This week, the little yellow lego guy turns 30. Happy birthday, Lego Guy!

Ross Perot has a question for you, and it’s not “Can I finish?” This time, Mr. Perot wants to gauge your energy knowledge.

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) survey, the United States leads the world in total number of people who have tried (or, at least admitted to having tried) marijuana. The same was true of cocaine usage. Clearly, the war on drugs and the hundreds of thousands of marijuana arrests each year have worked spectacularly. Or, and I’m just speculating here, maybe it’s time for a new strategy.

Two weeks ago, rapper Kanye West was booed at Bonnaroo before and after his show began nearly two hours late. Since then, many have criticized West for being an egomaniac who didn’t give his all in the 4:26am performance. Yesterday, West responded in a blog on his web site.

“Never say I didn’t give my all! This shows no matter how hard you try to be good at something there will be people there to lie about you and bring you down … I’m fucking hurt by this one. Bonnaroo should have released a statement in my defense … [Note: I've removed the ALL CAPS from West's original post.]

For full disclosure purposes, aside from one or two tracks, I’m not a big Kanye West fan. Despite my preference for other hip-hop artists, however, I can honestly say that West appeared to give his all in his Bonnaroo performance. But the problem was not so much the quality of or effort behind his performance. It was that he never addressed what was clearly a major issue.

What does that mean? I’m not suggesting that West should have apologized for events that may or may not have been entirely his fault (Pearl Jam went long and West’s stage took an inordinate amount of time to construct). What I am suggesting, however, is that he would have done well to acknowledge the fans who stuck around to see him.

Bonnaroo is a four-day music festival where performances begin around noon. The ‘day’ West performed, many people, including myself, had been watching shows for more than 12 hours. During each performance, from Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings and Gogol Bordello to Ozomatli and Lupe Fiasco, each artist addressed the crowd and the sheer awesomeness of the entire festival. (Anyone who’s been to Bonnaroo knows that someone can merely yell Bonnaroo and nearly everyone within shouting distance will respond with a hearty “woo!” signifying the beauty of the event.)

Despite all this and despite knowing that the audience had waited for him for nearly two hours, Kanye decided not to break the theatrical wall of his crashed spaceship. While he may have given his all in the performance, he failed to demonstrate, as he wrote in his blog, that he does this all for the fans. Had he said, “Thank you for staying up with me, Bonnaroo” or something similar, the boo birds would have likely stopped, the glow sticks would have ceased flying on stage, and the audience would have been able to focus on a relatively dynamic, one-person performance.

Unfortunately, West did nothing to dissuade people’s frustration with being made to wait for nearly two hours. Maybe the delay wasn’t his fault and maybe everyone had a choice to stay or leave, but the failure to recognize the situation as such meant that people didn’t leave the show saying, “Jesus Walks brought the house down.” Instead, they walked back to their tents at dawn saying, “I can’t believe I waited two hours for that”, “That spaceship thing was wack”, and “He really is an egomaniac”; all of which had nothing to do with his effort and everything to do with his brand.

Just about two years ago, this post summed up my thoughts on the Top Ten Television Series of All Time. After reviewing the comments and considering entertainment value, as well as overall historical and cultural impact, I’ve decided to revise the list (presented in alphabetical order):

Cheers
The Cosby Show
E.R.
I Love Lucy
Lost
M.A.S.H.
Sanford and Son
The Simpsons
Star Trek
The West Wing

After the recent passing of Tim Russert, speculation about who would take over ‘Meet the Press’ ran about like a hyperactive chicken. NBC quieted the foul rumors today with an announcement that Tom Brokaw would moderate for the remainder of the year.

Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias recently visited The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to explain why he was fired by the Bush Administration.

I’m just recovering from four days at Bonnaroo, which included a day of sweltering heat, an evening of pouring rain, and staying up until 5:30 a.m. to watch Kanye West perform (more on that later).

In my second visit to the Manchester farm, I witnessed a ton of incredible performances, including M.I.A. (an incredibly exciting show that turned into a massive rave), Metallica (who despite my dislike of their apparent disdain for the Internet, rocked a huge Friday night crowd), Tegan and Sara (who made me wonder how I’d never heard any of their songs), and Lupe Fiasco (who used a full band, DJ, and three singers to deliver an inspiring performance).

Bonnaroooooooooooo!

Since we’ve been doing this blogging thing for a long, long time, I thought it’d be interesting to take a look at some of our old posts to see where we’ve been and how far we’ve come (or haven’t). Here’s the first in the series: You’re Damn Skippy.

A former Army official claims he was fired for failing to pay more than $1 billion in unjustifiable charges. The Army responded by saying that while Charles M. Smith, the senior civilian who oversaw a multi-billion dollar contract with KBR, was removed, it was not because the failed to pay the charges, which the Army later paid. Really?