Bobby Brown, we love you, but this week marked the debut of the new "America's Next Top Model" cycle, and we must lead with that. Tyra and the J-Boys (Miss J. and Jay) put the aspiring models through a charm school of sorts, in which they wore uniforms and took class photos. Kimberly, a bank teller from Worcester, was cute in a clean-cut, ditzy cheerleader way. She made it to the next round, and Bostonist......

In a city packed with top colleges and brilliant thinkers, the word "nerd" is bound to strike a nerve. "Nerd" and "Geek" are commonly considered insults, but many Bostonians have shrugged off the label and are either enjoying success or are on their way to success in scholarly pursuits. So-called nerds live here in a fairly safe haven. But sometimes, nerd contempt bubbles up. Witness the anger against MIT student Star Simpson, who walked into......

Apologies for the lateness of this one. --New skinny font at T stops. And someone who works for the MBTA didn't look up the street names before sending the sign text to the printer. Gah! [b0st0n LiveJournal--with pictures] --The South End Is Over chimes in on the Globe's recent piece on gentrification and sends a crystal-clear message to anyone who bitches about the homeless in the South End: "As I have mentioned on this blog......

Once upon a time, there was a skinny young man who lacked muscle tone yet who had big NFL dreams. Yet he was pale and pasty, more of a candidate for water boy than for poster boy. If he hit the combine a few years later, he might have been funneled over to a casting call for "Beauty and the Geek" instead. However, someone at the 2000 Scouting Combine saw an ambitious glimmer in his......

Now that David, the Somerville LARPer, took the grand prize in Beauty and the Geek, we are focusing our attentions on Denise, the martial-arts aficionado with the heroic hair. Denise has hung on throughout several rough rounds of Survivor:China. This week, Denise caught a break since the reward challenge involved the presence of family members. The producers saved Denise's husband for last--for good reason. He is a big, burly dude who looks like he would......

Big Brother Casting Call Saturday, December 8, 12:00pm - 3:00pm Felt, 3rd and 4th floors, 533 Washington St., Boston (T: Downtown Crossing) Big Brother casting site The only people happy with the Writers' Strike right now is reality television fans and those who want to be on reality television. The latter will rejoice because CBS is launching another cycle of Big Brother, and auditions will be held at Felt. The release states that casting directors......

--The banner brawl continues. The Highway Department decided that the banners declaring support for the troops that hang over the roadways pose a potential road hazard. That decision poses a potential PR nightmare, and Governor Deval Patrick has put it on hold. [Boston Globe] --Corinne Stephen, 26, was sentenced to 8 to 12 years for the involuntary manslaughter of her foster child, 4-year-old Dontel Jeffers. [DA's Office, background] --A longshoreman fessed up to putting......

The live thread will keep moving below the jump with the latest post on top. 8:57--The winners are ... David and Jasmine! Yay, Somerville! Your geeks are the best! And check out Datedavid.org, 'cause he's got cash now. 8:55--And the winners are ... Okay, the CW sucks. They cut to commercial right when they were leading up to it. It's worth mentioning that the finale was pre-taped, but it would be wonderful it it were......

Update: Joan just gave us a heads-up in the comments section that Jen, David, and Nicole will be at Felt tonight to watch the finale. Beauty & the Geek will end tonight with a decision between two teams, each with a Massachusetts resident. Will the golden-voiced Nicole and her meatheaded Beauty Sam win? Or will LARPer David, who already has a dating site and a big local fan base, and the squeaky-voiced Jasmine triumph?......

--Ah, Beauty & the Geek, how do we love thee? This week, the show threw a twist into the proceedings and allowed the nation to vote for either Somerville LARPer Dave & Jasmine or Tufts grad student Nicole & Sam. How could Bostonist possibly decide between the two locals? As an added bonus, the show sent each of the finalists back to their hometowns so they could show their respective friends how much they've changed.......

