Over the long weekend, some of the CiN Staff decided to run for their turkey. Shana "See Ya Later" Seifert, Jamie "Dominator" Dickey, Lauren "Quick as Crap" Quill and Julie "Hot Ass" Hengehold kicked some serious turkey butt on Thursday.

We all finished in one piece and vow to do the same next year.

All of our times are posted on thanksgivingdayrace.com if any skeptics are out there. And, you know who you are...

Tabari is upset.

He preordered his Xbox 360 ages ago, and now, due to smaller-than-expected shipments, it looks like he will not be getting it today. He doesn't know when the next shipment will arrive.

I get why it would be annoying to pay money for something, expect to receive it on a certain day, and then have the retailer tell you that not only will you not be getting what you ordered on the given day, but they don't really know when you can expect to pick it up. Yeah - that sucks.

I don't get the nationwide fervor to acquire a 360 the day it comes out.

I've been to midnight screenings of movies and Harry Potter bookstore parties - mostly for the festive atmosphere. I've bought DVDs the day they come out - often to show my support of similar DVDs being made (see Daria, Ned & Stacey).

But this system costs $400 and there are like 12 games, almost all of which are available for the regular Xbox. It's not as though in six weeks they'll stop selling them. It's certainly not necessary to pump up sales figures in support of Microsoft.

Why do you have to have one today?

Midnight tonight, kids. Goblet of Fire. Are you amped? Kelly and Mike are. (Rob was just impressed with the texture of the iron-on.) The rest of you fools might as well just put your costumes away - I think we know who's going to be the best-dressed at the Levee tonight. Ow!

In case you haven't been to the best gossip blog ever, head to popsugar.com immediately. And today's a great day to read it, since I get a shout out. Sure, it's small and hidden in lots of text about Nick Lachey - but there it is: "Thanks to Kari for the local scoop." Yeah, that's me. I'm helping out my gossipy friend out in California.

The story, all about Nick Lachey's birthday dinner at Montgomery Inn, originally came from the Enquirer. Read it here.

Bengals will continue pat-downs Sunday: A day after being warned by Hamilton County Commissioners to stop pat-downs or face legal repercussions, the Cincinnati Bengals announced today they will continue to conduct the searches.

The team will continue to adhere to the National Football League policy that requires teams to conduct pat-downs of fans -- from the waist up -- in hopes of preventing potential terrorist attacks at crowded and high-profile professional sports stadiums.

Commissioners had hand-delivered Wednesday a letter to the team suggesting the pat-downs should be stopped -- unless the team tells the government what reason it has to conduct the search of people suspected of no wrong-doing.

CiN's take: When will the county learn that the NFL plays by its own rules. And when you buy a ticket, you play by their rules, too.

Has everyone heard Madonna's new album Confessions on a Dance Floor? Love it? Hate it?














I still need to get a copy, but I've heard most of it and love it, mostly. It's hard for me to not love Madonna, even when she's totally ridiculous (as she often is these days).

For a little break at the office, watch her video for "Hung Up"!

AND watch her perform live in London!

As I mentioned in my column this week, I'm going to try something different with my turkey this year. Yes, I'm going to soak it in a bucket of flavor-packed brine! Remember osmosis from high school biology? Well, soaking the turkey in brine seasons the bird on a cellular level - at least that's what Food Network goofball Alton Brown (above) says. Here is the recipe. Feel free to add your unconventional turkey tips.

Jump drops 4 a.m. request: Owners of the proposed Jump 05 nightclub and restaurant have withdrawn their request to have Covington's only 4 a.m. liquor license, at least for a year or two.

"I think we would want them to at least be open a year or two with a 2:30 (a.m. license) before we even considered it," said Mayor Butch Callery. "I think that would be a good criteria: If you don't have any police calls or any problems, that might be someplace you might consider (for a 4 a.m. permit)."

"Queen City recognizes that it's a difficult issue for the city to deal with," said project spokesman Marc Wilson. "We're going to proceed as we always had planned to do, with building a first-class, fine-dining facility and a nightclub at the Jump location."

