Thankfully, NBC decided to renew Parks and Recreation last week, but it's always been a little touch and go for the show, since people don't generally watch it. Still, I think it's one of the best shows on TV, consistently funny with a stellar cast, so here's an animated GIF of Andy Dwyer (played by Chris Pratt) from last night's episode:

TucsonWeekly.com BobZ commented on our review of Radiohead's new album King of Limbs, remarking that the album is:

Boring...pretentious....Did I mention BORING. ?

Well, BobZ, you're not alone.

While it's a little bit challenging for me to get the jokes from Arrested Development out of my head when I think of the Blue Man Group (which is not a support group for depressed men, in case you were wondering), the actual concept behind the world-traveling performance art/musical group is kind of fascinating. The show changes all the time, so if you've seen the group before, the show at Centennial Hall will still be full of paint-covered surprises.

Apparently, they've been covering Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance", but I think their cover of "Baba O'Riley" holds up pretty well.

[UA Presents]

Comedian/actor/musician Kevin J. Thornton previews his play "I Love You (We're Fucked)", which can be seen this weekend as part of the Tucson Fringe Festival.

Thornton's show can be seen at The Screening Room tonight at 6:30 pm, tomorrow at 8:30 pm and at Beowulf Alley Theatre Sunday at 5 pm. Tickets are $10.

Hello all! It appears that the Arizona Legislature has finished its work in committees and now will be addressing legislation primarily on the Floor. This means a few of the really awful bills may die for the session. Of course they can always suspend the rules to consider a measure — or amendment it on to another bill — and then there is the budget. As I indicated last week, the Senate budget is a disaster on many levels. We need to let the Governor and the House Leadership know that we care about Parks and ask them to remove the provisions in the budget that would significantly harm them.

The Senate budget sweeps funds that keep the Parks open and maintained. SB1612 general appropriations 2011-2012 (Biggs, Klein, Murphy, et al.) sweeps the Enhancement Fund of approximately $2,090 000. This is particularly outrageous as this fund consists of the user fees we all pay to use the parks. It also takes $1,491,100 from the State Lake Improvement Fund in this current fiscal year. If passed by the House and signed by the Governor, this will create a huge cash flow issue for parks and make it nearly impossible for the agency to pay its rent, meet payroll or pay for operations.

SB1624 environment; 2011-2012; budget reconciliation (Biggs, Murphy, Pearce, et al) requires the State Parks Board to cut a bad deal for parks and the public. State Parks must issue requests for proposals for the private operation of some or all state parks, and requires the Board to allow a private entity to manage at least one park that was profitable in FY 2011 and at least one other park that was either not profitable or closed in FY 2011. The Board must award a contract by February 1, 2012.

Please call or email your representatives in the Arizona House and ask them to oppose both of these measures. Click on Save Our State Parks to send an email. To call from outside the Phoenix area, use the toll free number at 1-800-352-8404. In the Phoenix area call (602) 926-4221 (House). Ask them to connect you to your legislators’ offices. Remember calls can be very effective ways of reaching legislators.

Tell them to not to give away our state parks and destroy our state park system. Ask them to keep our parks public and funded via the dollars generated from fees and special funds. Parks protect cultural and natural areas and are important economic engines for rural Arizona.

Please also ask your representatives in the Arizona House to oppose the strike everything amendment on SB1517 (Melvin, Aboud: Antenori, et al). It deals with transmission lines; environmental compatibility certificates. All transmission lines that are

I'm not entirely sure how to classify the music of Chris Kent from Nashville, but his semi-operatic style might be the best tribute to the music of Michael Jackson ever.

[Dangerous Minds]

It really was a waste to have excitable sports announcer Gus Johnson calling the Butler/Wisconsin game last night and leaving the semi-comatose Verne Lundquist on the Arizona/Duke game. Not that the result was close in Anaheim, but at least Gus would have seemed involved. In fact, it's sort of a mistake to have Gus Johnson calling everything, as evidenced by his takes on historical moments for Funny or Die:

The destruction of the longstanding DeAnza Drive-In last April left yet another hole in the Tucson landscape, a hole frequently filled by new car lots, used car lots and Taco Bell.

• Photo Ryn Gargulinski
• DeAnza Drive-In was dismantled in April 2010 but the screen was saved to create a renewed Cactus Drive-In.

But fear not, nostalgia buffs, as a new drive-in is still in the works, with the latest update bringing the best news yet.

Negotiations are brewing between Tucson mover and shaker Charlie Spillar, the driving force behind the preservation of the drive-in, and a guy who actually wants a drive-in on his property.

“It has a dream of his for many years,” Spillar said in an e-mail. Although the mystery man’s location and identity has not yet been disclosed, we like him. We like him a lot.

The theater that’s primed to open, Cactus Drive-In, is not new per se. It will feature DeAnza’s former screens and the original moniker of the drive-in on 22nd Street and Alvernon Way when it opened March 13, 1949.

“The property owner is very supportive of a drive-in on his property and is very happy to work with us,” Spillar wrote in a Facebook Cactus Drive-In Theater Project message. “Unfortunately there are many obstacles to overcome as yet because of zoning, neighborhood acceptance, etc. but the outlook at this time does look very positive.”

Break out the popcorn. Kudos to the property owner, and even more to Spillar, who is as tenacious as a pit bull on a rubber chicken when it comes to preserving Tucson’s kitschy history.

Has any Wildcat team ever played a better second half? They could do no wrong.

And just so you know: They'll have Saturday's game on jumbo-screens at the Festival el el Barrio Viejo, so now you really don't have any excuse not to come!

I have no idea what to do with LinkedIn. I have an account there. I think I posted that I work here. Otherwise, I really don't get it, but for what its worth, The Week looks at the significant number of people on LinkedIn, some of whom must be getting something out of it:

100 million
Number of LinkedIn users

98,425
The height, in feet, of a hypothetical stack of business cards representing all 100 million LinkedIn members

44 million
Number of LinkedIn users in the U.S.

200
Number of countries with LinkedIn users

428 percent
Growth over the last year in LinkedIn users from Brazil

178 percent
Growth over the last year in LinkedIn users from Mexico

1 million
Number of users joining LinkedIn every week

20 percent
Share of LinkedIn users who are in the service industry

9 percent
Share of LinkedIn users in the high-tech sector. Members in the finance sector represent the same share.

500
Number of Fortune 500 companies with executives on LinkedIn

997,000
Number of teachers with LinkedIn accounts

1,030
Number of chocolatiers with LinkedIn accounts

74
Number of Elvis tribute artists with LinkedIn accounts

46
Number of LinkedIn users who list "beatboxer" as their profession

4
Number of LinkedIn users who list "dog or cat psychologist" as their profession

1
Number of LinkedIn users who list "martini whisperer" as their profession

8 years
Amount of time LinkedIn has been in operation. The company launched in May 2003.

$243 million
LinkedIn's total revenue in 2010. It makes money from recruitment and marketing services and premium subscriptions.

$15.4 million
LinkedIn's net income in 2010

$175 million
Estimated value of LinkedIn, as submitted in its January 2011 filing with the SEC