Seems this was spotted driving around the Harajuku district of Tokyo this past Sunday. For those unfamiliar with Harajuku, especially on Sundays, it is the “hip” area of Tokyo where, supposedly, all street fashion begins. Yes, this is the place Gwen Steffani was singing about in her song “Harajuku Girls”. On Sundays it turns in to a Cosplay heaven, with people walking around in all sorts of outrageous outfits.
Little is known about our little robot friend here as he did not stop to talk to anyone. It was seen managing to go up and down curbs though, and easily navigating through the crowded streets. It was spotted with a different passenger at another time, but again, no info.
So, is this someone’s home-brewed project? A university experiment? What the heck is it??
According to the annual Morgan Quitno Press list of the most dangerous cities in America, St. Louis came in number 1. Go us! According to the same study, crime in the midwest is up 5.7% overall in my region.
Last week’s episode of South Park was named “Hell on Earth 2006″ and featured Satan having a Super Sweet 16 Halloween party. (Their running portrayal of Satan as either gay and/or a teenage girl at heart is always good for laugh). During the episode though, the following scene took place at Satan’s party, mind you it was full of dead people:(Taken from the South Park Scriptorium)
Frank Sinatra: Hey, Satan, you got a little problem.
Satan: What?
Frank Sinatra: Somebody showed up in a Crocodile Hunter costume. It’s really offending some of the other guests.
Satan: Oh jeez. [walks over to the offending guest, who happens to be none other than Steve Irwin, with a stingray attached to his chest. Steve looks around with a smile on his face. Satan arrives] Hey, uh, hi, listen, dude, ya know, the whole Crocodile Hunter thing? It… it’s just a little soon, you know? I mean, he just dies a few weeks ago and… it’s just not supercool and you gotta leave.
Steve Irwin: But it’s me, Satan. Steve Irwin. I am the Crocodile Hunter.
Satan: [thinks a moment] Oh… oh, but then, dude, no costume. Sorry, you gotta go. [two bouncers come and escort him away]
Steve Irwin: Wait! I thought we were friends!
So, yeah, they went after Steve Irwin…or did they? There is an uproar with some bloggers saying they will stop watching the show and a media watchdog group in England calling for the scene to be pulled. Did I find it offensive? A bit. Do I think they shouldn’t have done it? Probably not. Will I stop watching the show? Nope. South Park, to me, is one of the greatest arguments ever for free speech. They take on all subjects with an equal amount of gusto, and that is only possible in a free speech system.
Now, as for people pulling their support of the show over one joke…good riddance. This reminds me a lot of the whole Isaac Hayes debacle from earlier this year. He stood by the show for years as they took on other religions, but when they got to his, Scientology, he left the show. It’s slightly different working on the show from watching it, but if you have sat and laughed at the other episode, how can you decide the whole show is a wash because of one joke? It is the height of hypocrisy to me. “Oh, well, it was ok to laugh at this offensive joke, but not this!” Whatever.
What kills me was the other things going on in this episode that no one is saying a word about. Catholic priests leading naked young boys around in harnesses and on leashes. Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer as modern-day Three Stooges trying to bake a cake for Satan. But no, no, only the Steve Irwin joke was offensive.
As I see your dark influence spreading across the Earth, I felt it was time I threw my hat in to your ring to hedge my bets. You know, in case your plan actually works.
Your Dark Disciple, Rachael Ray…as I know you have so many, most of them in politics, has again opened her enormous mouth and set loose the dark bile from her chipmunk cheeks, to spew forth another cog in her Dark Empire…a burger joint. I mean, it must be your work since the article said:
“Tuna burgers, swordfish burgers, turkey burgers,” Ray said, “I like anything you can pick up with your hands — portable food.” Ray said she also plans to open fast-food versions of the flagship.
A fast food chain serving swordfish burgers? Obviously your dark handy work. Not to mention that her magazine is going from a circulation of 350,000 for the first issue to 1.6 million for the 13th. Having written for magazines, I know what an insanely larger number that is. Again, an obvious sign of your being involved.
So, as your dark disciple does her work, please be kind enough to spare some of us.
I had heard of this ages ago, but I was hopeful the International Olympic Committee would tell NBC to blow it out their collective ass. See, the 2008 Summer Olympics will be in Beijing, China, this means that the only events to air live on prime-time USA television will be events from the next morning. (i.e. when it’s Thursday night here, it’s Friday morning there) Well, this presents a problem to NBC because all the good stuff usually happens later in the day, which, some studies show, is better for the athletes.
