Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Today in Extraordinarily Odd
After Vladimir Putin went fishing without a shirt on in Siberia recently, the public have just been dying to know what his workout regime is. Why, of all the world leaders, he’s positively the most dreamy (his previous role in the KGB and allegations of kidnapping political rivals around the time of elections are only minor detractions, of course). A Russian paper has put out a step by step guide on how to become as svelte as Putin. Frankly, he still looks like a sack of potatoes which isn’t a surprise seeing as it’s probably more or less what he eats anyway. The only reason we’re thinking he looks hot is because after seeing those shots of Clinton on the beach 12 years ago, the ones that show the fruits of a diet rich in Krispy Kreme donuts, any world leader shirtless looks good. Why did no one do the same for Barack Obama? He looked no worse than Putin as he strode majestically out of the sea that time. Where’s his Men’s Health column? [source]
Following on from the theme of world leaders who look good, the former president of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga is about to sell all her designer clothes on ebay because she spent her entire salary as president on designer clothes and needs to re-coup the costs. What the hell kind of country doesn’t give their leader a subsidized wardrobe? Did she have to fork out for a subway pass as well? 40% of the reason you’d want to be president of a nation is for things like a free gym membership, free ties, free lunches, first choice on the office donuts and complimentary champagne upon arrival. Take that away and it seems like a lot of work for basically nothing. If people knew what they were getting themselves into they wouldn’t be running for office I can tell you now. [source]
China’s tendency towards being a high maintenance diva in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics has been a little dormant in the last week or so – maybe Chinese officials tired themselves out holding important exhaustive assemblies where they instructed people to get rid of bad habits (from the images published the audience certainly weren’t exactly awake) and from the vital banning of the sale of crispy duck at public toilets. This time, they’re outlawing sitting on trains for a longer time than necessary once the train has reached its destination. You’re not allowed to sit on a train once it pulls in at the last stop – that’s considered illegal. Oddly enough, there’s no law on how much rat meat is allowed in dumplings – especially after the recent flooding and a billion rats were shipped off to restaurants in the South. But then, this kind of rule making has never appeared to be an exact science. [source]
A Malaysian man who had a couple of wives has been ordered to compensate his first wife by giving her a buffalo and a pig. Apparently, it’s unlawful to marry twice and this is meant to teach him a lesson. It is ironic, then, that he would be ordered to deliver to his wife an animal to which he no doubt considered her equal. What a charming way to teach him a lesson. Of course, now he won’t be able to eat bacon for a long while…oh, woops, he wasn’t ever going to anyway meaning that he had absolutely no reason to even have a pig. So, in essence, this is just a backhanded slap in the face for his wife. [source]
- Also, here’s video footage of how a Japanese kid beat the entire of Super Mario Brothers 3 in 11 minutes. It’s in real time. He’s a freak but you do kind of respect him anyway. What’s the bet he stamps his feet and squeals when he’s told to go to bed but the parents give in because he makes more money than them. This wasn’t the life his mother dreamed of as she grew up in rural Japan. His father is distant and weird.

No comments: