Josh Groban Sings Kanye West Tweets

Just. Beautiful. RT @edmundtadros From the archives…Josh Groban Sings Kanye West Tweets http://t.co/j3oTeHQr via @TheWallUS

— sdog (@s_dog) January 5, 2012

Pardon any typos; I’m still wiping the tears from my eyes.

It’s a car commercial

I predict a certain demographic will take a special eyes glued to the screen interest in this video. (I mean, of course, car dorks)

Get this man a movie deal!

I bumped into this blokes work while trawling through youtube last night. Unfortunately I dont speak Spanish, but I am familiar with a couple of the works he has made these “promotions” for.

In a word brilliant.

First Slaine,

A 2000AD comic originally, it became a tour-de-force of artistic talent and storytelling. What this bloke has done is absolutely faithful to the style and content of the comic.

Frank (Sin City) Millers “Bad boy” graphic novel.

Captain Harlech , which I seem to remember as a kids cartoon many years ago.

Heres the blokes website, in the unlikely event I become a multi millionare this bloke is going to direct any movies I want made.

http://www.miguelmesas.com/cineytv.htm

Finally, a Hybrid Automobile I Wouldn’t Be Embarrassed to Drive

Read it and smile.

“Porsche lifted the sheet on the 918 Spyder on the eve of the Geneva Motor Show and made some huge claims. A few things got our attention right off the bat — 500 horsepower, mid-engine V-8 and two electric motors. Oh … and 78.4 mpg.

Lots more pretty pictures at the source.

I’ll continue to be scarce until sometime in April. Weird stuff; some good, some not.

Saudi Rock Musicians Risk Arrest

This is truly great news.

“The last three years have seen an explosion in the kingdom’s underground music scene, with bands playing everything from hip-hop and rock to punk and death metal. There are currently more than 40 bands quietly rocking the nation, playing gigs in private homes, in residential compounds that house foreign workers and in tents in the middle of the vast Saudi desert.

But rocking in Riyadh and moshing in Mecca have their risks. The dreaded Mutaween — the Saudi religious police tasked with enforcing Shariah, the nation’s strict Islamic law, feel you have to suffer if you want to sing the blues. They’ve arrested band members for holding concerts without permits, and they’ve charged some concert organizers with money laundering, according to Saudi musicians and human rights organizations that monitor the oil-rich kingdom.

The threat to the Saudi regime isn’t the music itself, but rather the kingdom’s teenagers and young adults, who have grown up with computers, iPhones and satellite TVs, said human rights advocate Ali Alyami.

“The biggest threat to Saudi stability isn’t Al Qaeda. It’s the Saudi youth. None of their needs or demands are being met.

“There’s no jobs and people can’t date. They see what their counterparts around the world have, and they want it too.”

More than half of the kingdom’s 28 million residents are under 25, and educated and tech-savvy youths who are drawn to the sounds of the West are using Internet tools like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to get their ya-ya’s out.”

The power of western popular culture: Is there anything it can’t do? I predict Iran’s illegitimate government will fail first, but once that happens the Saudi’s are toast.

The kids are all right!

Timewarpians Stroll London in Victorian Garb

Since Steampunk has pretty much gone main stream, I’ve thought retro garb was pretty much a foregone conclusion. Many lament the lack of style and grace in today’s living, including me (But I’m not ready to give up my jeans quite yet).

“(CNN) — Social networking may be one of the biggest phenomenons of the 21st century, but for some denizens of the Web, it’s a way to get in touch with the past.

Web sites like livinghistoryworldwide.com (with a membership of more than 5,700) and groups on Facebook allow people who enjoy past eras to connect with each other. But it goes beyond that: Some of them dress and live like they would decades, if not centuries, ago.”

Funny thing is, if you pick any era from the 1950’s back, you’re going to be dressing with more class. Back in the 80’s, when I was going through my, “cool jazz musician phase,” I used to dress like this (As did quite a few of the straight-ahead swing musicians).

