DaDamn

Oh shit, this shit gon' have you sayin' "oh shit," an' shit (I could've sworn this Trapped shit was ova).

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20048961,00.html

Clean up that energy

From MoveOn.org:

We have the best opportunity we've ever had to get this country off of polluting energy like oil and coal and onto real clean alternatives. This will not only help curb the climate crisis, but save consumers money and create new jobs. Seems like a slam dunk, right?

But some in Congress are still willing to do the bidding of the oil and coal industry and vote down bills that would undercut their stranglehold on our economy. We need to tell Congress now to do what's right for the American people, not continue business-as-usual.

I signed a petition urging Congress to vote for to give solar and wind the support they need to assure a clean energy future. Can you join me at the link below?

http://pol.moveon.org/cleanenergyfuture/

Thanks!

Fuckin scary.

Ok, another post.

In My Opinion, this is terrifying and COMLETELY INSANE.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/rapture-ready-the-unauth_b_57826.html

Joe "I'm retarded" Lieberman was there!

Last but not least

Last post of the day, I think. An oldie, but a goodie.

http://youmakemetouchyourhandsforstupidreasons.ytmnd.com

SOIJFIEFJ:AJDKSADJ

Oh, and IEFO (IN EVERYONE'S FUCKING OPINION) this is the most amazing thing ever. EVER. EVERRRRRRRRRR. (PS check out his other videos. Yeah. There are others.)

Pitakurasuichi

Ok, the song gets stuck in your head in a bad way... but considering that I love Rube Goldberg machines and of all the Japanese TV I've seen, this has a high rating, I think this link is 'copter worthy.

Or better yet, just stick it right in the blog.

hmm...

Well, if you like sex, robots, and Soviet Montage (no, that is not a band), it's possible you'll like this.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

.... YES. I told you about Jordan's comedic video endeavors, and now both the Ketchup video that I linked to previously AND the Xorbit commercial (which is fuck-wording hilarious) are on GooTube.

CHECK CHECK IT.

Kanye has my vote

FINALLY IT'S HAPPENED!!!!!! We did it! Rap and white indie comedy have met at a crossroads, as Zach Galafianakis (gotta check the spelling on that one), Bonnie Prince Billy, and Kanye West have all held hands and made the most unique rap video yet.

Eyes must see to believe. Even if it's not the greatest thing ever made, know that In My Opinion it is the swell of a new wave to crash upon the shores of the 'copter.

Check check it.

The Darjeeling Limited

In My Opinion, it's just another Wes Anderson feature.

But, I guess that's not really a bad thing, is it?

Update to the 'copter

If you're extremely astute, you've noticed that I've slightly, barely, almost imperceptibly changed the sidebar a little. It was kind of outdated.

The first list under what used to be called "Fun Stuff," now entitled, "Some Good Stuff," (a little less incendiary... doesn't get your hopes up as much) is a link to one of my other blogs, "The Dead Chinchilla." This is my literary website, where I do a lot of prose. I just did one for the first time in over a year that I enjoy, and I'm going to try to submit more. I have another one brewing.

I also added a couple of websites that I frequent, such as bigscreen little screen, and McSweeney's Internet Tendency, a literary blog that I've begun submitting prose to.

Anyway, that's all for now. Carry on.

Google and Jew Watch

I got an e-mail today about trying to get "Jew Watch" removed from the near-top of search results for "Jew" on Google. This is my response e-mail:

All,

You may have been the recipient of a long sociopolitical rant from me before. Alas, it is my duty to inform you that the following is one such rant. It is, for all intents and purposes, a literary work. I'm sorry in advance. But if you have just a couple of minutes, I'd appreciate it if you'd read it. It is in response to the "removing Jewwatch" e-mail.

Admittedly, it's a shame that this website does indeed come up as the second or third result in the search for "Jew." The FIRST thing that comes up, however, is a letter from Google explaining the situation. I'll include the entire text of the letter at the bottom of my e-mail, but for now this is the link:

http://www.google.com/explanation.html

While it's a shame that this person presents skewed information to the public, it is his constitutional right to do so. As Google explains, it is simply the result of Google's computers doing exactly what they are programmed to do: to algorithmically determine which sites are most "relevant" to a search. In other words, when people search "jew," what links do they most frequently click on in the search results?

