Comment

Answer to "Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?"

Fox News Megyn Kelly prepping herself, making sure her makeup and hair is fair and balanced during Joe Biden's vice presidency acceptance speech at the recent DNC. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8NTXX4HJvc]

This is one of those "gotcha" moments, but still, shouldn't she be, as an on-site "reporter" pay attention to what's taking place behind her? But what really is interesting about this to me is that I'm reminded of the Latin phrase "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" which roughly translates to "Who watches the watchers?" Well, in todays epoch of digital recording, citizen journalism and blogging, YouTube, and high speed internet, we all do. We all do.

[Via]

Comment

Comment

America's Family

In a Times article about Gov. Palin's 17-year-old daughter Bristol Palin's pregnancy and how this has injected an unscripted surprise into the very scripted Republican National Convention, I read the following:

And in Minnesota, Kris Bowen, an alternate delegate from Indiana, said she now felt more connected to Ms. Palin. “Now she’s a typical American family,” said Ms. Bowen, the mother of two boys ages 10 and 12.

When did an all white family from Alaska with five children, one of whom has Down syndrome and another pregnant at the age of seventeen become your "typical American family?" Can anyone answer this for me?

Comment

3 Comments

My Roommate's Huge Vegetable

My roommate went to her garden today and brought back this ginormous vegetable.

A free drink on me to whoever can name which current news figure she is imitating in the photo above. It's so deliciously inappropriately funny.

3 Comments

1 Comment

Google Releases Web Browser: Google Chrome

Named the Google Chrome, Google the ubiquitous online Goliath is releasing their own fully open source web browser. So whatisit? Google's official blog explains:

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. It's only a tool to run the important stuff -- the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today's complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox", we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers.

The beta version will be launching and available for download tomorrow Tuesday, September 2 in over 100 countries. Windows only for the time being, with Mac and Linux to arrive soon.

I. Cannot. Wait. To. Try. This. Baby. Out! W00t w00t!11!

Read more here!

1 Comment

Comment

Movie Trailer: Samurais Versus Tanks, Helicopters & Machine Guns

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckL6Ssarw_k] Based on novel Time Slip by Ry Hanmura's, G.I. Samurai is an epic Japanese period film about a modern day Ground Self-Defense Force that gets accidentally sent back in time to feudal Japan. You know what that means doncha? Ninjas, samurais, tanks, helicopters and machine guns.

The plot reminds me of one of my favorite movies form my childhood, Final Countdown which is about a modern day American aircraft carrier that is also sent back in time--to a few days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

[Via]

Comment

15 Comments

Sarah Palin in Bikini and Holding a Rifle

I went with a very literal descriptive headline for this photo, which I seriously hesitated about posting and secondly, I just can't believe it was NOT photoshopped.

Anyway, is this photo the stuff of wet dreams for conservative Americans?

Aside from that above throwaway low blow statement, I'm pretty speechless. Actually, I'm the opposite of speechless, and I want to say so much about it, but like Socrates I'm going to leave it up to you guys for your best caption or headline for this photo. Here are some starting points to help you on your way: patriotic swim suit, guy in background holding a tall boy and smoking a cig, ANOTHER rifle in the background.

As an Alaskan, I want to reiterate again that there are many good people in Alaska.

[Via]

Update: This CAN'T be real. HAS to be photoshopped right? Right? Confirmed. Still hilarious.

Update 2:

FAKE.

Still hilarious tho.

15 Comments

Comment

Worst Hipster Bar Playlist

Just copying and pasting this one.

