I dropped a few links this week, but I think I made the right decision concerning this one.
June, 2007
29
Jun 07
Photopshop: Some People Have Too Much Time On Their Hands
Apparently, some Photoshop users found the time to skewer dumpy man on the streets and publicity whore Greg Parker. Adam Frucci of the Gizmodo blog solicited these images from users early this week and here are the frightening results.
My favorite result is where someone used a clip from the Star Trek: TNG episode “Conspiracy” and have Picard and Riker phaser him until his head explodes.
I wonder what Parker’s going to do with his iPhone once he’s purchased it. Sell it on e-Bay, perhaps, complete with Parker DNA (eeeeww!). He’s soliciting donations on his hardly updated blog about the experience. Dude, if you want blog readers to pony up some cash, you got to give some content. Talk about how stinky you’ve become and how you probably would pee your pants (or worse) rather than give up your place in line. At least the friend of yours who set up the blog should have the decency to get you to dictate updates.
Update:
New York Times reports on the sale of iPhones in 5th Ave Apple Store, Manhattan. Everyone’s favorite Photoshop target is pictured with two iPhones. The donations must have come through. Stay tuned on eBay…
Update 6/30/07:
Read Fredo’s account of the iPhone sale in DC.
29
Jun 07
Evil, Crazy Bitch
To call Ann Coulter an evil, crazy bitch is kind. Those words don’t even do justice to how twisted this woman is. Hopefully, sometime in the future, she won’t be able to renew her publishing contract and the remaining inventory will have to be pulped. And then her hair and wardrobe will go down the tubes because she can’t pay her hairdresser and stylist to keep it up. Well, I can only dream about that stuff happening to Coulter and those of her ilk (Limbaugh, etc).
Major kudos to Elizabeth Edwards for standing up to the stick figure this week. Let’s hope that Coulter, as an act of kindness, stops writing, as she seems to be incapable of articulating anything truly germane to the issues at hand.
These clips are so last year, but they show what a piece of work she is.
She represents all that is great about the American education system as she shows how little she is informed about Canada and the Vietnam war.
Here is a fine moment where Ann Coulter shows how stupid she is, on a Fox show of all things.
My favorite clip is the David Letterman vid, so I saved the best for last. I laughed my ass off on this one.
28
Jun 07
True Colors, SDSU Open Air Theatre.
Last night, I went with my friends Scott (the same one who sent me the Conchords vid) and Jaylen to HRC’s True Colors Concert at San Diego State’s Open Air Theatre. The tour, organized by Cyndi Lauper, featured Erasure, Debbie Harry, and Lauper, of course. We were mainly drawn to the show by Erasure (though Jaylen, being a fan of Lauper’s, was there for her as well).
Erasure featuring Andy Bell and his soulful backup divas.The first stop was Urban Mo’s (formerly Hamburger Mary’s) in Hillcrest for a pre-show dinner. If you have fond memories of Hamburger Mary’s, don’t fret. The menu’s had some changes, but for the better, and the food is still great. Plus, Andy Bell stopped by Mo’s on Monday and plugged the restaurant with a story in the middle of Erasure’s set.
Scott and Jaylen at Urban Mo’s.
Though they weren’t going to the show, our friends Kerry, Kay, and Gary joined us for dinner.
Scott, Jaylen, and me at SDSU Open Air Theatre.We managed to get to the show around 7pm. We missed the first act, but the Dresden Dolls were playing. I’ve heard their music from time to time on 94/9 (a local independent radio station). My closest basis of comparison would be the White Stripes, both in that the Dresden Dolls are a duo and have a quirky experimental rock style. They’re definitely worth checking out again.
The Dresden Dolls.Between sets, Margaret Cho served up raunchy comedy interludes and acted as emcee. Before the fifteen minute intermission before Erasure’s set, Cho (being a good faghag), encouraged her audience to go cruising and get some dick.
Ass-Master, faghag extraordinaire, and all around raunchy comedian Margaret Cho.Before we get to Erasure, there was Debby Harry’s lackluster set. Scott’s take on it was Debby Harry didn’t believe her set was great, so how would the audience get into it. Plus, much of her solo material was obscure. After performing “French Kissing in the USA,” the energy of her set went downhill, despite the power pop presentation of her songs. Perhaps if she performed some Blondie songs, the crowd would have gone crazy, but there are most likely reasons why she doesn’t play them in her solo shows.
A “Heart of Glass?”I suspect that, like my friends and I, much of the crowd came here to see Erasure. They showed that they don’t need their fancy sets and many costume changes (very standard operating procedures for Erasure) to keep their audience’s attention. An anti-Pet Shop Boys of sorts, this prolific duo has managed in recent years to balance their sets with new material with old. The crowd went wild when they performed 1980’s hits such as “A Little Respect,” “Drama,” and and the set closing “O L’Amour,” all of which sounded as fresh as the recent “I Could Fall In Love With You.”
A not so ephemeral performance from Erasure.Cyndi Lauper closed the show with a high energy set that included a couple of Erasure covers, her old hits, and some more recent material. Perhaps the most outgoing of the acts, she went into the audience once during a song and interacted with front row audience members and security from time to time. She closed the show with everyone involved performing “True Colors” with her,” complete with a gigantic balloon toss, a sweet but emotional ending to a busy musical evening.
27
Jun 07
Flight of the Concords, "Inner City Pressure"
My good friend Scott sent me this video from The Flight of the Conchords, a new show on HBO.
