Video Friday: Don't mess with the panda

The internet is wonderful for sharing the insanity that leaks from our collective brains onto film (digital or otherwise).

Without further ado, here are your time-wasters for Friday.
A guitar army.
A NYC cab explodes.
A panda that you should not refuse.
A chance encounter on The Office.
Aaaand, the worst burglar ever.

But, of course, I can't resist posting this snippet about the casting of William Adama for the Battlestar: Gallactica spinoff, Blood & Chrome.

TV tonight

Tonight SyFy Chanel premiers its new reality show Face Off in which contestants will compete to see who makes the best alien face, or something like that.

And FX animated series Archer returns for its second season, and Alan Sepinwall has this review.

As you probably know, this little show called The Office also comes on Thursday nights, and it's just been announced that Will Ferrell will be appearing for a multi-episode story arc in the near future.

Finally, in a non-TV related story: I give my mad props to the continuing ingenuity of drug traffickers.

Thundercats, Ho!

A time crunch had me considering not posting anything today, but then I saw the Thundercats were coming back to TV. Cartoon Network to be exact. Now, I don't normally watch much Cartoon Network, but I will definitely be DVRing this thing.

More important than this new show is the one on which it was based. For me that show ranks third on the all-time list of shows I loved as a kid. GI Joe and Transformers top the list if you're interested. I notice too that those latter two shows have been made into movies. So, what's holding up the Thundercats movie? Glad you asked.

No, it's not real. But it still looks pretty good. Regardless, to stave pop-culture withdrawal here's the original Thundercats intro.

Random Links

I'll admit it: I never watched Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. Well, that's not exactly true. I watched the movie, but never got into the TV show. That didn't stop me from following the show's transition into comic book form, however. I still didn't read the comic, but I knew it was there. Now, "Season Eight" is approaching its slayerific conclusion. Buffy has passed on her arcane knowledge to slayers across the globe, creating a kind of Slayer, Inc. Which is interesting because another comic book recently went in a similar direction. Coincidence?

Alas, at the end of January football fans begin hearing the mourning bells, ringing in the end of the season. For most of us the Super Bowl is pure spectacle. For fans of the two lucky teams, there awaits...spectacle also. Still, there is hope. Linda Holmes offers this gripping photo guide to help you give a damn about one of those two teams.

Perhaps you haven't heard but Hollywood has been in the process of going through its vaults and regurgitating every movie with any cultural relevance for the last ten years or so. Next up? Here's your hint: they're "lean, green, and mean."

And, finally, the Oscar nominations were released this morning. For the more cynical among you, Razzy nominations were announced yesterday.

Somehow Scream 4 completely slipped under my radar.

Ditto, X-Men: First Class. Not to say that either needs to be on anyone's radar...

In animal news, Paul the 'Pstychic' Octopus now has his very own statue.

And a new species of crawfish has been discovered. Crayfish, crawfish, crawdad, mudbug, whatever, it's a mini-lobster.

That is it for today, folks.

Big news out today for the third installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise. We now know the villains Batman will face and who will play one of those villains.

Fans of Fox's Fringe will may enjoy this music video of the recent romantic episodes of the dueling Olivias (Anna Torn).

A lot of people have been discussing the political vitriol that's been spewing about our hyper-connected cyberscape. And some have even commented that said vitriol is somewhat less vitriolic since the Arizona tragedy. However, this Archie cover still seems like a stretch to happen in the real world.

This model of Ohio State's famous football stadium, the Horseshoe, is made out of a crap-ton of Legos. Figuratively. But, literally, it's still a lot of Legos.

Tonight you can see the return of what was really one of the top five comedies of last season: Parks and Recreation. Here's a quick review of the season premier. And here is a terrific interview with Amy Poehler.

I don't know what else to say for this...thing...except that it is one crazy frackin' bike.

Also, I have learned a new word today. It is Voorwerpjes.

Finally, I cannot pass up providing this link to a discussion about the extreme polarization of individuals' critical responses to media and art. If my brief description there has put you off, here's the real title, which speaks much better for itself: "Which is worse, epic hyperbole!!! or “meh”?"(big ol' HT to Linda Holmes)

If you watch one video today, make it this one. It's a promo for the new season of Parks and Recreation, and it is NSFW.

So what's green, red, and stronger than the Incredible Hulk? The Compound Hulk, that's what.

Here we see Jack Hanna (no relation) cuddling a very cute Zorilla, which, sadly, is not a combination of a zebra and a gorilla.

And this is a great white shark catching seals in its mouth while leaping from the water. I feel bad for those seals every time.

You may have heard that Boise State has a hideous blue football field, but did you know that Oregon State just installed an equally (?) hideous basketball court?