http://www.bigredliquors.com/special_events.php (sorry, can't link with MAC)
March 25-26...I'd like to get as many people together as possible...and puke on them.
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Hicks:
I know the almighty beer fest is approaching. Now is a novel time to gather all members of the Beer Drinking Tactical team for a go at the finest fermentations. How 'bout some info so plans can be made?
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[all apologies to Mike for overlapping a previous post on this and length] So by now everyone has heard, as the result of downloading, the infamous Grey Album by DJ Dangermouse (with contributions by The Beatles and Jay-Z). If you haven't heard the full story, here's the rundown:

More than 300 Web sites and blogs staged a 24-hour online protest yesterday over a record company's efforts to stop them from offering downloadable copies of "The Grey Album."...The protesters billed the event as "Grey Tuesday,"....industry lawyers...sent letters to the Web sites demanding that they not follow through on the protest.

EMI was behind the unliteral effort to put down the downloads. This is the part I found most interesting:

Jonathan Zittrain, a director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, said the issue is indeed a gray one. "As a matter of pure legal doctrine, the Grey Tuesday protest is breaking the law, end of story," Mr. Zittrain said. "But copyright law was written with a particular form of industry in mind. The flourishing of information technology gives amateurs and home-recording artists powerful tools to build and share interesting, transformative, and socially valuable art drawn from pieces of popular culture. There's no place to plug such an important cultural sea change into the current legal regime."

Which led me to the Berkman Center's OpenLaw site, which I think is just brilliant. Basically they develop legal briefs, arguments, and petitions for actual copyright cases (the first one of which made it to the US Supreme Court) using the open source model popularized by software programmers. Anyone can contribute to their arguments. It's a novel and effective way of coordinating dispersed knowledge for a useful cause. They are now collaborating with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which I'm a big fan of.

Bottom line: while I don't necessarily agree with all their positions - I think copyright and patent law creates productive incentives in some cases - I feel this is an interesting development in this field of law, and the practice of law itself. The potential applications in other fields are legion.
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Oft-beloved / oft-despised shock jock Howard Stern has been suspended by Clear Channel for on-air indecency, in what is sure to be the first of many moves to happen in the name of decency as a result of a little bit of boobage. Personally 1.21 Gigawatts thinks that (look, I sound like Gothamist!) this is a load of shit, and why should Howard be taken off now, just for general indecency? Jesus people, just change the channel, or learn how to program that V-chip that now comes in every single TV. IT"S THE PARENTS FAULT. They're your kids, fucking take care of them yourself and don't hinder everyone elses freedoms because you refuse to responsibility for what your kid watches / listens to. "Period."
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It's like something out of The Onion: one of Wisconsin's leading advocates for harsher, unreasonable drinking laws is arrested for drunken driving. Fellow traveller and veteran blogger Radley Balko (who also happens to be an expert on "backdoor prohibition") has the full story over at his site, The Agitator.

Also, on a related note, apparently "teen brains show less activity in the regions associated with motivation," a study shows. "Adolescents may be more willing to engage in dangerous activities such as drink driving because this crucial part of their brain is under-developed, the US researchers suggest."
Hat tip to Professor Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution for the link.
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This is Aaron Chastain, Welcoming YOU (and I hope you love my glasses) to the biggest party in the Midwest this last weekend and the main street of T&A in dowtown STL. SO to all those waiting eyes, I decided to post at least one picture, well let's make it two.

And as soon as I can upload the whole lot, Hicks will have a side bar post for you to see all the famous pics from STL. Sorry there could be more, but my camera wasn't working at the time and all we had was J-red's camera. Anyway, we had so much fun and the streets were crazy busy. I was expecting a lot, but was surprised. Someone said there were about 1 million drunk fools in the whole couple block area. Enjoy!!

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As long as we're on the subject of food mascots, I thought I would offer up a tribute to my personal favorite food mascot of all-time: the Domino's Pizza Noid. The Noid dominated the mascot scene during the late 80s, even spawning his own cart for the NES - Yo! Noid. Whether he was blowing up your pizza with a Noid-bomb, freezing it with his Noid-wand, or just punching it to pieces, the Noid is the only mascot (I can recall) that has ever made habit of destroying the very product he is meant to promote. Watch an old Noid commercial here. What are some other good food mascots? I'd give props to Hamburglar and Little Ceasar, but no fool can step to the Noid. outtie.
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(...whatever the hell they are.) What some consider an ignominious use of an ad budget, gets an 'A' grade from Slate Magazine's "Ad Report Card." Also here is Bob Garfield's Ad Review in AdAge.com, saying basically the same thing but with more humor.

