Dear my Blog... I'm sorry. I've neglected you this past six months, and I want to apologise. You deserve more attention. There are so many things I want to share with you. So much has happened since I was last here... There is a global financial crisis. I was clumsy and broke my heart. I finally finished reading 'Red Harvest'. America is going to have a black President for goodness sake! I promise I will make a better effort to keep you up to date from now on! love Me. :)

Given how stupid the world is these days, is it any wonder SNL is so funny. Gotta love Amy...

Ikea lights, the presets, vodka specials... What more could I want? Well, actually... In the dim lights, strange girls who think I'm "cute" gyrating near me, I'm lost in the sultry voice on the speaker, and there is only one thing on my mind. It is futile. No number of vodka specials will make it go away... I just have to be here, now, and let everything else fall away. One more drink, one more song.

I've been meaning to post a few of these vids from Jeffery Self on YoutTube ever since I came across them. They are hilarious and adorable. It's the sort of humour that is only funny because they deliver it so well. They have a small show in New York now, wish I would love to see, you can find a brief clip of in on YouTube, where you should check out the rest of Jeffery's clips. That's right 5 videos in one post... deal with it! :P

How could I miss this?

Sarah does it again... The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo .

I feel lax not having shared these sooner, or at least I did on Facebook, but that's pretty slack. Following are the two classic Sarah Palin sketches by Tina Fey, plus a great 'trailer' by College Humour based on Matt Damon's comment that Sarah Palin's selection is like a really bad Disney film. The title of the fictional film still flaws me everytime I watch, because, well you just know that there's probably some Disney exec somewhere who was about to make it and now has to come up with something new. Hopefully one day we can look back at these clips, and the absurdity of her possible election will makes us laugh even harder. Hopefully. See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor .

Sunny day despite the rain this morning... But more importantly I blogged this from my phone! HA!

Well I have been a bit slack/pre-occupied of late, but no more. To start my blog juices flowing again, lets talk about the US economic situation! Yay! This clip is from a year ago and features John Bird, who I only know from the series 'Absolute Power' about Public Relations starring Stephen Fry, but was brilliant in that. This too is amusing (I hope the slightly racist comment in it is meant ironically) and is quiet prescient about the current US financial situation.

I'm not much of a sports watching fan, although the hype and vast spectacle around the Olympics can be entertaining. This is just adorable, even I was touched. The look on the face of the Chinese guy who came second, not able to complete the 8 Gold record China wanted, and loosing out to a record breaking dive by, of all people, a gay man... priceless. Of course, it might just be my own cultural interpretation of his expression, but that still doesn't detract from the beautiful humility and joy that Mitcham radiates. It was remarkable for the first out gay man at an Olympic games to win a gold medal, but then to quote another blog , Mitcham said ' "Just being a happier person really radiates into other areas of your life,” flashing a golden smile that went well with the medal hanging around his neck. ' Matthew Mitcham Médaille d'or by GayClic

This 'Corporate Cannibal', the first clip on Grace Jones upcoming album, which is only coming 19 years after her last one! I love how creepy this clip is, it reminds me of the freaky, ring-ish Omodaka clip I posted not that long ago, although it has a cool 80's simplicity. It is basically a few straight forward shots with a simple filter applied over it, albeit very cleverly. Oh yeah, slave to the rhythm of the corporate prison...

Oh my god, it has started. AAaaaaaggghhh!! I don't know where to look, my eyes, my eyes they are burning. How could you do this to me Molly Shannon, I trusted you, you were a a superstar. *sobs* Why?? WHY LORD HAVE YOU DONE THIS!!?!?

Apparently Brian Sewell has been described as 'posher then the queen' and in his televisual art criticism is want to engage in more hand-wavery then Sister Wendy . A highly conservative art critic for the UK's Evening Standard, he detests the modern and conceptual in art, preferring to pomp around Europe and expound on the classics. His decadent accent, clearly reflective of his taste, is the real joy, as he pours his voice over gluttonous foods and 'dirty, naughty boys'. Enjoy the clip!

