Entertainment

Apparently, the fourth time's a charm for Rob Mariano!

In what was practically a forgone conclusion, the longtime Survivorplayer, known as "Boston Rob," won Survivor: Redemption Islandon Sunday night – his fourth time competing on the CBS reality series.

And it wasn't even close. Mariano, 35, earned eight of the nine votes cast in the finale against Phillip Sheppard, 52, and Natalie Tenerelli, 19.

Mariano, who takes home $1 million with the wino, told the Associated Press that he felt confident going into the finale.

"You don't know for sure until the votes are read, but I had a pretty good feeling," he said. "I played my heart out. I love this game, but you've got to get lucky along the way, too. I know what it takes. It's really, really difficult. I'm really, really happy things happened the way they did this time."

Mariano previously competed on the Marquesas, All-Stars and Heroes vs. Villains seasons, and has also been on The Amazing Race twice with his wife Amber.

Redemption Island, which took place in Nicaragua, was the 22nd season ofSurvivor. The next season, Survivor: South Pacific, premieres this fall.

Deadline for Absentee Ballots in MCC Board Election

Entertainment

Wednesday is the deadline for casting an absentee ballot in the election of three adult board members and two youth members of the McLean Community Center Board.

Four adult candidates --- two incumbents and two newcomers ---are running for three adult seats on the board. Four students are running for the two student seats on the 11-member board.

You can also vote Saturday at McLean Day, held in Lewinsville Park and attended by thousands of McLean residents and visitors.

Why you care: All McLean residents pay property taxes that finance most of the center's $6 million budget. In addition, the board has accumulated a $12 million surplus by collecting more in property taxes than it needed to operate the center.

While all residents pay taxes for the center, less than two percent of McLean residents usually vote in the election, Susan Bourgeois, chair of the MCC Election Committee said at a committee meeting earlier this year.

The board is seriously considering building a new community center downtown that taxpayers would finance on the site of the current Old Firehouse Teen Center. The new center could include a black box theater. The board has paid a consultant $100,000 to tell them the feasibility of such a plan

Entertainment

Remember melatonin? In the 1990s, this over-the-counter dietary supplement was all the rage among frequent fliers, promoted as the miracle cure for jet lag. Now it is back in vogue, this time as a prominent ingredient in at least a half-dozen baked goods that flagrantly mimic the soothing effects of hash brownies — and do so legally. At least for now.

With names like Lazy Cakes, Kush Cakes, and Lulla Pies, these products are sold online and at stores such as 7-Eleven, Walgreens, smoke shops, and even at the Harvard Coop, the university’s student bookstore, for roughly $3 to $4 each. (A bottle of 60 8-milligram melatonin tablets costs about $11.) At some places, the drug-laced desserts can be paid for with food stamps.

Although the Food and Drug Administration has not approved melatonin as a food additive or deemed it safe, the dessert makers are marketing their products as a harmless way to promote relaxation.

The snacks are increasingly being endorsed by fans on Facebook and Twitter as an antidote to stress and sleep deprivation. (Who needs yoga?) On the Facebook page for Lazy Cakes, one woman who said she has bipolar disorder wrote that the treat “helps a lot with my sleeping and panic attacks I can lay off my Xanax a little.’’

Gabby Bevel, 22, a writer from Norman, Okla., and an insomniac who took Ambien and Lunesta in high school, said in an interview that she slept 13 hours after eating one Lazy Cakes snack recently. “I don’t like the idea of needing something unnatural to help me with anything,’’ she said. “Really, I think part of the appeal is it does come in a brownie.’’

But these products contain roughly 8 milligrams of melatonin per brownie or cookie, so selling them is similar to a parent serving an unsuspecting child applesauce containing a crushed aspirin tablet to make it go down easier.

“It’s making it much more difficult for the consumer to recognize that they are taking a drug,’’ said Dr. Charles A. Czeisler, the chief of the division of sleep medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Nick Collado, a 26-year-old insomniac and the founder of Lulla Pies, argued that the melatonin they contain, while synthetic, is more “natural’’ than the Ambien he used to take. “I realized there’s got to be more people like me who don’t want to take prescription drugs anymore, who want to take an alternative,’’ Collado said.

