During this evening's American Idol broadcast, the elusive Tunesmith made a keen observation via text messaging: your next American Idol, Chris Sligh, bears a striking resemblance to Sideshow Bob. 

 Hence forth, Chris Sligh shall be referred to as Sligh-show Bob.

(Did you die-hard AI fans note that Sligh-show Bob sang Ray LaMontagne's "Trouble" this evening, just as the soul-tacular Taylor Hicks did last year?)

I dialed the toll-free number to vote for Sanjaya after American Idol was over tonight…

…and I got a recording telling me the balance on my Visa card. Strange. 

Great minds think alike, and the Other Bob beat me to this one today. (But that extra effort is precisely why he won the Bronstein this year.) 

Anyway, I too laughed out loud (or as the web-savvy hipsters over at the P-G would say, "LOL") when I saw this today on the P-G online: 

Those wacky P-G kids are really starting to get the hang of this Internet thing, what with the playing of the sounds and the streaming of the video and the Quicktime and the Flash slideshows.

When I heard about the gas line break around noon today, my initial reaction was to stand on my desk in a panic and scream, "Does anyone know what hissing gas sounds like?! I don't give two shits if all of downtown Pittsburgh is going to explode and we're all going to die! I must hear what this high pressure gas sounds like as it escapes from the ruptured line!"

Just then my secretary ran in my office and told me the P-G had the audio of the gas leak online. Unfortunately, it turned out that the P-G online had the wrong audio file attached to the link. Thanks to a little of my own industriousness, I was able to locate the correct audio file. Click here to listen to the correct MP3 file of gas being released. Really. (No, it has nothing to do with farting.)

What was up with the maroon velvet outfit Ellen DeGeneres was wearing? It looked like Captain Kangaroo's smoking jacket. And the white jazz shoes? Jazz shoes? I had a pair of jazz shoes. In 1985.

Can someone please tell me what the fuck Randy Newman ever did? Wasn't he banging Penny Marshall at some point? Who builds a career on writing hokey songs for movies? Seriously. Elton John sang enough songs for animated films, but at least he gave us “Your Song.” Can this overweight podiatrist looking asshole please stop writing bland songs for movies and/or can the “Academy” please stop recognizing him for this shit?

God, it was great seeing Jerry Seinfeld. I really wish he didn't take the Johnny Carson route in “retirement” and pretty much disappear, but I can't say that I blame him.

Al Gore. At the Oscars. Winning, no less? I closed my lips tight. Pressed my hand over my mouth as reinforcement. And gulped back down the puke that built up in my mouth after seeing Al freakin' Gore getting an award for a freakin' documentary. They should change the name of the documentary category to "Award for Fat Hypocritical Bag of Wind Who Never Did Shit."

The Oscars reminded me that Martin Scorsese has eyebrows almost as impressive as those of Ken Rice.

Celine Dion is still creepy.

What was Quincy Jones wearing?

I was pissed Eddie Murphy didn't win even though I didn't see the movie. I wanted to see that speech.

I was also pissed the dude from the original “Bad News Bears” didn't win, too. He's all bald and freaky looking now.

Clint Eastwood translating Italian. That shit rocks. You know that even “Right turn, Clyde” in Italian sounds poetic.

Numbers don’t lie, so they say. And if you’re anything like me, you find statistics and data fascinating. OK, maybe “moderately interesting” better describes your feelings toward this sort of thing. Regardless, as yet another public service to you,…(say it with me)…the vast T&A readership, I present:

Anthony’s Pie Chart Shakedown

Pittsburgh has had its share of notable political leaders. Most of them are dead. Who is the most favorite dead Pittsburgh politician you ask?

As you,….(one more time)….the vast T&A readership know, I am an avid WTAE news viewer. WTAE has received some criticism lately for its story featuring Kelly Frey twirling around a stripper pole, and some people believe WTAE’s news has degenerated into a feel good fest chock full of entertainment stories and a giggling Wendy Bell. However, research has indicated quite the opposite as illustrated in the following chart.

In Pittsburgh, sometimes it just feels like you can’t get there from here. If you're like me, you hate sitting in traffic and have developed your own routes to and from work to avoid those infamously busy roads.

From Billy Conn to Jack Lambert, Pittsburgh has had its share of tough guys who have reflected the grittiness and toughness of the Steel City's industrial history. But who is the manliest man in Pittsburgh currently?

As a native Pittsburgher, I know how hard it is to leave this city that I've called home for all these years. I mean, it has so much to offer, and that's not even counting this blog!

I think everyone would agree that our beloved Steelers quarterback, Ben Rottenberger, sure gave us our share of scares this year. Which of those did Pittsburghers find the most troubling?

Well, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did and maybe learned a little along the way.  Hopefully, we can do this again soon.