I don't know why I keep watching true Aussie crime stories when I'm at home by myself late at night. It might be ok if I was snuggled up with someone, who could take my mind of it after, but as it is I keep freaking myself out. I'm a fool. Last week it was the bodies in the barrels, which I never paid much attention to when it happened as I'm not particularly interested in the morbid details. For example, when I'd heard it was people on pensions that had been killed, I always assumed it had been old people. Of course, they were young victims on disability pensions, and others, and getting to see the tortures re-enacted, well wasn't that just fun and dandy. Particularly when its interspersed with footage of the rental homes around Salisbury & Elizabeth, an area I'm quite familiar with. Deeply unsettling. Then tonight I stupidly got sucked into watching "Schapelle Corby: The Hidden Truth", and like the foolish pawn I am, I now have to watch the s

It won't fit here, so I have to link to it. Star Wars Fun.

In contrast to my somewhat long-winded Hard Candy rant, let me keep this short. Cyndi Lauper kicks Madonna's hard candy ass. 'High and Mighty' is an awesome track, produced by Amsterdam's Scumfrog, who has remixed Kelis, Bowie and Kylie among others. Below (audio only) are two of my favourite tracks, 'Echo' and the Basement Jaxx produced 'Rocking Chair'. Cyndi has apparently done vocals on one of the track's on their new album too, which excites me no end. (Still wish they would work with Annie Lennox, but Cyndi is almost as good!) 'Same Ol' Story' is brilliant too, unlike the big M, who droppd the f-word into 'I Love New York', Cyndi sings it with every chorus of 'It's the same old fucking story'. Also below is the first video from the album, 'Into the night life', by the same producer as 'Echo'. Have to go get my groove on now.

A woman came back from the dead. Actually dead, heart stopped, rigor mortis setting in, no brain-waves dead. Then she woke up. Jesus Fucking Christ! She just woke up and started talking. Probably about wanting to eat brains or something. Man I hope this is a hoax. *shudders* From some US news site : "CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A West Virginia woman is at the Cleveland Clinic after walking the line between life and death. Doctors are calling Val Thomas a medical miracle. They said they can't explain how she is alive. They said Thomas suffered two heart attacks and had no brain waves for more than 17 hours. At about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, her heart stopped and she had no pulse. A respiratory machine kept her breathing and rigor mortis had set in, doctors said. "Her skin had already started to harden and her fingers curled. Death had set in," said son Jim Thomas. They rushed her to a West Virginia hospital. Doctors put Thomas on a special machine which induces hypothermia. The tre

I like these two arty videos, the first is a little funky/creepy, as if someone turned The Ring into a dance clip. the second gloriously strange, and so obviously also Japanese. The last is just plain cool. Bring on the public intervention, bring on the street art! Awesome. MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo .

This morning the yellow leaves were falling like rain through the sunshine from the trees in my street. A father and his three year old son stopped to watch.

You've probably heard at least some of Madonna's newest album Hard Candy . Lucky you. That means you've turned on a TV or Radio at some point in the last couple of weeks. There are a few tracks on Hard Candy that aren't all that bad, but as a whole the album is determinedly average. '4 Minutes' has got to be one of the most irritating tracks on the album. The whole track sounds like it's just about to get started, but never actually does, even with the enjoyably ominous backing. If Madonna was a Sith Lord this would be her Imperial March. Wait, maybe she is a Sith Lord. She never seems to die, and you only see her wrinkles when she reveals her evil side. In one song he even claims to be able to recognise people better then the devil. Unfortunately no Sith Lord would ever be satisfied with lyrics as stupid as those in '4 minutes'. "If you want it, You already got it; If you thought it, It better be what you want; If you feel it, It must be real

