To balance all the unctuous celebration and awe of the Beijing Olympic athletes and their record setting accomplishments I present you with the following. The athletes featured in this hilarious and brilliant blooper highlight reel should receive some medal for their sheer bloopiness, like maybe a zinc medal? The accompanying triumphant soundtrack heightens the schadenfreude comedy.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrtV2hDdOTQ]
[Via]
Nancy Franklin reviews Wipeout, the silly competitive game show imported from Japan, that involves contestants of all shapes and sizes running through an obstacle course meant to highlight our bodies clumsiness at its worst.
While watching the ABC competition show “Wipeout” when it premièred six weeks ago, I became at moments a truly happy idiot, and I could hear my brain cells, one after another, packing their suitcases and walking out of my head, saying regretfully but firmly, “I’m sorry, I just can’t live here anymore.” Well, fine. Go, then. Still, it’s not as though I’m addicted to stupidity, so after a couple of episodes I forgot about “Wipeout” and moved on to Bill Moyers. Then, scanning last week’s onscreen TV schedule, I was stopped by the description of “Wipeout” and was pulled back in: “Obstacles include Foamy Launch Pads and Killer Surf.” That’s all I needed to hear.
It's not the most meaningful of TV shows, but as Franklin concludes "you'd have to be a fool not to appreciate that kind of stupidity." I typically catch this show at the gym and it causes me to be that annoying guy on the treadmill who can't help but guffaw loudly. Idiocy is so hilarious sometimes.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLiX5d3rC6o] Some are suggesting that this CGI animated "Emily" created by the folks behind Grand Theft Auto demonstrates the first or among the first animations to have "overleapt a long-standing barrier known as 'uncanny valley' - which refers to the perception that animation looks less realistic as it approaches human likeness."
While it is a truly remarkable step forward for computer animation, I think there are still some disconcerting "tells" that, particularly around the eyelids it seems there is an unnatural rigidness, says that "Emily" may be near the valley but has yet to cross it. Keep in mind that only her face is animated, while the rest is that of a real actress (Emily O'Brien) - you can see her non-animated self on soap opera, The Young and the Restless.
I predict that this technology will be at the forefront of the next generation game consoles, PS4 and Xbox ...540, and while the uncanny valley then will still be a formidable barrier, at that point I believe that actual gameplay will FINALLY look exactly like the notoriously misleading pre-rendered animation that consumers sees in video games' promotional trailers and cutscenes. Nonetheless, as the Wii has demonstrated innovative and most importantly FUN gameplay ought to take a front seat to graphics and visual eye candy.
I see that it's 1/2 part satire and 1/2 tongue-in-cheek with a wishful thinking garnish, but I still maintain it's stupid, however I'll go ahead and "reblog" Michael Moore...because well you know who he is and I'm, well, who the fuck is MRod? Exactly.
What Obama needs is a vice presidential candidate who is NOT a professional politician, but someone who is well-known and beloved by people across the political spectrum; someone who, like Obama, spoke out against the war; someone who has a good and generous heart, who will be cheered by the rest of the world; someone whom we've known and loved and admired all our lives and who has dedicated her life to public service and to the greater good for all.
That person, Caroline, is you.
Of course such a ticket would be superior to a McCain - [Anyone] duo.
Read more here.
With five blokes to every girl, I suggest the ‘beauty disadvantaged’ women should proceed to Mt Isa. - Mayor of Mt Isa Canberra (Australia) proactively trying to help out the single menfolk of his mining town.
In yet another example that speaks to the testament of the ability of lifeforms to grow and survive in seemingly completely inhospitable climates and environments, fungi has bee, discovered at the very epicenter of what used to be nuclear reactor before its catastrophic meltdown on April 1986 in Chernobyl.
Sitting at the centre of the exclusion zone, the damaged reactor unit is encased in a steel and cement sarcophagus. It's a deathly tomb that plays host to about 200 tonnes of melted radioactive fuel, and is swarming with radioactive dust.
But it's also the abode of some very hardy fungi which researchers believe aren't just tolerating the severe radiation, but actually harnessing its energy to thrive.
Bad ass. Who knew fungi could be so fascinating. Or is that just me? I hope our military is gearing up to do battle in fifty years with a radioactively mutated fungi monster that will rise off the Eastern seaboard.
Read more here.
[Via]
This is an intriguing cover by Londoner Dan Black of Notorious BIG's Hypnotize. Take a listen: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7tb2enNvZY]
What do you think? Hot or not?
[Thanks Henry!]
This is helpful for those of you with an Apple macbook or macbook pro. Apple is offering to replace for free the power adapters for those laptops regardless of the warranty status.
