Thank the heavens for a news cycle on Boxing Day

The nets are abuzz with the first anniversary of the Boxing Day Tsunami that devastated the Indian Ocean region. (If you don't know what Boxing Day is, just remember it's another one of those freebie holidays from which our country's self-punishing Puritan forefathers fled.)

I'm sure the nets are happy about this. What else did they used to fill time with the day after Christmas? Long return lines? Christmas family tragedies? Now they have this awful terrible tsunami for the next couple of years. Sure, it affected largely poor populations and a few famous and/or rich individuals, but, by God, it's a bona fide giant tragedy.

Speaking of Christmas family tragedies, a recent car accident in Chicago took the lives of two young women. This in and of itself is terrible, but the local news just had to tack on that the women "were really looking forward to Christmas." And this right here says everything about the news, doesn't it?

That whole Apprentice finale thing

I've expressed to several friends and colleagues that while I don't mind that Randal was hired as the fourth season's Apprentice, the last two minutes of the finale left a very bad taste in my mouth. Trumps seemed to have made his decision in advance given his body language with Randal, but I think he and Mark Burnett were toying with the idea of hiring both Randal and Rebecca. After all, she seems at least as driven and dedicated as last season's Apprentice Kendra. I dare say she was at least the strongest female finalist to date in spite of her losing record.

After hiring Randal, Trump asks Randal if he should hire Rebecca as well. Randal quickly says that the show is about one winner, that it is called The Apprentice and not The Appreti. Trump quickly decides to agree with Randal, and the whole thing is over, with Rebecca likely far more bitter than she was seconds earlier.

Randal's response makes him look like a selfish ass, which is unfortunate because I respected that he earned five advanced degrees and actually did something with them, even if he did seem like the type who'd prefer never to get his hands dirty. (How I feel for Mark working with those three primpy types in the final task.) Some have told me that Randal had every right to keep the number of winners to one, but, in spite of Trump's insistence that he takes the "13-week job interview" seriously, we would have been more entertained by the "final twist" of two winners.

About Trump's "this is serious to me" speech, his last minute theatrics with Randal pushed his words toward hypocrisy. If he were really as serious about who he hired as he said, he wouldn't let the winner's opinion about the concept of the show sway his decision.

I'll leave it at this, but I once again must ask if the "13-week job interview" business should be dropped. Burnett's other show Survivor plays up the fact that the taped events occur within little over a month's time. The same applies to The Apprentice, but for some stupid reason, we're supposed to believe that months pass before the final two candidates finish their last tasks. Wouldn't it be more impressive to play up how little time candidates have within and between tasks? Anyone with any sense can guess that each task and board room/reward period adds up to roughly 48 hours. Are the producers afraid the whole affair will seem less genuine if sleep deprivation were as big a factor in this setting as it is on a deserted island?

(Sales)persons of the Year

Jeff Harrell has a few things to say about Time's choices for "Persons of the Year." While I am a huge fan of Bono and am not terribly negative toward Bill Gates and his wife, I find it fitting of our culture that persons who create products and sell those products to us are given such high esteem by the publishing arm of an entertainment conglomerate.

I hope that that cover doesn't keep Steve Jobs from sleeping at night and that the apathetic balance of U2 can handle Bono's new title.