Saturday, May 31 gave rise to...

BAXT


BAXT is a Roma (Gypsy) word that translates to English as "fate" or "fortune," and is the title of a new book of photographs by Andrew Miksys. Based in Vilnius since 1999, Miksys has been photographing in villages, yards and homes of Lithuania's Roma, making elegant, classically styled images in the midst of post-Soviet tumult.

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Friday, May 30 gave rise to...

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Thursday, May 29 gave rise to...

YouTube

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Wednesday, May 28 gave rise to...

Robocop: ED-209 Destroys A Man, Alex Murphy Is Dismembered By A Shotgun. The 1980s Was A Violent Time In Movies

The 1980s was an incredibly graphic era for Hollywood movies. Special effects were done with heavy makeup and (some) stop-motion animation. The pairing of the two lent most films a gritty quality that felt more real than most of the computer generated special effects seen in movies these days. Few movies were more violent than Robocop; it initially received an 'X' rating from the MPAA because of the excessive violence.

If the original cut of Robocop (1987, Paul Verhoeven) were re-released in theatres today, I think it would turn a huge profit. Shit gets very serious about two minutes into the following scene:



In the following scene, Alex Murphy has his arm blown off by a shotgun, further underlining the fact that this movie is pretty darn violent. Alex Murphy's corpse is used to make Robocop.



The VHS release of Robocop has the following anti-drug announcement from Peter Weller, the actor who is Alex Murphy/Robocop. It is in stark contrast to his leading role in Naked Lunch [1|2] just a few years later.

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Tuesday, May 27 gave rise to...

若いんですよ。 I'm young.





Origin

Translation via Google

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Real Talk

Sydney Pollack is dead.

I'm going to fart

Hulk Hogan involved in multiple car wreck.

Study suggests that a 12-16 hour period of fasting can help people reset their sleep cycle.

Indiana Jones Rip-offs.

Memorial Day Weekend: Indiana Jones sells over $300 million in tickets worldwide. (Think the movie sucked? You probably aren't over 30 with children -- this was the target demographic.)

Tamil Tigers kill 7 on train w/ bomb

Unruly donkey attacks 2 in Mexico, is jailed.

Harlem: Lenox Avenue sprayed with bullets; 8 wounded.

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Monday, May 26 gave rise to...

Small Dogs, Simple Minds, Epic Scams



Read the ad copy to see what I'm talking about.

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Think About What They Did To Those Kennedys, And Then Think About What They Might Try To Pull On You and Me

On May 25th, 2008, Trotta made news after expressing a desire on Fox News that U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama be assassinated in the run up to the 2008 United States presidential election. Prior to calling for his assassination she referred to Barack Obama as "Osama". Her co-anchor then made a remark about how that was her opinion and that she preferred Hillary Clinton or John McCain.

In reference to Hillary Rodham Clinton's controversial reference to Robert F. Kennedy's June, 1968, assassination in a discussion of the ongoing 2008 Democratic primaries, she stated,

"[...] and now we have what some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama. Um, uh, Obama. Well them both, if we could."

Trotta briefly laughed after her remarks.

Liz Trotta @ Wikipedia

Update: Weak Apology @ 2:45

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100 Years Ago Today in The New York Times: Horse Kills Dog


NY Times 'TimesMachine'

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PetSpa Cat: Displacement, Fear, Horror, Exhaustion, Defeat



PetSpa makes washing & Drying pets quick, efficient and stress-free for pets and staff!

Using our unique technology we are able to lower the stress on pets compared to traditional bathing due to the fact that we do not use a restraining system and there is no stranger restraining or holding the pet. Also our unique patented nozzle system will provide a hydro-massage shower that will relax the pet and increase circulation which is very beneficial.

PetSpa.

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Sunday, May 25 gave rise to...

Wuff ---- Wuff!



Wuff ---- Wuff!

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Saturday, May 24 gave rise to...



The most peaceful place in the Arab world is ruled by a gay sultan.

New 'Indiana Jones' enrages Russian Communists. [reviews]

South Africa is wild as fuck: Disease, Martial Law, Immigration Issues that make ours look tame, and A President Who Might Be Worse Than Bush.

