Now all I can picture is Bob Woodruff in a Xander eyepatch anchoring World News Tonight. It shouldn't be funny, but it is.

Jeez, David, go get a martini.

They've mentioned broken bones, and I think I specifically saw mention of a shoulder blade, so not facial. If the blast was from the back (as the shoulder blade would imply) and there was no significant breaking of facial bones, he should clean up okay. I'd be more worried about the memory, speech, etc. functionality than the rest, as far as his anchor prospects are concerned.

Balthazar Getty doesn't have blue eyes. Right? I haevn't seen Alias in a couple weeks, but I did see him on that show.

Balthazar Getty. Not blue-eyed.

I just don't get it.

There definitely are ugly scars on men. I just hope he gets his faculties back. The rest is for later.

Sorta good for a laugh: Wow, now THAT'S a hair-helmet

So sad. All my movie trivia knowledge has flown out of the window today. And to think, I even subjected myself to Bring It On Again. I will hang my head in shame and go sit in a corner with Balthazar Getty while he tries to bum cigarettes and use my cell phone.

he tries to bum cigarettes and use my cell phone

All this in addition to the fact that he's one of those Gettys.

My sister and I Google News-ed simultaneously. They're very vague about the exact positioning of people and blast radius and all, but my vague guess is that he was standing back to the blast location, was thrown forward (breaking the arm and ribs) and then bounced back.

So, neurologically, there is the basic scrambled-eggs issue; and then there is the question of what objects his helmet could protect him from. The scrambled-eggs problem could be severe, or it could leave him with a headache and a new appreciation for Muhammad Ali.

Suddenly I am remembering that New Yorker article about Urgent Four. You remember that, sister-o-mine? It was all about the protocols of treating traumatic brain injury, but the patient in question was a (at the time unidentified) rape victim, so they called her by a code name. (She lived.)

Sorta good for a laugh: Wow, now THAT'S a hair-helmet

Phew, no wonder she does the flip so often.

"science may have advanced in the fifteen years since I dated a med student. science may have advanced in the fifteen years since I dated a med student." That's bound to help.

Probably, but she indoctrinated me pretty thoroughly in the notion that the general public vastly underestimates the damage with head injuries, and Oliver Sacks essays underscored that. While there have undoubtedly been significant breakthroughs in the last fifteen years, I haven't heard any that said, "Okay, now we understand the mind/body connection." I haven't even heard of them developing the tools to really track cognition and consciousness besides the standard brain scans.

Okay, now I'm off to Google "exciting breakthroughs in head trauma treatment."

Then I'm having a martini.

HA! The thing is, it's hard to take David Foster Wallace's opinion on anyone because, based on what I've read of his, I find him to be a self-important excessively wordy blowhard. that being said, I don't disbelieve any of that.

I like Balthazar Getty's character on Alias, though.

I saw Bring It On Again becuase it had Hailey from One Tree Hill (an impossible-to-watch show).

Think Progress has some interesting footage from the SotU speech:

Bush’s statement that “Congress did not act last year on my proposal” was met with rousing, unexpected applause [from Congressional Democrats] that clearly unnerved Bush.