I knew "South Park" was powerful, but ...

If you happened to tune in for Wednesday's "South Park" episode, you know that - as the best ones do - it starts out sanely enough with Jimmy writing "the greatest joke in the world" about fishsticks (on the 8-year-old level from which I sometimes view the world, it was indeed pretty funny) before spiraling all over the place and ending with Kanye West singing about the joys of being a gay fish.

It was pretty inspired satire of someone who surely deserves it, and surprisingly, it seems that Mr. West - in his own way - has sort of gotten the message, which I never would have guessed possible.

In his blog, the "rapper" (quotations added only because I can't stand his music, mind you) had this to say about it:

"SOUTH PARK MURDERED ME LAST NIGHT AND IT'S PRETTY FUNNY. IT HURTS MY FEELINGS BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM SOUTH PARK! I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MY EGO THOUGH. HAVING THE CRAZY EGO IS PLAYED OUT IN MY LIFE AND CAREER."

Now, the caps alone (which certainly weren't added by me) show that he hasn't really completely gotten over himself, but I suppose it's a start. The whole thing, which you can read here, is actually a hoot, and this would have to be easily the best line: "I GOT A LONG ROAD AHEAD OF ME TO MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE I'M NOT ACTUALLY A HUGE DOUCHE, BUT I'M UP FOR THE CHALLENGE."

OK, since he also actually posted the video of South Park's gay fish song, I should probably just stop the hating. Here's the video, in case you missed it:



In another bit of TV news, according to Entertainment Weekly, Aaron Sorkin is actually considering another return to TV, and more incredibly a return to yet another "show about making a show."

According to writer Lynette Rice, along with working on two screenplays (one for a Facebook movie [yawn, but yes, I'm on it] and one for a courtroom drama about Guantanamo Bay that sounds much more promising), he's also considering the idea of a new TV drama that takes a behind-the-scenes look at a cable news show.

Man, does that sound like nothing but meh. Now, don't get me wrong, "Sports Night" was pure gold, but his second attempt, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," was just almost completely devoid of any heart or soul, and lasted much longer than it should have. Given the set of this new show, if it were to happen, I'd imagine the politics he would cram down our throats week after week might be just about unbearable.

And in "The Office"-related news, it seems that Jan (Melora Hardin) is getting a starring role in an upcoming FX series that actually sounds really promising. Called "Lights Out," it will be about a former heavyweight boxing champion (Holt McCallany) who suffers from pugilistic dementia and is forced to take a job as a mob legbreaker to support his wife and three daughters. Hardin will plays his wife, an orthopedic surgeon. That all sounds great to me.

Two promising trailers

I have to admit that this one caught me just about completely off guard. I really like Sam Rockwell and love old-fashioned sci-fi (which Danny Boyle tried to fashion with "Sunshine" but just failed spectacularly), so "Moon" looks like it will be right up my alley. It's being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, which hopefully means it will somehow play wide enough to reach my little corner of the world when this hits theaters June 12. Enjoy.



And finally, here's the international trailer for Michael Mann's "Public Enemies," which looks much, much better than the teaser he put out earlier this year. You can tell from this clip that what he's cooking up will be as much an epic romance between Johnny Depp's John Dillinger and his mol Billie Frechette, played by Marion Cotillard, as it will hopefully be just a really fun gangster pic. Enjoy, and have a great weekend. Thanks to the largess of two of my old friends, Cory and Kaori, I'm going to watch the Braves beat down the evil Nationals Saturday night (yes, Facebook can really be great sometimes), and before that see Jody Hill's "Observe and Report." Peace out.