Time magazine does a bit of television trendspotting in this week's issue. In the article "Thick with Thieves," Time writer James Poniewozik looks at the current crop of new dramatic primetime TV series, the plots of which revolve around the criminal set instead of the detective set. FX's "Thief," HBO's "Prison Break," NBC's "Heist" and "The Black Donnellys," Showtime's "Brotherhood" and "Dexter" and AMC's "Hustle," not to mention NBC's recent (though cancelled) "Kingpin," and, of course, the groundbreaking ne plus ultra HBO series "The Sopranos -- all are listed as examples of TV's shift from police and investigative crime dramas like "CSI," "NYPD Blue," and "Law & Order" (and its many spawn) to programs that look into the "why" of the criminal mind. In many cases, the protagonists of this new crop of crime shows are cast as sympathetic figures, or, at least, as likeable in spite of their criminality. Poniewozik cites the success of "The Sopranos" as the driver behind the trend. Even comedy series like Showtime's "Weeds" can be seen as part of the trend. The series has brought the illicit, underground economy of suburban pot-dealing into our living room. "Weeds"'s criminal lead character is a sympathetic soccer mom.

A dorky duo from Cambridge, England throws its hat into the Narnia Rap Battle with "Lazy Sunday: U.K." This latest salvo in D.I.Y. hip-hop videos is irreverent and funny as it reps tea-drinking Albion. We still feel the "Lazy Muncie" entry is the best so far, but the U.K. version beats the L.A./West Coast entry "Lazy Monday" by a country mile. Best line: "Tea, motherfucka'-fucka'! Tea, motherfuckaaaaaaaa!"
(Mad props to Jess E. in NYC for the tip.)

Play the video in the embedded player above or go here

From this week's Global Graphica file ... some fresh street art and graf from SoHo and the Lower East Side of New York City. Pictured above is "Blockhead" on Orchard Street in the heart of the L.E.S. More at GlobalGraphica.com (Global Graphica / Ivan Corsa Photo. All rights reserved.)

There's a story popping up in the media (here and here). about the increasing popularity in the United States of Mexican Coca Cola, which reportedly tastes differently from the American-made counterpart bottled and distributed throughout North America. Mexican Coke is starting to be increasingly smuggled into small retailers and restaurants north of the border, as customer demand for it rises. Coca Cola made in Mexico is said to be made with "real" sugar and thus tastes sweeter and "better." According news reportage, Coke says there is no difference. Hmm. Interesting fact: Mexico has the highest rate of consumption per capita of Coca Cola in the world.

We caught a late-night screening last weekend of the David Lean epic "Lawrence of Arabia." The movie classic is based on the life of British war hero T.E. Lawrence. It was a very long film -- nearly four hours. The "Lawrence of Arabia" we watched is the version restored in 1989 by a group of Hollywood filmmakers, which included such luminaries as Martin Scorcese and Steven Spielberg. The restored film had additional footage left out of the original movie that was theatrically released back in the early 1960's. The film's stunning exterior scenery and cinematography are reasons enough to see the movie. The story of the complex and controversial man who eventually earned the nickname "Lawrence of Arabia" is another. This was our second viewing of the film. The first time we saw it was a long time ago, in our youth in the 1980's. "Lawrence" still holds up nearly 20 years later and over 40 years after it was made. But our impression of Lawrence's character (as portrayed by the perfectly cast Peter O'Toole) is less sympathetic, less heroic, less idealized. This time around, he seems more infuriating, almost annoying, and, to put it bluntly, a bit of an asshole, in spite of his extraordinary integrity, bravery and intelligence. Nevertheless, "Lawrence of Arabia" is one of the greatest films ever made.

Yup. It's in the works. The hit ABC Television hour-long drama "Desperate Housewives" is going to be turned into a video game for the PC. While the development of console games based on popular movies and TV properties is nothing new, somehow, "Desperate Housewives," the game, doesn't seem like a compelling idea to us.

One of the biggest stories on blogging this past year was that of the online art project "Post Secrets." According to Technorati, the site is among the top 10 most-visited blogs on the Web. If you visit the site only once, it's not hard to see why the site is so compelling. Its appeal is other people's secrets. The secrets are written anonymously on homemade postcards. The cards are sent into the site by good ol' fashion snail mail. A few are selected, and those chosen are then scanned and posted to the site.

Want to see actor Jack Black get his chest waxed? Well, do you? Of course, you do. And now you can when you watch Episode 3 of Black's new video podcast, produced from the set of his upcoming movie "Nacho Libre." The film is the latest directorial project by Jared Hess of "Napolean Dynamite" fame. Sure, this is all about promoting the film and building up some buzz ahead of its June 2006 release, but these behind-the-scenes "confessionals" show Black with his comedic wit and charm fully charged. You can download and watch the video podcast -- for free -- from the Nacho Libre movie Web site.

Andy Milonakis, dubbed "the weirdest guy in school" by the New York Times, is the unlikely star of an eponymous MTV sketch comedy program 'The Andy Milonakis Show." The Times has an article on Milonakis and the popularity of his long-format program as it starts its second season this Friday, March 31, on MTV2. The hilarious and off-beat show is produced on location out of an co-op apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan on Grand St. (just blocks, actually, from the former Air Massive HQ). The show casts local L.E.S. residents as straight foils to Milonakis's wacky antics.

Here it is ... "finger break dancing." Gotta see it to believe it. It seems so logical now that one might wonder why this curiosity didn't emerge sooner. Six words: Internet, widespread broadband usage, and ... (the two most important words) ... You Tube. We wonder how long it will take before we see this co-opted or appropriated on either MTV2, VH1 or any television commercial aimed at the coveted 18-34 age demo. Yes, we smell a fad. We even envision the criticism, too: "it's break dancing for lazy people." Whateva'. The video is mesemerizing in its own singular way. So, for now, watch it, enjoy it, relish it, love it for what it is.

Watch the video by clicking on the play button in the embedded player above (or visit the You Tube site here).

In Sunday's New York Times Magazine, the Consumed column by Rob Walker looks at the downtown NYC brand and store known as Supreme. The Supreme shop on Lafayette St. in SoHo, in New York City, is the flagship of the clothing maker and retailer. Supreme has opened a store in L.A. and three shops in Japan making it a kind of small but global name in street style. Walker's piece looks at how the brand's success has been, in part, due to its early appeal to a subset of "in-the-know" downtown NYC skateboarders. Its coveted below-the-radar street style, limited edition clothing, sought-after graphic tees, and increasingly expensive prices give the brand and its clothes the cachet of exclusivity on a par with high-fashion couture brands like Chanel.

Rap star Lil Wayne appears dressed head to toe in "A Bathing Ape" (BAPE) gear on the latest cover of hip-hop magazine Vibe. The heavily tatted Houston hip-hop veteran sports the usual array of pink and aqua camoflage-designed gear popularized in Japan by BAPE designer Nigo. Personally, we like the massive BAPE belt buckle Lil Wayne has on. Not everyone can rock a buckle like that. So much BAPE gear on a Vibe mag cover is just further evidence of BAPE's full-on embrace by (or is it "conquering of?") of America's mainstream hip-hop culture. And it's proof that Nigo's brilliant under-the-radar marketing strategy -- like music and style -- plays on a transcultural level.

There is an interesting article today in U.K. newspaper the Guardian about how the urban landscape of Melbourne, Australia, has changed since the city tidied itself in preparation of the recent Commonwealth Games. The clean-up is a result of an initiative to remove graffiti and street art. The report, titled "The writing on the wall," was penned by the well-known British street artist "Banksy." According to the story, Melbourne's effort to paint over its rich tapestry of urban art is enforced by the city's new official zero-tolerance stance on anything that constitutes graffiti. This includes stencil art for which Australia's second city has become famous internationally among followers and creators of street art. (Props to Robin for the tip.)

Pete Doherty, the Babyshambles front man and former Libertines singer/guitarist and ex-boyfriend of model Kate Moss, was in a London courthouse Thursday where he plead guilty on drugs possession charges after arriving an hour late. But while the court appearance was a sober affair (no pun intended), at least inside the courthouse, it turned into a circus outside as Doherty made his exit. He reportedly kicked a BBC reporter, ran down the street trailed by the press and paparazzi, jumped onto the trunk of his Jaguar before leaping into his car and speeding off and nearly smashing into another vehicle in the process. Before he raced off, he spelled out a message to his ex-girlfriend on the car window, writing, "I love Kate 4 eva,"as well as adding "QPR" for his favorite English football (soccer) team, Queens Park Rangers. That Doherty has major, serious drug and addiction problems is no surprise. But how it is that he keeps getting arrested and ending up in jail so many times is boggling. Hopefully, he's getting his act together and overcoming his problems, because there's no doubt that he has talent and -- as anyone who has listened to his music can attest -- the potential to become a major artist.

