LA FLORIDIANA "A Tale of Two Cities: St. Petersburg and Tampa - - A Bay Separating A Gulf of Differences" by Will Moriaty

THIS WEEK'S MOVIE REVIEW "Seabiscuit" by Mike Smith

COUCH POTATO CONFESSIONS "Spidey Powers for the MTV generation" and "Mr. Monk meets Crazed Fanboy" by Vinnie B.

CREATURE'S CORNER How rests the Dungeonmaster?  by John Lewis

SPLASH PAGE Vacation musings, baseball, and television  by Brandon Jones

ASHLEY'S HOLLYWOOD Johnny Depp....28 Days Later....Britney Spears  by Ashley Lauren

MIKE'S RANT What is an Icon?....Ed-Dee! Ed-Dee!....Legion....Who's Watching The Kids?....I Buried The Lead....Thanks for the Memories....Passing On by Mike Smith

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The adventures of a boy and his personal video recorder.

Spidey Powers for the MTV generation
Who would of thunk it? First we have Stan Lee allegedly getting lap dances at the Tanga Lounge, and now we have a new Spider-Man animated series on MTV(Fridays 10:00pm).

I missed the first couple of episodes but the ones I have seen since have been good. The animation, which is supposed to be CGI, is excellent for television. However I think it is some CGI and some cel animation mixed together. I searched for more info on the web, but the MTV site is really lacking in information.

Other than a tranced up theme song courtesy of John Digweed, the series so far has stayed true to the Spiderman story. The series focuses on Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborne. In what is the strangest voice casting I have seen in quite a while, the series features Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser) as Peter Parker and singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb as M.J.

MTV has finally done something right with this animated series. Although there are modern references such as mp3's and cell phones, the series so far has stayed away from going overboard into the MTV TRL ideology. When Brittany Spears shows up is when I will stop watching.

Mr. Monk meets Crazed Fanboy
One of my favorite new shows of last year was "Monk"(USA network Fridays 10:00p), the series about a detective with compulsive/obsession disorder. However with new episodes that started airing last month, this series is quickly becoming just another Columbo. Other than Mr. Monk writing his name on a classroom blackboard in the series premiere in homage to "The Blackboard Jungle", the compulsive/obsessive jokes are getting stale and predictable. Monk as a little league umpire having to clean home plate just wasn't funny.

Subplots hinted at earlier in the series, such as the unsolved death of his wife, have never been developed, and they have done little to expand the character of his sidekick Sharona.

Even though the series has excellent writing and the acting of Tony Shalhoub and Bitty Schram as Sharona are top notch, without some depth and subplot development, this series has quickly turned into a one trick pony.

Coming up Next Week: "The Return of Bruce Banner".