Sunday, September 23, 2007

"It's good to shut up sometimes"

Marcel Marceau: 1923-2007

Monday, September 17, 2007

Pathetic Little World In Pictures

Northeast Minneapolis

Friday, September 14, 2007

Pathetic Little Quick Fix: Supersized Edition

I apologize to all for my lack of blog updates, but the seasons are a changin' and I'm still tryin' to get into my 'fall state of mind'. Here's an extra big helpin' of strange and interesting news from around the world and in my backyard. Have a warm and wonderful weekend and dig those sweaters outta storage-'cause baby it's cold outside.

Sting Gets Stung.

Farrell Plays The Good Samaritan.

Britney Fan Loses Her Final Marble.

And Now For Something Completely Different...Well, Yet The Same..."Leave Petraeus Alone!"

Happy Birthday to Amy...What A Cutie She Was.

From Being Voted "most gay-friendly Campus" to "hate crime vandalism"-And It's My Own Neighborhood-For Shame!

Jesus Christ People, have a sense of Humor-She Is A Comedian After All!

Carol Is Gonna Kick Your Ass If You Don't Give Her Dress Back...Really, She's Gonna Kick It..HARD!

The Worlds Tallest Errection.

To All You "I-Tards"; Here's Were You Can Get Your $100 Credit...But Remember, You Gave Up Your Dignity For Being Such Babies About It.

A Little Sign Of Hope In The World.

Chess & Vodka-A Deadly Mix.

The End Of An Era For Iconic Amusement Park.

NYC Continues It's Gentrification.

New Age Newsstands.

The Secret Life Of Condi.

Damn-It Jodi...I So Wanted This To Be Good!

Models Deck Gets Decked.

Creepy Old School Crime Story.

Elton John Ticket Conspiracy Theories In Sioux Falls SD..Elton John In Sioux Falls South Dakota..WHAT THE?!

Small Town Crime; Stolen Change, Selling Magazines Without A Permit, Someones Morphine Is Missing and All The Fish Are Dying In The Local Lake...Where's Sheriff Taylor & Deputy Fife When You Need Them.

It's Not Like He's Selling Drugs At The School Playground.

Perhaps You Should Change Your Sheets More Often.

A Really Cool Camp For Kids....Look Closely(A REALLY Amazing Site With A Profound Message!)

Bumper Car Driver Outta Control!

A Cynical Guide To Disney World...I Laughed So Hard I Had Coffee Coming Outta My Nose!

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Amusement Park Tragedies.

A Cool Global Art Project.

Senior Citizens Rock The Wii.

Monday, September 10, 2007

The Video Music Blunder Awards

As was with previous years, the hype for the MTV Music Video Awards was in overdrive. Once again they tried to make you believe that the show will be groundbreaking and thrilling beyond belief. That you will witness once in a lifetime performances...yada, yada, yada....

Let's just say Britney Spears opening performance was the perfect summary of the evening to come. Dull, bloated, lethargic and EXTREMELY BORING!!! It will easily go down as a perfect example of how NOT to do an awards show.

First off, I am now totally convinced Britney's career is over, kaput. Her performance was really embarrassing, you just kept waiting for the punchline that inevitably never arrived. She moved about the stage with the grace of baby elephant and the expression on her face, as she attempted to lip sync, was vacant and almost stunned. You just couldn't help but be horribly embarrassed for her, especially when it was all over and you realized it wasn't supposed to be a joke.

Next came the divinely funny Sara Silverman who MTV would have you believe, through their endless promotion, was suppose to be the host of the show. She was fierce as ever and held no punches, especially when it came to Britney-she did a live re-enactment(with her lips)of Britney's vaginal region. The audience was almost silent during most of Sara's monologue and you felt the uncomfortableness right through the TV screen. Sara must have realized she was on a quickly sinking ship and exited the building immediately after her routine-'cause I don't recall seeing her at any other time throughout the evening. Good for her!

The production values of the show were a spastic mess of annoying graphics and horrible, clumsy segue ways. They had several hotel suites at the Palms(where the show was broadcast from) in which live performances were occurring throughout the show and they would keep cutting to performances in midstream-most of the time not identifying who was performing. The couple performances staged within the main theater were hardly exciting or memorable.

