Hearts and Minds, y'all...

See, here's the thing. We are effectively at war with an ideology. And the battlefield is that of perception on the Arab street (among other places and peoples - but this is the biggie). Part of my problem with the Iraq situation (aside from all the maiming and killing and profiteering and such-like) is that it is highly counterproductive to this particular war effort, this hearts and minds thing.

Afghanistan is in a tenuous situation - the Taliban have regained some strength, and the gov't in Kandahar is just that, with little power in the rest of the country. So we really need to be hitting the psy-ops thing pretty much on the money, instead of dropping blasphemous soccer balls from helicopters.

I don't want to live in this world anymore...

I can't stand it.

A pudgy ventriloquist with a ^%@#^&$ puppet just won America's Got Talent, which I will not link to. Google it. He gets one million dollars and a gig in Vegas.

This Mike Douglas Show leftover just won a million bucks. As the hottest new act in America.

Did I mention the puppet? My sweet Lord. Is it 1954? I'm not denying that dude has some kind of skill, what with singing without moving his lips. Much. And working a puppet. But is this really, really the best new entertainment America has to offer?

I see more entertaining stuff on the street every day. Somewhere there's a homeless guy with a harmonica that could really have used that money.

guitarded

Marc Ribot is the man...

nothing to see here

School's back in so the torrent of YouTube silliness and other assorted whatnot will slow down a bit. Plus also I just got the new William Gibson book, Spook Country. I've also been doing quite a bit of design and consulting in the art world, which is always awesome.

Rockafire Explosion LIVE!

In Phenix City, AL! I'm from Columbus, GA originally, and Phenix City is just across the river. That part of the world is full of twisted genius, and this guy is the ne plus ultra.

christhrash has somehow acquired a fully functional Showbiz Pizza animatronic stage show, featuring the awesome Rockafire Explosion. He's been working up new shows with new hit songs. Amazing.

I can't even imagine the amount of work that goes into this - the programming, working out parts, syncing movements. Just mind-boggling.

Here's one of my favorites:

WARNING - Extremely adictive game below

Click the image above ONLY if you want to surrender hours and hours of your life to the one of the simplest, most enigmatic, and most addictive Flash games you'll ever click upon.