Rapidly moving from the world of rumor to sparsely known fact, two of my favorite shows have recently announced plans to jump from the small screen to the big screen, though the shows are wildly different in nature - one a cartoon that has been on the air for 17 seasons, and the other a thrilling drama that would see some major changes from its current format - needing to compress 24 hours into a 2-hour feature. That's right - both The Simpsons and 24, coincidentally sharing time on the Fox network, are headed for Hollywood - if entertainment sites are to be believed.

It's said that The Simpsons movie trailer debuted in advance of the animated Ice Age 2 in theaters last week, showing Homer Simpson, in his underwear on the couch, fretting about the show's announced start date of July 27, 2007. (IMDB link) The idea of a Simpsons movie is likely as old as the series itself, and has itself been considered an urban legend - joining the Apple tablet PC, and the imminent release of Duke Nukem 3D. But, just like Apple's "surprising" move to Intel and announcement that its machines will now have the capability to run Windows, stranger things have happened, and we may have to adjust to the fable turning to reality.

(You can view The Simpsons Movie teaser on Apple's Web site)

In parallel, Jack Bauer's dominance over all terrorists and worldly threats, along with a new lucrative contract for Kiefer Sutherland, has launched speculation that a 24 movie is next. In fact, Sutherland, playing the role of spoiler, as MTV put it, has confirmed the movie is a go. The show has at times been riveting, and at other times, befuddling with plot twists the actors themselves can't seem to get behind, but for it to go from a 24 one-hour episode format to a single 2-hour format might be the show's biggest challenge yet. The 24 movie would likely hit screens in 2008, though a script is in development.

Listening to ''Lyteo'', by Mr. Sam (Play Count: 1)

A lot of the technology advances in the last decade have been focused on increasing consumer access to information - at the home. Broadband to the home has delivered top of line Internet speeds that rival business access, while cable providers, combined with services like NetFlix, bring Hollywood videos to the home without your having to deal with sticky floors and chatty neighbors. Best of all, you can stay in your own comfortable furniture and pause the darn thing when you want to. And after the first wave of Internet fiascos, like WebVan and MyLackey came and went, retailers like Safeway offer the ability to purchase everything you need to live comfortably and have it delivered to your door. As you can pay for nearly everything by credit cards online as well, there's really no great reason to leave home if you don't want to.

I know for our family, we haven't gone to the movie theater for quite some time, thanks to Netflix and TiVo - and we've reduced our trips to the grocery store, realizing that our time may be worth more than the $9.99 it costs to get somebody else to pick out your groceries, lug them to your home, and deliver them to your door. And the only times I ever write checks are if my wife needs cash, or to pay tithing at church. For some reason, church hasn't yet set up direct deposit - but I've been told the practice of writing it out yourself is supposed to remind of you of the sacrifice you're making.

I'm not advocating we hole ourselves in our musty homes, but the excuses we have to never leave are mounting. If I can convince the office that I'll be telecommuting and using iChat for videoconferencing, you may not ever see me again. But I'll be sure to gain even more weight. Then you wouldn't want to see me anyway.

Listening to ''Carry On'', by Wellenrausch (Play Count: 1)

Just when I thought I had it all figured out, the whole portable iPod strategy didn't pan out this evening. Typically, I utilize my 60 Gigabyte iPod as the primary hard drive at the office, and unmount it to take home - either for more work, or for what it was originally intended - as an entertainment device. Yet, today, as I had planned on putting additional late hours slaving over presentations, I hooked up the iPod to the laptop only to find the presentation I had put hours into at the office was back to its original state - updated at mid-day.

Apparently, I had saved the presentation onto the corporate network, and for some foolish purpose, had continued operating on that file instead of the local iPod copy. So, I booted up the Dell PC and connected to the corporate VPN to retrieve the file. While I had found it, with my updates, it too was not salvageable, saying I needed a higher version of Quicktime, simply to view some of the images I had thrown onto PowerPoint. Yuck. Needless to say, I scrapped it, and am now going through and recreating the slides again - but with a different process, to avoid those issues. And yes - this time, we are saving to the iPod. So frustrating!

Listening to ''Linking People'', by Giuseppe Ottaviani (Play Count: 1)

Tonight was the long-awaited Election results episode on The West Wing, where Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Arnie Vinick (Alan Alda) have been duking it out for the highest position in all the land. While our TiVo dutifully recorded it, and awaited our viewing, I had not anticipated running across any site that would carelessly blurt out the result before I had the chance to see it for myself. Unlike a sports event like the Olympics or Super Bowl - where I could go out of my way to avoid seeing the score, I didn't fear this issue with a simple TV drama. Unfortunately, in the evening, I visited Matt Drudge's Drudge Report and encountered a headline "SURPRISE! (PARTY NAME) WINS 'WEST WING' PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION...", only the words "Party Name" were replaced by the actual party of the TV show's nominee.

While I of course enjoyed watching the show after 11 p.m., I had already known the outcome, and had to be good - not telling my wife of the result, and not being caught up in the drama that entailed of who was going to gather the final electoral votes from toss-up states. The right thing to do for Matt Drudge, and he knows better, was to have put the word "Spoiler" before the link to warn potential viewers.

Listening to ''String Theory'', by Alex Gold (Play Count: 1)