It sounds like a disease doesn’t it; clevis. Like “Hey man, don’t go near that chick, she’ll give you the clevis.” Well it’s not a disease, but it is a word that can ruin lives and shatter dreams, for at least one little boy I know.

Today, in the fifth round of the 80th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, competition favorite #247, Samir Patel, was eliminated after mistakenly spelling clevis, meaning type of fastening devise, “c-l-e-v-i-c-e”. The audience gasped, the judges couldn’t believe what they were hearing, his mother launched a huge appeal and good old Samir got the boot.

Samir was quoted after the competition as saying, “The first thing I thought was c-l-e-v-i-s, and if I had been slow and cautious like I always am, I would have got it right,” he said. “But I just outsmarted myself. It was an easy word. I just made a stupid mistake.”

Now, I should stop and remind you here, this kid is 13. To be 13-years-old and a super genius is hard enough without one spelling mistake disgust a group of people, I should know. It’s obviously eating this poor kid up inside. I think people need to lighten up on him. It’s a Spelling Bee people. When I was 13 I could hardly spell kaht…I mean cat.

The Championship Finals air live on ABC between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. EDT tonight, but I’d like Samir Patel to know that as far as the Daily Brew is concerned, you are the champion…you are the champion.

Since it’s almost summer maybe I should do some Spring Cleaning. I’ll tell you what though, I HATE cleaning. I know I’m not alone here. If you saw my bedroom or office you’d think a tornado passed by. Maybe I just didn’t inherit the organization gene that everyone around me seems to have.

So I decided to do some research. If I got the right tools for the Spring Cleaning job, could I actually become semi-organized? Great resource? The Container Store.

Top 5 Spring Cleaning Picks

1. Recycling - One of my biggest problems is simply useless clutter. I need to purge, to get more out of the house than I bring into it. But not all of it’s garbage. Go a little green with this Wire Pull-Out Recycling Basket. This recycling basket holds newspapers, paper products, plastic bags and even soda cans. It also mounts either side-to-side or front-to-back under your sink to avoid plumbing and save you kitchen floor space.

2. Clothing - It’s not so much that I have SO many clothes they are flooding out of my closet, it’s that, my closet space leaves a lot to be desired. So I got myself a Long Underbed Box with Wheels so that I could store my foldable clothes under my bed, meaning I wouldn’t even be taking up regular bedroom space. It’s made from nearly unbreakable polypropylene and has an easy-open, locking lid and wheels for easy access.

3. Spice Storage - If you’re like me over the years you’ve probably accumulated various brands and bottles of spices. The issue is, where can I store them and make them uniform so they are easy to find. The Stainless Steel 12-Bottle Spice Rack comes with 12 glass bottles, 48 pre-printed lables and six blanks for your other unique spices. Store on the counter, in a cabinet or even hang it on a wall.

4. Bath Organizers - Shelving units for bathrooms are a great way to get the clutter off the counters. My batheroom is so bad I can’t even see my counters anymore. A great product is this Silver 2-Drawer Mesh Organizer. Store towels, make up, lotion and even cleaning supplies in the two tiered under cabinet drawer. You can even take it into the kitchen or hall closet for easy storage there too.

5. Photos - I love taking pictures but I never have time to do all that scrap booking stuff, so until I get there I need a better place to store my rockin’ pics besides my shoe box. So I’m getting organized with Portofino Photo Storage Boxs. These classy come in chocolate, black, olive and cranberry. They keep your pics organized and out of reach for weather and age damage as well as spills that can ruin pictures.

A lot happened over the long Memorial Day weekend so I thought I’d give ya’ll a little Celeb Update.

While you were boating:

• Jessica Simpson and John Mayer break up, make up and break up. Talk about on again off again. I don’t even like John Mayer, but even I wish him better than Jessica Simpson.
• Lindsay Lohan crashed her car in Beverly Hills while driving under the influence…of alcohol that is. She was arrested for a DUI and will face additional charges as they found her in possession of cocaine. I’ll tell ya, that rehab works wonders.
• Miss USA ate pavement, I mean stage, during the evening wear portion of the Miss Universe Competition. I could see her falling during her talent, whatever it was. I could see her falling during a snazzy dance number, but falling while walking? That’s MY trademarked move Miss USA, back off. The audience, in Mexico, seemed to love trying to boo the Miss USA off the stage. Awe. Oh, and Miss Japan won. Score one for the smart toilet makers (see below).
• Rosie Odonnell leaves The View 3 weeks prior to the date previously announced, and no wonder. The video of Rosie’s battle with doe eyed (and brained) Elisabeth Whoseherface was everywhere last week, it was pathetic. I don’t like Rosie all that much but that Elisabeth makes my skin crawl. G’night Rosie.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End opened this weekend breaking industry records, selling out theaters and bringing in $401,000,000 in its first six days. One of my friends has already seen it twice, I’m a bit behind, but don’t worry Brewsters, I’ll get on seeing that just so I can write a review for you. I know, you’re waiting with baited breath.