Here’s how Hipster Hell works. You go to the digital jukebox and proceed to pick songs designed to drive hipsters insane. Remember, anything liked by a lot of people can’t possibly be good in the mind of a hipster, so go for songs as popular as possible. For example here’s my top 20 Hipster Hell playlist:

  1. “Crazy” by Britney Spears
  2. “Native New Yorker” by Odyssey
  3. “Knockin’ Boots” by Candyman
  4. “Vibe” by R. Kelly and Public Announcement
  5. “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel
  6. “Idioteque” by Radiohead (to give them a glimmer of hope, a light at the end of the tunnel if you will)
  7. “We Built This City” by Starship (to cruelly yank them back into the 7th circle of Hell)
  8. “Vogue” by Madonna
  9. Any song by a Disney Channel alumnus, take your pick (for example Raven Symone, Lindsey Lohan, Jonas Brothers or Hillary Duff)
  10. “Addams Groove” by MC Hammer
  11. “Rush Rush” by Paula Abdul
  12. “Hanging Tough” by New Kids on the Block
  13. “MMMBop” by Hanson
  14. “Pump Up the Jam” by Technotronic
  15. “Now That We Found Love” by Heavy D. and the Boys
  16. “Mambo No. 5″ by Lou Bega
  17. “Physical” by Olivia Newton-John
  18. “Barbie Girl” by Aqua
  19. “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston
  20. “Zombie Nation” by Kernkraft 400

Bonus tracks:

  1. “I Write the Songs” by Barry Manilow
  2. Anything by The Strokes

Pay the extra money to get all these songs bumped to the front of the queue. The beauty of this selection is that for the first song or two, the hipsters will actually be into it and enjoy it, thinking that the songs are being played for the sake of irony. By the third or fourth song, they start figuring out that something’s wrong. By the fifth, they start becoming vocally upset. Critical mass tends to hit “MMMBop.” It gets really ugly by the time the first note of Whitney Houston hits.

Sounds amusing--the transition after the hopeful Radiohead is especially evilly funny--except it sort of seems like EVERYONE loses at the bar.

Read more here.

Comment

Comment

Behind the Music: Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Rolling Stones gets the story or rather, stories straight from the mouths of the various players involved in the creation and aftermath of Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, a seminal album released 10 years ago that "went on to sell more than 8 million copies, win five Grammys." It's also one of my all time favorites and one of those albums that I would bring with me to a deserted island scenarios.

John Legend: I was in the spring of my junior year at University of Pennsylvania. A friend invited me to give her a ride to Lauryn's house in Jersey. Lauryn was working "Everything Is Everything." I sang and played a couple songs for her. She asked me to play piano on the track. She guided me a little bit but it was pretty simple because I was playing along with a string part that was already there. I became known around campus as the dude who played on "Everything Is Everything." It was my little claim to fame at Penn for my whole senior year.

[...]

Che Vicious: She gave me co-production [on "To Zion"], but I did the track on my own. There was label pressure to do the Prince thing — written and produced by. I still love you like a sister, but you didn't do it on your own.

Until I read this I had 1) no idea that John Legend worked on her album, and 2) that he went to Penn.

Read more here.

Comment

Comment

New Cell Phone: Samsung's Impressive Package

I'm sure you are a bit sick of hearing about me moan and groan about my phone. Well, I took action yesterday afternoon following the washer incident, because that's the kind of man I am, an action man, and headed over to the Verizon store to purchase a new Samsung phone. Samsung's marketing department must have received a huge budget increase because the packaging was really impressive thatswhatshesaid. I had to record the unpacking of it:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQlzX7EyIwU]

It went a bit overboard, but it's just good to have a phone again.

[Via]

Comment

2 Comments

News I Find Interesting, Part 1

In an exercise that will be beneficial to both me (emptying out my Google Reader's "starred" items) and to you (a whole lot of stuntastic things from around the Internets), I'm bringing back an old segment that will be familiar to my oldest readers, "News I Find Interesting!" Here, I will be posting a long list of links and such that I've encountered that I found interesting, amusing, idiotic, titillating, or hilarious, but didn't get around to sharing with you. You may have already seen few, some, or all of the links below, but in any case I hope you will find an item or two of note that YOU will find interesting.

1. The New York City's Department of Transportation has installed nine unique bike racks designed by David Byrne, yes of the Talking Heads fame, but did you know he is also a bike enthusiast? It is only temporary but I hope the powers that be change their minds and make them a permanent addition to the City landscape. More information, including rack location (hi-ho!) here.

