mondojohnson

Squidbilly Early Cuyler invades the “Carl’s Stone Cold Lock of the Century of the Week” show at adultswim.com. The “Carl’s Lock” shows may seem like a wacky parody to those of you NOT from New Jersey, but to those of us born there, this is reality television.

I went ahead and read Dan Brown’s fun ‘n formulaic The Lost Symbol, which was a brisk guilty pleasure. It shares chromosomes with all the other Dan Brown Beach Books: cinematic pacing, Shyamalan-ish twists, elaborate world conspiracies and clunky expository dialog. These are not knocks: I wasn’t expecting Gravity’s Rainbow, I was expecting a silly paperback thrill ride, which it provided nicely.

However, I am duty-bound by my devotion to The Venture Bros. to point out that one of the main plot elements in The Lost Symbol — a shadowy clique of history’s greatest minds protecting a glistening object that can either save mankind or destroy it — seems a ripoff of the VB episode “O.R.B.”. The Venture Bros. dished up as much action and intrigue (and of course, pants-pissing humor) in that 26 minute episode than Mr. Brown did in his whole book.

Here’s a clip from [adult swim], which gives you an idea. But find and watch the whole episode for full effect.

(Hat tip to The Universe Exists for My Amusement for the funny “demotivator” image above.)

The Venture Bros. returned for Season 4 last night with a zany, smart, technicolor splash. The premiere episode does not lend itself to quick summary: its timeline is non-linear, and new characters are mingled with our favorites, who were all distinctly shaken by the epic shootout at the Venture compound at the end of Season 3.

It might require a couple viewings, as Jackson Publick has himself suggested on his blog (a must read for Venture fans). I think I’ve teased out the tangles in the intriguing and FUNNY AS HELL story, except for the extreme comic fanboy lingo, which rockets over my skull like the X1.

Welcome back, Team Venture; looking forward to the crazy.

The Buzz Log has compiled a funny list of commonly misspelled search strings. The top standouts:

• Swan Flu (for Swine Flu)
• Susan Boil (for “Britain’s Got Talent” contender Susan Boyle)
• Brack Obama (for U.S. President Barack Obama)

My personal favorite, of course, is “Brack Obama” … it gave me a delirious nanosecond of picturing President BRAK.

The Chicago Tribune compiled a list of “Top Fake TV Brands” on their web site, but somehow they managed to miss the many-tentacled megabrand Cinco Technologies from Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job. What’s wrong with them? The Jetsons get two spots on the list and Cinco gets none? I call injustice.

I have embedded a Cinco classic for your enjoyment.