While I'm not - nor ever have been - an Imac, Ipod or now, Ipad user and so, much of the humor is beyond me, I still think that this parody of the much-heralded Apple Ipad is pretty funny.
Interestingly, it appears to be the first time that the Geek community has turned on Apple. Is this the beginning of the end?
Apple Ipad: Downfall Hitler parody
Of course, the original footage is from a superb German movie about Hitler's last days, The Downfall and this scene has been used for numerous Youtube parody videos, some of which are very funny - others, not so.
You may remember that last year I wrote about Susan Boyle, who had performed I Dreamed A Dream on Britain's Got Talent and went on to release what looks like the biggest album of 2009, globally.
Well, there's another star worth considering, Emma Czikai, who, The Daily Mail reports, is suing the show and has lodged a claim under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
'This story is the truth behind the joke. They made one big joke out of me. They put it on the YouTube and sold it in 30 countries. The whole world is saying:
'This stupid woman's a laugh.'''
What do you think?
"'People cry when they hear me sing.' I agree."
youtube member pop0313
"Emma you are pathetic , you can't sing, just give it up."
youtube member chiselset
"...Britain, please don't let her come to Australia, we got enough fuck-wits out here as it is, keep her there please."
youtube member llandod77
"Never mind the appalling voice, why did she think it would be a good idea to show practically all of her saggy, middle-aged breasts?
Eughhh."
youtube member LusciousLuce
"Can I sue her for hurting my ears?
youtube member kittykat93612
"Poor Amanda...she always jumps when Simon buzzes." (Watch the hands!)
I've spent the last 2 very long days rescuing a 600 page site of mine that has been hacked - and I mean, maliciously hacked - by a competitor and I'm bushed.
Blogging?
What's that?
I'm going to sleep.
Hmmm, o.k., maybe I'll just have just one more potato chip.
Despite being incredibly, even violently conservative, Hinduism does have (what I consider a fairly profound - if unscientific - understanding of true Homosexuality (rather than the I-can't-get-a-decent-blow-job-off-modern-flabby-chicks-so-I-might-as-well-turn-gay brand of homosexuality).
So, there's something delightfully (add your appropriate adjective / descriptive phrase / expletive here) about Nepal's decision at allow its "openly gay" prince Manvendra Singh Gohilto marry his main man in a Hindu ceremony as the Sydney Morning Herald reports today.
Manvendra Singh Gohil
More importantly - because I don't care either way - one savvy entrepreneur has developed a gay tourist agency by the name of - wait for it - Pink Mountain. I love it!Now, that's funny.
so here's an interview from 2003 that may be of interest to other Todd fans. It's broken into segments, so grab a cup of something while you wait for the bit you're interested in to load.
0.15 Do you have a theatrical background?
1.30 How do you construct your LIVE song lists?
4.10 Was there a difference between Utopia's studio and LIVE versions of their songs
6.20 The good and bad bits of the story of Just One Victory: (unfortunately with the track obtrusively mixed underneath)
Well, as Canada's greatest-ever rockin' hairies, Bachman Turner Overdrive, said back in 1973, You Ain't Seen Nuthin' Yet!
Bachman Turner Overdrive: You Ain't Seen Nuthin' Yet
You see, while I might be pondering the sentience of your McDonald's fillet-o'-fish, the real thinkers in Science are looking towards the consciousness of bacteria!
I can't say that I grasp it all - the language used is egg-headus terribilus - but the ramifications are clear, there's a lot more wrigglin' around under the sesame seed bun of your quarter pounder than just a former hunk of cow.
All too many jokes are set up merely for a punch-line and the experience of expectantly waiting for it can be anywhere from frustrating to deeply rewarding.However, articles are a different matter (and though I've ruined this one by inferring that there will be a punch-line), when they nab you, it can be quite a surprise.
So, there I was, reading Rebekah Curtis'Love In London Is As Rare As Finding Aliens, a little bored, because it wasn't quite as interesting as I'd hoped, when, out of the blue, the punch-line nabbed me - surprisingly both clever and funny.