The best essay ever written about human intelligence.

Local skinhead murderer from 1989 meets justice nearly two decades later.

Monday: cyclists in Columbus Ohio will bike to and eat at all 19 'White Castle' locations in the city.

Nigerian News: Wailing, crying, explosions, women turning into cats, tribal tension and kidney diseases.

Back in the US: In Dallas, a naked mother argues with son and accidentally shoots herself in the finger while loading the gun (while naked). Dallas is also where Charles Ray Fuller attempted to cash a check for 360 billion.

Hillary Clinton offends the nation.

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The Internet in 1983: CompuServe Ad

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Best Pic Ever?

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Friday, May 23 gave rise to...

Then Richard Prior Go and Burn Up, and Ike + Tina Break Up, Then I Wake Up To More Bullshit


This is unprecedented:

R. Kelly's lawyer Sam Adam Jr. has suggested that an alleged sex tape featuring the R&B star could have been created using the special effects technology from the film Little Man.

Kelly - currently standing trial on child pornography charges - saw his lawyer argue to the court that a video showing him allegedly engaging in a sex act with an underage girl may have been tampered with using computer graphics.

During the defence's cross examination of the victim's friend Simha Johnson, Adam asked the witness if she had seen the film Little Man.

He said: "They put the head of Marlon Wayans on a midget and it looked real, didn't it?"

Jamison replied "Not really!", causing the courtroom to erupt into laughter.


In 2002, Kelly was charged with 21 counts relating to child pornography and released on $750,000 (£380,000) bail. Seven of the charges have since been dropped.

If found guilty the singer could face a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Source
'The Little Man Defense' @ C+D

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New Dolemite: Dolemite Explosion

Where is this movie?

Trailer:



Fight Scene: (!!!)

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Thursday, May 22 gave rise to...



New research in India suggests exposure to pesticides could have damaged the DNA of people in farming communities, leading to higher rates of cancer.

Brazil has more cybercriminals than Nigeria.

A Catholic priest has filed a restraining order against the parents of a severely autistic 13-year-old boy in an effort to keep him from attending the church in Bertha on Sundays.

A grandmother tells how she was bound, beaten and robbed by a gang of "ladyboys" while on holiday in Thailand.

Indiana Jones Rip-offs.

Woman rides horse to work.

Man sprays urine all over grocery store food.

Chief Bush bioethics advisor: eating ice cream in public shameful, offensive

Backstreet Boys/'N SYNC creator sentenced to 25 years in prison for decades long scam resulting in over $300 million stolen from investors.

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Grand Fraud

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Wednesday, May 21 gave rise to...

Sinking Hearts

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Oscar Pistorius Has No Legs. He Is A Runner.

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Fragile X Syndrome

The following pictures shows two individuals who have Fragile X Syndrome. It is second only to Down's syndrome in genetic or chromosomal causes of mental retardation. It affects 1 in 2,000 males. and 1 in 4,000 females. By adulthood, a long and narrow face is developed. The ears protrude. The jaw is long. The testicles, huge.

It is possible to inherit or transmit the chromosomal abnormality without exhibiting symptoms oneself. If this happens, your children will still be at risk.

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Tuesday, May 20 gave rise to...

Shark Niggas (Biters)


Three days ago: Kennedy hospitalized after seizure and fear of stroke. Today it was revealed that he has a malignant brain tumor.


Today: The governor of New York State, David Paterson, checked himself into hospital on Tuesday for a severe migraine headache

Raekwon + Ghostface - Shark Niggas (Biters):









Download mp3

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Monday, May 19 gave rise to...

Penis Griefing Crosses Over Into Real Life. First Victim? Gary Kasparov.

Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov speaks but is interrupted by the loud whirring of a flying dildo suspended from helicopter wings. Some pictures are taken. Then, the penis is destroyed.



Direct link to video

More on Penis Griefing

Hee. Someone penis griefed the greatest chess player ever.

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The world's smallest and rarest species of wild pig was once believed to be extinct - but it may now be saved thanks to conservation efforts.

The pygmy hog (Porcula salvania) stands barely 25-30 cm (10-12 inches) high and weighs up to 9kg (20lb).

