Weekly Sidebar Update!

Only ten days after the last one, here comes the coveted Weekly Sidebar Update! Call the neighbors, lock up the pets, turn out the lights, and enjoy.

This week's Object of My Affection is the lovely and talented Kari Byron, Mythbuster extraordinaire. When she's not having her butt computer-scanned or zapping her co-workers with stun guns (for strictly work-related reasons), she's occupied with winning my heart with her fiery red hair, twinkling eyes and infectious laugh. And, oh yeah, that butt thing. Bless her heart.

Reading: Showcase Presents Justice League of America. It lacks the insane heights (depths?) of Superman comics from the same era, but it's still pretty frickin' nuts. Over 500 pages of the greatest DC heroes (minus Batman and Superman, most of the time, due to editorial politics)? Yes, please! Although somebody needs to kill the hell out of Snapper Carr. Sample dialogue: "Like crazy, man!" STFU, Snapper.

Watching: Webisodes of The Office and Battlestar Galactica. I'm ambivalent on this whole internet-only extra content that seems to be all the rage these days -- this is coming from the frustrating perspective of a dial-up connection (YES, I'VE GOT DIAL-UP, SMART-ASS, SHUT UP NOW). But these short videos, featuring regular castmembers and firmly set in-continuity, are well worth the load time. Fantastic entertainment that's whetting my appetite for the upcoming new seasons of each series. Also: it took me, like, an hour to create that mash-up icon on Microsoft Paint. And it's still all pixely. I am technologically retarded.

Listening: Brian Regan Live. I've recently been replaying this fantastic comedy album, which makes me laugh out loud without fail on every single listen, even though I can practically recite the whole thing verbatim. Brian Regan may be my favorite comedian who's not George Carlin. Him or Jim Gaffigan; it's a toss-up. And this album is one of the funniest artifacts of the 20th century. I swear to all that is holy*, if you can listen to this album and not laugh yourself silly, I will give you a thousand dollars.

Hating: As much as I hate hackmeister supreme Michael Bay, I've been finding it even easier to hate the internet firestorm over his upcoming interpretation of Transformers. There are people out there -- and if you're one of them, you should seriously consider drowning yourself -- who are working themselves into purple-faced rage over the fact that Megatron doesn't look exactly like he did in the cartoon they watched when they were seven years old. Man, I've been known to go on rampages about George Lucas's revisions to Star Wars -- a movie which I freely admit, on reconsideration as an adult, is not actually all that good -- and these Transformers stalwarts still make me cringe. Quit it. Seriously.

And finally, Lyric of the Week is a silly bit of fun from Barenaked Ladies called "Little Tiny Song." In fact, the quoted lyric is the entirety of that song, from their Maybe You Should Drive album -- which, if you're a latecomer to BNL, is a fantastic CD that you really need to own. Promise!

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*Which is to say: nothing.