"No BINGO!" - The hot Halloween costume of 2007

Image Source: reviewjournal.com

Let me tell you, you're missing out if you haven't either watched the actual show or at least seen a preview [the magic happens at the 24 second mark in the clip below]:



The NBN Commissioner costume will be hot in '07, I can feel it. And please, ABC, make his hallmark "No Bingo!" call a ringtone.

Thank you, Sunil Narkar, for adding something brilliant to America's pop culture lexicon.

Originally posted 6/3/07

Daddy Waterboy?

Image Source: freshhiphopnews.com

This isn't a perfect lookalike, but after watching Daddy Yankee extensively this morning on Despierta America, I'm seeing some resemblance to Adam Sandler's tour de force performance in Waterboy.


Image Source: CNN.com

I should be clear that I mean no offense. Last thing I need is heat from the Reggaeton community.

Originally posted 6/1/07

Open Letter to SNL's Jason Sudeikis re: Skit Idea

Image Source: HGTV.com

Stumbled across the show Don't Sweat It today and thought it was a joke. [I know this isn't new, but seriously, when did it become cool for men with hair highlights to also carry themselves as ostensibly tough & rugged?] The host, Steve Watson, does a pretty good job being a caricature of himself, but I still think this is fodder for a good Jason Sudeikis led SNL skit [and I hereby waive any claim for compensation pertaining to this intellectual property ... just a little shout out during the wrap scene would be fine]. I wish I could find a link to the opening montage video. It's a cross between Sudeikis' Urigro-esque smarminess and the dead-on mock absurdity of the MacGruber intros. While it's kind of a small target in and of itself, maybe there is something there in the broader 'hardscrabbly charming rapscallion carpenter' DIY show trend?

Note: This was edited 7/6/07 to correct the spelling of Sudeikis, from Sudekis

Originally posted 5/26/07

Don't sleep on Rap School

Image source: VH1.com

Just was thinking about Rap School and wanted to recognize. Nothing more than that.

Originally posted 4/13/07

USA 2.0 Mashup - Laotian Rap

Image Source: MySpace.com/asianriders

Another tip from Current TV, and [of course] YouTube. Actually, it's not bad, either. Move Some'm, by Lao Crimino.

Originally posted 3/23/07

Jeopardy for Morons

And brilliant TV programming, given the state of society:
Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Originally posted 3/4/07

Michael J Partridge?

Anyone else see Melissa Etheridge during the Oscars and think she looked a little bit like Shirley Jones dressing up like Michael J. Fox [or vice versa?]

Originally posted 3/4/07

Alert: Another TV a** clown to avoid

Please, for the love of all that is good in this world [e.g., see this, or this, or, more seriously, this], don't watch the Glenn Beck show. I know his show isn't new, but it took awhile for me to work up the energy to bother posting this. I used to watch a lot of CNN Headline News, but haven't watched at all since they put a-holes like Beck and Nancy Grace on.

Originally posted 3/4/07

Help me understand ...

Who goes to watch Deal or No Deal in person? Seriously. Who does that? Is that the best thing you could be doing with your time? Wow.
Originally posted 2/27/07

Bill Buchanan Quote

With this one, it's almost as if the writers were deliberately trying to come up with something that would get picked up and mocked widely:

"We need to do better than we're doing, and we need to do it faster!"

I see this getting used a lot. By me.

Update: Bill has his own Wikipedia entry. Of course he does.

Originally posted 1/20/07

Mari Ramos = "I'm Carol"

Okay, some people might interpret this as not such a nice post, but I'm just calling things like I see them.

I can't recall the first time I saw Mari Ramos on TV, but think it was this past March on vacation. While it's not immediately obvious from seeing her head shot at the above link, if/when you see and hear Mari live, I think the connection becomes more clear: Mari Ramos resembles the SNL "I'm Carol" character, as portrayed by Horatio Sanz.

Even from the stills below, I think if you keep an open mind, you'll see what I'm talking about.







Finally, from the nothing-should-be-a-surprise department, there are people who have pages of Mari Ramos photos.

Originally posted 1/6/07

Diversity of TV programming

ParisTV Oman.JPG, originally uploaded by sindlinger.

Setting aside any comment regarding whether one agrees or not with the French attitudes regarding various topics [foreign policy, economic regulation, etc.], you can't argue the fact that the French population has easier access to greater diversity of thought than does the American population. These snapshots show just a handful of the channels that were available on the cable system in the apartment we rented. Programming from Italy, Algeria, China, Russia, Morocco, Poland, Qatar, Germany, etc., etc., etc. Rather different than CNN, FoxNews and MSNBC.

Originally posted 1/4/07

You Should Check Out Current TV

I've grazed a bit of Current TV in the past and been intrigued, but recently have been watching blocks of it at a time and am deeming it worthy of my viewing effort. However, I primarily watch it 'time shifted' via TiVo. I find it can be frustrating trying to watch live, b/c it is truly random and you can get caught with the occasional crap pod or a re-airing of something you've already seen.
If you haven't heard anything about it, I'd describe it as an amalgamation of MTV News, NPR/BBC, and Punk'd/The Tom Green Show - and it shifts deftly between these poles from pod to pod. Some of the content might be a bit earnest for many people's liking [if so, by all means flip the channel back to your According to Jim rerun]. And I'll grant that a few feel like the self-indulgent senior project of affluent-but-serious Sally the communications major. But the variety of topics they cover and the on-the-ground-level style in which they cover them are a refreshing break from the absolute garbage you find on many other channels. The range of clips moves from the National Italian Greyhound dog show to an Egyptian-American's take on Wuhan, China [sidenote stat: China has more than 150+ cities with pop. >1MM; US has 8], to the art of Kehinde Wiley [another sidenote: his art is kind of gimmicky, but it's an interesting gimmick, so give him credit for that]. So, if you've had enough of crap like this, this or this, look for Current on your cable lineup. Better yet, TiVo a couple hours at a clip and see what you think. Learn something. Think.

Originally posted 12/16/06

You should be watching Saxondale

BBC America continues to deliver the goods.






The folks who put the original The Office on the air, as well as Coupling,
The Kumars at No. 42, Ed vs Spencer and, my personal favorite, Peep Show are now airing Saxondale.


It's genius. The Mustang. The Tull-like [possibly actuall Tull, I can't say I'm fluent enough to confirm or deny] intro music. The jean jacket with faux lamb's wool collar. Brilliant, all of it.

Originally posted 11/28/06.