Just a few hundred at most are thought to remain, all of them in India's north-eastern state of Assam.

Over the past decade the pigs have been bred in captivity and the process of releasing them into the wild has begun.

Full story

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Organic Armor Products: Armor For Dogs

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Saturday, May 17 gave rise to...

Transform your computer from Kunta Kinte to Fela Kuti



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Friday, May 16 gave rise to...

Slack Power


Slack Power, originally uploaded by idahostudios.

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Thursday, May 15 gave rise to...

Design Change++

Because I still think Georgia is the best font, I:

  • Got rid of that other font.

How it was:



How it is:



Nation of Ulysses - Future-Vision Hypothesis:









Download mp3

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Wednesday, May 14 gave rise to...

Naked Lunch (1991).

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Life Imitates Art. But What Is Art?


Bob Dob: "Rough Night Out"
Zeitgeist: The spirit of the time. A term that is commonly used to describe trends and cultural movements — the most perplexing of human social phenomena.

It has been said that art imitates life. Oscar Wilde took this notion and flipped it, stating that "life imitates art far more than art imitates life." One need look no further west than Hollywood to see that both statements carry a certain truth, but it is Wilde's version of the statement that weighs especially heavy on Hollywood, and by export, on Western culture in general. Art clearly began by imitating life, but then art changed and grew. At some point, life began imitating art. Notable examples can be seen in the art of film — Hollywood film in particular.

Sometimes celebrities become caricatures of the roles they play, especially when they are typecast into very specific kinds of roles. But it isn't just the characters in the roles that they play that bleed over into reality; look also to their appearance. Look to the scalpel. See how Jenna Jameson, porn starlet-turned-media-icon's face has changed over the years. Look to the 45 year old movie star whose prime has past. Notice perfect teeth, busts, and hairlines cleverly stacked on top of sagging buttocks as they shuffle legs corded with varicose veins across the red carpet at an award show. Look to Joan Rivers, who Jenna appears to be becoming. In the process of projecting fantasies onto screens around the world, Hollywood has become a fantasy land, perhaps through a feedback loop of some sort. This is fine though, because fantasy sells well. If you sell fantasy for a living, you will also tend to project fantasy in your personal life. The same principle explains why car salesmen at high end dealerships don't drive 1980 station wagons. This principle can be applied to any job.

When a production is competent, we see exactly what the producers intend for us to see. It's all makeup, camera angels, and editing: movie magic. The pressure to keep up this facade off-screen (but in front of nigh ever-present cameras [especially of the paparazzi]) is high, but the illusion is kept up quite well by everyone, except for Britney Spears. These illusions effect the perception of reality of the moviegoer (the media consumer).

So: right now in Hollywood, life appears to be imitating the art that is produced in an effort to bring moviegoers to 'fantasy' lands where, among other things, everyone is attractive. Physical attractiveness the unifying element of all Hollywood movies. Genre & theme may vary from one marquee line to the next, but everyone looks good. Everyone looks ready for the camera. Hip-hop music can be said to have a similar effect, in that currently it seems like life is imitating art.

The commercialization of hip-hop involved framing and exporting certain slices of urban life to markets that had limited or a complete lack of exposure to it. Now it seems to me that the prevalent lifestyle (and if nothing else, the style — the fashion) of predominantly black youth in urban communities is based on themes presented in hip hop music. But aren't the themes that inspire this art drawn from real life? Not necessarily. Rappers — especially popular ones — are primarily entertainers and may never have known the lifestyle they portray in their songs. I won't bore you with all the details but the information is out there. Some rappers have even been quoted saying things such as that the rap game is "like the WWF." Here, again, life imitates art when the art is among dominant media, as movies are, and as hip-hop music is. The end effect isn't terribly unlike a magnification of the stories the news publishes about kids killing each other when performing professional wrestling moves.

Preface for the remainder of this post: I support freedom of speech, and I do not see violence in games as a problem. Many of the games I play are violent, and I do not necessarily believe, as some believe, that violent games are inherently dangerous to society. Not all violent games glorify violence just as not all violent movies or music glorify violence. The role that violence in the media plays in influencing real life violence is unclear.

