If it's Friday, and, why, yes it is, it's time for a Unicorn Chaser on Boing Boing tv. Today: SPAMASTERPIECE THEATER bloopers, out-takes, and oblique lulz from the amazing John Hodgman, minor television personality and author of More Information Than You Require (Amazon link). Direct MP4 Link, if you prefer download.

Update: proof they are the REAL THING.

Today on Boing Boing tv, we reprise our ongoing SPAMasterpiece Theater series, featuring author, PC, and minor television personality John Hodgman, whose new book, MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE, has just been released.

Hodgman himself describes this series as the dramatization of "true tale[s] of romance, adventure, infamy, and low-cost prescription drugs, all culled from the reams of actual, unsolicited emails, received here by us and people like you -- what we call SPAM."

Today's installment: The Stomatologist, in which we answer a lovelorn Russian woman's age-old question, "Why I cannot find my special the man?"

A note from our musical director: The adaptation of Jean-Joseph Mouret's "Rondeau: Fanfare" (1735) which opens today's episode was remixed in flagrante 8-bit by Hamhocks Buttermilk Johnson.

Also: a special and hearty thanks to the talented and generous Ehrich Blackhound (previously boinged here) for creating our new, typographically-correct opening slates for this parody series.

Previously on Boing Boing tv:
* SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol. I
* SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol. II

Author, minor television personality, and Boing Boing guestblogger John Hodgman returns to BBtv for more heretofore unrevealed spoilers from his large new book of fake knowledge, MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE.

In today's episode, we answer questions posed by Boing Boing tv fans via The Twitter, including one from Annalee Newitz of i09 blog which pertains to the subject of nude self-portraits. You really should watch this episode all the way to the end.

Here are previous Boing Boing tv episodes featuring Mr. Hodgman.

John Hodgman's new book MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE hits the streets on October 21, but by no means is today's episode of Boing Boing tv any sort of, oh, how do the marketing people say it -- it's not a book trailer, and it is by no means a promotional vehicle for said book.

No, we just noticed the star of Apple ads and Daily Show hijinks wandering aimlessly in the streets outside the BBtv studio this week. We invited him in for scotch and cocoa, and shared questions posed to him by BBtv viewers through the popular internet messaging website known as "The Twitter."

We don't know how all those books managed to stack themselves from studio floor to ceiling. We are not holding those books in front of our faces in the first 10 seconds of this episode so that you might see the cover -- we're doing low-impact pilates.

HEY LOOK, IT'S A CONTEST: If you would like to receive a Hodgmanically autographed copy of the book for which this episode is not a promotional trailer, reply to @xenijardin on The Twitter with the answer to this question:

What area of expertise does Hodgman credit Boing Boing tv for on page 592 of this excellent book?"

We will select a winner randomly. Friends, spouses, love-slaves, and business partners of Boing Boing and Boing Boing tv are not eligible. (Serious face: this episode isn't an ad, we're just ridiculously hardcore fans of Hodgman. Watch our trufan-trailer here, then, seriously, go buy the book).

Previously on Boing Boing tv:

* John Hodgman in BBtv's SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol II: "Wuthering Wire Transfers."
* John Hodgman in BBtv's SPAMasterpiece Theater.
* John Hodgman: More Information Than You Require.

John Hodgman is known throughout galaxies far and wide for transcendent wit and bookish LOLs. You may know him from the Apple ads, the Daily Show hijinks, his blog, or his book, Areas of My Expertise (Amazon link), which begat the Internet Hobo Craze of The 21st Century.

What you may not yet know about him is this: he has a new book coming out October 21, 2008, titled More Information Than You Require (Amazon link).

The new compendium will include mole men. And, frankly, it's pretty sweet. We visited with him during a hotel hole-up at the Chateau Marmont, and interrupted his writing flow. He forgave us, and offered us a ham sandwich with some Soylent Green. Please to be watching.

(Ed. note: We aired a mole-man-centric cut of this visit late last year, but we're revisiting again to reveal more undiscovered Hodgmanic goodness. Stay tuned for all-new fun with this guy, planned soon.)

Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow visits his favorite comic book store in all the world -- Secret Headquarters, in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles. With shop owner Dave Pifer, Cory walks us through some of the graphic novels and comics he loves, everything from manga to zine howto manuals to Jodorowsky to Warren Ellis. Cory is particularly fond (as are all of us at BBtv) of the shop's awesome simultaneous tribute to Stan Lee and the Sex Pistols in this t-shirt, "God Save Stan Lee."

Boing Boing co-editor Cory Doctorow performs a reading from his new novel Little Brother. This reading (from chapter 3, part 2) is the second in an ongoing BBtv series.

Previous installments: Part 1, Part 2

Boing Boing co-editor Cory Doctorow performs a reading from his new novel Little Brother. This reading (from chapter 3, part 1) is the second in an ongoing BBtv series.

In today's episode of Boing Boing tv, Cory Doctorow checks in from his ongoing book tour for "Little Brother," and reads a passage from this latest novel. We also learn all about the contents of his hotel minibar, and a cool steampunk watch he received which shoots cockroaches accross the room.

Previously on Boing Boing tv:
* Cory Doctorow: Show us your "Little Brother" HOWTO videos, and "Dumpster-Diving Philosopher."

Part two of Boing Boing tv's interviews with Kevin Kelly:

Years before he helped launch Wired Magazine in 1993 (hey, happy 15th birthday, Wired!), Kevin Kelly took an amazing journey. He rode his bicycle across the US in 1979, and produced an ink sketch and a haiku in a sketchbook for each day of the three month, 5,000 mile trip. Those sketches and poems were scanned and published as "Bicycle Haiku." (link to purchase on Lulu). Kelly explains:

A typical scene would be like the day I passed through Francisco, Indiana. On a page full of cow faces staring up at me, the haiku goes: "Collective silence/Like I walked into the wrong room/Every horned head turned." (...) I scanned the 151 images in the original book (which is the same size as this one) and printed this at a books-on-demand printer in 2001.

Previously, in part 1 of our interview, Kelly spoke about his love of the camera, during his "nomadic photojournalist" phase in Asia. Today we hear why he gave up that camera, on this very personal quest.

Related: A 1997 episode of the radio program This American Life features a longer audio piece in which Kevin shares more of the spiritual underpinnings of "Bicycle Haiku." It's a beautiful story: Link.