I have to agree: the ads create awareness for the brand, stimulate viral transmission of the subject, and accomplish an unforgettable viewer experience in very little time and probably on the first viewing. I especially like the companion ad explaining a coupon for anything will get you a $1 off a sub, including coupons for "oil changes...or hairplugs! Any coupon works!"

Nota Bene: In his February 16th column, Bob Garfield does a pretty good job summing up why Adidas' Muhammad/Laila Ali ad completely misses the mark.
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...declared an enthused Mayor Bloomberg at a press conference with newly acquired Yankee signee, Alex Rodriguez.
Now, I can only imagine what the anti-Yankee sentiment is here at the Gigawatts (it can only pale in comparison to what I have to deal with among my friends), but sports columnist and all around cultural gadfly Allen Barra, methinks, does a pretty good job of putting the Evil Empire into perspective. This NY Times piece actually argues, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, that the deal was a money saver for the club. [Full Disclosure: I am, and have been for as long as I remember enjoying baseball, a Yankees fan. He is my favorite player of all time.]

The money 'graph:
"Though the fact seems to have escaped most of their critics over the
past eight years, the Yankees from 1996 through this season have never
been free spenders--big spenders, yes, but not free spenders. The core of
the recent Yankee dynasty has been home-grown talent: Derek Jeter, Bernie
Williams, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte. And, in fact,
despite all the talk of the old gang breaking up, Pettitte is the only player in
that group who is not still a Yankee."

That being said, I do think Peter Gammons is sycophantically favorable to the Bronx Bombers, and despite reports to the contrary, my Yankee fandom does not preclude me from rational consideration of the salary cap, luxury tax, and revenue sharing provisions -- after all, it's all just economics. (I'm actually in favor of increasing the luxury tax. I'll save you all my entire diatribe on the subject).

It may be all for moot, however, as this guy may completely change the game as we know it.
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Spring is right around the corner, and that means it's time for one of Indy's best annual events: the Beat Sport & Travel show. I would highly suggest that each of you take the time to head downtown and check this spread out. They have over 600 exhibitors that allow you to tour everything from small yachts to RVs to log cabin models. Keep you're eye out for the scantily-clad models laid out on the hood of some of the bigger boats, you might recognize them from recent issues of Lowrider magazine. Also, if you go on the weekends, don't miss the bear-wrestling and post-climbing races in the Pepsi Colliseum - there's sure to be an injury or two. The show runs through this Sunday and tix are $9.
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Ralph Nader annouced his candidacy for the 2004 election over the weekend, sending a wave of reassurance to Bush supporters across the country. I would like to say that, yes I did vote for Nadar in 2000, and no I won't be voting for Nader in 2004. It is entirely too obvious that Nader seriously hindered Al Gore's otherwise smooth entrance to the White House, and the only reason I'll vote democrat is because I don't want to see that happen again. I am all for the Green Party platform, but I don't like a 3rd party in the presidential election because they don't stand a chance of doing anything except hurting a strong liberal contingency. Third parties need to work from the ground up, which means start by getting local offices and work towards electing congressmen and senators. Once they've successfully infiltrated the House and Senate the Democratic Party will be forced to see green in the spectrum. I'll agree, right now we're looking at another election that's going to end up with identical candidates, and I don't think Kerry can hold up despite his favoratism in the polls. The big issues that Kerry has come out against - the war, no child left behind specifically - are things has has VOTED FOR in the past. Ladies and gents, we're fucked.
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I don't know what everyone's doing for Mardi Gras this year, but if you're planning to be in Bloomington then plan on coming out to the big Fat Tuesday celebration at Bluebird on Tuesday night. Lots of good costumes and good music are expected. What you should expect is to find anything better in Bloomington (or even indiana). What I expect is to see some pix from STL Mardi Gras from this weekend, so hook that shit up when you get back A-ron. HAve a good weekend kids, I hope you dig the new wears on the site.
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I'm sure many of you have heard about this by now. DJ Dangermouse recently remixed Jay Z's Black Album using tracks from The Beatles White Album, and beats of his very own. Being both a fan of Jigga and the Fab Four I couldn't resist checking this one out. Dangermouse usues samples from "Mother NAture's Son," "Piggies," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Glass Onion," "Julia," and a few others. Very cool hearing Jay on top of Beatles tracks, and Dangermouses beats are all kinds of illified. Anyway, I really dig it and I just wanted to point out that you can download it here for free (link via those blog-snobs over at Gothamist).
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Yesterday, Al and I are hanging out in my bedroom when all of the sudd... "WHAT THE FUCK!" For some reason I have really bad luck with wild animals sneaking into my living space (ask A-ron about the possum debacle). This scene was straight out of The Great Outdoors. Anyway, this damn bat is on the loose in my bedroom and anyone who's been in the bedroom knows that it's not all that big. The little bastard was doing laps around the room at what seemed like 60 mph. I managed to open one of the windows and tried to use a broom to "guide" him out. Well that didn't work and I had to whack the little bastard, sending him across the room. Then, as I'm shoveling him up into the dust pan he acts like he's about to take off and start flying again. Luckily I was right next to the window, so I pitched him out. No bites were sustained.
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Let them play themselves. This new site is boasting a The Sims game that characters in The Sims can play! I think Jesse Walker aptly sums it up, when he said "I'm getting dizzy..."