That’s it for our Celeb Update. Now back to your regularly scheduled…snooze inducing work day.

Well it’s the Memorial Day holiday weekend so I suspect most brewsters are off boating, partying and bbq-ing, and if you aren’t well, I order you to go out and have a blast, at least try to sit around and do some nothing.

Speaking of doing nothing, I just saw something on TV that convinced me humans are some of the laziest creatures on Earth. Now I’m making it a point not to say “Americans are…” because although thats true, there are humans in every country who are probably equally lazy. Plus the product I’m talking about was built in Japan so…

Introducing the remote control toilet. Yes this technological savvy John was built with sensors so when you walk up to it the lid will automatically flip open and with a push of a button would come down again, when your finished of course. But they didn’t stop there. This toilet also has a feature that will heat up your bum. According to CNN, “It has deodorizer, a warm-air dryer and water temperature, pressure and massaging options.”

Ummm, yeah, I’m going to let that water temp/pressure and massaging thing sink in because I don’t know WHAT to think at this point. Happy Flushing.

Apparently female hammerhead sharks don’t need males to conceive babies anymore. In 2001 a hammerhead shark was born in the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. There were 3 possible mothers. The interesting thing? None of the 3 female sharks had been in contact with any male for 3 years.

For anyone wondering why everyone is reporting on this 6 years after the fact (like me), I think it’s just because scientists have finally completed the research and want to get it out on print.

It seems like such a miracle, but the miracle got cut short when, just hours after baby hammerhead was born it got eaten by a stingray. Real classy stingray, really. Anticlimactic isn’t it? Poor baby, 3 moms and none of them protected him? Pfft.

Anyway, after the sharks *ahem* untimely death scientists discovered not even one speck of male chromosome in the DNA. Northern Ireland-U.S. researchers have come to the conclusion then that female sharks can fertilize their own eggs and give birth without any help from males. Whoo hoo for asexualness.

Now…if only human females could accomplish that, I’d finally see my dream of the extinction of all males come true. Sorta brings a tear to your eye doesn’t it?

It’s been a close series for the Aneaheim Ducks and the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Finals. Last night the Ducks skated their way to the Stanley Cup Finals in game 6 ending the series 4 to 3 Ducks.

Jean-Sébastien Giguère, one of my personal favorites, was really on fire last night shutting out Detroit in the first 2 periods of game 6 making some amazing saves. Samuel Pahlsson, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf of the Ducks each scored a goal against respected Detroit goalie Dominik Hasek. And you know what they say, where ever there’s a goal being scored, there’s a Niedermayer close behind. Not so surprisingly Rob Niedermayer scored one goal and had one assist in game 6, that little devil.

Things did get close in the 3rd period when the Red Wings came back with 3 hard goals, but that just fueled the ducks Ducks fight to win the game.

The Ducks aren’t taking this Western Conference Finals win for granted. “Yes, I think we’ll take a little more time to enjoy this,” Teemu Selanne said, “But then we know we’ll really have to get back to work. The games will get harder now.” He is definately right about that. The Anaheim Ducks will be facing the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup Finals set to start this Monday. They won’t get a lot of time to rest, but thats a good thing. These teams will get a little breathing time but be ready to come back strong to give us what will undoubtedly be an exciting Stanley Cup series.

Did I call this or what? Booya!

Who else was blown away by the Heroes Season Finale? There was a lot of almost death, a few twists, super tense moments and even a couple tear jerker’s…WELL THERE WERE FOR ME OKAY?! Critics can be harsh but for avid Heroes fans this was another episode bringing more questions and simply adding to the plot for more Heroes yet to come. It was just really cool to see all the Heroes come together and step up to do anything they could to stop Sylar and the exploding man, Peter.

I am sad and unsurprised to say though that most of my predictions for the Heroes Season Finale were wrong…eh…just like I predicted. I AM psychic!

Heroes Season Finale Shockers

• Molly foreshadows the possible next villain, “When I think about him, he can see me.” Oh creepy!
• Ando doesn’t die and is safe waiting for Hiro’s return to Japan. PHEW!
• Though speculated and seemingly obvious we learn that Nikis power isn’t her split personality, but super strength, she just didn’t really know it because that knowledge was in Jessica, her subconscious.
• Peter went back in time?…went back in time in his mind?…had a mental breakdown…and went to that old man he took care of in the beginning who died to realize he was the hero, he could change the bomb.
• Hiro freaking surprised me, and Sylar apparently, when he finally became a man and, without hesitation, ran that sword right through Sylar!
• Nathan turned out to have some redeeming qualities. Instead of just thinking of himself and flying away letting the bomb go off and becoming the president, he came back for his brother, to help save New York and flew him (the explosion) to the sky thus assuring his demise. One of the many times I felt a tear come to my eye.

Although the Heroes Season 1 Finale was very cool there are some major questions lurking. Around the water cooler in these parts everyone has a different understanding of what happened and what is yet to come.

