Hot summer nights on xmas eve, hanging out with sharks and kangaroos on the beach, even more exotic animals in the outback, no snow and no freezing your ass off, a new socialist government … some people have all the luck!

Damn you Australia!

Giving your kids a pet will make them happy and teach them lesson for life. Anyone ever asked those dogs, cats, hamsters, mice or whatever if they want to be abused by ignorant kids so they learn how to treat humans? It is highly unfair to train humans on animals how to behave with other humans.

In 1953 one enlightened being landed in a lonely backward in Milwaukee. He was easily captured, washed and put the bed in the following three hours. His insights were never made public.

One of the real differences between men and woman is the maternal instinct. Sure not all girls like to play with dolls and want to be married and humped immediately after they menstruated the first time.

But the female body is built to breeds - as much as the male is made to procreate as well, but in a different way. Woman have to deal with their ‘function’ on a regular monthly basis, while the male sexual ‘function’ just runs more or less maintenance free.

But also the so called biological clock - as much as it is also a social pressure to be a successful breeder - drives woman much more than men.

From that perspective it’s much more work for woman to become ‘neutral’ and free individuals (instead of just being driven by the mating instinct), because they have to deal with their purely biological ‘function’ on a more regular basis.

I better let Wikipedia tell you what the Krampus and Knecht Ruprecht are all about:

The Companions of Saint Nicholas (or Father Christmas) are a group of closely related figures who accompany St. Nicholas in many European traditions. The tradition is particularly strong amongst the Germanic peoples, with some regional expression in the U.S. (largely from European ethnic groups).

The most recognized companion, especially outside of Europe, is Knecht Ruprecht, which translates as Farmhand Ruprecht or Servant Ruprecht. Other companions include Krampus (Austria, Bavaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary [spelled Krampusz]), Klaubauf (Bavaria), Bartel (Styria), Pelzebock, Pelznickel, Belzeniggl, Belsnickel (Pennsylvania), Schmutzli (Switzerland), Rumpelklas, Bellzebub, Hans Muff, Drapp or Buzebergt (Augsburg), Hanstrapp (Alsace, East of France) and Le Père Fouettard (Northern France). In the Czech Republic, St. Nicholas or Svatý Mikuláš is accompanied by the Čert (Devil) and Anděl (Angel). These servants are often associated with, but are distinct from Saint Nicholas’ helpers in the Netherlands and Flanders (called Zwarte Piet, meaning Black Pete(r) in English).

Make sure to read the whole entry for loads of details.

As you can see from the last image this tradition is very much alive here in Europe and I can assure you that tonight many kids and some adults gonna crap into their pants when St. Niklaus and a wild Krampus hits their home …

It is an old tradition here in Germany that someone dresses up as St. Nikolaus and his scary companion Krampus bring gifts to the kids.

This is actually a pretty scary thing - I have seen grown woman and man weep and sacred to death when facing (a student dressed up as) St. Nikolaus.

I also still remember that evening as well. All the other kids ran away and were nowhere to be seen while I had to hold St. Nikolaus staff and  listen to what he had to say about my ‘performance’ since his last checkin.

When he left and the other kids appeared again they got some presents too - which I thought was pretty unfair since I alone had faced the red giant …

Romantic movies are for chicks and action stuff is for guys. Right? Wrong. There seem an incredible number of chick flicks out there and an even greater number of dumb violent stuff for youngsters - BUT hardly any good stuff for ‘real men’.

Dead Poets Society - or how it feels like to be a boy. One of the few movies who don’t turn growing up into a screwball comedy. This one shows how important it is to have a good mentor (sort of older guy) to introduce young gentlemen to art and higher principles - as an alternative to ‘just’ sex and getting a proper job.

Birdy - Also a story about growing up, but also about coping with tragedy, pain, madness and - mostly - about finding your own way. Friendship also plays an important part in this one. Great Soundtrack by Peter Gabriel.

About Schmidt - This movie kills me every time. About the tragedy of a guy, who discovers at the end of his life that he hasn’t lived at all. Very heartbreaking and a huge warning sign. To do what is expected of you (getting a good job, starting a family and retire to a nice home) isn’t life …

Broken Flowers - Whatever happens to old womanizers? The story of Don and his search for a son or better say a family or steady relationship he never had or could ‘create’. A great movie about lonely guys, who have achieved something, but have nothing.

Any movies my male readers like to add?