I can think of far worse social trends than tasteful dress and refined manners. In fact, this phenomenon has more than a few conservative elements to it.

“Why would one live this lifestyle? For many of these iReporters, it’s a reaction to modern society just as much as a love of the fashion and style of days gone by.

“I suppose others might call me an eccentric, but I just live the life I want to live and don’t care about what others say or think about me,” said Ray Frensham, a “Living Victorian,” from London, England. “Even though I’ve felt increasingly disconnected from the modern world for many years now, I’m not retreating into some past nether-world seeking a kind of comfort-blanket.”

Modern society in the United Kingdom can be “remarkably cruel and unforgiving,” Frensham said. “There is certainly no sense of any kind of community anymore,” he said. “People are purely self-centered, only in it for what they can get out of themselves.” He points to the recent MP expenses scandal there, which led to the resignation of British House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin, as an example.”

So, I’m all for it, but not ready for the top hat and ascot quite yet.

Merry Christmas: O Holy Night… and A Cast of Thousands

There is no other word for this production: Epic!

To all our contributors, editors, and commenters, Merry Christmas.

Welcome to the Planet, “Sol Mond 3”

Does this look like a photograph taken on Earth?

Well, it was. You simply must check out this series of inside-the-tube wave photos. Absolutely amazing.

Here is the star that “Sol Mond 3” orbits.

I think the seas on Sol Mond 3 are filled with silicon gel.

Remaking an Epic: Clash of the Titans

I’m an old-school retrosexual kind of guy, so I like epic movies like Gladiator, 10,000 BC, The Patriot, Apocalypto, Master and Commander – you get the idea; the more high-test testosterone, the better. Well, the original Clash of the Titans came out in 1981, and it was a pretty good action epic for the time – I actually have a Swedish friend named Anders who had a bit part in it – but after movies like 300, which have redefined the entire look and feel of action epics, I’ve begun to wonder what those kind of production values and CGI effects could bring to a remake of Clash.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that, not only is a remake on the horizon, but it’s finished filming and is already in post production! This flew completely under my radar. Here’s the trailer in formats up to and including 1080p HD (Which looks awesome on my Apple 23″ Cinema HD Display). HA! It sounds as if Bingbing did the film score: very heavy, which I like for this sort of thing (300 had a brilliant score).

It looks like they’ve done it right, with a big budget, no-holds-barred CGI effects, and a killer cast that includes Sam Worthington as Persius, Ralph Fiennes as Hades, Liam Neeson as Zeus (!), Alexa Davalos as Andromeda, and my favorite babe-actress of the moment, Gemma Arterton, as Io.

I could so love her. LOL!

I don’t go to theaters to see films in first release much anymore, but this one I will. Of course, I’ll have to have the DVD too. In fact, this movie might finally spur me on to finally buy a Blu-Ray player if I like it enough.

I’m more psyched about Clash of the Titans than I am about Avatar.

Cute, Talented Geeky Girl does Lady Gaga’s Poker Face

Not only do I like this better than the original version, but this girl is far more attractive to me than Lady Gaga.

Brilliant! Geek chicks rule, especially the ones who are musicians.

H/T Instapundit, who got it from, John Scalzi.

The girl is Molly Lewis, and she has a blog! What I want to know is, does she have a musician boyfriend?… because, you know, I’m available. LOL!

Failure Analysis Video: U.S. Airways Flight 1549

I’ve seen a lot of computer generated failure analysis videos over the years, but this CGI video of the 1549 bird strike and Hudson landing is the best I’ve seen by far. It includes the actual control tower and cockpit conversations; as audio when available, and as a transcript when not. Just spec-freaking-tacular. Read the article first!

You’ll have to watch multiple times to get everything said in the cockpit, even after the setup by the article. Just an awesome job.

Obama Plays Global Thermonuclear Job Loss

Okay, so it’s not really global, just in the United States (But I’m betting a global version would be even more fun).

