Thursday, 9 pm -- last car on the D train from Rockefeller to Union St.
Thriller is undeniably the greatest music video of all time, with an extremely compelling dance routine and moves whose inimitablility paradoxically screams for imitation and parroting. As a result, we've all seen countless Thriller reenactments in various school talent shows, Bollywood knockoffs, weddings, involving Legos and marching bands, and even Final Fantasy. However, I've never quite seen Thriller quite like this, featuring hundreds of inmates at a Filipino penitentiary participating in this epic synchronized dance-a-thon, including a cross dressing inmate reprising the role of "Michael Jackson's" fearful date:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o]
[Thanks Chris!]
Update: The inmates above did a Michael Jackson routine and the world took notice. The AP sent a reporter over to get the scoop on this thrilling story that isn't as black and white as one would suspect.
I'm cognizant that I'm shilling now on behalf of large companies and moneyed investors, but I can't help it because this movie looks so gawddamn hilarious and genius. Mos Def is a movie rental store owner whose videos all get erased thanks to Jack Black's magnetized uniform of all paranoids--aluminum foil. Their solution? They'll remake--act, produce, direct, shoot--ALL the movies, such as Ghostbusters, Robocop, Rush Hour 2, 2001 Space Odyssey, and Boyz in the Hood, themselves. Also, this film was directed by the same guy behind Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExRplxd6zXc]
I received the following "comment" from "divot tool cigar holder" (email address: jenna@jameson.com) which may be the most doleful, yet pensive--even poetic--piece of spam I've ever received. Read:
I can’t be bothered with anything lately. My mind is like a fog. I’ve just been hanging out not getting anything done. I’ve more or less been doing nothing.
Cheer up, my spammer friend. When in the nadir of one's existence, I find it best to occupy oneself with stimulating activities: Drink! Gym! Volunteer!
If you are easily squeamish or nauseated by sharp metal objects penetrating skin then I suggest you close this window immediately and go back to whatever it was you were working on prior to making the mistake of visiting my blog. Still here? The victim involves a child. Surely you have no interest now. I have no clue why you'd want to but if you're still interested then there's more after the jump.
You are a sick bastard.
Fine. Here you go:
To view the aftermath, click here.
Fergettabout Iran, North Korea, or Taiwan. Is the next catalyst for a world war over the Arctic Circle region around the North Pole, which happens to be a combustible mixture of being both a potentially oil and other natural resource rich area that also has indistinct and debated borders?
Five countries — Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States — have Arctic Ocean coastlines and, under international convention, have rights to economic zones within 200 miles of their shores. Denmark has sent its own scientific expeditions to study the opposite end of the ocean-spanning ridge and to seek proof that it is torn from the continental shelf north of Greenland, which is a Danish territory.
If I were Canada I'd totally watch my back. Our country, sweet ol' US of A with our Lady Liberty and apple pie, does some crazy things for a lil' sugah, or rather oil.
I subscribe to a number of advertising industry related emails, such as those sent out by MediaPost. Yesterday I received a daily round up of advertising and media related articles of note, and one in particular caught my attention. As a lead in to a San Francisco Chronicle article about Bradley Horowitz, a vice president executive at Yahoo charged with inspiring and sparking in-house innovation within the company, the MediaPost summary states:
Yahoo needs a superstar executive. Apple has Steve Jobs, Google has Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and Microsoft has Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Ray Ozzie. Former CEO Terry Semel and former Chief Sales Officer Wenda Harris-Millard are gone, and the understated Jerry Yang lacks panache. Yahoo's Bradley Horowitz, vice president of advanced development, stands out. And advanced development is exactly what Yahoo needs--to be first in the Next Big Thing.
What's interesting to me about this is the author's choice in subjectively characterizing Yang, co-founder and the newly appointed CEO of Yahoo, as "understated" and lacking "panache." I wish I could get my sources together on this, but one of the significant barriers facing Asian Americans climbing the management corporate ladder is that eventually they bump into a glass ceiling that prevents their ability to rise from middle to upper executive management, because of an inherent impression among those in the management elite that believe Asians in America lack a certain elan and savoir faire to effectively lead and inspire a company. This perception of course is simply an extension of the pernicious racial stereotype that Asians are submissive and passive.
