Friday, July 11th, 2008
“Just look at this obviously innovative design . . . I am so thrilled just thinking about how I get to touch this.”
(via Angie)
Happy 4th of July
Friday, July 4th, 2008This is the 4th of July celebration in Santa Cruz, California.
Imagine Apocalypse Now with more explosions and more severed heads.
The song is “Star Spangled Mojo” by Mojo Nixon – perhaps the best rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” ever.
Dodgers =/= Truthful
Sunday, June 29th, 2008This from the Dodgers-Indians game the other day– something doesn’t seem quite right with these attendance statistics…
[image via HH]
Rejected Olympic Mascots
Sunday, June 29th, 2008Though China has five Olympic mascots (”The Fuwa”), several others never made it past the drawing board.
A Blogadilla exclusive: rejected Chinese Olympic mascots.
Maomao – Lil’ Mao Zedong.
Melmel – The Melamine Cat.
I take pleasure in knowing that I’d be shot for doing this if I lived in China.
The Four Horsemen Five Olympic Mascots
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
The pattern of recent disasters in China has had many superstitious people concerned about the Olympic Mascots (the Fuwa) – claiming that each of the five reflects/predicts a particular disaster. According to Reuters, Chinese censors have made efforts to remove posts about the Fuwa superstitions, struggling to keep the air of the upcoming Olympics at a rosy-fresh note.
Recently, the fifth and final Fuwa prophecy has been supposedly fulfilled.
Huanhuan – The Olympic Flame – (“The Bearer of Incendiary Strife”) Starting in March 2008, this Olympic Torch Relay may go down in history as one of the most protested and problematic.
Jingjing – The Giant Panda – (“The Lord of Angry Earth”) The panda patron of Sichuan Province has been associated with the disastrous 7.9 May 12th earthquake that occurred there, which left 69,000 dead and over a million stranded or homeless. The epicenter of the earthquake was near the Wulong Panda Research Center.
Yíngying – The Tibetan Antelope – (“The Creature of Righteous Unrest”) On March 10, 2008 – the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day – demonstrations began in China. By March 14th, destructive riots ensued in several regions of China.
Nini – The Swallow/Shayan Kite – (“The Bearer of Unfortunate Wind”) April 28, China Railway Train T195 crashed near the city of Zibo in Shandong Province, killing 72 people and injuring more than 420. The nearby city of Weifang has had a long association with Shayan kites.
Bèibei – The Chinese Sturgeon – (“The Bringer of Torrent and Flood”) Over the last month, flooding in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan Provinces has displaced thousands of people and over 1,000 people are missing or dead.
Lebowskifest – San Francisco
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
Finally! Lebowskifest is coming to San Francisco Sept 5-6th, 2008!
Tickets go on sale June 27th, 10AM PST.
Commencement Speeches
Sunday, June 15th, 2008
It’s time for graduation ceremonies once again. Here’s a working list of some of the more interesting graduation commencement speakers:
• Drury University, 2007 – gameshow host Bob Barker [video]
• University of Pennsylvania, 2004 – Bono
• Harvard, 2006 – Seth MacFarlane (the voice of “Stewie” on “Family Guy”) [video]
• Stanford, 2008 – Oprah Winfrey
• Columbia, 2007 – “Lost” actor Matthew Fox
• Harvard, 2008 – author J.K. Rowling
• Ashley Hall Girls Preparatory School, 2007 – Mike Reiss (writer/producer of “The Simpsons”) – I included this because he is one of the funniest commencement speakers I have ever seen: video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5.
