Actor Jeff Conaway, best known for his role of Bobby Wheeler on “Taxi,” is dead after a drug overdose.

Stephen Colbert has been running an ongoing shtick in which he’s trying to start a political action committee, gets letters from his Viacom bosses poo-pooing the idea, and then inviting his lawyer on to explain ways to get around these concerns.

From the home page of Family Radio: My question:  will it say “-01″ tomorrow?

Willie Nelson is torn between Gary Johnson and Dennis Kucinich.

When one realizes that Trump is basically a brand, rather than anything else, his PR foray into politics makes more sense.

Go The Fuck to Sleep, the children’s book aimed at parents, has become an Internet sensation and reached #1 on Amazon well before its release owing to a leaked copy.

Well, now we know the reason that Arnold Schwazenegger and Maria Shriver split after more than two decades of marriage: Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, separated after she learned he had fathered a child more than a decade ago — before his first run for office — with a longtime [...]

Superman doesn’t hate America after all!

Headline (via Reuters):  Donald Trump says public scorn greater than he expected. Reaction:  That’s because, a) when one is as egotistical as Trump, one tends to over-estimate how others view oneself, and b) there is a radical difference between being a celebrity and being a politician.

An amusing parody, but I’m not sure what point they’re trying to make: CORUSCANT — Obi-Wan Kenobi, the mastermind of some of the most devastating attacks on the Galactic Empire and the most hunted man in the galaxy, was killed in a firefight with Imperial forces near Alderaan, Darth Vader announced on Sunday. In a [...]

An item in the Extra Bases baseball notebook last Sunday misidentified, in some editions, the origin of the name Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver, which Mets pitcher R. A. Dickey gave one of his bats. Orcrist was not, as Dickey had said, the name of the sword used by Bilbo Baggins in the Misty Mountains in “The Hobbit”; Orcrist was the sword used by the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield in the book. (Bilbo Baggins’s sword was called Sting.)

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver have announced their separation after 25 years of marriage.

Via the AP:  Donny and Marie bring 1st studio album in 30 years.

Mashup videos: Iron Maiden and The Monkees (“The Trooper Believer”) and Pink Floyd and Bee Gees (“Stayin’ Alive in the Wall”)

Superman will renounce his American citizenship!

Singing the 1974 Carl Douglas classic “Kung Fu Fighting” can get you arrested in England.

Thoreau envisions the mashup of Tolkien’s Hobbit and Tarentino’s Pulp Fiction: Balrog:  “Quenya, spider-f**ker, do you speak it?” [...] The way your uncle Bilbo looked at it, this Ring was your birthright. He’d be damned if any Orc’s gonna put their greasy yellow hands on his nephew’s birthright, so he hid it, in the one [...]

Roger Ebert lays the smack down on the Atlas Shrugged film — but not for the reasons you’d think.

“I have to admit, the combination of being right and wholly irrelevant is insanely frustrating.” – Bernard Finel I’m reminded of another sage with a similar fate: “Zathras warn, but no, no one listen to poor Zathras, no.” – Zathras There is, I must admit, something surreal about correctly predicting, for example, that Obama would [...]

Zsa Zsa Gabor’s 67-year-old husband says he and the 94-year-old actress are seeking to have a child through a surrogate.

Donald Trump is waiting to announce whether he’s running for president until after taping of “The Apprentice” concludes. Some thing NBC shouldn’t allow him to wait.

The Federal government is funding a Pakistan version of Sesame Street for $20 million.

Bristol Palin was paid $262,500 by Candies Foundation as an anti-teen pregnancy spokesman. That’s 7 times what they spent on teen pregnancy prevention.

Via Inside TV: Boo’s Walk-Outs for “Torpedo of Truth” The grandest irony, given many of Sheen’s public pronouncements to the contrary, is that this piece proves Sheen needs a writer. Also, this struck me as pretty much on target: There’s a scene in a Simpsons episode where Homer breaks an ant farm on the space [...]

If you have any familiarity with Dan Drezner’s new book, Theories of International Politics and Zombies and/or with IR theory, you have to watch this. Who says polisci profs have no fun at conferences? (Although there has been nothing so amusing at the conference I am currently attending).

The iconic WKRP in Cincinnati is not being syndicated or available on DVD in its original format because it’s classic rock soundtrack is hamstrung by copyright laws and music licensing fees.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has mastered the worlds of bodybuilding, show business, and politics. Next, he’s going to try his hand at being a Marvel superhero.

A meme that will go away soon, I hope. via imgur

This letter from legendary music journalist Lester Bangs is making the rounds

This is a joke, right?

In a hypothetical match-up with Charlie Sheen, Public Policy Polling find that Sarah Palin would win 49-29. Now, if only Palin can get the Democrats to nominate Sheen… Going inside the numbers we find, however, that independents prefer Sheen to Palin, 41/36. However, Sheen’s ability to win is clearly undercut by the fact that he [...]

Ru Paul for President 2012 bumper sticker

They’re letting anyone into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame these days.

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is the latest idiot celebrity to damage their career on Twitter.

Automated programs are getting very good at poker and are winning large sums on online gambling sites.

An offhand comment in my post “Obama Killed Cap’n Crunch” sparked inquiries about the fate of the General Mills line of cereals featuring monster characters.

Cap’n Crunch is going the way of Joe Camel.

An op-ed by a Hao Leifeng in China’s Global Times argues that “Actor Charlie Sheen is a classic example of the difference in Western and Eastern values and norms.”

Charlie Sheen was the highest paid sitcom actor on the planet. Until a few minutes ago:

Why is Charlie Sheen seen as likable despite his serial abuse of women?

The Gourds perform “Gin and Juice” at Bumbershoot in Seattle, September 2007.

James Franco is a film director, screenwriter, painter, author, performance artist and actor. And working on a PhD at Yale.

Our roving correspondent Richard Gardner forwarded me this clip from “Portlandia,” a series of which I’d never heard, on IFC, of which I’d also never heard, starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein. The “Is it local?” bit is fairly amusing:

Via EW.com:  Huge ‘Game of Thrones’ news: ‘Dance With Dragons’ publication date revealed! – EXCLUSIVE. The date:  July 12th. Of course, I will believe it when I actually have the book in my hands (especially since GRRM says at his site, “No.  Sorry.  Not done yet.” although he does say “The end is in sight, [...]

For example: A list of them here:  Charlie Sheen Quotes As New Yorker Cartoons h/t:  Scott Lemieux @ LGM

Via the Guardian:  Charlie Sheen v Muammar Gaddafi: whose line is it anyway? It’s harder than you might think.

My official statement. Please refer to this the next time somebody says something stupid.

Muammar Gadaffi’s family hired big name entertainers for parties. What with the ongoing mayhem in Libya, that’s coming under scrutiny.

A New York judge has sided with comedian Jerry Seinfeld in a bizarre lawsuit by a crazy woman who writes cookbooks.

Is Jon Stewart a useful idiot?