Beloved fake-newspaper The Onion may be packing up and moving from its home base in New York City all the way to Chicago. The news Tuesday shocked The Onion‘s writers, who were “blindsided” by the decision and, by all accounts, appear to be resisting the unconfirmed move. The announcement followed an internal disagreement over the writers’ proposal that they join the Writers Guild of America in order to receive better pay and benefits. Of course, seeing as how it’s The Onion we’re talking about, this could all be a giant hoax. But somehow, asking talented writers to move 800 miles away or quit just isn’t funny. [via Huffington Post]
Tomorrow, as we have been told many, many times, “it all ends.” Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 2 marks the end of the lucrative, decade-long Harry Potter film franchise, which has yielded eight films, over two billion dollars in box-office revenues (so far) and more parodies and spoofs than you can shake a wand at. To mark the conclusion of the series, we gathered just a few of our favorite Potter parodies. Check them out after the jump, and add your own in the comments.
Does The Onion deserve to win a Pulitzer Prize? After publishing what might be their 1,000th issue as of this month (they aren’t entirely sure), the editors of the satirical newspaper think that it’s high time it was recognized– and they’ve launched an intense online campaign to make their dream a reality. Supporting their cause is a “a nonprofit watchdog group committed to exposing those who engage in improper journalism-award-giving” called Americans for Fairness in Awarding Journalism Prizes, as well as a random assortment of celebrities that includes Tom Hanks, Gayle King, Arianna Huffington, Mario Batali, and the president of Georgia. Click through to watch a PSA from AFAJP, and if you want to get involved, sign a strongly worded online petition to the Pulitzer Board here.
Tonight, IFC premieres The Onion News Network, a weekly half-hour series in which the satirical newspaper and website tries its hand at “bringing truth to cable news.” Though the execution is timely (the series is full of Fox News-style whooshing graphics, barking pundits, and aggressive slogans like “news without mercy”), the notion of parody news goes back decades. Join us for a brief history of fake news in popular culture.
If you haven’t heard VICE magazine’s MTV show, The VICE Guide to Everything, debuts tonight. The show follows VICE co-creator Shane Smith and his cohorts on trips around the globe, exploring politics and culture on a street level — think a traveling The Daily Show with a dash of Jackass. Tune in to MTV tonight at 11/10c to catch the big premiere, but in the meantime check out a brief history of other print publications that made the jump to television.
The online Oscars are approaching, and you, the common Internet user, have a say as to who takes home the Webby.
There are literally hundreds of nominees in dozens of categories; vote for the Onion or Fail Blog in the Humor Site category, YouTube Symphony Orchestra or Twilight Remixed in Video Mashups, and Dropbox or Tumblr in Web Services and Apps. Equally as exciting: you’re almost certain to discover sites and services new to you that are about to make your life way better.
With Inventory, the Onion‘s pop-cultural critics at the A.V. Club provide a hilarious compendium of their ultra-specific weekly lists.
From a dozen songs about how much public transportation sucks and ten movie franchises that never were to 25 sure signs that a sitcom is terrible, Inventory provides an exhaustive collection of esoteric knowledge. It also includes special book-only sections and lists penned by non-Onion funny people like John Hodgman and Amy Sedaris.
Additionally, there’s an intro by the always engaging Chuck Klosterman (who recently revealed to us his own list of albums to beat writer’s block). The best part: The book’s full of recommendations and forgotten titles that will send you to Amazon or Netflix with a quickness.
The Live Feed reports that Comedy Central and The Onion are teaming up on an as-yet-untitled TV show. The half-hour scripted series will “be based on the Onion Sports Network online video series and take on teams, fans, sports products and sports coverage.” It will be geared toward “sports lovers and long-time followers of the Onion.”
We fall into one of those categories. (We’re sure you noticed the lack of World Series talk around here.) Congrats guys! We’re excited to see what you come up with. And please take this one piece of advice: Ignore your compulsion to include Steven Seagal in this project. You’re better than that.