Earlier this week N sent me an e-mail asking me "When was this [photo] taken?" I had no idea what he was referring to until I saw the photo he attached that he found on his laptop and then I remembered. A couple months ago I was hanging out with ma' friend Lauren at N's apartment. He left us to go party and we lazily stayed behind to watch TV. Lauren and I decided to leave him a gift on his laptop that he had left out on the coffee table.
Your evil spawn and her vacuous hubby, Brad Pitt, make about $40 million a year in violent psychopathic movies and give away three of it to starving children, trying to look as if they give a crap about humanity. - Roseanne Barr
Gawker posted a story today that is probably the worst thing that could happen to a person at work. It's one of those things that you would see in a bad Farrelly Brothers knockoff comedy and think "Nah, that would NEVER happen in real life." Well surprise! It happened in real life. Allegedly due to a locked bathroom the following occurred to a NBC intern on the first day of her internship:
Said intern did in fact shit all over the 18th and 25th floors of 30 Rock. She did it in the hallway, on the floor, on a pile of FedEx boxes, on the way between floors… pretty much everywhere but the bathroom...
The punchline to this horrific story is that the bosses wanted to fire her, but because she returned to work the next day "they were a little scared because, what kind of person does something so gross and then shows up the next day like nothing happened?"
In related news, the participants of the spectacular opening ceremony practiced under strict and painful conditions.
In the Olympic ceremony segment showcasing the Chinese invention of movable type, the nearly 900 performers who crouched under 40-pound boxes donned adult diapers to allow them to stay inside for at least six hours, Beijing organizers said.
Shit happens. One just has to be prepared for it. The Chinese? Prepared. NBC intern? Not prepared AT ALL. At the very least she should have grabbed a cup and turned on some classical music.
[Thanks Kate for the second Huff Post link]
I don't quite know the context but someone e-mailed me these two pictures. All I know is that it's some perverse deviant stuff right there which is illegal in at least ten states. Whatever it is I know I am now definitely not in the mood for a fastfood burger.
[Thanks N...]
Located in Soho at 21 Mercer between Grand and Howard (No street location arguments all you Tumblrs) Nike is opening up its first Nike Sportswear retail store. In the world. Booyah! They will be carrying all the latest and newest including a few store only exclusives. I've been really keeping an eye open for a light-weight rain-athletic jacket and I have a feeling this place just might have what I'm looking for. I can't wait to check it out when they open on August 22, Thursday.
No doubt its already occurred but if any of you have a connection to this and maybe a soft launching opening let me know and good karma will come your way.
Received the following mass e-mail from N who proposed the following regarding the current season of Real World which is being taped in Brooklyn.
$100 to the first person in the house$500 to the first person to do something inappropriate in the hot tub of said house.
On like Donkey Kong.
Why does the main Google search homepage feature an athletic sperm in a swimming pool?
This American remake of that popular wacky Japanese game show featuring a challenging yet comical obstacle course has its moments. I've only watched a few segments and that only at the gym, but it does crack me up. However, this one particular episode below really had me dying particularly contestant Margie Stubbs. Watch her around the 5:25 mark in the clip below for the f'n hysterical pay off. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H82oVFBbuTg]
Whoever said laughter is the best medicine meant to actually say that laughter as a result of someone's misfortune is the best medicine. Thank you America.
[Via]
I never really thought about it until I saw this photo of Bono without his sunglasses, but without those sunglasses he looks very...average and pedestrian. Bono is one person I give a pass to to wear sunglasses indoors. Bono, please put on your shades bro!
[Via who has his own additional compelling theory about Bono. Face it, how come we never see big rock star Bono with any ladies...? Hm?]
A Day in the Life Of reminded me about the Audi R8. It is a mean lookin' sonofabitch. And it backs it up too. It's comparable to if not arguably better than the "Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, and BMW M6." And it also ran faster than the "Lamborghini Gallardo and the Koenigsegg CCX." It's definitely not a car to be trifled with. Peep some of these pictures of this bad car:
And these next two pictures will make fans of this and other supercars sick to their stomachs. Here are two pictures, first is an R8 that caught on fire and the other one is just done fucked up.
[Via]
I'm not sure if bringing this ball to a pickup match among some Nigerians at Prospect Park will win you a lot respect, but Flower Ball by Takashi Murakami is darn "kickin'." Pun!
And it can be all yours for a cool $400. And they'll even throw in a nifty bag with it.
[Via]
The New York Times has compiled a list and collected links to the national anthems of all the nations that have won a gold medal at this year's Olympics. Although, no anthem is more inspirational than this one straight from the Banana Republic (Definitely crank up your speakers): [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U20IiBuU8lQ] [Via]
[Thanks Kate for the YouTube link!]
