Accept no substitutes

Category: Amusements (Page 6 of 31)

Things that are amusing

In Ames, Iowa – Odyssey of the Mind and CAVE 6

Arrived to semi-hostile wireless access. The Cafe Diem has great access and it’s free and the coffee and veggie fare is great. The campus ISU is not ready to give access to just anyone. Odyssey of the Mind must ask they tell me. The library wasn’t much help either although I only chased that access via the Ask-a-librarian service.

But all is not lost. Thanks to David McConville, I’m hooking up with Steve Herrnstadt and heading for a trip in the C6 tomorrow!

Powers of Six?

June 6, 2006 = 666? How about 6:06 am on that day? The School of Information and Library Science took a call yesterday from a reporter looking for a numerologist to help him with those questions. My collegues wisely sent him to Religion (specifically to Revelations). But what of September 9, 1999? Is it 9/9/99 and so more satanic for being inverted? Or 9:09 am of that same day? Is it a double 999999? or June 9, 1999 at 6:06 am? Is that a mirror 666999?
The Arockolpyse happened on Saturday
already!

3 Films: Alternative Freedom, Elephants Dream and An Inconvenient Truth

David McConville alerts us to two movies.

“Alternative Freedom” takes the Free Culture movement and documents it under a Creative Commons license (at least for their web site) and includes interviews with Larry Lessig, Richard Stallman, Danger Mouse and others.

“Elephant Dreams” web site has been SlashDotted, but then Slashdot describes the movie and it’s creation as the first “Open Movie” this way:

The 3D animated short ‘Elephants Dream’ will today be released as a free and public download. This is the final stage of a successfully completed Open Movie project which has been community-financed, using only Open Source tools, and opening up the movie itself as well as the entire studio database for everyone to re-use and learn from.

UPDATE: Wikinews has an interview with Ton Roosendaal

Davis Guggenheim, whose films “Teach” and “First Year” got our attention earlier on, is hitting it big with the Al Gore driven flick, “An Inconvenient Truth,” about global climate crisis and Gore’s passion to set things straight in the world. The site has a great theatre finder and the film is in wide release.

My Finnish Readers’ Lordi-mania

Since the Lordi Eurovision VICTORY last night, this blog’s readership from Finland has exceeded that coming from the US or any other country. The count has been varying from 35 t0 23% Finnish in the past say 18 hours with over 80% of the readers coming from Europe in the wee Eastern Daylight Hours.

There are a few whiny Russians who are trying to claim a win even though Dima Bilan is almost 50 points behind the lovely and talented Lordi.

Also the VoteLordi folks explain why they nearly took their support site completely off the net. They mostly removed all links and put up a disclaimer saying that they would explain later — now they have.

See also Mr. Lordi’s short interview after the victory. and the BBC article and interview with the Lordi.

Lordi video

If you are too pure to install Flash or have seen but not quite gotten the story in Lordi’s “Hard Rock Halleluja!” video, let me explain. [see also the Google Video version]

First we see a MetalGoth Girl walking down the halls of her school. Everyone else is pretty much blonde, this being Finland, but she has GothBlackHair and some various GothMetal fashion touches including an mp3 player which just happens it be playing “Hard Rock Halleluja!” which no one can hear but us and our heroine. She softly sings along as she walks. We see she has a drawing pad with pictures of Lordi and the band. We notice American-style football players in the halls. They seem not to notice our MetalGothGirl even though she has obviously stolen their anti-glare eye black and is wearing it.

This is because:
The saints are crippled
On this sinners’ night
Lost are the lambs with no guiding light

As she gets to the gym door, she is pushed into the wall by onrushing cheerleaders. The cheerleader costumes are coordinated with the video and so are black and white including the pompoms. The lead cheerleader is blonder yet and is wearing a tiara. She casts a condescending look at MetalGothGirl.

But then smoke fills the room. A taloned hand appears in the window making a MetalSign. Surprise, it’s Lordi! He and his band complete with instruments and firepots burst through the doors and even the walls. The cheerleaders are struck down (some would say dead) and writhe a little in some basic dance moves.

This is because
The walls come down like thunder
The rocks about to roll
It’s the Arockalypse
Now bare your soul

All we need is lightning
With power and might
Striking down the prophets of false
As the moon is rising
Give us the sign
Now let us rise up in awe

But soon they are brought back to life — some would say as zombies, but they are pretty much the same as before except that they like Lordi’s music and the worship our MetalGothGirl.

This is because
The true believers
Thou shall be saved
Brothers and sisters keep strong in the faith
On the day of Rockoning
It’s who dares, wins
You will see the jokers soon’ll be the new kings

MetalGothGirl now marches down the hallway pumping her fist in the air singing the anthem — what else “Hard Rock Halleluja!”

Rock ’n roll angels bring thyn hard rock hallelujah
Demons and angels all in one have arrived
Rock ’n roll angels bring thyn hard rock hallelujah
In God’s creation supernatural high

Wings on my back
I got horns on my head
My fangs are sharp
And my eyes are red
Not quite an angel
Or the one that fell
Now choose to join us or go straight to Hell

Close on cute and happy MetalGothGirl with fist raised.

You may enjoy this interview with Lordi by Eurovision from the Eurovision Lordi site.

Note: Lyrics (above in italic) and music by Mr. Lordi

Finnish Metalmen Lordi in Eurovision Finals!

the Lovely and Talented Lordi
The masks, the metal, the giant bat wings, the song “Hard Rock Halleluja!” Yes, the fabulous Finnish Monster Men have made the finals of the otherwise banal Eurovision Song Contest finals.

Metal Temple is on the ground in Athens and posts this report of the Lordi semi-finals and the secret Lordi warm up gig.

