The 404 podcast

Nothing makes you feel better on a Monday morning than thinking about how much smarter you are than an Alaskan governor. After lightly touching on the Katie Couric and Sarah Palin interview, not to mention once again obsessing over the gorgeous Tina Fey, we discuss a handful of stories including the untimely death of a chef, kinky iPod accessories, Krispy Kreme heart attacks, and the future of the digital retirement home.

In a last-ditch effort to alleviate his parents' disappointment, Jeff won't be on the show tomorrow. Instead, we're super excited to have Clayton Morris, rising star of Fox's weekend edition of Fox and Friends. On today's show, we make the best of Jeff's last day and speaks to a number of stories including a notable Web site, VotefortheMILF.com. If you click on that link, the site redirects you to a page featuring a video of the Alaskan governor! In all likelihood, the site probably wasn't created by McCain's people. But hey--if that's all that Palin has going for her, milk it lady! PEW PEW PEW!

Rana Sobhany of Medialets joins the show today for a riveting discussion of Sarah Palin centerfolds, Disney attack dogs, push up jocks and why women love Shia LeBeouf. Also, the death knells of Muxtape give way to a new music site, the future of IP addresses and, of course, your weekend box office. And yes, Sen. McCain apologized for missing the show yesterday, he was in a serious make-up session before the big debate. Wouldn't want to look too much like Emperor Palpatine, now would we?

Dan the Mantern here. My favorite story of the day, besides Justin's report on his first ever hockey game last night, concerns a mysterious package of hot dogs. Apparently, a package wrapped in duct tape was located outside Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Police evacuated the stadium and, even after discovering the innocuous contents of the package, decided to detonate those red hots. A mist of charred beef smell immediately shrouded the city. Really? You're gonna waste a bomb on a pack of hot dogs? Couldn't they have just called in champion hot dog eater Takeru Kobayashi, he can swallow like 20 dogs every ten seconds. Even better, they could have airlifted a local Boy Scout troop to the scene for a good ol' fashioned weenie roast.

When you start out by setting the bar low, you don't need high expectations. We kick off the show with a discussion of Pirates 2, sequel to the highest budget adult film of all time. In other news, MySpace finally enters the music biz, plastic surgeons ban unfeasibly large breasts, and Justin is an albatross.

Dan the Mantern here. Somehow today's banter turned to the topic of haggard Chinese dudes who play supporting roles in action movies. Despite their recognizable faces and remarkable performances, too often these evil henchman and characters used to advance a plot line are stripped of the accolades they so deserve. I'd like to take this opportunity to initiate a new tradition at The 404: The Supporting Actor Hall of Fame.

For the first installment, we'll remember the career of the late Victor Wong. Known for his quirky haircut and lazy eye, Wong's breakthrough role as Egg Shen in Big Trouble in Little China had us reeling. Wong went on to portray The Old Man in Eddie Murphy's The Golden Child, Fighter in Bloodsport, and Grandpa Mori Shintaro in 3 Ninjas, 3 Ninjas Kick Back, 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up, and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain. Unfortunately, we lost this timeless actor in late 2001. Rest in peace, Victor Wong, we miss ya buddy.

Jeff almost doesn't make it into the show today due to this 24 flu bug, but I think his daily dose of Vitamin Backayutang was enough to pull him out of the trenches. After a false start, Wilson gives us a a lengthy review of yesterday's Google Android debut, and I'll let you in on a secret: he's disappointed. I don't think any of us will be trading in our iPhones for this little guy, especially not for something that looks like the T-Mobile Sidekick 1.0.

This is the show where we're finally on time. In case you didn't grasp that subtle sarcasm, we actually start the show a half an hour late only to be interrupted halfway through the show by Jeff messing up the recording...so we start again! This time around, it's better than ever; we've got Wilson' initial review of the T-Mobile G1 with the Google Android OS, Prank VoIP calls, Dark Knight DVD details, and a tasty new Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor. Also, we uncover another huge helping of East Cost/West Coast beef! YUM!

