TV on the net

Arts/Life

Posted By STEVE TILLEY, QMI AGENCY

Posted 1 month ago

From celebrity shenanigans to thought-provoking bloggers to monkeys scratching their butts, the Internet is an always-on source of video entertainment. Enlightening, frightening or just plain silly, it's all there waiting for your click. Here's where our mouse is pointing this week:

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The Phenomenon

OK, look. There is nothing funny

nothing funny about terrifying innocent creatures. There is nothing funny about nearly killing a poor beast in the name of a publicity stunt. But somehow, you just can't put the words "parasailing donkey" together and not expect people to laugh.

If you missed this story, it seems a Russian leisure company decided it would be a fun publicity stunt to send a donkey skyward. Witnesses say the terrified animal brayed in fear for the half hour it was being dragged through the air behind a motorboat, and nearly drowned when the boat finally slowed to let the animal down. The parasailing company is under investigation for animal cruelty, as it should be. And yet the final shot of this news report sends me into hysterics every time. I'm going to hell.

To watch go to:

http://bit. ly/donkeyfly

The Personality

M. Night Shyamalan, Cinematic Poison

I haven't seen The Last Airbender, and chances are I won't, despite having a passing interest in the animated series on which it's based. Why? Because it's been getting absolutely terrible reviews. And who is to blame for that if not the film's director, M. Night Shyamalan? The guy who blew our minds with The Sixth Sense in 1999 has managed to make every film he's created since worse than the one before it. Unbreakable was pretty good, Signs was OK, The Village was dumb, Lady in the Water was awful and The Happening made me want to kick my TV when I watched it. Audiences can only take so much abuse.

So it's funny -not surprising, but funny -that the trailer for Shyamalan's upcoming Devil drew some laughs from this New York audience as soon as his name appeared on the screen. Maybe a career switch is in order?

To watch go to:

http://bit. ly/nightlaugh

The Discovery

Jennifer Aniston Adopts Boyfriend

I'm consistently amazed by the Onion's ability to skewer politics, the media and celebrities. Sometimes their stories are so convincing they're mistaken for real news reports, as is the case with a 2007 spoof about congressional hearings on U.S. homeland security, which recently started making the rounds on the Facebook pages of some particularly dim-witted Tea Party supporters.

In this new report from the Onion News Network, we see Jennifer Aniston adopting a boyfriend from Africa, a double whammy shot at celebrities shopping for third-world orphans and Aniston's own public romance woes. Personally, I'd be perfectly happy if she really did adopt a boyfriend, as long as she stopped appearing in those inescapable Smart Water ads. Jennifer Aniston, please stop haunting me from every bus shelter and magazine page.

To watch go to:

http://onion.com/jenboy

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THE LIST

Walrus Patty Cake

* I've never heard of Vigorsol Cult -- it's chewing gum, I think -- but this oddball commercial featuring a guy playing patty cake with a walrus makes me want to try it. Because who wouldn't love to get a hug from a walrus?

To watch go to:

http://bit. ly/walrusgum

You and Your Johnson

* From the looks of it, this commercial for Johnson outboard motors is probably from the '80s. But even though those were simpler times, it's hard to fathom how this made it onto the air without anyone twigging to the hilarious double entendres.

To watch go to:

http://bit. ly/yourjohnson

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