1 Line on the Sopranos

This is an oldie, but a goodie. A real oldie but real goodie, if you will. Happy Friday!

Anchorman in The Office

Great Odin's raven! This is exciting stuff.

Today the producers of my favorite show on TV, The Office, announced that Will Ferrell will be joining the very-funny cast later this season. Deadline.com broke the story, but I saw it on the Huffington Post.

"We hope that once America gets a good look at Will, they'll see what we see: tremendous, raw sexuality," said Paul Lieberstein, a.k.a. Toby.

Dunder Mifflin's much-loved, much-loathed boss, Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell) is leaving the award-winning show at the end of this season. They haven't said who is going to replace him--and really, who can fill his uncomfortable shoes?!--but if anyone (other than the original incompetent boss, show founder Ricky Gervais) can do it, it'd be Ferrell.

Will he stick around after his guest spot, and take Carell's place permanently? Probably not. But here's hoping.

Regardless, audiences will be in for a treat of double trouble, with Carell and Ferrell sharing the small screen. Don't believe me? Re-watch Anchorman, then try to say it again. I dare you. Those two are brilliant. They belong in funny people MENSA.

Roughest, Slickest Cover Around

Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans play the Bunkhouse Saloon (124 S. 11th Street, which is downtown, between Fremont St and Carson Ave) one week from today, and to mark the one-week mark, I want to share something with y'all. Behold, one of the best parody/cover videos of all time.

This video comes from a superfan in Japan who not only re-wrote Corb's lyrics to translate the song to Japanese, but also compiled a video to go is with his creation.

The song he chose to cover is Corb's oil rigger anthem, "Roughest Neck Around." Unfortunately, the title was lost in translation. He called it "We Are Site Workers."

Check it out:



OK, so, clearly that was amazing. And no, I'm not talking about the guitar playing and singing; the video work is incredible.

Well, not Avatar incredible, but I still don't know how he did it. I don't know how or why he decided to use that crappy photo of Corb, either, but I digress. Putting his face on all those pictures must've taken a ton of work--and a ton of time, too.

So here's to you, KanPai2007. Cheers.

Here's the real "Roughest Neck Around" video, here it is. (Don't feel bad if you like the Japanese version better. I've already told Corb that I like KanPai2007's version better. Turns out, he does, too.)



Oh, and before we go, the not-so-subtle plug for next week's show. Mark your calendar:

Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans
9 p.m. Jan. 31st at the Bunkhouse Saloon (124 S. 11th Street, click here for a map)
$5 at the door

... See y'all there.

The Pink Pony Birthday Movement

This is kind of hilarious. If you studied advertising, like I did, or work at an ad agency, in ad sales, or have any ad sense whatsoever, it will be even hilariouser.

Basically, this gem of a video is a parody of what's supposed to be an ad agency's case study of the typical kid's birthday party. From planning to execution, it's awesome. It also involves a pony. (I said it was good, didn't I? I wouldn't lie of such a thing.)

Now, who wants cake?

Aw, Rats! I Still Heart NY

OF COURSE.

JUST hours after I booked myself a trip to NY, I see this. (Sure, by the time I saw it, it was old already -- but that's not my point!)

CBS posted a story that included a video of a big nasty rat crawling up onto a man as he slept in a NY subway car. Gross!! And yes, I can admit it: I've fallen asleep in NY subway cars before! Suffice to say, I will fall asleep no more! Yuck!

Squirrely Michael Jackson

If you don't enjoy this, you won't enjoy anything, ever. And you probably hate puppies, rainbows and bubble gum, too.

Mis(sed) Fortune

Today I stumbled upon a collection of what claims to be "The Most Ridiculous Fortune Cookie Fortunes Of All Time" on Huffington Post. It was entertaining, but there was something missing—Tao's notoriously naughty fortunes were nowhere to be found.

As much as I appreciated diddies such as "You are almost at the top. You have farther to fall," Tao's absence was palpable. I mean, really: What serious foodie hasn't experienced the majesty that is Tao's giant fortune cookie? It's massive, filled with chocolate and vanilla mousse, and is downright delicious. Oh, and it also has some of the funniest fortunes in it, too.

HuffPo has no excuse: There's a Tao in Manhattan, right in my beloved online newspaper's backyard! (at 42 E. 58th Street) And, again, this is the kind of stuff that legends are made of... as is their miso-glazed Chilean sea bass. But I digress...

In effort to fill this void, I'm going to share with y'all a shot of one of the R-rated fortunes I received last year. (Thank you, TwitPic.)