Okay, so this one has been out for a few weeks now, but we couldn't resisting posting the video and link here for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. A little background ... first there was the "Lazy Sunday" Digital Short on SNL back in December in which Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell rapped about eating cupcakes and going to see a screening of the "Chronicles of Narnia" movie. Then came "Lazy Monday," a rap video by two L.A. dudes dubbed the "West Coast Response" to the SNL video. It was clever, amusing, kind of droll and silly. Then in February, there was the "Lazy Municie" video that riffed on both "Lazy Sunday" and "Lazy Monday." "Muncie " stars two guys from Muncie, Indiana, who rep and rap about their small, beloved midwest city. "Lazy Muncie" is really funny -- Funnier than "Lazy Monday," and maybe even "Lazy Sunday," except with poor production values, sloppy editing and timing. Respek. Click the play button above to watch the video or go here.

In a timely allegory of recent developments at its production studios, "South Park," the hit Comedy Central animated series, kicked off its tenth season (can you believe it? Tenth!?!) with an episode titled "The Return of Chef!" The recent developments we're referring to here are, of course, the news and controversy of the resignation from the show of voice actor Isaac Hayes, who played the character of "Chef." ("Chef"'s actual character name in the show is "Jerome McElroy" -- bet you didn't know that, did you?) Hayes is a member of the Church of Scientology and had finally had enough of the satirical takes on religion that had been played out in many "South Park" episodes over the years. Scientology was the most recent religion to get the humorous take-down when an episode from last season poked fun at its beliefs. The irony of this first episode to air since Hayes' resignation is that it's initially about Chef returning to "South Park" after he quit his job at the school cafeteria and left the small Colorodo town on a long globe-trotting journey with the "Super Adventure Club." When Chef returns he's not quite the same. The episode is not so much funny as it is interesting as a sharply drawn allegory about Hayes departure from the long-running program. And there is some irony in that Hayes was not available to provide his Chef's voice for the season premiere, a problem solved by using chopped-up and mashed-up samples of his dialogue from previous episodes. There's a shocking, yet fitting ending, which, naturally, we won't reveal here. Fans of "South Park" won't want to miss it.

From the Global Graphica file ... there's a new series of New York City graf images worth checking out. The photo series show examples of "sky graf" -- large tags along the top edges of old high-rise buildings in NoHo, in downtown Manhattan. (Global Graphica / Ivan Corsa Photo)

Squinty-eye acting heartthrob Josh Hartnett is the latest celebrity force of nature to dump hate on Paris Hilton. Amid the chorus of rumor blogs regurgitating press reports (often verbatim -- hey, is that legal?), good ol' Ireland Online lends an ever-so-thin versimilitude of credibility in reporting this bit of gossipy celeb news. The hotel heiress isn't the only one to get dissed. Hartnett also cites Lindsay Lohan. Hartnett's comments had to do with what he sees as the bad examples Hilton and her celebutante ilk set for young people, refering to their "self-oriented" and shallow public characters.

Paper magazine's blog is reporting on a new Adidas "pop-up" store -- a temporary shop -- the German sneaker maker has opened in Chinatown, New York City, as part of an under-the-radar, buzz-generating promotional tactic. The store is neither advertised nor sign-posted at street level. Passersby would never know it's there unless they already knewthat it was there. The tiny Adidas store is literally underground, tucked behind a warren of Chinese merchants in a basement on hustling, bustling Canal St. It's pretty cool. Of course, Adidas, or, rather its hired guns of clever marketing, created the pop-up shop precisely so that a few people would find out about it and think it's cool and then tell their friends. And so and so on until, ahem, someone mentions it in their blog, with, eventually the mainstream media catching on and reporting on it by the time the whole promo is over, and the experience is totally unattainable for all but those few plugged in urban hipsters. (Okay, and, yes, we realize that we're playing right into the marketers' hands by telling you about it here on the Air Massive.) And we freely admit that we're going to walk down to Canal St., if we can, and check it out for ourselves before the shop disappears. The pop-up shop is at 267 Canal St., NYC, and it's open from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00.

Couldn't resist an IFC screening of another one of those Japanese "Zatoichi" movies. This time it was "Zatoichi and The Doomed Man," the eleventh in the "Blind Swordsman" series of 26 films. The plots of these movies revolve around the adventures of a sightless masseuse who, despite his blindness, is the deadliest person with a sword in Japan. As he wanders the hinterlands, passing from village to village in search of work, Zatoichi always manages to become entangled in a local feud or challenge. The rescuing of a woman is often involved in these plots, as well as many attempts by thieves and thugs to take advantage of Zatoichi. Swordplay ensues. Eventually, there's a big showdown and things get bloody. In the "Doomed Man," Zatoichi is on a mission to save an innocent man who is scheduled to be executed as part of a frame up by a local warlord. Directed by Kazuo Mori and released in 1965, the "Doomed Man" is one of the color films in a series that began in the black-and-white film era. The movie is as bloody and full of swordplay as any of them. Technically, Zatoichi is not a samurai, but in every other respect, the "Doomed Man" qualifies as a first-rate samurai genre movie. In 2003, a new take on Zatoichi was produced in a stunning remake starring Takeshi "Beat" Kitano ("Sonatine," "Hanabi").