Go to the link and press the play triangle in the upper left corner (This is just a screen grab). It really does look like some sort of doomsday scenario.

Hey Barry, how’s that “Stimulus” working for ya?

Knot-heads. I could have told them it wouldn’t work.

Via AoS.

BMW Vision Efficient-Dynamics Concept Car

I don’t usually get excited about concept cars – I’m really more of a motorcycle guy and I drive a pickup truck – but this BMW is pretty freaking cool.

“BMW’s Vision EfficientDynamics concept has been the subject of rumor and innuendo for weeks, but now the German car company is setting the stage for its 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show display with new details of its concept…

As the name implies, this concept car grafts fashionable green technology on the body of a 2+2 sports car. The promise: BMW M-car performance from a vehicle with a three-cylinder diesel plug-in hybrid powertrain…

Performance is geared to please the toughest Bimmerphile. BMW claims a 155-mph top speed and a 0-60 mph time of less than 4.8 seconds, while providing fuel economy of almost 63 mpg, and for European enthusiasts, CO2 emissions of 99 grams per kilometer…

Driving range could pass 400 miles with fuel or 31 miles on electricity alone, BMW also adds…

The racing-inspired details continue with well-managed airflow–so tightly tuned, the EfficientDynamics concept generates a coefficient of drag of 0.22, while today’s best production cars sit at 0.24 (the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe).”

Of course, nothing this radical or beautiful – in the mind of this particular beholder, I’ll admit – is practical for production, but the technical details, many of which I didn’t excerpt, are truly marvelous.

If only BMW made 4×4 pickup trucks, then my truck would match my motorcycle. LOL!

President Obama as, “A Better Class of Criminal”

Some brilliant pop artist has decided to speak truth to power. In LA-LA Land, no less.

I guess after 200 days, some people are starting to realize that no Skittle-Shitting Unicorn will be forthcoming.

UPDATE: Right on cue, leftards play the race card where no invocation of race exists, and say “The only thing missing is the rope.” Ah, hyperbole from the Hyper-Bowling Alley that is the leftist Cosmic Bowling League. At some point, someone shined a laser on their disco ball and blinded the lot of them… you can’t prove it was me.

Besides, Chimpy McBush-Halliburton was Joker-ized first.

Was the rope missing there too? Thanks to Sonny Bunch.

UPDATE 2: Another SFLT says it’s “mean spirited and dangerous.”

“Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson is calling the depiction, politically mean spirited and dangerous.

Hutchinson is challenging the group or individual that put up the poster to have the courage and decency to publicly identify themselves.”

“Urban Policy Roundtable President”… LOL! And he uses his middle name… because it’s different, I suppose. What a steaming pile of excrement.

UPDATE 3: The actual origin of the image seems to be this Flickr user.

Hat Tip to Anthony Dick.

Newsbusters has more.

UPDATE 4: Of course, now we eeeeevil capitalists have turned the O’Joker into t-shirt swag. And why not? What better way to fight socialism than with capitalism? Works every time it’s tried.

LOL! Thanks to those filthy little Sand People.

When Fast Isn’t Good Enough: Nissan Encounters Warp Drive

I have a Dodge RAM 1500 Quad Cab 4×4 Sport pickup truck and a BMW R1100RS motorcycle, and I’m okay with that. Why don’t I have a car? Because I can afford the truck and the bike I want, but I’m nowhere near wealthy enough to afford any car I’d care to drive. Say, an automobile such as the Bugatti Veyron.

Here’s what happens when a fast car I could afford – the Nissan GT-R – meets a Bugatti Veyron in a matchup.

Well, calling it a “matchup” isn’t really fair, is it?

See, if I can’t afford a car that can do that, I’ll stick with trucks and motorcycles.

From AutoBlog.

UPDATE (bing)

The Veyron at top speed… 253 miles/h… 407km/h

It goes from 200km/h to 300km/h in 9.4 seconds.