2. Do your best Beavis and Butthead laugh when looking at this unintentionally funny sign.

3. Idiot TSA "inspector" breaks commercial airplane. TSA guy should be added to the "no-fly" list as he clearly is a danger to travelers.

4. The DUI Mario Kart experiment. Damn, I'm ready to submit myself as a subject for an experiment like this. Any fellow geek want to organize this?

5. Best $2k I ever spent!

6. Photos of cute animals + website = Profit! Cute Overload, the popular site of fuzzy wuzzy puppies and kitties, is making the owner some nice chedder from advertising. WHY DID I NOT THINK OF THIS FIRST?!?!

7. People taking photos of Obama. One dude got himself one of those green disposables just for the occasion.

8. All that music you kids are uploading and streaming from Muxtape is costin the company a whole lotta money in the hosting category. Looks like cloud computing might be expensive enough to bring a company crashing back down to earth.

9. Michael Phelps doesn't want to make a splash and piss off advertisers and sponsors. He just wants to be a corporate bitch. Post-college idealist MRod is looking to do the same. Sponsors, sponsor me!

10. Selections from H.P. Lovecraft's brief tenure as a Whitman's Sampler copywriter. Haha!

11. What makes for a good blog. I agree with many of the points, but I break most of the "rules." I think those traits make for popular blogs, but that is separate from what I specifically enjoy about blogging. In the end, there's no hard and fast set of rules. Do you. Do what you like to do that will keep you blogging, even if it is for just a month or two.

12. LGBTA L.G.P.A, the Ladies Golf Professional Association, is requiring all its golfers to pass a verbal English test or face suspension. This new rule was especially aimed and communicated to the South Korean contingent. It's so jarring to read of something so anachronistic as "English-Only" in the 21st century particularly when it pertains to professional sports which is becoming more and more globalized in a symbiotic relationship for new talent, bigger audiences, and more money. As the Times writes:

Women have been fighting against discrimination in golf for decades, as Augusta National Golf Club — home of the Masters Tournament and still lacking a single female member — shamefully demonstrates. For the L.P.G.A. to impose discriminatory rules on its own members is not only offensive, it’s self-destructive.

And IDIOTIC!

13. Campbell Soup Company's marketing manager writes to Andy Warhol. So pop.

14. Eric Ripert, chef of top restaurant le Bernardin, is blogging recipes of dishes he creates using the common toaster oven. He's JUST LIKE YOU AND ME! Okay, not at all.

15. Drawing with a cup of coffee and a spoon. Genius. I can't wait to try this at brunch next time and piss off the server.

To read more click after the jump...but you've been warned: there's a LOT more to read.

16. Another upcoming show, called The Wrong Door from across the Atlantic that looks promising. The BBC is so on point.

17. Has the identity of the Zodiac Killer been uncovered? He may be....RIGHT BEHIND YOU!

18. The most obsessed Twat Twit ever. Dude gets the Twitter error message image tattooed. I'm definitely "unfollowing" this cat. Freak.

19. Matt Harding, you know the guy who danced all around the world, now brings his schtick to the corporate boardroom to "boost morale." I would jump around like an idiot for a paycheck too. Yea, I'm hating. So what?

20. Sarah Palin's Wikipedia page got a bit of Fall cleaning right before McCain announced her as his BFF (after only just meeting her once).

21. A new study in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics argues that medicine tailored to specific "races" or racial groups are doomed to fail. Although two individuals may be of the same "race," a label that is a social construct in of itself, their respective genomes may respond differently to a particular medication.

22. Worst. Dress. Ever.

23. Bush eats cat on the cob. Haha.

24. This sci-fi film noir short (won a film contest) is pretty good. In a future where cloning is widespread, this detective tries to track down who is murdering his own clones.

25. LA has had a serial killer out there for awhile. Yikes.

26. This teenager started a Zune chat community in 2006. He earned $1,000 a month for a couple years from advertising and just recently sold it for $62,000. I hate my life.

