Dutch Augmented Reality Billboard

Via Mashable,  the Dutch government has installed an interactive billboard with augmented reality that places bystanders in the middle of a street fight.

The billboard, which was placed in a busy Amsterdam intersection, was designed to combat the growing problem of Dutch public employees being harassed while doing their job and on lookers doing nothing to stop it.

The idea is that people will be so ashamed of watching themselves in this situation that they'll help when it really does happen.

This is really cool concept, but minorities better watch out.  Now it's possible to place a minority at the scene of every crime. I could see something like this happening: "I didn't cross the border that's just augmented reality.

But on a good note,  now Jay Kay from Jamiroquai can't keep hogging virtual insanity all to himself. 

HTC Droid Incredible Released for Verizon Today

I've been following the release of the HTC Droid Incredible for a couple of months, but that's mainly because my phone is so old that it's like the cell phone equivalent of a rotary phone.  

Seriously,  it still has a pull up antenna.  To put my phone in perspective, I got it before "Lost" premiered and people still thought Ashlee Simpson was talented.  

Anyway,  the Droid Incredible finally gives Verizon a good phone.  It's pretty much an HTC / Verizon branded version of Google's Nexus One, which is why  Google probably canceled the Verizon Nexus One. 

In fact it's called a Google experience phone because it has many of the same features as Nexus One such as the latest version of Android,  Google Navigation and gmail plus HTC's Sense UI.  The full specs and pricing are here.

The only negatives about the phone are that the battery life may be a little short and the amoled touchscreen is difficult to see in the sunlight.  Depending if you like a physical keyboard or not, the lack of one on the Incredible may be a drawback.

Here are reviews of the Incredible from Engadget and Cnet, which call it the best Android phone on the market, but fairly point out some of its negatives.

Stupid Lyrics: Young Money's Bedrock

Lyrics aren't always the most important part of a song, but it makes you wonder if people would still like their favorite songs once they actually sat down and read some of the absurd lyrics.

A good example of this is Young Money's "Bedrock."

Admittedly it has a catchy hook, although it's clear that several members of Young Money have a limited grasp of the English language.   The most nonsensical lyrics come from a rapper known as Gudda Gudda who says:

I like the way you walkin, if you walking my way

I'm that Red Bull, let's fly away

Let's buy a place, with all kinds of space

I'll let you be the judge and N-N and I'm the case

I'm Gudda Gudda

I put her under

I see her with me, no Stevie Wonder

She don't even wonder, cuz she knows she's bad

And I got her n-word

Grocery bag

I'm seen 3-year-olds be more coherent than this guy.  He should heed the advice from Jay-Z's  "Big Pimpin"  and "read a book you illiterate son of a bitch,  step up yo vocab."  This would be a good start. 

What hell does "you be the judge and I'm the case" even mean?  I've had jury duty and there's nothing entertaining or sexy about judges and cases.  Maybe Gudda Gudda thinks this is court.

Then he not only rhymes the same word twice, but mentions Stevie Wonder.  No one will ever confuse a talentless fool like Gudda Gudda with Stevie Wonder so he has nothing to worry about.  Even Wonder can see that he sucks though.

Facebook: A Dysfunctional Friendship

Does Facebook need to be involved in everything you do?  Apparently, it thinks so.  Earlier this week, the company announced that they will personalize your internet experience by allowing websites and apps to integrate profile information from your Facebook account so they know your tastes and interests.

In plain English it means that Facebook has turned you and me into a digital whore and they're our pimp collecting the money.  I'm not really a fan of Facebook's increasing tendency to offer up users' information to other sources as a default setting.

Of course, Facebook would argue that they're more like a good friend who is trying to help you get a better experience.  I'll humor them and look at my interaction with Facebook as a friendship.


In the beginning, Facebook was just happy to have me as a "friend,"  but soon the company started to take our relationship for granted by exploiting it for financial gain ie giving profile information to advertisers.