Read a quick explanation of it here.

Hat tip to Reason online's Hit & Run for the link.

Nota Bene: Reason is one of my three favorite magazines.
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Last night I went down to the Monroe County public library to check out this documentary after hearing about it on WFHB. I must encourage you all to swing by democracynow.org and devote 27 minutes of your time to checking this out, it is quite thought provoking and challeging, and makes some excellent points about how the American media approaches the coverage of war compared to the rest of the world. One of the most fascinating points was the discussion of how CNN showed nothing but bombs dropping and info on all the new toys of war, while CNN international split the screen to show not only the bombings but the devistation and aftermath. Chiggity check it.
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Posts have been hard to come by this week, so I've decided to present five of my all-time favorite Mike Tyson quotes. There's a bunch more available here.

"If I take this camera and put it in your face for 20 years, I don't know what you might be. You might be a homosexual if I put that camera on you since you were 13 years old. I've been on that camera since I was 13 years old."

"My power is discombobulatingly devastating I could feel is muscle tissues collapse under my force. It's ludicrous these mortals even attempt to enter my realm."

On reporters: “I want to throw down your kid and stomp on his testicles, and then you will know what it is like to experience waking up everyday as me. And only then will you feel my pain.”

"Lennox Lewis, I'm coming for you man. My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah!"

"I paid a worker at New York's zoo to re-open it just for me and Robin. When we got to the gorilla cage there was 1 big silverback gorilla there just bullying all the other gorillas. They were so powerful but their eyes were like an innocent infant. I offered the attendant $10,000 to open the cage and let smash that silverback's snotbox! He declined."
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For all of you electronic music lovers, I caught X103's Planet X show driving home Saturday night. Apparently, the show has been active since 2000, unbenounced to me. Electronic music is far from prevalent on Indy radio, but I must say, I was very impressed with Planet X. For those of you who can catch the signal, be sure to check it out. Check out the info and a weekly playlist:
http://www.x103.com/x-jocks/planet-x.html
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So yesterday I finally caved in a bought myself a cat. Until I came down to B-town, I'd always had a cat, so I told myself as soon as I graduate I'm gettin' me one. This little dude's name is (now) Otis (instead of Tiger, which was a shitty name), and he's about 8 months old. He just had his balls chopped so I assume he's not quite as frisky as usual, but that's aight with me. Anyway, I'm not supposed to have a cat so he's chillin' over at Alison's house for the next few months. Cat's rule.
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One of the original ideas when conceiving of 1.21 Gigawatts was to have a place for us all to share our photos. I think I've come up with a solution for doing this. I've posted my own personal photo album in the sidebar and if any of you members would also like to post one let me know, it's quite easy. First, go to Shutterfly and get yourself a free account. Shutterfly allows you to store your photos online so that others can view them. After you've uploaded all the photos you want everyone to see, select the share option and send an email to me (mike at rockpaperscissors dot biz) and I'll put a link for your photos in the side column. You can update the album at will, but make sure you send me a share email each time you do so that I can update the link.
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If you remember from earlier I have a new post from Good ol' Zipperfish.com. The great minds there have set up a game for us to play with our favorite Australian, O Crikey, the Crocodile hunter. Check this out!!


