What Wang Watches

The Daily Show, in Berkeley:



(link for those of you reading this on Facebook)

Over the years I've been known to get excited any time I see Vancouver on TV or the movies, in places like: Smallville; Hockey Night in Canada; X-Men 3; and most notably Juno, which gets extra points for including lots of scenes in Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam. This is the very first time I remember getting really excited about seeing Berkeley on TV.

Bonus! In conversation with Dickolas (Random quotes from my past, provided with some context)

me:

[walking by the Army recruiting booth outside the basketball game] So this is the Army's recruiting effort: a Hummer painted with Army logos, a single inflatable free-throw game, and a covered tent? That's like something Pepsi would use... and it's not as good as what Pepsi would have.

Allan:

Well, it's an inferior product.

Vampire Weekend, on SNL:



(link for those of you reading on Facebook)

I'm sure there's all kinds of Vampire Weekend backlash ("more like Vampire Asshole"¹) but hey, I only just found out who they are -- I think I've heard "A-Punk" on the radio but didn't know who it was -- and I love this shit so far. It really appeals to my inner XTC fan, as well as my inner part-that-wants-to-like-the-Police. My first instinct, actually, was that it sounds a bit like what I remember of the bits of Paul Simon's Graceland-era concerts they show on PBS pledge drives. It made me want to check out Graceland-era Paul Simon, but I clicked on one link on YouTube and didn't have the patience to get through the whole thing. I'll keep trying.

Aw heck, more Vampire Weekend on SNL:



(link for you excellent Facebookers out there)

Hawksley Workman's new single:

(link for everyone, because embedding is disabled)

Note to self: buy Hawksley Workman's new album over Spring Break.

Hawksley Workman's old single, featuring an Oscar-winning actress:



(Knock knock. Who's there? link²)

A sporting massacre:



(You know what, Facebookers, that "View Original Post" link at the top isn't there for my health.)

I fully expect the Americans to say I'm an idiot, but the Canadians will appreciate.

Current Music: Vampire Weekend - Mansard Roof

1. also, Vampire Weaksauce
2. Link who?

Justin Timberlake is the new Alec Baldwin

Last night's episode of Saturday Night Live destroyed me: Justin Timberlake was great as the host and musical performer. I hope that he'll become a Christopher Walken/Alec Baldwin/Steve Martin, a once-a-season host for SNL.

Because of his undeniable talent as a singer and dancer, he has amazing comedic range. This sketch killed me:

There's even a nutshot!

But this was the pièce de résistance -- one for the ages. (There's an official "uncensored" version on YouTube put up by NBC themselves, but I am posting this one because I feel it's funnier with the bleeps. Even so, I wouldn't watch it at work.)
(EDIT (12:14AM Dec. 22/06): The censored version got pulled by NBC so here's the uncensored version.)

Backstage at the CMAs!

As an aside, am I the only person who loves the new season of SNL? Unlike many (most?) people, I am a big fan of the Tina Fey years, especially the last couple where I felt that the show took a big step away from energy-over-wit (cf. the Spartans and Mary Katherine Gallagher), and took a step towards good, old-fashioned, dirty jokes (like Colonel Angus), the absurd (who could forget More Cowbell), and nerd humour (eg. Lazy Sunday). Seth Meyers as the head writer and the rest of the writing staff have continued down that path, and the style is now closer to what I think of as contemporary internet humour, which as we all know I am a big fan of. Trimming the cast appears to have been a good decision: by cutting three players and not adding any new ones, everyone in the cast gets more of a chance to perform, and that's a good thing, because by and large the cast is a much more polished and versatile one than they've had since I've been watching.

Current Music: Justin Timberlake - What Goes Around

EDIT (10:39AM 18/12/2006): Corrected some poorly-worded sentences