Kelly Kapoor: A Tribute

A tribute to one of the less noticed, but extremely glamorous, Kelly Kapoor. She is pretty much full of awesome. So enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC_B6uaZ1I8

Update: FOX Receives Overwhelming (Positive) Response to 'Simpsons' Episode on Islamophobia

Good job, guys!

FOX RECEIVES OVERWHELMING RESPONSE TO ‘SIMPSONS’ EPISODE ON ISLAMOPHOBIA

(LOS ANGELES, CA, 12/4/08) Following an action alert sent out yesterday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Fox television network reported receiving an overwhelming positive response from community members about a recent episode of “The Simpsons” that challenged anti-Muslim stereotypes.

The episode, which aired Sunday evening and is titled "Mypods and Boomsticks," highlights anti-Muslim sentiment by featuring a young Muslim character named Bashir and his family who face prejudice after moving to Springfield. In the program, Homer Simpson wrongly suspects that Bashir's family is involved in a terror plot. Bart Simpson befriends Bashir and defends him from bullies.

To view the entire episode, click here:

SEE: Thank Fox for 'Simpsons' Episode Challenging Islamophobia

To view CAIR’s letter to “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, click here.

Because of the number of positive e-mails Fox is receiving, CAIR is asking community members to send notes of appreciation to a new e-mail address that has been set up by the network’s diversity department.

ACTION REQUESTED:

Send future messages expressing appreciation for the episode to:

Peter Liguori, Chairman, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Co.; Dana Walden, Chairman, Twentieth Century Fox Television; Gary Newman, Chairman, Twentieth Century Fox Television.

E-mail: diversity.quest@fox.com
COPY TO: info@losangeles.cair.com
Fax: (310) 969-0210

There be Mozlems on The Simpsons!

Confession: one of my life goals (which still stands since like... age 8) was to be a voice on The Simpsons. I recently updated to be the first Muslim and/or the first hijabi. That would've been awesome.

And now my dreams lay crushed. Shattered. Cuz it's been done (click to watch).

Sigh. It's cool though. No, really, I'm over it. Not a big deal. CAIR's sent out an action alert, though, urging people to thank Fox (how often does THAT happen) and the Simpsons producers for their awesome episode. Also, CAIR said that you all should recommend me as another voice. No, seriously. They just forgot to type it up.

Seriously. Totally over it.

THANK FOX FOR 'SIMPSONS' EPISODE CHALLENGING ISLAMOPHOBIA

(LOS ANGELES, CA, 12/3/08) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on American Muslims and other people of conscience to thank the Fox television network and the creator of "The Simpsons" for a recent episode that used comedy to challenge Islamophobia.

The episode, which aired Sunday evening and is titled "Mypods and Boomsticks," highlights anti-Muslim sentiment by featuring a young Muslim character named Bashir and his family who face prejudice after moving to Springfield. In the program, Homer Simpson wrongly suspects that Bashir's family is involved in a terror plot. Bart Simpson befriends Bashir and defends him from bullies.

To view the entire episode, click here.

CAIR's Greater Los Angeles Area office (CAIR-LA) sent a letter today to the show's creator Matt Groening thanking him for challenging anti-Muslim prejudice.

The letter said Sunday's episode "brought to light how Americans can work toward mutual respect and inclusion by getting to know their neighbors." It went on to state: "The episode also builds on the values that have made America the great nation it is a nation in which citizenship is about finding common ground and building a better society. American Muslims have been doing just that by making daily contributions to our society that often go unrecognized."

"Because of its acceptance in popular culture, comedy is often one of the best vehicles for challenging stereotypes and intolerance," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. "Fox and Matt Groening are to be congratulated for tackling the disturbing phenomenon of Islamophobia."

ACTION REQUESTED:

Send a message expressing appreciation for highlighting both anti-Muslim attitudes and the need for mutual respect and inclusion in our society.

E-Mail: peter.liguori@fox.com (Peter Liguori, Chairman, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Co.); dana.walden@fox.com (Dana Walden, Chairman, Twentieth Century Fox Television); gary.newman@fox.com (Gary Newman, Chairman, Twentieth Century Fox Television) COPY TO: info@losangeles.cair.com

NBA's "There Can Only Be One" Commercial Compilation

Well, "compilation." Good commercial series, NBA

Watch it.

