Karl Pilkington is the Shiznit
Not enough lateral thinkers in your life? Fear not: Karl Pilkington is here. More precisely, Karl’s in London, recording The Ricky Gervais Show, a podcast that is quickly becoming something of an international phenomenon. For fans of the BBC original series, The Office, it will be enough to say that the co-creators of that show, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, are hosts. However, the fact of the matter is that the third wheel, Karl Pilkington is the star of the show. A few random thoughts from Karl (from rickygervais.com and his fansite):
Isaac Newton did not contribute much to human civilization as discovering gravity did not affect us as it had always been there. Had everyone been floating about then he would rightfully deserve the amount of credit he receives. Einstein’s contribution to humanity is similarly unimpressive as Pilkington has never had to use the theory of relativity, whereas, in contrast, whoever invented the video recorder has received no recognition despite the fact that he watches one a week.
Gay people go out too late at the weekend. In reference to the Rod Stewart song ‘The Killing of Georgie’, they wouldn’t have as much trouble if they were in bed by ten.
Were those presents the three kings brought Jesus for Christmas or his birthday?
An infinite number of monkeys using an infinite number of typewriters for an infinite amount of time, could not produce the complete work of Shakespeare, unless they have read it.
Chinese people age badly in comparison to other races.
You never see old men eating Twix bars.
And my personal favorite: On a hypothetical meeting between Karl and his doppleganger: “How would I know which one I was?”
The podcasts are available from iTunes and Audible.com. Justin and I found Audible supremely annoying to use, so be warned. They’re a steal at about $7 for 6 hours of the first series (all 12 episodes), and the same for a subscription to the second series.
Smoking Ban
I don’t smoke. A smoking ban starts on 4/1/2006 at midnight. That’s Friday at Midnight for those of you who will be at the bar.
But since I am generally a public nuisance in every sense of the word, what if I stood outside the establishment, lit up a big fat stogie, then walked in with my own ashtray and just let the cigar burn for the next hour without ever putting it to my lips?
If it is a smoking ban and not a burning ban…could I get away with it? Would I be charged with arson or reckless endangerment for burning something inside a public building?
I’ll just shut up and go drink.
Last Train to Urville
Urville is the creation of lifelong urban planning-obsessed Gilles Trehin, a 28-year old Frenchman who describes himself as having either autism or Asperger’s Syndrome (Asperger’s + French = God with a cruel sense of humor). Starting with Lego’s in 1984, he has spent his life creating incredibly detailed views of this imaginary scientific outpost in Antarctica. Interestingly, he also has very detailed writings concerning the history, geography, culture and economics of Urville.
Via Kotaku
Community Consciousness and the Web
I’m probably enjoying my Google homepage too much. I have upwards of thirty RSS modules, most of them from news sites. Two of my favorite feeds, though, are from decidedly more personal sources. One is Flickr’s Recently Added, from the popular community photo-sharing site. Every time I refresh my homepage I see a random photo of some stranger’s Indian wedding, trip to Europe, or 21st birthday party. Sometimes the pictures are surprisingly lovely. True, every once in a while it’s a close-up of some dude’s knob, but in my opinion the good outweighs the bad. My other favorite is del.icio.us (thanks, Oscar!), a social bookmarking site. I don’t use it to store my own bookmarks (yet), but it’s interesting to see the variety other people are saving. Today there was a link to The Gallery of Inuit Art in Vancouver, a site I’d never have known about, or even thought to look for, otherwise. It had some great prints, including the one shown here. I’m sure all this sharing is a form of voyeurism/exhibitionism, but a socially acceptable, and even healthy one. I guess it’s clear which side of the equation I’m on: I like the feeling of getting a glimpse into a stranger’s online life, and while I read the comments on Fark and Slashdot, I never post them myself. So what sites are other eightandfivers enjoying? And what do you feel is next for community sites? I am, as always, curious.
Props: The painting is The Sun and the Moon, by Germaine Arnaktauyok.
