Who's your Daddy now?

From the WTF Department.

Buffing Up The Image Of George Washington
Mt. Vernon Creates A Toothsome Teen

America's obsession with youth continues with this story, where "for the first time, it's possible to see what the teenage Washington probably looked like, and though at this stage he is nude and hairless".

Perfect.

"...it turns out George Washington may have been kind of hot"

Oh, but..."though the figure is being created nude, there are certain parts that are not being, shall we say, reimagined"

Damn Americans, always ruining everyone else's fun.

But why stop there? What about Teenage Iron Lady Margaret (was she hot?) or Baby JFK (oh he'll be fine in the backseat)..

are you psychotic?

I think I will go with these two for The Psychotic Hour talent posters.

Civis romanus sum

HBO's Rome premiered last night, and I give it a cautious thumbs up so far.

I am a fan of the old "I Claudius" series, and this latest offering makes it look tame indeed (but none the less brilliant).

'Rome" sure looks right for the most part, except that Octavius (Augustus) looks too much like Doogie Houser at the moment, and I'm not sure he travelled to Gaul at a young age, it may have been Spain..but who has time to consult their Seutonious.

I'm not sure how far along in history this first 12 episodes take us, but if it goes to season 2 we might have Caligula and Nero to look forward to.

A fire is such a pretty thing.

Marketing can be so difficult

This was my concept for a talent search poster for my radio show/podcast.

Seems this was misunderstood by one of the cast members, who thought it was a general poster for the show, and said:

"Don't wish to appear overly straight-laced but I don't think this type of image is to our advantage or our credit when trying to get new listeners on board."

Interesting...he goes on:

"I prefer the old-style B&W drawings in terms of style. Their images were a reasonable visual representation of important aspects of the show, something I think we ought to look at maintaining."

You mean a poster, like this one?



anyway, another concept...



...elicited this response from another cast memeber:

"I hate to quibble, but if I was going to slash someone up with a kitchen knife, I'd hold it the other way. If that girl tries for a stab and hits a rib, she will wind up slicing her own fingers open.

Safety in the workplace. Not just for normal people."

Such is the clay I have to work with in building a world media empire...

btw, the tagline is "you too may be a psychotic"

Believe nothing you see

Ever

Glenn Feron - The Art of Retouching

Bigger butts I say, bigger!

Flag?

Cool, a Flag button for objectionable content.

What does this mean?

Can I now complain about too many baby pictures?

I can't write better material than this stuff

Televangelist Calls for Chavez' Death
Yes, the loving and caring Pat Robertson is at it again.

Archeologists Find 1.8 Million Years-Old Skull
Thank God some people still practice real science.

Monday Monday

Though I will be watching, HBO's latest offering "Rome", it may be awful. They sure are pushing it.

The Stones are on tour, again.

Is Catholicism in Germany on the brink of a renaissance?

What seems to be an alarming fake. Or not.

10 points to the Italians for annoying the Americans (yes I know, it is not that hard to do).

Designer's Nightmare

Besides being called "developer" that is.

Study: Web site's appearance matters

"British researchers suggest it's not just a Web site's subject or function that determines whether it will draw more men or women. The appearance of the site also might play a subtle role."

A subtle role! This is the kind of thinking we run across all the time.

"Women seemed to like pages with more color in the background and typeface. Women also favored informal rather than posed pictures.

Men responded better to dark colors and straight, horizontal lines across a page. They also were more pleased by a three-dimensional look and images of "self-propelling" rather than stationary objects."

Self-propelling. "Leaping and Jumping" is the technical term.

"So should Web sites consider having two faces, one for male users and another for female visitors? Moss said more research is needed.

"At the very least," she said, "we think there ought to be a combination of aesthetics.""

Glad to know science is there to show us the way.

Alexander didn't seem to like Bush

I saw the director's cut of "Alexander" over the weekend. It is a film I wanted to like, but can't recommend.

There is a scene or two though that seems to have a not too subtle message for us today.

Listen to this scene, and decide for yourself if it doesn't target a certain country and political party out for criticism.

Required viewing

Two historical series have been airing here recently. Neither of them is strictly brand spanking new (it takes time for them to get to the colonies don't you know)

The first is "A History of Britain" hosted by Simon Schama. Mr. Schama, a renowned professor of art and history is a joy to listen to.

The second is "Battlefield Britain" hosted by Peter and Dan Snow, a father and son team. Here they visit the actual battle sites, and recreate them through narration, actors and CGI.

Check them out if you can.

Post Star Trek

So what is a geek to do these days, now that Star Trek (and that other late comer, Star Wars) have disappeared from our big and small screens?

Battlestar Galactica. God no. Some of the most depressing television every produced. Great action sequences though.

So, I recently watched episodes 18-20 for season 1, and ep. 1 of second 2 of Stargate: Altantis. While the story moves along for the most part, and the characters much more interesting than any late Trek offering, where are the ideas?

The 3 hour and 20 minutes consisted of nonstop bickering, arguing and fighting. Fighting among themselves, fighting with the Marines, fighting with aliens that resemble Johnny Winter.

And then the guy from the X-Files shows up.

This kind of sci-fi seems to be the norm now, with species endless arguing about anything that comes to mind.

Wonder where they get their ideas?

Do I watch? Yup, here and there. Drop in a desert.

Mindless Thugs

I liked the movie "Bowling for Columbine", but in it Mr. Moore made a great point of saying how safe Canada was, how we in Toronto sleep with our doors unlocked.

Nonsense.

When I first arrived here six years ago from Montreal, one of the first things I noticed was the level of violence reported each and every night on the local news shows. Beatings, robberies, shootings.

Once you've been here awhile, it all fades into the background noise.

Except for last night. A four year old boy was shot, apparently just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Luckily the boy will recover.

Mindless thugs. Whither it be gang related violence, or Ayman al-Zawahiri posing with his gun.

Unfortunately these are the kind of people you would never take seriously except if they wave a gun in your face. And they know it.

Only in Canada

Journalist Michaëlle Jean will be Canada's next governor general, replacing Adrienne Clarkson after five years, on September 27.

It's a Canadian thing, this Governor General stuff, but we seem to do it right.