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It's funny because I could also potentially be fired because of Borat. If my boss saw how many of his videos I viewed on YouTube, they'd have legitimate reason to give me the boot. If I do get fired, I'm calling Newsweek.

Okay, I don't want to seem like a stick in the mud, but I'm going to have to disagree. I didn't know who Borat was until Dru made me watch Da Ali G show, which I did not and still don't find all that funny. The average “Campus Talk” has about ten times as much wit and talent. In my opinion, Sacha Baron Cohen’s "comedy" is entirely predictable and is pretty much the same thing over and over with different costumes and accents. He uses the same techniques that The Daily Show correspondents use – except that he misrepresents himself to the people he goes after, whereas The Daily Show correspondents identify themselves as such. And that’s the rub – his segments are considered to be most successful when he is most successful at duping his targets into thinking that he is someone that he is not. That he has handlers who propagate his deception makes it all the more likely that someone is going to be hurt by his antics. There are still people out there who are willing to take people at their word – and Borat makes them pay for being trusting types. I recently had a meeting with a group of Russians who want to do a Russian language program – it never even occurred to me to check and see if they are legitimate. “Borat” has not exactly been a household name until recently. While “Da Ali G” might have rung alarm bells, I really don’t think that “Borat” would have until these last few months. Who knows when these events happened to the guy in the Newsweek letter. At least a few months ago, possibly longer.

My 2 cents. And yes, Dru is making me go see the Borat movie. In return, she has to go see Casino Royale with me. Not sure who wins in that deal….

I dunno, if a journalist from Kahzikstan has handlers and a PR team, that should probably be a red flag. A little more checking, maybe even a pre-interview with the guy, would have been enough.

I just got back from a sneak preview of the Borat movie. I thought it was funny, but I already liked Borat. Dan, you will hate it. A lot.

I do think it's a shoe-in for the "Most Unexpected Laurel & Hardy Reference" Oscar.

Oh, I know I will. But I'm probably going to hate Casino Royale, too. I thought the first hour of Die Another Day was great and it seemed like it was headed for being the best Bond movie ever -- and then the ice castle, space ray gun, invisible car, CGI para-surfing and the endless battle on the transport plane about made me barf. But maybe CR will surprise me.

Everybody I know loves Borat. I just don't get it, I guess.

Dan, I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm fine with you continuing to praise Campus Talk over Borat any day. Maybe you're just not a fan of Borat because you've seen the lost episode of Campus Talk where John and I pretended to be journalists from the Ukraine and think we should be receiving royalties.

On an unrelated and kind of bizarre note, I think I've only seen one Bond movie (Thunderball) in my entire life, and that was on TBS. Maybe if Joe Dante directed one, I'd be a bigger fan.

Thunderball is a fairly weak Connery entry. Probably gave you a bad taste. Try the orignal --Dr. No -- which doesn't have a lot of gadgets, but is a fairly good low budget action movie. If you want a sampling of Bonds, then watch The Spy Who Loved Me for a decent big budget Roger Moore entry. It also has the guy from Star Wars who says, "hey, do you want another R-2 unit? This one is little beat-up.?" The best Timothy Dalton movie... was never made. Of the Remmington Steele movies, I'd recommend The World is Not Enough (even though it has Denise Richards as a newkuler scientist).

Which is not to say that the Bond movies are all that great. The "Bourne Identity" movies are far superior action films.

But...

The car boat/chase in the middle of "Live and Let Die" is worth watching and ends with one of the best bits of dialogue ever.

My blog has been Bond-jacked. I've seen most of them, I think, although I probably couldn't you which scene went with which movie. But I do like the wheelchair guy getting dropped down the smokestack. And Bond dropping the ring into Mount Doom.

I like the one where Bond finds the Holy Grail, and is accosted by an extremely old knight. But I'm always left wondering-- what has the knight been doing for the last nine hundred years?? If he had a playstation or something to keep him entertained, I would understand, but if he just had to sit there watching over a room full of cups, that's simply implausible. He probably would have sliced his jugular out of sheer boredom.

Yeah... that wasn't a Bond movie. That was one of the Allan Quatermain movies (Allan Quatermain and the Holy Grail, I think it was called). Quatermain was played by Richard Chamberlain who, in a freak coincidence, also played Jason Bourne in the smash hit 1988 TV movie, The Bourne Identity.

And I know you don't want me to even go here -- but the character of "Conklin" in the Bourne Identity TV movie was played by no other than Shane Rimmer. And Shane Rimmer is the guy in Star Wars who says "Hey, do you want another R-2 Unit?"

Most of the Bond movies tend to run together for me, but Goldfinger will always be a classic in my eyes. And no offense, but Borat was funnier the first time around...when he was Latka. Let the hate mail begin!

Off to see Borat movie film at 1:00, Inver Grove Heights Kerasotes ShowPlace 16. See you all there! Woo hoo!

Latka was funnier when he was Foreign Man.

Weirdest of all, Richard Chamberlain played Robert Mitchum's role in a remake of Charles Laughton's "Night of the Hunter." He also played the role of Kramer on the obscure nineties sitcom "Seinfeld." That was not his first TV experience. He also played the judge on "Night Court" and Dr. Harry Weston on "Empty Nest." He is now mayor of a small town in southern Illinois. He collects rare snail shells.

Good call, Sean! hahaha

Okay, so I liked the bear and the chicken. And the Laurel and Hardy bit.

20th comment. Woot!

21st comment. Woot!

Borat is getting sued by two of the frat boys.

http://www.tmz.com/2006/11/09/borat-lawsuit-high-five

I think their tactics here were much worse than on the news show- at least on the news they knew it would be aired and they weren't drunk when they signed the waiver.

And having seen the film, the stuff Borat did on the news show could have been a lot worse. Considering how many people he's "fooled" I wouldn't be super depressed if I were the producer. I would write it off as a learning experience and just be happy he didn't do anything that got us fined by the FCC. Apologize to the audience and move on...

The film has some interesting insights to racism and anti-Semitism in the U.S., but I don't think you have to deceive people to find that out.

It will be interesting to see how the lawsuit turns out. I have trouble believing that a release is valid if the subject doesn't really know what he or she is signing.

Yeah, I think the difficulty will be proving they mislead them - I think simply not reading it isn't a defense but if the producers intentionally got them drunk and lied to them about it (and they can prove it) that might be another matter...