Beauty and the Geek: For the next-to-last episode, the teams traveled to wine country for an "I Love Lucy" challenge. They had to pick grapes, stomp them, and bottle grape juice--while tied to each other. Despite the disturbing sight of Big Dave and Little Jasmine hunkered over each other while stomping grapes, the pair won the challenge, prepared three bottles of grape juice laced with Eau de Foot, and guaranteed themselves a spot in the......

Beauty and the Geek: This week, the geeks pick up flair bartending skills, while the beauties attempt to learn zoology, which is a thinly veiled ruse to give the beauties a chance to scream at animals. Yet again, Sam, the male beauty and Tufts Nicole's partner, dominated the competition, and Jasmine, David the Somerville LARPer's partner, freaked out at holding the icky animals. To make Jasmine feel better after bungling the beauty challenge, David made......

A kind tipster sent along an e-mail announcing a special website devoted to David, the Somerville LARPer who is currently competing on "Beauty and the Geek." Some of David's college friends have decided to give their friend a boost and find him a date. They have built the site in his honor, and they list all kinds of reasons why a woman want to meet him in person. If you are interested in a geek......

Beauty and the Geek: Somerville LARPer Dave surprised everyone this week by revealing his inner dancer on the show's trip to Mexico. Fueled by a lump of salt and some booze from a botched tequila shot, he did a round-off back handspring. His partner, Jasmine, was so impressed that she gave him a kiss. The look on Dave's face was priceless. Getting that kind of attention from a woman, no matter how platonic, made it......

The Bachelor Casting Call Saturday, November 10, and Sunday, November 11, 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm on Nov. 10 and 3:00 to 6:00 pm on Nov. 11 Felt, 533 Washington St., Boston More Info It's the season for the new reality-television cycle, and with writers on strike, expect even more casting calls in the future. We just visited the "Beauty & the Geek" and "The Next Food Network Star" casting calls, and now ABC is......

We've talked plenty about wind turbines. Now local legislators seem to be setting even more green goals. Legislators have proposed setting mandates to increase the blending of biofuels with heating oil. The Globe also reports that the legislature isn't stopping with biofuel: "The bill filed yesterday also would exempt from the state's 23-cent gasoline tax any gasoline that contains ethanol produced from plant products other than corn. The exemption would give gasoline dealers a financial......

Bostonist always knew that The Hub offered prime casting choices for the CW's Beauty & the Geek. This season features three local geeks and one local beauty. Naturally, the casting crew headed to Boston to find new talent for the next cycle. Based on what Bostonist saw at The Estate on Saturday afternoon, the casting team couldn't have been disappointed. Despite miserable, dank weather, plenty of beauties and geeks arrived for group interviews. Two MIT......

Survivor: China: This week marked the all-important tribal merger, not to mention heaps of shenanigans involving the Immunity Idol. Yet Denise, our beloved Denise, barely spoke. What is with all this drama drama drama and no Denise? Is this a subtle hint that she may have won the whole thing? Since no one is letting Denise talk, we decided to check out her bio over at the official Survivor: China site. She's a badass. She......

This was a rough week, as we were faced with some hard calls regarding our shows, the World Series, and TiVo limitations. TiVo did not deliver America's Next Top Model, so this week's discussion is somewhat abbreviated. --Beauty and the Geek: The geeks have a fantasy handed to them on a platter--turning their beauties into super-heroines for the Comic-Con convention in San Diego. The geeks are dizzy with the possibilities, especially Northeastern Jen's partner, William.......

Beauty and the Geek Auditions Boston Casting 129 Braintree Street, Allston Saturday, October 27, 10:00 am-2:00 pm Thursday, November 1, 2:00 pm-7:00 pm and The Estate 1 Boylston Place, Boston Saturday, November 3, 2:00 pm-9:00 pm More info Do you have it in you to be the next LARPer or cigar model on the CW's "Beauty and the Geek," which we've been faithfully tracking this season? Do you think you are geeky enough or pretty......