Air Massive rating: 7 stars out of 10

Wow. Even MSNBC has its filthy little paws in the gossip trough. The news outlet has with surprising timeliness lined up with the rumor-mongering blogosphere to report what sounds like a break-up between Paris Hilton and Stavros Niarchos. Stavros is the second in a line of Greek shipping heirs to march hand-in-hand wtih Paris through the jet-set party scene is as many years. The relationship, rumor has it, came to tears at an L.A. party (where else?) when the Hilton hotel heiress became upset with her beau for ignoring her and speaking exclusively in Greek with an old friend from his homeland. Guess for Paris, learning foreign languages is not hot.

Goldfrapp make the sexiest music in the world. There, we said it. It's true. The British indie synth-pop duo of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory has been making music for over seven years now and last week they released their third full-length disc, "Supernature," in the U.S. (the album was released in the U.K. last year to much critical acclaim and commercial success). The new CD is being hailed by critics as their best collection of songs yet. (PlayLouder has an excelllent review of "Supernature.") Although they have been lumped under the faded term "electronica" and the more recent but mostly meaningless "electroclash" label (a la Fischerspooner) Goldfrapp create music that is neither, but rather a hot, lusty electro-glam sound that is fully-realized post-modern cabaret pop.

From this week's Global Graphica file, recent NYC graf by "DaysFares" in the East Village of Manhattan.

Readers may recall from last summer, the leaking of news that the infamously randy Irish actor appeared in a 15-minute home-made sex tape with "model" and Playboy Playmate centerfold Nicole Narain (Miss January 2002, thank you very much). Narain plans to sell the videotape, and the company producing, packaging and distributing the sex tape for sale has offered her $3 million. But then there's the nasty little business of a lawsuit filed by Colin to stop the video from ever gettting into the hands of the public. An L.A. court has reportedly upheld Colin's lawsuit, so ultimately the legal system will decide if the sex tape gets released (gets legally released, that is -- remember there's always the good ol' Interweb! We have a sneaking suspicion that it will turn up there somehow, despite what a judge or jury decides). While a sex tape might be bad for most actors' careers, somehow, for Colin Farrell being, well, Colin Farrell, this might actually help his career, which, frankly, has been a bit lackluster lately at the box office despite some serious movie work. Seriously, Colin, what have you done for us lately, eh?

Don Corleone, as portrayed by the late, great Marlon Brando, and his mafia family are coming to a PlaysStation2 and XBox near you. "The Godfather" video game is on it way to stores this month.In the latest example of the retro movie-to-video game trend and the improving track records of such efforts (see Rockstar Games' recent entry "The Warriors"), Electronic Arts has taken Francis Ford Coppola's 1970's American film classic about an Italian-American mafioso dynasty and made turned it into a fully immersive interactive story. Think of it as "Grand Theft Auto" meets, well, "The Godfather," set in 1920's New York City. The game drops on March 21. A review in the upcoming April/May issue of Giant magazine gives "The Godfather" video game an "A+" and says it's a success that has managed to escape the "awful movie-turned-game curse." The screenshots and video on EA's official site look great (but, then again, they do for all games, even the crappy ones). Can't wait to play it and blissfully waste even more of our Saturday afternoons schackled to our PlayStation2.

Saturday Night Live can be hit or miss from season to season -- heck, it can be hit or miss from show to show, even sketch to sketch. But whether a given year of SNL sucks or not, the show, now in its 26th season, remains mainstream America's sketch comedy bell-weather, as well as a launching pad for many great comedic actors and performers. So what about the freshman class of 2005-2006? An A.V. Club interview with newcomers Adam Samberg, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, and Kristen Wiig gets the skinny on the new faces at SNL and their first year on the show. We're not fans of SNL and have been pretty disappointed with this season, but Adam Samberg is the brightest talent to emerge from the show in 2005, and his "digital shorts," pre-produced video sketches, are the best segments this season.

