One can hardly be blamed for missing episodes of SNL, as it's rare to find a truly funny episode in recent years. But I knew when they said that Steve Carell was hosting this season's finale that it had to be pretty good. There were a few off-sketches, and too much John McCain, but at least half the show was good and I couldn't stop laughing during the opening sketch. So here's the really good sketches if you missed it or want to see it again:
Awesome opening sketch: (Probably NSFW language)
Carell's monologue, with appearance of wife Nancy Walls:
A Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton ad (that seems to really bash Hillary):
Deal or No Deal, with Steve Carell's hilarious embarassed anger:
The Japanese version of The Office, pure gold:
There were a few more sketches that I wasn't particularly fond of...TVSquad has embedded them in their article if you want to see them.
It looks like much of Texas is being overrun by crazy ants. Specifically, crazy rasberry ants which came into the country from a cargo ship. They're causing all kinds of havoc and destruction since they remove moisture from plants, eat endangered grouse hatchlings, and weirdest of all, are attracted to and eating all kinds of electronic devices.
Computers, burglar alarm systems, gas and electricity meters, iPods, telephone exchanges - all are considered food by the flea-sized ants, for reasons that have left scientists baffled.
Having ruined pumps at a sewage facility, the ants are now marching towards Nasa's Johnson Space Centre and William P. Hobby airport, Houston, putting state officials in a panic. "They're itty-bitty things, and they're just running everywhere," said Patsy Morphew, a resident of Pearland, on the Gulf Coast.
She spends hours sweeping them off her patio and scooping them out of her pool by the cupful. "There's just thousands and thousands of them. If you've seen a car racing, that's how they are. They're going fast, fast, fast. They're crazy."
"At this point it would be nearly impossible to eradicate the ants because they are so widely dispersed," said Roger Gold, a Texas A&M University entomologist. He added that the only upside to the invasion was that the crazy rasberry ants ate fire ants, which sting humans during the long, hot Texas summers.
Pest control specialists say that they are inundated with calls from homes and businesses now that the warm, humid season has begun, with literally billions of the ants wreaking havoc across the state. Worse, the ants refuse to die when sprayed with over-the-counter poison. Even killing the queen of a colony doesn't do any good, because each colony has multiple queens.
Kent Brockman: I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.
After rumors that the whole idea may have been dropped, FOX has confirmed that the 2-hour 24 prequel is happening before Season 7 starts up in January. However, it will be airing Sunday, November 23 at 8ET, rather than in the fall as originally suggested. As I reported before, it will be bridging the gap between Season 6 and the new Season 7 which is trying to change up the formula a bit. Minor spoilers follow (mouseover them to view):
Shot on location in South Africa, Jack Bauer battles an international crisis, while here at home the nation prepares for a new president on inauguration day. Taking place just a few months before the new day dawns, the prequel will set the stage and raise the stakes for Season Seven.
"We're excited about the prequel because it explores Jack's complex emotional state of mind and still has all the signature excitement and suspense that fans have come to expect from 24," commented executive producer Howard Gordon. "Shooting in South Africa affirms everyone's commitment to making this season especially memorable for our fans."
The new season will be back on Mondays at 9ET starting January 2009.
Warning: Both these videos contain a bunch of profanity and are likely not work safe.
If you haven't heard or seen it, there's a video of Bill O'Reilly up on YouTube from way back in the day when he is on Inside Edition and basically flips out because they can't record a segment right and the teleprompter is screwed up. The thing is hilarious on its own, but (of course) someone turned the thing into a dance remix. It's actually really well done and hilarious.
The first video is the original one that was put up on YouTube, if you haven't seen it yet, and the second one is the remix. I've probably watched it at least 15 times already.
Here's the comments from the video if anyone's interested in the music used:
"Bill O'Reilly loses it on Inside Edition. Here's the dance remix. Music courtesy of http://www.myspace.com/revolucian. Video cut by me, Torrey Meeks.
There's some crazy and intense ads for a Brazilian newspaper called the Gazeta Mercantil which had the following description:
In this print campaign, JWT Sao Paulo shows that the newspaper makes deeper analyses of the financial market and informs readers on political and social events exercising influence on the world economy. On Dollar, Euro and Yen notes, some of the most important events of the last century.
Click the pictures for the full-size version where you can actually see all the detail involved:
If you were even remotely thinking of seeing this movie, you should go check it out. When the biggest complaint coming out of the movie is that the last fight sequence is too short, you can tell that the movie's gotta be pretty good.
Plus it's even got a nice 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from the top critics, which is pretty uncommon. I just loved it because I was expecting a movie that would be pretty good and entertaining, and it turned out that it felt more like they really hit it out of the park. Plenty of laugh-out-loud momements, and fast with a lot of action. I'd see it again.
It's gone now, but apparently the Italian government posted everyone's salaries online in an attempt at "transparency and democracy." Though it was actually due to other reasons. A privacy watchdog group had them take the site down within a few hours, but that's plenty of time for people to take a peek or grab the data. Apparently it's really all due to some political drama going on in Italy:
[Outgoing prime minister Romano] Prodi's tax minister, Vincenzo Visco, often dubbed 'Dracula' by his detractors, said the website was meant to go live in January but was delayed until now to avoid clashing with the campaign for the April 13-14 election.
"It's all about transparency and democracy. I don't see the problem," Visco was quoted as saying on Corriere della Sera's website.
Guido Crosetto, a member of [incoming prime minister Silvio] Berlusconi's party, said the move was the last spiteful measure of the defeated centre left before it hands over power next week. "It's a very strange thing to do on the last day before clearing off," he said.
For those that haven't been paying attention, for the upcoming Batman movie The Dark Knight, there's been a massive, online viral campaign with many websites, riddles/clues, phone calls to people, etc. One of the recent developments revealed a version of the Dark Knight trailer edited by the Joker. It's hilarious/creepy, even though it's a bit hard to see:
This would be an awful idea, but Variety is saying that NBC is about to confirm that Jimmy Fallon will be Conan O'Brien's replacement when Conan goes to take over Jay Leno's position next May. I can't possibly see how that could go well:
I submit my entry for Creepiest Photoshop of the Year.
It's not as if the report killed any major surprise. Fallon has been the only real candidate for the job since February 2007, when Broadcasting & Cable and the New York Times reported that the former "Saturday Night Live" star had quietly signed a holding deal envisioning just such a gig. Six months later, Peacock latenight chief Rick Ludwin confirmed that Fallon was in line for the job. "I think he'd be terrific, and he is at the top of our short list," Ludwin told B&C.
Then, just two months ago, the Times again reported that Fallon would replace O'Brien and said he would likely begin in February 2009. O'Brien is expected to take off six months or so in between his final "Late Night" and first "Tonight Show."
O'Brien, meanwhile, is still slated to replace Jay Leno has host of "The Tonight Show," despite some media speculation that NBC may be having cold feet. ABC and Fox have made it clear that Leno is welcome to hop to their networks if he wants, while the Times said Sony has offered to give Leno his own syndie berth.
This has got to be some kind of April Fools joke gone wrong, since it's 20 days late and it's stupid. But CNN has started adding a T-shirt icon next to (only video?) headlines on their frontpage.
Clicking on the link takes you to a page where you can buy a shirt with the headline on it that also says "I just saw it on CNN.com" and lists the date and time. The service is in beta, and shirts are $15 plus $5 shipping. They let you get the headline on a gray, black, or white shirt, and the sale takes place through spreadshirt.com.