Despite all that, I've given Facebook the benefit of the doubt.  Although, it has only gotten increasingly sketchy over time like that friend that seems normal at first but the more you get to know the person, you realize he or she is crazy.

There were signs of Facebook's craziness.  Soon it wanted to know more and more things about me because Facebook claimed it would make our friendship better.

Even worse, Facebook decided that it knew what was best for me as the website started suggesting things such as who my other friends should be and when I should check in with old ones.

I never joined MySpace but, I think Facebook tried to kill it because Facebook thought I was hanging out with Myspace behind its back.

Now Facebook is in full blown stalker mode with its personalized internet experience plan as it wants to make sure that it knows everything about me and follow me where ever I go on the internet.

Facebook is trying to take advantage of me like it's Ben Rothelisberger in an Georgia club and I'm a drunk a girl.

Listen Facebook,  I need my space because you're smothering me.  Also, we're not really friends but more like acquaintances.

So get it straight, I'm not your friend, buddy or your buddy, guy.

    

11 Best Deep-Voiced Boyz II Men Monologues

It's about time someone recognized the great spoken word talent of Boyz II Men's baritone-voiced Michael McCary.  Much like Barry White, this is a guy you'd want around on Whacking Day.

Here it is, the 11 best deep-voiced Boyz II Men monologues aka McCary's greatest hits along with some amusing commentary.  Now excuse me while I try to find the talkboy "Home Alone 2" tricked me into wasting my money on as a kid so I can find out if these spoken-word pleas still work as well as they did in the 90s.

BlackBuster Movie: Why Do Fools Fall in Love?

How do I know "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" is a Blackbuster?  I actually watched it when it was featured as BET's Blackbuster movie for the night.

Even if I didn't, two things would have tipped me off: the only white guy with a semi-significant part turns out to be evil and Vivica A. Fox has a major role.

Unfortunately,  Fox is not only an indication of a Blackbuster, but also the sign of a bad one.  Aaron McGruder knows what he's talking about in his "Boondocks" comic strip when he blames her for the low quality of movies.

This is possibly the worst movie I have ever seen.  It gets nothing right as a weak narrative and poor editing and cinematography are only a few of the many things wrong with the film.  There are movies made by high school students better than "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"

The film's title takes it's name from the 1956 hit song by Frankie Lymon and Teenagers as it revolves around Lyman and the three women he married during his life.  They include his first wife Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. Fox),  singer Lola Taylor (Halle Berry), and third wife Emira Eagle.

Instead of focusing on the more interesting story of Lymon being one of the earliest  child stars that struggled because his voice changed at 15,  it centers on a 1986 court case years after his death where his three wives dispute who should collect Lymon's royalties from his song "Why Do Fools Fall in Love."

It's about as interesting as it sounds and the method of employing flashbacks to Lyman's life via the wives testimony makes the structure convoluted as well as backwards.

Especially when the movie uses a weird flashback with voiceovers within the flashbacks to quickly glance over Lyman's abusive childhood.

Too bad they couldn't flashback to a better movie.  Judging by the performance scenes, they must have been choreographed by Milli Vanilli because there's a ton of lip synching.  I don't think it would have been that hard to find a black guy that could actually sing.

The crapfest only gets worse as the director seems to forget he isn't making a soft core porn as there's excessive sex scenes and believes odd camera angles and shaking the camera produce drama.  Wait that sounds a lot like porn, maybe the director really did think it was one.

Honestly, Halle Berry is the only redeeming aspect of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?," but I'm sure she cringes every time someone remembers that she was in it.  She'll probably throw you off her property for even mentioned it.

There was one great fact thing about my viewing experience though.  It was the BET commercials.  Now if you've ever watched BET, you know that they have "special" commercials for their audience.  This one in particular was great:



I thought the insurance I already had was fine, but now I realize that I need to step up and get grown man insurance.  Especially if Dennis Haysbert tells me to.

Why didn't anybody tell me about this sooner?  Does this mean I've covered for anything that may happen at a grown and sexy party? I'm not really sure if white people are allowed to get this insurance which seems kind of unfair.  At least I'm eligible for it though, so that makes me feel better.