Isaac Hayes is leaving "South Park." The legendary soul singer and actor has played the voice of "Chef," the school cafeteria cook and ladies man of South Park since 1997. Haye's is reportedly leaving the show due to conflicting feelings over the way the massively popular and controversial TV series has treated sensitive religious issues and beliefs, particularly Scientology, of which Hayes is a devout follower. Hayes explained concern over the program's "bigotry towards religious beliefs" as reason for his departure, which will break his contract with Viacom and Comedy Central. "Chef" is among the show's most popular characters and is one of few black characters to reside in the fictional and animated Colorodo town for which the series is named. "Chef," like many characters on the show, is both a blown-up stereotype and a foil used to expose the idiotic bigotry of others. Hayes not only voiced the character but also sang as the character in some of the most memorable songs recorded for "South Park," notably the tune "Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)." No word yet from the producers if Chef will be voiced by a new actor or if the character will be retired from the series. Hayes' distinct voice of wisdom and delivery will be missed.

The penultimate season of the HBO series The Soprano's opened with a shocking bang Sunday night when Tony Soprano was shot by his uncle in the closing sequence of episode one. If this is any indication of things to come, this could be the most interesting Sopranos season ever in what has been one of the most consistently quality television programs ever produced. Fans of the show have waited nearly two years for this season, which will run for 12 episodes in 2006, with a final season of eight additional episodes promised for next year. Way to go, David Chase.

The New Yorker magazine puts out one of its thick, spine-bound "Style" issues this week. Most of the features in this themed issue are devoted to all things fashion, design and the business of clothing and style, from off-the-rack to one-of-a-kind, from street chic to haute couture. But the contents of this New Yorker style issue, despite its 160-page heft, feels a little light on actual articles devoted to style compared to recent editions. That said, there's an excellent piece on Hedi Slimane, the French designer and re-invigorator of Dior, and an amusing take on how people in car-obsessed L.A. shop.

Arguably the world's best-known and fastest-growing energy drink brand, Red Bull set it sights on diversifying by buying an Austrian football, er, "soccer," team last year when they snappped up what is now called Red Bull Salzburg. But Red Bull, which is an Austrian company itself, has expanded its mini-sports empire. The company has paid about $100 million for the hideously named New York New Jersey Metrostars. (Seriously,"New York New Jersey Metrostars," that is the club's name, or, rather, that is what it was. Red Bull has wisely renamed the club "Red Bull New York." Despite the corporate name, it rolls off the tongue quite nicely. However in a very New York sort of irony, the new New York team will continue to play in New Jersey, and, in fact, the club is currently building a brand new stadium in NJ. Not that too many people care about this development, nor that too many people have cared about the Metrostars themselves. New Yorkers care more about Manhattan potholes than about their professional soccer team. Anyway, the Red Bull purchase is a step in the right direction. Go, Red Bull New York! Go!

More hate-dumping on Paris. This one almost -- almost -- leaves a bad taste in our mouth. Many mainstream media (MSM) and blogosphere outlets that reported (er ... gossiped) on the restraining order placed on the celebutante hotel heiress have been mentioning the herpes angle of the story. Apparently, allegedly, reportedly ... blah, blah, blah ... Hilton may have the dreaded venereal virus. Brian Quintana, who requested the restraining order, had supposedly warned his friend and current Hilton boyfriend, Stavros Niarchos, that Paris has herpes. This is what allegedly got Paris angry and inspired her recent hate-spree of harassment on Quintana. Paris and herpes .... Are we really surprised? No. Do we really care? No. Is this interesting? Fuck yeah! Are you kidding?! You know it is, B!

The hyped-up British rock act Arctic Monkeys are in a America to promote their CD "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not." We caught their first nationally broadcast performance on U.S. television earlier tonight when they performed on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. The Arctic Monkeys took the stage two separate times, playing a song each time. It was a solid live performance by the Sheffiled, England quartet. The set included their massive U.K. hit "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor." The second appearance ended with ther band's lead guitarist, Jamie "Cookie" Cook making a show of thrashing his axe into a stack of amps in a Who-like stunt, which seemed a half-hearted, lame homage, with some of the members walking off the stage with embarrassed smiles. Otherwise, the performance rocked. If you heard "Whatever People," then you already know that the Arctic Monkeys is the real deal.

Sad to hear of the passing of photographer and writer Gordon Parks. Alhtough he was one of America's great photojournalists, having spent 20 years shooting for Life magazine and showing his work in museums and galleries worldwide, Parks will probably best be remembered by the wider general public for his film work, notably as the director of the influential 1970's blaxploitation movie "Shaft." The Washington Post has an excellent obit article and photo slide show on Gordon Parks and his photography. Gordon Parks Sr., R.I.P.

