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Life in song titles

2008-11-06

I grabbed this baton I saw first saw at Konna’s officially from tshalina (both German) – the task:

Describe yourself with song titles from iTunes your hard disk, formerly known as record shelf.

For simplicity and the fun of it, I’m using only songs from Queen (+ solo). (And I got all of those in my CD shelf, too, of course.) Each linked to Youtube (some live) or LastFM (the 2nd isn’t currently available, though).

  • Male or female: White Man (A Day At The Races, 1976)
  • Describe yourself: Dirty Mind (The Cross: New Dark Ages, 1991)
  • How do others think about you: Stone Cold Crazy (Sheer Heart Attack, 1974)
  • How do you think about yourself: I’m Going Slightly Mad (Innuendo, 1991)
  • Describe where you’d like to be: Seaside Rendezvous (A Night At The Opera, 1975)
  • Describe what you’d like to be: The Guv’nor (Brian May: Another World, 1998)
  • Describe your life style: Foolin’ Around (Freddie Mercury: Mr Bad Guy, 1985)
  • Your favorite hobby: Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon (A Night At The Opera, 1975)
  • Your town: I can’t decide between Let Me Out and Man Made Paradise. ;) (Brian May: Star Fleet EP, 1983 / Freddie Mercury: Mr Bad Guy, 1985)
  • Where do you see yourself in 10 years: On Top Of The World Ma (The Cross: Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know, 1990)
  • Characteristics you like on people: Staying Power (Hot Space, 1982)
  • Characteristics that annoy you: Liar, Liar (Queen I, 1973 and The Cross: Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know, 1990)
  • Life motto: Believe In Yourself (Roger Taylor: Electric Fire, 1998)
  • Goal/wish for 2009: Fun It (Jazz, 1978)
  • And finally a few words of wisdom: Don’t Lose Your Head (A Kind Of Magic, 1986)

If you like, take this baton – the German bloggers I’m passing it to: Prinzzess, Hans and David.

Batman in Batman?

2008-11-05

Bats + Moon

One could start to believe that Turkey is apporaching America (and somehow also Germany, unfortunately) regarding the utilization of lawyers and courts: The mayor of the city of Batman in south-east Turkey wants to sue the producer of the Batman movie – that is, the comic hero movie – because the name was used without agreement from the city.

Apart from the wee fact that Batman, the comic hero, is almost 70 years old and the Batman man is a little late – why sue at all? Why not use the homonymy touristically, for advertising? How about a Batman amusement park in Batman?

Oh, no, probably the Batman people are afraid that those owning the comic rights sue them – or demand horrendous license fees – if they’d use Batman just like that for Batman…

Hopefully he manufacturers of baseball and other bats don’t jump on the bandwagon. Or pet shop owners. Or Dracula.

Illustration: weirdvis/sxc

“Extraterrestrially galactical” or rock-bottom gall?

2008-11-05

I Want To Believe

If you believe, the German TV station ProSieben is content with “Uri Geller live – Ufos & Aliens: The incredible TV experiment“ (about which, as I announced on Sunday, I will report here), you’re mistaken, because Nina Hagen, only by her own description “half human, half angel” and already a guest in Uri’s transgalactical telepathy take-in show, gets a timeslot for a “documentary” afterwards (all quotes my translations):

”Nina Hagen’s ufo hunt – Searching aliens in Roswell”, on Saturday, November 15, 2008, at 22.30 on ProSieben (Germany) (assuming the spoonbender and his aliens finish on time).

In her baggage: A small sunshade, a peace banner and a big load of curiosity.

And an even bigger load of prejudice. Were she really curious, she’d also be interested in the counter-arguments – but that’d be nothing to write home about for the target audience, of course.

Was there really an alien crash in 1947? Did the US Air Force really possess an “unknown flying object”? And was all that covered up by the government afterwards?

The skeptical–sensible reply, of course, is 3x no. But who are the people the shrill Berliner is asking?

Answers to her questions are given by nuclear physicists, ufo authors, visitors of the current ufo festival, and a man who claims he’s half man, half alien.

What qualifies a nuclear physicist for an alien answer? That he, Stanton Friedman, wrote a book about it and…

… frankly admits:

“I’m jealous of Nina, because I never met a ufo. For 50 years I’m examining evidence for flying saucers. Because there is overwhelming evidence that Earth is being visited by extraterrestrial spaceships.”

Nina Hagen “Evidence”? I doubt that. “Evidence” only for those who desperately want to believe and almost obsessively ignore real evidence and critical, more plausible explanations. Which surely also applies to the other people mentioned above who were asked, including the “documentary” author herself who says about her own “ufo encounter”:

“Back then I was living in Malibu when I saw a ufo in the middle of the night. I was totally flashed.

Before or after?

Beautiful lights were beaming at me, I had not the slightest feat, magnificent energy overwhelmed me. Three beings were standing in the ufo, but none of them was moving. It was an overwhelming experience.”

Other people call things like that either (drug) intoxication – now I don’t want to allege something illegal here, but from an impartial point of view, you couldn’t rule it out –, dream or hypnagogic/hypnopompic halluzinations. Quote from SkepDic:

These states may be associated with sleep paralysis or other forms of sleep disturbances, including mild brain seizures. Sleep paralysis occurs in the hypnagogic state or the hypnopompic state. The description abductees give of their experience–being unable to move or speak, feeling some sort of presence, feeling fear and an inability to cry out–is a list of the symptoms of sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is thought by some to account for not only many alien abduction delusions, but also other delusions involving paranormal or supernatural experiences.

So what will be the essence of this show? Surely not an objective documentary. In the style of Nina’s comment on the half-man-half-alien guy, I’d say: The viewer is absolutely manipulated. Totally nasty story.

Link tips:

Hagen photo © Tomasz Sienicki / Wikipedia

Music Quiz 36

2008-11-04

Welcome to the latest music quiz, this time with picture riddles again. Will some of them be too easy today again…?

Let’s start with a rebus:

1.) Which song title (by whom) is this?

Musik-Quiz 36.1

Gelöst von Julia: “Glory Days” von Bruce Springsteen (Goal or y daisy) (Video)

2.) Which song title (by whom) is this?

Musik-Quiz 36.2

Gelöst von symBadisch: “Holy Diver” von Dio (Video)

3.) Which song title (by whom) is this?

Musik-Quiz 36.3
Hagebutten-Foto von benedeki/sxc

Gelöst von Julia: “Hip To Be Square” von Huey Lewis and the News (Hagebutte=hip, 2 bee(s), im Quadrat=square) (Video)

Zum Abschluss noch ein einfaches, und das wäre dann alles, was ich vorbereitet habe:

4.) Which song title (by whom) is this?

Musik-Quiz 36.4

Gelöst von Julia, David und symBadisch waren nur ein kleines bisschen später dran: “Infinity 2008” von Guru Josh Project (Video; und das Original von 1990, besser, da ohne den blöden Text)

Das war’s für heute, danke fürs Mitmachen, bis nächsten Dienstag!