Rejected shorthand notations for Washington Mutual:
WasMut - But, remarkably, now is a purebred.
WashMutu - But tell him before you chase him with a scrub brush.
WashiMutua - Didn't he play right field for the Yomiuri Giants?
1. Evidently, a doctor was the one who drew the short straw to tell her on behalf of the American public.
2. Simpson wasn't even in the room at the time of the diagnosis; the doctor had just listened to "A Public Affair."
3. Simpson proceeded to sandwich her neck between a tiny mattress and smaller pillow.
4. The PR reps would have you believe she lost her voice, but that's assuming she had one to begin with.
5. The same orders were given to Ashlee Simpson, who feels perfectly fine.
Here's the actual CNN story, sans cutting wit.
Although the actual Emmy nominees and winners were a disaster outside of "The Office" winning for best comedy (can we have a Shaloub moratorium, please?), at least the show's opening sequence was a winner, thanks to ConeBone.
On Sunday night, I was actually watching the season finale and third-to-last broadcast of "Deadwood" (ahem... best drama... ahem), "Flavor of Love 2" and "Who Wants To Be A Superhero?", so BestWeekEver.tv also caught me up on a brilliant Red Carpet snippet (not involving cleavage) and more sublimely awkward moments from the show itself.
Astronomers have stripped Pluto of its planetary status.
Fearing a slippery slope, a cartoon character contacts his lawyer immediately. The lawyer reassures the pup that just about the only thing Disney could strip from him is his collar.
Update! Check out Elephant Larry's post on the same topic, as well as the subsequent comments. Brilliant!
I realize that "Snakes On A Plane" could never live up to its title or hype (see: uninspiring $15 million opening weekend), but Samuel L. Jackson bossing around your friends to see the movie absolutely does.
1. This Christina Aguilera lyric from the otherwise-brilliant "Ain't No Other Man" was sent via courier from the Department of the Office of Redundancy Department:
On Monday night in New York City, I witnessed the following word forged into a nameplate on the headrest of a man's wheelchair:
The following link to an MSN feature story -- not an advertisement -- was highlighted on the log-in page of my Hotmail account:
"Women: Avoid these get-rich-quick scams"
Among the possible loose translations:
"Women: Don't fall for stuff that men will recognize as a scam."
"Men: We're only looking out for the benefit of women, so we don't care if you fall for this stuff."
Supposed fact: Liquids were banned from flights after an international bust of a terrorist plot.
Conspiracy theory: No such plot existed, rather a tacit agreement among international flight executives allowed "undercover agents" to stage a sting to allow floundering airlines to reap additional revenues through overpriced on-flight beverages.
I'm looking at you, World Aviation Transportation Ethics Regime*!
*Supposed fact: This organization is not real. Conspiracy theory: Or is it?
Dear new Cast Member/Featured Player,
Congratulations for making the cast of "Saturday Night Live"! As you know, our Opening Credits are just as much a part of our storied tradition as Weekend Update and that "experimental" sketch with 10 minutes to go, so we strongly advise that you incorporate one or more of the following elements for our world-famous introduction:
1. Pose with a drink or food.
2. Laugh at an imaginary joke.
3. Look surprised.
4. Look confused.
5. Walk in the street.
6. Nod or shake your head.
7. Talk to someone off-camera.
8. Appear in -- or next to -- a limo, cab, subway or car.
9. Surround yourself with women.
10. Be Don Pardo.
Please note that if you are a Featured Player, we reserve the right to use your crappy headshot to represent you in the Opening Credits. We don't want to waste precious film on a performer we'll drop in a year or two.
Oh, and please be funny on the actual show.
Sincerely,
The Opening Credits People
cc: LM
Earlier this year, I remember seeing ads for "Take The Lead," yet another movie about young dancers overcoming the odds while falling in love. It made an uninspiring $30 million at the box office with a cast that included Antonio Banderas and a cast of unknowns.
Now, I'm seeing ads for "Step Up," which not only looks 90 percent identical to "Take The Lead," but also features one of the same cast members: Jenna Dewan.
It's bad enough you're remaking a stale movie. It's worse when you don't bother to recast it.
On a sweltering Wednesday night, my T-shirt changed from light brown to dark brown while waiting for a Metro-North train. Desperate for some relief, I was angrily reminded that the platforms' weather-protected booths only generate heat in winter, not cool air in summer.
Why must the seasonists continue to discriminate? Because people in public can always put more clothes on rather than take more off, it's far more important to provide air conditioning in these mini-shelters than heat.
Train station shelter contractors need more temperature sensitivity training.
Earlier this week, I had a dream that I had won a contest to host "Saturday Night Live." The episode I hosted was so bad, they canceled the show immediately and SNL ceased to be. Leave it to me to shut down a television institution.
Sadly, this is not the first time my dreamland SNL hosting experience resulted in disaster.
When T.I. drops his next album, he should pick it up off the floor and call it "42."
How in the world would I come up with such an abstract suggestion for "The Jay-Z of the South"? Credit the Metropolitan Transportation Authority yet again for being my muse.
One day a couple of months ago, while taking the subway in Midtown, I lost track of where I was and could only see part of a tile on the subway wall an inch or two beyond the top of the window:
The first thing that registered in my brain was "T.L." (lowercase T, curvy, modern L).
It took a couple of seconds to figure out I was at the 42nd Street stop.
Then it took a few more seconds to realize that if there were ever a group called "T.L.," that'd make for a cool album cover.
A few days passed before I realized that T.I. could tweak that image to suit his needs.
Pow! Now he can take advantage of merchandising opportunities, selling jerseys with the 42/T.I. logo on them.
You're welcome, Clifford Joseph Harris Jr.!
How can you not root for Chorizo, the newest competitor in the Milwaukee Brewers' Sausage Race? Olé!
But before you subject yourself to a spice-induced Chorizo fever, realize that Major League Baseball ordered the Brewers to wait until 2007 to include him in the race, per mascot policy.
Mascot policy? As my friend Valentina wrote, "MLB has mascot regulations but they haven't figured out the steroid debacle yet? Glad to see they have their priorities in order."