--Beauty and the Geek: Bostonist is officially addicted to "Beauty and the Geek" since Massachusetts is so well represented, especially during the makeover episode. Our geeks looked dazzling after some hair stylists and waxers got their mitts on them. Poor Dave the Somerville LARPer had to go through a painful chest-waxing, but the results were worth it. Nicole the Tufts Musicologist emerged with a nice haircut that gave her a surprisingly gothy vibe. And John......

Beauty and the Geek: Our locals held on for another week. Tufts girl geek Nicole learned why bunk beds suck. She sleeps on the bottom bunk while her beauty male partner, Sam, enjoys the top bunk. Sam took another beauty, Rebecca, into his bed and started getting it on. An outraged Nicole began to cry, not because she harbored any attraction to Sam, but because it is rude and an invasion of private space......

--Beauty and the Geek: John, the MIT student Bostonist thinks is most likely to get some, received a "booty dance" from one of the beauties and admitted, "I didn’t know where to look." Romance was also on the minds of the other local contestants. Girl geek Nicole admitted that she had a crush on one of the boy geeks. Somerville LARPer Dave said of her revelation in his confessional, "I have to admit, my curiosity......

Honest-to-goodness Nobel Laureates, along with a few non-Laureates, indulged their silly sides on Thursday night when Harvard University hosted the 2007 Ig Nobels ceremony. The Annals of Improbable Research magazine (that sounds like something Dave Eggers would have thought up) grants the "Ig Nobels" for achievements in "unusual and imaginative scientific discovery." Here's a list of this year's winners in all the Ig Nobel fields from the Guardian UK: Medicine: Brian Witcombe of Gloucester and......

--Beauty and the Geek: The challenges this week are for the geeks to compose and perform a rap song and for the beauties to debate current-events issues. Dave from Somerville is not happy because his partner, Jasmine, is slow on the uptake - and, in a burst of antisocial behavior, he tells her so! But he sucks it up and works on his rap song. One look at him (image left), and you can guess......

Who will be the next Boston Rob? Who cracked us up as much as "Mr. Boston" did when he wooed Tiffany "New York" Patterson? A new season of reality television has started, and Massachusetts residents are on many of the shows, so we'll take a tour of how they're doing each week. --Kid Nation: A child from Upton is participating in Kid Nation, the reality show that has stirred up all manner of controversy regarding......

If reality-television show Beauty and the Geek wants geeks, they need look no further than college-saturated Boston. The Crimson announced an open casting call for the show that will be held on Saturday, May 12, at Felt between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm. Those who can't make the casting call can download an application here. On the show, beauties and geeks team up to tame each other. If a beauty becomes more human and a......

Bostonist swung by ImprovBoston on Wednesday night. Upon arrival, we realized that we had happened upon a nirvana for Boston's sci-fi/D&D elite - Geek Week 1.0. IB is offering geeks and the non-geeks who love them three more nights of themed improvisational comedy. Two of its previous sci-fi heavy shows, "Quest" and "In the Garage," were dusted off to join the lineup last night, and the remainder of the festival will feature the Inman Square......

Mr. Boston of I Love New York proudly refers to himself as a stud, but MIT alum Matthew Herman of Beauty and the Geek was called upon to transform himself from a "Geek" into a "Stud." The Ashton Kutcher-produced Beauty and the Geek is a competition in which several teams of "beauties" and "geeks" try to teach life lessons and social skills to each other. Whichever team trades the most knowledge wins. Bostonist waited to......

In the latest installment of Massachusetts Reality-TV men, Mr. Boston of I Love New York leapfrogs past Tim Urban of The Apprentice when it comes to shocking moments. After the elimination of several liars and one guy who called himself "Pootie," Mr. Boston is still fighting for Tiffany Patterson's heart. Tiffany held a "mangeant" in which each cast member paraded himself before her. Mr. Boston's appearance in the Mangeant was downright disturbing because he came......