The “Death of Superman” storyline that DC comics pulled off in the 1990s gets skillfully deconstructed – nay, torn apart – in this video that retells the story in a “somewhat-mostly-accurate educational parody” style, featuring cameos galore from a bunch of celebs. It’s chock full o’ swearing, but it’s funny, especially if you’re into comic books.
Month: February 2012
Here’s a little productivity-killer for your afternoon: The Flip Side, a video (3 minutes, 13 seconds) that imagines what the bar pick-up scene would be like if women acted like men and men acted like women.
Keep in mind that this film was written, directed and produced by guys, so it’s pretty much from a guy’s perspective. What would the film look like if it was made by an all-woman creative team?
(And while the film uses the term “taco fest”, I think that the proper term is “clambake”. Just sayin’.)
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I’m Going to Austin for SxSW!
I was under the impression that I wasn’t going to the South by Southwest Interactive festival this year, but it turns out that I’m going after all. Better still, I’m speaking as part of a panel talking about our experiences as part of the BarCamp Tour in a session titled Five Brands Journey Across the Country to Inspire Entrepreneurship. I’ll also be there as a representative of Shopify.
I’ve had some wonderful times on my two previous visits to SxSW, and I’m very much looking forward to my third. I thought I’d share my blog entries from those earlier visits…
Entries from the 2011 Trip
- I was still working for Microsoft at that point and I was travelling to Austin to be the Canadian representative for the launch of Internet Explorer 9.
- While there, I met up with Lee Dale, Matt Rintoul and Gabe Mansour, and we went shopping at Allen’s Boots, where I shot an amusing video.
- I also shot some video of Austin’s phallic hotel…
- …but that’s not where I stayed. I stayed at the Staats house and shot a video tour and interview with my friend Jodi Brown.
- I got to break out the accordion in lots of ways. First, I caught the all-girl band Guilty Pleasures at the Chugging Monkey, who invited me to play with them…
- …then after enjoying some enchiladas and hanging out with my filmmakers friends Kate and David looking for a deal, I played accordion at a karaoke contest an won an iPad.
- And finally, I got to use the accordion to soothe an angry line who were waiting for hours just to get past customs.
- And a little later, a photo by Kris Krug.
Entries from the 2008 Trip
- A long line at Pearson airport
- Cleveland airport
- You know you’re in a “Red State” when…
- The rules of the ranch
- Flight summary
- The ranch
- Playing accordion at the “How to Rawk SxSW” panel
- Feelin’ the love from Jeremy Wright and David Crow
- Sharin’ the accordion love
- Hangin’ with Master Chief
- Annoying the A-list bloggers so you don’t have to!
- Sarah Lacy’s Zuckerberg interview train wreck
- Getting’ my drink on with Scoble
- Meeting up with Tony Pierce and Merlin Mann
- Tara Hunt and a unicorn
- 6th Street at night
- Make up your own caption!
- Annoying Stowe Boyd
- The Salt Lick’s delicious barbecue
- Continental Airlines’ oddball snack
- I walk the line
- I beat SxSARS!
- Pokin’ a dead goat with a stick
Julian Fantino to Christine Moore: You don’t support the troops. Christine Moore to Julian Fantino: I served in the Canadian Forces. #touche
— aaronwherry (@aaronwherry) February 7, 2012
In case you weren’t familiar with the players:
- Julian Fantino is a Member of Canadian Parliament for Vaughn for the Conservative Party and a professional douche, who started as a corrupt city cop, became a corrupt provincial cop and naturally went into politics.
- Christine Moore is Member of Canadian Parliament for Abitibi—Témiscamingue for the New Democratic Party.
- Aaron Wherry reports on Parliament for Macleans magazine.
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Must…Fight…Mental…Image…
AIEEEE! Mental image winning! Mental image winning!
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Pete Hoekstra’s Racist Superbowl Ad
I hadn’t paid a visit to Phil Yu’s blog, Angry Asian Man – which the Washington Post called “a daily must-read for the media-savvy, socially conscious, pop-cultured Asian American” – in some time. In a recent post titled This Hoekstra Campaign Ad is Racist Bullshit, he points to this video:
Michigan viewers were “treated” to this ad run by Pete Hoekstra’s campaign to unseat Debbie Stabenow as United States Senator for the state during the Super Bowl.
The ad’s straight out of the old Charlie Chan serials, from the pentatonic “ching-chong” music (which has every stereotypical element except for the “Oriental Riff” and closing gong) to the rice paddy to the young woman speaking fake broken English. I’m surprised she doesn’t say “Me so horny for Amellika to fail! …and oh yeah, me put pee-pee in your Coke, too!”
The rice paddy is one image of China, but it’s no more representative of the country than say, a Nebraska cornfield is of the United States. Equally representative is this picture, which is of a city you might not have heard of, despite its being one of the five major cities – Chongqing:
If you go to the website that accompanies the ad, you’ll see the stereotypes continue with its graphic design, which apes the best fakety-fake Chinese restaurant aesthetic. Reading it, it’s 1985 and I’m eating at Ruby Foo’s in Montreal again:
Here’s FOX News’ “analysis” of the ad and the response to it. The “expert opinion” they bring is none other than Lou Dobbs, whose mantra is “a racist is a conservative who’s winning the argument”, and he rolls his eyes so hard that he’s almost risking injury by doing so:
Here’s what other, more legitimate, news outlets have to say:
- The Atlantic: Superbowl Special! My Nominee for Most Revolting Ad
- The Atlantic: More on the “We Take Your Jobs” Hoekstra Commercial
- Politico: Pete Hoekstra Ad Riles Republicans Too
- The New Yorker: How Did Hoekstra Get So Much Wrong?
- International Herald Tribune: Asia Bad. Take Many Jobs. Not Fair.
- Christian Science Monitor: Hoekstra Super Bowl Ad a Slippery Slope Toward Asian-Bashing?
- MSNBC: Hoekstra Defends Racially Charged Ad
- Washington Post: Pete Hoekstra’s China Ad Provokes Accusations of Racism
One of the questions that should be asked is “Can you make a political ad where there theme is competing with China without resorting to stereotypes and racism?” The answer is “Yes…and it’s been done!” It’s called the “Chinese Professor Ad”, and I show it below:
I’m impressed with this one: well done, it gets the message across and it doesn’t do any of the “ching chong wing wong” stuff that Hoekstra’s ad does. The ad would’ve been made the same way if the competitors were blonde and blue-eyed.
The only thing wrong is its premise that the U.S. is falling behind China because of stimulus spending; China’s is a big central planning-style government that pretty much stimulus spends all the time (when it’s not covering up its shoddy human rights record).
For a better picture on why a lot of money’s going to China, see the New York Times article How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work. Hey, America – you want to win, bro? Don’t hate; innovate!
Click the image to see it at full size.
This poster’s been making the rounds on the internet today. I found it here.
I saw Back to the Future in the theatre at the age of 17. I was 14 for most of 1982 (yeah, yeah, I’m old), so that was a formative time.
Here’s one of the big singles of that year:
Late Night with David Letterman debuted that year. Here’s Dave with one of his most difficult guests, Mr. T:
E. T.: The Extraterrestrial was the biggest movie of the year. Here’s the trailer, and yes, that’s how they did trailers back then:
Here’s the hot new computer of that time. I didn’t have one of these; I had an Apple ][:
And of course, Marty McFly wouldn’t play Johnny B. Goode at the high school dance; he’d play this song instead: