AJJ covers the Pixies

In keeping with my incredibly annoying habit of only posting videos of shows I myself have been to, here's Andrew Jackson Jihad bringing in the New Year at Che's Cafe in San Diego with a Wave of Mutilation cover. Even though the audio is terrible.

Brown Wins Special Election

Spotted on a freeway in Massachusetts.

Ukelele Pokerface Cover

I usually don't post ukelele covers - not because I don't like them, but mainly because there are just way too many good ones out there. But I'll make an exception for just this one.

May the Force Be With You

Fixing A Watch In Space

Folk Princes of Bel-Air

Jimmy Fallon, pretending to be Neil Young, covering the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song. But wait, Jimmy Fallon! Kay Pettigrew did it first.

Adopted Man Finds His Father - Charles Manson

After watching Helter Skelter, my primary thought was "Charles Manson sure did get a lot of tail." Which is why this story from The Sun of a man who discovered that his biological father was the famous serial killer is, while crazy, ultimately unsurprising. I bet there are at least a few more littered around California.

Matthew, 41 - who bears a haunting resemblance to his father - sank into depression after discovering his identity.

He has since been in contact with his dad in a series of letters to his California prison and Manson has replied - each time chillingly signing off with a swastika.

When 41-year-old DJ Matthew Roberts located his mother, he pressed her for more information until she finally revealed to him that she had been raped by Manson "in a drug-fueled orgy" after following him and The Family to San Francisco.

"What I'm worried about is that you think you're going to meet your birth mother or father and they're going to love you and welcome you with open arms. But he's not that kind of person."

Despite Manson's evil actions, Matthew confesses he now battles confused emotions towards his biological father.

He says: "If I did talk to Charlie on the phone, I would say, 'I truly understand what it's like to be you, more than anyone could ever imagine on so many levels'.

"He's my biological father - I can't help but have some kind of emotional connection. That's the hardest thing of all - feeling love for a monster who raped my mother.

"I don't want to love him, but I don't want to hate him either."

PETAs Thanksgiving Day Ad Banned

NPR is reporting on how NBC TV has refused to air PETAs pro-vegan ad during Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The ad is pretty clever, and features a young girl listing all the horrors that befall turkey before they get onto our tables. I'm no fan of PETA, and I firmly plan on stuffing myself with turkey-bird in the coming weeks, but pretty much everything she mentions is true of industrial farming. Here's the transcript:

Dear God. Thank you for the turkey we're about to eat. And for the turkey farms where they pack them into dark, tiny little sheds for their whole lives. Thank you for when they burn their feathers off when they're still alive and for when turkey gets kicked around like a football and killed by people who think it's fun to stomp on their little turkey heads. And special thanks for all the chemicals and dirt and poop that's in the turkey we're about to eat. Oh, and thank you for rainbows.

Ultimately, though, PETA wins out here. They don't have to pay an absurd amount of money to air an ad to the audience that most strictly ignores anything from PETAs mouth, and their ad gets what will probably be a pretty decent circulation on Youtube and other sites.

Heartilation by Andrew Jackson Jihad

Here's Andrew Jackson Jihad (or as the first commenter describes it, a folk-punk Gordan Freeman) playing a song from their new album while riding a railcar.

Renee Fleming and Lou Reed

"Perfect Day" performed by Renée Fleming and Lou Reed, with back-up from the Prague Philharmonic. The songs okay, but Lou Reed looks so supremely bored with the whole thing.

So Bad It's Good: Food Edition

The monkey at the bottom is, of course, completely necessary.

LED Dress

24,000 LEDs in all. I sure do loves me some wearable tech.

The ‘Galaxy Dress’ claims to be the largest wearable display in the world and it will be the centerpiece of an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

“We used the smallest full-color LEDs, flat like paper, and measuring only 2 by 2 mm,” say designers Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz in an e-mail. “The circuits are extra-thin, flexible and hand-embroidered on a layer of silk in a way that gives it stretch so the LED fabric can move like normal fabric with lightness and fluidity.” The duo run an interactive clothing company called CuteCircuit.

To diffuse the LED light, the dress has four layers of silk chiffon and a pleated silk organza crinoline skirt. The extra-thin electronics allow the dress to follow the body shape closely like normal fabric.

Instead of having one large and heavy battery, the dress is designed to run on many tiny iPod batteries hiding in the crinoline, says Rosella. “They are not visible or uncomfortable,” she says.

With the batteries, the Galaxy Dress wearer can walk around — all lit up — for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

The areas without LEDs are decorated with more than 4,000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals that range in color from clear to bright pink. “The dress looks good even when it is switched off,” say the designers.

Mark Growden covers Leonard Cohen

I've posted Mark Growden before, but here's him and his quartet doing the song I'm Your Man.

Chinese Daydream Believer Cover

I know nothing about this clip, other than that its (probably) Chinese, and that WIlliam Gibson posted it on his twitter.

Old Footage of Cacophony Society

As a result of recently entering the world of the gainfully employed, I haven't had as much time to blog as I'd like. To make it up to all you fine folks, here's some footage circa 1990 of the famous Cacophony Society in a news story. Watch to the end to see them light the first Burning Man to ever ignite in Black Rock City.

DailyKos Makes Tom Tancredo Angry

Today on the Ed Show, former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo walked off the set of the MSNBC program after Mark Moulitas (founder of the famous liberal blog DailyKos) made fun of his draft deferments during Vietnam.

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitas defended health care reform, pointing out that the military uses government-run health care. Tancredo said veterans complained about their health care and would much rather have a private choice.

"Tom, I'm a veteran. Okay?" Moulitas responded. "I did not get a deferment because I was too depressed to fight a war I supported in Vietnam. I'm a veteran. They want a more effective V.A. ..."

"You're not going to do that. You're not going to try to insult me that way and then pretend like we're just going on and talk about that. You either apologize ..." When Moulitas did not apologize, Tancredo simply took out his earpiece and walked away.

As a Republican student activist, Tancredo spoke out in favor of the Vietnam War but did not serve.

Watch it below.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/06/tom-tancredo-walks-off-ms_n_349150.html&cp

Gay Wedding Proposal Interrupts DC Hearing

During a series of council hearings in the DC area on the topic of marriage equality, Andrew Hertzberg decided to make his testimony a little more memorable by proposing to his partner, right then and there.

"I would like to take a huge step in my own life," Hertzberg said. "Andy Rollman, I'd like to ask you: Will you marry me?"

Most council members approved of the gesture and offered congratulations, ABC 7's Sam Ford reported. But those there to testify against gay marriage weren't as supportive. Barbara Morgan, a gay marriage opponent, called the proposal a lack of respect.

China Terrorized By Gigantic Breasts

The sculpture depicts a 20cm tall girl with breasts that are five metres high and wide, reports News Express.

Parents have protested at the installation in Foshan City, Guangdong province, which they say is highly embarrassing.

One local mum, called Liang, complained: "The park used to be a great place for families, but now what attracts my son the most is the huge breasts.

"I have tried to educate him with some scientific knowledge, but all he thinks when he sees the statue are smutty thoughts."

And a kindergarten teacher, who brought her class to visit the park, says it shocked some of them to tears.

"The little girls were scared and cried loudly, asking me if they would grow those huge things, and boys laughed crazily," she said.

A park spokesman said the statue was intended as a permanent fixture in the park but admitted it had been repeatedly damaged - with one person even trying to fit it with a giant bra.

"It's normal to have disagreements about art, we can understand it," said the spokesman.