Bring on the trumpets!

I keep playing this back, and it really cracks me up. I don't think they sell their product in the US, but I would sure like to grab some of those. Amusing advertising works on me, I must admit. There are a few other ones on YouTube they have posted; they're all very good.

Awareness Test

Please hold, an expert will take your call shortly

While getting a philosophy degree in college, I thought one way to try to make money with my degree would be to create a "Dial-A-Philosopher" number. People could call up with life's questions, and I would tell them what a dead Greek classical philosopher or maybe a dead German existentialist would have to say about their situation. Pretty silly, right?

In this Internet Age, it seems like anything is possible. I just learned of this service called http://www.liveperson.com/ that will chat with you online about your questions in a variety of fields. This includes...philosophy. There are over 200 people who will collect up to $18.00 per minute to answer your philosophical questions (in addition to tens of thousands that will help you with everything else from legal, business, romance, and lots of other subjects).

I don't remember much of my philosophy studies, but maybe I could sign up to be an expert on Surfing the Internet for Random Stuff...

Seeing Your Relatives Can Warp Your Brain

Recent brain study research has indicated that we process images of ourselves and our family members in a different part of the brain than we process people that are not related to us. This may cause weird things to happen...like holding your family up to a higher standard than you would hold non-family members to because it is the same standard that you hold for yourself.

Of course, if on an objective standard your family members are a bunch of loons, then your brain is probably doing the right thing in getting stressed out.

Link.

Antidisestablishmentarianism used in a sentence

A word that I once thought I would never see actually used, antidisestablishmentarianism, was just casually thrown into this article about reflections on religious institutions in Britain during this Christmas season.

Also, apparently there will be buses driving around London with this on the side: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life". I think that's wonderful advertising.

Link.

The Album is Dead

I saw this interview with Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and this quote really stuck out to me:

Tribune: So “Zeitgeist” was the last album?

Corgan: We’re done with that. There is no point. People don’t even listen to it all. They put it on their iPod, they drag over the two singles, and skip over the rest. The listening patterns have changed, so why are we killing ourselves to do albums, to create balance, and do the arty track to set up the single? It’s done...Our primary function now is to be a singles band, that drives Pumpkins Inc. through singles. We’ll still be creative, but in a different form. We won’t do shows like this anymore, where we try to draw a good crowd and balance the past with the present. We’ll go small and do exactly what we want to do and stop playing catalogue. We’ll be like a new band that can’t rely on old gimmicks. I’m not stupid. I want people to feel good about what we do. What we weren’t getting [from playing a more balanced show with older songs] was excitement. We’re in the polarizing business. We don’t want a pat on the back: Good to have you back. We want a reaction, even if it’s a negative reaction.

I have heard before that the album is dead, but I keep seeing bands and musicians continue to release albums. This is the first band that I've heard say that they're just not going to make albums anymore and just make singles. Will that work financially for them?

Personally, I'm a big fan of the album as a vehicle for music delivery - even with iTunes and my large mp3 collection, I still usually listen to an entire album at a time. Oh, this brave new world.

Illuminati: The Board Game

I know how much you like games and conspiracy theories, Keith, so I naturally thought of you when I saw this: Illuminati. It's a tabletop card game for 2 to 8 players that came out in 1982. This sounds like it could be fun to grab, if it could be found somewhere.

Dude, you're such a Xenopus....

While helping my parents move out of their old house, I came across a book I bought somewhere sometime long ago. It's a small, purple book called "The Superior Person's Book of Words."

The words in the book are really a lot of fun. I've tried memorizing some of them so I might be able to use them in my day-to-day life. Since most of them are so out there, I have a hard time hanging them on a peg.

I thought I might start posting on Flippinkites some of the words that catch my eye.

---------------------------------------
Xenopus n. - An African toad with teeth in its upper jaw, tentacles on the side of its head, webbed hind feet, and claws on its toes.

I say what WHAT?

Judith Butler's "Gender Trouble" is one of the only philosophical books - among those I've read - which is also practical. At the end of the book, she is dealing with "Performativity" - according to Butler’s theory, homosexuality and heterosexuality are not fixed categories. A person is merely in a condition of “doing straightness” or “doing queerness” [Wiki].
So Butler suggest us to confuse the outer world - by speaking or even dressing up in a way that the first impression on us is confusing:
- r you straight or gay?
- oh, you can't tell? that's awesome!
As long as we ride the same roads, our destinations won't change...

Having said that, we must remember that the fear that people have for the "dark sides" of sexuality is only because it is actually "in the dark". Let's lighten it up, getting to know what's going on in other plateaus of the urban life :)

This video clip used to disturb me. I'm not homophobic, yet it disturbed me. But after one time of watching the whole thing, you can't stop singing the "what what in the...". So this guy - wasn't listening to Butler - actually i doubt that he's a big reader - however he is doing a great work in helping us straight guys stop being afraid of the unknown...

Letterman's Top 10 George Bush moments

Ah, we shall miss him.

24 Hours of Air Travel

Each yellow dot represents an airplane.

Kinetic Art Commercial

I was looking for a more artistic kinetic art video that I saw years ago that was about 25 minutes long. Found this one instead. It's shorter and still really cool. Even if it selling something.

Enjoy.

Stereogum

Stereogum is one of the best online resources for alternative and indie rock music. In addition to providing lots of reviews of rock music, they also provide lots of free mp3 downloads. Lots and lots. It's a great source for listening to new music. If you don't know what artists or songs to download individually, you can download an entire month's worth of free songs at once and just feed them into your mp3 player for hours of free rock.

Jay Walker's Library of Human Imagination

THE LIBRARY OF HUMAN IMAGINATION
(The Article)

Ask a Korean

Here is a fantastic blog that answers all those head-scratching questions about Korea.....

Ask a Korean

Teach them while young

This Playmobil toy set was for sale on Amazon.com. The comments are pretty funny.

Death Becomes Them

So Ed sent this link to me about the incredible constitution of one Michael Malloy:
Michael Malloy


And from there, I found this list of unusual deaths throughout history:
List of Unusual Deaths


Never has a list made me cringe and laugh so hard....

Driving on Salvia

An instructional video about driving on Salvia Divinorum.