Daily Loaf

Until this week, I had no idea that the World Wide Web that I am accustomed to is called “Web 2.0”, a second wave in the development of our most important medium for communication. Web 2.0 can be thought of as inspiring a shift in the role of the user, from receiver to creator, allowing participants to become “core developers”). The Web became a two-way street, constantly changing at the hands of the public (for a detailed description of Web 2.0 and its development, click here). As hard as it is to imagine the Web without its interactivity, Web 2.0 only came about in reaction to the dot-com bust, when the unidirectional Web 1.0 was in a crisis. The response, a rethinking and reworking of the existing system, introduced the world to many of the most successful applications and websites in use today, from MySpace to YouTube to Facebook.

In a similar sense, we are currently in an energy crisis, yet continuing to rely on old, out-of-date systems of provision that are no longer viable, economically or ecologically. Energy is distributed from power plants to consumers in a top-down fashion that leaves all the control in the hands of large corporations. Additionally, power stations produce massive amounts of waste and CO2 emissions, illuminating the need for a radical transformation in the way that energy is produced and distributed. What must occur, to follow the above analogy, is a shift to Energy 2.0.
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At some point in your life, in one way or another, you’ve come across a comic book.

You read them when you were younger; you made fun of someone for reading them when you were younger. (Or last week.) You saw Spider-Man 3 on its opening weekend; someone gave you their copy of Spider-Man 3 for your birthday.

You decided to pass on playing Wolverine in the first X-Men movie; you’re a household name because you played Wolverine in the first X-Men movie, the second, the third and eventually your own spin-off. (Or maybe that’s only if you’re Dougray Scott – hope Mission Impossible II was worth it. Hugh Jackman thought so.)

You watched Batman with bated breath; you watched Batman and Robin with a weak gag reflex.

Maybe you dated someone who read them, bought one as a gag gift, passed that guy with the unfortunate haircut looking at them at Borders, or just liked Batman: The Animated Series.

Or you just can’t log on to read your Daily Loaf without some guy tricking you into reading about them with pictures of Ryan Reynolds’ abs or Jennifer Aniston.

Whatever the case, comics are a part of your life — and it’s time for you to come to terms with the Top 10 reasons you should read comic books:

10. EVERYONE SHOULD
KNOW HEROES IS A RIP-OFF

It’s been said that there are no more original ideas. That everything’s been done. Now, I’m certainly not suggesting that Marvel Comics — or DC — invented the idea of the superhero. The ideology surrounding them existed before Joan Rivers was in diapers. But in terms of modern pop culture, well, Marvel and DC practically did invent the superhero. They certainly made them relevant.

If you’re going to do something that’s been done, do it better. Google Days of Future Past or watch an X-Men movie: Hugh Jackman and Hayden Panettiere, Wolverine and Claire, respectively, share more in common than an eight-head.

I’m not saying Heroes is a bad show. It isn’t. I’ve seen it, though like much of America, I’m not watching it now.  Humans discovering they have superhuman abilities, dealing with a government that hates and fears them, all while trying to save the world — it’s a great concept. Potential cures, racing through time and dealing with horrible futures — it’s compelling. When it’s called X-Men.

On a side note, NBC: The Incredibles did the same thing… but it was incredible. And Disney bought Marvel, so watch out.  Read the rest of this entry »

Jen and I had our weekly meeting (READ: daily IM-ing during work hours) regarding our posts for CL and decided that since I am suffering through an injury I could provide you all some insights on how to make it through an injury of your own. Physically making it through is one thing, mentally making it through is another.

The week before last I headed out with the running group to get in a nice 22 mile training run. At about mile 9ish the ankle starting hurting. By mile 13 it really hurt. Did I stop? Hell no. At 18 miles I had to throw in the towel and have been babying it ever since. Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Pek Van Andel had a common idea: to film sex. However, because Andel is a scientist and not an amateur porn director, he had to mask his desire in a scientific project that would garner public funding. Thus was born the scandalous video, “Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Male and Female Genitals During Coitus and Female Sexual Arousal.”

While you won’t find this title at your local adult video story, it’s on Youtube. Why, you may ask, is a video of intercourse available on Youtube, and CL for that matter? Aside from the fact that this video is less sexual than an emaciated celebutant in a blurry sex tape, what is portrayed in the video in no way resembles the common image of sex. After watching what looked like two beating hearts pounding together, I had serious doubts about if what I was doing in my marital bed even constituted sex. Read the rest of this entry »

Attending Mini MegaCon this past weekend was like walking into a different world than the mundane one I tend to inhabit. Stormtroopers, mystic elves, movie stars and a few renaissance festival holdovers invaded Orlando and The Rabid One and Hopp were at the center of it all.

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They say you can see straight through to a movie’s soul when viewing its trailer. OK, nobody says that, but you know they’re thinking it. Movie trailers can be useful promotional tools when done right. Heck, some are even works of art all by themselves. Some too can be life-altering; we almost lost an entire generation of teenage girls to heart attacks when the New Moon trailer hit. So for your pleasure The Rabid One nails you with the best movie trailers of all time.

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I’ve seen a number of risque ads in my time (see PETA’s sex with vegetables ad), but I’ve never seen a Sprite used in a bukkake scene (if you don’t know what bukkake means don’t Google it).

This Sprite commercial features an attractive woman performing oral sex on a nude man. Midway through she stops and considers how she could really go for a Sprite right about now.

Enter a crotch level Sprite, which has obviously received some vigorous stimulation. In slow motion, the soda explodes all over the thirsty woman’s face in a mess of fizzy white.

