The Media Category Archive
Welcome to the Media archives. The posts are listed in chronological order. Click the post title to read more.
Dance Like You Want To Break Your Penis
“Daggering” is slang for dance moves simulating sexual intercourse, some of which include excitable gymnast-like moves, writes Donna Hope Marquis, a lecturer in reggae studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona, in Kingston Jamaica, in an e-mail to NEWSWEEK. [...]
Jamaican doctors assert that those trying to replicate the powerful moves of daggering in the bedroom can end up with dramatic injuries: they say the incidents of broken penises have increased in the past year; according to an article in the Jamaican Star, some clinics are seeing two a month. [...]
Dawes Covers It A-Okay
I’ve recently been listening to a lot of Dawes. You should be, too. You know how much I love covers and this band? When A Continuous Lean posted this video earlier today …. I knew I had to pass it along.
Wonder Years Troubadour from Evan Romoff on Vimeo.
I’m totally blown.
“Insight has launched an impressive art installation series entitled Dopamine, from setting up underwater art installations with surf actions shots in Bali and having re-created famous skate spots in the middle of the Balinese jungle.
The surf installation was inspired by Beatnick;, Steve Gorrow embarked on a journey beneath the sea to explore the depths of the mind and creativity. Along with the help of his brother, Steve shipped out to Bali to take on the massive feat of building above and beneath the sea to give birth to the latest Insight surf spectacle, and that is Dopamine. Not one to cut corners on creativity, Steve combined upside down bedrooms, naked girls on motor bikes and underwater shanty towns with the amazing skill of the Insight surf team (surfnics) and the photographic talents of Dustin Humphrey to create an array of split double world madness. Welcome to Insight’s latest surf campaign featuring surfers Kai Otton, Luke Stedman, Warren Smith, Jared Mell, Made Lana,Jason Apparicio & The Jamaican Surf Team.”
Did You Need Another Reason To Avoid Spring Break?
Sarcastigate got your back….
Are they back?
I haven’t listened to Cursive in a real… long… time. Mogis departed. The Cello departed. This track makes me think they’re back though….. not only is this an incredibly odd and wonderful choice for a Letterman appearance, but Letterman himself (not one to heap on false praise) seems genuinely impressed with the kids from Omaha.
Give it 2 minutes to get going and prepare for the last half to absolutely bitch-slap you.
May 8th – Cursive – First Avenue
Is There Funding for an Ambassador of Jim Beam in the Stimulus Package?
Yes, it’s true – Japan’s new Ambassadors of Cute are mainly here to raise Japans profile and combat the threat of China.
These 3 ladies represent an effort to get the world to notice and love Japanese culture. By embracing Kawaii, or cute culture, we then will help Japan gain power in a world which is being increasingly dominated by their neighbors, China.
Shizuka Fujioka dresses as a schoolgirl, Misako Aoki, a Victorian doll in voluminous frilly skirts and Yu Kimura is a singer dressed in a polka dot shirt with a bunny print, offset by bouffant back-combed hair. Her look has made her “a fashion leader in Tokyo teens’ favorite haunt, Harajuku.”
Read the Article at YesButNoButYes and then Kill Yourself. (Via KFB)
“We are facing an unprecedented economic crisis. The ruling parties should make their utmost efforts to help (the nation) ride out this difficulty,” Aso told top officials from his ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the New Komeito Party.
Aso’s order for the new stimulus package cheered investors, boosting the benchmark Nikkei 225 index by 371.03 points, or 5.2 percent, to close at 7,569.28.
It comes a day after the government said Japan’s economy shrank at a 12.1 percent annual rate in the October-December quarter, slightly better than the initial estimate of a 12.7 percent contraction, but still its sharpest contraction in 35 years.
AP Article on Japan Working on $900+ Billion Stiumulus Package
You’ll Pay to Know What You Really Feel
In two new studies, researchers who study consumer behavior argue that interrupting an experience, whether dreary or pleasant, can make it significantly more intense.
“The punch line is that commercials make TV programs more enjoyable to watch. Even bad commercials,” said Leif Nelson, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of California, San Diego, and a co-author of the new research. “When I tell people this, they just kind of stare at me, in disbelief. The findings are simultaneously implausible and empirically coherent.” [...]
