If you’ve ever wondered what Layla, Smoke on the Water, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Honky Tonk Woman sound like in Japanese, now you know. With puppets. More episodes of the TV show What’s Entertainment? can be seen at TV in Japan.

I won't belabor the point that the marketing for The Simpsons movie looks to be way more creative than anything the movie itself could provide. Too many blog post already point to the rest. But I had to stop for a moment and acknowledge the genius of this one. Buy the field NEXT to an ancient monument, use biodegradable paint, and enrage a nation of stuffy academics.. Classic.

You're traveling through another dimension - a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead— your next stop, Planet Hiltron!

"Hairspray" ***1/2 (out of four): Perfectly coiffed adaptation of the John Waters movie-turned-musical-turned movie bubbles over with fine performances, zippy musical numbers and John Travolta's stellar work in a fat suit.

With the sour scent of 2005’s hit-movie-turned-hit-musical-turned-lousy-movie “The Producers” still in the air, “Hairspray” had a lot to prove. What a relief then that Adam Shankman’s adaptation of the Broadway musical, based on the 1988 John Waters film, is such a joy. Mr. Shankman, who directed and choreographed, perfectly captures the tone, pace and color scheme of those classic let’s-put-on-a-show-in-our-parent’s-barn musicals we haven’t seen in a long time, and “Hairspray” is filled to the brim with fine performances, zippy musical numbers and John Travolta’s stellar work in a fat suit.

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Like a bad case of the hiccups, The Friday Fifteen refuses to go away. Actually, I've been looking for better streaming solutions, since LastFM lacks many of the tracks I've been wanting to include. Just today, I discovered SeeqPod which scrapes mp3's off the web and streams them in a player. So far, so good. I'm in a Tom Waits mood so this Friday Fifteen set is all about Mr. Waits, one of the most amazing songwriters and performers on the planet, and that's a fact.

Have a great weekend!

Week 6 shall be forever known as the "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" week. Maybe it's something in the stars - it happened to my friend and now it happened to me

Here's a little conundrum. Look at the above deformed and scarred leg, and guess which celebrity it is. Here's a clue - she's a woman, and appeared on national TV in the last week.

Add another to the collection of Thriller recreation videos. Over 1,500 inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines participate in the Thriller dance. Well, what else are you going to do with all that free time? What I’d like to see would be the auditions for the girlfriend role.

Most notable for the extensive collection of "then and now" video clips, featuring what they said then, and what they deny saying now.