MJ Thriller Night for the Gathering Place

On Friday night I went to a Michael Jackson-themed dance party to benefit the Gathering Place in Athens.  It was a lot of fun and as great idea to raise money for their transportation fund. 

Here’s a video I did about the evening for The Post.

Anderson Cooper reports for Sesame Street

I love this!  I had a friend show me this and I couldn’t help myself from passing it on.  Anderson Cooper is great for playing along with this Sesame Street bit.

SNL mocks Goldman Sachs for access to vaccine

 

Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler made fun of Goldman Sachs in last week's episode of SNL.

I know this had nothing to do with Athens, but I saw this SNL weekend update bit with Seth Meyers, reunited with former co-host Amy Poehler, on their segment, “REALLY?!? With Seth And Amy” last Saturday and I couldn’t help but laugh.

 

They are funny… and unfortunately true. Sometimes I wish that in the news business we could just say some of these things out loud. So many times I have done interviews where I just wanted to ask, “REALLY? Are you serious?” I have bit my tongue, and managed to ask that same kind of thing in a more polite way, I hope.

In this segment, Poehler and Meyers mock Goldman Sachs for securing swine flu vaccines for employees at a time when hospitals are struggling to offer enough of the high-demand vaccine. It puts a funny twist to this all too true scenario.

The stupid stuff we buy

Have you ever been watching a commercial and thought it was so over-the-top it had to be fake?  Or ever wondered, “who would buy that?”

And there are just too many…The “Bump It”?  Hysterical.  The “Tiddy Bear”? Are you serious.  The “Facial Flex”? Is that really necessary.

The "Tiddy Bear" is another great invention that I am sure many Americans are jumping to buy.

 

Well, The Huffington Post has compiled a list of the “15 Stupidest Products Of All Time” and I must say this had me laughing and only confirmed that Americans create and buy some pretty dumb stuff.

Enjoy!

‘This Is It’ carries on Jackson’s legacy

"This Is It" celebrates Jackson's talent. Photo by Kevin Mazur, Getty Images.

Last night I went and saw “This Is It,” the video account of Michael Jackson’s preparations for his last tour, and I must admit– I was very impressed. I, like so many other, got a little overwhelmed with all of the Michael Jackson coverage following his death and I was a little hesitant to see this movie. I was afraid this was another last-ditch effort to keep the “King of Pop” in the spotlight so that others could make money off of him. With that said, I finally bought a ticket and I went to see it and I was very pleased that I did.

Now before you judge the bias of this post, I consider myself an “MJ” fan. I am no crazed fan who knows all of the lyrics to all of his songs. I have never been to a concert, I have never bought one of his CDs, I don’t listen to his music every day. I do rock out to some of his songs and you can find many of his hits on my iPod. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy listening to “Billie Jean,” “Black and White,” or “Thriller”?

Even as a peripheral fan, I loved “This Is It.”

I went in expecting them to use video tapes from the most recent concert rehearsals sprinkled with sad clips from news segments following his death. I was certain they would play coverage from the day of this death and the events surrounding his death. But, I was mistaken. The movie only showed clips from his concert that was to begin in London only eight days after his death. I was actually really glad that they didn’t show news clips about his life and death. The movie focused on the tour and that was it. It was happy and uplifting instead of sad and depressing.

Sure, it was sad that Michael Jackson is now dead; however, I think it painted him in a positive light as a dedicated performer and vocalist, a kind and instructive leader and an inspiration to every on the tour.

I guess it had never really occurred to me that the crew of the “This Is It” tour had everything ready to go for the tour. Watching them rehearse was amazing, but also slightly depressing. They all worked so hard and had literally everything ready to go when Michael Jackson died. I can’t even imagine the pain they felt when they lost him. It would have been an opportunity of a life time to tour with him.

And planning that went into the show was amazing! I am glad they made this movie, otherwise the amazing special effects and creations could never been seen by more than just the technicians and crew that practiced with MJ. The tour included a remake of “Thriller” in 3D and newly digitalized movies to correspond with “They Don’t Really Care About Us” and “Smooth Criminal.”

Jackson’s last tour was one that combined some of his new music with old favorites that I’m sure would have pleased crowds around the world. “Beat It” and “Billie Jean” made the cut along with some of the original dance moves.

Michael Jackson will be greatly missed but “This Is It” remains as a lasting legacy of his accomplishments, talent and personality.

Jon Stewart mocks CNN’s fact-checking

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show poked fun of CNN after they fact-checked an SNL skit on the Oct. 12 show.

When CNN did some fact-checking on an Saturday Night Live sketch, Jon Stewart appropriately made fun of them on the Oct. 12 episode of The Daily Show on Comedy Central. Check it out.

The Office mimics YouTube wedding dance

Sometimes I wonder if I should just remake my blog about The Office, as much as I talk about it…but I just couldn’t help myself from blogging about last night’s fabulous episode that captured Jim and Pam’s wedding.

The episode had many memorable moments, but one of the best was when, unannounced to Jim and Pam (John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer), the wedding party commenced with a spin on the “JK Wedding Entrance Dance” made famous on YouTube.  Now I know that I may be a little biased in the fact that I absolutely love this show, but I think this, once again, shows some brilliance in NBC‘s writing by tieing a recent pop culture phenomenon with the show.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Jim and Pam’s wedding was much anticipated by fans and their use of an actual wedding Web site only heightened the thrill.  NBC capitalized on the fan’s interests and used online media as a way to satisfy viewers’ wants.  By mimicking the wedding entrance dance, complete with Chris Brown’s music, it only reaffirms that online media is everywhere and so much a part of our lives that it can be referenced in a major network’s prime time show and still be successful.

Now maybe not everyone knew about the JK wedding entrance and felt out of the loop.  My roommate had never seen the YouTube video and I promptly logged onto the site to show her the humorous wedding dance, only to find that it was painfully slow to download–no doubt because many other people were trying to access it at the same time.  So what I may see as a ubiquitous video, may not be as common with some populations as I think.  What was the funniest part of the episode to me, may be have lost some others.

Regardless, the Halpert-Beesly wedding was all that I hoped it would be and only reaffirmed the brilliance of NBC’s use of online media.

The Office’s Jim and Pam are getting married

The Office's Jim and Pam are getting married!

Okay, I know this sounds like soap opera drama and yes, I am aware that I am sucked into the lives of two fictional characters, but I can’t help but smile when Jim and Pam launched their own wedding Web site last week.

The wedding is part of the NBCs show, The Office, which has told of the trials of the relationship between a salesman and a receptionist at a Pennsylvania paper company.  The Web site has foax engagement picutres reveals wedding details as they are mentioned in the show.  There is currently a section about the couple and guest information and location tabs after Pam disclosed that information in the Sept. 24 episode.  Other unknowns on the page are the video blog and the registry.

This Web site is just  one more of NBC’s genius ways of getting fans involved in the show.  NBC launched Dunder Mifflin Infinity to encourage fans to play social networking games relating to The Office.  Even the show’s page on the NBC Web site offers interactive features such as photo slideshows, games, message boards and a twitter feed to keep fans intersted and involved.

I may be a little biased–this is one of my favorite shows, but I applaud this show’s efforts to attract more fans and keep the die-hard viewers.