After many years if waiting and technical development video is finally sweeping the Internets. It’s not just download little bits here and there, but massive streaming, downloading complete movies and ‘blogcasting’. We are used to get small video clips in our emails or watch important as well as ‘funny’ stuff via Websites like Crooks & Liars as well as YouTube.

The BlogCasting is a sort of Clip-O-Mania which has also grabbed the mainstream media’s attention: news shows include Internet clips as well as those many funny video shows. Videos of people torturing each other were cell phone videos, a lot of ‘funny’ stuff is from cheap camcorders. The video revolution is in full swing.

Since the medium is still part of the message those short clips will only ‘deepen’ the short attention deficit disorder of modern people. Since the introduction of mass media in form of TV and radio the speed and visual presentation of ‘content’ has increased. If you watch a newscast or report from the 1960’s you be surprised how slow and static it is. Today’s presentation hardly leaves any space for thinking. Everything is presented in ever faster image sequences, booming voices and action music. This is no longer just the stupid idea of edutainment, but actiontainment.

The faster, the more impressive and the shorter - the better.

A new generation of clones taking over the world!

Similar to the inability of many modern students to understand or write complex texts this will Clip-O-Mania will contribute to the ignorance of complexity. Contrary to popular believe I say that modern youngsters are NOT stupid, but they simply lack the training and challenges to train their brains to ’solve’ complex mental tasks as well to train patience.

As much as I like gaming myself almost ALL digital adventures only train a very limited set of challenges, which only get harder with every level but not more diversified or complex. The effects of hours of videogaming are very similar to brainwashing, because the same mental paths / messages are hammered deeper and deeper into the brain. Playing is meant to explore different approaches and experiment with different combinations. Videogames lack the variety - they present a very limited set of elements and solutions - under a huge pressure to proceed and win. Similar to the speedculture of actiontainment and videoclubs there is little time and mental space left to develop your own ideas and grow at your own pace.

Slowness has it’s own merits as well as patience and complexity.

The only way to take over the world … when you are a kid. Too bad they really can do it today with their computers.

More and more deaf young people? Wired Magazine is spelling out the obvious - once again. I still can remember the same warnings when the first Walkmans hit the street and everybody went earphoned. Actually the worst thing that could happen to your ears is Techno Music and raves. Never been to any party that is really louder: base kicks so intense that they make your clothes wobble. So most modern digital devices have a loudness barrier anyway - they are not as loud as old walkmans or normal Hi-Fi equipment.

This xmas a lot of digital babysitters will arrive in many families. More and more people point out that stressful video games are not the best thing for a young mind. Overall it seems computer are not making pupils smarter anyway?! So should we ban computers from classrooms and school until kids reach a certain age - AND until they have mastered basic math and writing skills?!

Actually - being an avid gamer myself - I agree that gaming has a strong influence on the mind. It can be like a ‘rush’ of euphoria or an extreme strain being so narrowly concentrated on just one small screen. After a long gaming session my mind seems to ‘play’ the game long after I have stopped. It’s almost like a shadow or ‘burn in’ effect.

For me it makes perfect sense to say that a young persons mental energy and education should be focused on learning - while playtime (which is always learning as well) should be more relaxing and be a physical workout to balance mind and body. Most modern kids spent way to much time only in the mental sphere of school, tv and games - less in social and physical ’spaces’.

So parents - listen up!

I love LEGO! Every time I visit someone with kids I try to build something with it. I don’t like the modern LEGO stuff with figures and special parts that won’t fit together with everything else. The best thing Denmark developed apart from depressed princelings.

More? Wikipedia entry

Behind every fairy tale lies often a deeper psychological and cultural message. So Rotkäppchen and her encounter with the big bad wolf has a sexual side to it as well - the furry old creature is the horny Grandfather. Understanding myths is still an important skill, since our subconscious still works with rather primitive archetypes and concepts.

I can highly recommend Joseph Campbell’s Power of Myth (book, DVD, audio tapes) to anyone who wants to look deeper.

How do you introduce spirituality to kids in a free and open way? The chance of indoctrination instead of education is very big. Too often the voice of (any) god becomes the instrument of parental instructions. How can we show the wonders without destroying them?

We still consider babies and little kids as symbols of innocence and purity. But can a ‘blank’ mind in training be considered innocent unless it has developed it’s full potential?

