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Take a walk on the blind side: Lou Reed has his own iPhone app
12.23.2009
06:31 pm
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You have to hand it to Lou Reed. For five decades, the guy’s been on the cutting edge of the cutting edge, from the avant-garde rock of the Velvet Underground to ... developing his own iPhone app?

Yup. Reed, perhaps rock’s most decadent artist of all, has just released his Lou Zoom app and it’s available at the iTunes store and his website. What does it do, you ask? Well, it’s not really for rock and roll animals; it’s more an app for old people. The Lou Zoom basically zooms in on your iPhone contacts list, turning it into the high-tech equivalent of one of those large-number telephones your grandma has. The price: $1.99.
 
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Posted by Richard Metzger
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12.23.2009
06:31 pm
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Bob Dylan’s new Christmas video “Must Be Santa”
12.23.2009
06:27 pm
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Watching the video for Bob Dylan’s “Must Be Santa” from his new “Christmas In the Heart” album, I must confess that my first reaction was “Who let the weird old guy into the party?”

I didn’t really have a second reaction to it…

Posted by Richard Metzger
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12.23.2009
06:27 pm
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Go forth and shoplift: Anglican priest advocates ‘doing a runner’
12.23.2009
06:04 pm
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Our favorite story gaining traction around the Interwebs today has to do with Anglican priest Rev. Tim Jones, who more or less told his congregation that it’s OK to steal from retail giants like grocery chain Tesco if your family is hungry. Makes sense to us, but Rev. Tim (who is not as liberal as it might seem) has been taken to task by conservative politicians and some in the British media for advocating this teensy-weensy exception to the 8th commandment. Here’s what he told his congregation:

“My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.

“I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices. I would ask them not to take any more than they need. I offer the advice with a heavy heart. Let my words not be misrepresented as a simplistic call for people to shoplift.

“The life of the poor in modern Britain is a constant struggle, a minefield of competing opportunities, competing responsibilities, obligations and requirements, a constant effort to achieve the impossible. For many at the bottom of our social ladder, lawful, honest life can sometimes seem to be an apparent impossibility.”

It’s not like Rev. Tim is saying “Go forth and mug people” or that the poor should burgle their neighbor’s homes. He’s basically saying “feed yourself, illegally if you must, just do it in a way that doesn’t harm society.” Given the choice between starving or allowing your family to starve, shoplifting a frozen pizza sounds like a morally acceptable no-brainer to us in these troubled times.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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12.23.2009
06:04 pm
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The Dear Leader Teapot
12.23.2009
03:37 pm
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The Dear Leader Teapot.  Got hordes of obsequious followers?  Now you can brew tea from their famine-stricken tears!  What’s next—The Idi Amin 3-Tier Scone Tower?!

(via Cakehead)

 

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
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12.23.2009
03:37 pm
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Kill Yr Televsion (Before It Kills You)!
12.23.2009
03:01 pm
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When it comes to watching television, maybe vigorous exercise isn’t quite enough to ward off the dangers associated with a largely sedentary lifestyle.  Based on an October phone survey of 10,000 Americans of various weights, an expected pattern emerged: people who engaged in lots of physical activity weighed less than those who didn’t.  But when the researches factored in the amount of time spent watching television and movies, a far different pattern emerged:

No matter how much TV they watched, if they didn?

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
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12.23.2009
03:01 pm
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It Ain’t Made of Wicker But I Dig The Sentiment
12.23.2009
02:52 pm
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The fine people of Santa Catarina, Brazil inadvertently brought a bit of paganism back to the season this year by not properly wiring their traditional fifty-foot Santa. Nice one.
 
(via Buzzfeed. thx Suzy Beal !)

Posted by Brad Laner
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12.23.2009
02:52 pm
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Prince William sleeps outside for a night on the streets of London
12.23.2009
12:32 am
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No matter what you think of the Royal Family—I mostly see them as parasites, myself—this is an admirable gesture for a future king. Prince WIlliam joined Seyi Obakin, CEO of the Centrepoint charity, bedding down between garbage tips near Blackfriars bridge so he could better understand the plight of the homeless. Clearly William seems to be taking after his mother, unlike his brother, the ginger twat. From the Telegraph:

Writing on the Centrepoint website [Obatkin] added: ‘‘For me, it was a scary experience. Out of my comfortable bed. Out there in the elements. Out there on an extremely cold night, with temperatures down to minus 4.

‘‘And it was the same for Prince William. But he was determined to do it as [Centrepoint] patron in order to raise awareness of the problem and to be able to understand a little better what rough sleepers go through night after night.’‘

Earlier in the year, Centrepoint’s chief executive challenged the Prince to experience being homeless for one night and Mr Obakin said he did not think the royal would pick up the gauntlet.

The offer came after the Prince, 27, in a speech to mark Centrepoint’s 40th anniversary this year, challenged the organisation to redouble its efforts to end youth homelessness.

The pair were joined on the sleep-out by William’s private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, and bedded down on cardboard boxes in an alleyway just after midnight last Wednesday.

In a grainy photograph released by the homeless charity, the Prince, dressed in jeans, trainers, a hooded top and a hat, can be seen standing next to Mr Obakin with their bedding around them.

The chief executive wrote on his charity’s website: “We took as much precaution as possible - finding a relatively secluded spot in an alleyway, shielded partly by a collection of wheelie bins.

“But there was no shielding from the bitter cold, or the hard concrete floor, or the fear of being accosted by drug dealers, pimps or those out to give homeless people a ‘good kicking’.

“One of the hairiest moments occurred when we were almost run over by a road sweeper which simply didn’t see our small group huddled together, which just goes to show how vulnerable rough sleepers are.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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12.23.2009
12:32 am
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Bangers and cash
12.23.2009
12:03 am
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The last line is, as the kids say, LOL funny. From The Croatian Times:

A crackpot crook held off police for an hour before they realised that dynamite and detonators strapped around his waist were really sausages. Oddball Sing He, 23, threatened to blow up a restaurant and its terrified customers in Benxi, northern China, unless they handed him the day’s takings. He kept police at bay for more than an hour until a specialist bomb unit arrived and realised the bangers were more porker than plastique. “When we saw what he had round his waist we couldn’t help laughing. Some of the sausages still had the wrappers on them,” said one bomb squad officer. “It must have been terrifying for the customers but those things would only have gone off if you’d kept them past their sell by date,” he added. He told police he’d planned the raid because he was depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend. “I needed some excitement in my life and to that extent it was a success” he explained.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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12.23.2009
12:03 am
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James Coco: Hostility disguised as comedy disguised as hostility
12.22.2009
11:38 pm
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Dangerous Minds pal Jesse Merlin writes:

“Have I told you how much I worship James Coco? Overt hostility disguised as comedy disguised as overt hostility. GENIUS. This clip is just unbelievable.  The way Coco takes on Bob Hope (one of the most beloved men in America) and Woody Allen is positively inspired.  And genuinely hostile.  Coco is one of the greatest comic geniuses among forgotten character actors and Broadway stars, known these days perhaps for “Man of La Mancha,” his gut-bustingly funny role in “Murder By Death” and his cameos on the Muppet Show and in “The Muppets Take Manhattan.”

 

 
The continuation of Coco’s appearance (listed as clip 5) shows up here at 7.45.

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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12.22.2009
11:38 pm
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D. Boon: 24 Years Gone
12.22.2009
06:03 pm
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On December 22nd 1985 The Minutemen‘s D. Boon perished in a van accident in Arizona. I can count myself as one of their early fans, having picked up their first E.P. on the strength of it being on Black Flag’s SST label. I was thrilled to find a local band that clearly loved Gang of Four and The Pop Group, even Captain Beefheart ! I saw them as often as I could and via their infinite kindness found my teen noise punk band Debt of Nature frequently opening for them. They even gave me my first appearance on an actual vinyl record. Below is the wonderful video for “This Ain’t No Picnic” wherein the boys, rocking out at the Sepulveda Dam (!), are attacked via air by a young Ronald Reagan. Resourceful genius.

Posted by Brad Laner
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12.22.2009
06:03 pm
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