The asked a Formula 1 team if they could use their wind tunnel. No can do. F1 cars don’t go fast enough.

UPDATE 2: For SezaGeoff, Angus Dei’s highly customized 1994 BMW R1100RS.

The Beef of God himself on his BMW K1200LT back in 2005 (Now sold).

I love motorcycles and have ridden over 100K miles on them in the past ten years.

Michael Jackson (Updated)

Just saw a snippet of one interview where he said this was his most important song, the song we should listen to. Poor man probably died of a broken heart. So here you go, Michael.

UPDATE: [Beef] Tough day, yesterday. M.J. was a guilty pleasure of mine because, as far as pop goes, it was all just so well done. Let’s not forget that he turned the music video – little more than a marketing gimmick previously – into a fifteen minute short-form story telling vehicle.

Thriller, Part 1:

Thriller, Part 2:

And, let’s not forget that Farrah Fawcett also passed yesterday. Yeah, I had a thing for her in ’77 when “the poster” was such a hit.

RIP and Godspeed to both.

Virtuoso Hula Hoop

Hope this embeds.

NOTE: Ahem, there is a lot of NSFW stuff at this site (I was hoping the vid would embed, but oh well).

EMBED-Sexy Chick Hula Hooping – Watch more free videos

With some girls, it’s all in the way they look. With others, it’s all in the way they move. With a few – a very few – you get both. Wow.

UPDATE: Redneck Basketball Shots (Same related NSFW warning applies).

EMBED-Crazy Basketball Shots on the Farm – Watch more free videos

Total Eclipse of the Heart: I Too Hated Lord of the Flies

Literal Video, it’s the new rage: You replace the song lyrics with a literal description of what’s being shown in the vid.

“What the effing crap, that angel guy just felt me up.”

Comedy gold… dust.

H/T, Ann Outhouse,

Ted Rall, Leftist Toon Town Resident: Obama Should Resign

In what has to be the ultimate example of leftard buyer’s remorse – as well as a first class exploding-head rant – foul-ball-territory left field resident, cartoonist, and columnist Ted Rall has decided that President Obama has reneged on so many of his leftist pie-in-the-sky promises… that he should resign. Wow. Just… wow.

Ted Rall

“MIAMI — We expected broken promises. But the gap between the soaring expectations that accompanied Barack Obama’s inauguration and his wretched performance is the broadest such chasm in recent historical memory. This guy makes Bill Clinton look like a paragon of integrity and follow-through.

From health care to torture to the economy to war, Obama has reneged on pledges real and implied. So timid and so owned is he that he trembles in fear of offending, of all things, the government of Turkey. Obama has officially reneged on his campaign promise to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. When a president doesn’t have the nerve to annoy the Turks, why does he bother to show up for work in the morning?”

Jesus Xavier de Battista Lopez Rodriguez, not even I – a radical libertarian individualist if ever there was one – think Obama has done so poorly that calls for his resignation are in order.

“Obama is useless. Worse than that, he’s dangerous. Which is why, if he has any patriotism left after the thousands of meetings he has sat through with corporate contributors, blood-sucking lobbyists and corrupt politicians, he ought to step down now — before he drags us further into the abyss.

I refer here to Obama’s plan for “preventive detentions.” If a cop or other government official thinks you might want to commit a crime someday, you could be held in “prolonged detention.” Reports in U.S. state-controlled media imply that Obama’s shocking new policy would only apply to Islamic terrorists (or, in this case, wannabe Islamic terrorists, and also kinda-sorta-maybe-thinking-about-terrorism dudes). As if that made it OK.

In practice, Obama wants to let government goons snatch you, me and anyone else they deem annoying off the street.”

Scary thing is – and I’m talking gulp-inducing terror here – I actually find myself agreeing with Ted on this issue (But not that Obama should resign, of course). I pray that in some drunken moment sometime, I never uttered the words, “If I ever agree with Ted Rall on anything, just shoot me.” Seriously, because that’s just the sort of thing I might have said about Ted previous to reading this article.

