A daily miasma of frivolity by two wanna-be cultural critics. Or: just, like, some good links, dude.

Tag Archives: riff track

Dec 24 2012
Mark Twain, probably

International Cycling Union introduces equal prize money for women and men

International Cycling Union introduces equal prize money for women and men

Short news story by Gregory Blachier for Reuters (couldn’t really find anything more substantial to link):

Female riders will earn as much as their male counterparts at cycling World Championships from next year, the governing body of the sport said on Friday.

Apparently this didn’t happen before, so hooray for progress!

I also enjoyed the final sentence:

Money has been an issue in some sports including tennis, with some men complaining about women having equal prize money at grand slam events despite playing shorter matches.

‘Ili:
OH YOU THINK A PAY DISCREPANCY IS UNFAIR HUH
‘Ili:
PLEASE TELL ME MORE
Colin:
Sarcastichz
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Oct 11 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Death of roach-eating contest winner remains a mystery

Death of roach-eating contest winner remains a mystery

Anna Edgerton for The Miami Herald:

Eddie Archbold ate so many live roaches he had to cover his mouth with his hand to keep them from crawling out. He swallowed the three-inch insects faster than he could chew, trying to down as many as possible in four minutes to win a pet python in a most unusual eating contest.

…

Over the course of the night, Archbold ate more than 60 grams of meal worms, 35 three-inch-long “super worms” and part of a bucket full of discoid roaches. He started vomiting after the last contest and collapsed outside the store.

Dr. Bill Kern, a professor of entomology at the University of Florida, said it could have been an allergic reaction to so much foreign protein that killed Archbold.

Colin:
I KNOW WHY HE DIED HE ATE A BUNCH OF GODDAMN BUGS
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Aug 05 2012
Mark Twain, probably

You’re going to keep track of the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars as it happens tonight, right? OF COURSE YOU ARE, THIS WAS THE RHETORICALEST OF RHETORICAL QUESTIONS

If for some silly reason you want to pretend you weren’t, though, you should probably watch this video of how the landing is planned to go.

‘Ili:
You seen this?
‘Ili:
I thought the video was a little overproduced, but then it gets into what’s actually going to happen and “WHAT THE FUCK”
‘Ili:
SCIENCE
Colin:
Nope
‘Ili:
Check dat shit because this landing is going to be fucking extreme
‘Ili:
::screaming guitars and mountain dew::
Colin:
That was crazy.
‘Ili:
LOWERS THE ROVER ON WIRES
‘Ili:
DETACHES
‘Ili:
THEN THE HARNESS FLIES THE FUCK AWAY
Colin:
Yeah I knew about that bit
Colin:
SO COOL
‘Ili:
How is this really happening.
‘Ili:
Also why are we not getting video of this.
‘Ili:
Can we just drop like 200 cameras on Mars beforehand.
‘Ili:
ONE WILL GET IT FOR SURE
Colin:
three extra descent vehicles that exist only to capture video
Colin:
::director robot with a big cone and beret::
‘Ili:
::clapboard on a parachute::
Colin:
YES
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Jun 22 2012
Mark Twain, probably

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkSvtVEeEZA

A group of Japanese soul musicians perform “Tighten Up” by Archie Bell & the Drells. All did not go well for your hosts when we watched it, however.

Colin:
His accent is SO BAD ahahahah
Colin:
MAKE IT MARRO
‘Ili:
DYNAMITE SOUL SHOW
Colin:
That trumpeter is really having a bad lip night, yikes.
Colin:
(he’s soloing at around 4 minutes in)
‘Ili:
Just hit that.
‘Ili:
suddenly blat
Colin:
Keyboardist has a great solo, ends around 6 minutes in.
Colin:
lmao what an ernest hemingway lookalike is on stage now and he’s dancing
Colin:
Oh my god what at this dancing
Colin:
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING
‘Ili:
^
Colin:
DO THE HOSE
Colin:
why is this a wide shot now at 9:50 what
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Jun 18 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Angela Watercutter for Wired’s Underwire blog:

The premise of Safety Not Guaranteed, directed by Colin Trevorrow, comes from an internet meme: a wanted ad seeking a partner for time travel that found its way onto You’re the Man Now Dog. In the film, a group of magazine staffers try to track down the author of the classified ad, Kenneth (played by Mark Duplass). To get to him, they send their female colleague Darius ([Aubrey] Plaza), who ends up being charmed by Kenneth’s oddball ways.

