Black Dynamite
Rolling about on the floor with this one. Can’t wait till this is out.
A whole new meaning to misdirection
Imagine the subtle programming you could achieve…You love….*ice on road – slow*….Derren Brown’s….*ice on road – slow*….new series…*ice on road – slow*….GiantAlex is great….*ice on road – slow*….All hail….*ice on road – slow*…
Nigerian police hold ‘magic’ goat over attempted car theft
Awesome headline eh…!
The black and white animal was turned in to police by a vigilante group, which claimed it was an armed car thief who had used black magic to transform himself into a goat to escape arrest after trying to steal a Mazda 323. ”The group of vigilante men came to report that while they were on patrol they saw some hoodlums attempting to rob a car,” Tunde Mohammed, a spokesman for Kwara state police, told Reuters.
“They pursued them. However, one of them escaped while the other turned into a goat,” he said. While Mr Mohammed said he could not confirm whether a man had, in fact, turned into a goat, he did admit that the animal was in police custody. A photo of the goat, resting on its knees next to a pile of straw, was published in Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper.
Reports citing a different police spokesman said the animal was being held at the station until its owner came to claim it. Belief in witchcraft is widespread in parts of Nigeria. Many communities in Africa’s most populous nation rely on vigilante groups to patrol neighbourhoods that are not served by police at night.
Telegraph (Thanks Joyce)
Britons “Bored but happy”
Britons are more bored, tired and less likely to know their neighbours than other Europeans, a study suggests. But think tank, the New Economics Foundation (NeF), found the UK to be the sixth happiest nation in Europe. Data from more than 40,000 interviews from the 2006/07 European Social Survey was used to draw up the table. Coops Blogs fans were found to be the least bored and full of wonderful little life enhancing tid-bits.
I found Derrens Birthday Present
He’s gonna love it.
OFF TO RUSSIA
Liverpool was lovely, thank you for asking. I spent a week with a medium (see article below) making a documentary which I can only imagine will be very lively and watchable. It was an exhausting few days, but I shall say no more for now.
Sunday I’m off to Moscow to make another one – this time looking into the Bronnikov school (see the footage above or go here to their site - looks enticing, no?) and some other people claiming quite fascinating powers. As ever the idea is to go in as much as possible without prejudice, with a sincere delight in the possibility of it being real, and see whether anything extraordinary is really going on. I have spent a fascinating amount of money at Snow+Rock today on padding and thermals, but before long will probably post a picture of me here, freezing my twin peaches off by the banks of the Moskva.
Have a warm week the rest of you. x
Psychological illusionist Derren Brown appears with psychic medium Joe Power
Yes I know I’m late on this one – so shoot me. I woke up this morning at 4am with no internet and it took me an hour to calm down. After a warm pint of cherry coke, a good itch and a scouring of the internet I found this article. Personally I think graphic design like this is criminal but Derren has insisted it “is all part of the show”.
The amazing Savants
Recently I was reminded of a 1987 BBC documentary - ‘The Foolish Wise Ones’ – and in particular the story of Stephen Wiltshire, an autistic architectural artist with incredible photographic memory. I spent the best part of a day re-watching any videos I could find (many are on youtube if you’re curious) and stumbled on this great blog post.
Media Storehouse
At first you may find the Media Storehouse on Amazon rather tasteless and tacky, but then you’d be missing all the fun. They feature incredibly bad prints from the likes of the classic TV icon Paul Ross, what has to be the worst image of William Shatner ever and beautifully framed and not at all inappropriate picture of “Golliwog Musicians”. To top it off I’m not sure what I’m more offended by the prints of Hitler, the BNP election win or this truly ugly rendition of Sue Pollard.
But check out the customer reviews – brilliantly written and a hilarious read. My favorite is of the Uterine Fibroid print or the Paul Ross mouth open review. A most amusing read and that is either a huge faux-par for Amazon or an ideal opportunity to show people who visit your house your refined poor taste and what an open and shameless racist you truly are.
“The very definition of ‘sensual’, this quality portrait (thanks again Mirrorstore!) almost makes me climax when I look at it. For years now I’ve dreamt about having Sue in the kitchen over the sink, but I ended up hanging Sue in the downstairs loo, where I can often be found at 3.30am, pants round my ankles, quoting Hi-De-Hi lines while gently kissing Sue’s perfect visage. An essential purchase for anyone who finds it hard to get aroused to Paul Ross.” Phil – London
Is Religion Adaptive? It’s Complicated
Article By Jesse Bering at Scientific American
Last weekend I traveled to Edinburgh to attend a small workshop on religion. The group consisted of a multidisciplinary group of scholars—psychologists, biologists, political scientists, philosophers, and anthropologists—each of whom were studying the natural (that is, Darwinian) foundations of religious belief and behavior. The meeting took place at a marvelously opulent hotel near Waverly Station on Princes Street, with distant glimpses of the castle and the Old Town district. Each morning, about ten of us, still bloated with wine and food from the evening before, sat around an enormous lion-pawed walnut table in a Victorian suite while the bitterly cold Scottish winds rattled the windowpanes and rushed down the flue of the chimney, where a coal fire quietly warmed us.
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