Robot Unicorn

This is addictive

Because this is has an excellent ending.

Because this is ridiculous.

Australia's government is "banning" adult publications and films featuring women with "small breasts," says Aussie activist Fiona Patten, on the grounds that such images encourage pedophilia. Patton, leader of the anti-censorship Australian Sex Party, is taking issue with a 2005 ruling which specified that even depictions of women who are over 18 but "appear to be" underage may be judged "illegal." Is this alleged practice a strategic way to fight child pornography, or — as Patten maintains — an absurd reaction to a perfectly normal female body type?

How could censoring small breasts curb kiddie porn? This "is a terrible idea for many reasons," says Maureen O'Connor in Gawker. Not only would such a ban do nothing to "reduce smut," censoring images of "small breasts" only codifies "an arbitrary set of female sexual ideals."

"Prude Australians try to ban small boobs and female ejaculation in porn"

Patton is exaggerating: We're all taking this too far, says Australian censorship blog Somebody Think of the Children. While it's true that the law does ban women who "look younger" than 18 from appearing in adult publications and films, images of small breasts alone are not "automatically" considered "illegal." For instance, "it’s highly unlikely that a naked photograph of a 30-, 40- or 50-year-old woman with small breasts" would ever be banned.

"Australia bans small breasts"

Regardless, the law is sexist: A ban that classifies normal female bodies as "obscene" could not be "any more insulting," says adult industry blog Ms Naughty. Not only does this encourage women to have breast augmentations, it characterizes men who think "small boobs are sexy" as "perverts." There's an easier way to determine if a woman is "'too young" — it's called checking her date of birth.

"Now Australia is banning small boobs".

Source: http://www.theweek.com/article/index/105766/Australias_small_breast_ban

Good or Bad?

I can't tell whether this commercial makes me sad or not. On the one hand, it's very upbeat, etc. BUT on

the other hand, it depicts people in real life paying completely no attention to their surroundings,

work, friends, etc. Will our dependence on technology reach this stage one day? (as I type this on

my computer, not socializing... OOPS).

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Attention-grabbing commerical. I think it's successful just because of how surprising it is- the set, or the main character, or the objects hes holding are always changing!

Brain Scratch

Here's the episode of Cowboy Bebop that reminded me of Mariko Mori:

I suggest watching the first 3 or so minutes/ this entire series!!! It's a great show. High qual.

"Brain Scratch" "Burein Sukuracchi" (ブレイン・スクラッチ)

April 02, 1999

Unbeknownst to the rest of the Bebop crew, Faye goes undercover in SCRATCH, a cult that believes in achieving eternal life by digitizing the soul and uploading it into the internet. 100 cult members have committed suicide so there is a bounty on the leader's head. This way she can eliminate her debt, but she falls unconscious in a giant room with a pyramid of TVs, all with the cult leader's face on. Spike approaches cult members canvassing but cannot meet their leader- Dr. Londes. Jet puts on the AR headset the cult provides and nearly falls unconcoius before Ein bites his leg and saves him. Edward discovers Dr. Londes' past was faked, he is actually a 15-year-old in a coma for two years. While Spike uselessly shoots at Londes' screen faces, Jet and Edward bluff their way into the hospital and unplug the link to the boy's brain.

Oh, the weird things you can find online...

Gootchie-Goo teaser!

Another great idea for an installation in todays 280/380 art exhibit!

Hope to see you all there!

Real or Fake?

Here is what the guy in the clip had to say about this:

#1 - Are you sh#ting me?

A - No, this is every bit as real and messed up as it seems

#2 - What did you do when you saw the footage?

A - I immediately left my apartment and called the police.

#3 - Who is that girl?

A - I have no idea, she didn’t say much when the cops came and took her.

#4 - What was it she actually climbed down from?

A - It is a storage loft/area in the apartment. It has no connection to any outside ventilation or anything of that such. It does go pretty deep back in there, almost all the way to over the stove/kitchen area. She had set up a little nook for herself.

