Afternoon Meme: Conan Finds a Surprising Home, Rare Audition Tapes, New "He-Man", plus "Top of the Pops" Flashbacks

The big entertainment news of the day is that Conan O’Brien’s new show starts in November – on TBS. Lopez Tonight will move to midnight, and Coco will move in at 11pm opposite Jon Stewart. Yay? 

Elizabeth Taylor is not engaged. Shocking, I know.

The ballot initiative to repeal Prop 8 in California failed to gather enough signatures to make the 2010 ballot, which isn’t that surprising since none of the major gay orgs were behind trying to repeal it so soon.

People are being reminded that American Idol often runs long, so those of you who failed to take tomorrow as a holiday from work and live for Glee’s return should program extra time into your DVR just in case. And shame on you!

Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera is developing a telenovela for MTV with a social networking-based interactive element sort of like those “choose your own adventure” books. Or Zork. I liked Zork.

The play Corpus Christi was canceled at a Texas college due to death threats, then a community theater offered to host the performance. Now that performance has been canceled due to threats of violence. That’s real Christian of folks.

Moviefone has pulled together a bunch of screen tests that were done for different roles, ranging from Tobey Maguire for Spiderman (shirtless!) to Marlon Brando auditioning for the Rebel Without a Cause role that went to James Dean.  It’s like a walk through an alternate-universe Hollywood.

If you’re a spy and can’t use a computer, MI-5 doesn’t have a use for you. Which makes sense, since anything worth knowing these days is digital. I’m just fascinated they’re going to dismissal instead of sending them to community college.

I’m really confused by news coming from the Green Lantern set. Ryan Reynolds has told MTV that his costume didn’t leave much to the imagination, and now slashfilm is reporting that the costume is entirely CGI, and that Ryan is filming in a skin tight motion-capture suit. Which is it? And if the goal is something new, I vote for body paint.

Since the economy is starting to rebound, GE has decided the replacement for the $1 incandescent bulb is now going to cost $50. In their defense, it lasts 17 years, but as an apartment dweller I don’t relish the thought of having to pack my light bulbs when I move in order to maintain my net worth.

The writers behind Robert Rodriguez’s new Predators film have been hired to write a new He-Man movie. Which brings up the question of who will get cast to wear Dolph Lundgren’s bondage costume. I’m thinking the obvious choice is Kellan Lutz since he does muscled stud and boyish charm fairly seamlessly. I’m not brokenhearted about this – with advances in technology, this could really work.

Need background music to get busy with the guy or girl of your choice? There’s an app for that.

In honor of there being a Supreme Court vacancy, McSweeney’s has the Senate Rules for Confirmation of a Presidential Nominee. If you’re wondering why you don’t just refer to the Constitution, it because these are the literal rules, not the ones they’re supposed to follow

TheOnion.com says that Masters champion Phil Mickelson Shows Bubba Watson New Grip in the Clubhouse Shower.

In the Tiny Little Movie Review of Date Night, Shoebox brings up the ridiculous premise that the box office champ built an entire movie around the idea that Steve Carrell and James Franco are doppelgangers.

The Village Voice movie review for Miley Cyrus' The Last Song said she was upstaged by sea turtles. I've no idea if this is one of the sea turtles from the film, but you can see how they might win the hearts of viewers.

Sea turtles had me at Finding Nemo.

If you're going to dream of mythical creatures, dream big.

Of course, a less cute dino had to turn to the seedier side of the entertainment business to earn a living.

Fortunately, Miley Cyrus was willing to mentor.

P-artie!

This was a t-shirt design from Woot over the weekend called "Honey, wait!" I couldn't resist it - I ordered one.

They'd make a fun pair.

Want!

On the website where I found this picture of otters, it said they hold hands while they sleep so they don't drift apart. I have no idea if that's true, but it makes a nice story.

Not the otters you were expecting from me?

And you thought your job was rough!

We're doing some birthdays with song today. Brendon Urie of Panic! At the Disco turns 23-years-old today. We'll celebrate with "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" which is not true of boys - unless you're woefully unimaginative.

The short film A Gum's Life combines really bad acting with some cute stop-motion work, which I always love. It's telling that the entire emotional response to the film is to the gum and not the humans.

Justin Bieber said he had to "think bad thoughts" to get through his skit with Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live. Frankly I thought the only people thinking bad thoughts during that skit were Catholic priests.

Brian McFadden, who used to be in Westlife with the out Mark Feehily turns 30 today. I decided to go with their performance of "Uptown Girl" from Top of the Pops.