When I first saw this month’s post on Futures Blog about a Second Life property lawsuit, I thought I’d be seeing news of cutting-edge jurisprudence. But it turns out the lawsuit was filed back in May 2005, has since been withdrawn, and a second suit filed in October 2006 which is more about fraud than property law. Second Life Insider has the story so far. Futures Blog might best re-name itself Past Blog — or at least link to their sources.
The World According to Pravda, 2007
Ah Comrades, remember Pravda? Правда or “The Truth” was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party — at least until the late, great Boris Yeltin closed it down in 1991.
However the name lives on at pravda.ru — and Lenin would be turning in his grave at this lowest of the low in tabloid trash. I love it!
Here’s just a sample of the stories on offer tonight:
Men lie for no reason because women make them
Various media outlets portray breasts differently
Fake Brad Pitt, 77, lives in New Hampshire
Miss Universe contestants pose in bikini
“Is your dog in heat and humping anything it can wrap its horny little legs around? Are you constantly having to pry your promiscuous pooch off the legs of guests, parents and members of your church? … It’s easy, all you should do is to buy a sex doll for dogs.”
OK, OK, there’s a few serious stories, some with a suitably pro-Russia slant:
It was only the USSR that defeated Nazism
Russia develops new generation strategic bomber
USA and Russia start Cold War over the Moon
But the best bit for me? The fact that all the advertising on Pravda is provided by that traditional communist institution, Google. Sweet.
[Thanks to the Freakonomics boys for the tip.]
Anthony Callea: “Young Boys not My Weakness”
Scene: The Logies After-Party. Kate Ceberano starts singing. Anthony Callea, who recently “revealed” he was gay, shyly declines to join her in a rendition of Young Boys Are My Weakness. And fair enough. Everyone knows that Anthony’s real weakness is stocky, heavily-tattooed Latvian leather daddies. Actually I just made that up. But it’ll be interesting to see how far the rumour spreads. [Update: And if you read the comments, you’ll see that’s not the only part which was “made up”.]
No TV Fortnight
I just realized that I haven’t watched any TV for two weeks! Well, apart from incidentally at the gym or the pub. And I don’t find it to be unacceptable.
The Future was FAB
Following on from our discussion of Gerry Anderson TV series the other day, Anthony Taylor of FAB Gear USA emailed me to point out the official Mike Trim art website, and to plug the new book The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim, which he co-wrote with Mr Trim himself.
“Featuring hundreds of full colour and black & white drawings, paintings, marker comps, and photos from his entire career,” the book includes work from Trim’s work on Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Secret Service and UFO, as well as the feature films Thunderbirds are Go, Thunderbird 6, and Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (a.k.a. Doppleganger).
Anthony’s obviously trawling the blogosphere looking for Thunderbirds postings to connect to — good on him! — so it’ll be interesting to see how successful that book is.
Meanwhile, perhaps I should mention that it’s only three weeks until my birthday… I’m sure I can find somewhere to put a 3m model of the Seaview from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Then again maybe not. I’m not that much of a nerd.
Take my hand…
It’s totally safe. Our journey involves YouTube, a cleanskin Cabernet Merlot and that blurry hour before the sleeping pill kicks in. There is no need for alarm. Let us begin…
- All systems are go!. And once you learn the lyrics, sing along!
- Play the Countdown version and/or the Bandstand version, and explain which you prefer.
- Discuss whether the follow-up single release was a mistake or not.
- Should I admit to owning an autographed copy of that band’s album, or explain how it came to be in my possession?
- Does the knowledge that the album was produced by Ian “Molly” Meldrum change your answer to the previous question?
- Are cover versions ever acceptable?
- Does Adam Richard speak the truth?
- Come to Daddy.
- Grand Finale.
You may now each ask one question related to the above. I shall answer truthfully.