prayer

If you tuned in to watch the first part -- day one -- of Whitney Houston's interview with Oprah Winfrey yesterday, you weren't alone. The overnight ratings were gangbusters for The Oprah Winfrey Show, the best premiere in three years, which is just what Oprah had in mind when her producers booked Whitney on her comeback trail.

And Whitney benefited, too. Her new CD debuted at number one on the Billboard chart, a fact confirmed at the end of the second half that was broadcast today. So Whitney won and Oprah won and Clive Davis was happy and smiling, probably because he had orchestrated the whole thing behind the scenes.

One of the state legislators of Hawaii invited Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, AKA Mr. Eko on Lost, to deliver the morning prayer to the legislature. The state senator invited Adewale after seeing the episode of Lost that shows how Eko was a Nigerian drug lord who took on the persona of a Catholic priest. The morning prayer of the Hawaiian legislature is the 23rd Psalm, which just happened to be the title of Eko's episode.

Adewale himself is not Christian. He's Buddhist. But he delivered the prayer anyway, saying that his mission on earth is to promote harmony and understanding. The Associated Press quotes Adewale as saying that delivering the prayer was "the pinnacle" of his career.