Next time you're at Tao, check it out. It's a fun dessert to share with the entire table... assuming you're not dining with your grandparents, that is.

Fiddy, Fiddy, Fiddy...

Poor 50 Cent. I mean, the guy just can't catch a break, can he?

The press is all over him for his neither confirmed-nor-denied (translation: totally confirmed) relations with Chelsea Handler. He's been shot 9 times. And he's a multi-scandal phenomenon on Twitter.

I interviewed the rapper-actor-entrepreneur otherwise known as Curtis Jackson last week, in advance of an autograph signing sesh/photo op at the Sleek Audio booth at CES. (Sleek Audio is the manufacturer behind 50 Cent's new line of wireless headphones.)

During our 1-on-1 (the bulk of which will run in this week's edition of US Weekly) I asked him about Twitter.

Me: You have a, let's say, rather animated presence on Twitter...

50 Cent: My publicist, she hates when I do that. (laughs) She says, "Stop it, OK?" (laughs again) I get personal phone calls from her (telling me to) "Lighten up."

Well, according to the New York Post, he's in trouble for something he tweeted AGAIN... and no, it's nothing graphic or salacious in nature this time. Instead, his poor publicist now has to deal with a series of since-deleted tweets Fiddy posted plugging the same headphones he was at CES to promote.

"The 35-year-old celeb ... helped pop the shares of a no-name penny stock company he's invested in by 290 percent yesterday after chatting it up this weekend on Twitter," according to the New York Post report.

Apparently he urged his 3.5 million followers to buy stock in Sleek Audio's parent company, H&H Imports—or HHI on the NYSE for all you eager investors. 50 owns 33 million shares of HHI stock, but the company has a far-from-perfect financial standing as of right now (read: serious debt to the tune of $3.3 million).

After his tweets, the stock jumped from $0.10 to $0.39—effectively making the already-rich rapper $8.7 million.

That's right: $8.7-million. Pretty nice for 140 characters worth of work.

My CES Coverage in Canada's National Post

This week I've been busy covering the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for Postmedia News (think the AP, but Canadian).

Here's an excerpt from one of my stories that appeared in the National Post. The same story also appeared in the Regina Leader Post, Calgary Herald, Ottawa Citizen, and Financial Post, and on canada.com

Instant gratification key to future of electronics

LAS VEGAS — Consumers should have access to content — TV shows, movies, songs, e-books, or otherwise — when they want, where they want, and they shouldn’t have to manually synchronize content between their various devices, either. This was the prevailing message at the state-of-the-industry keynote at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

“If you have subscribed to a television service — and, really, any service, magazines included... you ought to have it on demand, on every device you want,” Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes said. “And you should not have to pay extra for that.”

Bewkes also said technology should be easy to use, and consumers “shouldn’t need a PhD” to get content from one device to another.

... It gets better. Click here to read the full story.

My Friday Night: Dinner, Huffington & the Movie Guy

Tonight I had the option of going to see the Stone Temple Pilots or Arianna Huffington. I picked @AriannaHuff.
This, of course, must mean one thing: I'm getting old.
Make no mistake, I love STP. (Interstate Love Song? Hellooooo!) Still, I love the Huffington Post more.
Granted, HuffPo has its flaws: There's virtually no quality control (anyone can post articles to the site, and there's no fact-checking or vetting of writers), most authors aren't paid for their work, and the political slant is obvious. (In all honesty, I kind of appreciate that last point. Why pretend to be unbiased? Be honest, already. It's not like we can't tell.) Still, after six years of business, the Internet's first real online newspaper continues to grow its solid readership and (despite the previously stated shortcomings) it boasts a stable of high-profile contributors who don't need to make a living through writing: Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore, Madonna, Barack Obama, Kenneth Cole, Donatella Versace, Bill Maher, and Larry David have all joined in.
When the Grecian goddess/media mogul addressed Friday's invite-only crowd, she trumpeted the benefits of getting 8 hours of sleep, and the importance of unplugging from technology before sitting down with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings for an on-stage interview.
Ms. Huff was a charming, funny and lively interviewer, and Hastings—Fortune's Businessperson of the Year--was a gracious guest. He told onlookers that he planned to use the wealth he is currently amassing to improve the country's schools, and that he thanks the heavens each end every morning for having access to clean water.
It was the perfect night: Dinner and the movie guy, hosted by Huffington. And as I took it in, I was increasingly happy with my decision. I'm glad I passed on seeing STP at BlackBerry's CES party, even though my friends did say it was awesome.