What is the deal with vampires? That seems to be the question on everyone's lips this season. Not just us commoners either - last week George Stromboulopolos asked Shawn Ashmore for his opinion (who is apparently qualified to answer based on his appearance in the 'X-Men' movies) - and Shawn had no reply. When such great minds as these are flummoxed, who am I to tackle the subject? And yet, here we are.

I think we all know that vampires in pop culture are metaphorical, but we're not really sure what they're standing in for. With zombies, George Romero pretty much decided it for us. In fact, the idea that zombies stand for consumerism is so entrenched that one of the few moments of purposeful comedy in 'New Moon' has Bella's friend dismissing the latest horror flick for being so predictable.

And now, an item from our 'Duh! It's kinda obvious' department . . .

A new, long-term study conducted by the University of Otago in New Zealand says that watching more than two hours of television early in life can lead to attention problems later in adolescence. Symptoms of the attention problems included short attention span, poor concentration and being easily distracted. Um, sorry, what was I saying? Oh look, a pretty flower!

Are you a teenager? Do you like choosing things? Okay, good, because Teen Choice 2007 airs on FOX August 26 at 8:00 p.m., and we need to make sure you're at home that evening to see what series, celebrities and movies your contemporaries have chosen.

Teens have been choosing things for years. I myself have chosen my own adventure, Chosen or Losened (I'll check the dictionary to see if that's a real word later), and I've spoken to choosy moms who choose Jif. I've also had choice cuts of meat, and chosen Pikachu on numerous occasions.

Nominees and hosts for Teen Choice 2007 will be announced soon, but that's not important. What's important is that all you hula-hoopin', Charleston-dancin', domino-playin' teens out there start using your God-given right to choose. Or, more importantly, let your peers decide for you what's cool. Otherwise, you'll show up at your next ice cream social without a poodle skirt and then you'll look really stupid.

Former Prison Break actor Lane Garrison's SUV struck a tree on Saturday night in Beverly Hills killing one of its passengers and injuring the others. Inside the SUV were two 15 year-old girls, one 17 year-old boy and Garrison, who played David "Tweener" Apolskis on the hit Fox series. (His character was killed off earlier this season.)

The teenage boy on board was taken to Cedars-Sinai following the accident, where he died. One of the girls was critically injured. Garrison sustained minor injuries. There's no word on whether alcohol was involved, who was driving or why a 26 year-old actor had a bunch of teenagers in his SUV in the middle of the night.

This isn't Lane's first SUV accident this year. In October, Garrison was caught by paparazzi outside of LA's Hyde nightclub after a far less tragic accident in which he crashed his Land Rover into a parked car.

In March I mentioned that reruns of Dawson's Creek were coming to The N in September. That's apparently no longer true, and instead the series will be coming back in August, beginning with a twelve-episode marathon (the entire first season) that will air on August 14 from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. EST. The remaining five season will air every Tuesday following the marathon at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Dawson's Creek will be part of a summer lineup that includes original programming like Summerland, The Whistler, and Beyond the Break. I didn't watch much Dawson's Creek, but heck, a least we'll be able to see Katie Holmes back when she was, you know, still acting.

Writer Sam Anderson, by his own admission, "hates teenagers with an incredible fervor...it's nothing personal...I hate them categorically, like I hate injustice." Which is why he was so engrossed by Brat Camp, which ended last night. He enjoyed watching the show, since it had "sadistic pleasures" and he couldn't stop watching, even if it was "awful to the very end: slow, repetitive, full of paint-by-numbers pop-psychology and manufactured epiphanies." In other words, Anderson has an opinion about the show and its participants.

You can read the whole essay here at Slate.