Literal Spam
I get some decidedly odd spam these days. I’m sure you do too. Any piece of art based on spam emails is likely to be a little risqué – so click through to this page at your own risk… this has been around for a while. I’m doing some spring cleaning of my queue of blog fodder…
Elliot Burford is producing a series of literal spam. Or something. You can get them as T-Shirts.
Copywrongs
Simone has brought up the old copyright chestnut again – head on over for the fun. I’ve commented a couple of times already – no doubt I’ll comment many more…
“This argument didn’t sit right then and still doesn’t now. I’m convinced that there is something different about a song. Last night I gave away a kids club that I spent weeks and weeks writing. I’m happy for people to use it however they want. Change bits. Whatever. I don’t care. (Though my fonting and layout is nice). In terms of work hours, this kids club probably cost me about $4000. No single song has cost me that much. It’s not a time thing. I don’t think it’s a selfishness thing either. But there is an all-or-nothingness about songs that there’s not about other things.”
Keeping Mum
Godfather Vito Corleone taught son Michael one important lesson – keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Without wanting to give anything dramatic away – for those who haven’t seen the Godfather II – Michael was betrayed by a family member. Which must really hurt.
Some public figures are learning a similar lesson about the importance of treating your family – and extended family – well.
Cricketer Mitchell Johnson has copped a public shellacking from his mother – for consorting with his fiancé – and rarely calling home to mum. The apron strings were clearly not as severed as Johnson believed…
"I get a text on Mother’s Day and a text on my birthday.
The last time I actually spoke to him was when the beach cricket was here (and) Dennis Lillee told him he had to ring his mother, so Mitchell rang me that day.
It has been like this since Jess came on the scene.
Up until he met Jessica we were very close . . . but he hasn’t spent a night under my roof since he met Jessica."
Johnson moved from Queensland to Western Australia to get away from his mother be with his lady friend – and it seems his mum wasn’t anticipating the consequences of the move…
"For the wives and the children I think it is great that they support them and send the over there, but who are these girlfriends? They are just girlfriends, Mitch met Jess and since then she has flown off to South Africa, to England and the Bahamas.
She gets all these trips, she gets flown there, accommodation, food and all of that."
It couldn’t possibly be a case of missing the perks could it?
My perennial political whipping woman – Sarah Palin – has also learned a lesson about not biting the hand that feeds your grandchild. Her disenfranchised ex-potential son-in-law – no doubt annoyed that he was thrust in the campaign spotlight for naught – has held a press conference. Yes, that’s right. A press conference. The high school jock who a year ago was heading towards a career hunting bears or something – called a press conference to spill the beans on his jilted almost-mother-in-law’s decision to resign.
Nineteen-year-old Levi Johnston, whose wedding to Bristol Palin was called off earlier this year, says he thinks the governor is resigning over personal finances.
Johnston says he lived with the Palin family from early December to the second week in January. He claims he heard the governor several times say how nice it would be to take advantage of the lucrative deals that were being offered, deals that included a reality show and a book.
Johnston made his comments at a news conference Thursday at his lawyer’s office.
After the McCain campaign paraded this guy around the country he wants a few more minutes of fame. So he’s becoming a Palin pundit.
What possesses people to settle family disputes through the media? It must surely put a permanent strain on the relationship – I can’t imagine Mitchell Johnson waking up feeling positively about his mum and inviting her to join him in England now – can you?
My cups runneth over
Robyn bought me a present yesterday. Bodum coffee cups. They’re awesome because they’ve got a little cup within a cup – they’re double walled. They’re not cheap. But I really like them…
Meet Gary
Gary is a bad landlord. Apparently. One of his tenants has a blog documenting the badness of his landlordness – called Landlord of the Flies. If I was a Landlord I can imagine perpetuating this sort of thing as a joke – but it seems genuine.
“June 30: Oil Leak
My car has been leaking oil for a little while, and I have been trying to get it fixed.
Email from Gary concerning this:
GD:
YOUR CAR IS STILL LEAKING OIL LIKE A SIEVE….
GET IT FIXED NOW…..
