THE WATER COOLER

Here are a few things in news, sports, entertainment and popular culture that we've been talking about lately.

• Representatives for Garth Brooks say the country singer isn't working up a performance deal with Steve Wynn. But after finishing up a few more bar mitzvahs, Chris Gaines is totally available.

• Convicted child molester Chester Stiles says his sentence of 21 life terms is excessive. We'd hate to seem vindictive, so how about 15 life terms and we call it even?

• Sanjaya Malakar, Janice Dickinson, Heidi and Spencer and Patti Blagojevich are dropped into the Costa Rican jungle for an NBC reality competition. What number do we call to have them left there?

• Tussah Heera, 13, of Las Vegas is eliminated from the 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee by the word "herniorrhaphy" (a surgical procedure to fix a hernia). It's OK, Tussah; that word freaks us out, too.

• Madame Tussauds unveils a Criss Angel wax figure. Who knew the wax figure would have a better personality?

By JOHN PRZYBYS (jprzybys@reviewjournal.com)