If your pig eats the vegetables in my garden I'm going to spear you in the eye. In fact, I don't think I could live with the dishonour of not doing so. At least, I might feel that way if I were born in the New Guinea Highlands. The complicated relationships between the clans that have lived there for numerous generations create an aggressive culture of compulsory and violent retribution. The graphic history of the wars between the clans is engaging enough, but what makes this typically in depth New Yorker article by Jared Diamond exceptionally fascinating is the contrasts and comparisons he draws to contemporary global society and and our system of states. He convincingly challenges Rousseau's concept of the evolution of the social contract, which inspires reflection on our expectations of actors in both international and interpersonal relations. Though I disagree with some of the conclusions he infers at the end, (he bases them on an isolated example that could be other

I've been quite busy recently, what with my trip to Melbourne the weekend before last and the Mobile Enterprise course I was doing through work last weekend. On top of that I've been going to see a few different things, and so hence this round-up of reviews. It's not because my opinion matters, or for posterity, but rather to make me feel like the last few weeks have been productive in some way. I shall start from most recent and work backwards until I reach a point of boredom. Don't worry it wont take long. Chalkies - Holden Street Theatres This locally produced comedy/musical/play by Matt Byrne is about teachers, students and school amalgamations.It runs for nearly two and half hours, though on the plastic, ex-classroom seats in HST, my ass thought it was closer to five hours. Four actors play over 30 characters between them, some of the well, some of them not so well. While there was plenty of amusement in Chalkies, that shouldn't have been too difficult given th

As if it wasn't bad enough how much I wanted the iPhone before, then they have to go and release the developers kit, and now cool apps like this version of Quake appear. Using the accelerometer as the control... Oh. My. I want one sooo bad. AAAArgh! I know I am never going to be able to afford one when they are finally, eventually released here. With the 3G version just a couple months from release, that can't be long either!

Try as I might, I can't help but fall into sync with the gay stereotypes of musical taste. Yes, I like Madonna and Kylie. I posted a mash-up of Dolly Parton. Now I must admit that I quite like Bette Midler too. It's her swing stuff that I just adore, like Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy . That's how I came across The Puppini Sisters, and by gosh, they are just faaaaaaabulous! fucking awesome! They do classic swing songs, their own songs and covers of pop songs in the swing style. Their version of Beyonce's Crazy In Love has to be just about the best song I've ever heard. My body twitters uncontrollably whenever I hear it. Though the quality of this YouTube version isn't the best and doesn't capture their amazing voices, you'll still get the idea. They also do delicious covers of Wuthering Heights , I Will Survive and Walk Like An Egyptian among others.

In case you've been wondering how to get more out of Photoshop, or want to learn a few new PS skills, you should probably check out this series of videos by 'Donnie' called You Suck at Photoshop . He hates you, but then he hates himself as well so its ok. Here are a couple of the vids, and the link .

Don't look at me like that. As I'm going to write another post when I can just put another video here. Its about robots ok. Its funny. Just be quiet and watch it, you'll like it!

I saw a clip of an earlier version of this robot a year or two ago, and it was freaky then. They've clearly been working on it, and now it is scary enough to take on the snake robot I posted about recently. All of the sensing and reacting technology that has gone into making this dog robot boggles the mind, but why did they have to give it no face and two heads?

I have a couple of albums by Ken Ishii which I love, because they were a random purchase I made when I went on my high school trip to Japan. I selected them based solely on the cover art, and they turned out to be great. (They were prominently placed in the electro/dance section of the cd store, so I guess that was probably a good indicator too). That was yonkers ago, and I really should find out what he has been doing more recently, as I stumbled across this clip which is just delightful. Simple, clever and very effective, you won't look at space invaders the same again. Oh, and it's very Japanese.

~ First up is this lovely image of a designer light made from a sheep stomach. A preserved sheep stomach of course, it would just be gross otherwise! Check out variations on the theme over at the designer's website . ~ Apparently this game is used by the US Airforce to train their pilots. It's damn irritating, and you'll probably play it over and over again. ~ It seems a sideways walking midget with a pointy hat is terrorising the town of General Guemes in Argentina. The Freaky Gnome has panicked children, and no one wants to go out at night. There is even a creepy video in the article. This would be the sweetest kind of hysterical if its true, but I'm worried it might be viral marketing for J.J. Abrams next film. ~ Here is a cool image of what the all the water and all the air on earth would look like in comparative volume to the earth. For some reason I find this image more unsettling then stomach lights or freaky gnomes!

