I've said it before, I'll say it again: I love The Office. I think I've come to a consensus with Alex and Shabs that pound for pound it's the best TV show ever made. In fact I spent about an hour of phone time with Shabs discussing this over the past two days. I challenge you to watch the 12 episodes and the Christmas special and not think it's incredible television.

Which makes me feel all the more troubled by this. That's right, NBC is flagrantly lifting the plot of the show, converting it to more American humor, and hoping it sticks. I bet if I'd never seen the original I would like this new show--Steve Carell is great--but it just seems so wrong. And yes, that's Harvard's own BJ Novak as the bewildered office temp guy.

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This reminds me of the Chappelle's Show sketch "When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong"...my boy The Game getting in trouble.


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Conan is funny.

"Major league baseball announced today that it is instituting tougher steroid testing. For the first offense, players will receive a 10-game suspension and for repeated offenses players will receive a batting championship."

"Prince Charles is upset at the press' reaction to his son wearing a Nazi uniform because Charles thinks it was just a 'silly prank.' Prince Charles says his favorite prank of all time was when Hitler 'Punk'd' Poland."

"The Golden Globe awards are Sunday night and this year from 6 to 8, Star Jones will be on the Red Carpet. Then from 8 to 6 Star will be at the Red Lobster."

"According to the tabloids, the reason that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston broke up is that one of them wanted to have kids--which is the same reason the Jackson 5 broke up."

"A 21-year-old in Pennsylvania has been accused of burning down his parents' house on Christmas because they didn't get him any gifts. When asked about it, the parents said, 'It's not looking good for next year, either.'"

"University of Arkansas has bought the house where former president Clinton and Hillary lived in the 1970's and plans to turn it into a museum. The University says it also plans to buy the doghouse where Bill Clinton spent most of the 90's."

"The Wall Street Journal says that instead of giving presents this year, a lot of people are giving gift certificates for plastic surgery. When you think about it, it's the perfect way to tell the person you love, 'You're ugly.'"

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As always, be sure to check out iFilm's Viral Video selection. My current faves are the Red Sox Mastercard commercial and the Texas Tech bell ringer.

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Interesting article on Russian espionage in the US.

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Phil Ball, my favorite footie writer, chimes in on the racism in Spanish soccer. Very interesting article.