Some think Peter and Nathan are dead, some think Peter is still alive. Most are questioning why Claire couldn’t just shoot Peter and then after the radiation settles down, take out the bullet and bring him back to life? There are a few that thing Sylar is alive, others think he’s dead and his body was taken but the mysterious man Molly talked about. People are asking what the heck is going to happen with Hiro in 1600’s Japan?

It looks like we get a few months to hash this out and come up with some new predictions before the 2nd season of Heroes starts back up. Trust me, when it does we’ll all be glued to the television with baited breath.

The Invisible Synopsis (VH1): ” Relegated to a strange supernatural limbo after being attacked by a brutal street gang and left for dead, a young man who is now invisible to everyone he knows must find his body before he is lost forever When Nick discovers that the only person who can see him is the troubled girl who initiated his demise and is currently on the run from the law, the revelation that she, too, is invisible leads the unlikely pair on a trans-dimensional mystery. Now, in order to get a second shot at life, Nick must solve the mystery of his death before he is lost forever.”

Well my friends, I hate to tear down another good movie (see: Spiderman 3 Review), but I just don’t know what to say about The Invisible. Like most movies, what made me want to see this one was the trailer, which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDB3Ha3vxyc. It comes off as a psychological thriller surrounded by mystery.

What didn’t I love about The Invisible: The detectives were eerily dispassionate about finding a missing child. Marcia Gay Harden was under utilized. The Invisible didn’t actually contain any mystery…or psychological thrilling. Most importantly, the previews show this old man in limbo just as Nick is. He see’s Nick and gives him the 411, “If you can solve the mystery of your own death you’ll get a chance to live again.” So imagine my surprise when the credits started to roll and there was still no sign at all of any creepy old half dead man in this movie. Where was the old dude?

The Invisible’s good points? The main characters played by Justin Chatwin and Margarita Levieva were actually wonderful actors. The writers/directors seemed to understand the premise and the way the story played out came off a bit silly at times and they weren’t afraid to use that. They were able to use humor and make fun of themselves without breaking down the tense emotion of the film. There were actually a few good twists and I didn’t see that ending coming so they score points with me for that. The soundtrack featuring bands like Snow Patrol, 30 Seconds to Mars and Remy Zero was great. It really helped move the story along and hooked me. I’m going to see if I can pick it up today.

The group I went with hadn’t seen the trailer so without the expectations I had, they all thought The Invisible was a fantastic movie.

The Invisible: A lenient 3.5/5 LJ Stars

If you’ve ever been to the Western United States you’ve probably been to, or at least heard of a little burger joint called In-N-Out Burgers. Their menu consists of only 4 items: burgers, drinks, shakes and the famed fresh cut fries. The first time I tried it on a trip to California I rolled my eyes a bit at the hype and told the L.A. native crowd I was with that it was simply a glorified McDonalds. I nearly got myself killed that way.

The thing I found odd was, by the time I got home from my trip I was craving it. Sure I tried to cure myself with good old Wendy’s or Burger King but to sum those up, it was just gurblah. Finally I found myself on a trip to Vegas and insisted we go to In-N-Out. Heaven.

The problem with In-N-Out? It ony franchises in CA, NV and AZ. Why won’t they come to me? Well, perhaps they have. While running some errands this weekend a new fast food spot, Chadders, caught my eye. I was pretty hungry so I pulled into the drive-thru for a nice 20 minute wait. As I pulled up to the menu to order I noticed something strange; it was an exact replica of In-N-Out! From the fresh cut fries to the carryout boxes and placemats.

I brought some home to my Santa Monica born SO for a taste test. Results: While Chadders burgers leave something to be desired (they boast of their leaner meat) the fresh cut fries are delicious and very similar to the ones at In-N-Out. All in all we were pretty impressed. It might not be AS good as the original but Chadders definatly won me over as a new place to go when I cant get out of state just for some fries. Finally a good old copy cat, just what we’ve been waiting for.

Did anyone else see The Office Season 3 Finale last night? Who are we kidding, of course you did! Talk about your twists. Well, okay, it’s not like anyone died; no one got married, there was no wedding, nothing blew up and anyone REALLY ended up together…but as far as the faux reality office hit goes, The Office did have some surprises. It also left us with a lot of questions, perplexing cliffhangers that won’t get resolved until sometime in the Fall! September? October? We just don’t know.

The Office Finale Highlights

Another Spoiler Alert!

Jan gains a few new…assets.
Micheal and Jan get back together…but possibly moving in together?
Karen: turns out to be the angry crone we all knew she was.
Jim ditches Karen in New York to go after Pam?
Temp, Ryan, gets Jan’s job at corporate.
Ryan also turns out to be the jerk I knew he was by snapping his relationship with Kelly like a twig.
Jim comes back to Scranton for Pam and asks her out to dinner on an honest to goodness date.

The whole thing was awesome. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait for Season 4 of The Office. It’s going to be a crazy ride.