After winning you get a , "Way to go, you saved that beautiful Croc from goin hungry!!" hahaha. By the way, while you're at the site, don't forget about additions to the You are a Fucking Moron! Britney Spears edition, watch slugger, he gots some funny signs.
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All that talk about sub-par music made me sick. Here are some refreshments:

Zoot Woman - Zoot Woman
Danger Mouse (DM) & Jemini - Ghetto Pop Life
Kenna - New Sacred Crow
The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart
Matthew Dear - Leave Luck To Heaven
Dan The Automator - Wanna Buy A Monkey?
Keb Darge - Keb Darge's Legendary Deep Funk Vol. 1, 2, and 3 (w/ Pete Rock)
Jackie Mittoo - The Keyboard King At Studio One
Dabrye - One/Three
Dilated Peoples - Expansion Team
Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow
Mr. Lif - I Phantom
Yanni - Yanni Live At The Acropolis (PSYCH!)

I'M RICK JAMES BITCH!

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Ahh, new crushes. An addition to the Hix's competition, but I do it because she's simply amazing. Let me tell you something, Czech girls really are beautiful. That is why there are what we call 'Sex Trips' to Prague. I miss the life.VeronicaVarekova.jpeg


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In a strategic counter-programming move to our female counterparts over at Proximity... Sarah Silverman is a totally rightious Babe! You might remember her from her short stint on SNL, her days in the Mr. Show troupe, or her recent appearanceson Crank Yankers and in School of Rock or other half-good movies. Not only is she smokin' hot, but totally hilarious as well. Check out these quotes of her clever wit in action:

"I think I was about six when I saw my father's penis. I don't think it affected me because I was so young. And so drunk."

"If you take a shower with your boyfriend, I guarantee by the time you step out of that shower, your breasts will be sparkling clean."

In honor of v-day, I encourage all of you to bow before Sarah.
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"Bush plans to back marriage amendment
Constitution would say marriage is union between man and woman"

"For months, conservative Christian leaders have complained about Bush's hesitation to flatly endorse a constitutional amendment on marriage."

What the fuck? Is this as important as ending slavery or giving the right to vote to all citizens of the US? I have to say, I'm not too high on marriage in the first place, but is there a need for an Amendment to the Constitution. Jesus Christ. If two people have a place where they can get married, Let them get married!!! Hell, why not allow a three way marriage, see if I care. It's not like marriage is what it used to be anyway.

In a lot of countries in Europe, people don't get 'married' at the church anymore or even at all. If you aren't religious, why do you need a marriage at church? The real question is what is the Gov.'s definitions of marriage and will the civil unions give the same rights to opposite sex marriages under the law.

By the way, Kerry has come out also "Against" Gay Marriage.
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Yesterday, as I stand in line at Best Buy I couldn't help but notice the three guys in front of me all holding the same CD: Kanye West's debut album College Dropout. Stilll longer I waited for a register to open up and low and behold four more dudes get in line behind me, all with Kanye West CDs (apparantly it came out yesterday). I was literally the only person in line who was not buying Kanye West, and for good reason. That song with Jamie Foxx - "Slow Jamz" - is fucking horrible. When I first saw the video I thought it was a joke. Jamie Foxx is all up in the grill of the camera throwing up hand gestures and what not (ala this photo). Has anyone heard this song? It's got this typical double time rhyme scheme (the kind 311 made popular) and one of those beats where the high hat gets all ill'd out in crazy double time underneath the vocals. I can't help but laugh when Jamie Foxx step to the mic because it is basically a dead-on mimicing of Willie Beaman's "Cold Creamin'" from the great Oliver Stone flick Any Given Sunday. Plus, the video is soooo low budget. I can't believe a song like this is going to be a hit. It sounds dated already and it just came out yesterday. Are you with me on this? Have you heard it?

Go here and click on "Slow Jamz" to watch the video.
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Damn shame. Chances are you've heard the album Pet Sounds, and yes it's fucking brilliant yada yada yada. Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys were set to record the follow-up Smile in late 1966 and 1967, but the project was canned by Wilson at the last moment. The mystery of the album has lived in infamey, and was heralded by those who got a small listen, as the Beach Boys finest hour.

Now Brian Wilson has decided to play six dates at London's Royal Albert Hall and perform Smile for the first time ever. Check out the article here on Slate. I'll agree with the writer that Smile is akin to the Ark of the Covenant in rock and roll history and should not be touched. The music is better as a mystery to us all. Now it is likely that at very least a live version of the music will be released. As much as I would like to hear this, I don't want to hear a washed up performer reinterpret something that has been held up to such a high mystique. Damn shame.
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Everything I read by Mark Steyn is just awesome. Here's a great take on the ongoing Breastgate investigation of the Federal Communications Commission as well as a clever tie-in to the president's outlandish budget request.

Overall a great case against runaway government authority.

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Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullvian show. No one will argue that this moment represented a sea change in popular culture, so go home and listen to your Beatles CDs, tapes, records, 8-tracks, or watch your anthology videos and DVDs. Hell, you might even want to go out and pick up the new DVD of the Beatles Ed Sullivan performances.
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We're all guilty of making a few ill-informed choices over the course of our lives. Some of them live on forever, and nothing could speak at greater volume about one's assumed past then the contents of their CD collection. I would like to take a minute to rundown five of my guiltiest CD purchases from the last 10-15 years, and then encourage the rest of you to ante up and admit the CDs you bought and wish you hadn't. So in no particular order here we go - with attempted justification.

Joe Satriani: The Extremeist, 1992
I know what you're saying... who the hell is this guy? He's a shedder. The type of guy you see posing in ads all over guitar magazines. I think my guitar teacher convinced me to pick this one up. For a year or two, the cut "Summer Song" was used by sony to market their Sports walkman line. As far as the music goes, it's just over-the-top soloing, like that guy at the guitar store who never shuts the fuck up, and keeps playing the solo to "Harvestor of Sorrow."

Guns n' Roses: The Spaghetti Incident, 1993
At the time of purchase, I thought this collection of old punk covers to be quite rockin', particularly they're version of Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog." In other ways, this is often judged as the beginning of the end (?) for GNR, and most critics completely panned the release. At the time, it was more Guns, and that's all a hard rock fan like myself needed at the time. Ten years later we're still waiting for Chinese Democracy to drop.

LEN: You Can't Stop the Bum Rush, 1999
Ok, "Steal My Sunshine" is a fucking great song, and anyone who doesn't think so can eat poopy. The song is all about that dude's raspy voice and that little drum fill at the end of each phrase (boom, chack-a-boom). As for the rest of the release, well I don't think I ever actually listened to the whole thing. I can tell you that tracks 2,3, and 4 all seriously suck. Apprantly the bum rush can be, and was stopped. This is that CD that always gets the "What the fuck?" reaction when people look through my collection.

EMF: Schubert Dip, 1991
What can I say here... I was just a small fragile mind in 1991, and I really had no idea what I getting myself into. This was the second CD I ever owned (Aerosmith's Pump was #1). In retrospect, I don't recall even enjoying the song "Unbelievable" very much. I'll be careful what I say about the EMF boys, as I know there is at least one of our readers is a HARDCORE EMF fan. To me, "Unbelievable" sort of sums up everything that was right and wrong about the early 90s.

Green Jello: Cereal Killer Soundtrack, 1993
For some reason I was under the illusion that this band was serious about music, and serious about rawking hard. Thanks to "Three Little Pigs", Green Jello (and later, for bogus reason, Green Jelly) was a Gwar for the masses. We all remember the video, but I'll bet I was the only one who acted on my impulse and actually paid for this music. I was in a band in 8th grade, our name was Temporary Insanity, and we tried out for the talent show by playing "Three Little Pigs." I think we were the only act in the history of the talent show to be turned away.

So that's that. Cough it up.
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Amidst the scandal of booby-exposure, many people are overlooking another horrible aspect of the half-time show: there was (and has been now for several years) some serious lipsynching going down. At times during "Hot In Herre" Nelly didn't even move his mouth, much less hold a mic to it. It's hard not to question whether there was a single ingredient of live musicianship in the entire show. This is completely asinine and know one seems to care that lipsynching is going down here. What happened to the era when Milli Vanilli was chastized for the same crimes? Granted, these performers did actually record their own songs. I'm sure their "Concerts" are the same facade as this halftime performance. Which once reaffirms my theory - mainstream pop music sucks serious ballz.
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Guilt is the first emotion to spring forth as I begin this post. Guilt for allowing myself to recognize (and hence promote) what was obviously one of the most daring, albeit tasteless PR moves in history. I think everyone's general reaction was that this was a mistake, and that Justin Timberlake did not mean to expose Janet's booby. Just to fill in those who didn't see it, Justin reached his arm across Janet's chest, and in a move that seemed to be choreographed in the dance steps, actually ripped open Janet's top on one side. Now that there are pictures available, you can tell quite clearly that Janet had a star pasted over her nipp, and was rather well prepared for the occasion. There is no way that CBS was aware of this, because if they had been there is no way they would have let it go down. Janet's booby, Paris Hilton, Pam & Tommy Lee, where do we go from here? I think we've officially taken sex, as a tool of promotion, to the extreme on TV and in Pop Culture. How will the stars of tommorow promote themselves when this right of passage becomes cliche? Will it become cliche?

Watch the video here.
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