What happens to life when the art is a video game that makes more than $500 million in its first week in stores, making it the biggest entertainment launch of all time?



Well, one thing it does is it heavily underscores the growth of the video game industry. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) forecasts continued growth through 2008 for the industry — up to $17.9 billion. One imagines the growth of the games industry has had an effect on the movie industry in some way. I do not intend to speculate too much on what this growth will mean for box office sales and what seems to be the decline of the movie industry, but for comparison's sake: Iron Man, the second-best non-sequel movie opening ever (behind Spiderman), made $200 million — $300 million less than Grand Theft Auto, in this first week of sales.

The sales of Grand Theft Auto IV, the growth of the games industry in recent years, the related increase in production cost and quality of games, and the decline of box office sales all seem to suggest that the games industry is becoming more similar to Hollywood, and perhaps even culturally dominant over film. In addition to this potential dominance is the position that many have taken in recent years that says that games are art, not unlike movies. In an interesting example of art-imitating-art, the most recent four Grand Theft Auto games have taken on the style of and contained similar plots to the most memorable crime-themed movies and television shows. The question we must ask in the near future will be, does life imitate game art as it appears to do with movies?

Are interactivity and the sense of reward that comes from completing a task — important aspects of games that are not present in movies and music — especially dangerous for people who would change reality to better reflect the fantasies experienced on-screen? The violent crimes that have happened around the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV — are they directly related to the violent content of the game, or is it happenstance?

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Real Talk

R. Kelly arrives at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building on Monday for the second day of his child pornography trial.

brand tags.

USA political election logos, 1960-2008.

All Charges Against Abused Guantanamo Bay 9/11 Suspect Dropped

A New York man who says he was denied a seat on a five-hour JetBlue flight and was instead told to "hang out" in the plane's bathroom has sued the airline for $2 million, saying he suffered "extreme humiliation."

Texas teens tell police they converted skull into bong

"It was like somebody took their fist as hard as they could and smashed it into the side of your face,"

Sloth sleeps far less than previously estimated;
laziness of species called into question.

Nano-football.

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Recent Changes

* Removed "labels" from sidebar. Added "index" to sidebar. If you liked the labels, they still exist, but there's no way to view them all on the same page for now. The new index may change as the focus of posts changes.
* Added custom font/graphic to overall header and sidebar headers. If you want a taste of the old Georgia/serif font headers, just disable your browser's images and reload the page.
* Colorized, pruned, and tweaked social bookmarking links in post footer.
* Various minor and uninteresting backend and stylistic tweaks.

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Network (1976).

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Tuesday, May 13 gave rise to...

Noam Chomsky on Spectator Sports


-- Brandon Bird: "Signifier and Signified", 2006.

Well, in our society, we have things that you might use your intelligence on, like politics, but people really can't get involved in them in a very serious way--so what they do is they put their minds into other things, such as sports. You're trained to be obedient; you don't have an interesting job; there's no work around for you that's creative; in the cultural environment you're a passive observer of usually pretty tawdry stuff; political and social life are out of your range, they're in the hands of the rich folk. So what's left? Well, one thing that's left is sports--so you put a lot of the intelligence and the thought and the self-confidence into that. And I suppose that's also one of the basic functions it serves in the society in general: it occupies the population, and keeps them from trying to get involved with things that really matter. In fact, I presume that's part of the reason why spectator sports are supported to the degree they are by the dominant institutions.

Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky

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Flea

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Kazakhstag

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YouTube is a Ghetto: South Mountain Crack Whore

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Scientist says text messages are 4x more costly than Hubble Telescope's data transmission

Uh, yeah. What? A quick reminder to really drive the point home: Hubble is in space.

A University of Leicester space scientist has worked out that sending texts via mobile phones works out to be far more expensive than downloading data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

He worked out the cost of obtaining a megabyte of data from Hubble – and compared that with the cost of sending a text.

He said: "The bottom line is texting is at least 4 times more expensive than transmitting data from Hubble, and is likely to be substantially more than that."