This tickled my fancy, a competition over on Worth1000.com to design adverts for current technologies and products in the style of old fashioned print ads. Oh what fun. They seem to have lots of fun photoshop gimmickery over on Worth1000. I do like this ad for the Wii, and also the PS3 one you can find on the site.

Record-breaking heat waves are the least exciting natural 'event' you can be part of. Unlike, say a thunderstorm with hail the size of babies skulls, a heat wave it just hot and boring. It saps the energy out of you. I don't want to do anything, and yet I have a million things to do. I'm totally blaming it for why my team and I sucked so terribly doing theatresports last Sunday. You try to think on your feet, under stage lights in a un-airconditioned little church theatre. God, its hard enough to be coherent let alone make up an interesting and entertaining scene. Blah. Haven't had the mental fortitude to find time to write either. I just lay like a mollusc on my couch, hoping if I stay very still the warmness will leave me alone. It never does. I shall retire now to my hot, restless bed so that I may rise weary and bleary-eyed for work. What joy! Who wants to drink themselves unconscious in the Garden of unearthly delights tomorrow?

You may have thought the cockroach controlled robot was creepy, but witness this eerie little snake robot created at Carnegie Mellon University's biorobotics unit. These things will one day rule the earth, and there will be nowhere we can hide. Nowhere.

I feel a little nuts this week, cramming my head with all manner of arts stuff, and being slightly disappointed that what has leaked out so far isn't more meaningful. I guess it just needs some time to stew, but if there is one thing I don't have patience with, its myself. So I feel compelled to wander off my conceptual course, and into the daily funnies. Garfield strips, which never really appealed to me, are so much more interesting with-out Garfield. Jon becomes a strange lonely man talking to himself, and that is fascinating enough. Yet, in my art-overloaded delerium, I look at these absent garfields , and start to imagine him in conversation with the abstract concept of art. It seems so perfectly and bizarrely appropriate. My goodness, I really have fallen off the deep end.

Continuing in my ugly economist's hat mode, I feel compelled to share this little discussion about John Maynard Keynes . What? You mean you're not up on your economic theory, and can't remember who Keynes is? Well he just happened to be a British economist, responsible for 'Keynesian' economics (funny that), which was the basis for Macroeconomics, got made a baron, and etc etc... Don't worry, I forgot too. He was an important, influential economist. He liked numbers. Alot. He also liked men. Yes, Keynes was an unabashed comrade pillow-biter (Gosh, I don't mean to insult his memory, economists probably wouldn't like to be called 'comrade'). He found a way to combine two of the things he liked very much, numbers and sex with men. He kept diaries, with detailed statistics of his conquests. Now all this has been common knowledge for some time - he never really hid is sexuality, and one of his diaries is pretty straight forward. It just lists his rel

I always intend not to post so many video's on this blog, but sometimes I cant help it. (Anyway, quit complaining, you're not at work any more so you can watch them... yes, you know who you are!) Like with this clip of Sarah Silverman's boyfriend responding to her clip 'I'm fucking Matt Damon' which I posted before . Enjoy. :D

I look quite silly when I have my economist's hat on, so I don't wear it very often. Consequently I couldn't really tell you what is happening with mortgages in the USA, other then its something bad. And if it is effecting the US economy, the rest of the world is screwed too. Fortunately these dandy stick figures do an excellent job of explaining it all. Not only is it entertaining, its informative too! Go here to see the whole series.