Photo update from the past few weekends. I sound like a broken record but I'll say it again: I can't believe how fast time is flying by.
I work near an art gallery and I noticed one day after work that this gallery had an exhibit that spilled out onto the streets.
I don't get it ever, but I dig it.
I noticed that some spectators walked into the gallery and came out again with a glass of what appears to be various spirits. Two words: Open bar, bitches! Okay, three words!
Open bar! Cranberry and oh so delicious vodka.
Cyrus! A bar exam survivor.
Who woulda thunk a time machine would land in Soho? Or maybe it's the perfect location for a visitor from the future to blend in.
MTA couple on the subway. Black and white makes it artsy.
5-3-9-1! Got it!
I don't have the patience for it, but I think this photo is nearly identitcal to a photo I took of Cy at Babel last Fall.
Viviana and 2/3rds of my face.
This t-shirt makes me laugh.
Cyrus chillin.
Cy and glasses.
Cool dog in front of my favorite breakfast spot in Soho.
Nothing classes up a weekend outfit like the bicycle chain around one's waist.
Bear just chillin' in the park.
Bear, take two.
Bear is trendy with his iPhone.
Perfectly blue sky.
Marina hailing from London, UK in Central Park.
Lauren amused by something on her iPhone/iPod.
Lauren's still amused.
Mmm, candy.
This blogger enjoying a good day in the park.
Memo to self: Get a haircut.
This is what a perfect burger from the Burger Joint looks like. Yup, a perfect burger.
Munira's Xth birthday party.
The sexy vibe thrown out by Chris and Mun.
Birthday girl and me.
Birthday girl and me 2.
Chris and his coworker (I ferget her name, sorry!).
Sometimes birthday girl's feet gets tired from her heels!
Keeping it classy.
Pop quiz boys, girls, and everyone in between. Anything I watch on television is a) brilliant, b) noteworthy, c) destined to be renewed for another season, or d) all of the above. These are three shows I'm currently watching and tivo'ing (okay, not actually Tivo® but Time Warner's knockoff version) and if you haven't added these to your must-watch list, then rectify that omission and watch them ASAP!
1. Flight of the Conchords (HBO): When parents of multiple kids are asked which is they're favorite, they'll hem and haw but deep in their hearts, there's one child they favor in particular. That's the way I feel about this list. If I had to choose, Flight of the Conchords is currently my favorite show on the boob tube. I can't think of a show like it currently or ever, for that matter. Loosely, it features two New Zealanders, Bret and Jermaine (often hysterically confused on the show by other characters for Europeans or Australians) attempting to make it in New York City as broke musicians, who are also best friends, roommates sharing a tiny studio in Chinatown, and occasional rivals and mutual wingmen for girls. There is some episodic continuity, but the show's par excellence occurs when dramatic moments in the show convert into stylized music videos that perfectly mimics various genres. On the surface, the jokes are hilarious and perfectly timed--clearly Bret and Jermaine have a brilliant rapport--and the supporting cast especially Mel (the band's sole fan/groupie whose desire for a threesome with the band isn't too undisguised) and Dave (the owner of a pawn shop, 'nuff said) is memorable. However what really makes the show compelling for me is its ability--beneath the jokes--to tap in my nerdy and er, romantic tendencies.
2. Human Weapons (HIST). Two white dudes--one is a former NFL player/wrestler and the other a mixed martial arts fighter--travel all over the world, Phillipines, Japan, Thailand, and such, to learn the country's indigenous martial art and in the end of each episode, one of the two is picked to fight a local. The part of each epsiode that I especially enjoy is when they cut to a compute graphic that demonstrates using physics why a certain attack, a punch, kick or offensive block, is effective: e.g., a particular blow is equivalent to getting hit in the head by a hammer. Ouch.
