Performing without a net

Well, tonight, in just a little while, we get to see just how funny Jay Leno & Conan O'Brian can be without a staff of writers, because even without a paid staff, they are coming back on TV (so has Carson Daly, but no one cares). David Letterman & Craig Ferguson are back on the air as well, but they were able to strike a deal with the striking writers guild for their own shows. Jay Leno isn't too damn funny with a full staff, my guess is he'll bomb pretty damn horribly without one. Conan is sort of a wildcard. He is definitely one of the funniest guys in Hollywood, and was responsible for some of the all-time greatest Simpsons episodes. But live, in front of an audience, with absolutely no prepared material is a whole different type of performing. It's anybody's guess if Conan's improv skills are truly up to snuff.

I am finally an HD convert. Even though I work in a place that has a Home Theater department filled with giant 50+ inch-plasmas, I honestly never thought HD looked that much better than standard-def, when I I saw it at work. And at home, all I had was a fairly poor-quality 15-inch LCD by Magnavox (not the greatest of TV brands to begin with). But since I did just recently acquire a PS3, I also picked up my first blu-ray movie a couple of days ago, the brilliant Ratatouille. Granted, last night on my TV, it didn't make much of a case for going HD on anything. But I just picked up a cool new 26-inch Samsung, and I'm watching Ratatouille right now, and it does make one hell of a difference. I'm not saying blu-ray is better than HD-DVD, I'll probably need to break down and get the HD-add on for my 360 to truly judge that; but I'm a much bigger HD than I was just yesterday.

Trailer of the Week: MY NAME IS BRUCE