They were just regular, down to earth, hard working mobile phones. Then one day they were shot in the line of duty, and their bodies secreted away for nefarious experiments. When they were switched back on they found they were no longer regular phones, they were Robo-Phones! These are actually working mobiles from Japan . The robot arms and legs, optional extras that you stick to the phone, were produced as a promotion for a new Japanese TV drama called Ketai Sousakan 7 . All I know is that ketai means mobile phone, beyond that I've no idea what its about. I don't know if this beats that other Japanese TV show promo product, green tea flavoured bread-in-a-can from a vending machine , but I do know that I won't be having nightmares about bread-in-a-can. At least I hope not! :|

Aside from the irony of this clip being shared on YouTube, it's also pretty funny.

Don't say I never do anything for you. Here is a list of exhibition openings and other arty events in Adelaide for the next few weeks. Wednesday 27 February – 5.30 to 7pm Ivan Navarro Exhibition – Greenaway Art Gallery, Kent Town Thursday 28 February – 5 to 7pm Penumbra Exhibition – Samstag Museum, UniSA City West (This one requires an RSVP) Thursday 28 February – 6 to 8pm ReMix/Broca II (Letters/Numbers) Exhibition – EAF Lion Arts Centre. Thursday 28 February – 6 to 8pm Last Riot + Autogenic Exhibitions – JamFactory, Lion Arts Centre, Morphett St Thursday 28 February – 6pm to walk on a sea of salt – CACSA, Parkside Friday 29 February – 4 to 6pm Elisa Sighicelli Exhibition – Flinders Uni City Gallery, State Library, North Tce Friday 29 February - 6pm Adelaide Biennale Exhbition - Art Gallery of South Australia, North Tce (No entry without an invitation) Sunday 2 March – 1 to 3pm Artists Week Keynote Address: Doug Aitken – Elder Hall, Adelaide Uni Sunday 2 March – 5.3

My brain is a little frazzled, its been a long day and I'm tired. So I might not be in the best state to use this new tech, but it only exists as a prototype, so there's no danger. However, the company hopes to have a consumer version released in time for xmas. Its a headset from Emotiv , that works as a game control device by reading your brain waves. It uses a clever combination of software and hardware to figure out what you want the object on screen to do. Hopefully they will develop some interesting games for it. For now though I'm relieved I don't have one, I think I would have already crashed the computer several times.

I want this phone. If you cared for me at all, you would get me this phone. It's so shiny. Shiny! Why don't you love me enough to get me this phone? Why?! I could send emails with the cool slide out keyboard, and take pictures on the 3.2 megapixel, carl-zeiss lensed camera and force strangers to watch videos of Spanish drag midgets with it! Don't deprive the world, (ie me)!!

How can this quote not make you wet your pants? I mean really... "If you could hold a giant magnifying glass in space and focus all the sunlight shining toward Earth onto one grain of sand, that concentrated ray would approach the intensity of a new laser beam made in a University of Michigan laboratory." As if that weren't enough, the article then goes on to say "In addition to medical uses, intense laser beams like these could help researchers explore new frontiers in science. At even more extreme intensities, laser beams could potentially "boil the vacuum," which scientists theorize would generate matter by merely focusing light into empty space." Let's hope Microsoft don't invest in this technology, because it would bring Bill one step closer to his Death star...

Go on, you know you want to...

Tattoos may eventually be good for you. According to German scientists , vaccines delivered by a vibrating needle just under the skin, like a tattooist's needle, rather then an injection, are significantly more effective at delivering the vaccine into the body. I've considered getting a little tattoo from time to time, and it's nice to think that they could have a medicinal purpose. If you happen to be one of the people feature on the blog Horrible Tattoos , you might be thankful for the excuse 'It was life or death, I had to get a tattoo!' The pics on that blog range from simply amusing, to the downright bizarre like this The tattoo on the blog I found most amusing, is NSFW so here's the link . To paraphrase the blog, "I found Jesus! Guess where!"

