The crew of Jibjab.com have been producing great stuff for years, but for some odd reason this video is currently all over the intrawebs. But it’s brilliant!

There should be more political satire.

If you can cope with nasty British Humor - watch & enjoy!

Nevermind that "Mutter" is younger then her Daughter - but I just love the Magic Flute.

This is actually a performance by the The Royal Opera House at Covent Garden - Diana Damrau (Queen of the Night) and Dorothea Röschmann are obviously German.

For me it’s often amusing when I hear the Zauberflöte sung / performed in "ungerman" accents - but this one in "fine and pure arian art" …

Bert Kaempfert is the King of Easy Listening - his themes are smooth, without any edges or deep expression. It’s niceness pure.

I dunno if this is purely trivial music for supermarkets and elevators - or some form of art.

They certainly don’t make music like that anymore - purely instrumental themes are a forgotten art in pop music.

I’ll admit it: I watch war porn from time to time. It fulfills me with a strange excitement and disgust at the same time. It awakes a primitive "awesomeness" within my inner Neanderthal.

But there is another aspect to this: since mainstream media is so sanitized one doesn’t see the full horror of the action in the news. Plus many soldiers post their combat footage or photos on the net - so we all get to see what they do in our name.

I think Internet War Porn is a brutal but necessary way to confront western audiences with the realities of war - or the current madness in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also is a great channel for soldiers to tell us DIRECTLY their side of the story - without any filtering Defense Departments, politicians or media experts in between.

We need the truth more than ever in the age of political spin.

BBC Comedy / 48 minutes

"Goodness Gracious Me" was a great BBC comedy series placed in the large British Indian and Pakistani community. It broke many stereotypes and introduced many funny new ones.

I wish there was more "ethnic" humor like that - to get a better insight into another culture or lifestyle in a good and funny way.

This is not about terrorist propaganda, this is not about free speech, this is not about radicalizing the public - it’s about the truth.

American politicians, American media and most parts of the so called American public simply "sanitize" reality to they don’t have to face the ugly truth: their own soldiers and mostly innocent people die in this stupid war on terror.

Don’t look away! This is your war. You decided to invade Afghanistan and Iraq - now stand up to it and face the blood.

This is the 21st century - you won’t be able to hide such videos and censor images - like the return of your own dead soldiers.

But America has learned from the Vietnam experience - and all side are making HUGE efforts to keep the TV screens clean. Because shocking images can make people change their minds - but cool 3D animations with heroic videos - but no blood or gut hanging out - do not offend …

Documentary / Fiction - 1hour 46minutes - 1990 - the sound is a bit out of sync in the second half

I am a huge fan of James Burke - he is one of the great writers and thinker who can connect the dots and explain it all to mere mortals like myself. A science historian and TV producer with an impressive resume.

The first part is an excellent analysis of human history and how the weather influenced human development and history - and he we have influenced the weather. The second part is more fictional - a docu drama if you will - how a global climate watchdog battles global warming and which measures have to be done to change our current unsustainable lifestyle.

This two part series "After the Warming" was produced 1990 - and it freaked me out.

First - it shocked me, that he had already such an insight and clear suggestions in the year 1990, when hardly anyone - and certainly not the mass media - was talking about climate change and global warming.

Second - his "predictions" or better say insights are spot on, especially watching it now almost 20 years after it has been produced.

Third - we have already wasted so much time to change our lifestyle and we are still far behind what would actually be possible to re-balance the weather system.

Although the quality of the video isn’t brilliant - the content is. So please watch it.

Is this supposed to be funny? Or a documentary? Or simply a reflection of a trivial everyday thing by even more trivial multimedia artists?

These "people" have their own channel on YouTube and many other places. Even more terrifying is, that so many seem to watch and LIKE this kinda stuff.

I wish channels like ForaTV or RealNews would get as much attention! But reality always seems to loose against triviality in our day and age.

I think before watching any fundamental (Christian) preacher or politician one should always watch this very video.

Many people always say they know what God or Jesus wants from them or us. But what God wanted in the old testament is pretty different from what Jesus and his Daddy later propagated in the new one.

So maybe now 2000 years later there might be some new additions as well?

This is how we do science in Europe - those religious nuts don’t know what they are missing!

This video is part of the Marie Curie Actions - a program designed to promote research and obviously science.

And you know how Madame Curie was - dontacha?

Another great scene from the Dude … with the Jesus, Vietnam and Danny!

Got 90 minutes to kill?

Watch some British Humor "Trigger Happy". They play nasty tricks to unsuspecting people with their weird humor and hidden cameras.

*Thanks to Edosan for some more fun in my life*

Gee, I love that movie. A great combination of weirdness, great characters, madness, Bob Dylan and bowling by the Coen Brothers.

We might laugh today at the blunt message of this 1950’s TV commercial. But has the message really changed? Individualism has become more prominent since the 1970’s - but the method is still the same: fear. The fear of being not cool, fear of NOT belonging to the big crowd, fear NOT to doing (buying) the best for your loved ones, fear of being NOT adorable, sexy, smart … whatever.

Since most products hardly differ in quality or features - they have to get their uniqueness either through “cool design” or marketing. For example: most cell phones for €100 have the same features for that prices, but they look very different and are often targeted at different crowds (business user, kids, pussy tech, etc).

And it is still fascinating that we still reacted to finely tuned amounts of fear and associations: “Oh, no this cell phone is made for woman. I am a strong guy, I am not gonna buy this although it’s cheaper and does exactly what I want it to do!”.

*inspired by OliviaB sending me a similar coffee ad*

I love those Top Gear Guys - they always do the right stuff … they blow them up properly …

This is one fascinating story! It would be amazing if we would battle cancer with a killer radio beam - how very SciFi!

More? John Kanzius @ Wikipedia and the CBS article

*Thanks for Sharkat for sending me this one*

BBC Documentary / 58 Minutes

Carlos Castaneda is certainly one of the most controversial and influential spiritual teachers of the last century. His books about the teachings of the Yaqui Indians was an international bestseller and still a must read for many esoteric’s out there. This documentary gives you an excellent insight in his tragic life and all the controversy surrounding his teachings.

Once again it shows that so called Gurus can turn grains of truth into madness - instead of spirituality and enlightenment you get distortion and lies.

I guess the temptation to abuse the power that some spiritual insights give you are too much for many Gurus.

Money, fame, admiration, sexual offers and power over large groups of people are a challenge most gurus fail to overcome. Instead of resisting temptation they fail to withstand the temptations of leadership and power.

Most terrible of all: he damaged the cultures he studied, he put wrong ideas in millions of heads (and therefore caused a lot of confusion and pain) and he did it all for mostly materialistic reasons.

Like L. Ron Hubbard he used his superior mind and excellent insights into the human psyche for his personal advantage.

Once again that phrase “If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!” is a very good guide to your own spirituality. Don’t follow any illusions! Don’t follow other Buddha’s - be your own teacher and take responsibility!

Follow your own road …

If this propaganda website from NATO is any indicator for the current state of affair for the North Atlantic Alliance than it is bad … very bad.

The website feels so 1999 and really stinks. Who made this? The 14 year old son of a Polish General? Sorry, I am so incredibly underwhelmed by this …

Watch for yourself: natochannel.tv

Update: Here is a new version.

Update: The movie has been removed from LiveLeaks - you can still click the player above - but you only get an official statement. I will try to download the movie from another source and repost it here. What a shame!

Since all the world is going bonkers about this movie - watch it yourself and judge it for yourself. (Warning: LiveLeaks stream is currently overwhelmed by demand - so the video could be jerky.)

Let me know what you think?

I am pretty sure it appeals to some of my new conservative American friends.

This video is certainly made to provoke and wake up the world / Europe / the Dutch to the “dangers of Islam”. For me Islam is as dangerous as any religion when it is commanded by Fundamentalists and Terrorists as an excuse to kill or suppress others, because they can’t cope with diversity.