Well, as a community service to this blog's female readers retaining their sexiness, may I suggesting taking a little peeky-poo at The Daily Mail, where you can read all about the latest Jimmy Choo Ugg Boots, which will ONLY cost about $1,000 a pair. I can see why they will cost so much - look at the lines on that Uggie. Look at the fleece!
Well, I've certainly broadened my idea of what a sexy gal is this season - a heavy meat-eating, tattooed, perfumed, vagazzled sex bomb in Ugg boots. Oh yeah!
As part of "research" for this post, I google-imaged "perfume advert" and came up with this picture of actress Eva Mendes (who I'd never heard of) in a still from her shoot for Calvin Klein's Obsession in 2008. I can see why the first thing you'd think of when you saw the picture would be "perfume" - I did, honestly!
As an afterthought, I'll probably avail myself to Eva if she wants to improve the genetic pool (or try to) - for Humanity's sake. You can contact me via this blog, Eva.
What's The Big Stink About Perfume?
But really, why do women love perfume so much?
It stinks!
I understand that until there was decent sanitation, perfume could have covered any number of malodorous disasters but these days there's little need for women to use it (unless you're an enthusiastic Sarah Palin-like carnivore, in which case, things might get pretty musky, down South).
In fact, Science Daily sheds some light on the subject, Scent of a Woman: Men's Testosterone Responses to Olfactory Ovulation Cues. It seems that Science has proven that men love nothing more than the natural scent of ovulating women (not "their woman"that they love - any woman) as would make sense from Nature's perspective.
And women continually mess it all up by wearing perfume, thinking it will make them "sexy".
I've been house-sitting a pair of chickens for coming onto a year, now and I have to admit, chicken's ain't dumb! OK, I'll admit that they can't spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious correctly (can I?) but they do:
have a definite social order
make particular noises when given certain foods (a language?) &
display trust for those who care for them (me)
So, continuing the other day's post of Dolphins, Whales & Misanthropy, I couldn't help but mention this article in the Sydney Morning Herald about the latest science on the intelligence of fish.It seems they're not as stupid as people seem to need to believe.
I had to question why popular understanding would have it that creatures like fish and chicken are called "dumb", whereas animals like cats and dogs are called "smart" and I can't get much further than that folks don't want a smarty-pants wriggling on their dinner-plate.
That argument, of course, leaves out cows and pigs, which, I think because of their size are thought of more as cuts of meat rather than an animal.
I have no answers for the carnivorous dilemma, other than to honor Life that becomes food (mind you, eating factory farming food is something that Society will eventually have to come to terms with). Still, don't assume that animals are dumb, they're not - and Science is increasingly backing that up.
Here in Australia, it's a muggy hot Summer's day and one sometimes forgets that the internet brings together people from the other side of the world, where weather conditions are considerably different. My present email buddy, Mr X, is one such case.
We had exchanged a flurry of emails early last week on an elitist subject, tentatively edging closer together towards some kind of mutual understanding, swapping emails every day for several days - and then - nothing.
I awoke this morning to find that his silence was because he'd been snowed in for what looks like a week. So, with that in mind, I pinched a picture from the Wasting Words blog to remind readers from the Southern hemisphere about what's going on up top.
It's a curious shot, indeed, as if his progeny is a vapor cloud. I guess that when he grows up, he'll be called Mist - er (g-r-o-a-n).
The Australian reported today that Google is reconsidering its operations in China after Google claimed that it had received a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China".
It seems to be part of an attempt by the Chinese government to stick their noses into dissidents' email, which we, in the West, consider an outrage etc. etc. etc.
However, on another note - and possibly more disturbing for us - was this little video posted by theyoutuber The American Atheist. Is Google doctoring its search results?
Is Google Being Bullied?
Is Google self-censoring or is it being bullied by the U.S. Government?