The Garden of Unearthly Delights pre-empted the Fringe this evening, opening with fireworks, fairy-lights and volumes of people in various states of attractiveness. Amongst all this was a fascinating display, a highly engaging activity, damn it, a piece of art - it was the Silent Disco. When you first stumble upon it, there is a brief moment of confusion. Fenced off from the rest of the crowd is a dance floor full of people gyrating in sync, in silence. Then you notice they are all wearing headphones, all tuned in to the same syncopating frequency. Amusing, surreal, endearing and enticing, its mesmerising to watch. It's not a sensation of deafness, for there are plenty of sounds - the milling crowd, the shuffling, the odd lyric from the mouths of the dancers. Rather there is a strange sense of incapacitation, like some sense you forget you had is no longer working. The primal 'group-think' part of your brain feels drunk and bewildered. Then you fork over your $5 (plus $10 d

When I was living in Japan on occasion I would have a meal at the 'Outback Aussie Steakhouse'. The establishment was recommended to me by Japanese students because it was 'Australian', though I can't say I was overwhelmed with nostalgia when I ate there. It's actually a chain of cheesy American dinners with lots of kitsch Australiana on the walls and nothing remotely Australian on the menu, other then steak, and we don't really own that, do we? Now Men's Health magazine has declared one of their dishes the worst food in America. The cheesy fries with ranch dressing starter (sooo Aussie) apparently has triple the recommended calories for a single meal. And its just a starter. Mmm, cheesy fries. Oh well, they didn't mention anything about the deep fried blossoming onion. Damn that was good.

Spongebob Squarepants is apparently gay, and therefore an evil influence on children. So if you dub the voices of Spongebob characters over classic films, but keep the dialogue exactly the same, does that make them gay too? I'm not sure, but it certainly is funny.

Oooh, this is so exciting. The trumpets have been sounded in the War of Scientology. Let's start with the background info. There was a 'report' on Fox 11 'News' about a hacking group called 'Anonymous'. I'm inclined to not even believe the Fox clip is real, it's so hyperbolic. Who can tell the difference between a subtle parody of attempts to induce hysteria, and actual attempts these days? This clip would fit perfectly on The Colbert Report . Here it is: Then here is where it gets kind of cool-fun. The group Anonymous, which has apparently been around for quite a while, released a declaration of war on Scientology. See their call to arms clip below. The theatrics of the clip are delicious, but it could easily have been lost in the quagmire of net vids. Or maybe not. They also seem to actually be organised, having set up various wikis to co-ordinate people in their attack. I wonder how many of their brethren died in order for them to obtain the secr

So there's this mid- Ok, well, it's in Spanish, and... Um, what is sequins in Spanish. She's wearing a wi- No, he. Is that padded? What is that song?! What the hell? There are no words to describe this.

From infinity to beyond on a paper plane? Research into space flight technology is taking an interesting detour as Japanese scientists test the resistance of specially treated paper to 250 degree heat and wind, so that they can make paper planes able to withstand re-entry into the atmosphere. The theory is that being lighter the paper planes would escape the worst of the friction and heat regular space shuttles endure. Of course they are only considering the technology for short unmanned flights, but you never know... In a few years we might be seeing the launch of Richard Branson's Virgin Origami .

Behind the scenes footage of the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace . Did someone say Daniel Craig...

Artificial Intelligence is a complex discipline which takes a unique mind to grasp. I've always thought AI was fascinating, drawing on vast a disparate fields of knowledge, and if I'd stayed studying programming when I first started uni, AI is the field I would have liked to go into. There is a wonderfully in-depth article on Wired about two AI trail-blazers, Chris McKinstry and Push Singh, that left me with chills. It touches on the little reported fact that MIT has quite a high suicide rate, which makes me wonder about the connections between innovate thinking, particularly in abstract field like science, technology and mathematics, and mental imbalance. Thinking about thinking all day cannot be helpful to someone who is bi-polar, but that might also be what makes them good at it. In a strange, sad way its almost as if researchers on the cutting edge of AI are putting their mental well-being on the line in the noble pursuit of science.

Worried about your brain. I know I am. Worried about your brains that is. You'll be pleased to know that researchers over at MIT have conducted a study into the effectiveness of aluminium hats, favoured by paranoid conspiracy theorists, for protecting the brain from radio waves. This excerpt is from the conclusion of the report. "It requires no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the current helmet craze is likely to have been propagated by the Government, possibly with the involvement of the FCC. We hope this report will encourage the paranoid community to develop improved helmet designs to avoid falling prey to these shortcomings." There's a current helmet craze? I totally missed that, but then I guess I'm not in the loop with what's cutting edge like those MIT researchers.

This is in no way related to the Improv show I happen to be doing at the Fringe in a few weeks (every Sunday night from the 24th of Feb btw :P ) but i just love this little event staged by a couple hundred improvisers in NYC. Public intervention is fun, particularly if it confuses the crap out of everyone. I love that all the passers-by clap at the end too.

I loved Signs . For a lot a lot of people Sixth Sense Shyamalan's first, is favourite, and though I love that film, Signs has to be one of my favourite ever horror films. It's the defining standard of what a slow monster-reveal should be in a film. For that I forgave Shyamalan The Village , which was awfully tepid, but had its moments. However, Lady in the Water just got such resoundingly bad reviews, after my Village experience I couldn't bring myself to watch it. And there's his next film, The Happening . It's looks good, really good. But then so did the trailer for The Village . This is only a teaser, and I don't really anything about the plot, but I do know, if nothing else, Shyamalan is good at getting me intrigued. Damn good.

Maya Angelou may not be as well known over here, but this clip transcends cultural boundaries...

After the writer's strike is resolved, an Arrested Development movie may go into production. Jason Bateman has confirmed the waters have been tested with the cast about interest in shooting a film, though nothing is confirmed yet. I guess I should get around to watching the actual show then...

Who says New Media art doesn't make sense? Look, its chocolate! Chocolate always makes sense. Actually, if you could explain the meaning of this work I'd be quite greatful. (click the pic for the site)

Ok, so I finally listened to Illinoise. *sigh* It's very easy to get me to like a piece of music, just stick some harmonies or choral backing in there, and BAM you've got me. Hah! I see right through it now. What does Sufjan qualify as anyway, "folksy/epic"? He's just so 'indie-movie starring Zac Braff sound track look at me aren't I cute and quirky'. Look at that picture, all it's missing is the shirt-matching wallpaper in the background. But that's not to say I don't like indie movies. Did he just say all the glory the Lord has made? He didn't really just say he cried himself to sleep last night? Oh, how poetic. No really, I like it. Despite the somewhat cloying lyrics, I have no doubt I'll find myself humming along with them. The instrumental bits are quite pretty too. I guess. I'm not really in love with the place in Sufjan's mind, but I wouldn't mind popping in for a cup of tea every now and then.

What better to do on a warm weekend afternoon then to get your celeb on. Here's a round up of some bits and sordid pieces of celebrity gossip. ~ Britney is undergoing forced psychiatric evaluation and a judge has put her father in charge of her welfare. Does that mean she won't be posing for paps anymore? ~ Alfie Allen , 21 year old brother of Lily Allen (you remember the song) has taken over Daniel Radcliffe's role in Equus , and is baring all to London audiences like his predecessor. ~ Justin Timberlake and Timbaland are going to appear in the up coming film clip for Madonna's new single that they co-wrote, called 4 Minutes to Save the World . So which one gets the nick-name 'Timbo" then? ~ Rumour is that the following blind item is referring to Michael C Hall from Six Feet Under and the new HBO show Dexter . "This cable B list actor who is now getting a shot at the big time wanted everyone to believe that his separation from his wife was al

I love Sarah Silverman. She takes squirm humour to a whole new level and throws in a bunch of absurdity just for kicks. I can see why Jimmy Kimmel has been dating her for 5 years, I'll bet he loved this.

Mash-Ups (the smushing up of one or more songs) are great fun. The infamous one from a few years ago by DJ Soulwax, Smells Like Teen Booty , mixed Nirvana and Destiny's Child, and like most mash-ups was deliriously confusing and catchy, as if you can't quite get the two halves of your brain to sync. I'd always thought of mash-ups as a ingenious, but gimmicky. That was until I heard Stairway to Bootleg Heaven by DJ Earworm , which is now one of my all time favourite songs. It's given me new found admiration for Dolly Parton (apparently, being gay, it was only a matter of time before this happened), mixing her with Annie Lennox, Pat Benetar even the Beatles. It's so beautifully familiar yet strange, haunting but not maudlin. It builds exquisitely, interweaving the various vocals deftly, and, well, I just get chills at the 6 minute mark. I won't go on any more, just listen to it... <BGSOUND src="Stairway to Bootleg Heaven&q

Do U like 2 txt? Maybe you're only a few thumb twitches away from being a famous author then. There is a fascinating article over on the NYT (via Clive on Collision Detection ) relating how of the top 10 selling books in Japan last year, 5 were 'cellphone' books. (I hate that American term, what does it even mean, they're mobile phones damn it!) That means they were written on mobile phones. More then a few cellphone books have been punched out by Japanese teenagers on the train and in between classes. Cellphone books have grown into a whole sub-genre of Japanese literature, which stylistically reflect their creation. They tend to have much less flowery descriptions and long-winded prose, apparently a staple of classical Japanese literature, and are more dialogue heavy. The style is distinctive and popular enough, that people are writing cell phone books on their computers now, and some even in long hand. I'm not sure I could stomach a whole book written that way

Aaah... Too busy to blog! All I will say is this -

I love these animations, they are so funky.

I want to revisit some of the ideas I was fumbling to elucidate in my earlier post about the Cloverfield marketing. Cloverfield was an excellent ignition for some thoughts I've had on this topic for a while, and they were equally stirred up again today whilst reading about the concerns in Hollywood now with how to market The Dark Knight , particularly some of the comments on the issue over at Defamer . For TDK the issue is around the centrality of Ledger's apparently powerful performance to the marketing campaign, and whether that is appropriate, post mortem. My feeling is that it is completely appropriate to continue as planned. It is openly acknowledged that Ledger put a lot of himself into the role, and he would want that role valued and given the attention it deserves. All the more so now that he has died and it is his last role. Appropriateness is a thin veil for what is really at issue for the studio though. After all, it is appropriate to cry when someone dies, but i

Earlier this evening my mother gushed about the recently released Juno , and how it was imperative that I see it, particularly for the performance by Ellen Page. I've been browsing the net too, as I'm want to do, and of course there has been a deluge of Heath Ledger related news. Messages from Ledger's family in a Perth newspaper were halting, a brief glimpse into their tragedy and the real Heath. His father lamented never again playing chess with his son, whom he could never beat. As if this weren't maudlin enough, I was also reading about the Hollywood industry response to Ledger's death as well. As I mentioned before, Terry Gilliam was shooting a film with Heath, and the quote he gave at the end of the Variety article , just served to compound the melancholy. Gilliam tells us that Ledger was about to direct soon, and that had was keenly observant of all of his techniques on set. Gilliam was sure he was going a be a better director then himself. The movie that Led

~ There's a great little piece at TV Guide by Michael Ausiello about watching Brokeback Mountain again after hearing of Heath Ledger's death. ~ Poor Terry Gilliam was in the middle of shooting " The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus " with Heath Ledger. Rather then recast and reshoot, there is some talk of Johnny Depp replacing the Ledger in the film. Read how here . ~ Latest Britney goss is that her crazy antics that fuel the paparazzi might be due some sort of deal where she gets a cut from the sale of the pics . Could explain why she shacked up with a pap... ~ The Warner Bros backed big-screen CGI adaptation of Astro Boy has changed has switched directors. It's now being helmed by Flushed Away director David Bowers. ~ As if you really need a good reason to post a pic of Daniel Craig, but the new James Bond movie, coming out in November, now has a title - Quantum of Solace . Plenty of new details about the plot and characters have been released too.

Oh, what the heck, I'm in a funny video mood. Here is Pearl's debut performance, followed by her retirement piece. Enjoy. The Landlord on FunnyOrDie.com Good Cop, Baby Cop on FunnyOrDie.com