February 28, 2005
House of Wax
"This is weird."
Paris Hilton stars in House of Wax remake, a fun looking horror feature film with an Event Horizon-esque soundtrack (though this is likely just lifted for the trailer). I see the main website has a podcast feature on the way...
I say it is about time we saw a Black Lizard remake. The Flea would be happy to take on the Mishima role but only if Paris Hilton gets a cameo too.
Office Friends
Superfriends at the office (some strong language).
Terry Tate
Terry Tate in sensitivity training. If it ain't something that's broken there's no need to repair it (via the Flea's HR consultant).
Hiëronymus
Must. Own. Hiëronymus Bosch. Action figures.
Music box
Every time I hear a music box I am reminded I still need to pick up a Hellraiser lunchbox.
Numa Numa Goth
A goth rendition of the numa numa dance. I think I am in love. Takhisis comments on her project.
OMFG... a Magic Missile reference. Kill me now. I have nothing left to live for.
Kailasa Temple
I particularly like the elephants at the Kailasa Temple.
The scale at which the work was undertaken is enormous. It covers twice the area of the Parthenon in Athens and is 1.5 times high, and it entailed removing 200,000 tonnes of rock. It is believed to have taken 7,000 labourers 150 years to complete the project.
February 27, 2005
Razzies
Halle Berry shows she is a class act and shows up to claim her Razzie for Catwoman.*
Berry was named worst actress Saturday night for 2004's action bomb "Catwoman," which also took the prize for worst film at the 25th annual Razzies, an Oscar spoof that trashes Hollywood's worst.
*Not unlike a certain intrepid Toronto Star columnist. Apologies for the Canblogger in joke.
Oscars
As per usual I am in the wrong category to take part in a contest. This time it is an Oscars Predict the Winners game. You southern neighbours have no idea how frustrating it is (except for you southern neighbours in Alaska or Hawaii).
And it is The Aviator for best film, btw.
February 26, 2005
Love... Thy will be done
Martika, I thought to myself. Yes, Martika... I wonder whatever happened to Martika? She is not forgotten. This Chilean Martika fan-site has some serious Flash happening.
I can no longer hide, I can no longer run
No longer can I resist Your guiding light
That gives me the power 2 keep up the fight
Oh Lord, Love... Thy will be done
Since I have found U, my life has just begun
And I see all of Your creations as one perfect complex
No one less beautiful or more special than the next
We are all blessed and so wise 2 accept
Thy will, Love, be done
- Prince, "Love... Thy Will Be Done"
Lost your marbles?
Lost your marbles? is the sort of thing that will destroy western civilization due to lost productivity. Imagine some future archaeologist digging this stuff up and finding it to be an unfamiliar marvel because of the strict religious injunctions that will ban all video games in that future, high-productivity utopia.
Iron Man
Tom Cruise will not be starring as Iron Man. No more free on-set massage then.
The Librarian Dialogues
The secret life of librarians is revealed in this shocking exposé.
Cultural stupidism
Or you could try to write things people want to read (via PSFK).
Arcade
Arcade is an interactive game played using a mobile phone and a facade of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (and elsewhere). So... this is a joke, right?
Mordor
A virtual tour of Mordor. Much easier than crossing Middle Earth on foot.
Offa Rex
The first gold coin* minted in England bore a curious inscription.
One famous curiosity is the single surviving example of a gold coin, copied from a 774 dinar of the Kaliph Al-Mansur, complete with inaccurately executed Arabic inscription, and bearing the legend 'OFFA REX' on the reverse.
*Some discussion is about half-way down the linked page.
February 25, 2005
Fred Durst video
Looking for the Fred Durst video? Read on...
Warning: adult content. Not work safe anywhere.
Seriously. This is in the "too much information" category.
Here is the "Fred Durst videophone" performance that Drudge Report has in its current newsflash regarding the same "T-Mobile Terrorist" responsible for those Paris Hilton phone numbers. This is graphic stuff and presented for news value only.
A site hosting the hack reads: 'I'M SORRY, U SELLOUT :)' "The previous information was obtained using social engineering tactics." Law enforcement officials believe the video comes from the same source who presented Paris's Sidekick diary.
Obviously, there are people who would rather not know about this sort of thing but I believe incidents like this or the comparable situations presented by the Paris Hilton video or those videos of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee represent more than "amateur pornography". I believe new portable communication technologies and the networks they connect to represent the thin edge of the wedge of a wide-ranging social change. We are going to be exposed to much, much more of this sort of material in future.