Seems NBC doesn’t care what’s good for the athletes, only what’s good for their ratings. They petitioned for the finals in swimming and gymnastics be moved to the mornings so that they could air them in prime-time in the USA. Much to my dismay, the IOC agreed to it!
Excuse me, but when did the Olympics become “The USA Games”? Are they not about the world coming together to compete? So the traditional schedule is messed with to appease one country? What about all of Europe? These events will be in the middle of the night for them! Australia? “Oh sorry, we know you just got to work and will have to miss some of the most exciting events.”
This just seems exceedingly selfish of us to me. NBC is concerned about weak ratings because people will learn via various news sources who won before they could air them if they stick to the traditional schedule. Boo-freakin-hoo. NBC knew full well when the paid the outrageous sum of $3.5 Billion for 5 Olympics that they might not get everything in prime-time.
Shame on NBC for asking, and shame on the IOC for giving in. I guess we know who runs the Olympics now.
The other day I wrote about how Microsoft would only give you the rights to install Vista only once past it’s additional install. In the sense of fairness, I will point out that they have now said you can transfer the license up to 10 times, the same as XP. It’s better, but still isn’t sending me running to join the Vista bandwagon.
If you want to have real fun, go read the linked article where you can see me get in a fight in the comments section with guys who finally retreat to the saftey of saying that I dislike Windows because all the “kiddie porn” I look at is why my stem crashes. Good job guys, way to retreat to the level of school yard name calling.
“It’s distressing that so many people are flocking to a show that’s obviously contrived and ridiculous, our show is about real issues. It’s a shame it’s been struggling.”
Ok, let’s look at this, first off, your show about “real issues” is on during the all important 8 EST/7 CST family dining time. Not the best time slot for a drama. There is a reason it’s heavily populated with reality shows and sitcoms, it is a time for families to watch lite entertainment while they discuss their days, or, better yet, just turn the TV off completely. Secondly, if your high school career was anything like mine, you don’t paticuraly relish watching a show about a high school football team, a subject that holds zero interest to me. As I have said before, I am a TV junkie, and I have no desire to go near the show, don’t you think this might be a sign it is a subject that does not hold much interest as a weekly series to the majority of the population?
Instead of analyzing the problem, Mr. Bissinger takes the easy road out and blames the viewers themselves. I mean, “if they aren’t watching my wonderful show, there must be something wrong with them!” A good way to make sure I never check out your show is to insult my taste. I will laugh heartily when I see the notice your show is canceled.
I didn’t get to head to The Blue Note as early as I wanted, which resulted in my first Taco Bell meal in 3 years…I remember why I quit eating it, but I still got excellent seats. My friend and I got the furthest forward balcony seats on the side, so were maybe 15 feet from the stage, and above the amazing crush of people on the floor.
Zox – You know, I was really expecting to be bored with them, but they were saved by one amazing talent/presence, their violin player, Spencer Swain. Someone seems to have forgotten to tell him violin players aren’t supposed to bounce all over the stage, run his instrument through effects pedals, and play “air guitar” with it when not his part. Although, in an attempt to tone down the band, the bass player, Dan Edinberg, hardly moves and looks like he’s still a freshman in college with no clue how he got in a band. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a solid musician, just not exactly an eye-catching presence. John Zox, the drummer, looks like he’s ready to jump on a surf board, and the lead singer, Eli Miller, looks a bit to much like Justin Guarini, first runner-up on the first season of American Idol, for comfort.
All comments aside, they were well put together, good clean sound and fun to watch. Well worth seeing.
The Whitest Kids U’Know – I wondered how they were going to pull off 4 acts and I guessed correctly! Go me! In between the bands, The Whitest Kids U’Know would show us clips of their upcoming show on Fuse. Good use of time since watching bands change out equipment is quite boring. The majority of their humor is not repeatable here, but let’s just say the “iPod shuffle-mistaken-for-a-pregnancy-test” sketch killed me. I will be checking out their show for sure.
Bedouin Soundclash – You know, I was really expecting to like Bedouin Soundclash… I didn’t. It was 40 minutes of pure pain. I liked their albums, but they are for sure a “studio band”. That’s to say, they’re a band that benefits heavily from the abilities of a good mixer in the production booth of the recording studio. Jay Malinowski their…”singer”…has a cracking voice and covers up his total lack of vocal talent with as many echo effects as he can add. The bass player, Eon Sinclair, has to be the single most boring performer I have ever seen. Way to nail down that foot shuffle, Eon! You had me enthralled!
I wandered off during their set to hit the bathroom and grab another Guinness, odd how many guys were in the bathroom, all bemoaning the audio horror that had been unleashed upon us. Many speculations of how they even got signed abounded. I couldn’t agree more. One of the absolute worse bands I have ever seen live.
