Hulkamaniacs and Bloody Gloves

Ok so everybody knows who Hulk Hogan is: arguably the most famous and recognizable professional wrestler of all time, with a career spanning over 30 years. Though, for those of you who don't know, he's the guy who bodyslammed Andre the Giant. With such an iconic status, I'm sure one could guess that the man is rolling in money (ballin' if you will). Apart from the Hulkster himself, many of you may know something about his family as a result of their VH1 show Hogan Knows Best which followed those loveable Hogans throughout their everyday lives (think the Osbournes without all of the unintelligible conversation and substance abuse). What some of you may not know is that Mr. and Mrs. Hogan have split up, and it hast NOT been amicable. This saga was one of the issues discussed in his recent interview with, the just as iconic, Rolling Stone magazine. Typically in a divorce there's some beef, but it's not always justified. In this case, however, Hulk had some legitimate reasons to be bitter mainly based around the fact that, in his own words, "You live half a mile from the 20,000-square-foot home you can't go to anymore, you're driving through downtown Clearwater and see a 19-year-old boy driving your Escalade, and you know that a 19-year-old boy is sleeping in your bed, with your wife ..." I would assume that anyone can see why having your ex-wife living in YOUR mansion and spending YOUR money and sharing it all with a 19 year old (she's 49, by the way) would be extremely frustrating; infuriating, even. Unfortunately, it took Hogan about 2 seconds to put his foot in his mouth and turn a sympathetic situation into a major wtf moment when he (in the interview with the major publication/on the record/in all seriousness) went on to say "I totally understand O.J. I get it." Now, don't be too quick to demonize this mountain of a man, because lest we forget, we can let only he who hath not contemplated murdering an ex-lover cast the first stone ... wait ... that doesn't really achieve the same affect in this situation, does it? Now, I'm really not throwing him under the bus here, because I could only imagine how angry that situation would make me, and I'm pretty sure everyone, in the heat of the moment, has said something to that affect but obviously not meant it. To me, the main issue here is that HE SAID IT ON THE RECORD ... That's the kind of thing you say among friends when you're angry (but probably not). Oh well. If nothing else, he's earned himself a nice mimosas-and-waffles brunch with Orenthal James to discuss the pros and cons of murdering your white wife. Though we should probably hope that doesn't happen, because I'm not completely sure the world's ready to see Hulkamania runnin' wild AND the Juice on the loose.

Gift Baskets Gone Wrong

If you're a journalist that covers any kind of media (music, movies, video games, etc.) you can expect to receive some promotional items from companies trying to hype the release of their new products. If you're a video game reviewer, however, EA may have just inadvertently turned you into a criminal (seriously). EA recently released The Godfather II the second game in their Godfather series based on the classic film series of the same name. Among other special items a character receives as he progresses through the game is a set of brass knuckles: an item which EA decided they would include in the promotional gift basket of sorts that they sent out to some reviewers. Ignoring how ridiculous it is, it was kind of a boss idea, definitely cooler than the norm, however it's obvious after this that EA's entire legal department (and common sense) was on vacation because no one caught the fact that BRASS KNUCKLES ARE ILLEGAL WEAPONS in most US States. Now, to EA's credit, once they realized their egregious error, they alerted those who had received the packages and encouraged all of them to simply return the packages immediately, to eliminate any possible legal repercussions. While it was good of EA to try to correct their mistake and keep all of those dutiful video game reviewers in the clear, the question still remains: how could it not occur to ANYONE that sending out brass knuckles may not be the best idea? The only downside to this whole (Lupe) fiasco is that now receiving a Tommy Gun is probably out of the question.

The Short Bus

People are idiots. We know this. Sometimes the world needs to sacrifice a few morons to achieve a "supreme race" capable of thought. (No, not aryans, just intelligent people, me no goose step) I've always kind of had a feeling that animals at the zoo are just waiting to get their revenge on the over-weight tourist yuppies staring at them at all hours of the day. This weekend one very lucky polar bear got his revenge.

In Berlin (see, now the nazi joke makes sense) this weekend a woman thought a swim with the polar bear world's version of a diva would be a fabulous idea. After hopping the fence into the polar bear moat, during feeding time no less, she was greeted by Knut. Knut is Germany's new star bear. In December 2006, Knut became the first polar bear to be born in Berlin in over 30 years. Unfortunately, being all alone, he never really learned his manners. When he saw the woman approaching in the moat he got a bit testy. Knut proceeded to bite the woman several times making her the equivalent of a human chew toy. What a shock.