Yes, it is Fred Durst and an unidentified (for the moment) woman in the video and yes, they are having sex. But for all that one of the people involved is a celebrity this is prosaic, human stuff. It is not entirely clear to me why Fred Durst would choose to record these moments in the first place but it is clear he is not alone in doing so. It is also clear that people are prepared to record just about anything they get up to in one medium or another. We are going to have to radically reconsider our ideas about privacy, be much more forgiving of the bad judgments some people make in their youth and - at least in my case - be grateful these technologies were not around when we were younger to leave some embarrassing evidence for all to see on "the internet".
You have been warned! The Fred Durst video can be found here.
Update: The first comments to this post provide a link to the original website cited in the Drudge Report news flash. Mirrors are currently down at that site but as I write this the file is still available through the above link.
Update: Here are two more Fred Durst mirror sites.
Update: And here is the link to the file at Gawker.
War against the Martians
Everybody is reporting the Scientology tent Tom Cruise reportedly set up on the set of Steven Spielberg's latest effort though they are inexplicably leaving out the free Nerve Assist (rather than a Touch Assist or Contact Assist, whatever any of these may be), a "glorified minimassage", that Cruise' minions are providing. The real news, however, is this Ain't It Cool News article. Apparently, the aliens from the forthcoming War of the Worlds picture will not be from Mars.
Lame. Lame, lame, lame.
David Guetta: The World is Mine
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance (through link no. 6).*
*Possibly nsfw due to risqué imagery and extreme cheeze content.
Not amused
Ok, anthropology so needs a muse because this has left me feeling totally left out.
...to other social science types.
We have our own muse -- Clio.
That said, the muse of the Flea is Terpsichore. Obviously.
Badaboom
Don't blame me if you look at Badaboom. It's not like you were even going to pretend to do work today anyway.
Durex
Durex Ultra Mega Thin condoms are not like competing brands. Probably not safe for work. Or anywhere else. Ouch!
The L Word
Gawker helps out with some L Word market research.
I’ve tried, but I really can’t relate to any of the women on Sex and the City. Well, maybe Cynthia Nixon’s character.
Paris Hilton, pure!
A worm cleverly masquerading as a "Paris Hilton sex video" attachment is making its way through "the internet". Imagine using the name "Paris Hilton" to get people to click on things. Scandalous.
The W32/Sober-K worm bulk mails itself using a variety of different subject lines including "Paris Hilton, pure!" and "Paris Hilton SexVideos". It can send itself in either German or English language, depending on whether it believes the recipient's email address to be owned by a German or English speaker.
MT3 design
Hi folks, I am still looking for a blog designer familiar with MT3 trackbacks, CSS and TypeKey set-up. Cheers.
Jane
The New Jane offers an advertising strategy for female bloggers. Neat. Unless this a pyramid scheme and I am just not seeing it. Presumably this model could work for other groups (milbloggers, catbloggers, etc.).
Blog traffic
I decided to search out tips to "increase blog traffic", "increase web traffic" and "increase traffic" and decided the best way was to write a post about exploding blog traffic. Like this guy.
This British blogs top ten list by traffic leaves me feeling vaguely pleased with myself even if the Flea counts as mostly Canadian despite my UK passport (via Chase me ladies...).
February 24, 2005
Substance D
While I am excited to learn there may be hope for a forthcoming film-adaptation of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly, I am pleased mainly to see Wynona Ryder re-appear on my nerd radar.
Tokyo streets
Here is some more Tokyo street style for Flea-readers in search of a Harajuku look. Time to have another look at Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Girls.
Where the catwalk got its claws, all you fashion know-it-alls
With your underground malls in the world of Harajuku
Putting on a show, when you dress up in your clothes
Wild hair color and cell phones
Your accessories are dead on
For The Birds
For The Birds is another cute Pixar short (just be careful of the possibly racey text ads).
Trannies
If this CTV piece is any indication, people have some serious confusion about "gaydar" and gay people. To be transgendered, a tranvestite or just a green troll in drag (more common than you might think) does not necessarily mean you are gay. To assume it does says more about a Canadian Press writer's own prejudice* than that of Hollywood, "religious" conservatives or anybody else. I think the Traditional Values Coalition critique of Shrek 2 is almost as silly as the SpongeBob SquarePants kerfuffle but I also think fair-minded people owe it to their opponents to know what it is with which they are disagreeing before getting down to some fully justified mockery and derision.
