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I reckon the "rookies" might be first out. And I'm not thrilled that we'd see Johnny again. Maybe BMP should just give him a steady job and spare the pretense. Darrell & Rachel were a couple? When?!?

Dorkly presents 50 AT-inspired mashups.

When Drew was talking about how fast he was going to be on the course . . . flaming out in the second obstacle probably wasn't what he had in mind. Damn, the adjusted Miami course was brutal. I never thought I'd see people screw up the Spider Walk (final obstacle), but I counted at least two guys doing that. And who would've thought Drew would make like Flip and disappoint everybody so damn quickly? ETA: Crap, this was the tenth episode, not the ninth. My bad.

Judging from this trailer, I think the show is an unholy cross between Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Black Dynamite and The Venture Bros. Especially the latter, which takes its sweet time coming back from hiatus. I'm not sure how far MTM can fly, but it should be interesting to see either way.

Well . . . that was scary. Where is Superman when you need him? I know, The Quest For Peace never happened, but we need somebody to toss all our nukes into the sun, because it's easier than throwing all the potentially dangerous fuck-ups into the sun. You can flood the Kremlin with e-mails about gecko fucking? No, thank you. John can talk all the shit he wants about kingdoms, but does he really want Vlad Putin breathing down his neck?

Sandman87 . . . the beginning of the credits is where they usually stick folks we've seen already. "Bozo" is Buggy the Clown, with the Chop-Chop Fruit powers. He was in one of the first arcs, and we're not going to see him again for a long while. I think the new stuff kicks in around 1:15.

What's buried in the backyard? I'm thinking a twin that didn't make it. If Tara's life (and death) were any worse, her initials would be "FML." Or would it be "FMD"? I'm still watching . . . . and I think that I'm alarmed about how happy I get when Bill lets his bitch out. Sure, waiting in a crowded room is probably a lot like the True Death. And it sucks to be thwarted by contacts from Walgreen's. But holy shit, did he have to give the lawyer lady a tracheotomy, then stake the medic vamp? I actually shouted "DAMN!" because I'm apparently easily impressed by the brutality, just like the decapitation of the Governor last season. Jason, you are a slut. Getting your knob polished by Violet after doing it with Jessica? The boy shouldn't get his letter published by Penthouse. The boy should get Penthouse, period. How come nobody slut-shames Jason? Sam, you have to get out of Bon Temps. It is the craziness capital of the bumfuck region of Louisiana, and you being a shape-shifter is, like, one percent of one percent of the problem. And, of course, Sarah is The Cure. Of course she drank the antidote to Hep V. And, of course, there was an antidote to begin with. Fuck it, I'm just rolling with the punches at this point. How many episodes of punches do I have to anticipate, anyway? Poor Jessica. Poor Sookie. ETA: Could the Yakuza be a bigger bunch of stereotypes? I did dig Gus Junior's cowboy hat, though. Once again . . . I'm easily impressed.

Despite the bleakness of Robin and Franky's current fates, I'd say this was a nice pick-me-up. The Straw Hats, Shipbuilders and Franky Family reunite. Sniper King manages to fool only Luffy and Chopper (the two most naive crew members). And Luffy eschews conventional wisdom by looking for Robin himself, in the most-heavily secured Naval base there is. You gotta love it. As usual, Toonami isn't putting in translations for the kanji, so I'll have to guide you through the additional members of CP9. Kumadori has the "Yo-Yoi!" verbal tic, seems to be based on kabuki theater, and can't kill himself because of his use of Iron Body. Fukuro's tic is "Cha-Pa-Pa!" and he has a zipper for a mouth. Jabra is the dude with the beard and 'stache. And you should know Spandam by now, since he needs an ass-whumpin' worse than even Rob Lucci. Also, the credits have been shortened again. Here are the full credits for "Brand New World." Watch out for potential fights and spoilers. From what I remember, the closing credits features fan art. And for the sake of comparison, here's the second song/video from Sniper King, subtitled, with Luffy and Chopper's reactions.

Good News/Bad News. Good News: Sandman87 is back! Bad News: There are still problems with ImageShack. In other news: CN/[as]/Toonami swapped things around. Beware the Batman will be airing at 2:30, not 3 a.m.

I didn't see a thread for last week's episode, so I'm making this one. While Team Guy and Sakura & Lady Chiyo catch up, Kakashi uses his super special Sharingan to fuck up Smooth-Talking Explosive Clay Guy (I'm not great with names). It kinda resembles Miroku's Wind Tunnel attack, only with a different origin point. That rips off Clay's other arm, and he seems helpless as Naruto beats the shit out of him for seemingly killing Gaara. But it turns out Clay used a clay substitution jutsu (with no way to use hand signs?!?) and got away. Naruto is not happy, especially with Gaara lying with no life in his body at all. Naruto starts to boil over . . . no, he literally boils over, and a tail starts to form from him. For Kakashi, this is bad news.

Three words: Wizard. Road. Trip. Ice King and some C-listers team up to try and create a new school of magic. Mayhem ensues, water nymphs flee, and one wizard's "potsh" of last resort winds up swapping his head out with Tree Trunks' body. It's a weird yet enjoyable episode . . . then again, aren't most Adventure Time episodes in that category?

Well, I got out in one piece. Had to hang around for six hours, which really tested my patience. Up next: getting all the forms I thought I had gotten through two years ago! Sign that I'm a geek: I keep thinking in terms of Pacific Coast time in order to synch with news from Comic-Con. I just saw it referred to as "Nerdi Gras." That fits, actually. And it looks like the Mets are shipping Bartolo Colon. Reminds me of the '62 squad that traded Don Zimmer after he just broke an 0-for-thirtysomething slump, and everybody joked that they wanted something for him while he was hot.