#5 - How did she get in there?

A - I have no idea, the only way she could have gotten in is through the window, as I am on the top floor and there is a fire escape. The police think she was probably coming in to rob me when I was gone and decided to stow away in the crawl space. Supposedly this isn’t the first time the cops had come across something like this.

#6 - How long was she in your apartment?

A - The police officers thought it looked as though she had been there for at least a couple weeks, although could have been longer.

Hmm.. suggestive? Also, this reminded me of Gollum from lord of the rings- we had talked about him because of the interesting use of opposite-greenscreen for his character. I bet these animals were computer generated, but would it make it more realistic if their movements were actually generated by a human being?

I think I'm in love

...with this website.

Another Great Music Video

Stuff White People Like

I was reading the blog associated with the book Stuff White People Like. Here's one quote that reminded me of one of the first articles we read in 180:

#124 Hating People Who Wear Ed Hardy
"To put this in proper perspective, Ed Hardy is so hated by white people that it cannot be worn ironically.  This is no small feat.  As it stands, the only other entries in this category are Nazi Uniforms, Ku Klux Klan Robes, and self-tanner."

Please Rob Me

Okay, so no one ever thought that the Internet would or could be used to do only good.
But what do you think about this?  A site dedicated to aggregating tweets from people who have just tweeted about leaving their homes, proposing itself as an information source for would be robbers to move in for a safe strike.  Kinda effed up, no?  Or, maybe this can be seen as raising social awareness about just how senseless it is to tweet your location for no reason at all.  Go to the site and click on "why" to read their reasoning.  Either way, I'm afraid it's hard to deny the ingenuity.


http://pleaserobme.com/

Cute?

I don't know if this is politically correct to point out, but this video (found on buzzfeed) strangely hits upon many of the points made in articles the 280 class has made about cute.

Something that would take thought

Texting in the Shower

I found out that my sister, age 16, texts while in the shower.  When it came up, her defense was "why not? All my friends do it. I make sure the phone doesn't get wet." I did a google search and there is even a facebook fan page for texting while showering.
So what do you guys think? How has this become culturally appropriate? Has it?--she and her friends and some other people I've talked to seem to think it's fine.

More Superbowl Spoofs

My sister just sent this to me, it made me laugh (especially because the ad kind of made me angry).

Here's the original video:

And here's the response:

Visually interesting music video

This video has such an excellent narrative.

It is based on the question, "Is reality an illusion?"

Google Superbowl Ad Parody

For those of you that remember the cute/charming Google ad about moving to Paris that ran during the superbowl earlier this month.  This is a devilishly clever re-conception.

Google Fashion and A Trans-Siberian Subway Tour

Google has become so much more than just a search engine in just 10 years.  The amount of information they've cataloged is simply mind-blowing.  Google is sponsoring/inspiring a fashion line based on the powerful presence of the company in the culture.  And distantly related, I think it's really cool that Google is offering these videos looking out the window of a Trans-Siberian train....87 countries in 12 days.

Gasp

Unfortunately, that box 'o wine video proves to be false. These guys have a lot of microwave explosions, though!

Mirror Scare

Happy V-Day y'all--this video is AMAZING.

via fourfour

Rock Covers of Rap Songs

I know I am about a year too late to be talking about this already outdated trend, but I will anyways.

I really love covers. I think that one of the most interesting things to listen to is a new version of a song that you know.

So, when, 1-2 years ago, a few rock artists began releasing covers of (terrible) rap music, I was immediately a fan.

A few favorites:

The covers of rap songs are 75% parody (much higher for the Alanis Morisette one) and 25% genius.

