As the comments roll in, they reflect the same thing I’ve felt as I’ve watched Smash Lab: for whatever reason, Deanne Bell is not the next Kari Byron, and Smash Lab is not the next Mythbusters.
But… why?
On paper, Smash Lab looks like a slam-dunk. But in reality, compared to Mythbusters, it seems… well, “dumb”. Sure, Adam and Jamie (and Grant and Kari and Tory) do silly things, but there seems to be an air of, “Yeah, it’s silly, but it’ll be cool!” In Smash Lab, silly stuff seems to be done in the name of scientific investigation.
Example: Last night I caught the “magnetic fire escape” episode, where their two choices were “freefall to a dead stop at the bottom” or “creep your way down slowly”. (The concept of “use increasingly strong magnets to decelerate a freefall” never appeared.) So, to “test” this, they used a 30-degree ramp… and freefall-dude ended up crashing off the bottom. On Mythbusters, I could see Adam doing the same thing… but it would be in the context of, “Hey, this looks like fun! I want to try it!” Not “I’m riding a glorified skateboard to gather valid data”.
Anyway, back to the Deanne vs. Kari question. With all due respect, Deanne (who, I’m sure, is very bright) comes across as a ditz. Kari doesn’t. Why?
They’re both cute. Is it just because Deanne is “girl next door who’ll grow up to be June Cleaver” cute and Kari is “girl next door who’s riding a tractor” cute? Is it really just the difference in their voices? Are we guys blinded by Kari’s red hair and can’t see Deanne’s hidden Kari qualities? The mystery continues…
A few days ago I caught a promo for what I thought was a brand new show on the Discovery Channel: “Smash Lab”, which sounds like MythBusters without the pesky myths and non-explosive experiements that get in the way of the action.
And in the frenetic video that flashed by on the screen, I spotted a woman.
She’s Deanne Bell and, as an attractive not-quite-30-year-old, she’s hitting the exact same demographic that Kari did when she appeared on the scene.
The Smash Lab site says “new episodes” are coming, which implies that there were old episodes. It seems Deanne was (is?) on PBS in “Design Squad”… but I haven’t heard of that one, either.
Has anyone else heard of this person? Credentials seem impressive enough, as TV show hosts go. I’m looking forward to catching my first Smash Lab episode in a couple weeks…
Thanks to att.ention.net reader “RORY”, we have the official word (though I’ve yet to find it myself on the Charleston County site, but it looks official and the news is no surprise) that Richard C. Davis and Kim Davis are divorced:
Charleston County Court Records
Year: 2007 Type: DR Location: 10 Number: 004494
Plaintiff: DAVIS, RICHARD C. Defendant: DAVIS, KIMBERLY S.
Filing Code: DISSOLUSION OF MARRIAGE Disposition Code: FC DISPOSED OF BY TRIAL OR HEA
Filing Date: 11/29/2007 Disposition Date: 12/21/2007
Judge Code: JACK A LANDIS Disposition Type: 6
Event Desc: FINAL HEARING MIE File Number: n/a
Event Date: 12/21/2007 Date to MIE: n/a
Event Time: 0900 Date from MIE: n/a
They used to be there! Really! In fact, another site has a screen-shot of Ginger Alexander’s old MySpace page, but it’s gone now, and so is the one for Richard C. Davis. What’s up with that? Are there any more Trademark Properties MySpace pages out there, or did the whole group disappear from the MySpace world?
If you have an answer (or an idea), comment here and share it.
Okay, maybe it’s just one commenter trying to start a rumor… but why do people think that Ginger Alexander (of Tradmark Properties and ‘The Real Estate Pros’ fame) is pregnant?
There’s not much out there on the ‘net about it — and usually there’s a buzz about this kind of thing. And I don’t see a spike in search engine traffic on the topic. Where’s the rumor coming from?
Just caught tonight’s Mythbusters, where the insurance company wouldn’t let Adam Savage do a stunt because the risk was too high… so Tory did it instead.
Wait a minute. Isn’t Tory worth something, too? If so, how much? Think he holds some unique qualifications (e.g. he actually has a special “stunt man license” from some other line of work)… or is it just that he’s paid less and thus insured for less money? How’s that gotta make a guy feel?
I can’t believe I missed this one. For those of you looking for Kari Byron pictures (and there are a lot of you)… not to be outdone by Ginger Alexander, Kari now has a MySpace page (www.myspace.com/karibyron) with tons of candid shots in the “Photos” area. (Well, “tons” is a relative term… but candid photos of Kari are hard to find, so a dozen is quite a few!)
If you’re not familiar with MySpace layouts… look on the left-hand side, near the top of the page, where there’s a box that has Kari’s photo in it. Scroll down to the bottom of that box and you’ll see a “Pics” link. Click it, log into MySpace if you haven’t already — yes, you need an account, but it’s worth it! — and you’ll see a dozen fascinating photos.
Wondering what Kari looked like in 1980? It’s there! Ever wondering if you’d see a photo of Kari in a skirt? It’s there!
I’m not sure why the Trademark Properties gang has banned embedding of such a neat video, but that shouldn’t stop you from clicking the link and watching it.
In a nutshell, this is a Richard Davis promotion encouraging folks around the country to create local Trademark Properties affiliates. An interesting concept!
It’s pure Richard. But if you want “pure Ginger”, fast-forward to about 3:20 in the video (toward the very, very end) and you’ll get a candid shot of her being very… Ginger-like.
To view, just click the background of the video (not the play button). If you do click the play button, you’ll get a message about embedding (unless Team Trademark changes its mind; we can hope!), but click it again and it will open right up for you in a YouTube window.
The hot topic of late (well, actually, for a long time) is whether Richard Davis (of Trademark Properties and The Real Estate Pros on TLC) is still married, and one of the pieces of evidence that he’s not is the fact that his MySpace page lists him as “single”.
However… I just helped a friend set up a MySpace page, and the default status comes up as “single”. So, I thought, maybe Richard just never “flipped the switch” on the Single/Married setting over to Married?
But… his profile also says “Proud Parent”, and that little radio button is on the very same screen as marital status, so we’re back to thinking that the fact his MySpace page says “single” really can’t be an oversight.
Richard: Just come out and tell us where you and Kim stand, okay? If you are divorced, our condolences; after 18+ years, that’s gotta be hard. Hang in there.