The article then proceeds to describe one of the characters, an "evil'' bartender (voiced by Larry King) who is a male-to-female transgender in transition and who expresses a sexual desire for Prince Charming. In another identified scene, Shrek and Donkey need rescuing from a dungeon by Pinocchio and his nose, which is made to extend as an escape bridge by getting the wooden boy to lie about not wearing women's underwear.
*And editors at all 25 papers running the story, apparently.
Update: Beautiful Atrocities writes on a related issue.
Blog Cabin Republican
"If this was the Clinton White House and this story broke tell me there would not be an angry mob with torches involved."
Bill Maher has a go at the Jeff Gannon story. The only good question I see in this is how someone using an alias gets a White House press pass. Otherwise, this is just another example of how gay-baiting politics and a generalized fear of sex is by no means confined to bigots pretending to speak for tradition.
I have not had much to say about this myself as I have followed the issue through reportage at INDC Journal. My only thought in looking at the blog with the most links to Gannon's other life as James Guckert (aka "Bulldog") is that I need to eat less and work out more. Nobody is paying the Flea two-hundred bucks an hour to do anything.
Update: Jon Stewart has the pun: Blog Cabin Republican!
February 23, 2005
Tetsujin 28
The trailer for Tetsujin 28* will only appeal to folks who like giant robots stomping on Tokyo and hot women in ersatz paramilitary outfits so I doubt many people here will be interested.
*That's Gigantor for all you North American Flea-readers.
Juicy
"To shake off the maddening and wearying limitations of time and space and natural law -- to be linked with the vast outside -- to come close to the nighted and abysmal secrets of the infinite and ultimate -- surely such a thing was worth the risk of one's life, soul, and sanity!"
- H. P. Lovecraft, "The Whisperer in Darkness"
Nobody has the stats to survive a sanity roll against this Juicy Fruit game.
Social interaction with your peers
An Elder Sign is:
... shaped like a star
... shaped like a tree
... completely useless
... difficult to draw while running in the dark
... a good idea for a tattoo
This H.P. Lovecraft Society SaniTest (TM) is an invaluable heuristic for these troubled times.
Paris calling
I wondered where the traffic was coming from... yesterday's 20,000+ page views were in some part due to the Flea being the third Google search result for "Paris Hilton phone number" and number eight for "Paris Hilton phone numbers". Truly, the hard work of Paris coverage pays off if you just stick to it.
Egg, Ball, and Bubble chairs
I am convinced that blog ad revenue alone will soon provide me with an egg, ball and/or bubble chair of my very own. Oh yes. Soon. (via Robot Action Boy)
Update: Hey, this comely wench stole SondraK's shoes!
Ten Minutes
Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully: in Ten Minutes. By Stephen King (via C. Buddha).
Poor judgment
First, Judgment Day. Then we play golf.
Robotic ball
Everyone on earth who read about this robotic ball must have gone straight to the Village from "The Prisoner", right?
It is capable of travelling at 20mph, somewhat faster than a human being. Even worse for intruders, the robot ball can still give chase over mud, snow and water.
February 22, 2005
Singing in the rain
I hope I never have to face leukaemia. But if I do I hope I can face it with a tiny fraction of the dignity and humour of Milton Mermikides.
Millennium Kylie
The Meatriarchy stumped me with a Kylie trivia question. The first season dvd collection of Millennium includes an audio commentary extra about the inspiration for the Mark Snow Millennium title theme.
So, what Kylie tune inspired the Millennium title theme? Mmm... good question.
And then... You would think I'd know the answer given my perfect score on this Kylie edition of What's that song?
And then... Ahh... "Confide In Me". Of course.
Lance Henriksen
The official Lance Henriksen website shows off some mad pottery skillz.
Bellatrix Lestrange
Elizabeth Hurley is reported to have been cast as a Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange in the forthcoming film adaptation of Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (and that is quite enough about whipping out wands in that last link, thank you very much).
Bourne
The Bourne Simulator asks if you have got what it takes to be the next Jason Bourne.
Reveal the identity of the Treadstone Project leader and take out the operation.
Zen
Strangely, this Zen Screen Garden inspires a state of non-relaxation in me.
That's hot
Paris Hilton says she would choose Jennifer Aniston over Brad Pitt. Is this news? Sadly, yes.
She said: "He's so hot. But then I think that Jennifer Aniston is hot too. In fact I would turn Brad down because I love Jennifer Aniston so much."