Here's a review of Titan's Doctor Who books, both of which came out today. Also, I found out DWM 474 is the last issue to have the Eleventh Doctor starring in the comic. The next issue will feature the Vastra/Jenny/Strax troika. I don't know how long they'll be there until the Twelfth starts his run.

Is there a list of the biggest cons in the world? I used to hear that Fan Expo Canada was the third largest in North America, so I'm assuming Comic-Con International and New York Comic Con are numbers one and two, respectively. I also remember that the biggest con is actually in Europe somewhere, which is too big a trip for me. sevans623 and scarynikki12 . . . I hope that you two have fun at CCI this week. Same goes to anybody else who's going that is reading this.

Had a long day going into Queens for a magazine interview. Tomorrow, I'll have to go into the borough again for a job thing. One other kicker: I have to get there by 6:30 a.m. In the damn morning. Even with driving, it'll be a hike. Here's hoping it won't be an ordeal. ETA: Sign That I Might Suck . . . I tuned in to the Mets game just in time to see Bartolo Colon lose a perfect game after 6 2/3 innings. Then again, given what happened to Johan Santana after he pitched the first no-hitter in Mets history, a perfect game might have been hazardous to Colon's health.

I was thinking more along the lines of having Anderson Cooper paint your house. While shirtless. That would have to do something for potential Kickstarter contributors, wouldn't it? You think John McCain understands that Jon takes on all comers? Or does he intentionally ignore that? Forcing him to watch Sarah Palin for 24 hours? Damn, I dunno if he deserves that, Jon. Have a heart, man.

Team Four Star unveils second abridged "season" of Dragonball Z Kai. Worst case, it's a good way to kill time while waiting for the continuation of the Cell Saga.

I should really write the names down. Sorry . . . the hashtag was "MightyMichelle." My bad.

I'm okay with "Adonis," mostly because I've seen worse on reality TV. Now . . . watching his cousin "Weatherman" was something else. Sure, the promos spoiled the Rumbling Dice malfunction, but his recovery was remarkable. On the other hand, "MightyMelissa" blew up on the salmon ladder. That's was a pity, wasn't it? She only got one hand on the rung, and she wound up getting wet and eliminated. I guess we can't all be Kacy.

Public service announcement for a screwed-over show . . . (Beware the Batman) (here's the forum link if you're interested) . . . and if case you didn't hear about the new season . . . (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia) (by the way, typing in the show and "Riot" while image searching will get you a lot of Mac t-shirt shots)

I dunno how awesome it is that Sesame Street is now covering children with imprisoned parents. On the other hand, it is funny to see how Anderson Cooper has aged in eight years as compared to John Oliver.

We had Reporter!Eric, we had VideoStore!Eric . . . now we have Cowboy!Eric. Holy crap, seeing him vamp as a country Republican was oddly awesome. May he survive Hep V and get a spinoff with Pam. I gotta agree with whasserface, Sam's girlfriend . . . what is the deal with throwing a party for the dead? It just seems like bad manners, though I confess to being a Yank- . . . Northerner. And Bon Temps is such a screwed-up place, of course we're going to have two trysts and a stabbing. Hey, you gotta balance the heartfelt proposal somehow. Speaking of the tryst . . . I don't get how "modern" this show can be and still have the "vampires need to be invited" jazz. Good thing vampires aren't real . . . I'd be tempted to invite and rescind at breakneck speeds. And I'd try locking the door first to see what would happen. So . . . no clue as to how Bill could've contracted Hep V? Maybe a side effect to being/possessing Lilith? That's all I can come up with. ETA: Am I awful for laughing at Ginger's plight? The only parallel character I can come up with is Honey Huang from Doonesbury (re: willing slave without the sex).

This Week: Blueno "Six Powers" the shit out of Usopp and Sanji, drops some backstory on Robin, and escorts her back to CP9. Yokozuna derails Rocketman, separating the train from the bulk of the Franky Family. After a talk with Kokoro, Yokozuna joins the alliance. Franky tries to cheer up Robin, but to little avail. CP9 lands on Enies Lobby with much fanfare, and Franky has a heart attack noticing the hole in the ocean below where the Naval HQ is located Well, that's that for the Water7 arc. Next week, we get new credits and a new venue. From here on in, it's all about Enies Lobby, the hah-hap-happiest place on Earth . . . if you're an a-hole government agent. And thanks to the teaser following the episode, we find out Luffy is one pissed-off pirate, as he seeks to do what the bulk of the main cast hasn't been able to do: save Robin. Also: Sniper King meets the gang officially. Trust me . . . it is golden. And yes, his theme music comes out again. I guess I'm excited, even though I've seen the first 12-13 episodes of the ninth season. I figure that things will pick up once the quantity of ass-kicking increases.

I'm the opposite, in the sense that I don't know who I'd want to see again. In fact, I keep meaning to write to CT on my blog about retiring from the show altogether. The only person that comes up for me is Devyn because she gives great interviews, but I'd want her to host, as opposed to almost dying in final missions. And I'd like to see Arielle again, because she looks like she could last for a long while on a Challenge, but I know she's too normal for the show. ETA: I think if they go back to "Battle of the Exes," BMP should consider bringing in couples that haven't broken up yet. It would be risky, since we might get Abram back, but I reckon things would get more interesting that way.

Black Jesus extended trailer. Black Jesus official trailer. Both look interesting . . . though I'm still a little butthurt by AMc's non-involvement in S4.