"The maximum size for a text message is 160 characters, which takes 140 bytes because there are only 7 bits per character in the text messaging system, and we assume the average price for a text message is [about 10 cents]. There are 1,048,576 bytes in a megabyte, so that’s 1 million/140 = 7490 text messages to transmit one megabyte. At 10 cents each, that’s [$734] per MB - or about 4.4 times more expensive than the ‘most pessimistic’ estimate for Hubble Space Telescope transmission costs [of $166 per megabyte]."

Full Story

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Monday, May 12 gave rise to...

Year of the Pig


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Speed Racer





Movie Facts:

  • The guy who was stung by bees in Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh was paid $5000 for each of the 27 bee stings he received in that movie.
  • Marilyn Monroe was a paint sprayer in a factory before she was discovered by someone who worked in Hollywood.
  • There are some guys behind me talking about American, Swiss, and "Nacho" cheese.
  • There are more than 300 special effects shots in Mystery Men.

Trailers:

  • There is a trailer for Journey to the Center of the Earth starring Brendan Frasier. It looks Cheap.
  • There is a trailer for a new computer animated Star Wars movie. It looks Cheap.

The Movie:


The movie immediately thrusts the viewer into an alternate universe with very intense colors.

There is a particularly imaginative daydream scene that looks hand-drawn.

Holy shit, it's live action but it's still a cartoon. I can probably say that a hundred times but it won't have any meaning to you until you actually see it for yourself.

At times the movie feels like a total abortion. It's shit like this that made the Flintstones live action movie fail -- it's just hard to combine live action with animation in a way that doesn't make the viewer want to vomit. Some scenes are sort of disgusting to watch -- this could be because the combination of animation and live action is somehow "wrong," but it could also just be John Goodman.

Early on, the movie is almost entirely visual. There is a plot, but it is hard to care.

Some of the more subtly computerized scenes are very interesting to look at. It's like being in the best theme park ever.

Wait, back to John Goodman: This guy is alive? And still acting? Ugh.

There are large chunks of the movie that are hard to follow because there's no clear chronological order. This wouldn't be a problem in itself (other movies can pull this off), but there are parts where the movie is orderly and parts where it is not, and there is no clear distinction between these parts. They are literally connected by a scene where Speed Racer is racing along on a race track. What the hell is going on?

Chim-Chim's introductory scene is fucking weird.

Again, might not have been the wisest choice to cast John Goodman after The Flintstones, but, on the other hand, his mustache is fucking raw.

Some scenes are incredibly ugly and it's like the color palettes were deliberately made to be bland. At this point I'm about ready to walk out. I can't care about the movie. To make matters worse, one of the main characters says, "Justice, that's a commodity I don't waste my money on" in very poor English. The movie cost $120 million, couldn't they have done a couple extra takes on this shot?

Halfway through, the movie isn't bad at all. This is around the time where Spritle and Chim-Chim are driving around amped up on sugars and listening to "Free Bird."

Richard Roundtree appears in this movie.

The Wachowski siblings' vision becomes clearer as the movie progresses. The movie finds its pace starting at the first cross-country race scene and stays decent up until the final scene which is as ridiculous as any final track in a Mario Kart game. If you like 'kart' racing games or are a fan of the Speed Racer cartoon (and there is probably some overlap between the two groups), you would probably like the movie overall.





Anyone who worked on the visuals for this movie should be extremely proud, even though it looks like the movie will financially fail. I think the movie will be nominated for some special effects awards.

Don't watch the movie on a shitty screen. You will not enjoy it.

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Real Talk:

Pit bull found under hood of truck

450 pound black bear lives on grounds of Lousiana's only maximum security prison

Frustrated driver slams on breaks, barrels through pack of 50 cyclists

A Russian man trying to sleep off a night of after-work drinking failed to notice a six-inch knife in his back - until his wife woke him up.

Speed Racer fails opening weekend at box office.

Florida teacher accused of wizardry, fired.

Red Cross relief boat destined for cyclone-devastated Myanmar sinks.

A Vietnamese man in Norway lost around 35,000 dollars after he was led to believe that mixing the cash with a special liquid would double its value

A gang of teenage girls may have blown up a house with a home-made liquid bomb, which killed a man in a neighbouring property, after arguing with another girl about a love rival.

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