The old "Anchorman" change the script on the teleprompter never gets old. We do it all the time when filming green screen stuff in the office.
Ernie Jones, one third of TNT's "Inside the NBA" show, did to Charles Barkley recently. And the clip is all over YouTube. Here it is for your enjoyment.
- La Monica
If you're a sports fan, watching One Shining Moment at the end of the NCAA Tournament is a must-do. Doesn't matter if you hate the teams playing or if your team lost in the final.
It's just something you need to do. If you don't get goosebumps while listening to Luther Vandross sing and college players play, then you have no soul.
And with today's technology of TiVos and DVRs, if you watch it less than four times on Monday night, turn your extra Y chromosome in at the door. Watch this year's edition below.
- Mark La Monica
The new "My better is better than you better" commercials and marketing campaign for Nike's Sparq footwear and apparel is pretty cool, don't you think?
Certainly, it's their best campaign since the days of Mars Blackman (Spike Lee) and his "It's gotta be the shoes" slogan when the Air Jordans came out.
Have a look at one of the clips below and then watch the rest at nike.com. And remember, my blog is better than your blog, and my blog is already thinking about the next blog because your blog owes my blog $20.
- Bloggie Von Blog Blog
Roger Clemens sat on Capitol Hill today and said, among other things, that he never took steroids or HGH.
Brian McNamee sat on Capitol Hill today and said, among other things, that Clemens took steroids and HGH.
One of them is lying. Who is it? Who knows!
The real question Pet Rock has is this: How is it possible to both hold and televise congressional hearings of this magnitude with Frank Pentangeli's brother sitting quietly in the front row of the audience?
- Mark La Monica
Reason 31 it's cool to be a pop culturalist: I get to post this video from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit photo shoot and say "It's part of my job" without getting called into the boss' office.
Go, pop culture, go!
Q: How much longer before I take Neil Best's title for most egregious posting of attractive women?
A: At least another year. He's that good at it.
- Mark La Monica
Reason No. 48 it's cool to be a pop culturalist: I get to post the photo below and say "It's part of my job" without getting called into the boss' office.
(Reason No. 49: I get to be like my Watchdog friend Neil Best and post pictures of hot chicks and then get made fun of for it by Football friend Bob Glauber)
Indeed, it's that time of year, the time when Sports Illustrated illustrates something other than sports. Surely, someone will object to this swimsuit issue as an objectification of women, as they do every year. Anyone else ever notice that the loudest objecters are the ones furthest away from objectification? I'm just saying.
Ain't like this issue is worse than what goes in Maxim, Stuff and all those other mags.
Here's a hint for my readers: Click that pic above and see photos from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit launch party.
Again, I'm just sayin.
- Mark La Monica
We here at Pet Rock are glad we're not advertising executives who have to sit in their board rooms this morning and explain to their bosses and shareholders how and why they wasted at least $3 million on Super Bowl commercials.
Most of them were whack this year. Some were extremely whack this year. Two earned a Pet Rock chuckle (Shaq the jockey for Vitamin Water and Naomi Campbell with the reptiles dancing to "Thriller" for LifeWater). Two earned a full-on Pet Rock laugh (the mouse beating up the guy with the Doritos, and the Bud Light roadies disguised as cheese and bread).
Otherwise, they were more boring than the first three quarters of the game.
There were a few ads that suggested we visit their Web site for more. So I did. Here goes:
Thrillicious.com (SOBE LifeWater): In terms of advancing the cause of the commercial, this one wins. They offered a few more videos that helped tell the story of this commercial. Quite amusing stuff. Here's a company that just earned a new customer, at least for now. Plus, Naomi Campbell is smoking hot. I'm just sayin'.
Mytalkingstain.com (Tide): Don't bother, unless you've already filmed a spoof of a movie scene.
GoDaddy.com: Their marketing gimmick of Danica Patrick's exposure was pretty lame. Here's hoping that Fox nixed the "commercial they wanted to air" because it was dumb, not because it was inappropriate.
Watch all the Super Bowl XLII commercials below, then vote for your favorite.
Remember when you were a kid and your parents subscribed to National Geographic magazine for you? Or when you'd ask your elementary school teacher to go to the library to read it?
Yeah, they all knew what you were doing: You wanted to see the topless ladies. It's cool, no one will rat you out anymore.
Well, here comes the National Geographic Channel's Web site with another awesome reason to check them out. And this time - surprise! - it once again includes people who don't wear shirts.
The show is called Fight Science, a show that analyzes the science behind the strength and techniques of mixed martial artists from the UFC, Special Ops and self-defense. Randy "The Natural" Couture, Tito Ortiz and Bas Rutten are among the UFC fighters in this show, which debuts Sunday, Jan. 27 at 8 p.m.
But it's the online Fight Science game that you really need to peep ASAP.
It's freaking awesome!
The people at the NG's Web site built an amazing online game (and free, too!) where you can test your skills. Everything from force to balance to strength to reflexes. One minute, you're punching a dummy to build up your strength, the next you're sticking your hand out trying to catch the katana sword on the handle instead of the blade. It's very "Miyagi, chopsticks and the fly," and very cool.
Create your own profile and challenge your friends. Or log in as me (UN: petrock; PW: petrock) and let's build an uber fighter to conquer the rest of the Internet world. Help me out on the balance beam thing. It's very "Flash Gordon vs. the Baron played by Tim Daly on that crazy labryinth platform thing with the spikes" and I stink at it. Strange, seeing how much I enjoy that movie still.
Either way, just click here and play.
By Mark La Monica
Like the rest of sporting America, I've heard all the hype of Ultimate Fighting and mixed martial arts and how it's the next big thing, how it's replacing boxing, how it's the most coolest thing ever in the history of cool.
I never bought into it, which as a pop culture blogger, sounds paradoxical. How could I shun "the next big thing among males 18-34?" It's simple, really.
I watched quite a few matches on Spike, whatever they call Channel 3 on Cablevision these days, Pay-Per-View and YouTube, and they all stunk. Just a bunch of clinching and wrapping, with a few punches thrown here and there. Sounds a lot like boxing right now, doesn't it?
But after watching the Roger Huerta-Clay Guida match on Saturday night with Gimpy-knee friend Jitsu, I think I might be able to write this next sentence and believe it. Ultimate Fighting is pretty cool.
Guida reminds of when Ed Gennaro played football. He's a wild man, no, a rampaging beast. Huerta is just as high-energy, but appears more controlled.
These two nutjobs went at it hard for two rounds, with Guida presumably ahead on the scorecards. Then, early in the third round, Huerta caught Guida with a shot to the head, followed it up with more shots, then smacked a choke hold on Guida (MMA's substitute for the WWE's sleeper hold). Just like that, Guida tapped out, lost and became less ultimate than Huerta.
Of course, with a sport such as this, words don't really do it justice. You'll need to watch the match to understand. Peep SpikeTV's Ultimate Fighter site or UFC.com soon. They'll likely have video clips of the fight.
Here's something, though, that can help describe this craze: In an earlier match between Jonathan "War Machine" Koppenhaver and Jared "J-Roc" Rollins, blood flowed like a "Grey's Anatomy" marathon. At the end of the match, Koppenhaver poured a bottle of water over his head and you could see the blood come flowing out of his hair and down his back. Sick. But pretty cool since it wasn't my blood.
