Here’s the trailer for HBO’s upcoming documentary George Harrison: Life in the Material World, directed by Martin Scorsese. Most of the buzz surrounding this is overwhelmingly positive, but I’m only lukewarm on it since I don’t particularly like documentaries or the Beatles (I’m a Stones guy: rock songs should be about sex, not peace). I will, however, freely admit that I find Harrison the most interesting of the Beatles, and I think it’ll be cool to learn more about him — how he funded Monty Python’s Life of Brian, how the Traveling Wilburys came to be, and which drugs were necessary to make Ravi Shankar’s sitar music sound good. God I hate hippies.

It was 30 years ago tonight that Howard Cosell announced the death of John Lennon during the final moments of regulation during a Monday Night Football game between the Dolphins and Patriots (above is Cosell’s 1974 interview with Lennon, the MNF clip with the announcement is here).

Over the last couple of days, ESPN has been running an “Outside the Lines” about the Patriots’ British kicker John Smith and how ABC was able to break the news: an ABC News staffer was hospitalized after a car accident, and Lennon’s body was wheeled past him. More from ESPN:

As fans watching the game on TV listened to Cosell deliver the stunning news, all they saw was Smith preparing for a field goal attempt. Meanwhile, players and fans inside the stadium were not aware of what Cosell had just announced on national television. There was no public-address announcement or murmur through the crowd, like there would have been today with people scanning social-networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

“Dude, John Lennon totally would have been trending on Twitter if microblogging platforms and smart phones had been around 30 years ago.”

Anyway, I guess we’re all supposed to reminisce or whatever. I don’t know about you, but I responded to this news by crying and crapping my pants. But that’s because I was two years old at the time. It wasn’t exactly a special event to me.

This video is presently blowing up on Tumblr and every other blog that’s remotely like this one (the difference: fewer cats), and while the premise is simple enough — fading stars from the ’80s and ’90s lip sync to “Let It Be” — the execution is a six-minute ride to Wondertown. The YouTube description says:

This is a music video that promotes the Norwegian television entertainment program “Golden Times”. The program runs on the TV channel, TV2 in Norway.

I don’t even want to name any of the people in this video, because the surprises are so random and enjoyable that I’d hate to spoil it. But I’ll say this much: the Norwegian titles really spice it up. If the word “kuntsløper” doesn’t make you giggle, you’re reading the wrong TV blog.

UPDATE: Oh dear God, there’s ANOTHER one for “We Are the World” (see below). They somehow didn’t use up all the washed-up stars with the “Let It Be” video.

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Just pay attention to the eye-catching headline, people. No need for context.

The “Glee” cast has surpassed the Beatles for the most appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 chart by a non-solo act.

The cast of the Fox television musical series about a high school glee club has six debuts on the chart this week. That gives it a total of 75 songs on the chart to the Beatles’ 71. [AP]

So there you have it: irrefutable evidence that a television show that makes covers of hit songs is more influential  and successful than the band that defined a generation and changed rock and roll. Again, there’s no need to give this any kind of analysis or critical thought. “Glee’s” bigger than the Beatles. End of discussion. Move along now.

This is a clip from God knows when of a Hungarian TV show called “The Sandor Fridercruz Show,” if the YouTube description is to be believed. It’s a ventriloquist choir singing the Beatles’ “Yesterday,” or as I like to call it, “absolutely essential.” How did I survive for so many years without ventrilo-choirs covering the Beatles on Eastern European TV?

You’ll notice that these ventriloquists, unlike the terrible Jeff Dunham, actually don’t move their lips. This effect is necessary in making the doll in a man’s lap look even creepier. Seriously, it weirds me out. I think I’d rather watch clowns running an S&M dungeon… but I respect your mom’s privacy.

[robertpopper via boing boing]