If you are not happy that this comes up, you would be doing yourself and anyone else who is offended a favor by NOT clicking on the link to the website after searching. If you DO click it, you are ADDING TO THE MATHEMATICAL STATISTICS that make that site rank so high. Understanding of this phenomenon has led to mass public events called "Google Bombing." In Google Bombing, a large group of people decides to trick Google, often for the betterment of a cause, into believing that a particular site is most relevant to a particular search word. Say I wanted to associate the word "awesome" with my blog (something that I'd like to do, because then maybe SOMEONE would read it!!!). If I could, I'd get enough people to search the word "awesome" on Google, and then I would get them all to scroll through the results until they found a link to my blog, then click that link. If I got enough people to do that, my blog would come up as one of the primary search results!!!!

Therefore, what you could REALLY do if you want to get this website to stop coming up so high is you could search for "Jew," then scroll until you found a link to something happy. Then click that link. And then get your friends to do it. Together, you can GOOGLE BOMB Jew to a happier standard of living on the Google Search Results page!

I do not advocate getting Google to take "Jew Watch" off of its search results. Your next question is probably, "Why?" And, like anyone with the ability to predict the future such as myself, I will answer your question now before you can ask me: Since Google is based on mathematics, it is not based on a person's opinion. It is based on the "objectivity" of computers (who, while they are not objective, are devoid, if initially, of bias or opinion) If Google were to start REMOVING WEBSITES from its search results, what it would be doing is systematically/methodically deciding what the internet should look like for people who use it. It would be censoring the Internet. It would be like having selective hearing. Then, perhaps, people could bribe Google enough money to make the internet look a certain way that is to their benefit. While in the case of bigotry this could be a lovely thing, it could be a terrible thing in other cases.

Enter China. China, as you know, is a Communist country (if you've read Jew Watch, you "know" that Communism is a Jewish movement like Zionism, so I want to specify here that I'm referring to Communism as a governmental ideology and not a faction of the Jewish people in any way. And I hope you can read the slight smugness in my "voice." I'm trying to at least be a little playful in an e-mail that has already gotten way too long and is probably boring you. Kudos if you made it this far!). One thing we also know about China (and, often, Communist countries in general) is that its government has selective hearing (read: Government Censorship). And it INSISTS that its people have the exact same. Quoth the New York Times last year:

"Yet Google's conduct in China has in recent months seemed considerably less than idealistic. In January, a few months after Lee opened the Beijing office, the company announced it would be introducing a new version of its search engine for the Chinese market. To obey China's censorship laws, Google's representatives explained, the company had agreed to purge its search results of any Web sites disapproved of by the Chinese government, including Web sites promoting Falun Gong, a government-banned spiritual movement; sites promoting free speech in China; or any mention of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. If you search for "Tibet" or "Falun Gong" most anywhere in the world on google.com, you'll find thousands of blog entries, news items and chat rooms on Chinese repression. Do the same search inside China on google.cn, and most, if not all, of these links will be gone. Google will have erased them completely."

This is an atrocity. The Freedom of Speech, for better or worse, is something we do, and must always, hold dear in this country. A side effect of this freedom has ALWAYS been bigotry, sexism, racism, and any other -ism that goes against a specific group of people that you can come up with. That is something that just comes with the territory. Rather than asking Google to silence this result, we should be thankful it doesn't, because it doesn't silence ANY results. After we're done being thankful, we should fight Google to make sure that it's ALL OR NOTHING all over the world. No, we should fight for ALL. Screw nothing. Nobody wants nothing. Nothing makes people dumb, empty, weak. DOWN WITH NOTHING!!!!!

Ok, regaining my composure now.

I'd also like to mention, the website is shoddily made, which an educated person will note, and which degrades its credibility. Of course, an uneducated person will not make this connection necessarily. Uneducated people, one will find, are often more likely to be bigoted. Uneducated and poor people in our country (a large percentage) are, in fact, often being indoctrinated to be bigots. The current administration does a fine job of that.

Ultimately, this comes down to what I think bigotry always comes down to: education. Educating youth about the risks of bigotry and hate crimes is paramount. And we must educate OURSELVES by learning, as directly as possible, about people we are encouraged to hate. It's amazing HOW FREQUENTLY we forget that we dislike other people when we don't know anything about them, except what we've been told. Without this, we wouldn't fight the wars we fight. Without this, North Korea wouldn't hate us and try to shield its people from us. Without it, there would be no Jihad. And apparently, those are all things that "we" want.

