Categories
funny

Tired: Juno. Wired: Jewno!

Jewno

The Ginger Ninja just sent me a link to this article about Jewno, which parodies Juno by filtering it through a Jewish lens with high-larious results. The video gets bonus points for getting J.K. Simmons, who played Juno’s dad in the real movie, to reprise his role, but this time with a Crown Heights accent. The video also scores bonus points for having an accordion in it:

Keep an ear open for the musical parodies — in the video, they make fun on the Moldy Peaches’ homely alt-folk songs (which were featured in Juno) as well as Mott the Hoople’s All the Young Dudes: “All the young Jews…awkwardly schmooze…”.

The video was written by Daily Show writer Rob Kutner and created for the 92nd Street Y’s upcoming Purim Party.

(What’s Purim, you ask? It’s part Hallowe’en, part Frosh Week and part Asian guy meets cute Jewish girl.)

Categories
Uncategorized

For Those of You Sick at Home with SxSARS…

Scene from South Park where the casino’s chief rubs a SARS-infected Chinese person against a blanket
A scene from South Park: the chief at a native casino infects a blanket with SARS by rubbing a Chinese person against it.
Click the image to see the video.

…(SxSARS is the official name of the flu or flu-like ailment caught by a lot of people who attended South by Southwest Interactive), may I suggest this video — the South Park episode Red Man’s Greed, in which the citizens of South Park are made ill by Native Americans who offer them SARS-infected blankets?

Categories
Uncategorized

Waffle Tetris

I skipped breakfast this morning, so this is what’s on my mind right now:

Tetris using waffle pieces
Photo courtesy of Jamie “El Rey” Barnett.

Categories
Music Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Ed Force One!

If you haven’t yet seen these photos from the Iron Maiden Land in Toronto article in BlogTO, you’re in for a treat: here are photos of Ed Force One, the custom-painted Boeing 757 that Iron Maiden are flying about in their world tour, landing here in Accordion City:

Photos of “Ed Force One”, a jet customized with Iron Maiden’s logo and mascot, “Eddie the Head”
Photos by Tom Podolec. Click the photo to see the BlogTO article.

Even more rockin’ than the jet’s design is the fact that Iron Maiden lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson is the pilot! (As is heavy metal singing and piloting weren’t enough, Bruce also has a very good slot on BBC’s 6 Music: Friday Rock Show.)

The name “Ed Force One” comes from the band’s mascot, Eddie the Head, the evil mummified creature who’s been gracing all the Iron Maiden album covers since my grade 5 days when my friend Dean Burzese and I would obsessively study them.

If you missed Iron Maiden’s concert, you can experience the next best thing by rocking out on some Maiden from my childhood — you can play Run to the Hills on Rock Band and Number of the Beast on Guitar Hero 3.

Categories
Uncategorized

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

And that goes double to any of you O’Haras out there — we might be related!

In honour of this day, here’s a satellite photo of the ancestral homeland:

Satellite photo of Ireland
Ireland, as seen from space. Click the photo to see a full-size version. Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

Categories
It Happened to Me

I Beat SxSARS!

Cold-fXA number of the Toronto tech gang who went down to South by Southwest — often referred to in its shortened form, SxSW — have come down with a flu-like bug. The combination of flying and being at an event attended by thousands of people packed into close quarters, either in conference sessions or bars, makes for the perfect germ and virus exchange.

I’ve managed to avoid the bug — which Alex Hillman cleverly dubbed SxSARS — through a combination of hand-washing at near OCD frequencies and regular doses of Cold-fX supplement, which is readily available at drugstores in Canada. The active ingredient in Cold-fX is an extract made from North American Ginseng, and both personal experience and a number of studies, including this one from the Canadian Medical Association Journal, seem to back Cold-fX’s claim of immune-boosting properties.

If you’re flying to a conference, I strongly recommend using Cold-fX backed by a hand-washing regime!

(I have no connection with Cold-fX, nor do I own stock in its parent company. I’m just a satisfied customer.)

Categories
funny Music

“Archie” Comics Meet Pulp’s “Common People”

“Archie” panel with “Common People” lyrics
Image from Chris’ Invincible Super-Blog
Click the image to see it on its original page.

Back in the mid- to late nineties, one track you couldn’t avoid on alt-rock radio was Pulp’s Common People (from their excellent album, Different Class), a song that pokes fun at the genteel faux-poverty of kids from rich families at art school.

In the lyrics, the “narrator” tells the story of a rich Greek sculpture student at St. Martin’s college who wants to do a little lifestyle tourism amongst the British working class. The song is purportedly based on a real-life female acquaintance of Pulp’s lead vocalist Jarvis Cocker, who had a rich Greek female acquaintance at an art school named St. Martin’s who said that she wanted to “live like common people.” Cocker embellished the story in the chorus’ lyrics, adding “I want to sleep with common people like you.” According to Wikipedia, The BBC went so far as to try and locate the real-life rich art student who inspired the song without success.

“Archie” panel with “Common People” lyrics
Image from Chris’ Invincible Super-Blog
Click the image to see it on its original page.

There are (ahem) commonalities shared by Common People and the situation in Archie comics between rich girl Veronica Lodge and the very middle-class Archie Andrews. There are probably thousands of Archie storylines that are based on Archie not having enough money take Veronica on the type of date to which she has become accustomed. Some clever Photoshopper noticed the Common People/Archie connection, took the Common People lyrics, mashed them up with panels from Archie comics, and the result is over at Chris’ Invincible Super-Blog: Archie in…A Different Class!

“Archie” panel with “Common People” lyrics
Image from Chris’ Invincible Super-Blog
Click the image to see it on its original page.

This comic/music mashup got taken to the next level — Ontario Emperor (he’s from Ontario, California, not Ontario, Canada) points to this Michael Hanscom video that uses a montage of the remixed Archie panels with Common People as its soundtrack. It’s pretty good:

Recommended Reading

Excerpt from the 'Archie' comic 'She's Goth to Have It'.

She’s Goth to Have It: An Archie comic like no other — in this one, Betty goes goth!

Comic sample: Anarchie

Anarchie: an anarchist take on Archie.

Here’s a classic Archie cover that shows the hilarious things that happen when slang changes:

Photo: Cover of an old 'Archie' comic with an unfortunate double-entendre.