Check out this public service announcement from 1969. “VD is for Everybody,” according to this catchy tune. I actually remember seeing this PSA as a teenager. Viewing it now, though, it appears as though having VD is a good thing.
[via Shaggylocks at Salon.com]
Today I watched the third Harry Potter movie with my family. I’ve seen all six of the Harry Potter movies now. These Harry Potter movies offer outstanding entertainment. Their characters are endearing and the special effects are seamlessly woven into the enchanting stories.
As entertaining as these Harry Potter movies are, it has become abundantly clear to me that Harry is extremely lucky. Yes, Harry is also brave and smart and he has a pure heart, but there is no reason for expect that he should have survived most of the life-threatening challenges he faces. You see, dark powerful magic abounds, so much so that Harry should have died several times in each of his movies, but doesn’t die because he is extremely lucky.
Harry usually survives only because of something that has nothing to do with planning. Instead, a good powerful magic person shows up to save him (or a magic animal), or the evil attacker inexplicably allows him to survive, or a solution that involves a magic object becomes apparent at the last possible moment. This tendency violates one of the rules traditional screenplay writing: the solution to the major conflict should have been made available to the audience throughout the movie (in the form of clues sprinkled about). Magic animals are fun, of course, but plots shouldn’t depend so heavily on them.
Harry is only one in a long line of heroes who survives a long roller-coaster of adventures without ever sitting down to map out any sort of detailed plan of action. There might be a few times when our heroes pause to think of what to do next, but it’s only for a minute or two, and then someone yells “Let’s go,” and our heroes are off again.
I wrote about our dearth of “planning heroes” several years ago. In America, we love adventure without planning. We simply expect to survive without planning; we’ll figure out the details later, if ever. Now it’s time for action/movement/adventure. We don’t have time for planning; we scoff at planning. It’s undignified.
Impressive technology and creativity were used to present the wise words of these four scientists in a brand new way:
Improv Everywhere has struck again, this time with Subway Yearbook Photo.
And I dare you to watch this one without getting tears in your eyes (and I’m often cynical about weddings).
This kind of excellent work in video editing needs to be recognized, thus I’m sharing this video, in which the original Star Trek crew (William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, et al) performs Monty Python’s Holy Grail:
For those of you who haven’t already heard, They Might Be Giants have a new album and video series ostensibly for kids. Here’s a sample:
Just what I’m always arguing, “Science is Real.”
Should parents stalk their kids on Facebook? The Onion reports:
Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids
Youtube was supposed to be one of Web 2.0’s shining examples of user-generated original content. In a world (in 2005) when everything worthwhile was already online and fully consumed, Youtube was supposed to provide us with a new outlet to both create and consume. I know it is hard to recall Youtube’s original intent as a creative landscape, but keep in mind that the site’s slogan was and is “Broadcast Yourself”.
Most of us don’t broadcast ourselves, or watch broadcasts of other selves. The last time I fired up Youtube, I was looking for a free way to stream James and the Giant Peach. Any cute skits or beautiful shorts I discovered thereafter were barely bonuses; they were just tasty little incidentals to be quickly forgotten. Most people go to Youtube to view unoriginal creations- movie, TV and music clips or mashups thereof.
Youtube’s most viewed videos of all time are music videos like “7 Things” by Miley Cyrus and Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop the Music”. My little sister uses Youtube as a combination DVR-Itunes-Pandora player. Nothing original seeps in unless I send it to her myself- and then it’s usually just a video of a cute animal, not a creative work.
Ah, but Youtube does have some high-caliber producers of original goodies! People who put on elaborate comedy skits with costumes, professional lighting and substantial editing. People who pull in millions of views. People with whom Youtube has formed profitable, advertising-driven partnerships. These people are broadcasting themselves. But they aren’t like “us”. They are all from Hollywood.
This morning I found that I appeared in the lead paragraphs of a Suburban Journal article about someone else entirely. They even had a photo of us with our tandem behind the object of the subject (bike rack, artist). It was just an accident that we happened to ride to coffee at the time when the Journal photographer was looking to illustrate the art as bike rack.
It’s almost a pity that this journal is no longer delivered annoyingly and inevitably every Wednesday to form the bulk of our recycled paper. I should find a store that has the tree-based copy to show me mum.
Anyway, yesterday I posted a video of my experience this weekend in another kind of un-motorized two seater. That’s the synchronicity part.
President Barack Obama has boldly intervened to trim wasteful defense spending, much to the consternation of the military. The Onion reports:
Obama Axes Pentagon Plan To Build Billion Dollar Tank In Shape Of Dragon
With the help of some cute graphics, Jon Stewart explains how it is that Goldman Sachs can pay its average employee a $700,000 bonus during the American economic collapse.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Pyramid Economy | ||||
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Onion Network News is reporting that President Barack Obama is already in the process of sitting down with each and every American worker to review his or her job performance. Not that there aren’t some glitches in the process. Here’s the Onion’s report:
Obama To Hold Job Performance Review With Every American Worker
The NYT has published an article featuring actors featured in pornography videos. They are complaining that the industry is not making films that allow them to display their acting talents. Too much sex.
Was it ever different? Apparently, yes:
Vivid, one of the most prominent pornography studios, makes 60 films a year. Three years ago, almost all of them were feature-length films with story lines. Today, more than half are a series of sex scenes, loosely connected by some thread — “vignettes” in the industry vernacular — that can be presented separately online. Other major studios are making similar shifts.
