Now that she has smooched you-know-who this week, the talented Ms. Winfrey is ready to end the talk show that made her a billionaire and start the next phase of her life as a media mogul with a cable channel aptly named OWN. Like the would-be VP but for much longer and in a far different way, Oprah has been a phenomenon, rising from the depths of poverty to become an American icon with empathy, intelligence...

The great American composer Cole Porter also knew how to perform and sell his own songs. Here he is singing one of his clever “list lyric” songs, “You’re the Top,” composed for the 1934 Broadway show “Anything Goes.” This You Tube has a great “visual guide” to his list lyric. Enjoy:

“The Oprah Winfrey Show” will end in 2011 as she prepares to start a cable channel of her own. Media Decoder: A spokeswoman for Ms. Winfrey’s production company, Harpo, confirmed Thursday evening that Ms. Winfrey would make an announcement on her show on Friday. The plans were first reported by WABC, the ABC station in New York City. “The sun will set on the Oprah show as its 25th season draws...

There’s the cliched phrase: “It’s like watching a train wreck.” In “Terror in Mumbai,” which airs tonight 8 pm ET/PT on HBO, you get to see what no documentary has shown before: a “360 degree view” of a multi-pronged terrorist act, seen partly and genuinely from the terrorists point view. The reason: “Terror in Mumbai” uses actual cell phone instructional...

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

“I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear I’m gay… I’ve been living in Los Angeles for eight years as a gay man. I’ve been at clubs drunk making out with somebody in the corner. I’m proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It’s just another part of me.” That from Adam Lambert in a Rolling Stone cover story interview shortly after he was named the American...

And who better to extricate us (for a while) from the name-calling of modern politics than the Three Stooges (who now seem civilized in comparison): FOOTNOTE: A lot of their work is available on DVD.

A “dog warning card” arrived with my mail today. Thanks to a New Jersey branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers, you can see the form online. The form provides invaluable advice, such as “Do not deliver mail if you feel endangered by an animal.” For a better understanding of the threats faced by America’s letter carriers, I recommend the following passage from The...

By Walter Brasch It wasn’t unusual that Rush Limbaugh went ballistic on his show, Nov. 13. He does that several times a day. It wasn’t unusual that he mixed a few facts with opinion and outright lies in his three-hour daily show. Fact checking for the man who calls himself “America’s Truth Detector” is as rare as union organizers working for Walmart. What is unusual is that...

Sarah Palin’s magical mystery book tour has begun — a media blitz in which she’ll appear far and wide, and get interviewed by all and sundry. The immediate, short-term goal: to hype up interest in her new book and sell a zillion copies. She’ll be appearing with the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Rush Limbaugh — the ying and yang of modern American media. You can rest assured that many...

Well, Ok, yesterday the Longhorns got lucky, again, and beat the Baylor Bears 47-14. And yes, yesterday the Aggies happened to face some misfortune, again, and lost against the Oklahoma Sooners by a mere 55 points. (My local newspaper said something about “atrocious,” but what do they know.) While for some reason, the Aggies don’t appear in the Top 25 rankings this week, I understand that...

Mix Apple with Politics – Not a Good Recipe By Daryl Cagle I’m holding my breath. I’m now into my third month of waiting for Apple to approve my iPhone app. Yesterday I heard from Apple that they need more time to think about it. My app is pretty cool; it is called “MSNBC.com Cartoons” and it features a real time news feed of political cartoons by top cartoonists from around the world. My app will...

As a little boy, I used to crawl on the floor for hours setting up dozens of dominoes in various patterns, only to topple them down—and doing it over and over again. Well, the Dutch have taken this pastime to new levels. Today, “Domino Day,” they set a new world record—again—for the most consecutive dominoes to fall in succession, using over 4.5 million dominoes in a fantastic...

Chris Mooney — he wrote the book on The Republican War on Science — says the scientific plot of the movie is not only bizarre but incomprehensible. Still, he says Roland Emmerich’s catastrophic sci-fi blockbuster is evidence that anti-science sentiment in Hollywood is declining: We’re seeing a lot fewer mad scientists in major Hollywood films today, and a lot more scientist heroes. In...

Claude Lévi-Strauss, who died on October 30th (aged 100), made the study of anthropology as fashionable as philosophy and poetry. The Economist pays a tribute: “Before Claude Lévi-Strauss revolutionised the discipline, anthropology in France, and generally elsewhere, was a matter of ill-attended lectures in small, cold halls, and the collection of feathers and fish-hooks as evidence of the quaint divergences...

Fox News’ Sean Hannity got a little egg on the right side of his face recently. He ran a segment about a recent conservative protest in Washington that was by all accounts not a mega-attended event and used some footage from an early tea party protest that showed far bigger crowds. And Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart caught him on it and noted the footage discrepancies (little things like the color...

Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean lost her cool on CNN over a question, labels it “inappropriate” and takes off her microphone. A note to politicians, celebrities et. al: When you do an interview or broadcast and there is an elephant-in-the-room question the way to handle it isn’t to walk off or turn off your microphone. As a longtime former reporter, I can attest that when a news...

I have been away for a little while but I have collected my thoughts about a few items that may make you want to hmmm… 1) Memphis is a great city. Beale Street has the best blues clubs in the country. Graceland was interesting but I have a question: Why is U.S. 51 named for Danny Thomas in town but Elvis Presley outside of Memphis? Is the King not good enough to have the entire road named for him? 2)...

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, the show that has been the part of the childhood of hundreds of millions of people. A show that both entertains and educates, a program that inspires the dreamers of the day and the leaders of the future. However, there is plenty of commentary out there about how amazing the program is and how much of an impact it has had on society as a whole, so I thought...

Saturday Night Live last night spoofed Fox News’ 2009 Election Night coverage, offering comedic caricatures of some of the networks’ political coverage faces — and Glenn Beck. Here it is:

Get ready for another apology. GOP House bigwig Rep. Cantor has criticized conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh and says the party needs more inclusive rhetoric. (”He must be a RINO!!”). Quick: calll your bookie and make your bets on when Cantor will apologize now: Eric Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. House, said his party needs to be inclusive and criticized some comments...

A spoof bound to be considered a satirical classic (but not by Rush, Sean, Glenn or those who love Rush, Sean and Glenn): The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

For those who *still* need a reason to watch Glee, check out this amazing 80’s retro.

The founder of the ultimate international nerd fest aka Comic Con has died at the age of 76. Speaking as a grade AAA nerd and someone who would seriously consider going to Comic Con, I still have to say there is something oddly fitting that the founder of the event is named Dorf.

“An Uncommon Love,” sung by Carole King and K.D. Lang