So to wrap up, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" is a Blackbuster not worth seeing and you need to get yourself some grown-man insurance.

Don't Think This Is How You Get HIV

Listen,  I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure these billboards for freeHIVtest.net that have popped up around Los Angeles aren't medically accurate.  Last time I checked, you don't get HIV from drinking alcohol.

Unless you're living in the "Rent" apartment building,  then there's a good chance you might.  At least, you'll get to sing about it though.

And do you really want people saying "I drank so much, I think I have HIV"?  Yeah, me neither.

Also, accusing people of needing an HIV test on a billboard isn't exactly the best idea.  It's the equivalent of walking down the street and stopping random people to tell them that they look like they need to get tested for HIV.  Oddly enough, people don't like that.

 So stop judging me billboard because I really don't know why.

PS22 Chorus Sings Phoenix's "Lisztomania"

Kids from the PS22 Chorus sing a version of Phoenix's "Lisztomania" that even the band endorses.  Here's the original Phoenix version for comparison.

All I got to sing in music class or mandatory chorus were songs like "When you Brush Your Teeth" or "Buffalo Girls"

And that was only in between praying I wouldn't be the unlucky person called to the board that day who's forced by the teacher to stare at a blank staff for an uncomfortable amount of time because he or she has no clue what to do.

Naturally that's the best way to learn music theory, oh wait it isn't because I don't remember a thing.

Lost: Richard Alpert's Khakis

"Lost" fans finally got some answers about Richard Alpert in the episode "Ab Aeterno," but it failed to address one of my pressing questions: What's the deal with Alpert and khakis?

The guy has been wearing khakis for like a 100 years.  In fact, he always seems to be wearing the same khakis.  You would think he would get tired of them.  Does he really like them that much?

I'm pretty sure there's not a Gap on the Lost Island, although stranger things have happened there so who knows.  But that still wouldn't explain why no one else besides Alpert wears khakis.

Other people like them too.  In fact, I think Jack is starting to believe this candidate stuff because he wants his own pair of khakis.

Maybe a cargo ship full of khakis washed up on the Island at some point and he's hoarding them for himself.  Jacob brought the ship to the Island because he knew how much Alpert liked them.

Don't touch my khakis

Another theory is that the khakis give Alpert his immortality because Jacob's gift of life came in the form of those pants.  It would explain why Alpert always wears them.  Alpert's khakis might be like the Green Lantern's ring or He-Man's sword.

It's also possible that Jacob just wanted his representative to look good, and nothing represents like a man wearing khakis.  Besides, it's the perfect type of pants for the Island.  Dressy enough to say I'm important, but loose enough to run away from the Smoke Monster.

Twist ending, the Island is just one big pair of khaki pants.

Geminoid-F: Stop Trying to Replace Us Japan

Why are the Japanese always trying to make humans obsolete?  I swear it's their national goal for some reason.

Engadget reports that roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro displayed the Germinoid-F humanoid this weekend, a life like woman robot that is designed to mimic human facial expressions that are fed into a computer.


It does this with a rubberized face that allows it to make subtle gestures that once seemed impossible for a robot to make.  Calm down nerds, it's still not acceptable to date a robot.

Here's the best/worst part, you can buy this robot as a robotic clone of yourself.  There's nothing quite like a creepy robot version of yourself.



Sure, this seems cool at first because it could do all the things you don't want to do such as jury duty, clean the bathroom, watch any movie by Nicholas Sparks, but it's only a matter of time until things go wrong.  Maybe the robot becomes a better and more likable version of you that your friends prefer.

Even worse, the robot could realize this and want to become the only you.  Then it's only a matter of time before it tries to kill you.  Probably, a good idea to make sure that it never watches "The Matrix" or "Highlander."

Doppelgangers are always dangerous, but robots are worse because they're like The Six Million Dollar Man version of yourself except it won't have shitty 70s technology and doesn't need to use a bionic sound to let you know that it's going to kick your ass.