If it IS being bullied, what other censorship is in place and does that herald the rebirth of real-world books as (I hear the cycle turning) the bastion of true free thinking?
The commentators, as usual, say little but provide some interesting insights into the video, my favorite being the final comment:
"lol islamic people are such whiney little bitches"
youtuber ManicTheManic
"In Germany it doesn't work. You can type in what u want, every religious orientation is nothing."
youtuber DjGrannyNHC
"Why?
Because islam is satans cult and in Rev 13:15 we can see the answer, satan will come through a visual picture and speak directly to us,maybe google is a satans tool .
OK, don't laugh THINK instead google-cellphone-google translator--total control-islam has as goal to control earth -islam satans cult?"
youtuber Susbob00
"What if i hate all humans and not just a specific race / gender / religion?
And I have been heard - or at least, that's how I'm going to think of it! So, who heard my prayers?
Why, none other than them pesky Confucians, the Taiwanese. According to yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald, the Taiwanese intend to be the first government to pass a junk food tax!
Yippee-dee-aye-ay!
They shall look across the Taiwan Strait at the mainland and make fun of the 1-child per family, pinko blubber balls, as they should...
Fat Chinese Kid
The Taiwanese shall all be healthy, they shall all eat chop suey and birds nest soup until they're 90 - as they should, not burgers and upsized Cokes. Hooray, sense has prevailed, somewhere. Romania is next and then? Oh God, let it be Australia, please!
The other day, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on the macabre dumping of a dolphin corpse - possibly "executed" - on a suburban lawn in Bremer Bay, Western Australia on January 1.
And a few days before, The Times had reported in a fascinating article that"dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as 'non-human persons'."
These two items seemed a logical lead-in to the sinking of the Andy Gil, an anti-whaling ship which was recently sunk by a Japanese whaler.
Andy Gil Anti-whaling Ship Sunk By Japanese Whaler
And while the three items may or may not have any relevant connections, I am appalled. Juggling the three ( a psycho, scientists in awe & a traditional culture feeling it's under threat) - and with no disrespect meant to those creatures of the sea - I fear that my main reaction is, unfortunately, that my misanthropy is growing, like an awful cancer that I seem to have no hope of beating.
In fact, all I seem to want to do is publish some of the comments on the video, chosen for their nastiness from across the spectrum of views:
"fuck you whales. lol"
youtuber portugal4life89
"sink em all"
youtuber riflemanjim
"LOL... Somehow you guys missed the memo on how this world is going to shit and there aint nothing you can do about it, so live it up and quit wasting your time."
youtuber expressit101
"I guess you rather these worthless chinks fuk-tards killed whales? One of the bravest things I have seen at sea. "
Following the last post on Aussie Racist Ads with its outpouring of indignant anti-American bile from mostly-aussie Youtube commentators, I felt that I had to share this high-rotation ad for the Commonwealth Bank, one of the 4 banks in our banking oligarchy.
Now, this little ad is truly racist, inferring that Americans are loud, crass and outrageously stupid.While I certainly see the humor in the ad IS amusing, the irony is that in my reasonably-well-traveled experience, Australia's customer service is pretty goddam awful, only bettering that of the human-hating Greeks.
On the other hand, if there's one thing that Americans can boast of - and there's much about America that's both appalling and weird - it's that their customer service is superb, probably the best in the world!
I find this strange inversion of the truth in the Commonwealth Bank ad to be deeply disturbing, disseminating some horrible Aussie nationalistic lie that - at its heart - oozes the bizarre contradictions endemic to Orwell's 1984.
"From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party:
WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."
Aussie Racist Ads: The Commonwealth Bank Ad
On a slightly different note, the ad also displays Australia's rampant anti-intellectualism, where the earnest, sensible child - the simple-talking Australian spirit - works out the answer to the customer service problem using common sense, needing neither the corporate meeting, nor the fancy Yankees.