Fox Network Picks up "Little Mosque on the Prairie"

No, seriously. Fox. FOX!!!

Mark Your Calendars!

List of when all your favorite TV shows are coming back.

After the strike: When are your favorite shows coming back?

Back to thinking, until my TV's back.

"Why NBA Television Programming Sucks: Q&A With Sports Media Watch " (Hardwood Paroxysm)

We've made our hatred of the way NBA National Television Programming is set up pretty obvious. But we wanted to get some answers to our questions. We did a brief Q&A with Paulsen from Sports Media Watch, a fantastic site for covering everything media related in sports.

Hey, *I* learned things, but that's not saying much. It explains a bunch of issues about why the NBA scheduling sucks, especially given the flexibility allotted to some networks; plus, some interesting thoughts on what the Turner (TNT) /NBA TV deal could mean for our broadcasting.

Read It Here.

Conan's Strike Diary

Very amusing, short (4 very short pages), and worth the read.

Check it out.

"Strike Beard"

Late Night with Conan O'Brien returns on Jan. 2nd, but if you can't wait, you can head over to http://www.latenightunderground.com/ to get your Conan fix. You can learn about Conan's strike beard, or who draws that Conan O'Brien doodle you see everywhere, or just see the daily (bored) antics of the few writers left on staff. Ah, television. How I miss thee.

(Kinda. I only occasionally catch Conan's monologue nowadays.).

http://www.latenightunderground.com/

TDS -- "Secular Central"

There is seriously a dearth of Jaan Stewart in my life. So I browse the archives for memories past.

Apparently, the liberal, secular fags at Comedy Central have fired a devastating year old, 6 second long joke that barely makes sense anymore, across the bow of Christianity.

The original Sam Bee thing from 2004.

Simpson Stills and Their Reference Movies

The Simpsons is the epitome of pop culture, making reference to tons of movies, tv shows, current events, politics, etc etc. I loved this list comparing stills from The Simpsons and their movie counterparts. Enjoy!

Link/

TDS - Three Generations of “America to the Rescue”

In perhaps the most brilliant segment on “The Daily Show” I’ve ever seen, last night Jon ran through the last three decades of United States intervention in the Middle East to show how incoherent, ass-backwards and counter-productive it has been.

Link to Video

One of the commenters (-ors? i dunno) from the site: "Your average ditto-head doesn’t want to hear history lessons. It’s easier just to say they hate us for our freedom. If you can figure out a way to condense decades of history into a catch phrase that fits on a bumper sticker, people might get it."

so sad, so true.

Petition for "Arrested Development" Christmas Special

When faced with reviving "Arrested Development" early last year, creator Mitch Hurwitz wasn't optimistic it could be done.

Eddie Wrenn isn't taking "wasn't optimistic it could be done" for an answer.

Wrenn, a reporter in Northamptonshire, England, launched www.arrested development2009.com last month, an online petition aimed at Hurwitz, producer Ron Howard and the rest of the show's execs to bring the Bluth family back for a Christmas special.

"I just want the idea in everyone's heads now, just so when it comes to early 2009, and everyone's planning their work-diaries, perhaps Mitch Hurwitz will call the other producers and the cast and say, 'Are we gonna do this?' "

Source
Sign Here

The Tank Man - Frontline (PBS)

Absolutely amazing documentary. Don't multitask while watching -- the footage is incredible.

Watch the full program online here. (90 mins, realplayer)

On June 5, 1989, one day after the Chinese army's deadly crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, a single, unarmed young man stood his ground before a column of tanks on the Avenue of Eternal Peace. Captured on film and video by Western journalists, this extraordinary confrontation became an icon of the struggle for freedom around the world.

Seventeen years later, veteran filmmaker Antony Thomas goes to China in search of "The Tank Man." Who was he? What was his fate? And what does he mean for a China that today has become a global economic powerhouse?

Drawing on interviews with Chinese and Western eyewitnesses, Thomas recounts the amazing events of the spring of 1989, when a student protest that began in Tiananmen Square, the symbolic central space of the nation, spread throughout much of the rest of China.