Paris has made headlines by dissing people before, but this is pretty bad -- this time the blonde celebutante and Hilton hotel heiress has dissed Elton John's AIDS charity foundation. Snubbed by Graydon Carter and denied entry to the Vanity Fair Academy Awards after-party, Paris and her boyfriend instead attended the post-Oscars bash thrown by senior pop music royalty, Sir Elton. But the party was a fundraiser that requested its wealthy and famous invitees to make a $2,500 donation to the charity upon entry. Paris, reportedly, ignored the request and barged past the entrance into the party, allegedly spitting out a reply of "Don't you know who I am?" Tsk, tsk, Paris.

When the critically acclaimed "Junebug" hit theaters in 2005, we kept putting off seeing it, either because there were too many other movies competing for our eyeballs and dollars at the time or because we didn't have the time. And then, suddenly, it vanished from the few theaters where it had been screening. We'd have to wait for the DVD. So for movie night this week we rented it. Now that we've seen "Junebug," we wish we hadn't waited -- it's such a great, powerfully undertstated film. The basic story follows a young, British art gallery owner in Chicago and her American husband of six months. He's originally from North Carolina, so when the young married couple embark on a trip to rural North Carolina to visit an outsider artist the wife's gallery is interested in repping, they use the trip as an opportunity to visit the husband's family for the first time. The movie observes a quietly dysfunctional family and exposes the differences between "big city folk" versus "country folk," secular versus religious, educated versus the uneducated, the wordly versus the parochial and minute red-blue state culture-war differences that can divide a contemporary American family in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. The acting performances are superb. "Junebug" is a first-rate film.

Air Massive rating: 4 stars out of 5

What if the animated opening montage to the long-running cartoon series "The Simpsons" was shot as a live-action sequence, that is, with real actors in a real environment? Well, this British film remake of the intro translates the cartoon into a "reality." Brilliant. Watch the video via the embedded video player above or go here.

From the Global Graphica file this week, there are some fresh images of New York City street art by famous graf artist A. Charles.

DJ and fashion designer Boy George will not go to jail as a result of drug-possession charges thathad been brought against him in a New York court. According to the U.K. newspaper the Guardian, Boy George was fined, ordered to go to rehab and required to do community services as part of a plea bargain that allowed drug charges to be dropped and the former Culture Club frontman to simply admit to "wasting police time."

Late-80's and early-90's flash-in-the-pan rap sensation and C-lister MC Hammer has a blog. Seriously. And it's on Blogger. Seriously. And he uses a T-Mobile Sidekick to take pictures that he posts on his site. And seriously, he gets around. One day he is in San Jose, Cali, the next he's in New York City strolling through Times Square. And seriously, he uses a laptop PC running Windows. And he loves taking pictures of himself in the mirror. His most recent post is an open letterto pro baseball player Barry Bonds. The site has audio posts to accompany some of the photo postings. When the site loads, some new MC Hammer music automatically plays. "Hammer time," indeed.

"German engineering in the house, ja!" The new Volkswagen "Un-Pimp My Ride" television campaign is a series of three thirty-second commercials that promote the German automaker's reliable engineering and the clean, simple, minimalist car designs of its GTI Mk V series of cars. In each spot, German auto "scientists" evaluate a "pimp-out" car and then proceed to "un-pimp" it by destroying the garish vehicles by way of catapult, wrecking ball and smashdown -- "oh, snap!" The funniest parts of these commercials are when the German enginers adopt hip-hop slang in mockery of the pimped-out cars' owners. Great stuff. Watch the third spot in the series via the embedded video player above or go here. "V-Dub in full effect!"

Okay, call it our dirty little secret, at least until this post: we're a fan of Project Runway, the Bravo channel reality television series hosted by German supermodel Heidi Klum. The show pits aspiring fashion designers against each other in a weekly smackdown, if you will, of clothing design. In each episode, the group is judged and losers are weeded out until a trio of finalists fights it out on the catwalk with a 13-piece collection of "looks." Now in its second season, the series has been a critics' darling and ratings success, with some arguing that it's the best reality TV series ever, that is, since the young genre's emergence a few years ago, when the mega-successful Survivor arrived and changed TV programming history. The show's enormous popularity, naturally, inspired a blog that has been posting in real-time about each episode's developments. Wednesday night saw the finale of the second season of Project Runway, with the winner of the months-long fashion design competition announced following the presentation of each designer's collection at New York City's twice-annual fashion week. And the winner? It was the Texas-based Vietnamese-American boutique owner Chloe. As of this posting, it's been announced that the series has been renewed for a third season. See you on the catwalk in the fall.