Let’s just say it’s reminiscent of a British dance music institution that got its big start in the late 1980′s and this skit parodies their breakthrough video (and first big hit). They have also been a defining force in queer music over the past 25 years. Can you guess who their inspiration is?
26
Jun 07
Tom Waits, "Day After Tomorrow"
In tomorrow’s class at the community college, I am going to use Tom Waits‘ “Day After Tomorrow” as for discussion. I encouraged (more like assigned) my students to look for songs about social justice, politics, and/or current events to add to the conversation.
“Day After Tomorrow” is on Real Gone, which is an amazing album. And this song, while done as one of Waits’ touching ballads, beautifully condemns the Iraq war (or any other war for that matter) through the story of a young soldier:
I got your letter today
And I miss you all so much here
I can’t wait to see you all
And I’m counting the days dear
I still believe that there’s gold
At the end of the world
And I’ll come home
To Illinois
On the day after tomorrow It is so hard
And it’s cold here
And I’m tired of taking orders
And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border
What I miss you won’t believe
Shoveling snow and raking leaves
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
I close my eyes
Every night
And I dream that I can hold you
They fill us full of lies
Everyone buys
About what it means to be a soldier
I still don’t know how I’m supposed to feel
‘Bout all the blood that’s been spilled
Will God on this throne
Get me back home
On the day after tomorrow
You can’t deny
The other side
Don’t want to die
Any more than we do
What I’m trying to say,
Is don’t they pray
To the same God that we do?
Tell me how does God choose?
Whose prayers does he refuse?
Who turns the wheel
Who throws the dice
On the day after tomorrow
(Humming)
I’m not fighting for justice
I am not fighting for freedom
I am fighting for my life
And another day
In the world here
I just do what I’ve been told
We’re just the gravel on the road
And only the lucky one’s come home
On the day after tomorrow And the summer
It too will fade
And with it comes the winter’s frost, dear
And I know we too are made
Of all the things that we have lost here
I’ll be twenty-one today
I’ve been saving all my pay
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow.
25
Jun 07
Deer Sushi
A horse’s ass is better than yours! - Cibo Matto, “Beef Jerky.”
The idea of deer sushi sounds like a Cibo Matto song from the late 1990′s. There is something so odd, so surreal about Japanese sushi chefs incorporating horse and deer into their sushi that it might as well be served by a Japanese art rock song along with some Sci-Fi wasabi. However, in the New York Times this morning, sushi chefs in Japan are grappling with featuring deer and horse meat, among other non-traditional sushi ingredients, due to worldwide limits on fishing tuna. While tuna is not the only seafood used in sushi, it is one of the most popular.
The limited availability of tuna challenges the definition of sushi in Japan. While sushi may go back several centuries, the popular delicacy only dates back to the 19th century. The vinegared rice was originally created as a preservative for fish (and not eaten), but making rice balls, or nigiri, together with fish is more of a recent development.
Sushi has become such as definitive part of Japanese culture and cuisine that changing it seems unthinkable. However, given the history of sushi, it has evolved over the centuries and was even changed by innovation in the 19th century. There’s no reason to think that it can’t adapt now.
Enjoy this humorous video on Sushi etiquette by the Rahmens*, a Japanese comedy troupe:
*official site in Japanese. Hopefully, some info can be gleaned here in English.
Links:
- NY Times, Waiter, There’s A Deer In My Sushi.
- A History of Sushi.
- Asian Artmall’s Sushi History.
22
Jun 07
The Hiltons Do Not Know Their ABC’s
This just in: ABC declines offer to interview Paris Hilton.
Greediness doesn’t always pay. When ABC offered to pay the Hiltons for a post-prison interview, they turned it down, claiming they had a better offer from NBC (which was just smoke to blow up ABC’s ass). Now that they are willing to interview “with no strings attached,” ABC’s no longer interested.
Well, you can’t fault Barbara Walters for trying before ABC turned down the Hiltons.
What’s Paris learning in jail? A whole lot, it seems.
Update on Huffington Post (6/23/06): Paris Hilton to be interviewed by Larry King for free.
22
Jun 07
What The Hell Is Up with .Mac?
Being an Apple user, I got suckered into having a .Mac account when I bought my iBook. Perhaps suckered is a strong word, as I thought (and still think) having Mac in my e-mail address is cool. My main beef with them right now is how they are “improving” the .Mac site. Last week, when I logged on to use my e-mail on the new, improved .Mac, I couldn’t access my e-mail at all on the webmail site. I had to log into the account section and then click “mail.” The bugs seemed to be worked out until this morning. I can’t access my e-mail on the webmail site, so I’ve had to resort to setting up Gmail to access my e-mail.
Perhaps the answer is as simple as getting a new computer, but that’s not in the budget right now. Well, I can still dream.
22
Jun 07
The Hiltons Do Not Know Their ABC’s
This just in: ABC declines offer to interview Paris Hilton.
Greediness doesn’t always pay. When ABC offered to pay the Hiltons for a post-prison interview, they turned it down, claiming they had a better offer from NBC (which was just smoke to blow up ABC’s ass). Now that they are willing to interview “with no strings attached,” ABC’s no longer interested.
Well, you can’t fault Barbara Walters for trying before ABC turned down the Hiltons.
What’s Paris learning in jail? A whole lot, it seems.
Update on Huffington Post (6/23/06): Paris Hilton to be interviewed by Larry King for free.
