Catching up

Yes, I've fallen way out of step as far as updating this blog. Part of it is that Blogger is so clunky to use to update when sites like Facebook and Twitter let you update with practically one click, even displaying the photo from your chosen story without you having to go get it. So if there's a blog product that works as easily as adding links to Facebook, let me know.

Anyway, here are a few of my recent stories for work, which transformed from msnbc.com to NBC News.com over the summer.

• Your guide to Hollywood's holiday offerings
• 'Doctor Who' stamps to honor all 11 Doctors
• Year in movies: Time to punch a wolf
• Is 'Christmas Shoes' the worst holiday song ever?
• 'Hall bitten by Oates' story sparks 'Maneater' headline
• Singer turns Stanley Steemer jingle into dazzling romp
• Toothbrushing doofus stars in worst commercial of year

Well, was she right?

This is kind of a funny headline: "TODAY's Gael Fashingbauer Cooper convinced single tweet means Oscars are silly for Billy."

It's not like I am the sole person convinced of that, considering it's true.

Blonde ambition

My MSNBC paean to the still-hunktacular-at-75 Robert Redford.

Death be not proud

A terribly sad, if macabre story of an elderly woman who just could not let her dead husband and sister go.

A horror-movie director would make this into a nasty, terrifying gore flick, but the reporter somehow captured how truly sad it is.

Grossest headline EVER

Grossest headline EVER.

TV and the economy

I've put together a package of stories on TV and the economy on msnbc.com. It's a topic dear to my heart. I'd love it if you'd check it out!

Timeline: Rich and poor on TV, from The Honeymooners and Fred Sanford to those despicable Real Housewives.

TV salary weirdness: Why can none of the Grey's Anatomy surgeons afford their own houses?

The worst shows on TV: Let's watch rich people throw away money!

Reality shows confront careers in a recession

Tough economy hits TV production, too

On 'Housewives,' all the moms are 'Desperate'

On 'Housewives,' all the moms are 'Desperate,' my latest msnbc.com article. With a vote!

A bloody good time

Don't you love bad movie review? "Repo Men" is getting some doozies, so I pulled some together for msnbc.com.

All the Pringle haters!

In honor of Sunday's Grammys, another of my misheard lyrics roundups.

Best lines: "All the Pringle haters!" ("All the single ladies!")

"Lucy's gettin' high, with Linus." ("Lucy in the sky, with diamonds.")

"With a couple of beers, they have built a home." ("In a couple of years, they have built a home.")

"When you see my face, Oprah gives you hell." ("When you see my face, hope it gives you hell.")

"They call us gypsies, chimpanzees." ("They call us gypsies, tramps and thieves.")

"Knock, knock, knockin' on Kevin's door." ("Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door.")

Click and read the whole thing! It only gets better.

Tomorrow is another day

"Gone With the Wind" and I share a birthday! Fittingly, I assigned and edited MSNBC.com's package on the classic film's 70th anniversary, which is today.

Please check it out.

Review: After 70 years, film still holds up

Quiz: How well do you know the movie?

7 trivia bits about the film, one for each decade. Is that Superman?
Frankly, critics have been kind to 'GWTW'

Scarlett's sister remembers making of a legend
Vote: Overrated, or a true classic?

Frosty the Perv

My latest MSNBC article. Heh. And also, yuck.

Test Pattern goes off the air

My msnbc.com Weblog, Test Pattern, went off the air today after six years. But PCJM will continue!

Welcome, anyone who came over here for the first time from msnbc. I think you'll find this a different place -- more pop culture goofiness, less entertainment talk -- but hope you'll find it entertaining nonetheless.

Digger has returned

The creepy toenail monster who won the "worst ad" category in my first-ever MSNBC.com commercial contest has a new commercial.

Let's not all shudder at once...

Don't you forget about him

Aw, John Hughes. More of a generational touchstone than Michael Jackson, in a way, since his movies were more relevant to our lives than most of Jackson's lyrics, much as I loved the music.

I wrote a Test Pattern for MSNBC.com on great John Hughes movie quotes, and readers are having a blast with it.

One reader shared this link, to Hughes' story that inspired the movie "National Lampoon's Vacation." It begins: "If Dad hadn't shot Walt Disney in the leg, it would have been our best vacation ever."

Holiday roooooooooooooooad!

UPDATE: Wow, this is amazing. One young fan became John Hughes' pen-pal for a while, and she shares that story in her Weblog. How did he have time to befriend a perfect stranger? What a nice thing to do.

Adult-only ads

My MSNBC commercial contest continues, with an entry about ads that should be R-rated.

I included mention of the Quizno's ad where an oven is talking sexy to a Quizno's employee, and some people in the comments accused me of homophobia.

I can assure you it would have been equally creepy had the voice of the seducing oven been female, and also, I really did not consider the fact that a TALKING OVEN even had a gender. People, I tell ya.

Adventures in Cancerland

One of my MSNBC.com co-workers, Mike Celizic, was diagnosed with a non-Hodgkin's T-cell lymphoma this week. He's chronicling his cancer treatment in a series called "Adventures in Cancerland." Godspeed, Mike.

By George!

My latest MSNBC.com Weblog entry is about how George O'Malley on "Grey's Anatomy" was a great character at first, but was lost a few seasons ago.

The good, the bad, the ads

I've started up my TV commercial contest again over in my MSNBC.com Weblog, Test Pattern. This is the fifth year I've done it and it always proves to be a lot of fun, but it would go nowhere without reader contributions. So read, think, and contribute! New posts will appear every Monday.

First off: Those weirdly raw Liberty Mutual ads that appear as just snippets from life in a struggling family, the Marlowes.

Last call at "Earl's" Crab Shack

I am really going to miss the now-canceled "My Name Is Earl." What a great, under-appreciated, smart, funny show.

I wrote a tribute to "Earl" for MSNBC.com, and you can read it here.

The Rod Stewart Rule

Do you have something similar to The Rod Stewart Rule? For me, it's a list of three musical artists that I reserve the right to ALWAYS turn off when they come on the car radio.

I wrote about it for MSNBC.com, and turns out quite a few people have something similar.