Tinkerbell rules
Britney Spears says her dogs are better than Paris Hilton's pet Tinkerbell. As if.
Angry Libertarian Alliance
While Prader-Willi Syndrome sounds like a nightmare I am writing this because of my misreading of the last but one paragraph of an article detailing the plight of 31-stone (434lb) Chris Leppard.
Imagine my disappointment after a Google search revealed there is no such thing as the "Angry Libertarian Alliance". I feel a new blog-roll coming on, folks.
Enkoder
A high-tech way of protecting your email address from harvesting spambots (via Knowledge is Power).
Cooking to hook up
What kind of girl is she? What kind of girl are you?
February 21, 2005
Hunter Stockton Thompson
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me"
Hunter S. Thompson, dead of apparent suicide. This is going to take some time for people to process. Rolling Stone is demonstrating old media time-lag and has yet to acknowledge Thompson's death and I expect we will see a tribute Doonesbury soon. In the meantime, here is news coverage from Aspen Daily News, Aspen Times, MTV, New York Post, Times of London, Spiegel, Reuters and Al Jazeera (wtf?). The Flea is now taking bets on how many minutes pass before this death is blamed on a) the current administration, b) multinational publishing conglomerates or c) global warming.
"On Feb. 20, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson took his life with a gunshot to the head at his fortified compound in Woody Creek, Colorado. The family will provide more information about memorial service and media contacts shortly. Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family," Juan and Anita Thompson said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News. "He stomped terra."
Villa of the Papyri
"He began to work long before daybreak.…He read nothing without making extracts; he used even to say that there was no book so bad as not to contain something of value. In the country it was only the time when he was actually in his bath that was exempted from study. When travelling, as though freed from every other care, he devoted himself to study alone. In short, he deemed all time wasted that was not employed in study."
- Pliny the Younger writing of his uncle
On August 24, AD 79, Gaius Plinius Secundus, now known as Pliny the Elder, was admiral of the western Roman fleet at Misenum. With the eruption of Vesuvius, Pliny commanded a relief expedition "to observe the phenomenon directly, and also to rescue some of his friends from their perilous position on the shore of the Bay of Naples." And, in Robert Harris' telling of the tale, to rescue a library. To my mind, something worth dying for.
The Villa of Papyri, thought to be the home of the library at Herculaneum, is now to be excavated properly thanks to funding from David W. Packard. So, thank you Dr. Packard.
The scrolls were in crates and it appears that slaves were removing them from the libraries when they were inundated with ash from the eruption. Although the scrolls appeared to be in a poor state, scientists at Oxford University have been able to read them after subjecting them to imaging techniques.
It is believed that there are thousands more scrolls in the building, much of which lies beneath the modern town of Ercolano, and that they may include lost works by Aristotle, Livy and Sappho.
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution was suggested to me as part of my keep fit regimen. I have yet to be convinced.
Paris Hilton phone number
Looking for Paris Hilton's phone book? Read on... And check out the rest of Ghost of a flea while you are here. Pop culture updates for people trapped in cubicles everywhere: Paris Hilton with her little dog Tinkerbell! Paris Hilton with Jennifer Aniston! Kylie Minogue with her perfect bottom! Sometimes Jessica Alba in spandex!
Paris Hilton needs to reconsider using her cell phone as a phonebook. In addition to images reportedly taken from Hilton's note book, this website (with a range of nsfw ads) hosts a number of calls including calls to Nick Carter ("Paris Hilton is a big idiot.") and Alexis Thorpe who were not pleased.
Update: And here are all the numbers from the Paris Hilton phone book.
Update: It looks like that LiveJournal site and the pr0n site have removed their content. No Vin Diesel phone number here... I will keep an eye out for live links. I post regular Paris Hilton news updates so drop by again tomorrow and I will see what I can find.
Update: Here is the Paris Hilton phone book (thanks to a Flea-reader!). Apparently the same T-Mobile terrorist has released a Fred Durst video (follow that link) to the internet. What next?
Update: And here is another take on Paris Hilton's cell phone.
The Jefferson Parliament Bomber footage
This Atari viral for Act of War is all too believable. Since September 11, I really do not find this sort of thing amusing and wonder how something like this could have been produced to advertise a video game.
Superman
Mike Miksch argues Superman is a dick.
General Xinchub
The man in the Tron outfit returns as General Xinchub. Do not view without eyes drops handy.
Sleep City
Impressive investigations of parallel cities.