This morning’s broadcast comes to you courtesy of Hunk du Jour: Gerard Butler of 300.
April, 2007
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Apr 07
Spartan Beefcake Fix
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Apr 07
Funny or Die
My brother told me about this site. Funny or Die is one of those sites giving YouTube a run for its money. YouTube is still the most ubiquitous and most popular of the DIY video websites with runaway celebrities, but this one’s more like an online version of The Apollo Amateur Night, where audience can be as tough as it wants to be. In this case, the viewers can vote to “kill” vids that aren’t funny at all. Will Ferrell is a major part of this site, and several of his vids are available, such as The Landlord.
This is a video posted by two guys who are very nice to look at, but aren’t funny. No offense, Will Ferrell, but I’d rather have eye candy here.
Is there an online equivalent of having a straw with wrapper to make spitballs? Or throwing vegetables on stage? Oh, that’s the “Die” function. Some vids will certainly merit that. “Funny” is harder to come by.
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Apr 07
Peanut Butter Jars Disprove Elvis-lution
Chris, here’s the hay coming right out of the horse’s mouth on creationism.
I found this vid on Wired.Com. It truly baffles me. I’m not sure how a jar of peanut butter disproves evolution.
The entire food industry depends on that evolution doesn’t happen? Apparently, it does. It took millions of years of evolution to create the organisms that make our food, plus a few millenia of artificial selection (which is also a form of evolution, though not natural). Some people are just committed to being stupid.
This S#1T is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S! (Update, May 1, 2007)
It’s not my worst nightmare (nice Episcopal boy here), and I don’t think it’s even an atheist’s worst nightmare. Something’s wrong if your faith is so flimsy that it hinges on that God custom creating domesticated bananas to fit in the palms of human hands. Here is the banana God created and it doesn’t look hand or eater friendly.
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Apr 07
Some of Bjork’s Royal Opera House Performances
Judging from the last reaction to my “Pagan Poetry” post, I chose not to post the “vid” Bjork made for “Cocoon.” Instead, here are some clips from the Royal Opera House concert she did shortly after the release of Vespertine. Matmos, the programming duo who provide the dirty electronic sounds, are also boyfriends and how they interact here is very sweet. Here’s “Cocoon”:
“An Echo, A Stain” is my favorite song off the Vespertine album:
Enjoy!
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Apr 07
Exeter International: Making The Gay Go Away
This broadcast on ShindoTV is brought to you today by Ex-Gay Watch. This comical video shows a skit about someone who’s trying to be straight via Exeter International (which, of course, is a spoof on Exodus International). From a video previously aired on this channel, fiction isn’t necessary to show how crackpot this stuff can really be. Richard Cohen is a real piece of work and Jimmy Kimmel and John Stewart really don’t need to do much to show how ridiculous he really is. Then, there is the spoiled brat tantrum of Dr. Nicolosi (which puts Christopher Guest’s outbursts on Waiting For Guffman to shame). A little scripted comedy is always fun to highlight the absurdity of some things, as the bald ex-gay guy can tell you.
It’s funny. I’ve never objected to barbecues (love them), never had problems talking to mechanics, but I never got into football. It’s not really that hard to follow, but I just never got into it. Yet, these guys get it into their heads that they must make themselves like football. Sorry, I’d much rather watch the players, not the game.
Adopting a perceived idea of masculinity is always interesting, as demonstrated by Richard Cohen, and lightly spoofed by the bald-headed guy. Of course, I have to wonder how many nelly guys there are trying to “straighten” themselves out in churches (or for other reasons, God only knows), but anyone who casually observes them knows they are GAY and gayer than any openly practicing homosexual.
Here’s a more disturbing video. This is not comedy and the young men and women who talk are not actors. This is a brief documentary that exposes the young fundamentalists who code their homophobic campaign as “Telling The Truth In Love.” One is a former student from Poway High (yikes! right in San Diego County) who wore anti-gay messages taped to his t-shirt a few years back. Others are young, suburban WASPy types who may need to get laid instead of worrying about others’ sex lives. Needless to say, this clip calls them on their BS.
The ex-gay guys just need to watch something like Jamie Bamber’s towel nearly falling off. If they say it doesn’t do anything for them, they’re lying.
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Apr 07
MFA Graduation Readings for Abbie Berry, Kimball Taylor, & Tony Shafer
OK, I didn’t get to see Bjork or go to Cochella, but I did get to hear Abbie Berry read some of her work. This was part of an MFA rite of passage–the graduation reading. This one was held at the Hardy Memorial Tower, at the end of the Campanile Mall at San Diego State University. The event was supposed to start at 7pm, but started sometime after 8pm due to some technical difficulties in setting up. I saw some people I knew from my MFA past, and a lot I didn’t know at all. Joanne Meschery, a very popular visiting writing professor, gave the introductions once the event got started.
I’ve known Abbie a couple of years before getting into SDSU’s graduate writing program. Her writing centers around love and desire, definitely a Marguerite Duras influence. Given that comparison, the rhythm of her writing is her own and that was apparent in a very strong version of her story “Topography.” Abbie’s reading, overall, was wonderful.
I’ve never met Kimball Taylor or had any previous exposure to his writing, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. This guy is good, and I enjoyed his Texas Street story immensely. It just sounds too strange to be true.
Tony Shafer delivered a quirky, rambling multi-media presentation with a flair for the dramatic. He was accompanied by a few of his friends, who read various monologues, dictionary definitions, and bits of trivia. One reader was in the audience, while the others read from the balcony in the back of the lecture hall. Tony also used PowerPoint slides to illustrate points in his story. A bit like Kenji Siratori, but there was more story.
Overall, a very enjoyable evening. I’ll be looking out for these three in print in the future.
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Apr 07
La Jalousie, La Jalousie
Bjork has performed at Coachella and I didn’t go! Argh! Lucky bastards who got see her.
With hotel prices inflated along with exhorbitant ticket prices, this article in LA times tells all so far. The lesson for going to a major music festival is to plan ahead, buy the tickets as early as possible (to avoid the scalpers), and book the airlines (if necessary) and hotels way before they sniff the event in their calendars and jack up their rates.
Hopefully, she’ll have a So Cal appearance in the future, but that may not happen and I’m not sure if I want to shell out airfare just for one show. If she showed up in DC, I wouldn’t mind going there to catch her show one night and Blowoff another night. Plus, there’s plenty else to do there. As much as I want to hear the new album, going somehere to catch a show has got to be worthwhile.
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Apr 07
ShindoTV’s YouTube Freak Discovery
I was looking through the Tyra gallery on YouTube when I stumbled upon this. I haven’t decided if I love or hate Buck, but I just can’t stop watching, especially as he dishes the dirt on Tyra and ANTM. My overall feeling is that it’s like a trainwreck.
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Apr 07
Bringing Sexy Back With Volta: Bjork Podcast
Here’s the Bjork podcast (which you can also download into your iPod from iTunes). Here, in three installments, Bjork speaks of the making of Volta, how she came to work with Timbaland, and her choice of instruments.
For anyone who’s had any question of how the collaboration with Timbaland came into being, she gives the answer: she’s known him for 11 years and they have been meaning to work together on a project. Given that she has looked to him to add something to it, along with Mark Bell (who contributed to Homogenic), this should be very interesting.
One of the fascinating things about Bjork interviews is when she goes into creating the sounds. She looked into using horns and “dirty” sounding stringed instruments. She mentions Vespertine used clean sounding ones, such as harps. She also seeks a sound that’s more “pagan.” Gotta love her word choices.
Note: video’s safe to watch–no Bjork boobies to traumatize the viewer.