(Un?)luckily, rescuers were able to pull the woman out of the water before any life threatening damage was done. Not only does she now have scars from the most famous polar bear in all the land, she was also issued a citation for jumping the fence in the first place. Leave it to the man to kick you when you're down. Let this be a lesson to all you crazy kids out there, stop being stupid and messing with animals. They don't like you.

Peace & Love

Weekly Reality Wrap-Up -- The Dirty Laundry

Moment of the Week: Clint Black (Celebrity Apprentice)

Now, this isn't as much of a moment as an idea ... but I had to get this in here somewhere. On Celebrity Apprentice this week, the teams were tasked with making a viral video for All laundry detergent. In the brainstorming sessions for each team, there were some extremely bizarre and simply terrible ideas thrown around (Jesse James being washed by midgets) but it was the team captain Clint Black's commercial that took the cake for .... let's say awkward tastelessness. Mr. Black, a Grammy-winning country singer, immediately decided that the target demographic (middle-aged women with kids) would love an ad rife with double entendres. The basis of his commercial was the phrase "doing the dirty laundry" which apparently people use as code-word for sex (?). So here's the rundown of the video. Clint calls his "wife" and asks if they can do the dirty laundry (sex, of course) when she gets home, unfortunately she says no. We then see Clint walk into the laundry room, grab the bottle of All, give a shifty-eyed look around, and close the door, presumably taking care of it himself and using the detergent as .... lubricant of some sort? (awkward AND tasteless, no?) Later that evening, Clint is reading a book in bed when his wife comes in and announces that they can, in fact, do the dirty laundry tonight. Clint, however, satiated from earlier responds with "no, that's ok sweetie, it was a small load, I did it by hand." .............................................................................. yeah, masturbation joke. For the full affect watch the commercial here

Contestant of the Week: Que (Making the Band 4)

Qwanell Mosely, a member of Diddy's band Day26, gained honorable mention last week for engaging in a major fights with a bandmate.Now, that was not the first fight he had nor the first case of bitchassness, but after that fight, the group made up and Que seemingly understood his mistakes. Well obviously that was not the case as this week, Que got into a shouting match in public, and just caused an extreme ruckus. Not only that, but he almost got into a fight with the entire rest of the band. Recently, Robert discusses Que's propensity for fighting; "One day it's a cab driver, the next day it's you (Willie), then it's 3 dudes in the club, then it's Brian ...". Of course, after this altercation there was a flowing of tears and baring of souls which led to peace in the group. Later on, Diddy called a meeting with the guys and made what I think was a good call .... He sat them down, talked about the problem, and ended the session by basically telling them that he didn't buy this sudden, new found love and sending Que home for the next set of concerts. The other guys didn't look too distraught, and the preview for the next episode even showed them saying that "it ... wasn't that bad." So we shall see what goes on with Que. And I can assure you that if he continues to be a part of the group, he'll be getting this award more than a few times.

Show of the Week: Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Duel II

The Challenge is back and ready to entertain through its own special mix of interpersonal drama (sex, physical altercations, emotional turmoil) and physical challenges. Just like every other reality show, there's the rule that if anyone fights, they're immediately thrown out. Normally it takes a few episodes for someone to throw down, but in the season premier of The Challenge, two people were gone before the first challenge even took place. The reason was just pointless drama, and not really the best part. The fight itself took place between Adam and CT who have had many altercations in the past, all of which Adam has refrained from retaliating (though this could be due to the fact that Adam is about 5'10" 150lbs, while CT is 6'3" 240lbs). This time, however, Adam couldn't hold himself back after a punch straight to the jaw from CT. Unfortunately the fight didn't end there. Once Adam was removed form the area, CT continued trying to charge at him, pushing through 4 or 5 of the other guys trying to hold him back (strong like bull). CT even chased him through the courtyard, ending the tirade with "yeah I wanna kill him .... I wanna smash his face in and rip out this heart and eat it!"

Yezzur, that was this week in reality television.

Vaya con Dios

iGouging

As we all know, Steve Jobs is trying to rule the world (or in his vision, what is soon to be iEarth) but he just might be losing touch with the consumers as he makes them lose touch with their wallets, in a move that is decent in theory but terrible in execution. Everyone knows what iTunes is so I'm going to spare the typical long-winded description and get right to the matter at hand. Mr. Jobs has decided to introduce what is called Variable Pricing. This new pricing structure will reprice tracks at $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29 based on the song's popularity. The beneficiaries of this new system would seem to be those tight-flannel-shirt-wearing, Parliament-Light-smoking indie kids whose iTunes bills should be going down depending on just how indie they really are (Crooked Fingers, anyone?). 

