media round-up

• so, i think that two of the best shows on (broadcast) TV are "las vegas" and "next best thing: who is the greatest celebrity impersonator?" this is because these are the two shows who actually accomplish what they set out to do, which is not much admittedly.
  

• buffy the vampire slayer: where have you been all my life?!

• stephen merchant, longtime collaborator with ricky gervais, and who plays gervais's agent on "extras," has the funniest face in the history of humanity

• i admit it: i am listening to the final harry potter book. and loving it. i've listened to all the previous ones. while i absolutely understand the objections to adults reading children's literature, i would like to briefly defend my little pleasure. first of all, i listen to it while running, and it lets me run a lot longer than i would have had i been listening to my running music, e.g. janet jackson's "nasty" for the hudred thousandth time. second, i have relatively happy memories (mostly) of adolescence and teenagehood and times when you get an idea of how you'll turn out, times you feel like a loser, times you start to feel in control of your life, and times when you become disillusioned with various authority figures. these books seem to represent these totally fairly and are one of the few bits of popular culture that treat teenagers as though they are people with things to say and valid opinions. i happen to like that. but whatever, it's also just fun.

• related to my religion rant, i just want to make sure i spread the word as much as possible, that mel gibson's "the passion of the christ" shows jesus INVENTING THE TABLE. in one of his flashbacks while he is being tortured and killed (the only important things that he did). as in, THE TABLE. that we use every day. he's hammering and sawing away as a carpenter and his mother comes over and asks what he's working on and he says something for eating, and she doesn't believe it and to convince her he mimes sitting and eating on it. I AM NOT KIDDING. i cannot believe i live in a world where this does not induce universal eye-rolling.