South Africa stays in the overseas news. Not because of anything particularly positive, at least according to The Independent in the United Kingdom. Go read Muti Murders.
And staying with this strange statue-worshipping country of ours … (Has anyone shown the African National Congress the “statue graveyards” in Eastern Europe filled with kilometres of dumped and abandoned statues dedicated to communist heroes? Just a thought.) Read Jani Allen’s interesting take on the so-called “Boeremag treason trial” taking place here, at ANC’s Unjust Justice.
Then, to dive into the heart of the matter, go see another point of view at Stop Boer Genocide.
All right, that was the serious stuff for this week, the rest is the usual chaotic weirdness.
Feel like sending United States troops some goodies to help them in their fight against Everyone Else? Yes, I’m being ironic, but it’s still interesting to see the facilities set up to help the US troops online. (Whereas back in South Africa, 89% of the South African National Defence Force isn’t going to be around soon, and our government just shrugs). Go browse the resources and info at Any Soldier.
Here’s a news item that goes completely against those friendly petrol adverts that are on television all the time, trying to persuade you that the same basic fuel is made better by the junk you can buy or the friendly smiles of the slaves pumping the petrol. If you have children and stay near a petrol station, then they are four times more likely to get leukaemia.
Based on this new research item, if you’re unlucky enough to have a kid with leukaemia or other cancer, and there’s a friendly petrol station across the road — you now know why it happened. Get a lawyer and sue the bastards. Read Four Times Leukaemia Risk for Kids Near Petrol Stations.
Pause-for-non-serious-news-item time. A geeky thing of note — have a look at this Bluetooth-enabled Flying Bot.
Back into the serious: maybe there’s a market for packaging and selling our rubbish on the internet as authentic African rubbish. This may sound strange, but someone’s doing it already, using New York rubbish. Go look at ingenuity and social comment in action at I Sell New York Rubbish!.
Or, for art work that you can carry around with you, check out the cool designs you can have shaved into you head at Tans Barbers.
Film-geek time. Since Barry Ronge was mind-bogglingly stupid enough to call the interesting and disturbing flick Ken Park “pornography” on his radio show a while back — thus losing all the credibility he previously had as someone who allegedly knew something about film — there have not been that many good critics around, until now. If you have ever wondered just how an alien life force would succinctly review Earth cinema, do yourself a favour and browse through the reviews of Broog: Alien Film Critic!.
The other major cool film critic whose writing is required reading for any film geek, just to flush the cobwebs, is Joe Bob Briggs. Also try this Joe Bob site. Or read more of Joe Bob Briggs’s reviews.
Staying momentarily with the film thread. Not that local mafia-like film distributors tend to “allow” the showing of films outside of their own monopolistic multiplex franchises, thanks to backward laws kept in place with kickbacks, bribery and corruption, but still — look at the cool concepts that can be found in societies where legal thuggery doesn’t crush film appreciation. Read Movie Shows in Cemeteries!.
After years of being a mostly Brit-only success, comedian Ali G is starting to make inroads into the US. I was listening to Howard Stern the other day when audio of the following was played, to much howls of laughter in studio. Ali G ended up in some poor white trash bar down South, doing a karaoke session to an initially nonplussed audience of rednecks, of a song they ended up singing with him. The title? Now remember it’s satire — go to Throw the Jew Down the Well.
Gadgets-you-can-use time. Here’s something I would buy, just to keep at home and activate on a regular basis. Go look at and listen to the sample alarm sound from the real working tool known as The Fart Detector Alarm.
For those of you dumb enough to believe that education is the key to anything much, take a good hard read of The Education System Was Designed to Keep Us Uneducated and Docile.
We’re not the only country with really stupid-sounding languages. In The Netherlands there’s a fried-chicken franchise that’s beloved of drunken, late-night staggering Dutchies in need of something greasy to eat. Go take a listen to their cheerful advertising jingle at Febo!.
When good ideas go stupid. It’s hard getting a decent night’s sleep these days, isn’t it? What with the possibility of burglars, killers, nuclear warfare, biochemical attacks, obese women’s choirs doing night-time rehearsals and civil unrest all conspiring to mess with your beauty sleep. Until now. Go wonder what exactly the inventors were thinking as you stare at the coffin-like, bullet-proof wonders of The Quantum Sleeper.
And for more “oh man, how do we sell this rubbish” moments, go take a look at the oddness of a company trying to unload a decidedly unsexy range of lawn equipment and tools to consumers by having photographs that conveniently show the busty charms of various models holding the assorted tools and equipments. You’ll see what I mean by the total absence of subtlety at Sexy Lawn Equipment and Tools.
For a very interesting “interview” that looks at how our language and its meanings are being changed under our very noses, go take the time to read An Interview with George Orwell.
It’s hard to believe, but there once were stupid morons around who worried so much about how individuals were having sex that there were laws stopping adults from doing whatever they wanted with other consenting adults. Totally bizarre and primitive non-thought in action. So let’s take a dive back into the dark ages and browse through a chunk of oddly quaint gay history (complete with downloadable songs) at Gay Music Underground.
Okay, as a vegetarian, the following is kinda like porno to me — but what the heck, it’s still staggering to see and worthy of pointing out. Imagine a hamburger: not just any common-or-garden hamburger but a gigantic “six pounds of meat” burger that primitive hungry tribes would worship like a God. Take a look at the pix and comments around The Huge Hamburger.
And I was lucky enough recently to see an amazing new documentary — assuming local McDonald’s don’t apply serious pressure on distributors here to squash the impact of the film — which is enough to make sure you never go near the golden arches again. The film is called Supersize Me and follows one man who simply eats three times a day at McDonalds. In just 30 days he puts on more than 9kg and his body begins falling apart, to the amazement of the doctors charting his progress. Not to mention the horror from his vegan chef girlfriend. The official site is at Supersize Me. And to find out how it all happened, read the interview.
For you sick people who actually eat meat, now at last you can make things all better by apologising to the cows you’ve eaten. I’m not kidding. This site allows you to sign the online apology (in between your meat-eating bouts) and more than 40 000 people have signed it so far. Go help your karma and Apologise Online to the Cows You Eat.
So are you one of the many slaves to the capitalist system, trapped in an office and working primarily to pay off the debts from buying a wide range of products that supposedly would make you feel “free”? (No, this isn’t really related to the next link, as a non-consumerist, I just enjoy poking fun at people who have bought into the lies of the consumer society. Sorry.)
However, if you work in an office, then there are standard types you’re going to run across. Have some fun and go take The Office Psychopath Test.
As many of you with disposable incomes have discovered, there are many sites online dedicated to showing you the horror stories that occur when plastic surgery goes bad, but here’s one that’s looking at the good results. Go consider Good Plastic Surgery.
Finally, the utterly regrettable and usually tasteless link always reserved for the bottom of the column, as a reward for those who have waded through this week’s offerings. This time we move into the world of butt plugs, and for those who don’t know what they are — well, just move along folks, nothing to see here. For the rest of you, go stare thoughtfully at the possible “most unlikely use of jewellery since De Beers persuaded stupid people that squeezed bits of carbon represented commitment in love”. Go get it in the end at Butt Plug Jewellery.
Look on the bright side, at least I didn’t show you how to Play the Piano with Your Balls.
Until the next time, if Barry Ronge doesn’t get me.