Apparently the most exciting event of the evening occurred during a commercial break when Kid Rock came off the stage and cold cocked Tommy Lee. Too bad that didn't happen live on air-it would have added the one single memorable moment of the evening.

The show really highlighted the state of the mainstream music industry, shallow, talentless and living on life support. The main performers they did actually show-all lip synced, the main focus seemed to be all about dancing. The other strange aspect of the show is that it was primarily about rap artists, I mean where the hell were the rock bands?! OK, so they had Fall Out Boy and the Foo Fighters and friends(though Fall-Out Boy doesn't really qualify as "rock") in one of the suites-but you never saw an entire performance from either of them, only snippets between commercials. Then the "Best New Artist" went to Gym Class Heroes whose claim to fame is a remake of Jermaine Stewart's "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" -which sucked in 1986...and this qualifies a band as "Best New Artist"? Sad, just sad.

I guess this whole sham of an event should be expected as MTV rarely even shows an entire video on it's channel anymore(Justin Timberlake even pleaded with MTV during two different award acceptance speeches to "play more videos...".) Perhaps they should scrap the video awards entirely and do a "self-righteous teen reality show awards show." They could have awards for the least annoying teen, the most annoying(though they all are), the most money squandered in one episode award, the most crying in one episode, the best hair award...well you get the idea. I want the 3+ hours of my life back damn-it!

The Idiot Box Round-up

As of late a lot of the reality TV genre has been stinkin' up the airwaves real bad; Big Brother has become a showcase for arrogant, conceited, utterly unlikeable morons. Hell's Kitchen seemed to forget it was a cooking show and selected a bunch of idiots who couldn't even cook. Last Comic Standing kicked all the new and interesting comedians off right away in favor of comedians who already have established careers(i.e. Doug Benson.) Don't even get me started about all those inane Valley, Hills, Gulley shows on MTV-pure crap! So one would start to think all reality TV has run it's course.

Well here is a great example of intelligent, articulate reality TV that is highly entertaining and educational to boot:

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
(The Travel Channel; Mondays 10PM ET/PT-9PM CST)

If you don't know Anthony Bourdain, he is most well know for his memoir Kitchen Confidential: Adventures In The Culinary Underbelly, a great look inside the restaurant kitchens of New York. He was born and raised in New York and has cooked in and run many of the great restaurants in the city.

On No Reservations Anthony travels around the world sampling the authentic foods and cultures of the places he visits. His show is more than just a casual culinary expedition, it is also a visual and literary journey through both ordinary and out of the way extraordinary places around the world.

He has been to Russia, Vietnam, Paris, Malaysia, China, Mexico, Las Vegas and every place in between. One very memorable episode is when he and his crew visited Beirut. They had only been a day into their shoot when fighting broke out inside the city and they became trapped, confined to laying low for a week-before finally being rescued by a military transport. Though they only had one day to sample local food wares, Anthony put together a wonderful travelogue of their experiences of being trapped by war. He has such a great grasp on "first person" reporting, he is articulate, smart and yet has such a distinct New York personality throughout his words. But he goes beyond the mundane details and delves into an almost poetic description of what it is he and his crew go through.

His knowledge and passion for each and every location he visits is carefully articulated with every word he says. You get a real sense of what he is experiencing; you the viewer are made to feel you are there with him-learning about the various cultures and tasting the many different culinary dishes he tries. It's as raw and real as any travelogue can be. By the end of each episode you feel you have actually learned something about a place you've perhaps never been and a culture you truly didn't know. Even in his travels throughout the states, you are given a depth of reporting that will most certainly expand your knowledge beyond anything you previously knew about the location.

Let us not forget however, that this is a culinary experience first and foremost. Anthony is one of those people who can eat most anything, at least once. With every new location he has a local guide who shows him what the locals eat on a daily basis and he tries everything-the good, the bad and the totally disgusting. Being a picky eater myself, I'm always greatly impressed by those who can eat with abandon and Anthony is always willing for at least one taste. He conveys his sense of taste like no one else can, his verbal and facial descriptions clearly translate the culinary experience to the viewer. It's a truly pleasurable and fulfilling experience to watch.