Redemption Song

There, she sang it like the album version. Everyone happy?

Portlandia - "Battlestar Galactica"

This is spot on. I've never seen Battlestar Galactica specifically, but I have definitely gotten on a role with several shows and watched entire seasons back to back to back over a series of days. Great television shows on DVD can be quite addicting.

The Layover - San Francisco

Apparently Anthony Bourdain has a new show called The Layover, which premiers tonight. In a few episodes he visits San Francisco, and I was surprised to hear this born and raised New York chef say–to the New York Times, no less–that San Francisco is his favorite city in America for food:

Q. Favorite city for eating in the United States?

A. Anyone who doesn’t have a great time in San Francisco is pretty much dead to me. You go there as a snarky New Yorker thinking it’s politically correct, it’s crunchy granola, it’s vegetarian, and it surprises you every time. It’s a two-fisted drinking town, a carnivorous meat-eating town, it’s dirty and nasty and wonderful…

Take that, Nate Appleman! Go make a burrito.

Portlandia - "Sanitation Twins"

Allen Gregory

Radiohead - "Fake Plastic Trees"

Pretty awesome clip of Radiohead performing on Conan O'Brien way back in 1995. Interesting to note Conan's comment at the start that Radiohead was the first band to perform on Conan O'Brien ever. Nice way to start things off. Not to mention that means they were performing prior to The Bends, when, to be honest, they were a one-hit wonder and no one had any foresight to see they would be as important as they became.

Anyway, this is a great performance with lots of heart, clearly a band that is still hungry and has yet to become cynical from years of success and interviews and touring and playing "Creep" 50 times a month. I also love Thom Yorke's inability to hit the note for "be" in "and if I could be, who you wanted" both times at the end. He's human, after all.

Miles Fisher - "New Romance"

Miles Fisher is sort of a Jack of all entertainment trades. He's appeared on Mad Men and Gossip Girl (both times as a drug dealer), and is famous for his impressions, most notably interviewing Tom Cruise at the MTV Movie awards as Tom Cruise. His previous music video was for his cover of "This Must Be The Place", where he parodies American Psycho to perfection. If you haven't seen that, definitely click here to watch it. Here is his parody of Saved By The Bell for his new movie Final Destination 5, featuring the cast of the movie.

[Thanks to The Sassmouth Chronicles]

James Spader - The Office

One of the best performances on television in a long time. I've always loved James Spader, and this character is perfect for him.

Flash Mob

Okay, whoever is doing the commercials for AT&T knows what's up. Here's another one I like.

UPDATE: Turns out it's the ad agency BBDO Worldwide. Well done, people.

Cool Dad

Since there are so many horrible, terrible, awful commercials on television (not that I see many anymore with the ol' DVR), I am really pleased when there's a commercial that is actually well done, like this one. Not life changing, but I like it. So it gets posted on my blog, where millions upon millions of THE most important trend setters visit on a daily basis. You're welcome AT&T.

Scala and Kolacny Brothers - "Creep"

Dave Grohl Is Not A Gleek

“It’s every band’s right, you shouldn’t have to do fucking Glee. And then the guy who created Glee is so offended that we’re not, like, begging to be on his fucking show… fuck that guy for thinking anybody and everybody should want to do Glee. I watched 10 minutes. It’s not my thing. The Glee guy, what a fucking jerk. Slash was the first one. He wanted to do Guns ‘n’ Roses and Slash is like, ‘I hate fucking musicals. It’s worse than Grease.’ Then [Murphy's] like, ‘Well, of course he’d say that, he’s a washed up ol’ rock star, that’s what they fucking do.’ And then Kings of Leon say, ‘No, we don’t want to be on your show.’ And then he’s like, ‘Snotty little assholes…’ And it’s just like, Dude, maybe not everyone loves Glee. Me included.”

The Strokes On SNL

Performing "Under Cover of Darkness" and "Life Is Simple In The Moonlight", respectively.

My Life!

This classic Mr. Show sketch has been on my mind of late. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and watch it now. That way, if I ever exclaim "My life!", you'll understand the reference and we can laugh about it, rather than you just staring at me with a blank expression. It's really best this way for both of us so just watch it already.

It's...Pretty Cool

Miley Cyrus is an annoying twat. I'm thankful for her existence, however, because it has produced, 1) an incredibly amazing cover of her song "See U Again" by The Mae Shi, and 2) this sketch on Saturday Night Live skewering her piercing voice, lack of talent, and inability to finish a sentence without at least once uttering the word "cool" or "awesome". Thank you SNL (and The Mae Shi) for helping me quell my disdain for this wretched lump.

Black Friday

Conan

In case you missed it, Conan's new late night show on TBS premiered last night, and boy did he kill it. This video is the cold open that started things off. It was followed by a spot-on monologue that addressed much of his NBC fall-out. Conan looked like he had a skip in his step, and really really happy to be back. Not as happy as all of us were, though. Welcome back, Coco!

Be Here Now

I must say, this Windows Phone commercial absolutely nails it. I'll be the first to admit, I'm totally guilty of acting this way, which is maybe why it resonates with me so much! I particularly like the guy dropping his phone in the urinal and the woman in her lingerie being ignored by her man in bed.

The best part of this ad, however, is the tagline at the end: "Be here now." If you're not familiar, that's the title of a wonderful book you should check out if you haven't already.

Well done, Windows Phone advertising people.

Running Wilde

Here's a trailer for Will Arnett's new upcoming TV show on Fox, debuting September 21, 2010. Apparently David Cross will also be on the show. These are all good things. The trailer isn't that great, but I will definitely be tuning in simply on principal.

Mad Men's New Copywriter

I've joined the cast of Mad Men!

Identical match.

To Mad Men yourself, click here.