Disclaimer: I am not a metalhead, but I’m amused that the completely silly Eurovision might be captured by these daring and darling young men. Yes, I’m pulling for Lordi!

No Mo’ SoB?

Beeg Man
Ken returns from Disney World with possibly sad news: Many of the shops at the world famous South of the Border near Dillon, SC looked to be closed. Indeed, reports at various websites since the death of the founding SoB Alan Schafer in 2001 claim that the faux Mexican Mecca has gone to seed.

Frankly SoB was always teetering between magic and mistake. Schafer was constantly trying new shops and killing his losers. A sudden drop in the market price of mariachi dressed dried alligators could cause the entire redesign of a salesfloor to accommodate the wonderful bargins. A guy I once knew worked at one shop as a manager. He was saddled with barrels of odd sized leather purses that wouldn’t move no matter how much he dropped the price. Schafer stepped in personally and tripled the posted price, added a special sale sign in his imagined Mexican-English and put them by the door. Not only did the sales more than double, but so did the shoplifting. My informant insisted that Schafer wrote off the loses to his light fingered visitors at the new high price which gave him an additional large tax savings!

Of course, I don’t know how much of all of that is true, but the shear audacity of Schafer was for me the magic of the place. Not the tacky “heir conditioned” honeymoon suite which catered to folks eloping and to various military guests. Not the large collection of thin beach towels and corny t-shirts. Not the famously slow service in the restaurants or even the uneven, and occassionally very good, cooking. Not even the fabled Sombrero tower — itself a mix of Mexico and Paris in Eastern South Carolina. No, it was the totality of the place. Unfinished and constantly madly reimagined. And would you expect a place which features a Dirty Old Man Shop to attract anyone who isn’t at least seedy in part of their imagined life?

Institute for the Future of the Book in Library Journal

ibiblian alum Jesse Wilbur writes to let us know that the Institute for the Future of the Book, where he now works, is subject of the cover article on the current Library Journal, “The Social Life of Books.” A good read after or beside the Kevin Kelly article in Sunday’s NYTimes article.

Jesse also writes:

We’re launching GAM3R 7H30RY very soon, McKenzie Wark’s newest book (he also wrote The Hacker Manifesto). We’re putting it up online before it’s coming out in print. Plus we’ve done some interesting things with the interface to 1) test the form of a networked book, 2) support the unique structure of his book, 3) encourage discussion about Wark’s book and networked books in general.

Institute for the Future of the Book’s authoring tool, Sophie, which is described as “an open-source platform for creating and reading electronic books for the networked environment” is due to be released in July.

The Institute blog, if:book, is a rich resource among the articles are some by Jesse about “digital comics.”

Who is the Technology Expert?

Seems like they/we are the most unlikely people. First view this BBC interview with an expert on law and technology about Apple (the computer company) vs Apple (the erstwhile record label), then read the story of the story. [thanks Mail (UK)].

Many times at a conference as a speaker, I’ve felt a bit like this guy. And even more times, I suspected that others were more akin to him ;->

Beware the expert!

Here is the real guy they wanted as the expert’s side of the story.


Here’s a YouTube backup of the video just in case…

I am a winner! Or am I really a loser?

RSS feeds can be your friend or your enemy or your downfall. I’ll let you decide on this one. I saw a posting on the music blog at the News and Observer asking who the 5th Beastie Boy is — according to the Beasties. I remembered that when they bought/stole/borrowed a lot of Billy Joel for “Pass the Mic” that Mark D said famously that Billy Joel is the 5th Beastie. The curse and blessing of being a geek who’s hooked on intellectual property issues. I sent that in.

Now I am a winner (or a loser) of this!

Mothers to consider

The Warren Wilson alum are discussing tales of good mothers. Phil Boiarski suggests revisiting the classic “I Remember Mama”, the movie based on the book “Mama’s Bank Account.”

If we are going back in time to those days of yesteryear, we could look at how some mothers were portrayed in media. say African-American mothers in the dreadedly racist Amos and Andy — but beloved by blacks and whites as Henry Louis Gates notes in “Colored People” — where the Kingfish is in constant fear of not only the wrath of his wife Sapphire but even more the wrath of the Momma. See also this update of the classic as a piece of theater

Less far back in time, the lovely and talented Skeletor returns from a blind date to confront his parents including his talkative mother in this remix of the non-human cartoon on YouTube.

Then there is Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Much to be mined there. Perhaps too much.

But my favorite mother is that of Grendel. now there’s one mother!

It’s Carrboro Video premiere tonight!

Brian Risk, musician composer and rap star, writes to let us know that tonight the It’s Carrboro video will be shown for the first time at the Flicker Film Festival. Details in his note below:

Spread the word!? Tonight @ the Cat’s Cradle the It’s Carrboro video will be shown for the first time!? It will be in conjunction with the Flicker Film Festival, so bring $3.? Doors are at 8PM; show is 8:30PM.

Note: Brian fesses that because Flicker is about film and digital doesn’t quite count there that It’s Carrboro will likely run after the festival films have been screened.

Jones on iBlogCom chat tomorrow at 3 EDT

I’m doing an online chat on iBlogCom tomorrow a 3 EDT with Sudha Jamthe. We’ll be talking about “Participatory Media Communities” and whatever else comes up. They have a good description of what’s up on their site at the link above.

Please join us this Tuesday, May 9, at noon Pacific Time (3 PMEastern Time) at http://iblogcom.blogspot.com/

When you arrive at that blog, click on the diamond on right to join the chat. It will be green when the chat is open.

You can savor my poor typing and spelling in real time there ;->

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 The Real Paul Jones

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