Archive for July, 2009

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Post-Holiday Padiddling

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on July 6, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion

Monday, July 6th, 2009

No holiday weekend road trip is complete without a healthy round of Padiddling, Punchbuggy, and Cow Counting. This week’s Monday Demotivators celebrate the four day weekend.


Why Do Game Developers Hate Granny?

This week’s Monday morning productivity inhibitors will take a (ahem) back seat to the fact that the more clever amongst you have sneaked in a four-day weekend. Which means you already are demotivated. And perhaps facing a day on the freeways to get home. If you have a carload of family or friends on a weekend excursion, the way there might not be so bad, but the way back can be excruciating. That’s when a healthy game of Punchbuggy or Padiddle can come in handy. Hopefully though, you’ll be home long before any Padiddling is required. If you happen to have a carload of kids (or immature adults like myself) on board, maybe some classic road trip games like Highway Bingo or Counting Cows are in order. Okay, maybe not so “classic”. Personally, I’ve never heard of “Counting Cows”. Anyway, those are print-it-yourself games; you could always buy some reusable bingo games, they’re cheap, and according to GasBuddy.com, gas prices are $1.50 lower than a year ago, so you should be able to afford a measly $6.91. And if gas prices still aren’t low enough for your tastes, you can always make your own. And finally, for those of you who come here on Monday morning for the silly Flash games, maybe you’d like to vent your holiday road rage (or frustrations with grandma) by playing a nice game of Mad Monday Road Rage or Squash The Granny. Me, I’ll probably be padiddling well into the night, and asking Are We There Yet? Are We There Yet?

Creepy Babies From The Uncanny Valley

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on July 5, 2009 by admin in Popular Media

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

When cute goes creepy: Why do advertisers insist on using creepy images of babies moving like adults?


It’s probably a good idea to keep them caged

There are more things wrong with the video at left than I could possibly list, but I never let that stop me. First of all, it’s an ad for a product, and I’m displaying it for free. Secondly, it’s an ad for a really stupid product, bottled water. But what really riles up my sense of wrong has more to do with a general sense of creepiness. Ever since the original dancing baby of 1996 , we’ve found ourselves occasionally assaulted by the uncanny valley effect that’s induced by making a baby do things babies don’t actually do. Whether it’s an ad for Evian (as in the clip at left) or a Lebanese diaper ad, the image of a baby moving like an adult arouses a mild cognitive dissonance that either makes one laugh or cringe, depending on one’s personal psychological make-up. Somehow it’s less disturbing when a baby thinks like an adult, as in the 1989 film Look Who’s Talking, but I imagine that’s because we anthropomorphise babies much like pets, so oddly even talking horses seem to be acceptable. For more creepy babies, check out the vintage Baby Laughs Alot doll, or these motion-sensitive babies in a toy store. And be glad there are only 27 seconds of this zombie baby from hell. It probably ate the camera person at the end of the clip. And frankly, even a real baby can be a little creepy now and then. Especially when it’s having a Kung Fu standoff with a prairie dog.

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President Robama – Our New Robot Overlord

[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 4, 2009 by admin in Politics

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

Some reports are claiming that Barack Obama is a negro robot from the future.


See Robama at approximately 1:05

I’ve suspected for some time that all the world’s elected leaders are immediately replaced with robots upon taking office as part of a vast alien overlord conspiracy. Well, now I have evidence. If Disney’s Magic Kingdom can create creepy robot presidents from the Uncanny Valley like this (see Robama at 1:05) and this (see Robama at 1:20) for entertainment purposes, imagine what the dark ops people that created stealth bombers have up their sleeves. You’ll find this absurd (because that’s how an effective conspiracy works) but there is a war raging around the world, and the media is so tightly controlled that you won’t find out until it’s too late. That new Terminator movie? It’s just part of a massive PSYOP to prepare your mind for the inescapable fact that we will soon serve our robot masters. This report from a soldier in the field explains how Barack Obama’s robot army has taken over the world with their “million megawatt smiles and crushing fistbumps“. C’mon. A charming, impeccably articulate and intelligent president who exhibits almost zen-like serenity under pressure, is ridiculously handsome and is black? This had to be a dream come true. Or a robot invasion nightmare. You decide.

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Jazzy Japanese Pop Band Sour’s New Video Is Fan-Powered

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on July 3, 2009 by admin in Music

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

The clever new video for Sour’s song Hibi no Neiro, from their new EP Water Flavor is performed entirely by fans on web cams.

Whenever I feel like I’ve pretty much seen the Internet and am ready to cancel my membership, something charming comes along and reminds me what I’m doing here. Not too long ago it was Kutiman, the Israeli guy who took hundreds of amateur music tutorial videos from YouTube and mashed them up into amazingly listenable new music. This time it’s the Japanese band Sour, whose music is just some mellow, sparse, jazzy pop that sounds sort of like if a few Japanese guys studied at Berklee and couldn’t decide who they liked more, Chet Baker or Charlie Hunter. The video at left (for their song Hibi no Neiro) was produced completely using their fans, carefully choreographed on web cams to make a whimsical little video that perfectly matches the thoughtful but upbeat tune. They have a few other playful and clever videos on YouTube, including Omokage no saki which uses simple stop-animation, and Hangetsu, which uses some clever shadow puppetry. I was going to research them a little more and write about them, when I realized the bio information on their site summed it up perfectly:
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Is “Modern Manners” An Oxymoron?

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on July 2, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Have any pet peeves about contemporary etiquette, or the lack thereof? We’d love to hear them.

I need your help. I recently wrote about Five Effective Habits Of Highly Annoying People, which reminded me that for a long time I’ve wanted to develop a new guide to etiquette, one that uses a little humor to address manners and how new technologies have evolved with no courtesy guidelines to go with them. A typical example being cell phone manners. One of my favorite books of all time on the topic of etiquette is probably P.J. O’Rourke’s Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People. With advice like “Guns are always the best method for private suicide. Drugs are too chancy. You might miscalculate the dosage and just have a good time” and “Never refuse wine. It is an odd but universally held opinion that anyone who doesn’t drink must be an alcoholic“, O’Rourke touched on a lot of issues of contemporary etiquette that weren’t being addressed anywhere else. Especially the “Taking Drugs” chapter, which includes this handy chart (also below) for proper social behavior under the influence of drugs. Although the book is still an hilarious read within certain circles, it has finally started to show its age; a lot of the humor is based on old money culture, and the typical nouveau riche bobo or fauxhemian just doesn’t have the class or sophistication to get it. So help me out. What are your biggest pet peeves about modern manners and courtesy, whether humorous or not?

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