Palin Fans Are Clueless

I'm not making this up, just going by their vague, uninformed responses to softball questions asked outside a Palin book-signing event last weekend.

Hilarious, until you realize that these people are basing their votes on hollow buzzwords, not common sense or fundamental familiarity with the issues* comprising Palin's platform. It's embarrassing that so many of them can't finish a sentence. It's even more embarrassing that America's unhealthy fascination with celebrity obscures the view of common sense (this is an issue of epidemic proportions that we can't address in just one post).

* To be perfectly fair, much of the so-called "Obama Nation" is the same way. You can tell they are second-guessing themselves now that he hasn't proven to be the messiah in the first 25% of his first term.

Source: Dangerous Minds, via BoingBoing.

Science Is Interesting

Get more Richard Dawkins here.

See What Made My Twit List

Upon realizing that my posting here has decreased while it has increased on Twitter, I'm experimenting with displaying said Twitter feed here, in the right margin. I may find a better solution, but think this will help keep some fresh content churning here - even if it isn't longer-form content (like, more than 140 characters).

Full disclosure: I have some apprehension about linking my Twitter feed here, as I feel like I post more randomly there. Of course, I also still giggle when people say "twit" or twit-related puns when trying to sound smart...

Foul Play Giant

I've always had a bad taste in my mouth from the folks who gush over the work of Shepard Fairey. And now I'm snickering to myself that his legal counsel is abandoning him after it was revealed that he lied about which source he stole from / traced over for the Obama Hope poster.

Fairey represents a lot of what I don't like about the art world - arrogant double-standards. His work is entirely derivative if not outright stolen, which in itself is not offensive to me. There's nothing wrong with appropriation when proper attribution is given. Yet he continually passes himself off as original, and profits from creativity that simply wasn't his - without giving proper credit where it is clearly due. In fact, he outright lies about his sources. And Fairey is clearly lying for the sake of his own celebrity and profit, not for the sake of art.

I've always insisted that the work that put him on the map, Andre the Giant has a Posse and the resulting Obey work, were obviously inspired by John Carpenter's They Live - which starred a pro wrestler and featured subliminal outdoor advertising messages that read "obey" (among other Big Brotherly imperatives). Too many coincidences.

Given that it's now common practice to sue musicians for sampling even small portions of someone else's work without permission and/or payment, Fairey deserves to be held responsible for his actions. It's clear that his primary concern is being a celebrity; perhaps his ego prevents him from being honest about his work, his process and his tremendous debt to pop and fringe culture that preceded him and all of his sordid merchandising.

Fairey is complicit in the ugly corporatization of celebrity - at the expense of honesty, integrity and authenticity. It pains me that only the Obama poster is drawing this fact into the public discourse.

Air Releases "Viral" Single Today

Watch this, then get the new Air single "Do The Joy" for free. (Click the little speaker icon below if you want to shut off the audio from this widget.)



New Air album, Love 2, drops from Astralwerks on October 6: "A viral single 'Do The Joy' will be made available digitally on July 7th, followed by a formal single release for the summery pop anthem 'Sing Sang Sung' on August 25th."

Saturday Morning Serials - 4th of July Edition

This third edition of Saturday Morning Serials is for you, America. Watch all five selections in this YouTube playlist.

Saturday Morning Serials (Rehash)

Picking up where I barely started last November, here's a (possible) revival of Saturday Morning Serials: an assortment of the videos I tend to watch on Saturday mornings. Sipping coffee, downloading music, and catching up on links... nothing in any apparent order.


Han Solo, P.I.

The genius of Han Solo, P.I. is revealed when you watch the side-by-side comparison to the Magnum, P.I. opening titles. Brilliant. Makes me wonder what such a show would have been like to watch... perhaps a pilot episode title like "Stabbing at Leia's Party"?


Post-It Stop Motion

Office-supply art like this isn't a exactly a new idea, but you don't often see someone take it this far. Watch "Deadline".


Guy Starts Dance Party

All of the videos in this post have been circulating for a while, but none has appeared on the news like this one (though with a different soundtrack when seen on WGN). It's best with the original audio, if not for the giggles of the crowd then for the "unstoppable" nature of this clip.


