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Mad Men finale: Megan’s teeth take centerstage. Finally.

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With a stunning turn of events in last night’s Mad Men finale, series creator Matthew Weiner finally addressed the elephant in the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce lunch room: Megan’s teeth.

I don’t want to come off as superficial, but you know it’s been nagging at you the entire season. I kept my mouth shut when watching with friends because Megan, played by Canadian actress Jessica Paré, is strikingly beautiful — but those teeth…they’re right in your face.

Don Draper is a little more forgiving.

So when the ‘issue’ came up in the finale, the Twitterverse went wild with rampant speculation as to whether they are real. This is obviously something that’s been bubbling in the background for viewers for some time.

Judge for yourself. And then feel ashamed of your shallowness, like I do.

Top Gun: Highway to the sequel zone

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Just when you thought you were safe from yet another Tom Cruise sequel (though Mission Impossible IV isn’t even out yet) the internet is abuzz with reports that Top Gun 2 may be in the works.

The only good to possibly come of this seeing hipsters everywhere ditch their aviator sunglasses as they recoil at the thought of being associated with big-budget Hollywood.

Vulture reports on Cruise’s possible involvement:

Maverick would be confused and slightly depressed by the state of Top Gun these days, anyway. Last June, at a junket for Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Bruckheimer let slip that he had been “recently approached again to start talking about [a sequel]” but noted that “the aviation community has completely changed since we made the movie a long time ago.” Since 1986, the TOPGUN syllabus has been changed so the focus is far less on the spectacular and dramatic air-to-air dogfights that defined Top Gun and far more about teaching U.S. pilots to drop very large bombs on very small ground targets.

But we’re told by a source close to the project that McQuarrie — who is friendly with Cruise — has found a way to incorporate Maverick, and what’s more, we hear that Cruise has agreed to take a smaller role in the film, provided it’s not too “obvious” a part, i.e. Lieutenant Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell as grizzled Top Gun flight instructor. (read more)

Vote for ‘Whitey’

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(Photo/Flickr, laverrue)

Further proving the American political system’s fabled ‘smoke filled room’ really is controlled by rich white dudes, the Green Party’s gubernatorial candidate in Illinois is Rich Whitey.

Well not really, but some ballots in Chicago feature the unfortunate misspelling of Rich Whitney’s last name.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE:

Election officials in Chicago say Green Party candidate Rich Whitney is listed as Rich “Whitey” on some electronic-voting machines in Chicago.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the misspelling turned up on touch-screen machines in 23 wards… (read more)

A state elections official tells the AP there isn’t enough time left to correct the mistake and reprogram the machines.

Tommie Smith to sell Olympic gold medal

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ABOVE: San Jose State’s Tommie Smith, center, winner of the Olympic gold medal in the 200-meter dash, raises his hand in a black power salute along with teammate and bronze medal winner John Carlos.

It was a defining moment in Olympic history.

When sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, raised a black power salute on the podium in Mexico City in 1968 and were expelled from the games in the ensuing political controversy, the world took notice.

But now needing the cash, the former San Jose State star is selling the Olympic hardware.

AP:

The former San Jose State runner has put his gold medal for the 200 meters and spikes up for auction at New York-based M.I.T. Memorabilia. The bid starts at $250,000, and the sale is scheduled to close Nov. 4.

M.I.T.’s Gary Zimet says Smith is selling the medal for the money but also because he wants to share it with the public. (read more)

He’d probably sell the glove too, but nobody knows where it is.

Chalk this up as another black eye for the history of San Jose State’s famed “Speed City,” as the track program was dubbed before it was eventually scrapped and Bud Winter Field was converted into a parking lot.

CLICK HERE: To see the auction.

Tribune exec suspended for racy email

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If you thought Dunder Mifflin’s Michael Scott was bad, wait until you see this.

Tribune Co.’s Lee Abrams is known for sending out, um, wacky emails to company employees in an effort to foster outside-the-box thinking. It’s all part of his job as the media company’s ‘chief innovation officer,’ but what possesses anyone to fire off a link to video containing bare-breasted women and dialog including “…stay safe, and don’t f— any of those sluts,” is completely beyond comprehension.

Jim Romenesko, a media writer at Poynter.org, reports that Abrams has been suspended indefinitely for sending out the racy email containing a link to a NSFW Onion video to the entire company. Among the company’s holdings are the flagship Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers, as well as a host of television and radio stations.

Ironically, this comes just days after a scathing New York Times article depicted the leadership of Tribune Co. as bumbling sexists, completely devoid of any ability to run a media company — that’s all according to the Times’ David Carr.

Romensko reprinted a memo that went out to company employees Tuesday, indicating that even at Tribune, this is unacceptable behavior.

CHECK OUT: The video (NSFW)

Banksy on The Simpsons: So that’s where I left my unicorn hole punch.

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ABOVE: Banksy, a controversial British graffiti artist, created intro to Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons. Here is some of his more conventional unconventional work.

Banksy’s Simpsons intro created something of a buzz on the internet this week, mostly because nobody actually watches The Simpsons anymore a lot of people thought the whole thing might be a stunt. It’s borderline unfathomable that Fox would have green-lighted such controversial  commentary,  showing animators working in an Asian sweatshop, toiling to create cells for the long-running series as well as Simpsons merch and using a unicorn to punch holes in DVDs.

Animation for the show is largely completed in South Korea, so this hits a little close to home and while you would expect no less from Banksy, it’s hard to believe this made it past the network.

Fox promptly cited a copyright violation and yanked the video from Youtube.

BBC:

According to the street artist, his storyboard led to delays, disputes over broadcast standards and a threatened walk out by the animation department.

“This is what you get when you outsource,” joked The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean. (read more)

CHECK OUT: More of Banksy’s work here.

WATCH THE VIDEO (IF FOX HASN’T PULLED IT DOWN YET):

The cult of the McRib: Celebrating mystery meat

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“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten sandwich, that whosoever believeth in it shall not starve, but have everlasting fullness.”

This is how JaShong King, a photo editor from Toronto, describes his beloved McRib, paraphrasing the Gospel of John.

He is not alone.

The Wall Street Journal today delves into the shrouded cult of McRibophiles, documenting the great lengths they’ll go to obtain one of the elusive sandwiches, which are sporadically and unreliably available at McDonalds franchises.

But even these guys aren’t really sure what in the hell’s in a McRib (hint: it ain’t ribs):

“It’s a conglomeration of pork waste, as far as I can tell,” says Kate Sedgwick, 34, a travel blogger who lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (read the full story)

But the legend of the McRib lives on, spawning a popular “Ribwich” episode of The Simpsons, and dozens of other pop-culture references.

Capitalizing on the underground McRib movement, McDonald’s is announcing a full-scale return of the McRib next month…but not for long, the campaign is slated for only six weeks.

McRib fans rejoice.

A classic McRib commercial, circa 1999:

Don’t stop believing, Giants fans

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Sports tribute videos don’t get a whole lot better than this and with Sunday’s Bill Buckner-esque error by Braves second baseman Brooks Conrad, Giants fans shouldn’t stop believing.

Produced by Whitecollarbrawler.com, the guys that brought you “Ghost Ride the Volvo,” these guys score another viral hit.