Visit www.sncmusic.com to send a copy of Christmas Cheers www.sncmusic.com order and for more information. … Straight No Chaser Atlantic Records Holiday Spirits cappella capella Cappela Indiana University Christmas 12 Twelve Days DVD New York Times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8&hl=en

Tags : The best pets supplies Best for your pets

Luxo-barge skids.

Judul asli: 名探偵コナン漆黒の追跡者 (Meitantei Konan Shikkoku no Tsuisekisha)
Produksi: Toho (2009)
Sutradara: Yasuichiro Yamamoto

Akhirnya sempat juga menulis resensi film layar lebar Conan keluaran tahun 2009 ini dan aku merasa lumayan puas dengan the movie ke 13 jika melirik 2 film layar lebar Conan sebelumnya secara berturut-turut. Harap maklum, karena baik the movie 11 maupun 12 mengalami penurunan kualitas baik secara cerita misteri, suspense maupun petualangan jika dibandingkan dengan the movie sebelumnya. Kali ini Conan kembali berhadapan dengan musuh bebuyutannya Kuro Sosiki (Organisasi Hitam) beserta para gembong utamanya Gin, Vodka dan tentu saja Vermouth. Sekedar info, The Raven Chaser ini juga merupakan penampilan terakhir Kamiya Akira yang mengisi suara Meitantei Mouri Kogoro untuk Detective Conan The Movie, karena kontrak Kamiya berakhir pada tahun ini. Pada Detective Conan The Movie 14 tahun depan, Koyama Rikiya akan mengisi suara Kogoro (dimulai sejak serial anime episode 553).

6 orang ditemukan tewas di 6 tempat berbeda di jepang tengah dengan penghubung keping mahjong, sehingga menyebabkan polisi di 6 prefektur bekerja sama untuk memecahkan kasus ini. Seperti biasanya, Conan ikut terlibat dalam kasus ini karena detektif partikelir Mouri Kogoro turut diundang sebagai tenaga bantuan. Tanpa sengaja Conan menemukan bahwa Kuro Sosiki ternyata ikut terlibat dalam penyelidikan kasus ini karena menyangkut chip tentang data daftar anggota NOC Kuro Sosiki yang hilang ketika salah satu korban terbunuh. Mereka menduga kalau sang pembunuh membawanya tanpa sadar. Perlahan, Conan mulai menyadari kalau salah satu dari anggota gabungan polisi adalah penyamaran anggota Kuro Sosiki dengan kode nama Irish, dan ternyata Irish sang polisi palsu mengetahui identitas asli Conan sebagai Kudo Shinichi.

Jika melihat trailer promosi yang diluncurkan sebelum film ditayangkan, terlihat seolah-olah Kuro Sosiki benar-benar sudah dekat dengan penyingkapan identitas asli Conan. Padahal pada kenyataannya tidaklah demikian, sehingga hal ini cukup mengecewakan aku sebagai penggemar konfrontasi Conan-Kuro Sosiki. Disisi lain, film ini tidak menawarkan suspense dan thriller yang intens sebagaimana keterlibatan Kuro Sosiki dalam film Detective Conan 5: Countdown to Heaven yang lebih menegangkan dibandingkan The Raven Chaser. Benar-benar trailer yang bombastis itu membuatku terlalu banyak berharap pada film layar lebar ke 13 ini, sehingga menyebabkan penilaianku menurun cukup drastis. Tapi bagaimanapun juga dengan keterlibatan Kuro Sosiki, film ini jatuhnya masih lebih baik dibandingkan dua film sebelumnya. Misteri siapa polisi palsu samaran Kuro Sosiki yang ditampilkan juga cukup membuat penasaran, walaupun tidak menampilkan trik pembunuhan yang aneh-aneh. Segi petualangan yang kuharapkan lewat penampilan Kuro Sosiki ternyata sangat kurang, sehingga bisa dibilang tidak ada hal baru yang menarik ditawarkan oleh the movie kali ini. Sedangkan berkumpulnya para tokoh polisi 6 perfektur kenalan Conan dari berbagai kasus dalam serial manga/anime, terlihat hanya sekedar tempelan yang menuh-menuhin layar saja. Memang sih, mereka semua ditampilkan demi menyamarkan sosok Irish si polisi palsu, sayangnya hanya sebatas itu saja.

Judul The Raven Chaser sendiri diambil dari lagu Nanatsu no Ko yang dihasilkan dari bunyi dial nomer telepon bigboss Kuro Sosiki dengan awalan liriknya Karasu naze naku no (Hai gagak, kenapa kau menangis). Jika sang gagak diasumsikan sebagai Kuro Sosiki, maka tugas Conan lah mengejar sang gagak. O iya, ada satu hal aneh yang menurutku ganjil (spoiler dikit). Apakah untuk menjadi seorang penggemar band The Beatles, harus berasal dari jaman McCartney berempat masih aktif nge-band? Aku sendiri yang lahir setelah The Beatles bubar, gemar dengan lagu-lagu mereka koq.