What I find even more odd is the overall desire to be ‘good’ and be ‘clean’ - without any spots on your soul/mind. To accept your own power and potential in an ‘unfair’ and ‘uneven’ universe you have to get ‘your hands dirty’. The desire to stay clean sounds rather like cowardice not to get involved.

But what’s the point of having a mind and not using it to get involved? What’s the point of being alive, if you don’t muddle with your own existence and power?

Remember when your bath tube seemed big and vast - a great naval empire to explore?! Did you ever try to catch your farty bubbles?!

Image: Jacques-Henri Lartigue

Imagine you are little kid - and suddenly strangers arrive at your home and tell your parents you are the next Dalai Lama or some other spiritual higher being. Then you are fucked. Your childhood - gone. The chance to be a normal person - gone. The ability to develop and lead a boring life - gone.

You will be trained and indoctrinated according to some old tradition. You will continue a line of people and rulers you never met and maybe never wanted to meet.

Is this really the continuation of a spiritual line or simply the total rape of a young life in the name of religion? It’s certainly nice to breed your leader according to your ‘books’ - but is it real?

Behold the Power of the Princess Salome [make sure to read about her story before continuing]. Her innocence and tempting fertility drives the King and his Court mad. Her display of beauty, untamed sexuality and an almost childish mindset make her an explosive mixture.

While a Queen has to accept the limitations of power and responsibility - the Princess is allowed to play, tease and make mistakes. Since only her fertility mattered in the old days - nobody cared about her character, education or overall potential as a human being.

Be charming! Be fertile! Be tempting! But nothing else …

You find in almost all culture ritualized displays of female fertility (and male shows for courage etc.). It was and still is part of the ‘wedding porn’ of human culture. Picking the best DNA to breed with. The play between the young female and society is nothing else but a cow market at best and simple entertainment at worst.

The Princess shows off her wares for attention and maybe a good marriage deal. She doesn’t need any personality or any skills, just be fertile, healthy and mildly attractive - so society can project it’s desires and dirty thoughts onto you.

Hey, I used to be news …

Amanda Congdon and LonelyGirl belong to the new Cast of WebFems - who like Salome dance before the Kings behind the other side of the monitor. Give them a video stream or a blog - and they immediately attract hungry male eyeballs and curious girlies.

Dance Princess dance, maybe the Audience grants you a wish or some fame for actually doing nothing.

Uhhh, save me Knight of shining Armor … 

It seems like that anything young with breasts is able to create their own cult within minutes these days. Salome’s dance on speed with a million Kings watching.

Although most gurls (to use a web 1.0 expression) have hardly anything interesting to say or are hardly entertaining. It’s like New Orleans: flash your titts to get some simple beads [Mardi Gras].

It is called dicktionary for a reason …

My favorite piece of video mouseturbation is YouTube’s Hot for Words. She actually has something to say about words, but even without sounds she makes any healthy male hump their monitors.

She is Princess Salome with a Dictionary.

So is this the Future of Girl Power? Is this what’s left of Feminism in the Web 2.0 age? Playing Porn Princess Salome on YouTube, MySpace and all the other Mekkas for mouse clicks?

Where are the smart girly role models? An aggressive form of Sluttism seems to be the way to go. Celebs like Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton all have ‘leaked’ their Vaginas to the net. Brittney Spears and her entourage of drunken blondes compete almost daily to show their pussies to anyone with a camera.

Is that the formula and message for modern girls: show your cunt and you become a real person?

Dear Salome - you have started a terrible trend.

The style of some games reminds me of children books. I just hope that their tales would not only include fights and grabbing gold. But old fairy tales are actually pretty bloody as well. Some of the stuff written down by the Brothers Grimm is pure carnage - but it’s less graphical in style and certainly doesn’t repeat itself over and over again. But Fairy Tales also don’t push the High Score mentality either …

Big Jim was huge in the 1970’s till early 1980’s - finally a more sophisticated doll for the guys. An action hero - not just a military figure (toy soldiers had been around forever). Big Jim and his ‘offsprings’ could do amazing stuff - like there karate chops when you pressed the button on his back and the bulging biceps.

Today Big Jim seems completely forgotten and compared to todays superpowered robots and combat creatures he looks almost like a pacifist.

More? Big Jim @ Wikipedia and article on BigRedToyBox.com

I really wondering how the instant gratification & always on generation will cope with any serious problems that requires patience and long term thinking? Games only train easy and repeatable solution thinking within a short time frame. Even strategy and building games simulate only very simple methods to problem solving.