No offense to film students (one of my blogkids was a film student), but the Sundance Film festival just proves in spades Sturgeon’s Law that 90% of everything is crud.
Usually self-absorbed, pretentious crud that grates on the nerves of normal, decent human beings.
Anyway, some mockery thereof. And yes, there are moments of questionable taste because… consider the subject.
[YouTube direct link] (Viewer #119,492)
A new iPhone app allows users to quit their jobs by sending their boss a text message.
Of course, some folks always prefer the old-fashioned method of using sign language.
[High Praise! to The Daily Rash]
Obama Appoints Reverend Al Sharpton Global Warming Czar
[Think you have a link that’s IMAO-worthy? Send it to harvolson@gmail.com. If I use your link, you will receive High Praise! (assuming you remember to put your name in the email)]
Still short on entries for lolbama!, so maybe next week.
Meanwhile, 54 awful jokes in 4 minutes.
For some reason, the rapid pace makes up for the lack of quality. Try it. You’ll see.
[54 JOKES! In Four Minutes!] (Viewer #486,328)
At a recent presser, President Obama defended his deal with Iran, saying “give peace a chance”.
Lovely sentiment, but I do wish he’d consider giving victory a crack once in a while.
The fifth season of Doctor Who saw another cast change, as well as a few recent discoveries. Two recently discovered serials (or nearly-complete serials) were released on home video in 2013. The season featured two battles against the Cybermen, and two against robot yetis. More on all that in just a bit.
There were 7 serials (the fewest in any season so far) consisting of 40 episodes. 21 episodes are missing. Only two serials are complete, and one of those was only made complete in 2013 after the discovery of a copy of the episodes in Nigeria. One serial, Fury from the Deep, is missing all its episodes, the last serial to have no surviving tapes. Only two more serials after this season are missing any episodes; the rest of the series is complete.
Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling) left in a late-season adventure, and Zoe Heriot (Wendy Padbury) joined The Doctor and Jamie as the season concluded.
There were one production goof that caught my eye and ear. Jamie, who’s from 18th century Scotland, used a 19th century phrase, “gives me the willies” in The Abominable Snowmen (6 episodes, 5 missing).
By the way, the yeti in The Abominable Snowmen and in The Web of Fear (6 episodes, 1 missing but reconstructed by BBC) — the second and fifth serials respectively — reminded me of Ro-Man from Robot Monster, except for lack of a diving helmet. I don’t like abominable snowman shows unless I have Joel or Mike and a couple of robots helping me watch it.
The third serial, The Ice Warriors (6 episodes, 2 missing) has been released on home video with the two missing episodes animated. Unlike the Season One Reign Of Terror animated episodes, which looked like graphic novel style, the animation of The Ice Warriors is more like Johnny Quest or Adult Swim’s Sealab 2021 animation. The Web of Fear was also released on home video in 2013, but with reconstruction, not animation for the missing episode. I wish they had animated it.
To me, the most interesting serial was The Enemy of the World (6 episodes). Patrick Troughton played the villain as well as The Doctor. Even though the characters looked alike, they didn’t. Troughton’s talents as an actor made them appear to truly be different characters.
In the season’s 6th serial, Fury from the Deep (6 episodes, all missing), Victoria decided to remain behind, tired of the constant danger The Doctor found himself (and his traveling companions) in. As has been the pattern, in the next serial, The Wheel in Space (6 episodes, 4 missing), The Doctor gained a replacement companion for the one just lost. Zoe Heriot (Wendy Padbury) stowed away aboard the TARDIS after the defeat of the Cybermen, and would be part of the crew for the next season.
Now off to the TARDIS to land on Season Six.
[High Praise! to jw via BBC]
Ok, it’s a really cheesy version of Missile Command and you get unlimited ammo (which cuts way back on the strategy element of the arcade game), but this Easter Egg still works and it’s still fun (assuming the video portion of your video is boring and you just want to listen to the audio):
YouTube, like other Google products, is full of Easter eggs.
For a while, the classic game of Snake could be launched by pressing up and left on the keyboard while a clip was buffering. Sadly, that doesn’t appear to work anymore. But in its place, a game of missile command can be launched by clicking to the right of a video and typing “1980” on your keyboard’s number pad.
I just tested it today (January 25th, 2014) and it still worked. Just go to YouTube, play any video, pause the video, click in any white space outside the video, and type 1980. You’ll figure out the rest.
Other Easter Eggs are listed here. I didn’t test any of them. You’re on your own, but feel free to report back if you find they still work.
UPDATE: Google Image searching for “atari breakout” (without quotes) works, too.
(Submitted by Anonymiss of Nuking Politics [High Praise!])
[YouTube direct link] (Viewer #6,792,594)
You know who would be even better as an undercover boss? Joe Biden.
Just imagine him working for the Secret Service for a day…
The Energy Department is rolling out new software to help Americans measure the energy efficiency of their homes.
Sounds great. What’s the fine for not using it?
[High Praise! to ScrappleFace]
Christie: Nominate Me or I’ll Shut Down the Internet
BONUS LINK:
(Submitted by Anonymiss of Nuking Politics [High Praise!])
Battle of the Floodlight
(some adult language)
[Think you have a link that’s IMAO-worthy? Send it to harvolson@gmail.com. If I use your link, you will receive High Praise! (assuming you remember to put your name in the email)]
“Princess Bride” tribute. Signed 11″ x 14″ print from an illustration by Chet Phillips. Image copyright Princess Bride Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
This tribute showcases famous quotes and icons from the Rob Reiner film “Princess Bride” based on the book by William Goldman. Signed on bright white archival 60 lb. paper.
A new study shows that watching too much TV can damage a child’s verbal intelligence.
That would be terrible. He might be doomed to a lifetime of having to read off teleprompters.
[High Praise! to Anonymiss of Nuking Politics]
Bill Gates tells liberal tool Mika Brizzysomething the correct answer to her minimum wage query instead of the one she wants to hear. The blank yet stunned-and-befuddled expression on her sour puss at the 48 second mark is rather gladdening to my capitalism-blackened heart:
[Bill Gates Explains His Opposition to Raising the Minimum Wage]
