Month: June 2005

The oops list is a bunch of interesting aviation and military images, mostly of crashes and mishaps…

Despite vows that he would never recreate the 1985 charity rock concert Live Aid, the BBC reports that “Bob Geldof has unveiled plans for a repeat of 1985’s Live Aid concert, called Live 8, to highlight the ongoing problem of global poverty and debt.” The series of concerts is set to take place on July 2nd; here is a complete list of performers and which venues they will be playing:

Hyde Park, London
Coldplay
Dido
Sir Elton John
Keane
Annie Lennox
Madonna
Mariah Carey
Muse
Scissor Sisters
Sir Paul McCartney
Joss Stone
Razorlight
Stereophonics
Sting
Robbie Williams
U2
REM
Velvet Revolver
Bob Geldof
The Killers
The Cure
Snow Patrol

Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Will Smith (host)
Bon Jovi
Maroon 5
P Diddy
Stevie Wonder
Jay-Z
The Dave Matthews Band
Sarah McLachlan
Rob Thomas
Keith Urban
50 Cent
Kaiser Chiefs

Eiffel Tower, Paris
Jamiroquai
Craig David
Youssou N’Dour
Yannick Noah
Andrea Bocelli
Calo Gero
Kyo
Placebo
Axelle Red
Johnny Halliday
Manu Chao
Renaud

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
a-ha
Crosby, Stills and Nash
Brian Wilson
Lauryn Hill
Bap
Die Toten Hosen
Peter Maffay

Circus Maximus, Rome
Duran Duran
Faith Hill
Irene Grandi
Jovanotti
Tim McGraw
Nek
Laura Pausini
Vasco Rossi
Zucchero

The article mentions that “The original Live Aid concerts, on 13 July 1985 in Wembley Stadium and JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, raised £40m for famine relief in Africa,” and it seems that this latest effort is an even more ambitious one with quite a line-up…

The Monster Engine is Dave Devries’ attempt to transform the vivid imagination inherent in children’s drawings into more refined works of art. Very cool…

I’ve heard some of the appalling quotes that Jon Bolton, W’s nominee for United Nations Ambassador, has made about the UN before, but seeing the actual video (direct link to QuickTime video) highlights how much of a crackpot asshat he really is. I hope that Congress realizes what a horribly bad idea it would be to confirm Bolton for this diplomatic post, but unfortunately, partisan politics and W’s stubborn idiocy will more than likely prevail…

I had no idea that there was even a concept for a movie based on the Knight Rider TV series, but I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. However, the movie deal has apparently been stalled for two years because idiot movie producers did not want a car that talked. Yes, you read that right, producers did not want KITT, the central premise behind the show, to speak. I’m glad to hear that David Hasselhoff and company held out for it to be done right, but that being said, the movie will probably suck. Although it will be a big hit in Germany… 😉

The Checkershadow Illusion is a really hard one to wrap your head around. I’ve seen it before, but it’s worth examining again…

USA Today reports that “beginning June 9, [Northwest Airlines] coach passengers who want anything other than soda will have to pay for it. They can get a 3-ounce bag of trail mix for $1.” This is obviously an addition to the existing policy of not offering free meals anymore, which has been in place since February.

I understand that NWA is in dire financial straits and will save some money ($2 million seems exaggerated, but whatever) with this move, but this is just ludicrous. I hope that whatever savings are realized by this policy are not enough to make up for all of the people (myself, for one) that abandon NWA over this…

The BBC has a unique offer: “Download all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies here the day after they are broadcast” in MP3 format. Pretty cool…

Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller fame) has named his newly-born daughter. Can you guess the name he chose? I sure couldn’t…