Should the video be censored or forbidden? Of course not. It may be not the best video ever made - but it expresses valid concerns and simply states a political opinion (doesn’t matter if you agree or not). Religions and violence are not beyond criticism.

Plus I like to point out that some stuff that is broadcast by some official Arab TV stations is much harsher than this. And al-Quaeda and Jihadist recruiting videos are pure hate and blood. So in terms of propaganda this Dutch video is rather lame.

But this video is also not beyond criticism: the associations and connections this video sometimes makes are wrong at best and stupid in some cases.

Stupid rhetoric’s from both sides are not helping.

Muslims have to ask themselves if they want to tolerate or maybe combat those fundamentalists who have hijacked their religion and commit murders in their names. And they have to accept that many place in the world don’t care about religious piety and will continue to allow attacks, ridicule and humor against Islam.

And the West has to learn that Islam is not simply bad - and that not every bearded Muslim is a terrorist.

More? Wikipedia entry

Some reactions:

BBC: Dutch MP posts Islam film on web with comments

Graphic images from the bomb attacks on London in July 2005 and Madrid in March 2004 are shown.

Pictures of a woman being stoned, scenes from a beheading and images of the Dutch director Theo van Gogh, who was murdered by a radical Islamist in 2004, are also included.

And pictures appearing to show Muslim demonstrators holding up placards saying “God bless Hitler” and “Freedom go to hell” also feature.

The film shows a young girl in a headscarf making derogatory comments about Jewish people.

Economist: Flat-earth fears

The leaders of both countries have tried to discourage these ventures. They are doing their utmost to soothe bruised sensibilities abroad. The Dutch prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, has had several talks with his Danish counterpart, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, about how to cope with the incipient crisis.

One sign that events are escalating came this week, when Mr Wilders secretly visited Copenhagen in an attempt to persuade Danish television to broadcast his movie. As in the Netherlands, the argument against doing so is to avoid provoking retaliation. Already Danish goods are being widely boycotted in Muslim countries.

The Danes seem to have had their fill of the controversy. An opinion poll in Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that first published Mr Westergaard’s cartoon, showed that almost 60% of Danes thought republication was ill-advised—whereas a majority supported publication the first time round. On the other hand, the Danes (and Dutch) are staunch believers in free speech. A Danish minister has talked of offering a Dutch-Somali politician, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a safe bolt-hole. Two Danish television stations also aired clips of “Submission”, the film made by Theo van Gogh, who was murdered by an Islamic fanatic in 2004, for which Ms Hirsi Ali wrote the script.

There is also a natural unwillingness to bow to bullies. In the Netherlands, Mr Wilders is admired for his free-speech stance even by those who hate his politics. When two Danish soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, Mr Fogh Rasmussen rejected calls to bring the troops home. “Violent groups are trying to halt progress. They must not succeed,” he said. Many Europeans apply the same logic to free speech and Islamists.

Interesting video - didn’t know that Sir Attenborough also did porn voice overs. Overall I am happy that my penis isn’t located behind my head - although sometimes it feels like my head is located in my penis. And another note: you can show almost any animal fucking on national TV - except homo sapiens … why is that?

*Thanks to Olivia for that scientific video*

Who says it’s hard to understand other cultures humor. Some stuff is pretty universal and easy to “get”. This one cracks me up every time …

This is an old report from the LA Times - but still valid. Young American soldiers and Iraqis get blown to bits.

A three part documentation about wounded American soldiers in Iraq. Harsh reality - highly recommended to see what you don’t see on mainstream television.

Still one of the quintessential 80’s pop songs in style and content. Although it seems neither the Russians nor the Americans have learned any lessons from this?

Welcome to my life … and 2oo8 will be a great year!

Forget all these exercises about inner peace, harmony and patience. These are lies - even the gets get annoyed by trivial stuff …

*Thanks to