Methinks President Obama may have some developing troubles with his base.

You should read the whole enchilada.

H/T Mark Hemmingway.

The Osbourne Identity

“Ozzie Osbourne” was once a female singer named Janis Joplin…

Grace Slick and Janis Joplin

… who faked her death, had a sex change, and came back as, “Ozzie Osbourne.”

Clearly.

This is just a way to turn you on to the amazing site of photographer Jim Marshall (No not the same Jim Marshall that makes guitar amplifiers).

Jim has photographed some of the most famous rock icons since the 60’s.

Mick!

Frank!

I viewed every photo there last night. Absolutely fascinating.

Men Into Porn for at Least 35,000 Years

Some things never, ever change.

“If human culture seems obsessed with sex lately, it’s nothing new. Archaeologists have discovered the oldest known artistic representation of a woman — a carved ivory statue of a naked female, dating from 35,000 years ago.

“The statue is notable not just for its symbolism, but for its style — particularly its sexuality.

“The figure is explicitly — and blatantly — that of a woman, with an exaggeration of sexual characteristics (large, projecting breasts, a greatly enlarged and explicit vulva, and bloated belly and thighs) that by twenty-first-century standards could be seen as bordering on the pornographic,” Mellars wrote in a commentary essay in Nature.”

I’m not surprised in the least.

“Scientists guess that it may have represented female fertility, or been related to shamanistic rituals and beliefs.”

I guess you could call “Beating the Bishop” a shamanistic ritual.

At least there has been some evolutionary progress by men…

… we’ve gotten better at depicting our fantasies.

How to Photograph a Nude

First, of course, you need the appropriate subject matter.

Notice the scale. She makes the couch look like a prop in The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Seriously, I’d be surprised if this tiny little thing is even five feet tall.

Then you need to compose the photograph and get the light and pose just right. Oh, by the way, this is not safe for work.

American Stonehenge: The Georgia Guidestones

Believe it, or not, I had never, ever, heard of these.

“The strangest monument in America looms over a barren knoll in northeastern Georgia. Five massive slabs of polished granite rise out of the earth in a star pattern. The rocks are each 16 feet tall, with four of them weighing more than 20 tons apiece. Together they support a 25,000-pound capstone. Approaching the edifice, it’s hard not to think immediately of England’s Stonehenge or possibly the ominous monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Built in 1980, these pale gray rocks are quietly awaiting the end of the world as we know it.
Called the Georgia Guidestones, the monument is a mystery—nobody knows exactly who commissioned it or why.”

The article is four of the most fascinating pages I have ever read on WIRED. Warning: If you start reading this article, you won’t be able to stop.

The Bustling Metropolis of New York, Circa 1664

This is pretty cool:

“AMSTERDAM – To see some of the most important documents in the early history of New York, you need to go to Amsterdam.
The Rijksmuseum, the Netherland’s national museum, put those documents on display Friday, including early maps and the only report of the purchase of Manhattan by Europeans…

A detailed 1665 painting by Johannes Vingboons is also on display, portraying the early city like a small Dutch village of the period. A windmill stands out in the background, and the town’s gallows are prominently on the coast in plain view of arriving ships.”

Yes, the gallows were on the waterfront to warn sailors to behave themselves while in port. I’s built for four, so it must have seen quite a bit of action.

Here’s the full rez version at Wikipedia.

What Would Falling Into a Black Hole Look Like?

Well, it would look like this. The dial on the lower left is your trajectory into the black hole, while elapsed time is displayed on the clock on the lower right. Note that there is a “real” time and the “warped” time as you experience it: What’s on your watch and what’s in your brain. The multi-colored photons-in-orbit effect is the point at which you pass the event horizon. Pretty freakin’ cool!

The entire article is here, with additional links to even more video variations on this theme.

Hat-tip to Johnah Goldberg at The Corner.