Now the question remains: Just how does one know the popularity of a certain song, and at what level does the pricing go down/up? Well, Apple isn't leaving you in the dark to guess as to how popular a track is, they've provided a popularity meter that is filled according to, you guessed it, the song's popularity. And as to the question of what level of popularity constitutes a price change, it's not what you'd think. Now, keep in mind, I don't use iTunes (I far prefer MediaMonkey) so I had to go to someone else's computer in order to check out this foolishness, but from what I saw there, and in other accounts of this travesty, a song is $1.29 even when the meter is just over half full. 

As for the price drops, this is where Apple fails miserably. In my (admittedly not as extensive as it should have been) explorations, it was extremely difficult to find a song for $0.69. A search for the aforementioned Crooked Fingers (first band that came to mind, don't give me shit for it) turned up a whopping ZERO price-dropped tracks despite having nothing in the popularity meter. Trolling around elsewhere and seeing what other people have said, many have had the same problem, with a site calling out for readers to comment back with any tracks they find for the reduced price, and out of 36 comments, there was only one found: I'll Fly Away by Kanye West (wtf?). Now far from polishing my guns for a militant outburst aimed at Mr. Jobs, I just set here, dumbfounded by this (kinda, maybe, not so) good idea gone wrong, and I feel for those many of you whose iTunes bills are going to rise. If nothing else, Steve-O is giving Amazon's music store a bit of a leg up.

*If you find a plethora of tracks for $0.69 please let me know.

Vaya con Dios

I'm Throwing My Arms Around (Courtney) Paris

March Madness is one game away from closure and we already have one new National Champion. On the men's side we have North Carolina (crowned after switching MSU's colors from green and white to black and blue) and for the women it is down to two. Tonight Louisville and UConn will take the court for the title. Notice that the Oklahoma Sooners are not one of those teams.

On Oklahoma's senior night, the Sooners' star, senior Courtney Paris (the rather intimidating female on the left), gave a stirring speech guaranteeing a national championship. Then, she added a twist. Paris vowed that if the Sooners didn't win it all she would pay back the $64, 000 full-ride scholarship she was given when she came to school. On Sunday, Oklahoma lost. Uh-oh.

Much to my surprise, at least, she says that she definitely intends to follow through on her promise. Though, she noted that she doesn't have the money now. If she actually pulls this off, she should get a parade. $64,000 isn't chump change and actually paying back a school who gave you money to play basketball is beyond admirable.

However, she could easily end up on The Short Bus. Who in their right mind guarantees a national championship...before the tournament even starts? She didn't only count her chickens before they hatched, she counted roughly 19 future generations of those chickens before they hatched. Now, granted I don't follow women's basketball (shocker) but I've never heard OU mentioned among the nation's powerhouses (i.e. Tennessee). Now, Ms. Paris has something to worry about. She'll be in debt when she leaves college. I don't know exactly how well the WNBA pays or if she'll even make it but, either way, she's in a hole. So, Courtney, welcome to the lives of every other college student in America.

Peace & Love

PS - HERE is the ESPN story about her guarantee.

LG's Bringing Sexy Back

CTIA Wireless 2009, one of the biggest yearly cell phone conferences, ended just three days ago. Among the hoards of unreleased cell phones being shown off for the first time was the LG-GD900, which is by far one of the sexiest phones to grace the world with its presence. The GD900 has been touted as the transparent phone, and for good reason. The phone is a touch-screen device which features, among other things, a vertical slider design, meaning that the phone itself slides up to reveal an alphanumeric (the typical 1-9) keypad. That in itself isn't too terribly impressive, much less sexy, but here's the killer part -- the keypad is transparent and a touch-screen itself. The keypad's touch interface can control many of the actions on the main screen (not much point to that but it's cool as shit), and also supports handwriting recognition. The device also sports LG's S-Class 3D UI ( their new touch-screen interface, which is pretty ballerific from what I've seen) as well as an 8MP camera. Rather than give you the promo photos that are obviously made in photoshop, or the first LG shots that are marred by an Asian woman dual wielding the phone, I trolled to find the best pictures I could, though I'd suggest watching this to get the full effect, because only video can do this masterpiece justice, but here we go ...

* Thanks to Boy Genius Report and Mobile Burn for the photos

Vaya con Dios