We at "SideShow" love, love, wuvvvv the Internets! They supply us with lovely fun for moments at a time. Guess who's the new viral hero of the Web! If you answered Mr. Rogers, you . . . read ahead! Fred McFeely Rogers, whose show Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood went from 1968 to 2001 and whose life went from 1928 to 2003, is now a viral bomb, yo. Back in May 1969, he appeared before the U.S. Senate to defend PBS; President Richard M. Nixon wanted to cut its $20 million grant in half. Wow: 1969 was the first year of Sesame Street. Somebody found the tape, and now it's everyplace. Recall that Mitt Romney, in mid-scathe of President Obama in the first prez debate, said he'd stop funding PBS. He said he liked Big Bird, but not enough to keep subsidizing the Birdster. BB became a big-time Twitter trend! Even appeared on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update Saturday, in which Bird reported getting "a million tweets!" Just goes to show: Big Bird has always been a controversial figure on Capitol Hill.
Esquire, world flop for Mila Kunis
The November Esquire is out, and it, correctly, names big-eyed Mila Kunis as the World's Sexiest Woman. Girl's on a roll, and we don't mean bagel. She's now dating serial photographer Ashton Kutcher, she's on covers everywhere, and there's also a brushfire rumor she'll be picked to star in Fifty Shades of Grey. The last three Esquire most sexiest lady-types before her, also correctly: Rihanna, Minka Kelly, and Kate Beckinsale. Shiver in the deliciousness!!CNN starts new docu-flick joint
Interesting. CNN has started a new documentary filmmaking unit, for show on both TV and in theaters. The first film, Girl Rising, will have voiceovers by Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington, and Selena Gomez. Richard Robbins, who made the wartime doc Operation Homecoming, directs. It premieres next spring.Music news from over and under
This very cool website, Small Demons, tracks everything mentioned in books. They've only just-just-just started, only "several thousand" books so far out of the millions. Still. What, you ask, is the most oft-mentioned tune? "Hey Jude," by some outfit called the Beatles. The following nine, announced over the weekend: (2) "Heartbreak Hotel," by Elvis Presley; (3) "Stairway to Heaven," by Led Zeppelin; (4) "We Are the World," by USA for Africa; (5) "Dancing Queen," by Abba; (6) "Blue Suede Shoes," by Carl Perkins; (7) "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," by the Beatles; (8) "Eleanor Rigby," by, um, wait, we had it here a minute ago . . . (9) "Smells Like Teen Spirit," by Nirvana; (10) "Bohemian Rhapsody," by Queen; and we had to mention (11) "The Macarena," by Los Del Rio. Wow. It's a dang WMGK playlist! Heavily skewed to over-45 white Western males. Most mentioned musician: Elvis!!! He's followed by such as Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and John Lennon.Speaking of Beatles stuff, last week was the 50th anniversary of the release of their first single, the execrable "Love Me Do." So EMI put out this commemorative 7-inch vinyl single. Hahahaha, they messed up, though. See, the youthful Fabs made two versions in 1962, the first with session drummer Andy White (because producer George Martin thought Ringo Starr stank) and a second one with our Ringo. The new single was supposed to be Ringo's version, but, hahahaha, the Andy version went out. It's easy to see, or hear, why: Frankly, they're all but identical. EMI has recalled it, and probably it'll release nothing.