3. Dogfights (HIST). Using computer graphics reminiscent of video games, this show recounts famous air battles--with explanations of tactics (vectors!)--and it's freakin' awesome!
Another week down--Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and...Sunday. Your weekend may or may not have ended the way you were hoping it would when you got off work or class on Friday, but regardless it did come to an end. There are only two other constants to life other than the inevitability of the forward progress of time: your weekly Sunday dose of easy listening music and unrequited love. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBuom7juPRg]
In the aftermath of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Slate's Explainer has an apropos article about how to get out of a car sinking in water. No, you can't rely on Aquaman to come save you.
You know that super cute emo chick you're scoping on MySpace or that hottie coed on Facebook or the sexy lawyer on Match? You think "Wow, her face is really pretty--I can't see the rest of her because it's cropped out...but it can't be that terrible." Think again.
First he gave me an early invitation to Gmail long before accounts had 100 invites, let alone being completely open to the public. And now he's hooked me up with an invite to join Pownce. Thanks Kaizar! "What's Pownce?" you ask. Think Socialista on Saturday nights plus Facebook plus YouSendIt plus Twitter plus Evite all in one very clean interface, and the result you get is Pownce.
The New York Times writes:
[It's] a social network service with a velvet rope: Just now, the hottest start-up in Silicon Valley--minutely examined by bloggers, panted after by investors--is Pownce, but only a chosen few can try out its Web site.
Kevin Rose, the co-founder and chief architect of Digg, a hugely popular news site, announced in late June the introduction of Pownce, a social-networking service that combines messaging with file-sharing. Mr. Rose immediately endowed his latest venture with some mystique by declaring that, for the time being, only those with invitations would be permitted to test his new site.
Within days, invitations were selling on eBay for as much as $10.
Like I did with the original Gmail invites and an extra t-shirt I picked up from MTV's free pre-release screening of Napoleon Dynamite that I gave away to the first commenter, I'm giving away one Pownce invite to the first person to leave a comment here (I'll need your e-mail address).
I wrote a while back about an email I received from my father about a bear that was tearing up a moose near my house. These sort of stories help reinforce outsiders, aka YOU, stereotypical perception of my home state of Alaska. My fellow Alaskan Clay has an even better...letter from home (with a MUST-SEE photo attached).
Check out this amazing new blog created by an occasionally brilliant, infrequently handsome, and sporadically witty blogger. I'm a bit biased considering that I'm the creator and writer on this blog which is an outlet for a rather esoteric personality quirk of mine: Basically I always get a bit of a thrill, a nonerotic pleasure, out of coming across a typo online when I read NYTimes.com (along with other news sites). If you share this passion then come check out my new blog "New York Times Typoss" (http://nytimestypos.wordpress.com). Also if you come across typos on the Times online please send me the link right away!!
Rememberr, boys and grils: Spell Checkws!
I once got a ticket from the police. That sucked. What wouldn't suck however is getting tickets for The Police, especially if the tickets are free, which is exactly what happened to two girls sitting in front of me in Union Square yesterday. After work yesterday I met up with Munibhen for some post-work people watching on the steps of Union Square. It was uneventful except for the two, yes two, soft ice cream cones I had (oink oink) and unrelatedly, getting kicked in the side by a precocious child. Literally. I was talking to Munira and suddenly I felt this incredibly sharp jab in my side. I yelled "ouch" and looked over. This kid was hanging on swinging on the railing and decided to fucking kick me. He then said, "What's your name?" Cute kid, but I was pissed. I responded "I'm not telling you! You just fucking kicked me!" I scared him away.
In case you're wondering: I'm actually amazing with kids.
Some point later, this nondescript guy walks over to the two girls sitting in front of us. He hands them a pair of tickets and says these are for the Police reunion concert that night at Madison Square Garden. "My girlfriend and I can't go" he said. The girls looked stunned as were we. I think I kept mumbling, "Hey! I like the Police too!" As he walked away, he said "Those are in Row B."
Butter floor. [Thanks Clay!]