I’d have liked to believe that this ad was created by Sprite’s creative and thrifty marketing group, who knew the spot would be banned and go viral. On the internet the ad would receive a second life, reaching the key demographic of internet surfers like you and me, desperate for something to distract us from work, or unemployment. Read the rest of this entry »

When creating sexual aids, i.e. porn, for the handicapped, one of the most common misconceptions is that they’re into vanilla sex, but the handicapped are just as freaky as the rest of us. While it may surprise you to learn there’s porn specifically for the blind and deaf, it may shock you to discover that there’s porn for the deaf who are into giantesses (giant women), CGI, feet, vore (being eaten whole), and crushing (being stepped on). Read the rest of this entry »

It used to be that MTV would overplay videos to such a degree that it was impossible not to know the latest singles by Madonna, or Prince, or Michael Jackson (may he RIP). Those artists blew wads of cash to make miniature movies for their songs. (Michael and sister Janet’s 1995 acclaimed video duet, “Scream,” cost $7 million alone to produce.)

Nowadays, MTV doesn’t play videos so much as it airs clips of them during the closing credits of its neverending reality TV programming, so many artists have turned to YouTube to get the vids out and are likely alot more budget conscious when making them. The results vary from fun and inspired to downright garbage. Here’s a look at two Moby videos created in support of his ninth album (out today on Little Idiot). I’ve also included a preview clip of Bjork’s live Voltaic CD/DVD release. (Complete clips from the DVD would be nice but sadly, there are leaked or uploaded as yet.)

Artist: Moby
Album: Wait for Me
Songs: “Shot in the Back of the Head,” “Pale Horses.”
Both of Moby’s new singles have intrigued me with their raw electro-meets-organic feel. The video for “Shot in the Back of the Head” is David Lynch’s dark and abstract translation of the song, which is rather gloomy all on its own; and “Pale Horses,” the second single with haunting female vocals by Amelia and melancholy overtones, is directed by Elanna Allen and follows a lonely alien who takes a train to the moon to find some companions. Both are animated, but in very different styles.
Grade: A for both; the music was good and the videos compelling enough to make me want to check out Moby’s new album. (CHECK OUT THE VIDEOS AFTER THE JUMP).

Ooh, yeah that sounds so good.

I just realized that last week when I wrote about Katy Perry curing Tampa of the Swine Flu, I failed to properly introduce myself. I’m your party host, “Rabid” Nick Refer (the more you read, the more you’ll understand the reason for the name). I’m one of the new Sex & Love Contributors and I look forward to sharing a laugh and maybe more with you. If you like my stuff, remember TnT because that’s when you’ll find my new posts, every Tuesday and Thursdays.  So mark your calendar, get it tattooed on your girl’s ass, or write a song about it and put it on repeat: TnT.

Since you’re reading this post, I know you like sex. And assuming you’re human, you like music. But do you like music with your sex? Those might be my two favorite subjects so the idea of merging them in an amalgam of hot, rockin’ sexiness is right up my alley.

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Is your Kitty Purry? Video after the break

Pandemic?  We don’t need no stinkin’ pandemic.  The world might be in a state of blinding fear but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the faces in the crowd at Katy Perry’s bay area appearance on 4/28.  The Rabid one was a part of the wily crowd and has to say, sex was flowing in the air and it had a palpable taste.

She kissed a girl and hell yeah she liked it. Her pseudo lesbian moment brought the people out en mass to Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg.  Ok, I know what you’re thinking, “who cares about pop music’s current female sensation?”  But a quick study of the mostly estrogen fueled audience yields fascinating results.   Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming Watchmen film, opening Friday:

Here’s our review, courtesy of staffer Brian Ries.

The Watchmen movie cometh: Should you care?

In this week’s Reel Projections podcast Brian gives his impressions:

CL interview with Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons.

Listen here.

Two and a Half Watchmen on Youtube:

Is there already a Watchmen backlash?

Our poll is simple: Who Will Watch the Watchmen?

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YouTube has reached an historic milestone, according to TV Week:

For the first time, YouTube has surpassed 100 million U.S. monthly viewers, according to new comScore information.

The Web video giant logged 100.9 million U.S. viewers during the month of January. Viewers averaged 62.6 clips each, bringing the site’s total to 6.3 billion video streams for the month among U.S. Internet users.

One reason? Videos like this:

The film festival is just a few days away and we’re all getting ready. We’ve been reading about and watching some of the independent classics, posting our takes on some of the indie icons and legends, and putting together wishlists of the films we will be sure to catch when we get to Park City, Utah.

Meanwhile, here’s a quick introduction to most of us – shot on a little Flip video camera – that may help those who read these pages to see more than a snapshot of who we are. Below that, I’ve posted some short films that some of the students in this class made during the fall semester as part of my “Film and Philosophy” class. They’re not quite to the level of getting into Sundance – though in all honesty I find some of them more entertaining and thoughtful than some things I’ve seen at major festivals – but at least some of them can truly say they are “independent filmmakers” too.

Here’s a very recent spoof on Steven Soderbergh’s independent classic sex, lies and videotape, made by several of our Sundancers:

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Last day of the year. Let’s end it with one final look back at the 2008 presidential election, as seen through the all-seeing eye of YouTube. Be back in 2009!

Links after the jump.

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It seems that John McCain owns so many houses, that even he doesn’t know the total.

• A guy named Joe leads Obama’s short list. And mine.
• Russian troops get comfortable at the port of Poti.
• Condi takes the secret shuttle to Baghdad.
• According to The Farmers’ Almanac most of the nation will suffer a brutal winter. The National Weather Service isn’t so sure, though.
• Keeping tabs on Fay.
• Olympic sports that need to disappear.
• Score one for the T-shirt makers.
• But do you really know what you can do with YouTube?