Day: January 7, 2009

Take it from Snee: Hollywood’s shameless legacy

You know, considering the events of last year, I really thought we had turned a new page in America, that hate was to become a thing of the past.

But now there are not one, but two movies in theaters about the indiscriminate killing of Nazis. There’s Valkyrie, of course, and now there’s Defiance. This winter, it is a veritable holocaust of German fascists on the silver screen.

I wish I could say I expect more out of Hollywood, but I can’t. We have a long, inexcusable past when it comes to bigoted depictions of Nazis in our film history, starting with Casablanca to The Incredible Mr. Limpet to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Continue reading Take it from Snee: Hollywood’s shameless legacy

I don’t need a therapist, I need a Game Boy!

When I was in high school, I was in a car accident I luckily walked away from, yet I was still haunted by flashbacks hours later. Turns out this is a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. If only I had known about the medicinal wonders of Tetris.

Oxford University researchers who apparently have a lot of free time on their hands are saying the video game Tetris can help fight PTSD and memories of traumatic incidents if played shortly afterward. It could be used to help people involved in accidents (assuming they can use their fingers) and soldiers returning from war (same caveat).

We firmly believe there is another, older way of dealing with traumatic incidents.

Teen pregnancy up because of (adult) stupidity

First off, this article wins our coveted Headline of the Day: “Teen birth rates up in 26 states.” If you thought Benjamin Button was bad, people are giving birth to nasty, surly teenagers!

But seriously (guys), let’s take a look at this very serious article about a very serious problem:

“The latest data on teen birth rates shows significant increases in 26 states, according to government data out today, which suggests that the rise in teens having babies is geographically broad-based and represents most regions of the USA.”

Wow, that’s really serious. The entire country is knocking up teens? All 26 states?

“The highest teen birth rates are in the South and Southwest; Mississippi is highest with 68.4 per 1,000, followed by New Mexico, with a rate of 64.1 and Texas, with 63.1. The lowest rates are in the Northeast. New Hampshire had the fewest teen births with 18.7 per 1,000. Vermont, with 20.8 per 1,000, and Massachusetts, with 21.3 per 1,000, were also low. Decreases were noted in New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia.”

Nope, just the South. Continue reading Teen pregnancy up because of (adult) stupidity

Gimme!

What monopolistic giant Microsoft wants, monopolistic giant Microsoft gets. And what does it want? It wants its remaining unsold stock of Xbox 360 related paraphernalia back. And it wants it back NOW.

Really. It wants the back stock so badly that the software mammoth is willing to sue Woolworths’, the British retailer that closed all of its doors today.

OK, in all actuality, Microsoft and entertainment company EMI are beginning to sue Deloitte, the administrators of Woolworths’ rotting corpse. To put it plainly, as an administrator, Deloitte would be expecting to make a quick buck selling off Woolworths remaining inventory at crazy prices. Including those 360 consoles.

To prevent this from happening, Microsoft and EMI are going to argue that, under Britain’s “retention of title” rules, because Woolworths are on their way out and either haven’t paid for the consoles or owe Microsoft money, they can seize back the consoles.

Somebody get the popcorn.

Hair-don’t

We live in America, home of the free. A place where you can biggie-size your lunch before your pilates class, a place where you can have a middle finger and expletives on your shirt, place where you can shave whatever you want into your head.

Jay Cowell of North Carolina is having to shave his entire head because of a moon and star design he had designed into it, in order to represent all things on the earth. Apparently the school had a problem with the haircut because of some of the local gang affiliations with five and six-pointed stars. You know, someone else had a problem with six-pointed stars too …

No more monkey business

We’ve talked about eating monkey meat in the past and clearly some people don’t get it. Yes, eating your fallen enemy can be quite gratifying, but it’s not all that safe.

More so, if you want to eat monkey in the U.S., you need to have a permit for it. A Liberian woman is claiming in court that she has been smuggling monkey meat into the country under the First Amendment. There some Christians eat monkeys for spiritual reasons. This, of course, is a really stupid argument, but entertaining nonetheless.

So as a helpful reminder, think of monkey meat as a gun, you need a permit for it, and it can kill you.