The disses keep getting dumped on Paris Hilton. The New York Post is reporting (as well as the gossip blogosphere) that Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter has snubbed Paris Hilton by publicly stating that she wasn't invited to the magazine's annual hot-ticket Academy Awards after-party at Morton's restaurant in Los Angeles. There's some irony here, as it was only this past October when Hilton appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair. Apparently, Carter feels that the no-talent celebutante's 15 minutes of fame have dragged on long enough. The editor announced on a recent episode of the HBO talk-show "Real Time with Bill Maher" that Paris would not be allowed into the Vanity Fair Oscars party. Indeed, at the party late Sunday night, Carter underscored the persona non grata status of party-girl Paris with a "Paris, who?" response when asked about the hotel heiress not being allowed in. Observers have noted that ex-friends and public enemies of Paris Hilton, the O.C. starlet Mischa Barton and the Simple Life co-star Nicole Richie, were both at the Vanity fair party and were spotted together sharing laughs.

Oh, Paris! Has it really come to this? You know things have taken a turn when "important" media outlets -- Washington Post, no less -- start reporting on court decisions against you. According to a Washinton Post report filed early Wednesday morning, Paris was issued a three-year restraining order that requires her to stay at least 100 yards away from Los Angeles events producer Brian Quintana. In a unique twist, the order allows that distance to be shortened to 25 feets if Hilton and Quintana happen to be attending the same party. Well, that might work in L.A. or in your average sprawling mansion or concert venue, but Paris had better hope they both don't happen to book the same LA-NYC flight? Welcome to economy class, Paris.

It is hard to believe, but, yes, Zelda has turned 20. One of the most successful and long-running videogame titles ever, Zelda's popularity in the 1980's helped turn Nintendo into a household name, as well help revive a home videogame business that had petered out in the intervening years since the Atari and Intellivision era. For a while, at least until a little thing called the Sony PlayStation arrived, Nintendo was king. And Zelda was in many ways the company's crown jewel. According to 1Up, there are at least 20 reasons to love Zela (and a few to hate it, too). Zelda, you've come a long way baby -- a long, long way since those early Nintendo days and the bird's eye view graphical paradigm.

The new British sci-fi series "Dr. Who" is coming to the SciFi Channel. But this isn't the famously low-budget (and long-running) "Dr. Who" you saw on the BBC or on PBS in America in the 1970's and 80's. The new "Dr Who," while again produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation, is a slick, big-budget hour-long episodic adventure. The show is now in its second year in the U.K., but will make its debut on U.S. television this year. With "Battlestar Galactica" and now "Dr Who," we could find ourselves spending more time than ever over at the SciFi Channel.

The 2006 Academy Awards are over. The Kodak Theater in Hollywood is empty. Celebs and agents are nursing hangovers, and director Ang Lee is mystified. The Awards, which garnered the second lowest TV ratings of the broadcast ever, seemed to favor Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," a.k.a., "that gay cowboy movie." And as the evening awards show wore on and the film picked up key awards, including the Best Director award for Lee, the Best Picture prize seemed a fait accompli. But critics and audiences were shocked when Jack Nicholson opened the envelope and announced that "Crash" had won as Best Picture. Aside from the end-of-night drama and the slew of indie films that dominated the nominations, this year's awards show will also be remembered for host John Stewart and his Daily Show-ification of the Oscars production. It was also an Academy Awards where a hip-hop song (from the film "Hustle & Flow") won the Best Song award. As Ali G. would say, "respek!"

Last week, on the eve of Sunday's Oscars awards, it was nice to see news outlets worldwide reporting that Paris Hilton was given that lowest of Hollywood awards, the Razzie. The award, which is actually called the Raspberry, was doled out at 26th Annual Raspberry Awards ahead of the Academy Awards. Paris won the award for her acting performance in the 2005 horror flick "House of Wax." To clarify, according to the press release, the award is for "Worst Supporting Actress." This year's Raspberry Awards winners also included Jenny McCarthy, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

Rides magazine could be called the hip-hop Road & Track. Or to put it another way, if Road & Track is the BMW of car mags ("ultimate driving machine" and all that), then Rides is the cream-and-gold Cadillac Escalade, complete with blinged-out rims, tinted windows and a stereo system with enough bass-amplification to set off every car alarm within a 30-mile radius. Rides is a reflection of a hip-hop subculture more than a culture of mere car-enthusiasts. In Rides the focus is more on the size of one's "dubs" (wheel rims) rather than, say, torque and fuel-injected engines. And gas mileage? Who cares when you're an aspiring rap star with the "paper" (the cash or credit) to buy all the gas you'll ever need. Rides is published by the same folks that publish King, so while the production values are slick and glossy, the content within often leaves something to be desired. That the crunky Houston "trill" star Mike Jones is on the cover of this month's Rides says a whole lot given the Houston hip-hop scene's above-average lyrical fixation on all things vehicular. The mag's tagline -- "The Illest Car Magazine Ever!" -- says it all really.