Escalating the Global War on Terror
With thousands of soldiers and civilians dead and with no end to GWoT!? in sight, the latest chilling news about GWoT!? may force me to consider re-enlisting.
Yes folks, it’s true…
The dirty terroristic non-believers want to poison our beer! What the FUCK is the world coming to? I understand religious zealotry, I understand a constant state of war, I understand global terrorism on a scale unprecedented in human history…but our BEER!?
Egad! I am OK with poisoning our burgers! It would probably be good and would keep us from contracting Mad Cow in the long run, but for the sake of all humanity, do NOT poison our BEER!
I am drafting the following resolution for consideration at my next City Council meeting:
“Whereas, The United States must develop a strategic end-game plan for GWoT,
Whereas, Beer is consumed by more Americans than water,
Whereas, Americans pray more often to the Porcelain God than to God as recognized by any organized branch of Christianity,
Whereas, the sooner GWoT is over, the safer our beer will be,
Be it Therefore Resolved that the United States of America do hereby declare full-scale March to the Sea tactics on all enemies both foreign and domestic in GWoT!? and will destroy every village, cell phone, rock, hut, camel, horse, city, and any other living or moving thing in a circular arc of chaos and destruction until such time as our beer supply is safe as determined by the President of Anheuser-Busch, August A. Busch IV. God Bless America!”
This time, WAR means WAR!
Download to Own Video, or a load of Shit
It looks like the major studios are getting wise to the idea that it is very convienient to download videos off the internet and store them on your hard disk. Sadly the convienience kind of goes away when it costs 35USD and takes an hour to download. It doesn’t really make much sense when it takes 15 minutes to download them for free off the usenet… But honestly why would it cost 35USD, for something I can buy on a DVD for 15USD and I don’t have to find a place to store it.
Aggregator Aggregator Alligator 3-23-06
Today’s edition of Aggregator Aggregator Alligator 3-23-06. This time with legit music (Vivaldi’s four seasons, spring first 3 movements). Here’s a list of the sites I mention:
Google News - BBC - Aljazeera - The Huffington Post - Gamespot - Slashdot - Gizmodo - Lifehacker - Tailrank - Fox News - Gamasutra - C-Span - CNN - Defamer - Drudgereport
Children exposed to sex are more likely to have it
This just in:
Aggregator Aggregator Alligator
Here’s take one of a little idea I’ve been tossing around. It’s a reading of the headlines of the day on all the websites that I (or we, if anyone cares to participate) deem worthwhile. This is really rough as it’s the first attempt and I have little time today.
I’d like to make this an official thing, but I have some questions that I need answered:
Is it legal for me to just read the headlines off of other people’s websites?
I put music in the background (Miles Davis Bitches Brew, Pharaoh’s Dance) do I need to pay someone to use that?
I also think that particular song was a poor choice for background music, I will adjust next time.
In addition what do yall think? I’d really like some feedback about which sites to use and which not to use–please give me suggestions.
Terrorism Docudrama
So I was coerced into seeing “Failure to Launch” recently. Unless you want to see Terry Bradshaw naked, I would recommend against seeing this movie.
What was more disturbing than seeing this inane romantic comedy was the movie trailer for a flick called “Flight 93” that opens in April. This is a movie the New York Times says will be the first movie from studios seeking “commercial value in the still-fresh trauma”.
Is cashing in on the Global War on Terrororism (GWoT!? for those who like acronyms) something the studios should really be doing?
I am unsure. On one hand I want to applaud Hollywood studios for memorializing the every day folks who became heroes in the GWoT!?, but on the other hand…I think they could wait a little longer.
It took Hollywood studios eight years for them to come out with “Three Kings” which was a work of fiction - and fourteen years to release the memoir “Jarhead“.
Because GWoT!? has an aftermath of an occupation and an extended insurgency, I think that Hollywood studios should wait longer before capitalizing on King George’s Crusade.