Wilson said the establishment should open in late December or early January at 113 E. Fourth St., in the former Monarch Tool and Manufacturing Co. building, with valet parking planned.

CiN's take: We have a tough enough time staying up until 2:30. And we're very glad this one club won't devastate the Cincinnati bar scene.

Nothing, you say? Sitting around and watching ER?

Man, set your VCR and head down to McFadden's for the CiN Weekly Fall Bash. We're giving away a car and a ski trip - lucky! (About the only times I wish I didn't work here is when we give away something really boss, but I'm ineligible to win it.) Plus, there will be all this stuff - it's called alcohol, I think? It's pretty cool - you put it in your mouth, and everything gets kind of warm and happy.

Here's the info. Hope to see you there!

His album is called Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs. That's weird enough. But he takes the whole singer-songwriter thing to a new level with extras like whistles and the violin.

I'm obsessed. Check it out:

Go to his Web site and download a song.
Or, stream the whole album from his label's site.

Then, see him live at Southgate House on Saturday, Nov. 19.!

Interesting idea: What if you wanted somebody to be able to contact you in 20 years via email?

Probably can't use your work address. Will your internet provider be around? (AOL? Who knows. Personally, I'm on my fourth home provider in the last eight years. Of course, I moved across state lines, which probably doesn't help. Then DSL came along and got me to switch again.)

Forbes.com is building an e-mail time capsule:

Most time capsules involve cramming stuff into a metal box and burying it in a hole in the ground. It's a method that works -- but it's so primitive. What if you could write an email to yourself, and be assured of receiving it twenty years in the future?

kyblogger has some of the same thoughts.

Is CiN Weekly a magazine with a Web site, or a Web site with a magazine?

Don't answer that. It's a trick question.

The answer depends on how you interact with us. Maybe for you we're just a magazine. Or maybe we're both - you pick us up at Kroger some weeks, but read us online when you forget to throw us into your cart.

Where am I going with all this?

Without too much fanfare, CiN Weekly reached a milestone at the end of October - we turned two. If I were to pick one major headline from our sophomore year (other than that unfortunate "staff question of the week" about post-vomiting rituals) I'd say it was our growth as an online source of information for all things CiN.

In the past year, CiNWeekly.Com has added a bar guide, more photo galleries, music downloads, blogging capabilities and expanded its events calendar - just to name a few things. Our audience has responded enthusiastically; in most weeks, we are at least 150 percent above last year for visits and page views. Some weeks - like when Nick Lachey shows up in our CiNscene photo gallery - we've been as high as 250 percent over the prior year.

Does this mean online is the medium of choice? Hard to say, but one thing is clear: You, the consumer, are in total control right now. You have more choices than ever before, and you can access all kinds of information whenever and however you want it.

So back to my question. Actually, let me change it just a bit. How do you read CiN Weekly? Even better, how do you want to access the information CiN Weekly provides?

Let the discussion begin.

Another thing that came up during our '80s movie obsession week here at the CiN office: I remembered a movie called The Peanut-Butter Solution. I was probably about 7 or 8 when I saw it.

The story is that some kid goes into a haunted house on a dare, and whatever he sees in there causes all his hair to fall out. So there's this bit with a wig, and then he finds out he can make a potion to grow his hair back. But he puts in too much peanut butter (which is the hair-growing-formula's version of "a sprinkling of pixie dust"), and his hair starts growing like crazy. So some evil artists kidnap him and harvest his neverending supply of hair to make paintbrushes, which allow them to make magical paintings. Since the only adults who appear in this movie are evil, it's up to the kid's friends to rescue him.

What I realized about that movie this week is that it was (as far as I can remember) the very first movie I didn't like. This is significant, because at the time, I didn't realize that movies were something that one could dislike. I just assumed that all movies were good, because otherwise, why would they have been made?

So I remember seeing this movie and having a negative reaction to it, but not knowing that reaction meant "I didn't like the movie," because that concept wasn't in my vocabulary. My train of thought was probably more like, "That movie was a different kind of good."

Odd.

Thanks to an upcoming staff question, there's been a lot of talk around the office lately about '80s movies.

Rob and I were talking yesterday about how life should be more like Back to the Future II, and then I found out that today is the first day you can pay for your groceries using your fingerprint.

