhattan. David, the weekly problem child for the men, winds up sitting another task out, this one due to his breaking a tooth.

After two losses in a row, the men win this task. Clint is the winning project manager. Mahsa, the angry DA, is the loser. She picks Tyana and Liza to go into the boardroom with her. Tyana did not get on board with Mahsa's idea. Ultimately, it was the losing idea, but Trump thinks that she has lost favor with the team and fires her.

Seahawks Lose Traction In StLouis

The Seattle Seahawks may have started the season undefeated at home, but they have yet to find a way to the win column on the road. Rookie quarterback Sam Bradford threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns as the StLouis Rams defeated the Seattle Seahawks 20-3. Matt Hasselbeck was sacked 4 times, was intercepted once and had a fumble in a losing effort. The loss ended a streak of ten consecutive victories that the 'Hawks had over the Rams.

The Apprentice Goes To The Dogs

This week's task is to set up a day care and spa for dogs. This was a problem for Mahsa because she is terrified of dogs Judging by the fact that Donald Trump did not come to see either team, my guess is that she was not the only one not comfortable around the furry friends. For the past couple weeks, James (above) has been called out in the boardroom. He is always clueless and shocked when that happens. When he steps up to be PM, you already know the results. The toughest part of running Octane is David. I don't know what is up with him, but he is the wild card. It is clear that he will be fired sometime, just not right away. After a couple of shout out sessions, James tells David to go back to the suite to spend the days watching game shows, soaps and perhaps old reruns of "The Apprentice". It is the first time that I can remember a PM firing a candidate on a task.
The Women of Fortitude have problems of their own. They won a task after throwing Liza under the bus and she cannot let it go. Furthermore, Tyana (the PM) and Mahsa, who got along so well in the first task are now bitter enemies. There is absolutely no cohesion in the women's camp either.
The judge of the competition is Celebrity Dog Trainer Caesar Milan. Why he would want to put his name on this is beyond me. Perhaps he is graduating to training people, because these candidates are a bigger mess then any dog would be.
The women win. The men lose for the second week in a row. James picks David (of course) and Wade to stay in the boardroom. Firing David would be way too easy, it is clear that although James is smart, he could never lead the team and he is fired. David will return to wreak havoc next week.

Stan Barer On Front Page Of Seattle Times

Cousin Stan Barer (left with side to camera), who is on the University Of Washington Board Of Regents, is shown here greeting interim UW President Phyllis Wise.