Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Today in Extraordinarily Odd

The Malaysian Health Minister Chua Soi Lek has just admitted that he is the man in a DVD that is being circulated featuring a man who has sex with a woman. He’s married and the woman in the DVD isn’t his wife. The great part about this is that Lek actually came to power by destroying the credibility of his rival through accusations of sodomy. "It was me," he admitted. "I would like to emphasise I did not make the tape myself." It’s so amazing how there are levels of acceptability with stuff like this and that part of the calculated risk of fallout management involves accepting that it’s him, but he couldn’t go so far as to saying that he made it himself because that would probably be too kinky. On the flip side, this is just about as validating as a top notch Catholic Church story. What a way to start the year. There’s nothing like some good old fashioned sexual panic and political hypocrisy. [source]



Antonio Nunes, the head of the Portuguese agency responsible for enforcing a new ban on smoking in public was seen lighting up at a New Year party. What is this? The year of fuckwit international leaders? Jesus, don’t smoke in public when you’ve just banned smoking. I mean, my GOD. Even a ten year old could figure that out. Still, while Mr. Malaysian Sex Tape Health Minister seems to be using his scandal for publicity, this situation seems a little bit more like a Larry Craig situation where deep down he wanted to get caught so he could just feel some kind of emotional relief. We will have to look into what is in the law," Nunes said. No, there's no reason to do that? Why look into the law? Dumbest idea ever.[source]

Last June Six Czechs hacked into a TV station and played footage that made it look like a volcano erupting was actually a nuclear explosion – no doubt inducing panic in a large collective of people. They were just charged in court today and could face 3 years jail time for freaking people out. As you’d expect they’re an artist collective and had just been awarded money from the government for being exceptional artists. I personally can’t think of anything funnier than playing footage of a nuclear blast coming out of a volcano to a collective of children. The idea of splicing images of massed destruction into say, children’s television, is so tired. I mean, it’s tired and predictable but at least it’s honest. Keeping up with the Kardashians could easily have been replaced by relentless footage of furry animals being tortured and it would have the same basic cultural effect in the long run: conscious acknowledgement of cultural travesty. That’s it. [source]

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