STRONG LETTER TO FOLLOW,
Gary
Strong letter that followed:
get your oil leak fixed NOW……MORON
“
June 17: The Arrest
Upon returning from work on Wednesday, I find 2 cop cars parked in the driveway. The police inform me that when James returned from the hospital, he discovered his TV, laptop, and iPhone were all missing. When asked about this, Gary claimed he had no idea where they were. The police then found the TV in Gary’s garage. He admitted to having stole the TV, but said he had no idea where the laptop or phone was. They found the laptop under his bed. “Alright, I also stole the laptop, but I have no idea where the iPhone is.” The iPhone was then found in his desk drawer.
This is the first, and a prime example, of Gary’s inability to plan for future events. One could assume that after finding the TV, they would likely continue to search. Unless you have thought of a really unique hiding place, just fess up, because they’re probably going to check your desk and under your bed.
Gary was handcuffed and I was asked if I would be posting bail for Gary. Having lived in the house for just about 2 weeks, I didn’t feel that me and Gary were at that “posting bail” level of our relationship. Gary then spent the night in Kane County lock-up on charges of felony theft.
And we thought our landlord was crazy… there’s a bit of strong language if you want to read the whole account.
Coffee for the shirty
Coffee makes the world go round. And if there’s been one gap in the coffee spectrum it’s in the field of wearable coffee. Harnessing the awesome and incredible powers of coffee waste – not even the good bits – this company is able to make fabric – and then shirts.
No atheists at the gallows
This is an interesting follow up to the last post on death and the decline of religion. There’s a saying that infuriates atheists – well, at least the ones I read on the Internet – “there are no atheists in the fox holes” – it’s the idea that when confronted with our mortality we turn to God.
A quick flick through this oddly compelling gallery of the last words of executed criminals suggests there aren’t many atheists at the gallows…
Luigo
Luigi is the forgotten Italian Plumber. Less cool because he wears green and was pretty much a lackey, or a bit player – an 8-bit player no less – in the Mario Bros saga – it’s not the Mario and Luigi bros is it… and Mario gets the girl…
Luckily someone out there is still holding a torch/flame/candle (whatever the expression is) for the green guy – because they produced this awesome Lego statue.
The death of death
An ABC blogger reckons religion is in decline because nobody is as scared of death any more… his post attracted a bunch of rabid atheists – like any such post on the interwebs does. There aren’t enough rational Christians commenting on these kinds of posts with gospel intent…
“The appeal of the big three monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – has always been that they offer us a mechanism to deal with death, an accommodation with our inevitable personal extinction.”
The study of religious structures is pretty fascinating. But the idea that religions came about to control people rather than in a search for truth and meaning is pretty insulting to any believer.
Christianity, is not, as the author of this piece suggests, about “moral living’ that’s an outcome of Christianity not the process of Christianity. And it’s not the end goal of Christian life.
“In exchange for living according to a moral code, life can be infinitely prolonged after the death of the body. But for Westerners, death is now further away than ever before. Western science has not yet conquered death, but it has now banished death to a comfortable distance.”
One of the angry atheists in the comments suggested that the God of the Bible is immoral – kind of defeats the purpose of being God if you’re not the arbiter of morality doesn’t it? That statement is not logical.
“This article made no mention of the wealth of evidence and arguments against religion. The immorality of the god of the bible, mohammed, and just the illogical nature of the whole thing.”
Clean feed cops pasting…
GetUp has produced an advertisement about internet censorship. It’s not like Microsoft’s ill fated promo of their “private browsing” feature… it’s pretty clever.
Welcome back Scotter…
Nobody actually calls Scott “Scotter”, or in fact by his real name. It’s either Scott, or Scooter… at least that’s what I’ve gathered in a few years of knowing the chap. His cynicism and sarcasm brighten my day – and after a two year hiatus he has rejoined the blogosphere. It promises much…
So, with a new coat of paint, here’s to an old blog getting a new start – new content, new sarcasm, cynicism, maybe even vandalism – here’s hoping we can prompt ponderance, brew brainstorming and captivate comment.
The Rocky Hauritz Show
I love cricket. And I love the Ashes. I was surprised that it started so early last night, I thought it would all begin an hour later and I’d have to go to bed before lunch. But I managed to see a little bit of Hauritz bowling and couldn’t have been less impressed.
This article would be defamation if truth wasn’t a defence:
“And that is why when Nathan Hauritz bowls his right-arm spinners Australia is effectively one man down. Hauritz may as well pull a hamstring and sit the match out in the sheds. Such is the modern disregard for balls that spin into a right-hand batman, that only when pitches spit and scream can Hauritz rise above mediocrity.”