The 404 is proud to present our official podcast from the Tiburon Launch party. The event was held at the elegant 450 Club complete with hors d'oeuvres (vodka spritzer, anyone?), desserts, and of course, an open bar. After sitting down with a host of people and later sifting through a mountain of cuss words, deviant behavior, and otherwise inappropriate material, it's easy to see that people had a blast. The new CNET.com looks fantastic and we all worked hard to see it come to life, so a big thanks to everyone that came out, especially Jim Loughran … Read more

Wilson Tang thought it'd be a better idea to cover the new Google Android phone today, and we can't disagree. So that just leaves myself and a one Justin Yu to fend for ourselves on today's 404.

Today we'll talk about why it's a bad idea for record companies to release albums on thumbdrives, a U.K. family that lives in a pig sty, and how an Xbox Live Survey seems to be an accurate sampling of how the gaming demographic will vote this November.

Also, Justin updates us on his Justin PSYu Foundation campaign, enlightening us with the difficulty he's having in completing God of War--a game my 11-year-old female cousin has finished three times.

All this plus a HUGE calls-from-the-public session on a very personal and intimate 404.

Our No. 404 fanboy Dee Wren takes time out of his busy filming schedule to bring some positivity to our Monday morning. After revealing some news about the upcoming Google Android release tomorrow, we talk about the weekend box office, touch on Facebook porn, and make an overall attempt to shade ourselves from Jeff's rays of hate (unsuccessfully). Happy Monday!

To make up for all the lives we've ruined with The 404, we invite our buddy Dee Wren into the studio to pimp his philanthropic project, From Us With Love. It's a nonprofit organization that supplies aid to children in South Africa and Dee is helping to shoot a documentary on their efforts to send a group of them to Australia for the Homeless World Cup. We'd love for you to contribute as much time, money, and resources as you can to their foundation. The best part of this endeavor is that For Us With Love is already corporate-sponsored, so the full 100 percent of your contribution will go directly into the project, no filters. It's a very noble cause, please check out the Web site and do what you can to help!

Poor, poor Jeff. He attended last night's PEPCOM event, a showcase of this holiday season's tech goodies, and left without snagging a free Jawbone headset. Not to rub it in, but I, Dan the Mantern, will be testing mine out this evening. It was a slow news week for The 404, but today's show gets a pick-me-up from B-Sox and Morning Moose, rock jocks for Lazer 103.3 FM in Des Moines, Iowa.

B-Sox and Moose, we love you guys, you're multitalented and witty, but you blew whatever shreds of decency were left at the 404. We know it felt great to be free from all those censorship rules and regulations on a "licensed" broadcast station (they can't even say "goddamn") but, come on, think of the children. All jokes aside, it was a hilarious show, the guys "went there," and we all had a good laugh. Have a great weekend. See you on Monday, if we're not canceled...

We finally get our hands on the much coveted Bonch aka Bonnie Cha, Senior Editor for CNET.com. No, we don't grill her on the latest cell phones at CTIA or the proper way to make a Superman cape. Instead, we try to guess Sarah Palin's e-mail password, run through a list of Jeff's mancrushes, do the Cha Cha on the air, and take a visit to the Sex Museum, aka Wilson's cellar.

Wow, did someone open up a tank of nitrous oxide in here? Today's show is literally 40 minutes of constant laughter, and we owe that to our special guest, Bonnie Cha! She's a Senior Editor of mobile phones at CNET and one of the first people I ever met at the San Francisco office. Please don't be operating heavy machinery while listening to today's show! We do taint, tarnish, and otherwise frack up Bonnie's "innocence" by explaining the science behind "Supermanning that ho," which goes over surprisingly well with her. We also debut a service called Cha Cha that allows you to text or call a 24/7 concierge service that will literally answer any inquiry, such as "Is the 404 going to be taken off the air tomorrow?" or "Why is Bonnie's nickname The Bonch?" Of course, all of these questions can be answered using another service; here in 2008 we call it Google. Furthermore,why would I use the Cha Cha when I know Wilson will always be within arm's length of a computer? The man is physically tethered to the Internet. Finally, we take a look at the NBC fall lineup and Bonnie asks the question that's on all of our minds: Jeff, how can you like Sex and the City and still urinate standing up?