‘Ili:
WHY IS THIS REAL
Colin:
Personally, I think this looks dope. Aubrey Plaza absolutely kills it on Parks & Recreation — I’ll go see anything with her in it.
‘Ili:
THAT DOESN’T EXPLAIN WHY THIS IS REAL
Colin:
I blame the Duplass Bros and mumblecore in general.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Jun 02 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Livermorium and Flerovium join the periodic table of elements

Livermorium and Flerovium join the periodic table of elements

Anne M Stark for Phys.Org:

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) today officially approved new names for elements 114 and 116, the latest heavy elements to be added to the periodic table.

Scientists of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)-Dubna collaboration proposed the names as Flerovium for element 114, with the symbol Fl, and Livermorium for element 116, with the symbol Lv, late last year.

Elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 are still nameless.

Colin:
So can we call them all Eastwoodium for the time being?
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May 31 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Why We Pay More for Walkable Neighborhoods

Why We Pay More for Walkable Neighborhoods

‘Ili:
Could it possibly be because cars are fucking expensive?????
Colin:
Nope, cars are free just like rent and McDonald’s.
‘Ili:
“Super size me.” ::that’s how SUVs were invented::
Colin:
“No no like literally. I want to be super sized. Huge.”
‘Ili:
“The SUV comes filled with fries.”
‘Ili:
“SOLD”
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May 06 2012
Mark Twain, probably

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAwNTUWeC_0

morgoth, writing a review for Amazon.com:

Before Bruce Lee, there were a few kung fu movie stars. The first huge star was Jimmy Wang Yu who started working in the very first Shaw Brothers sword plays back in 1965. He directed and starred in ‘One-Armed Boxer’ for Golden Harvest in 1971 and is in top form both in front of and behind the camera. While you can clearly see Jimmy Wang Yu is not a real martial artist, he is still one of the best kung fu stars ever. At least 50 people die in this movie and he does the most damage.

…

If you are a fan of kung fu movies pre-Bruce Lee, this is a must have. Maybe the best basher ever. It’s one of the movies that started the imaginary world where only martial arts schools exist. So the one martial arts school is a gang, and the other school is made up of good people. You just have to go with it, but it more than works. The movie is serious, but takes place in a complete fantasy world. “Never insult Tibetan martial arts”.

Never heard of this but I don’t see how it can’t be awesome.

Colin:
EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT VIDEO IS AMAZING
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Feb 28 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Arnold Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire is one of my favorite musical works of all time. It’s single-handedly responsible for getting me into expressionism and other modernist music. Here’s one of my favorite songs from it, “Der Mondfleck” (#18), performed by soprano Bauwien van der Meer and Ensemble 88.

Bonus material from Wikipedia:

Reaction was mixed, with Anton Webern reporting at the première whistling and laughing, but in the end “it was an unqualified success”.

Colin:
Webern you dick.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Jan 12 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Parts of stricken Mars probe Phobos-Grunt may strike Earth

Parts of stricken Mars probe Phobos-Grunt may strike Earth

Ian Sample for The Guardian:

A Russian spacecraft that became stranded in orbit on the way to Mars last year is expected to fall back to Earth next week.

The 13.5 tonne Phobos-Grunt has been circling Earth since November when rocket boosters failed to ignite and send the spaceship on its journey to the Martian moon of Phobos. The spacecraft suffered a computer malfunction after launch and when repeated attempts to contact the rocket failed, the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, had to abandon the mission.

Oh dear.

Risk assessments by the Russian, German and US space agencies have focused on whether the highly toxic fuel, known as unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and dinitrogen tetroxide (DTO), could contaminate the debris site.

…

According to the agencies’ reports, the spacecraft’s aluminium fuel tanks are likely to rupture and leak at an altitude of about 100km and burn up, perhaps completely, on re-entry. The fuel will either ignite or be dispersed in the atmosphere.

Colin:
Yeah but they “expected” it to go to Mars too.
Colin:
So.
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