Which is a start, I guess, but I'm still waiting for HoverBoards.

You know how it goes: another week, another dollar. And if you're reading this, you know what else that means: another edition of Thoughts for the Thoughtful.

BUSTED, PT. I - For anyone who stills wants to give FEMA the benefit of the doubt on the way the organization handled Hurricane Katrina, just read this headline. I'm not trying to get into a debate here, but if that's what he actually said, I rest my case!

ISN'T THIS LIKE EMERIL WRITING A COOKBOOK? - I'm not hating on her author aspirations, but seriously, is this news to anyone? But I suspect she's probably very well versed in the subject matter's she writing about (Oprah's book club, anyone?)

TIME TO FOLD'EM? - I, like many people who have gotten caught up in the craze, enjoy Texas Hold'Em. But thanks to Alex Rodridguez and his alleged actions, it looks like a lot of people won't be living out their Rounders fantasies too much longer!

PLEASE, GOD, NO! - I hate to be the one to inform you of this if you haven't heard about it already, but here it goes: Kevin Federline, a.k.a. Mr. Britney Spears a.k.a. "K-Fed" is rapping. I hope the good Lord Almighty stops this before it spreads - this is going to be even worse than Kobe Bryant's album. No, make that Chris Webber's album. No, make that even worse than Allen Iverson's album. Wait, worse than Randy Savage's album. Yeah, it's THAT bad - and if you want to know why, go to this link to find out why!

Federline - I'm calling you out. Doug Mellow will battle you anytime, anywhere for $1 million (you can keep Britney, though).

I CAN'T REPEAT THAT ------- TITLE HERE! - In better hip-hop news, hip-hop's original non-Latin/African American superstars the Beastie Boys have a new film coming out soon. Given the concept, it should be pretty cool even if you can't leave the movie laying around if you young eyes in your house who can read the title! (And yes, to be safe, I'm warning you their might be what some consider explicit language in this link).

THE BEST FAN SIGN EV-ER! - You know wanna know something? I don't really have an opinion of venerable sports writer and HBO "Inside Sports with Bryant Gumbel" mainstay Frank DeFord at all, other than the fact that man should never sit with his legs crossed when talking to the aforementioned show host because of those socks (or should I say "male hosiery") he loves to wear. But fashion issues aside, this column kind of lays out the whole Fisher DeBerry (and if you don't know who he is, you really need to click this link) debacle very well, whether a lot of us would like to admit it or not.

But no matter what you think of the commentary, you've gotta admit the fan sign shown in the story is priceless!

BUSTED, PART II – While I'm willing to cut the Air Force coach some slack,
I am not willing to let this stupidity slide. While I blame a lot of today's hip-hop "artists" (and I use that term loosely with the majority of those I'm talking about), I can't imagine what that one student they asked for his opinion felt like. It's nice to know that in 2005, African-Americans are still thought of for only being good for sports and entertainment. (Don't you dare take that sentence out of the sarcastic context it was intended to have.)

LINKS OF THE WEEK

Given my link-laden blogging nature, it should come as no surprise I have even more links ready for you to spend your spare time roaming the Internet at. (And if my editors are reading this, I know that sentence should not end like that!)

In any case, first up is the picture-filled blog spot of a wonderful young actress/athlete/comedianne/good friend of mine, Kristin Russo. (Hey guys, I think she may be single, but she probably won't be for long!)

Next up is a guy by the name of Fatlp, who used to belong to one of the '90s' best hip-hop groups The Pharcyde. ("Passing Me By" is and shall forever be a hip-hop classic!) Just like the growing number of people who have a page at MySpace.com - look for mine soon - Fatlip has already jumped on board and got himself one, too. Of course, if you'd rather visit his official Web site, and by official I mean the one his label set up, just click here.

Finally, while I don't consider myself the type of person that fits into the sci-fi/electronics nerd stereotype, I'd be lying if I wasn't looking forward to Nov. 22. And if you don't know why, that's because that's the date Christmas - or in this case, should I say "X-mas" - comes early to video gamers nationwide. I've already got my reserve half-paid off!

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