Movies of the Week: Worldwide Pants Edition

"Movies of the Week" is a fun weekly article recommending movies related to the biggest news stories of the week.

David Letterman's Apology
David Letterman apologized to his wife, Regina Lasko, and his staffers for his conduct this week, after Robert Halderman attempted to blackmail him with the purported contents of former staffer Stephanie Birkitt's diary.

Recommended viewing: American Splendor, 2003
The biopic of underground comic hero Harvey Pekar is played brilliantly by Paul Giamatti. In the film, as in real life, Pekar appears on David Letterman's NBC show several times in the '80s. In one infamous Letterman episode in 1987, in which Harvey Pekar called Letterman out for being a shill for General Electric, offending Letterman to the point of cutting his comic persona. Watch the Youtube video. The film is rather scathing when it comes to the portrayal of Letterman.

Also recommended: The Late Shift, 1996
HBO's dramatization of the events leading up to Jay Leno seizing Johnny Carson's Tonight Show out from Letterman.
Brett Favre vs. The Packers
Veteran quarterback met his old team, the Green Bay Packers, face to face on Monday Night Football, leading his Minnesota Vikings to a 30-23 win over the Packers.

Recommended viewing: There's Something About Mary, 1998
Brett Favre's cameo at the end was so unexpected at the end of this gross-out comedy hit that it remains as one of the best cameos of all time. Too bad Mary was a Niners fan.

Thousands of Hotmail Passwords Exposed in Phishing Scam
This week, thousands of Hotmail account passwords were compromised in a phishing scam, and uploaded to a public site. Surprisingly (or maybe not), the most common hotmail password was "123456," according to stats made by Acunetix's blog.

Recommended viewing: Spaceballs, 1987
Mel Brooks' President Skroob had the combination "12345" on his luggage, as did King Roland on the planet Druidia's air supply. It's likely their hotmail accounts were hacked into this week.

Zombieland Number One Movie At Box Office
The postmodern zombie comedy starring Woody Harrelson brought in the most money during its opening weekend.

Recommended viewing: Shaun of the Dead, 2004
Some call Zombieland a ripoff of Shaun of the Dead, but there is enough room in the zombie universe for both movies. The zombie movie genre is now divided into two camps. One camp is the classic zombie movie, social allegory under the guise of mostly horrific circumstances. The other camp is postmodern, self-conscious, with one-liners in the place of metaphors.

Also recommended: Return of the Living Dead, 1985; Braindead, 1992
If you've gotten burned out on Comedy Central reruns of Shaun of the Dead, try these classic zombie comedies on for size.

Teacup Pigs
Teacup pigs, little piglets the size of a teacup, when they are born, are in high demand in Britain. They are also in high demand by bacon fanatics.

Recommended viewing: Babe, 1995
Babe, the story of the talking pig, is one of the most adorable movies ever made. If you can't get your kid a teacup pig this Christmas season, get a copy of Babe and play it on a tiny television. If you don't like Babe, you have no soul.

Also recommended: Porky's, 1982; Charlotte's Web, 1973; Animal Farm, 1954
Not recommended: Lord of the Flies, 1990

Sources:
Acunetix Web Application Security Blog, "Statistics from 10,000 Leaked Hotmail Passwords"
Movie information provided by IMDB.com