President Bush v. Governor Bush

i love this show.

A debate between President George W Bush vs Texas Governor George W Bush...from the year 2000 (circa conan o'brien... okay, not really). remember when everyone was throwing a fit about "flip flopping"? yea, okay.



Link

Little Mosque on the Prairie -- New Muslim Sitcom Debuts in Canadia

Muslim sitcom debuts in Canada
By Lee Carter
BBC News, Toronto

Braving Toronto's cold and drizzle, the show's writer and creator Zarqa Nawaz explains that the inspiration for the show came from her own experiences as a Muslim woman who made a life-changing move to the provincial prairie city of Regina to work in a mosque.

"People of different Islamic ideologies had to live together and deal with one another," she says.

"I thought it would be interesting to do a series about what life is like in a mosque in a small community."

The plot follows a Canadian-born imam as he makes a similar move from a big city to the Saskatchewan town of Mercy (pop. 10,000), where he encounters a colourful array of characters, both in the town's Muslim and non-Muslim communities.

"It's very unusual, because usually the Imam is imported from overseas and there's often a cultural disconnect," says Ms Nawaz.

"I thought it would be interesting to have an imam with Canadian cultural sensibilities having to deal with the immigrant men for a change."

The new modern-thinking Imam comes up against more conservative individuals in his community, including his predecessor, whose sermons had been largely preoccupied with corroding western influences such as TV shows like Desperate Housewives.

In the first episode, other stock characters are introduced, such as a local right-wing radio shock jock (whose first question to the imam is "Are you a terrorist?"), a local priest who rents the parish hall for the new mosque, and a rural bumpkin who is absolutely convinced of a terrorist plot on every corner.

The jokes about racial profiling and terrorism, are defended by the Director of Network Programming for the CBC, Kirstine Layfield.

"It is daring in the sense that it's bringing it out again and discussing it in kind of an honest but funny way," she says.

"But humour comes from truth and this is exactly what certain groups of people are experiencing right now."

It remains to be seen whether Canadians will embrace the show, or even find it funny.

But there's been no shortage of attention for the show, including plenty from south of the border. US TV news organisations have been intrigued enough by the show's subject matter to send crews up to a neighbouring country they largely ignore.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6244199.stm

CNN Paula Zahn Special on the show

Even Stevphens on The Daily Show

one of my favorite segments on the daily show... and it is no more :(

10 F#!cking Years: Best of Even Stevphen



Watch More Here

Obama not Osama: CNN Apologizes For Name Glitch

CNN apology over Obama name slip

US broadcaster CNN has apologised after mistakenly putting the name of US Senator Barack Obama as a caption on a story about Osama Bin Laden.

An advertisement for a feature about the whereabouts of the al-Qaeda leader carried the caption "Where's Obama?" over images of Bin Laden.

CNN has apologised for "a very bad typographical error".

A spokesman for Mr Obama, a potential presidential hopeful, said he accepted that it was an innocent error.

"Though I'd note that the 's' and 'b' keys aren't all that close to each other, I assume it was just an unfortunate mistake," his spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

The error happened on Monday night during presenter Wolf Blitzer's news programme "The Situation Room".

Mr Blitzer apologised on air for the slip. "I'm going to be making a call to him later this morning to offer my personal apology," he said.

Mr Obama, tipped by some to become the country's first black president, admitted in October that he was considering a White House run in 2008.

He has always been ready to deal with questions about his unusual name.

"When I first started to work in public life... people would ask: 'Hey brother, what's with your name? You called Alabama or Yo' Mama?'"

He has also acknowledged that his full name, Barack Hussein Obama, is not ideal for someone involved in politics.

Have Dwight Schrute Call You!

remember the Samuel L. Jackson thing for Snakes On A Plane? The Office has something similar now, except Dwight never tells you to get the DVD. he calls because he hearts you.

http://www.theofficedvd.com/dwight/

enjoy. i know my friends did :)
f

The Office Brings Sexy Back

i don't care how much you hate the song, it will be stuck in your head all day now. best show on television.