New York's power outage has spawned a new celebrity. Unlike those of us who can switch on CNN, many people in New York who were suddenly bathed in darkness have no idea who turned out the lights.

But trusty CNN is there with battery packs and is out on the streets interviewing people. There was someone who was stuck in an elevator, and the convo went like this:

CNN: So, when the elevator came to a halt, what did you do? Did you scream and yell?

Stuck Man: No, actually I laughed.

CNN: Uhhhh....

And so on. Apparently the lights were flickering at his job, but he just HAD to get up to the 5th floor. He joked to the guy next to him that he'd probably get stuck in the elevator, thus getting the chance to laugh at his own little fulfilled prophecy. If he'd just walked up a few flights of stairs, he wouldn't have had to spend an hour in a dark elevator playing video games on his cell phone.

Then they got to the REAL celebrity... some old guy named Don. Now what do you suppose Don could have been famous for? He claimed to have random beautiful women approach him and strike up conversations. He got his own interview on CNN. Don's the man of the hour! Was it because he'd experienced past blackouts in New York, in 1965 (very violent apparently) and 1977? Perhaps he could shed some light (ha ha) on the current situation?

No... Don was popular because he had a freakin' battery powered handheld RADIO! Some old guy who nobody would have previously noticed became the Block Hero just because in lieu of wasting money on plasma tv's, wall-sized stereos or cell phones that masquerade as cameras, he plunked down 10 bucks for a damn radio :-)

I just love this country.