But Dr. David S. Seres, the director of medical nutrition at Columbia Medical Center, cautioned that consumers should consult their doctors before trying such products.

“The promoters of these are appealing to people who think it’s better to do things outside of the medical establishment,’’ he said, adding that “the desire to help people is an extremely strong motivator, but so is money.’’

Seres pointed to a section of the National Institutes of Health’s website that lists several drugs, including sedatives such as clonazepam and birth control pills, whose efficacy might be altered by melatonin.

“A hangover effect has been reported’’ with large doses, said Anna Rouse Dulaney, a toxicologist with the Carolinas Poison Center.

Lazy Cakes appear harmless, even amusing, with swirly purple packaging; Kush Cakes have a tie-dye-printed wrapper. But they are not to be underestimated.

Of melatonin, Seres warned, “If you take it while you’re driving a car, you will find yourself in a ditch.’’

Maybe. Dr. Alfred J. Lewy, a professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University who has studied melatonin, a neurohormone, estimated that only a third of the population is susceptible to its effects in a supplement.

Some medical professionals are concerned that the chocolate taste of the desserts might encourage indiscriminate gobbling.

“It’s a colossally bad idea to put melatonin in food,’’ Czeisler said. “It should not be permitted by the FDA.’’

Dave Chappelles surprise show was surprisingly

Entertainment

Dave Chappelle has been playing surprise shows in the Bay Area for a while now and I had the fortune of seeing one recently thanks to a comedienne friend of mine giving me a heads up.

The reason I say "I had the fortune" is because I haven't really decided if it's good fortune or misfortune. I feel extremely fortunate that I got the tickets, despite them being $67 a pop it was worth it to see the famous Dave Chappelle live on stage. At the same time I have really mixed feelings about the show!

Dave Chappelle is known for his insane comedy endurance and previously setting a comedy endurance record by performing for over six hours. The excitement was palpable, both my girlfriend and I were excited to see the man that made us laugh on TV many a night. The show was at the Punch Line in San Francisco, we didn't have any problem parking on a week night which was a pleasant surprised and the club was absolutely packed. I felt extremely lucky to have gotten the tickets that I did.

The show opened with a performance by W. Kamau Bell, a very funny comedian who actually played at Skyline earlier in the semester! It was more than a pleasant surprise to see him and some of his fresh material. Osama bin Laden was of course a topic amongst both Chappelle and Bell and they both had funny material about it.

The first hour and a half of Chappelle was great, it had me laughing and I definitely feel like I got my money's worth. However it was after that hour and a half that things got weird, depressing even. The comedy show seemed to turn more into a bizarre question and answer session with more than half of the audience afraid to speak. I suppose most people would be afraid to speak to one of the funniest men in America for fear of being humiliated.

The show started at 10:30 in the evening with Bell opening for about maybe 30 minutes. Chappelle went on until at least 2:30 in the morning. I say at least 2:30 in the morning because both my girlfriend and I had class in the morning and had to leave early. While the question and answer session was incredibly weird and awkward at times there were moments in it that just had me dying of laughter from Chappelle's quick wit.

Chappelle even admitted that the show was incredibly weird, and said he felt like the crowd was looking for something but he didn't know what it was. There were also less kind words he said about his own show which made things feel even more awkward.

I used the word depressing before because Chappelle mentioned some things that quite frankly had me a little worried. He said things along the lines of "you have no idea how different comedy is going to be with me gone," "I feel like the world is ending at least for me soon" and one other joke that sounded like depression. I'm probably reading too much into it though. On the off chance that I'm not, I hope Chappelle doesn't do anything crazy, as he has a lot of fans around the world who love him.

I feel like the show was well worth the money despite the weirdness, I just feel like Chappelle is struggling to overcome the vast celebrity power he has. A lot of people just want to know about his disappearance but he just wants to do comedy and I think he just keeps getting distracted by people who throw questions at him. This question and answer format is really hit and miss though and more often than not it's miss.

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