Let me put aside the earthquake in Haiti and the Massachusetts special election and its effects on the health care reform bill, and let’s talk turkey.

Avatar: what is up with this movie making gajillions of dollars? I saw Avatar (once) and I enjoyed it. I thought the world was pretty and plot was simple enough to follow. I liked them sticking their ponytails into things and how they were all big and blue. But, man, this thing has a life of its own.

Which begs a question like: is Avatar our generation’s Star Wars? Is it the movie that’s going to be the benchmark for an entire lifetime of franchises? Somehow, this movie managed to hit that piece of the market that manages to play well to heavy sci-fi fans and play decently to everyone else in the world. Most hardcore sci-fi movies get shunned by mainstream audiences, while most sci-fi movies that appeal to mainstream audiences don’t find a large enough hardcore following.

Will we be seeing Avatar sequels, prequels, book series, graphic novels, Christmas specials, action figures, bedsheets, Lego sets, and conventions for the next half century? Will ThinkGeek jokingly put up a USB orange Pandora shrinking plant a few years from now and then be forced to make it due to insane popularity and demand? Is this the world we now live in?

Also, wow is NBC and Leno getting hammered right now in the public eye. Everyone I know who has any kind of opinion on this clustercuss is on Conan’s side and I can’t imagine that anyone else will come out of this smelling good. I’ve rarely watched The Tonight Show (or any late night television for that matter, except for a short period of time in high school when I watched Letterman regularly), but it’s hard to resist tuning in for Conan’s final few days when most of what he’s been doing is glibly poking fun at NBC all night long.

I don’t dislike the network’s programming in general, but this Tonight Show incident is nothing short of a publicity debacle (even if Tonight Show ratings are up right now) and it’s essentially a public confession that all the confidence they had in The Jay Leno Show saving them money in the 10 o’clock slot was just a lot of hubris.