Don't Hassle the Hoff
It seems good ol' David 'Michael Knight' Hasselhoff has kicked off another comeback. After Knight Rider, Baywatch and of course his great success as a popstar in Germany, David has decided he's going to become a rapper. His first single has just been released, and it's been produced by his good friend Ice-T! Ice-T is a rapper for sure, so it seems odd that David makes such a strange rap song... at least the guy can laugh at himself. As I will continue to do.
Hasselhoff's new video
SUVs are lame! If you drive one, you... hang on?!
We all know that SUVs are gas-guzzling monsters, that can hold three dozen people in theory but in practice are only occupied by the driver. They can be outfitted with a so-called bull bar, which is apparently useful in the USA, where bulls run around freely in the suburbs. In the Netherlands they are useful too: No longer will you have to worry about dents in your car's paint when you scoop up cyclists who won't give way, elderly people who take a zillion years to cross the road and those pesky little compact cars that roam this continent.
It was a proud day for me yesterday, when I got to join the corps of monster truck drivers. My trusty Peugeot 307 was in for service, and the dealer gave me a Nissan X-Trail to transport myself. I was almost sorry I didn't have anywhere to go in it, as I was working about 5 minutes from home that day. That didn't stop me from taking a looooooong detour to get there.
It's fun to drive an SUV; the car's got plenty of power, you have a great view from above and you can take all your friends with you. However, most SUV-owners probably don't have friends. As I was driving along the rather fancy little town of Zeist, which sees a vast number of Jags and Rollses and Mercs driving along it's streets, I noticed from my elevated X-Trail seat more than one angry face looking up at me. Perhaps they had a bad experience with another SUV in the past, or they were simply opposed to guzzling gas. Whatever it was, it felt safe to now that in the event they got violent, I could simply scoop them up.
The fun only lasted for a day... I returned my SUV at around 5 and got back my little 307. It seemed rather happy with its oil change and new clutch spring thingy, and its airco didn't smell anymore. I'll take it to see Britain next week. I hope we won't encounter any SUVs.
Bush pilot
Finally, we've found a perfectly rational explanation for George Bush' odd behavior. It seems he is piloted by a rather tiny German with a big moustache, whose English skills are somewhat lacking.
Let the German NDR enlighten you further here.
Thanks to Pharyngula
Pro-lifer in need of a brain
The pro-life movement in the United States has a new icon. His name is Pete, and I nominate him for 'most clueless person on both sides of the pond'. It seems that Pete has mistaken a seven year-old article published by the Onion, a famous and long-standing satirical website, for a serious article. Pete is shocked by the lack of mores exhibited by 'Ms. Webber' in her defense of abortion in the Onion's article. Unfortunately, 'Ms. Webber' is as fictitious as Pete's brain. The original article that caused Pete so much grief: 'I Am Totally Psyched About this Abortion!'
Enjoy Pete's rant at those damn liberal babykillers here. Do read the comments too, they're hilarious. When you're done and still need a laugh, read Pete's defense of his monumental mistake here.
On a sidenote, one can't miss the irony in the title of one of Pete's favorite pro-life newsletters: It's called the 'The Monthly Call of Life'. Brilliant.
Thanks to Curly Tales of War Pigs
Zinedine... you fool :(
First things first: Zinedine Zidane is the greatest player the Beautiful Game has seen since Maradona. He was proving that again Sunday night, leading France to their second World Cup in eight years. Then, with ten minutes to go and everyone preparing for a penalty shoot-out, Zidane left us prematurely. Italian defender Materazzi said something to Zidane which was answered by a headbutt in the sternum. A shocking event which got Zidane sent off, tarnishing his legacy and probably losing France the final.
It's unknown what Materazzi said to Zidane that made him snap, although the media are still having a field day guessing. Brasilian lip readers stick to it being an insult to Zidane's sister, while others say Zidane was called a terrorist by Materazzi. Today the FIFA announced it would start an official investigation into the affair.
Of course, for non-football fans, this is all not so interesting. What might interest you is that Zidane's headbutt has initiated a 9/11-like flurry of satiric doctoring of images, and I've taken the trouble of collecting some of the best. Enjoy, even when you're silently lamenting the tragic end of Zinedine Zidane's impressive career.
Movie review: Flightplan
It seems ever since Jodie Foster became a mom, she plays moms. That's fine, moms are ok. However, Foster as a mom doesn't make for a very spectacular movie. Anna and the King was allright but not special in any way and Panic Room was a massive disappointment, considering it was directed by David Fincher. Last year gave us Flightplan, and I'm sorry to say it's not too good either. I'm a big Foster fan, but after skipping this one on its cinema run, I shouldn't have bothered with it on DVD.
Flightplan has a rather unbelievable premise: An emotionally shattered woman (her husband has just committed suicide) flies home with her daughter who gets abducted in flight. It seems pretty hard to kidnap someone in a rather cramped and overpopulated alumuminum tube. Even better, no one on the plane has seen the kid and according to the paperwork, she doesn't even exist! Of course, she does, and Flightplan actually does a pretty good job of building tension and showing Foster being progressively more distraught over her loss. Unfortunately, after about an hour, the film manages to deflate itself in less than a minute. The plot turns from unbelievable to ludicrous and the final 30 minutes are a bore. As for plot holes, there's about a zillion of them.
There's some good acting from Jodie Foster and Peter Sarsgaard, a horrible cameo-like appearance from Greta Scacchi (who used to be hot, but hasn't aged nearly as well as Foster) and a wooden performance from Sean Bean, who acts like he's still got an arrow from LotR stuck in his chest. There's also some politically correct scenes with Arabs, who, it turns out, are not all terrorists. Yay!
The Doctor's verdict: ** out of *****