Of course, the logic of why a school-age child would be at such a meeting in the first place is never addressed. That lack of internal logic and the cheap, racist implications that the ad displays, make it appear to me - as an international citizen - grotesque.
In fact, taking it back 75 years, switching continents and replacing the dumb Yankees with money-hungry, lustful, big-nosed Jews, it is not dissimilar to Josef Goebbels Nazi propaganda.
Hilarious, don't you think?
"All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those toward whom it is directed will understand it...
...Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see Paradise as Hell - and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as Paradise."
While I definitely don't consider the ad racist - within its Australian perspective - and was certainly appalled by KFC's decision to bow to international pressure - I was even more fascinated by the youtube comments that were rapidly being posted.
Despite agreeing with many of them (my selections are mostly the Australians and quite representative of what was being posted), I couldn't help but also notice:
the text-speak (which I've tried to retain "as is" but occasionally had to alter)
the occasionally witty but often crude (as in unsophisticated) Aussie sense of humor &
Aussies' frequent ugly anti-American racism
Try these comments, they're well worth reading if you want a genuine snapshot of Australia's underbelly.
"As a West Indian man i lol-ed at this.... anyway the 2 idiots talking have no idea. all they are concentrating on is wat they want to see...yes i saw chicken yum but this was about cricket sponsored by KFC.
All i saw is a guy representing one team (Australia) offer chicken to the crowd (West Indies). I think he was trying to stop them from cheering lol. It was good humor. But some Americans will always be Americans lol lack of knowledge of the outside world."
youtuber Coops316
"WTF??? you stupid yanks don't even get the ad."Definetly racist" my ass. The ad is just a fun ad, no-one cares if you think its racist. The aussie's dont mind, the West Indian's dont mind, seems its only the idiotic yanks that think its racist!"
youtuber mikm5
"in other ad's he shares kfc with white people they go for it as well"
youtuber fdxpunk
"Wait! So this Australian ad was pulled from Australian TV, because America thought it was racist?
What the fuck has this got to do with America again?
FUCK off Seppo's, YOU find it racist because YOU are racist, the rest of the people that also live on this planet are fine. Go back to sticking yr [your] noses in other peoples business like in Iraq, spread yr[your] ideals there - thats going real well."
youtuber kayjames888
"When I was in the States I had Kentucky Fried Chicken Livers, but no chips. "
youtuber surely 223
"OK what is an 'arse' and a 'yank'?u fucking aussies or whatever ur called are fucking confusing."
youtuber XuXrockXmyXsox
"Bull-fucking-shit it's racist!!!!!
We (Australians) don't have your (American) racist stereotype of dark people and KFC. Get off your fucking soap box, wankers!!!!!!"
youtuber FapFapFail
"STOP talking about fried chicken! I am a fat fucker and I am getting hungry."
youtuber victorianborn74
"Fuckin dum nigger and dum white bitch that doesn't know shit about Australia. Those black people in the ad aren't even african american, their jamaicans."
"KFC sponsored the West Indian Cricket team you dumb arse Americans... So i guess thats racist too???Fkn american filth"
youtuber fargoau
"ha ha....two dickheads."
youtuber DjKingtom
"how [the] fuck is that racist, dumb cunt americans. LOL"
youtuber sexytimmy333
"I can't see any slanty-eyed spear-chuckers in that?Whats the problem peeps?"
youtuber nowthenwheresmetabs
"that chick needs a dick in her mouth"
youtuber 31fishy
"whats wrong with you fuckwits, everyone eats chicken big deal. aussies dont care about black cunts eating chicken"
youtuber mmaddog
"septics [see: Seppo's] can suck my balls. im not racist but if you live in america white green black yellow you wear padding on the football field, fukin wimps. you are all fried chicken eatin freeks. suc on my juicy chicken leg inbred fucks ow and hows the cannon foder going."
Perusing Youtube, I discovered this new item on the ill-fated Apple boutique which existed from the end of 1967 for just over 6 months.