In the vein of covers, though, one I have been listening to rather a lot lately:

Brad Neely

Brad Neely is one of my favorite comic artists. He's done three series of online video comics along with a large collection of still frames, and also wrote and performed his alternate soundtrack for the film version of "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone," entitled "Wizard People, Dear Reader." Watching "Wizard People" is one of the first times I ever actually literally almost pooped myself laughing, and I think the whole idea is genius. Basically someone can download or buy a copy of the soundtrack, procure the movie, and replace the sound of the movie with his sound (it is recorded as a "book on tape," in his words). My favorite series of comics he's done is "Professor Brothers," a comic about two professor's at a community college who are brothers, and act as the entirety of the history department. "Baby Cakes" features the diary entries of a "30 year-old playboy man-baby," and "China, Illinois" is his series which combined plotlines of its priors. I'm posting some of my personal favorites of his, as well as his Wikipedia page and an interview with him. Much of this is not entirely tailored to a conservative crowd, just so you know, but I was wondering what you guys think.

Wikipedia: Brad Neely

The T.A. Interview

Office Hours

I Am BabyCakes

Fliff Night 1
Fliff Night 2

Wizard People, Dear Reader on YouTube

Interview at ROFLCon

In honor of...

Bioshock 2 being out in most states of the continental U.S. right now, check out this uber creepy cinematic from the first game. Yes, I'm a bit of a nerd. I haven't actually even beaten Bioshock (1. I don't have a 360 2. It's terrifying), but the game is REALLY well made. All of the parts fit together extremely well... Great Storyline? Check. Fitting soundtrack? Check. Demolished dream of a once-beautiful city morphing into a crumbling, horror-filled hell? CHECK. AWESOME.

Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?

This breaks my heart every time I see it.

Keyboard Cat

Many of you may have already seen these videos, but my friend just showed them to me for the first time last night and I honestly couldn't stop laughing for a good ten minutes. They are video compilations of people failing (falling down, or getting rejected while proposing, etc.) and then getting played 'off stage' by the keyboard cat, a video originally created by Charlie Schmidt. I don't know why, but the joke never gets old, and the absurdness of the cat just adds to the hilariousness of the fail. Enjoy!
Website
My Fav:

Goat backs up Usher

Oh my God

Fever

Not only an excellent music video, but an excellent song.

I told a friend how I'm feeling and this made her sad

'Cause she fears that no man will ever desire her so bad.

How dare I feel this and do naught but sit on my hands.

Toxic Love

Proof we love to scare kids in children's movies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PLQ1XfaTuU
creepy images

This would take FOREVER.

So, I'm sure a lot of you have seen this video, but it makes me really happy annnnd therefore I am posting it. Also, please just consider how ridiculously long and tedious this would be. I think the results were worth it.

A Tool To Deceive and Slaughter auctioning itself once again.

A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter has been received by a buyer in Mountain View California and is once again trying to auction itself with a starting bid of $6,858.00.
Below is the auction link.  There's still nearly 6 days until it finishes.  Will be interesting to see if it gets bids on this go around. 

Current auction for A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter

MGMT "Kids"

Last night as part of 280's discussion about cuteness and its relationship to the grotesque, we watched this video by MGMT. I wouldn't be surprised if many of you have already seen this, but I was pretty blown away seeing it for the first time. It's rich and textured with wild intense images/costumes etc, and the song - which I have heard before- is beautiful. Pretty amazing stuff.

Side note: This post is a bit of a landmark for culturelovesus. The 1000th entry!

Shattered art

This series by Brock Davis shows us what ordinary objects that do not shatter would look like if they did shatter. I think it is really interesting and unexpected.

Nakedness

Lessons Learned by Matt & Kim is both a great song and music video. I love the raw responses from the crowd as they strip down to basically nothingness. Plus, how awkward would it be wrestle with a naked person? And I know the ending is supposed to do something, maybe it's just to get you jump, but I can't tell what they really wanted to do with that part... What do you think?

Cooking By the Book

This is an AMAZING mash-up. It's hilarious, and unexpected, and I love it.

I saw it for the first time last night and have watched it quite a few more times since then.

Please, WATCH. And be blown away.