On Friday night I received a telemarketing call from my cable company.  Instead of instantly hanging up, I actually listened.  Apparently my promotional rate was expiring, but the cable company was willing to give me everything that I already have for one year, plus HBO and Cinemax, plus the Starz movie pack, for what would be $8 less than they had intended to charge me once my promotional rate ends.  Nice.

So now I have access to all sorts of movie channels.  I suppose I chose a good time to actually listen to a telephone solicitor.

My first new discovery is "Da Ali G Show" on HBO.  Here's a show that I have heard a lot about, but haven't been able to see yet.  "Ali G" is a show done by a comedian (something Cohen) in three characters.  Each character -a wannabe hip-hop guy, a Kazakh TV talent, and a gay Austrian- is a dodgy journalist who is covering American life.  Ali G (and other personas) get some surprisingly well-known interview subjects on the show.  For those of you who have never seen the show, I'd liken it to an extended "Stuttering John" segment (except more clever.)

Another treat that I have found is this thing called "You Tube."  People download video clips on to the internet.  Fun (and funny) stuff abound.

Among the cooler things that I have seen is an old music video by one of my favorite Japanese singing duos, Puffy.  "Ajiya no Jushin".  It is a fun watch, even if you don't understand any Japanese.  Catchy song!

Finally, I found a clip of the old Superfriends cartoon, with the Budwiser "Whazzup!" ad-campaign guys' voices in place of the characters.  I wasn't in the US for the whole "Whazzup" thing, so I never had the chance to get tired of it.  From that perspective, this cartoon clip had me laughing myself to tears.  Check it out.