Tegan & Sara: It’s Rude To Talk

I can hear you talking all over it, so I was thinking maybe we should just sing an Usher song, or something.

Canadian rock moppet Sara Quin threatens an unruly crowd with a cruel and unusual punishment if they don’t shut up during her band’s performance of ‘My Number’ in a Toronto record store.

Hit ’em fast and hit ’em hard, ladies.

This was filmed in 2008, so in internet terms is collecting its pension. But banter and barbed repartee is always worthy of another look, especially when it descends into name calling and pursed lips.

Death Race 2021: Science Fiction Prediction

Moto GP rider Marco Simoncelli’s father is comforted by an official after his son’s death during the Malaysian Grand Prix. Many news agencies ran a video of the incident as it happened. Image: Reuters.

As a teenager, I always found science-fiction novels to be a touch depressing. Whether we’re talking Orwell’s predictions of strictly controlled information flow or Philip K. Dick’s chilling dystopian landscapes where individuals starved of affection find comfort in technology, the future through these guys’ eyes was never quite the hedonistic bundle of fun I was envisaging adulthood to be.

The rate at which their damn depressing prophecies are coming true hasn’t helped my interest in the genre, either.

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Reflections: Colonel Muammar Gaddafi

We reserve the right to make judgements on people based on their actions. And not too many of us would dispute that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was a dictator who imposed and presided over a brutal regime, was responsible for thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands living in fear and suffering.

So we’re entitled to feel anger towards him, right?

But our actions are a reflection of us, too. What are we when we watch him being dragged from a drain pipe, beaten and then shot to death? What about when his body is paraded through the streets of Sirte and then put on display in a meat locker so locals can take souvenir photos on their mobile phones and we can look at them over our cornflakes? Should we feel ok about that because he was very bad man?

It would’ve been nice to show the world why Gaddafi was so wrong in his actions. Not mimic them.

Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Tune Of The Day: Hounds of Love, Kate Bush


If  Kate Bush’s ouvre doesn’t form part of your record collection, listen to this and rectify the situation immediately.

If you remain unconvinced, try Alan Partridge’s Bush megamix. It might not be the most reverent exploration of her work but I find it very hard to believe Kate Bush herself didn’t crack up when she saw his interpretation of ‘Wuthering Heights.’

Genius.

Occupy: Entirely The Wrong Position

Naomi Wolf is an author, journalist and political activist. In light of this information, the NYPD would probably acknowledge that arresting her for asserting protesters rights on a New York pavement during Occupy Wall Street was probably a mistake.

Image: Mike Shane/Animal New York via thecutline.

Barack Obama: Life Thru His Lenses

‘Ohmigod, you were right! The world IS on the brink of economic collapse and millions of people ARE slipping below the poverty line every day while those in charge don’t seem to have a clue what to do. These ‘reality’ specs are totally amazing!’

Image: REUTERS/Jason Reed.

Dale Farm: Offended By Eviction Or Expletive?

It took numerous hearings, several false starts and enough spewing vitriol to bathe the whole of middle England for a month, but police and bailiffs have moved into the travellers site at Dale Farm, Essex, this morning, to evict those who have refused to abide by the court order.

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Google Translate Says: Eff Off With Your Political Campaigning!

Is it the capitalisation of the word ‘not’? Maybe it’s the red highlighting. But does anyone else get the feeling that there have been one or two unwelcome visitors to this Las Vegas office building?

Image: Ethan Miller/Getty Images.