Noraleah’s post about a TV documentary called ‘Fat Girls and Feeders’ reminded me of this website, which spoofs the titles of various “documentaries” to be found on the schedules of Channel 5 here in the UK. ‘Fat Girls and Feeders’ was actually on Channel 4, however, as part of their passing fascination with morbidly obese Americans a couple of years ago. But the point remains that we have some ridiculously-titled programmes on TV, of which the spoof ones generated here are only slightly distant from the real ones. Examples: The Man Who Hated The Horse That Hated The Child Who Hated The Woman Who Died In The Park The Girl With Five Problems The Dog That Was Sick All Over The Sahara Desert The Photocopier That Had No Brain The Woman With A Hundred Bottoms And yes, I’ve noticed that I’d posted about this before. Sod it, it’s still funny. As is the Daily Mail headline generator: ‘WILL FACEBOOK TURN THE MEMORY OF DIANA GAY?’.
Or, just ask me anything, really.
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Headline of the day, courtesy of (where else) the Daily Mail. Oh, and it gets better: They also said the head trainer at the Orlando theme park where the incident took place a week ago should suffer a similar fate.
New Yorkers, keep an eye out for this from the end of March. Antony Gormley’s a British artist who is famed for using moulds of his body as the starting point for a lot of projects. This particular one was in London a few years back, and it used to freak me out something chronic to see out of the corner of my eye a figure standing very close to the edge of a very high building. Then you start looking in all directions and realise that they’re everywhere, which is even more freaky.
I don’t know whether it’s because this town is near where I grew up, or because my dad worked at the airbase mentioned for many years, or the sheer quality of the writing, but this article brought a lump to my throat. For all that I may be completely against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I have a huge amount of respect for the armed forces themselves, and the men and women who serve in them. This tale of the repatriation of bodies is a real tear-jerker, and drives home the point that each dead soldier is an individual.
Without being fully immersed in the whole healthcare debate, I can see how it’s become incredibly partisan over the last year or so, to the extent that a single election in Massachusetts has probably halted progress. It’s therefore fantastic to see Obama leading from the front, and fulfilling one of his campaign policies by submitting his own healthcare plan for discussion. He has attempted to be bi-partisan and incorporate certain Republican ideas, but the general principle of healthcare for all is not as watered down as the Senate and House versions. Obama was elected on a popular mandate, and he probably has more freedom to enact policies than most senators and congressmen who will be up for re-election in November. He should attempt to push this legislation through, but also stay true to his promise to be more bi-partisan, because partisan politics simply isn’t working. I’m glad I’m viewing this from afar, because it must be hell listening to all of the talking heads going back and forth, without conceding any middle ground. Obama is trying to take that middle road, to some extent, and it’s about time too.
A History of Obama Feigning Interest in Mundane Things, via New York Magazine.
Well, this is just incredible.
Non-brits might not be aware of the concept of Page 3 girls in our newspapers. In our red-tops, the bottom end of the newspaper market commonly called tabloids, there is a tradition of having a topless girl on page 3, so it’s the first thing(s) you see when you open it up. The Sun is the most famous for doing this, but the Daily Star does it too. I think this whole tradition started in the 70s, and it’s made a few celebrities out of the readers’ favourites over the years. It’s a bit of an anachronism nowadays, but who doesn’t want to start the day with a nice pair of boobs in front of them?! What has started appearing recently, though, is the little ‘News In Briefs’ paragraph attached to the page 3 photo. In this micro-column, the girl of the day gives her opinion on one of the bigger stories of the day. Well, it’s supposedly her opinion… It’s pretty obvious that it’s just a hastily written blurb by some journalist on The Sun, and handily it always reflects the Sun’s latest editorial position. Usually they contain some godawful pun too. I’ve always been amused by them, and thankfully some random soul is creating an archive of them all online. It’s funny to see them all in one place and revel in their awfulness. AMII, 23, from Birmingham AMII hopes ranting President Ahmadinedjad’s boast that Iran is a nuclear power will blow up in his face. She said: “It’s one thing to brag to an adoring mob about having produced your first weapons-grade enriched uranium. But to have achieved perfect composition of uranium-235 through isotope separation is quite a different kettle of nuclear fish in my book. Sanctions will show he’s not a big beast – just an atomic kitten.” Epic.
I’ve never played this game before, although I’ve played the similar game ‘Mafia’ a few times. It’s one of those games that involves a hell of a lot of bluffing, conspiring and accusing, three things that I quite enjoy doing… The basic game is quite simple, but the sheer number of possible extra rules/characters contained in this Wired article is mind-blowing. Just about every possible eventuality is covered, and some of the new characters seem like they can really change the dynamic of the game. I must make a mental note to play this sometime soon. I get the feeling that playing it drunkenly is fun too…
You’ve only got until midnight tonight to do so, people…
