I miss the Branch Dividians.

Courtesy of Jossip: (The first paragraph is copied for its humour value)

The hottest bootleg video right now, the one that is being spread out on blankets on all the street corners in all of America’s Chinatowns right now, isn’t Superman Returns or Pirates Of The Carribean 2, it’s this: the Scientology Orientation Video, recorded on minicam by one of Jossip’s undercover operatives (i.e. some blogger).

Scientology is one of the more successful cults of our time. Founded by L. Ron Hubbard (of Battlefield Earth fame), Scientologists believe humanity was created from the souls of dead aliens that couldn’t escape our planet. That, in and of itself, should have set off warning bells to any rational person. For example,  most people that believe in the existence of UFOs are generally not highly regarded.

Furthermore, one of the core tenets of Scientology is that all disease is psychosomatic. That is, all disease exists because you think it exists.  Sorry, but if my mind can swell up a testicle to the size of an orange but testicular cancer cant, then I might as well believe in David Blaine’s magic, because we all must be magicians of some form. Anyway, enjoy this. it is quite ridiculous.

ADD ON: Go to Jossip’s site, I can’t seem to get the video to work on my blog at the moment.

Headaches

I hate headaches. They ruin evenings planned on being out with friends and leave you feeling like you want to dig out your sinuses with a screwdriver. Another wasted night it is.

We Also Create False Promises.

Shambolic, amateurish music sometimes delights through cuteness, or earnestness. The Galactic Symposium’s cover of ‘YMCA’ is beyond all that. Well, beyond that, and just short of outsider art at any rate. I found this on the internet and it’s probably one of the more ridiculous things that I’ve heard. Basically, The Galactic Symposium play it very badly and crack up laughing at their own efforts at a couple of points. The bit where one band member goes ‘…oh shit’ before the first chorus is priceless. By the end of the song, I was laughing.

The Galactic Symposium – YMCA

In the kingdom of kitsch, you will be a monster.

Some random recommendations :

• Was the 2004 Election Stolen? by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: This is a stunning piece of investigative journalism. After the 2004 election, I let go of the evidence of election fraud because I felt like a sore loser. But this article brings up some very alarming questions and is worthy of a careful read. Other countries would be rioting right now. (Thanks Poplicks)
• Stephen Colbert's Commencement Address at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois: While not as politically inspiring as his speech before President Bush, this is a great read, even if occasionally rambles. He obviously had a great time goofing on whatever school was willing to give him an honorary degree. A quote:

I have two last pieces of advice. First, being pre-approved for a credit card does not mean you have to apply for it. And lastly, the best career advice I can give you is to get your own TV show. It pays well, the hours are good, and you are famous. And eventually some very nice people will give you a doctorate in fine arts for doing jack squat.

• David Lee Roth singing a bluegrass version of "Jump" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: I am speechless. (Credit: N. Maines)

• Whoever at Reuters came up with the caption for the World Cup picture below: What, you didn't think you could get "Ball Out of Play!" or "No Hands!" past your editor?

Reuters: "Ukraine's Andriy Husin (L) battles for the ball with Spain's Luis Garcia"

Bill Kurtis: A Living Legend

"An acclaimed documentary host and producer, network and major market news anchor and multimedia production company president, Bill Kurtis has spent the
past 35 years creating a body of work that is virtually unparalleled in the field of broadcasting."

Such are the comments about legendary newsman Bill Kurtis. Famous for his work on CBS News, Bill Kurtis is best known to people of my generation as the host of  A&E's "American Justice" and "Investigative Reports." Bill Kurtis has looked at the underbelly of American society and illustrated, quite convincingly, that the USA is, for more the most part, the most criminal of the industrialized countries of the world. Furthermore, his distinct voice and convincing demeanour tend to convince the most skeptical of viewers that the American Justice system and the FBI's investigative branches (see many of his investigative specials) are full of incompetent people.  In spite of this, Bill Kurtis will keep fighting the good fight, and exposing, on a weekly basis, the criminal underpinnings of the United States of America.

 Also, for those of you who do not know, Mr. Kurtis is featured with a monologue on the opening track of the Dandy Warhols' latest album "Odditorium or Warlords of Mars."

