Burst Attention Span

So which did side of the fence did you fall on in the DVD format acronym wars of Xmas 2006? Blu-Ray? HD-DVD?
What?! You didn’t drop a grand for a player that may be obsolete within the year just so you could catch a closeup of King Kong’s nipples? You weren’t even in the queue for a PS3? Good choice.

Meanwhile the movie studios couldn’t decide either, with some releasing on only one of the formats, some on both, but comparatively few titles released on any of the HD media. With a small new market split in half like that it must be almost impossible to predict how many copies of a title to release, doubly so when releasing for both formats at once – even with the Christmas market and early adopters indiscriminately snatching craptastic titles for their new system.

Instead of fighting over whether Blu-Ray or HD-DVD wins out, Warner Bros have invented a disc that plays in both trays. They call it Total HD Disc.

What was the point of two competing formats again? Exactly. Moving on…

Yesterday I visited the cultural revolution that is TGI Friday’s. There I discovered something which, while initially disturbing turned into something wonderful once tasted… It’s deep fried macaroni cheese in batter! Try it before you die (if you have a heart condition those events may not be far apart!).

The video pretty much speaks for itself. Chinese soldiers gunning down Tibetan pilgrims while horrified climbers watch from a kilometre away. No evidence of aggression from the pilgrims is visible as they are murdered at a distance.

This must happen all the time (Amnesty International have said so for years), we just don’t see it because those who would report it are no longer around to tell the tale.

Yet another example of how the American authorities are breeding a culture of violence through their intolerant right wing attitudes. This time,
a Two Gallants concert in Houston is crashed by a cop on the claim of a noise complaint – who then proceeds to use unnecessary force on the band and concert goers alike. One victim was a 14 year old boy, at the concert with his parents.

In the past, we’d never have been able to verify what exactly happened – the word of a cop against drunk party-goers will always be stronger with the public – but thanks to camera phones, a number of videos have been made available. Listen out for the tazer in the third video as a girl shouts “What are you doing?”, that’s the 14 year old boy being electrocuted into a corner by Officer Rodriguez. (incidentally that MySpace poster initially got shut down and had to open a new page)

Pitchfork has an interview with the band’s manager.

At least we can perhaps explain why Rodriguez was on his own… because all his colleagues were prepping for a sting on another club in the city the very next night.

I am so going to miss going clubbing when I move to the US, I’ll have to start listening to country music and going to line dances, my iPod loaded with techno. See them catch me :-)

A new tool called Retrievr can find pictures on Flickr based on search terms entered with a mouse painting interface.

I can already imagine what it’s being used for…

Richard Hammond, star of Top Gear and Brainiac has been seriously hurt when his 280mph Vampire jet-car crashed. He’s reportedly in a ’serious but stable condition’ in the LGI. I hope he’s gong to be OK.

The accident happened at Elvington raceway, close to where I grew up. I remember hearing the distant buzzing of souped-up run-what-ya-brung Minis and Renault 5s blatting down the quarter mile from my grandma’s garden. While at university, I took my friend’s Mini 1300 down the strip at Elvington a few times, making it to the end in about 25 exhilarating seconds – I can only imagine what was going through Richard Hammond’s mind while upside down at 5 times that speed… with a giant firework attached to his car!

More Hammond firework action… Get well soon!

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal… apart from their race, location of birth and lifetime income, according to a new study on longevity in the USA.

After dividing the country by income, ethnic group and location into eight ‘Americas’, researchers found a 30 year disparity in lifespan between America 1’s Asian population (see wise old Mr Wing, above) and America 8’s high-risk (1% cumulative chance of death by homicide!) urban Blacks. The 214 million ‘middle American’ majority occupies third spot with an average life expectancy of 77.9 years while black middle Americans can expect to draw 5 years less pension in America 6 [Chart (Washington Post)].
Read the rest of this entry »