Popular Media

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Our Time Is Up

[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 15, 2008 by admin in Popular Media

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

What would therapy be like if the therapist wan’t counting on your recurring billing?

This award-winning short from 2005 really made me think about using my time more honestly today. The synopsis: When therapist Dr. Leonard Stern finds out he has six weeks to live, he adopts a fresh method of treatment: brutal honesty. For example – Client: “I’m just glad I found an effective weight loss technique…” Therapist: “You mean vomiting?”

View full-size video on YouTube here.

Get In Touch With Your Inner Deity

[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 12, 2008 by admin in Popular Media, Technology

Saturday, July 12th, 2008

Space simulation software that lets you play God. At least on your Windows computer.

Man. Why didn’t they have stuff like this when I was a kid? Universe Sandbox is a space simulator that gives you the power to “control gravity, time and everything in it”…at least on your Windows-based computer. Although the developer says you can “smash planets together, introduce rogue stars, and build new worlds from spinning discs of debris”, some of the planetary impacts were a little disappointing. Moons might just sort of stick to the planet they hit. Hardly a significant drawback; the available simulations and the ways in which you can control them are amazing. One of my favorites right away was under “Fun Things To Do > Speed of Light”. Launch a light pulse from Earth and watch the circle slowly (on the grand scale) spread through the solar system. Knowing intellectually that light takes 8 minutes to reach us from the sun versus watching it happen was quite mind-expanding. This would be a great tool in the classroom and a blast for a science-minded kid. Take note though: strangely, the version you download is a 60 minute trial version. Kind of weird, but on the bright side, the purchase price is set by you if you decide to buy. Pretty cool.

Hottest New Redneck Trend: Gay Cage Fighting

[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 8, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture, Popular Media

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

Sacha Baron Cohen creates an uproar in Arkansas with his kissing cage fighters.

Forget this weekend’s NASCAR schedule, we got us some Gay Cage Fights to go to. Some Arkansas cage fighting fans were a little disappointed last month when the fighters they were watching ripped each other’s clothes off and kissed instead of beating each other senseless like good rednecks in cages should. “Disappointed” might be putting it lightly; they apparently began to throw chairs and beers at the ring as the frisky cage fighters made their getaway. It turns out the whole event was staged by Sacha Baron Cohen for an upcoming film project. The Smoking Gun has many more details here. If you find things like gay cage fighting intriguing, be sure to see yesterday’s post about Napoleon’s penis. I just like typing that. Napoleon’s penis.

You Know What They Say About Men With Big Empires…

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on July 7, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture, Popular Media

Monday, July 7th, 2008

Find out in “Napoleon’s Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped” by Tony Perrottet

As I a teenager, I wasn’t too crazy about history, because I thought “history” meant copying down the dates my surly, alcoholic 8th grade teacher wrote on the blackboard, and then forgetting them at exam time. If only he had possessed the insight to engage our perverted, pubescent minds with the more intriguing, human aspects of history. Like, Napoleons’s penis, for instance. In the words of Tony Perrottet, author of Napoleon’s Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped (available in er, hardcover), “…the French government had been given the opportunity to buy what might have been the most famous sexual organ in European history…they didn’t touch the penis. They wouldn’t have anything to do with the penis.” Read or listen to the piece on NPR, or buy the book here.

A Torture Two-for-One: Christopher Hitchens Writes About Waterboarding

[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 3, 2008 by admin in Politics, Popular Media

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

The big question is: Why’d they stop dunking?

Leave it to Christopher Hitchens to throw in the little dramatic bits that let you know how brave he is right before he confesses to a fear of drowning caused by “a bad childhood moment on the Isle of Wight, when I got out of my depth”. Yes, he’s still the hungover drama queen he’s always been, but my hat’s off to Mr. Hitchens for bringing to the larger public’s attention once again the barberic and detestable practice known as waterboarding. America needs to make some amends and genuinely claen up its act after these past eight years of Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz-driven sadism and insanity. Good show, Hitchens. You can read the full article at VanityFair.com

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