27. Soulja Boy talks about the hacker who hijacked his MySpace and other pages.

28. VPILF. LOL. "Just a heartbeat away from being a PILF." LOL.

29. Headless teddy USB drive. Or in other words, "How to be even MORE creepy at work."

30. Nasubi, the naked guy who lived on freebies for an entire year for a Japanese reality show for a sort of real life Truman Show...except even more fucked up!

31. YouTube Comment Snot - A Firefox add-on that will hide all those stupid comments on the popular video hosting and streaming site.

32. Strawberries and shake, the perfect combination? YES YES YES.

33. Banksy hits up New Orleans. BANKSY -- COME BACK TO NYC! Specifically, come to Park Slope and tag up my apartment building or hell, even my apartment room itself! Thanks!

34. Militant art. ERIN, Please have your [famous] boss buy this please!!

35. I know it's a low blow, but mang, it's still funny. Old guy + young gal = Comedy.

36. Michael Jackson and Emmanuel Lewis vintage video. Back then this was probably considered cute. Today, frightening. I'm watching it and all I keep thinking is "How the heck is no one flying across the screen and tackling Michael while screaming KEEP THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE CHILD MICHAEL!"

37. Cute Overload. Damn, this puppy whistling is so cute I want to just pop it in the microwave on high heat.

38. Hysterical Nickleback parody. Seriously, I wasn't going to watch it because well, I hate Nickleback, but I'm glad I did. Hilarious.

39. Oddly compelling video put together using photos of Bush, Obama, and McCain. It sounds a lot more interesting than it reads.

40. This cat bento box should have two heads.

41. Nine breathtaking bridges. Although I'm pretty much amazed by any bridge which I think are amazing feats of engineering.

42. Obama needs to unleash his moneyed advantage and buy up some keywords.

43. GUTEN TAGGGGG! Breakfast for yo brain!

44. As Gawker says, this story is the most Onion like story yet. It reminds me a lot of the vibe of St Louis.

45. North Korean anti-America propaganda posters.

46. The most unhappy dogs in the world. I would be too if I had to wear what they were forced to wear.

47. Camouflage art.

48. If a black hole accidentally occurred here on earth, what would the repercussions look like? Like this.

49. Parking tickets for those who've crossed the line.

50. Dave Freeman, co-author of 100 Things to Do Before You Die" dead at 47.

51. Train nearly runs over idiots. It's a "HOLY SHIT" sort of a moment in the video.

52. "Old man" does magic tricks on subway trains and amusement parks. The last one is hilarious.

53. China isn't the only country that lip synched its Opening Ceremony. Those Aussies did it as well during the Sydney Olympics.

54. How did we end up with a drinking age of 21 in the first place [in the US]?

55. Zombie emergency procedure. Guide on what to do in the event of a zombie attack.

56. Heh. Evily genius in today's age of hyper-connectivity. Fake Following.

57. The Japanese Anna Kournikova...sourta.

2 Comments

2 Comments

The Hills Screensaver

For those of you with macs, download The Hills screensaver now! Will it grace your computer with inane chatter about fashion and parties? Will it show images of Lauren Conrad looking hot, but distantly angry?

Nope! Just zenful "beautifully rendered rolling green hills covered in perfectly-manicured grass."

Download it here.

2 Comments

3 Comments

Short Story: "Harrison Bergeron" by Vonnegut

The opening paragraph of "Harrison Bergeron," a short story by Kurt Vonnegut should be enough to pique your interest:

The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

Read rest here.

3 Comments

Comment

Ill Communication: Cell Phone Versus Washing Machine

What I thought would be an uneventful early afternoon of laundry turned into anything but that. My cell phone accidentally was mixed in with my laundry and received a lengthy dip in the wash cycle. The end result:

Suffice to say I've lost all of my friends and acquaintances' contact information. So if you see this please send me your phone number.

Update: Relatedly

I recently came across this "Verizon anti-iPhone tip sheet."

Comment