7.27.2010

Still One Of The Best Endings Ever

Six Feet Under had one of the best endings of any series ever, transcending from a modern show exploring death to a sci-fi celebration of our inevitable end.

I cry every time I watch it...

From Reason.com

Internet Addiction
What once was parody may soon be diagnosis.

In 1995, in an effort to parody the way the American Psychiatric Association’s hugely influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders medicalizes every excessive behavior, psychiatrist Ivan Goldberg introduced on his website the concept of “Internet Addiction Disorder.” Last summer Ben Alexander, a 19-year-old college student obsessed with the online multiplayer game World of Warcraft, was profiled by CBS News, NPR, the Associated Press, and countless other media outlets because of his status as client No. 1 at reSTART, the first residential treatment center in America for individuals trying to get themselves clean from Azeroth, iPhones, and all the other digital narcotics of our age.

7.20.2010

This really creeps me out (thanks, Bromide)

Disturbing

A Drug Raid Goes Viral
A violent police raid posted on YouTube sparks outrage—but the only thing unusual was that it was caught on video.

In May a Missouri police raid that was captured on video went viral. As of this writing, the video had been viewed more than 1.2 million times on YouTube. It lit up message boards, blogs, and discussion groups around the Web, unleashing anger, resentment, and, regrettably, calls for violence against the officers involved. I’ve been writing about these raids, including some that claimed the lives of innocent people, for five years. There’s never been a reaction like this one. (You can see the video at youtube.com/watch?v=RbwSwvUaRqc.)

Brilliant!


Ru Paul's Drag U is fucking brilliant! Best spin-off show ever. We gotta get a certain someone onto season 2. I'm talking about you, Miss Tobermory Thang....

7.19.2010

TV Alert: Revenge, And Redemption, Of The Queens

The greatest insane reality show ever, Ru Paul's Drag Race, starts its offshoot--Drag U--tonight on Logo.

You know you should watch it Miss Thang. So don't fuck it up!

7.17.2010

Science Fiction Music

David Bowie's Space Oddity is a great example of a science fiction short story in song form (albeit one about an acid trip). One of my favorite songs ever, by one of my favorite rockers ever, is equally great. Writing a great sci-fi short story is hard. Writing a song that is a great sci-fi short story is brilliance.

The song is Billy Radcliffe. It's by Frank Black and the Catholics, from their album Pistolero.

Billy Radcliffe didn't go to town
And when we looked up
He was looking right down
Catching blue in his eyes that were brown
Billy Radcliffe
(Billy Radcliffe)

Billy Radcliffe owned by the state
From his first breath
To the cemetery gate
He was the first boy born in space
Billy Radcliffe
(Billy Radcliffe)

Billy Radcliffe very first one
He really had lived just a cursed son
A split in half man sang the cherubim
Billy Radcliffe
(Billy Radcliffe)

Billy Radcliffe saw what the Devil man saw
He saw a spot of blue in black of the eye of the Lord
Such a cruel love
Is the kind that has wrought oh Billy
Billy Radcliffe

Billy sadly didn't live long
He had to stay there
Because he wasn't too strong
He's stepping out the door
Blowing up like bomb
Billy Radcliffe
(Billy Radcliffe)

Billy Radcliffe very first one
Really a hatched man a light switch son
A split in half man sang the cherubim

Billy Radcliffe very first one
A split in half man sang the cherubim
I bet you cried when he died now didja
Now didja ?

Now Billy Radcliffe saw what the Devil man saw
A spot of blue in black of the eye of the Lord Oh Billy
Billy Radcliffe saw what the Devil man had
And I feel very bad for
William Radcliffe


The Marsist

My favorite Frank Black song maybe. Live.

7.16.2010

Paycheck Alert!


For the next 2 months, I will be eating only noodles and peanut butter sandwiches: Books-A-Million is selling some relatively cheap books on modernism, Case Study houses, progressive architecture, surrealism, and Bauhaus. I browsed through a few, and I have to have them all.

The book on the Case Study houses left two stains in my underwear, but I still managed to stop myself from buying it. I was conflicted when I saw a compelling book about my photographer-hero Man Ray. My brain went into overdrive; I didn't know where to spend my cash. So, until tomorrow...

Dance The Manta Ray!

I [Heart] Jeanne Gang

So Fucking Pretty!

We've all drooled over Aqua, master architect Jeanne Gang's masterpiece of organic pageantry that fuses mid-century modernism with contemporary, energy-efficient construction.

I'm a big fan of Blair Kamin's Chicago Tribune blog, and he has a great post about Gang's contribution to Lincoln Park's ecologic renovation of the south pond.

Watch the video here, although you have to give it several minutes to load up and play. It's worth the wait: it's so fucking pretty I can't stand it.

Today, I drove across Florence's old Art Deco dam, and I drove past Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Rosenbaum house. How it pains me to see our progressive architectural heritage cast away by Americans who think that convenience and slack is comforting.

7.14.2010

What Does This Even Mean?

Sharon Angle, the Republican running for Harry Reid's Senate seat, actually said the following:
I believe that God has been in this from the beginning and because of that when he has a plan and a purpose for your life and you fit into that, what he calls you to he always equipped you for.
Do these people even listen to what they say? And what religious monster hasn't said something similar? I bet if you search the rantings of Bin Laden, you'll find similar drivel.

Which Is Why I Suspect Religious Prudes

Guess who is the world's leader in searching the Google for porn?

Pakistan!

Google ranks Pakistan No.1 in the world in searches for pornographic terms, outranking every other country in searches per person for certain sex-related content, FOXNews.com said.

Pakistan has ranked No.1 in searches per-person for "horse sex" since 2004, "donkey sex" since 2007, "rape pictures" between 2004 and 2009, "rape sex" since 2004, "child sex" between 2004 and 2007 and since 2009, "animal sex" since 2004 and "dog sex" since 2005, according to Google Trends and Google Insights, features of Google that generate data based on popular search terms.

The country has also been No.1 in searches for "sex", "camel sex", "rape video" and "child sex video".
But the gays are the perverts.