STAR TREKKIN' ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: In the vein of the David Caruso one-liners video, someone has taken the time to edit every time Dr. McCoy proclaimed "he's dead" to Captain Kirk into a video. I'm waiting for the video that's simply a collection of Jim Halpert's horrified glances into the camera--ideally set to Yakety Sax, because Yakety Sax makes anything funny.

THAT IRREVERENCE, THAT WIT, I'D RECOGNIZE IT ANYWHERE: Yes, it's seven minutes of people explaining their vision for a Ziggy movie. (Trust me, it's funny, and intentionally so.)

WHAT DID YOU EXPECT, WE'VE SEEN HIS GIANT HANDS: We probably need a thread for spoiler discussion of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which I highly recommend. In a lot of ways, it's more human than Knocked Up and Superbad, particularly on the female side. Sarah Marshall is a fully formed character rather than just being either an unattainable beauty (Superbad), or a shrill nagging harpy (Knocked Up). Lots of very funny people doing very funny bit moments (Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Jack McBrayer, whose story doesn't really connect into the rest of the film, and an ALOTT5MA fave who shows up during the credits in a preview for Sarah Marshall's next project), and Billy Baldwin doing a priceless goof on David Caruso as the lead of Crime Scene: Scene Of The Crime. Jason Segel also proves that yes, he can carry a movie on his broad shoulders and you don't think of him as Marshall even once (and yes, as is obligatory to mention in all writing about the film, we do see all of him--no reciprocation from the female characters, though).

One thing that does bug--Mila Kunis doesn't really work. She looks kind of like a plastic anime doll, and has a weird inflection in her voice that bugs. More significantly, while she's pretty, she doesn't bring any spark or interest to the character, who just winds up flat and not really a match for Bell's smart-ass attitude. I wonder what a sharper actress could have done with the part who could have brought some snark to it--say Amber Tamblyn, Rachel Bilson, or Emily Blunt--could have elevated what's already a very good movie to a great one.

CRASH AND BURN/PATIENCE IS THE HALLMARK OF THE OLD AND THE INFIRM: I can't remember the last time we took the betting off the board this early for the Least Surprising News of the Year (though I think it was probably the Brit-K-Fed divorce), but we almost had to do it today, because the Knickerbockers fired Isiah Thomas as their coach. I say "almost had to do it," because there actually is a surprise in there -- they are retaining Thomas in some capacity to report to GM Donnie Walsh. Apparently crippling a team for years to come with extravagant and painfully obvious salary-cap mismanagement, constructing a terrible team, coaching that team into indifferent underachievement, expensively embroiling the franchise in a sexual harassment scandal, making racist comments, misspelling "Isaiah," and turning a once-proud franchise into a complete laughingstock on and off the court won't get you fired-fired. It's not clear to me why James Dolan is keeping him around in any capacity -- wouldn't he want him free to seek employment with other teams (cough Clay Bennett cough)?

I LOVE WINGO! Those of you for whom two weeks of the Beatles on AI was insufficient, pay heed: the Beatles are back! Or at least the Beetles: Jack, Pete, George, and Wingo. Their yellow submarine has gotten stuck underwater, and thus the Wonder Pets are on their way to help the beetles and save the day.

Set your Tivos, all you Ming Ming fans -- Monday night at 7 pm.

LET'S PLAY TWO! POINT FOUR! Nice 22-inning, 6 1/4-hour game in San Diego last night (and this morning), with no scoring until the 14th (when both teams put one up) and then no more scoring until the 22nd, when Willy Tavares came home unearned on an error, steal, error, and double. Both teams played everybody on the active roster who wasn't a starting pitcher. How bad was the offense in this game? Colorado had 27 plate appearances -- an entire perfect game's worth -- by players batting below the Mendoza line. And they won.

ETA: SPECIAL BONUS ALOTT5MA GIVEAWAY! ALOTT5MA Hyde Park Bureau Chief Marsha has one extra ticket for the Cubs-Mets games in Chicago on Monday night (7:05 start time) and Tuesday afternoon (1:20 start time). "Each ticket is free to any Thingthrower willing to join [Marsha] and not make fun of [her] for rooting for the Mets." You are, however, free to make fun of her husband or children for rooting for the Mets. Marsha cannot guarantee your security in the event of an assault by marauding Ligues. If interested, or, in the case of the Tuesday game, if interested and unemployed, contact Marsha at the email address listed in the comments.

DARKNESS: Danny Federici -- organist, accordion player and longest-serving member of the E Street Band -- has died at the age of 58 from skin cancer. In his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech, Springteen described Federici as "the most instinctive and natural musician I ever met," adding, "Your organ and accordion playing brought the boardwalks of Central and South Jersey alive in my music."

After taking a leave of absence from the band for treatment in November, Federici rejoined them one last time in Indianapolis last month. From that show, here's "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)".