Thursday Odds & Ends: Shatner, Coulton, Flashforward and Dumbledore

So sorry for the late nature of this morning's post. Let's chalk it up to the hours I spent crying myself to sleep last night after finding out that David Tennant would be at this year's Comic-Con...and I would not. Anyway, loads of stuff to talk about this morning:

+ Speaking of Tennant and the good Doctor, this new "Torchwood" trailer for "Children of Earth" name-checks the Time Lord pretty heavily. This is actually the best trailer I've seen for the upcoming special. I'm really looking forward to it now:



+ Here's an interview with Jonathan Coulton where he talks about technology, music and the web in a way that's actually pretty fascinating.

+ Gawker for some reason seems shocked that William Shatner acted crazy on "The Tonight Show" last night. I saw it live -- because for some terrible reason I've developed a sixth sense alerting me whenever Shatner's on TV -- and didn't think it was any weirder or more bizarre than other weird, bizarre Shatner shenanigans. I'd have been more shocked if he hadn't suggested the enormity of his penis or given Conan the finger. What do you think?



+ Ain't It Cool has some tasty tidbits on ABC's new sci-fi show, "Flashforward." All I know is, the show stars John Cho and Joseph Fiennes and that's good enough for me.

+ Poor Dumbledore gets taken to task in this pretty funny examination of the wizard's professional skills, courtesy of Cracked.

+ Here's a 12-minute preview of Ron Moore's mostly-dead pilot, "Virtuosity," which will air pretty much as a two-hour TV movie on Fox on Friday, June 26. It's about people on a multi-year mission to save Earth...and who spend a lot of time with a virtual reality program to kill time. I will admit, I got pretty bored after the first minute or so...even though there was a British guy talking. What's wrong with me??

News of the Day -- Friday, April 25

+ Ricky Gervais has a great blog documenting his experiences making "This Side of Truth," his directorial debut. It's a very funny read and includes bonus shots of him goofing off with Rob Lowe and Tina Fey.

+ Good news for Hellboy fans and small men with hairy feet -- Guillermo del Toro will be directing both parts of the upcoming Hobbit movie adaptation. I'm throwing down my bet right now that there will be at least one creature with eyes on its hands. I'm just sayin'.

+ One great set of follicles is set to replace another in 2009 when Jimmy Fallon takes over as host of Late Night when Conan O'Brien takes the reins of The Tonight Show from Jay Leno who, come to think of it, has very good hair as well. Conspiracy? Probably. I'm looking at you, Herbal Essence.

+ Finally, I can get my Toby Ziegler Mii turned into a cute little doll...just like I've dreamed. No really, this guy makes customized Wii sculptures for $79.

Nerd Man of the Month: Conan O'Brien

Nothing says sexy nerd like a tall, pasty Harvard grad named after a Schwarzenegger barbarian. Which is why we’ve selected Conan O’Brien as our February Nerd Man of the Month.


Not only is the "Late Night with Conan O’Brien" host wickedly funny, he also boasts some seriously strong nerd credentials. Wikipedia, our modern day Delphic oracle, tells me Conan was not only editor of his high school newspaper, he was also valedictorian. He went on to Harvard where he made funny with the Harvard Lampoon and even graduated magna cum laude. And he was a congressional intern which means he wore a skinny tie and no doubt lost his innocence to a lonely Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Best of all, the guy also wrote for The Simpsons. Writing for a cultural icon like The Simpsons earns automatic entry into the Nerd Man Pantheon, which I’ve also taken to calling the Nerd Man Pantherdome because it sounds like a place where sophisticates could sit back on a comfortable sofa, drink Cosmos and watch lab-coated male strippers debate red versus green kryptonite.

But back to Conan. He’s a talent juggernaut, having turned a struggling late night talk show into a cool-ly ridiculous must-see, thereby inflicting horrific insomnia on seekers of good comedy everywhere. And let’s not forget that if it weren’t for Conan, millions of us would never have found our plush human love toy, Andy Richter, Late Night’s former sidekick whom I adore with a passion usually reserved for puppies and candy-coated sunshine.

Recently, Conan endeared himself to millions more fans with his awesomely absurd feud with Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The three men fighting – quite literally – over who “made” Mike Huckabee is pure comedy gold. Check it out for yourself:



And if that’s not enough, check out the outtakes:



For being funny and bringing honor to America's gingers and for singing “Hunka, hunka burning love” not ten feet away from me one evening many, many years ago, The Park Bench is pleased to honor Conan O’Brien with its Nerd Man of the Month Award. We hope the success doesn’t go to his tall, barbarian head.