The original Butterstick blog seems to have foundered. Via Wonkette, here's a new one. Better name, better content, better panda-tracking.

this nytimes fluff article on how more people are gravitating towards non-gadget gifts this holiday season reveals the true one must-have present that everybody will no doubt be buying this season: "At Barneys, such indulgences include a $50 ceramic night-stand condom jar from Jonathan Adler with an intricate pattern of sperm wriggling on its lid."

well, lost is on hiatus till january 11 (my birthday! hurrah). and all i can say is: lucky for you. now you can spend your evenings watching a far more deserving and far better and far more satisfying show: veronica mars. and in its honor i am giving it its own category.

i know i've been harsh on lost, and i will continue to be so, but i can't help it: it was such a great first season, and the second one has essentially been, in my opinion, a big ole pile of poo. every episode moves at a snail's pace, barely anything happens, and even less is resolved. we're about, what, halfway into the season, and what have we seen: shannon died; the tailies did their thing and found the front section's camp; locke decided everybody has to push a pointless button every few hours; and, ooh, the missing piece of film for the dharma initiative said to not use the computer for any communication purposes. the thing with walt typing through the computer at the end was pretty awesome and freaky, but the rest of the episode crapped. does anyone actually think jack and kate have chemistry? how terribly sucky and unimaginative was kate's flashback? so terribly sucky and unimaginative that EVERYBODY PREDICTED IT LAST SEASON.

in my opinion, lost is performing the kiss of death: it's making me NOT CARE ANYMORE. honestly, whatever the mysteries are aren't so exciting that i will wait around several seasons to receive any gratification whatosever. last season was great because there was a) one thrilling, overarching mystery and b) small mysteries that took place and were resolved within each episode that were interesting in their own right and often connected in unexpected ways to the island and the overarching themes/mystery.

this season, all we've got is still the Big Mystery, on which we will never get any answers/hints, because the producers have no idea what the Big Mystery actually is and are not dealing with it in any coherent manner...and that's it. every episode now moves slowly (is it just my imagination, or is there a lot more silence/characters speaking incredibly slowly this season?) and very few things actually happen/are resolved within each episode. and what happened to the stompy monster?!?!

on the other hand, you have the excellently-edited, fast-moving and always satisfying veronica mars (though i haven't seen last night's episode yet, so please don't spoil it for me!). trust me: this show is the best show on tv right now. i wouldn't have said so at the beginning of this tv season, but now i'm positive that it is superior to lost. it's got attractive characters, tons of conflict, romance, one Big Mystery that i am CERTAIN the producers know how to resolve, one smaller mystery that i don't doubt ties into the Big Mystery (with grace and her abusive father, and everything else that is going on with meg), episodes that give you clues towards the Big Mystery every week, secondary storylines for every episode that are normally resolved in a satisfying and believable manner, interesting and plausible tensions (race and class dynamics in the community) and great, witty, hysterical dialogue.

please, please, do yourselves and the creators of VM a favor: watch it for the next six weeks (i'm not certain every episode will be new, but there should be at least a few fresh ones in there, and if there are reruns you can catch yourself up). lost draws billions of viewers every week; VM only gets a couple of million, and i don't think it's in danger of being canceled, but every bit helps. it deserves your viewership, and you deserve a non-frustrating show that gives you what you expect out of a top-rate series. UPN, wednesday, 9/8 central. WATCH IT OR DIE!

UPDATE: greg proves that there are still plenty of people out there who are enjoying the show.

UPDATE II: for random hints/tidbits that probably mean nothing but are fun anyway, check out this photo (look at the tv in the background).

Last night Charles and I joined Martin and Hemal for Lucky Strike Lanes' preview night. I've got a review of the place over at DCist. I'll tell ya, nothing makes you feel like you've really made it more than being given free beer and bowling (even if we were just Hemal's +1's). I took a bunch of pictures.

Considering that it's a bowling alley, the place is fairly ridiculous. For one thing, it's got a dress code. For another, this enormous monstrosity is what you get when you ask for a glass of water.

But hey: it's bowling, it's within five blocks, and it's less overpriced than I expected. Call it a win.