Hit the play button in the embedded video player above or view via the YouTube permalink.

Welcome newly minted electronic-dance music sub-genres! You've been hearing about "dubstep" for a while, but, c'mon now, can you really kick knowledge on this latest of music styles to emerge from the U.K.? Did you say, "No"? Hmm ... Well, check out this recent Wikipedia entry on dubstep and get up to speed. (Seriously, people -- get with the effing program! Sheesh!)

There's a brilliant, hilarious three-minute video clip (watch via video player above) going around the Internet that really illustrates the differences between Apple and Microsoft's design sense and -- ultimately -- these two companies' cultures and marketing savvy (or lack thereof). The video clip shows how Microsoft might re-package the Apple iPod. Anyone who has ever worked in an ad agency, branding firm or design house will especially get a big, big kick out of the clip, which you can watch by clicking the play button in the video player above or going here. Oh, the horror ... the horror.

Japanzine is a popular monthly English-language magazine in Japan, published and edited by American expats for the young gaijin crowd. It's an all-round up-to-the-nano-second what's-on type mag filled with useful features, quirky articles and humor and lots of reviews and events listings. The March issue, which has just hit the streets, is Japanzine's annual "Japan on the Web" edition in which dozens of Japan-based or related English-language Web sites are recommended and reviewed. Naturally, Japanzine, being the Web-savvy publication that it is, has "Japan on the Web" on its site replete with links. It's definitely worth checking out for anyone going to Japan or living there or fascinated by the county and culture. (Full disclosure, yours truly is a former writer and editor for Japanzine, and contributed selections to this year's "Japan on the Web.")

The unabashedly sleazy and trashy British hit television series "Footballers Wives" is being heavily promoted in the U.S. right now in advance of its season premiere on BBC America. With the tagline "Everyone plays dirty," the show hints at the immorality at play in a drama that is being compared to the American hit show "Desperate Housewives."

But we have to wonder if the title and the show's basic premise and milieu my be a bit of a hard sell for U.S. audiences, even for the American Beeb's savvy, educated, and discriminating viewership. European "Football," or soccer, (and its culture) is still very much an ill-fitting sport in the States. On the other hand, the focus of the series is squarely on the lying, cheating, backstabbing, money-grubbing, wonton materialism, and sexed-up, glammed-up antics of the wives of a handful of soccer stars, not the professional players nor game of British football itself (as is the case in another British TV import, the almost unwatchable series "Dream Team" on the Fox Soccer Channel in the U.S.).

"Footballers Wives," which airs in the U.K. on ITV, is actually in its third season now, so the show has legs (as does its svelte female cast). And if the BBC has put its marketing dollars behind it, well, there must be something about it that's worth watching. The inscrutable British TV broadcaster is suggesting the show is naughtier than "Desperate Housewives," and if it is, "Footballers Wives" may have a shot at building something beyond a niche, cult audience. Early signs are that the show is a bit "ridiculous" but "intoxicating" and actually quite good, and, according to at least one critic, indeed much better than "Desperate Houswives" by a country mile. Check out this recent preview article in the San Francisco Chronicle, which will make you want to tune in fo' shizzle.

The ever-a-fluttering gossip mills turns on and on ... That ever under-estimated celebrity power duo, the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, have made it clear that they're not fans of the Paris Hilton entrourage in recent comments that --- if you read between the lines -- amount to a unusually understated type of hate-dumping on the Hilton hotel heiress and celebutante. British site EntertainmentWise is reporting that the twins try to avoid Paris Hilton at all costs. Which makes sense, especially given that Paris "stole" Mary-Kate's boyfriend, Stavros Niarchos, last year. The Oslens seemed to have risen above the fray with a degree of maturity and dignity (if that's posible in this game) by declining to throw direct insults to Paris, but the tone of their comments about the Paris crowd says it all. According to EntertainmentWise, which quotes the Post-Chronicle, Mary-Kate Olsen said, "I would actually not consider myself as being part of the crowd, although I am surrounded by it at times." She also added, "It's very much like high school. Whether it's the popular crew or not, it's just that there's some gossip here or somebody's telling a lie over there."