So please, don't fault Google for bringing up this search result. It is not Google's fault that there are people whose views of others are skewed, that is our fault. Everyone's fault. We should, however, fault Google for NOT bringing up all search results elsewhere.

Whether you're a Jew or not, Muslim or not, Christian or not (you get the idea), you have an obligation to teach tolerance. Someone once said "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." That man was, coincidentally, a Jew, but that doesn't matter in the slightest. What matters is that he was right, and we need to remind everyone of that.

Thanks,
Sam

And now, Google's response to the disturbing search results:

An explanation of our search results.

If you recently used Google to search for the word "Jew," you may have seen results that were very disturbing. We assure you that the views expressed by the sites in your results are not in any way endorsed by Google. We'd like to explain why you're seeing these results when you conduct this search.

A site's ranking in Google's search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page's relevance to a given query. Sometimes subtleties of language cause anomalies to appear that cannot be predicted. A search for "Jew" brings up one such unexpected result.

If you use Google to search for "Judaism," "Jewish" or "Jewish people," the results are informative and relevant. So why is a search for "Jew" different? One reason is that the word "Jew" is often used in an anti-Semitic context. Jewish organizations are more likely to use the word "Jewish" when talking about members of their faith. The word has become somewhat charged linguistically, as noted on websites devoted to Jewish topics such as these:

* http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~mendele/vol01/vol01.174
* http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/jonah081500.asp

Someone searching for information on Jewish people would be more likely to enter terms like "Judaism," "Jewish people," or "Jews" than the single word "Jew." In fact, prior to this incident, the word "Jew" only appeared about once in every 10 million search queries. Now it's likely that the great majority of searches on Google for "Jew" are by people who have heard about this issue and want to see the results for themselves.

The beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or impact our search results. Individual citizens and public interest groups do periodically urge us to remove particular links or otherwise adjust search results. Although Google reserves the right to address such requests individually, Google views the comprehensiveness of our search results as an extremely important priority. Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it. We will, however, remove pages from our results if we believe the page (or its site) violates our Webmaster Guidelines, if we believe we are required to do so by law, or at the request of the webmaster who is responsible for the page.

We apologize for the upsetting nature of the experience you had using Google and appreciate your taking the time to inform us about it.

Sincerely,
The Google Team

p.s. You may be interested in some additional information the Anti-Defamation League has posted about this issue at http://www.adl.org/rumors/google_search_rumors.asp. In addition, we call your attention to Google's search results on this topic.


THANKS FOR LISTENING!!!!!!

My Blog: http://imocopter.blogspot.com

Setting Healthcare Free

As you know from a previous post, I think Michael Moore's SiCKO is a fantastic movie, and it has made me aware of how crucial it is that Health Care be universalized, removed from the private sphere. The Democrats (and even some Repubs) are getting the ball rolling, with a movement to provide free healthcare to millions of uninsured children!!

Do your part by clicking this link and adding your name to a petition to get everybody to vote for it. Hurry! The vote is in a few days!

It's A Miracle

It's always a pleasure for me to see people my age doing things that are accomplished, exhibit talent, and in general prove that you don't have to work your ass off for decades for someone else to prove your own worth.

Jordan and friends have created a commercial for the Heinz competition, and it's worth your time.

Mad Men

AMC ventured into the realm of Original TV Dramas tonight at 10pm Eastern Standard Time to the shock of many. By a stroke of luck I stumbled upon the trailer for the show (well, no stroke of luck, really... just diligent watching of bigscreenlittlescreen.com) this evening in time to catch the premiere.

I have to say, I really liked what I saw. It has the swilly glean of 50's American life with more of the blemishes of what was really going on underneath. While I find that the sexism is overplayed, I find that most of the main characters are tantalizingly underplayed... their intricacies lie beneath the surface. Like the proverbial iceberg bobbing in the sea, the male lead is a white obelisk with a great deal of muck underneath the facade. He is startling, handsome, unctuous in a manner that is not off-putting or vile, and his vulnerability is evident. He is, In My Opinion, a stellar character with lots of dimension. He is the exact opposite of just about every character on HBO's John From Cincinatti, which gets him (and AMC) an A+ in my book.

For more information, check out AMCTV.com

Orson Welles

Here's an interesting documentary on U B U W E B about Orson Welles's last ten years of life, entitled "Orson Welles - The One Man Band."