The Apple Boutique
Run by a group of Dutch artists collectively known as The Fool, who Patti Boyd / Harrison hilariously describes in the video as:
"They were the most exotic people I'd seen - they looked like...glamorous gypsies...as if they'd jumped out of a fairy book."
Both parts of the video also contain an interview with Tony Bramwell, The Beatles' press officer and occasional Beatle author.
The Beatles: The Apple Boutique Part 1
Part 2 also features a brief interview with The Fool's Simon Posthuma, (see also, a Dutch language interview with lots of great pix from the era). He finishes his interview by showing off three ofThe Fool's original clothes designs, which sadly look so playful and naive in this day and age.
The Beatles: The Apple Boutique Part 2
Though the Apple boutique mural's days were always numbered and was painted over almost 40 years ago - it now seems scandalous vandalism, a piece of history destroyed by bureaucratic vandals.
Still, Part 2's ending, in which computer technology is used to recreate the mural is really quite beautiful!
N.B.: There's a great Beatle fan page on The Apple Boutique at Strawberry Walrus with lots of pictures of posters, memorabilia etc.
Al Jazeera reports on the opening of Burj Dubai - now, the tallest building in the world - on January 2010. Of course, knowing little about the world, I hadn't even heard it was being built until I read Ben Macintyre's article in The Times, a few days ago, which is pretty critical of what he sees as a folly.
Burj Dubai: The Tallest Building In The World
Me?
I guess that I side with Ben, in particular, his closing paragraph but I've chosen excerpts from some of the commentators that may shed a little more light on the subject for you - and perhaps open your eyes to other points of view.
"...It's just shallow nationalistic ego at play.
We can all channel our oil resources into building the tallest building in the world using the cheapest labor in the world and giving them the worst living conditions in the world but there's no kudos in that.
We don't have vacuous projects like this in the UK because we'd be utterly stupid to do so. There are so many more important priorities in life and for a civilized community than the need to boast that it has the tallest lump of steel, glass and concrete that's ever been assembled so far."
The Times reader Nigel Davies
"I suppose at least Dubai has something to show for all that money. Here in the UK the government fritters away vast sums on failed IT projects, foolish wars, quangos, banks etc."
The Times reader Chris K.
"Dubai realized they needed to diversify with the little resources they had compared to their oil-rich neighbors in Abu Dhabi and Saudi and therefore looked to become a nerve center for the financial services and tourist sector in the Middle East.
They had the vision and nearby emirates such as Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Qatar looked on and realized they had to do the same in fear of becoming a backwater in the Middle East."
Christmas present for the Goulding household was a fancy Palsonic 42" plasma TV - with a million (or so it seems) digital channels.
So, that's my excuse for just having caught the 2003 made-for-TV Batman and Robin movie, Return To The Batcave, reuniting some of the original TV cast. Holy Televisual Calamities! It was as truly awful as I hoped it would be - in particular, the now-chubby boy wonder, Robin.
"It's not a "movie" but a reunion show of the corniest kind. I loved every minute of it!"
Amazon reviewer Richard Lee
Dawn Wells was one of the producers of "Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt" (2003) and the concept is much like what she did with "Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three-Hour Tour in History " (2001).
The idea is to cut back and forth between the 2003 reminiscences of Adam West (the original Batman) & Burt Ward (Robin), and two different actors Jack Brewer & Jason Marsden playing the Batman and Robin parts in recreated versions of 1960's scenes and behind-the -scenes stuff."
Amazon reviewer Only-A-Child
Researching wikipedia, I discovered that Robin, The Boy Wonder, had recorded several tracks with Frank Zappa during the first series of the show, in 1966. One of them was Boy Wonder, I Love You.
TV's Batman: Boy Wonder, I Love You
"When asked about this in an interview, Zappa said that he had to stop and start the tape many times when recording the vocal overdub, because Burt Ward could barely get through one sentence at a time without nearly falling on the floor from laughing so hard."
and this scene has been used for numerous Youtube parody videos, some of which are very funny - others, not so.