I Love Life.

Another short post about something you really should check out  Jamie's Runout Groove has finished his detailed look at Pulp's discography with a detailed look at "We Love Life", their final studio record.

Jamie is a Pulp superfan and I enjoy reading his reviews.  Here is a snippet:

The album opens with the double shot of Weeds and Weeds II (the origin of the species), which both act as further ruminations on the themes of Mis-Shapes by talking about those people (well…Jarvis and his fans) who are considered the detritus of society. It's clear right away that the album is going to be a whole lot less poppy and instant than Different Class, and a lot less intense than Hardcore. If anything, tied to the albums artwork it could possibly be called the bands 'hippy' record. The chorus of Weeds is anthemic without sounding forced, and a great start. Weeds II is a good monologue continuing the themes of the first track, and has some choice lines, especially when Jarvis takes the piss of those who made him a caricature: '"Come on, do your dance!/Come on, do your funny little dance!"'

Catch the rest at his site.  He's also posted a sample of mp3s for those of you that have never experienced the genius of Pulp. A detailed history of Pulp can be found at Bar Italia. Until the next time,  have a good one.

Things I Hate: Pt. 2

This post continues to expand on things I hate. Pt. 1 dealt with country music. The thing that I hate currently is Canadian spinoffs of American reality shows.

American reality shows (American Idol, America's Next Top Model, etc.) are some of the most excruiatingly painful programs to watch.  They regularly featuring people with a combination of two things: 1) no talent. and 2) Arrogant or "Cute" Personalities.  Furthermore, they are entirely predictable and completely repetitive. But the point of this post is not to comment on American reality shows, but rather their Canadian spinoffs

At least on American reality shows the people are generally photogenic, or there are photogenic people in the show. Canadian spinoffs, however, have people who aren't. The women on Canada's Next Top Model (I saw a few minutes of it) are less attractive than the girls in the Sears catalogue. They must have their casting calls at suburban shopping malls where only mallrats and the super-vain would attend. Basically, my point is "Don't cast people for tv shows that you could reasonably picture on a episode of Maury Povich" because people don't want to watch ugly people vie for prizes.

Just an interesting article I found.

You should take a moment to read an excellent Ralph Peters essay on a redrawn Middle East per ethnic and religious identity for The Armed Forces Journal.  It offers a concise look at what is one of the root causes of struggle in the Middle East: that of religious groups being dispersed through countries drawn up by colonial French and British leaders. While his solutions are not geopolitically practical, it is very informative. 

World Cup

The World Cup starts tomorrow and I thought I'd share a couple treats before the tournament gets under way. What I have to share today is two theme songs for teams in the tournament.  The first is the theme song for England entitled "World At Your Feet" by Embrace.  This song is typical Embrace in that it is a syrupy britpop ballad. Nonetheless, it is pretty decent, although it's hard to spot the World Cup references.

Embrace - World At Your Feet

The second song is a theme song for Sweden entitled "Dressed In Yellow and Blue" by The Charade. It is a light-hearted song in the vein of Belle and Sebastian or The Reindeer Section, but with female vocals. I really like this song and the World Cup references are clearly evident.

The Charade – Dressed In Yellow and Blue

Oh, and I'm going for the Netherlands. Oranje!!

Terrorism!

With the recent arrests of 17 Canadian men on terrorism charges, the media has gotten into a fervor about security and how "safe" we are. This coverage is very superfluous, as security, to the extent the media would like it, is impossible to achieve without society denigrating into an Orwellian police state.

There are thousands of targets in Canada where a terrorist could attack and cause at least 100+ deaths. To attempt to secure all these places from terrorists is both practically and fiscally impossible. Thus, the process of catching terrorists at the planning stage is the most fruitful path for the government to prevent it. I support this approach, but such an approach is only effective if we have more monitoring of society to know who the terrorists are (which touches on privacy issues) and a stricter immigration policy to keep the terrorists out(which touches on human rights issues).

In this post I am not attempting to offer advice or solutions. Simply, I would urge people to examine these broader perspectives to have a truly informed opinion on this issue.