The new consumer research analyzed similar dynamics at a moment-to-moment level. In one experiment, Dr. Nelson, along with Tom Meyvis and Jeff Galak of New York University, had 87 undergraduates watch an episode of the sitcom “Taxi.” Half watched it as it was originally broadcast, with commercials for the Jewelry Factory Store and the law office of Michael Brownstein, among other ads. The other half watched the show straight through, without commercials.
After the show was over, the students rated how much they enjoyed it, using an 11-point scale and comparing it with the sitcom “Happy Days,” which they were all familiar with.. Those who saw “Taxi” without commercials preferred “Happy Days”, but those who saw the original show, Jewelry Factory Store and all, preferred “Taxi” by a significant margin.
Seriously — It’s worth reading the Full Article at The New York Times
Apparently, People Don’t Steal As Much Porn in Utah
A study by a Harvard Business School professor shows that Utah outpaces the more conservative states — which all tend to purchase more Internet porn than other states.
Online porn subscription rates are higher in states that enacted conservative legislation banning same-sex marriage or civil unions and where surveys show support for conservative positions on religion, gender roles and sexuality, according to an analysis published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives. [...]
Utah has the nation’s highest online porn subscription rate per thousand home broadband users, at 5.47, while the nearby states of Idaho and Montana showed the lowest rates of 1.98 and 1.92, respectively, according to the study.
Full Article at The Salt Lake Tribune (via KFB)
We drink Jim Beam. RSS Feed.
July 16th, 2010
Sarcastigate at the Cinema: Inception.
Inception is great. It will make a billion dollars. Chris Nolan is going to have an even blanker check for the next film that he writes/directs and it showcases that he can, in fact, still write. I enjoyed it greatly and will watch it again when it comes out on BluRay. There are some major problems with it (or at least things that irritated me), though.
- It’s dumbed down. Following in the footsteps of other big-dollar, mainstream, intellectual, recursive thrillers, Nolan takes some short cuts. I watched the film once, late at night, and it all made painfully perfect sense. The characters spend a lot of time explaining things to each other that would be criminally obvious for anyone in their shoes. The explanation is clearly exclusively for the audiences benefit. Ellen Pages character serves as an extremely laughable outsider and an excuse to hold the audiences hand even tighter. There may be better precedent for this but the 2004 film Primer serves as a better example in how to challenge the audience through recursion interference (see also Solaris, Following, and even portions of the Matrix series.) Nolan didn’t have to take it to Primer extremes but he also didn’t have to rewrite this down to an elementary level. As a result, I’m not sure it merits the chronic rewatching that other recursive thrillers have leveraged into cultural phenomenons. But it will make a billion dollars.
- Skiing/shooting action scene. Has this ever been done well? Ever? Did Nolan think he could pull it off? As soon as I saw them near the skis I absolutely cringed. The only thing saving this entire ”level” is that they didn’t have Ellen Page strap on a snowboard. I thought for sure it was headed that way. Ouch. Truly awful.
- The effects. Some of them were incredible. Some of them were downright cheesy, though. CGI has come a long way since the Matrix but I still don’t think that this movie is going to age very well. In 20 years it’s going to look like a cartoon. I think it’s fine to be ambitious with your screenwriting but don’t assume you can build worlds from scratch.
- The heavy handedness of Leo’s familial faithfulness. Come on… give me a break…. the only thing driving him was his love for his kids and his wife? He’s really just a big softie that enjoys the game of experimenting in other peoples brains? Buhgaw.
You want to know all the good about the movie? Read another review. They are all covering it pretty well and I agree that the good stuff in this movie is REALLY good. The score is phenomenal (and Nolan didn’t allow the composer to see the movie before he scored it!!), the sound amazing. The cinematography and the set design are astounding. The fight scenes are (mostly) brilliant. Leo is going to be up for many awards. Did I mention that this movie will make a billion dollars? It will. You’ll love it.
My last prediction, though: Contrary to what so many critics are trumpeting this week… this will be nowhere near the best picture nominees come 2011. It just doesn’t have the legs.
Rating: 8/10
Postscript: The lucky gal I was watching this movie with was dozing on and off throughout the movie. It wasn’t because the movie was boring, it’s because it was LATE. While I was watching the movie I was actually thinking about how unnerving it would be to half sleep through… to wake up and feel like you hadn’t really missed anything (or had you?) I can’t imagine that experience. I wonder if it was pleasant or terrifying?