If there is any art or medium more inane than American television, it must be Japanese television. The video above appears to be an excerpt from a program during which contestants pull the tablecloth out from underneath tableware, capped off by a little WTF dance by the loser.

tags: japanese television, american television, table cloth, tablecloth, loser, excerpt from

There’s more than one huge celebrity today who was once called loser (we’ll say non-winner, it sounds less harsh) by a little show called American Idol. Is one of these almost-winners ready to take the world by storm with his latest project? Some would swear that Sanjaya Malakar was the winner of Season 6. The young crooner melted hearts with his big smile, captivating locks and signature style. Though he was voted ...

tags: malakar, signature style, music in my head, dancing to the music, la times, amazon, american idol, crooner, memoir, loser, memoirs, january 20, locks, finale, little bit, sanjaya, hearts, smile, celebrity, credit card

90210 returned to TV last night after a long mid-season break. For days, the promos titillated us, promising more drama, more twists and more shock. Did last night’s episode deliver? After finding out that Shannen Doherty’s Brenda Walsh can’t have kids (and might adopt - yowzah!), former druggie Adrianna Duncan (played by Jessica Lowndes) is preggers, half-brother Sean (Josh Henderson) was really a con man and that the cute cheerleader Christina Worthy ...

tags: annalynne mccord, brenda walsh, cute cheerleader, american teenager, josh henderson, long lost brother, abc family, jessica lowndes, teen pregnancy, classroom scene, half brother, druggie, bombshells, shenae grimes, lauren london, false alarm, con man, shannen doherty, mid season, parallels

Sanjaya, the bouncy-haired American Idol un-winner from Federal Way, is releasing a new album and a memoir(!) later this month. If you want a shock to the eyeballs, you should look at Dancing to the Music in my Head's cover art. Here: Whoops! We didn't mean to spring it on you like that! Go ahead, take the rest of the day off work.

tags: sanjaya, music in my head, dancing to the music, rest of the day, american idol, eyeballs, new album, memoir, shock

CAN'T CATCH A BREAK: Nami Mun's novel Miles From Nowhere is about a Korean-American woman in the 1980s who lives out our worst nightmare (underage sex worker, junkie, homeless, it goes on). Seattlest MvB says that the main character is "an affectless screen on which bruises from beatings and ulcerated needle tracks appear without histrionic wailings and gnashings of teeth," and praises Mun's "contemplative eye." Mun will be reading from her book at Elliott Bay ...

tags: hubble space telescope, northwest film forum, history of the hubble space telescope, fu man chu, elliott bay book company, washington professor, professor bruce, sex worker, mvb, time university, corned beef, free screening, 20th anniversary, beatings, landings, mchugh, american woman, n7, forum free, n10