I haven't finished watching it yet, but so far its an interesting look into the life of someone who is very fictionalized and grandiose, but about whom I really know very little. Worth checking out.

Ol' Faithful, NYC

I think it's safe to say that this is awesome, and that Bush will blame the terrorists.


New York Pipe Bursts - Watch more free videos

"In The Morning"

A little while back, imeem hosted a competition for Junior Boys fans to make a video for any song on "So This is Goodbye," and a winner would be selected. The selected winner's video was nothing short of astounding, and very similar (to my dismay) to an idea I had for a Ratatat video. At any rate, it is in my humble Opinion that this video is incredible, not just for its content, but for the fact that it is a FAN VIDEO!

I've been searching for this on and off for ages, only to finally discover that I'd been searching under the wrong song title. Duh.

Enjoy.

The Dress

This new video for Blonde Redhead is pretty wild. Watching people's faces as they enter an emotion is a truly interesting experience. This is not unfamiliar territory, as any actor's screentest will show. But watching in this venue certainly is.

Some of the faces wear an honest vulnerability, others a guarded discomfort. For me, watching the video consisted of going in and out of empathy and an uncomfortable inner laughter.

The CONS of life

There comes a time in every man's life, well, actually many times, where he must look at the world through eyes of the clearest glass, the widest scope, and the deepest field. I strive to do this as often as possible, often giving the benefit of the doubt to the underdog. I cannot do this with white Christian conservatives any longer.

If you are a Neo-Con, self-proclaimed, the deeper into this sect of American fictional lifestyle you delve, the fewer times in your life you will have the aforementioned moments of clarity that I have described. If you hit the bottom of that barrel, it is likely that that moment will come for you only once, and that will be either just before or just after you die.

I invite you to read this article on AlterNet entitled, "Neocons on a Cruise: What Concervatives Say When They Think We Aren't Listening." I hope you will find it awe-inspiring, mind-altering, eye-opening, and above all, a huge reason to never talk to another Neocon again, your final words to any such friends being, "You need serious help."

wha wha whaaaaat

oh HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLL no.

Thanks for this one, Mike.

Oh My God.

Nothing more can be said (other than the fact that this is hilarious and jarring).

SLKDJFALKJSFALKJSFLKASJFLJKSAFLJKASDJASKLD

Thomas the NJ Transit Train

Sean has sent me a link to a great blog called McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and it's pretty damn entertaining. In particular, he sent me a link to "Thomas the NJ Transit Train," which for anyone familiar with New Jersey and the public train system will be a treat.

Little People

Street art, as a high-art form, is a fairly recent thing: Graffiti's elevation to art status, projection on buildings, street installation... And it's an exciting and important part of the evolution of the art world, in my opinion. Spanning the bridge between performance art and gallery art, some of this stuff is just plain great. Most importantly, by being out on the streets instead of in the art gallery, it forces all of us to confront it, and the results are sometimes very pleasurable.

Enter "Slinkachu." Slink makes small hand-painted people and puts them in normal (for the most part) human situations, except on a micro level, then puts them out on the streets of London, in the field of danger, and barely in the field of view.

These microscenes of human life enforce a need to look closer at our environment and ourselves, and the yielded rewards are well-worth the eye-strain: comedy, surprising emotional access, and a poignantly reflective ability to point out the intricacies of our daily lives. If I had three-hundred dollars to throw around, I'd buy one of his/her prints in a heartbeat.

Check out Slinkachu:
http://little-people.blogspot.com/

iPhone

For all Apple does right, for every new innovation and consumer/user-friendly method they introduce, Apple cannot seem to get the battery thing right. What the hell is their problem?

Check out this article for details.

SiCKO

I just saw Michael Moore's "SiCKO."

I don't really know what to say, so I'll tell you what I told my parents: If you do nothing else this week, see it.

It will open your eyes to a number of things, and remind you of some old ones in new light, that are important to us as people and as a country that is really behind the bandwagon.

Check out his website:

Rilo Kiley

The extended music video is an interesting genre... difficult, to be sure. Sometimes the three minutes of video to a song aren't enough to hold one's attention, so why risk it at 10, 15, or even 20 minutes?

The new Rilo Kiley video for "The Moneymaker" doesn't suffer in it's length. It presents a very long and interesting background that at times is even more interesting as an exploration of the porn industry than the song and part of the film/video that has the actual music over it.

Definitely worth watching:

http://themoneymake.com/themoneymaker.html