Google Hot Trends

I find the Google Hot Trends RSS feed interesting. I don't know if anyone else out there looks at this stuff, but a raw look into the most searched terms is an obvious but nifty way to keep up with the movement on the interwebs. I'm a big fan of social media, and have a Google Reader account full of feeds, but I always seem to find news/interests/trends in the hourly hot list that I haven't yet read.

Perpetrators <> Victims

I was listening to a BBC Documentary podcast a few days ago and heard something which pissed me off big time. It's not the first time I'd heard it, but coming from a major media outlet made it that much worse. The segment was coving the Virginia Tech shootings, interviewing students and faculty who had been through the terrible event. Between the interviews the narrator said we must think of Cho (the gunman) as a victim, just as we think of his victims.
I have a real problem when our society treats offenders as victims. A person with mental issues, such as this case, can be considered a victim, but only up until he pulls the trigger on his classmates. At the point he commits a violent crime he completely stops being a victim and becomes a perpetrator/criminal/monster. I'm sure we've all heard this kind of talk, but it really bothers me. We can force a kid like Cho to get help, or we can continue to treat the "Chos" of the world in a half-hearted manner as we actually did, but when things go terribly wrong we can't look back as if he isn't a monstrous killer. It simply makes me sick to see such apologetic/revisionist history, especially when the event has hardly escaped our collective short-term memory.

Carolla Booted From DWTS

I'm sad to say my man Adam Carolla was booted from Dancing With the Stars last night. Of course I'm partially sad that I would watch such a show, but even if it makes me a flaming homosexual, I enjoyed watching Adam. There is a certain quality to watching your guy in competition; a competition in which he stands alone as the representative of your culture/values.
The average viewer of DWTS is certainly not of Carolla's fan base, which brought me in as a viewer with some reservations. A certain stigma existed around such a show... with fruity dancing and "playful" mincing. Regardless of such, I and many other fans watched Ace be, well, Ace. He sure didn't knock the socks off the judges at any point, working to shield his lack of dance prowess with humor. This approach was great in the eyes of his fans and downright offensive to many of his detractors.
In the end I can only say I am actually sad that it's over, for reasons less related to dance and more related to the group effort behind Adam. Rooting for him while awash in a sea of dancing strangeness, and checking the Carolla Show message boards before/after each show. I guess I won't have a reason to yell and cheer at my TV in the name of dance again anytime soon.

Mixx on FriendFeed

Mixx (& NetVibes) feeds are now available in FriendFeed, the popular "life streaming" service. I only got into FriendFeed a few weeks ago but have since found it to be a great site, allowing you to keep up with all your friend's activities across the web. Thanks to FriendFeed for responding to our requests for Mixx!

Black Devil Doll

I learned via the Hijinks Ensue podcast of a fine piece of cinematic work called Black Devil Doll. Apparently the soul of a 60s era hyper-violent black radical trapped in the body of... a hyper-violent black radical... puppet. Learn more at the risk of losing any sensibilities you may have maintained previously.

I can't say I'm a fan of ultra low budget films such as this, but I can't help wondering at the sociological phenomenon which motivates the fans/creators. Someone was actually sitting around one day and actually thought it would be a good idea to spend time and money producing this movie. I think it's a given that mental instability and drugs were most certainly involved...

Faith & Clouds

via LOL god

Will Arnett = Dirty Boy

Word to Honest_Ape for pointing out this great piece of trashy treasure.

Podcast Role Call

I thought it would be interesting if we listed the podcasts to which we stay subscribed. This is my alphabetized list (linking directly to the feeds), which I listen to each week. In my defense I can't say I totally agree with the political leanings of some of these shows, but I try to take in all kinds of views...

1. BBC Documentaries
2. In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg (BBC)
3. Le Show (Harry Shearer)
4. MixxingBowl (Social Blend & The Round Up)
5. Real Time with Bill Maher
6. The Adam Carolla Radio Show
7. The Drill Down
8. The Skeptic's Guide 5x5
9. The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe

I also catch random audiobooks from LibriVox.org which can be quickly/easily fed to your podcatcher.