The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

Over at the b5media blog Digital Photography School, the article 10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits shows you how to do just that. An example:

Workstation by “striatic”.
Click the photo to see it on its Flickr page.

In case you haven’t seen the video for Russian metal band ANJ’s song, Mikhail Gorbachov yet, I’ve posted it below. This one’s got everything — a band that sounds like Gogol Bordello-meets-early Metallica-perfroming-Trogdor, cute Russian peasant and factory worker women showing a lot cleavage, zombie Stalins, a conan-like Mikhail Gorbachev, English lyrics sung in a “makink beeg trouble for Moose and Squirrel” accent, communism getting its ass kicked by a guy with a giant axe and assault rifle, and the free market symbolized by cola, Twinkies and hot dogs raining from the sky like manna from Heaven. What more can you ask for?

GORBACHOV: THE MUSIC VIDEO – BIGGER AND RUSSIANER from Tom Stern on Vimeo.

The video’s director, Tom Stern, has this to say:

I did this video for a Russian Metal Band called ANJ. It is pretty crazy. When I saw the lyrics it seemed to be an earnest tribute to Mikael Gorbachov (that’s how the Russians spell it), so I was a bit confounded about what the video concept should be, but then I had a brainstorm to take it way over the top and I think it was just the thing. Suffice to say it’s half Russian History allegory as told through an old zombie movie made in the Soviet Union, and half animated Soviet Propaganda posters.

Want to know more about the band ANJ? Here’s their MySpace page.

Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

A longtime staple of hip-hop and plumber culture is now illegal in Flint, Michigan: you can now be warned or charged for wearing saggy pants.

The new law, as explained by the Blue Man Group.
Click the illustration to see the original article.

Flint’s new interim Chief of Police, David Dicks, announced that Flint police will start arresting people wearing saggy pants that expose underwear or bare bottoms. “Some people call it a fad,” he is quoted in the Detroit Free Press, “but I believe it’s a national nuisance. It is indecent and thus it is indecent exposure, which has been on the books for years.” In a deprtmental memo released in June, he said “This immoral self expression goes beyond freedom of expression.”

The penalty for this crime: 93 days to a year in jail and/or fines up to $500.

My favourite line in the article is from 18-year old Senita Abrams of Flint, who said “I think it’s cute when boys sag.” She may or may not have been talking about pants.

Footage from the USGS’ Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Project shows that some grizzlies know that trees make excellent back-scratchers. What they do with trees looks a lot like pole dancing, especially if you set it to the right music. You know, like the stripp — er, I mean exotic dancers — do. Or so I’ve heard.

Here’s the hip-hop version:

And here’s the big beat/’60s jazz-funk version (I rather like the tune):

The back-scratching reminds me of the song Bear Necessities from the film The Jungle Book, where Baloo explains his philosophy of life to Mowgli. It’s the spiritual ancestor of Hakuna Matata:

It’s been five months since I’ve been using a Windows Vista-based computer as my primary machine (after having used a Mac for years). My opinion can best be summarized with a “Successories”-style poster utilizing that horrible new photo of Paris Hilton attempting to channel Audrey Hepburn:

If work won’t provide me with a Mac laptop, I may end up just buying one myself. The refurbished ones are available at pretty good prices.

In case you’re too young to get the reference in the Paris Hilton photo, here’s the original — it’s a still from a scene in Breakfast at Tiffany’s: