Like everyone else in the media universe, I was unfairly harsh to Katie Couric and the new CBS Evening News. At first, I said it was OK (based on a whopping one episode), and then after two weeks I gave the show a thumbs down. But I've been thinking about something lately.

What's the rush?

I'm not even sure when this happened, so it's probably not "breaking news." We told you a while back about Alton Brown's new TV show on Food Network, Feasting On Asphalt, where he will travel around the country on a motorcycle and sample various foods. Now comes word that Brown might have taken the title a little too literally, as he was involved in a rather serious motorcycle accident. He hit a ditch near Las Vegas, got thrown off the bike, and broke his collarbone.

Info about the accident here in a piece Brown wrote for the New York Times, and there's a pic at Brown's web site.

I've been wanting to get on The Price Is Right for years. OK, not enough to schedule vacations around the taping of the show or fly out to L.A. just to be in the audience, but I've wanted to go on the show since I was a little kid, watching the show with my mom. I think I could do really well. Unless they do that game where you have to pick a certain number of grocery items and come between $20 and $21. Ugh. I never do well at that game.

But if you want to go out and try your luck in L.A., read this NY Times piece. It gives the lowdown on what to do, what not to do, and profiles people who wait in line as early as 3am for one of the 325 spots in the audience.

It also says that many of the contestants stay at the Farmer's Daughter Hotel across the street. There are so many jokes there that I'm not sure which one to say first.

The New York Times Magazine has a regular feature called Domains, where they take a look at a famous person's home and ask them a series of questions. This week: Alias/Lost creator and Mission: Impossible 3 director J. J. Abrams.

Abrams explains why Rod Serling is his personal hero (mine too), what he keeps in his refrigerator at all times, hobbies he does with his kids, his obsession with boxes and Macs, his writing routine, what talent he wishes he had, even his favorite sandwich (turkey, cranberry sauce ...and cole slaw?!) Lots of interesting stuff in here.