30 Rock = The Muppet Show

This video clip isn't directly related to this guy's theory that 30 Rock is a rip-off of The Muppet Show, but it may be entertaining on a different level after you've read through said post. It's not a bad theory, really. Though one could argue that there are many other show-within-or-around-a-show shows out there to have influenced 30 Rock.

In B-Flat Two-Point-Oh

Check out in Bb 2.0. It's the result of a collaborative video/music (okay, multimedia) mixing project. It goes at least one step further than Kutiman's "Thru You" by putting the controls at your fingertips.

Spotted via Create Digital Music.

(Our) Life Inc.

Life Inc. The Movie from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

It is with some regret that I admit, I've had a galley copy of Douglas Rushkoff's new book Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back which I have been unable to devote enough attention. Between medical issues and my wedding, I just haven't had the time to sit and read much. Hopefully I can squeeze out a review before the book hits store shelves in just under two weeks (Sorry, Douglas, I really appreciate the advance copy and hope this doesn't negate my chances for advances of future publications). Everyone can read Chapter One here courtesy of BoingBoing, where Rushkoff has been guest blogger this week.

For the time being, I highly recommend Life Inc The Movie (above), which sets up the book's premise. In light of the current economic woes worldwide, I think it is crucial to examine the path that got us here: corporatism. You may be surprised to learn how it all began, and even more surprised to discover how much corporatism has become ingrained in the way we behave. Pre-order Life Inc. on Amazon.

UPDATE:
Great continuation of the conversation, with more excerpts from the book, here at BoingBoing: Everything's Open Source but Money.

Snatch Wars

It's been a busy time for me lately: never-ending home improvements/repairs, unresolved medical issues, a dying home computer, and the final arrangements for our wedding. It's meant I haven't had much time for PYLB, but it doesn't mean I haven't found things I want to share. Here's one, for example, that adds dialogue from Snatch to scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy with entertaining results. Enjoy.

99 Internet Things

I have no idea who Greg Rutter is, or whether this is a definitive list, but it does appear to have a lot of the big hits on it. It IS missing Mahir Cagri's I Kiss You, which (in its original form) was a "viral" success that arguably gave the world its first Internet celebrity. Take a look and see if anything else is missing...

Greg Rutter's Definitive List of The 99 Things You Should Have Already Experienced On The Internet Unless You're a Loser or Old or Something

Panic Or Something!

This one's a compare and contrast, my dear readers.

The article and essay below feel, to me, like they're making a lot of the same considerations. [Am I being too hasty, or is the impending "panic" essentially just a bad reaction to the realization that we've behaved like morons for far too long? Or is it a mixture of both?]

T.R.O.Y. claims, "I think a key ingredient is a sense of practical hope, a real feeling based in experience that what one is doing matters." I suspect Sterling might agree, since his writing seems to come from a similar sense of hope based on experience and "what matters". Read the pieces below and decide for yourself.

Bruce Sterling - "2009 Will Be A Year Of Panic"
[article]

-- vs --

T.R.O.Y. - "The Challenge Of Utopia"
[interview w/ link to .rtf]

Thoughts? (Post a comment.)

Le Wrath di Kahn

The latest episode of Robot Chicken came up with (what IMHO is) perhaps the finest tribute to Ricardo Montalbán. It brought tears to my eyes. So brilliant.

I suspect Robot Chicken saved their best segments for this single episode (past handful of episodes have been remarkably unfunny). In addition to Le Wrath di Kahn were Clash of the Titans, Speed Racer and Wizard of Oz parodies. All worth watching.

Juno Where I Saw Cut Chemist Last Night?

For anyone who hasn't seen Juno yet, don't bother. I watched it for the first and only time last night. I'm about to show you the single most interesting frame of this otherwise obnoxiously over-written movie.

During a scene in a high school chemistry class, there's a brief view of a teacher entering the classroom. I thought I recognized him, but paused and backed up a few frames to confirm... and that's when I saw this subliminal logo placement.


That's Cut Chemist (real name Lucas MacFadden), flanked on either side by his own logo. Cute attempt at "subliminal" for an otherwise unsubtle movie. It's been brought to my attention that not even Wikipedia is hip to this logo-laden cameo - though MacFadden is credited as "Cut Chemist" in the movie credits. For those not familiar with it, here's a shot of the logo as seen on CutChemist.com:

Previously on PYLB:
Cut Chemist's 360-degree Big Break