Morning Meme: "The Muppets" Opening Number, History vs. History Channel, and "TOWIE" Makes It Stateside

The first two seasons of The Only Way Is Essex have come to the United States via Hulu, and the New York Times loves it. The Grey Lady practically gushes praising the show, which makes me concerned for their sanity.

Meryl Streep's turn as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady has been pushed back to December 30th, but is expected to make an awards season roll out that will no doubt skip any city with a population under 2 million.

Will Young wants to be a dad, but not until he's in his 40s. He thinks he can be a stylish gay dad. Is there any other kind?

Bishop Salvatore Cordileone writes to Congress to tell them that gay marriage oppresses religious people by…well, I don't really see him say why. One side is all love, and the other is about exclusion. If his side wasn't being so hateful, no one would call them hateful.

The hunky Jack Plotnick writes in to tell us that there's going to be a screening of the original Girls Will Be Girls at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, along with the debut of the trailer for Girls Will Be Girls 2012. Proceeds will benefit both the Gay & Lesbian Center and provide funds to finish the sequel. Tickets are available for November 15th for the event hosted by Miss Coco Peru and Evie.

Police have arrested a North Carolina man for having unprotected sex without revealing he was HIV+. This is a crime in 34 states.

I can't decide if Google actually feels that Siri is a threat to their search business, or they're just happy to have something to point at as a potential threat.

I'm just going to go with the headline of this piece: "The CW Buys Time Travel Musical"

I'm going to admit that I haven't watched Akira in like 20 years, so the character names don't mean a lot to me. But I can say based on the casting I keep hearing, this is being Americanized, big time. Ezra Miller and Alden Ehrenreich are being courted for the role of Tetsuo, and I've also seen that Keira Knightly has been offered a role.

Quite a few people make a compelling argument that the Academy should fire Brett Ratner for his gay slurs and unprofessional interviews on Attack of the Show and Howard Stern. But the most compelling argument is that it looks like he's going to attempt to do the Oscars without Bruce Villanch. I'm not even sure that's legal.

MGM is looking to do a live action Where's Waldo. I nominate snicks for the title role!

I'm really surprised that it took Gloria Allred so long to get involved in the Herman Cain sexual harassment scandal.

This isn't a new napping strategy, this is how I live.

The Savannah Film Festival shocked critics and attendees alike by skipping over War Horse and J. Edgar and making their secret "Director's Choice" showing The Muppets. It's not exactly a film festival target. Said one critic "I stayed groaning through the entire thing. I wanted something deep and artsy — I didn’t fly all the way down here for this. I like Muppets, just don’t do it at a film festival.” But film student Caroline Nead spoke the truth "If the Muppets can’t brighten your day, you need to go see more Muppet movies.”

Conrad Murray was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson. So I have no idea what HLN will do for daytime programming now.

I have to agree. If you support open service by gay and lesbian soldiers, you can't feel anything but shame for J.T. Chestnut.

Over at Vanity Fair, Brett Berk helped me pick out my car a couple months ago. Now he's launching a new column about cars of the future that I can't ever hope to drive. But the idea of a Fisker Karma or an electric Rolls Royce is pretty sexy.

The New Yorker loved J. Edgar, even if they seem pretty certain that his relationship with Clyde Tolson was chaste.

Chord Overstreet's onscreen mamma on Glee will be played by the Guiding Light's Tanya Clark, which I did not see coming.

Wilmer Valderrama is headed to Suburgatory to play a cross between a New Age guru and a gigolo. Valderrama is set to be eye candy for the housewives of the show, who already have Jeremy Sisto, Alan Tudyk, Jay Mohr, and Parker Young to leer at.

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