At the beginning, of this week's "24" we're reminded that a nuclear bomb has gone off in Valencia, a suburb of Los Angeles. Tom Lennox reports that there have been no less than 12,000 casualties thus far. Four more tactical weapons remain, and the government has no idea where they are. Civilian air traffic has been shut down. The Secret Service move the president down to a bunker, and the President says he wants to deliver a televised speech to the public within the hour.

Fayed calls McCarthy, the man who sold him the weapons. Fayed says the bomb blew up before it reached its target and offers to pay McCarthy double if he can find someone who can make sure the triggers work on the remaining four weapons. Later, in the car with his whiny girlfriend, McCarthy tells Fayed he can find someone, and to have his money ready. Fayed then instructs one of his men to "tell these men these bombs will go off as scheduled, today."

Meanwhile, people in the suburbs are panicking. Jack saves a man from a crashed helicopter and then calls Bill Buchanan and says he wants back in. To find out what happens next, read more

If you were as psyched as I was about last night's return of "Heroes,", just wait 'til you see what NBC has for you now. First of all, last night's entire episode, "Godsend," is online with commentary by cast members Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Leonard Roberts (D.L.), and Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennet). If commentary isn't your thing, you can also rewatch the episode without it, along with the four episodes before it.

It's all part of what NBC calls its "Heroes" 360 experience. There's an online wiki, expanded profiles and video profiles of each of the heroes, access to the Primatech Paper Company's phone system and Web site, and a special way to access news about "Heroes" on your cell phone. It's pretty overwhelming, but I'm also not sure there's such a thing as too much "Heroes." Check it out and let me know what you think.

After a long hiatus, "Heroes" is back! (To get up to speed, check out my recap of the season so far.) Last night's episode, "Godsend," begins two weeks after Peter Petrelli had his vision and subsequent collapse. Now he lies in a Manhattan hospital bed, apparently still having visions, while Nathan demands Simone take him to view Isaac's paintings: "I want to see what's worth all this." The two go to the studio to find Isaac, who says he can paint without the drugs now and that he still loves Simone.

One of Mr. Linderman's men shows up at D.L.'s house to retrieve the $2 million, and D.L. asks if the charges against him have now been dropped. The man says Niki's confession took care of most of that. As for the other stuff, he says D.L. is a free man but still in debt to Linderman. To find out what's up with the other heroes, read more

Ok, Dreamgirls didn't get nominated for Best Picture, and it really didn't deserve to be. Now, let's move on, shall we?

This year's Academy Award nominations run the gamut from painfully obviously (namely, the Best Actress and Supporting Actress categories) to totally — and thrillingly — up in the air. In fact, I can't remember a recent year when the Best Picture race was this tough to call. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with the Academy's open-mindedness, and depending on how the winners shake out, the 2006 Oscars might just renew my faith in this ridiculous awards show.

But first, allow me to get a few things off my chest...

For once, I have an opinion about sound design, and it is apparently wrong

Pan's Labyrinth got a lot of love — including nominations for Best Foreign Film and Art Direction — but it was left out of the sound design and editing categories. Never before have I walked out of a movie and declared: "If that film doesn't win a sound Oscar, there is no god." Of course, I also know nothing about sound design.

The acting Nominations for The Departed are totally spot on.

I love it when the Academy recognizes scene-stealers over veterans, and Mark Wahlberg's performance really made this movie for me. Kudos to the Oscars for choosing Mark over Jack Nicholson being Jack again.

Yeah, maybe Leo deserved a nod for The Departed, but if he's even better in Blood Diamond, then it's silly to nominate him twice — especially when Forest Whitaker is probably going to win anyway.

Why does the Academy hate James Bond so much?

It's handing out technical awards left and right to the dreadful Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, while treating Casino Royale — with its astounding opening chase scene and crumbling Venetian building sequence — like an amateur entry.

For the rest of my rants, read more

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I'll sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue.

Sherrybaby
Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance in this indie film earned her a Best Actress (Drama) nomination at this year's Golden Globes. Gyllenhaal plays Sherry Swanson, recently released from prison and struggling to find a job and be a mother to her 5-year-old daughter. Sherry finds post-jail life difficult, however, and becomes frustrated with the way that her brother and sister-in-law have become surrogate parents to her daughter in her absence.

For another great DVD releasing this week, read more

Menomena is so weird it makes me giddy. The Portland, OR, band named its first album I Am the Fun Blame Monster, which is an anagram of "the first Menomena album." It favors baritone sax almost as much as it uses guitars, and the band even wrote its own software to compose its utterly bizarre songs. Yet, Menomena manages to pull off all this weirdness while making music that's entirely accessible, utterly unpretentious, and — in the case of its new album, Friend and Foe (Barsuk Records) — hypnotically catchy.

In fact, it's astounding that such fun pop songs can be crafted from a songwriting process that's downright dizzying. Not only does Menomena sound unlike any other band out there, but each off-kilter song draws on the band's formula in a completely different way. To read the rest of my take and hear a song off the album, read more