The Whitest Kids U’Know, 2nd set – Super Size Me With Whiskey…genius. The disturbing song about how kids can “get a new daddy”…wow. This show is SO for me.
Flogging Molly – The pain of Soundclash was quickly forgotten as Flogging Molly took us on a non-stop tour de force of their body of work. Taking few breaks between songs, and letting them slide organically in to one another, just built the energy that much faster. I came away from this show having nearly lost my voice to the many sing-alongs. From opening with Another Bag Of Bricks (one of my personal faves) to closing the encore with The Seven Deadly Sins, this band epitomizes everything I want from a concert; tight sound, unstoppable energy, and an obvious love for what they are doing. This easily ranked as one of my all time favorite performances by any band. If this band is ever near you, they are a must-see. One word to the wise though…don’t stand on the floor unless you like being beaten senseless by the mosh pit.
As an aside, to The Blue Note….HOW could you run out of GUINNESS before Flogging Molly had played even one song?!? If any band ever screamed “Hey, we should lay in X amount of Guinness, and then triple that order!”, it’s Flogging Molly! And to their security…you guys really suck. I am so thankful I wasn’t on the floor for this show. You know those signs you had up about “Absolutely no crowd surfing!”? How about enforcing that? And when you saw the two girls fall and not get up for 3 minutes, did you think to jump in and try to help them? They were within reach. Idiots.
Overall, a fun night, and Flogging Molly was worth it all.
Hard to believe that 5 years ago today, Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod to the world. I didn’t jump in until July of 2005, but somehow I’ve already managed to rack up 2 of them. (a blue iPod Mini and a white 60gb Video) Rumors are circulating we are only months away from the 6g iPod (the long rumored “full-screen” video iPod), but I’m not holding my breath until Jobs takes the stage in his jeans and black turtleneck.
I know you’re all shocked when I actually go out and do stuff, but here I go again! Three weeks ago it was the Combichrist/KMFDM show at The Blue Note in Columbia,MO, this time it’s a quadruple bill! Originally it was three bands, but now they’ve added an up-and-coming sketch comedy troupe. First up will be The Whitest Kids U’Know, who will soon be getting their own show on Fuse. I know very little about them, but should be interesting to see.
Then we get to the bands. Zox, who at first listen sounds like a rip off of 1980′s bands like The Cure. Not sure how much I’ll enjoy this part of the show. Next up is Bedouin Soundclash, and though they hail from Canada, they sure sound like they are from Jamaica. I should enjoy this one, I like the two albums I’ve heard.
And then, then we get to the part of the show I’m dying for…Flogging Molly! This band is just infectious and I am so excited to be seeing them again. I’ll never forget seeing them the first time, October 16th, 2000. I walked out of the show to the news that my state’s Governor, Mel Carnahan, had died in a plane crash….and he went on to win the election in November of that year against future Attorney General of the United States, John Ashcroft. Yes…leave it to Missouri to elect a dead man! Anyway, I love Flogging Molly, but I am hoping seeing them again doesn’t bode ill for elected officials!
The Boy Scouts in the Los Angeles area have a new, exclusive “activity patch” they can add to their credentials; “Respect Copyrights”. It seems the MPAA has somehow teamed up with the greater Los Angeles area Boy Scouts to offer this new activity patch that will teach the Scouts about 5 different copyright laws, and the scouts will either visit a movie studio to meet the people illegal downloading would put out of work, or they can make public service announcements. Ars Technica has a great article with a few more of the details.
The part that really bothers me in all of this is this statement as one of the requirements:
“There are peer to peer groups who offer legal downloads and those who offer illegal downloads. Make a list of both. Suggest ways to detect peer to peer software like the MPAA Parent File Scan.”
Detect them where? Your own computer? Doubtful, you wouldn’t know they are on there, so what computers then? Friends? Family? Does this program send a report to the MPAA? Are you supposed to report your own family members? Is this a back door way of making a little army of downloading narcs? “Come on kids! Rat out your family and friends!”
And would someone care to explain to me how the MPAA came to this deal with the Boy Scouts? If this doesn’t seem like turning the Boy Scouts in to the mouth piece for an industry association, I don’t what is. I was not aware that the BSA was willing to help with the spreading of propaganda. Always nice to know what the kids today are learning. I am sure there was some sort of large donation involved in this, but doubt that will ever become public knowledge.
“Mr. MPAA man? I think my mommy traded a copy of “Under The Tuscan Sun“…is she going to jail now?”
“Yes she is Jimmy, yes she is…now, here’s your patch.”