Rating: 3/5

This show is HILARIOUS- it’s a hidden camera show from Australia called “The Chaser”.  These videos are definitely worth watching.

What do you think?

There’s a few shops in Japan that can turn a car’s engine bay into art. The shops that come to mind immediately are Top Secret, Sui Vax, and Weld. I first heard about Johnny Ito and Weld back in 2006 when they were trying to break into the US tuning market with their S14 time attack car. I started looking up their cars and seeing them in Japanese car magazines and I always really admired Weld’s craftsmanship.

Johnny Ito is truly an artist, he doesn’t just bolt on parts, he creates these cars from his imagination as functioning work’s of art. For me Weld is the king of engine bays. They started the whole “shaved and tucked” look in Japanese tuning as far as I’m concerned.

Everything has a purpose. If it doesn’t, it’s removed. Like the rest of Japanese culture, simplicity is beauty.

This is the engine bay of Weld’s red JZX100 which was specially built for the owner who’s in a wheelchair. That engine bay is just flawless.

A new award for SOTA chasers has been announced by the Summits on the Air Management Team, called the Mountain Hunter Award. It was announced today by Barry GM4TOE The SOTA Awards Manager on the reflector to complement the award recently announced for Activators (I think I missed that one!).

The ultimate award is to encourage a Chaser to Work All Associations (this does require the use of HF and is not practicable on VHF without moonbounce!) but we also wanted to encourage VHF/UHF operations and so have also introduced an award that requires qualifying contacts on 70MHz and above only. The award is NOT points based like the existing awards but relies on valid contacts between Chasers and Activators on a qualifying number of summits in a number of Associations.

It is feasible at present for a Europe based Chaser to work 24 Associations on VHF with the possibility of 7 more in the offing. We have Associations on 4 continents at present and there is the possibility of Australasia joining in the future.

Both African and Asian Associations have a rarity value so this might encourage activity from them or persuade other countries to join the scheme (Who is up for Activation from the High Atlas?). It is recognised that the VHF award is very Europe biased but it is foreseen that the USA /Canada associations will, very shortly, be able to qualify for the entry level VHF qualification. It should be noted that, although Europe does not have the 1.25m and 33cm bands, this does not prevent those countries with these bands from using them.

The inclusion of the requirement to work some intercontinental associations (for the all bands award) does make this award different from the existing Chaser awards and will run in parallel to the existing Chaser awards; by introducing the requirement (except at the entry level) to work other continents this award should encourage activators in less active associations to operate as there will be demand from chasers for the rarer associations.

a) VHF (70MHz and above) Award

Hunter should contact at least 2 different summits in each of 5 associations using just VHF/UHF any mode.

Endorsement for UHF only qualification (430MHz and above)

Steps of 5 Associations for each award: 10, 15, 20, etc

Level/ No. Associations/ Min. no. of summits
1 /5/ 2 per association
2 /10 /3 per additional association
3 /15 /4 per additional association
4 /20+/ 4 per additional association

b) All bands Award

Hunter should contact at least 2 different summits in each of 5 associations The higher level awards require that at least one association claimed is on a different continent from the claimant’s normal residential QTH. Level 1 can be claimed with contacts only on the claimant’s own continent (1 continent); higher level awards require intercontinental contacts.

Endorsement for all 50MHz qualification

Steps of 5 Associations for each award: 10 (including 2 continents), 15 (including 2 continents), 20 (and 3 continents),

Worked all Associations

Level No./ Associations/ Continents /Minimum no. of summits
1/ 5 /1 /2 per association
2 /10 /2/ 3 per additional association
3 /15 /2 /3 per additional association
4 /20 /3 /4 per additional association
5/ WAA/ 4 or 5 /4 per additional association

The Award will be issued from January 2010 and summits may be claimed retrospectively (you do not have to start over; summits previously chased under the programme will qualify). Each claim must be registered on the SOTA database in the normal way and a new filter will be incorporated onto the database to track progress and allow checking of activators’ claims.

This award will be certificate based as with the Activator award however the MT would like to consider the possibility of producing a trophy for the Worked All Association award. Several suggestions have been made and we will seek input from participants to determine the level of interest in producing a suitable item.

Those who read this weblog regularly will know Summits on the Air is my main passion and while I occasionally get the chance to wander in the hills with my radios, I spend far more time running in and out of the shack at home working other activators. Today I was up earlier than I expected after working a twelve-hour night shift and no doubt I will be flagging about 3am as a result. I was up just in time to work Andy MA0FMF/P (5mHz) on a previously un-activated South Scotland summit Meall na Fearna GM/SS-035, which made it all worthwhile. Still on 5mHz I worked Walt G3NYY/P up on Hegdon Hill G/WB-023 in the Welsh Boarders and on 80 metres I got Geoff 2E0BTR/P on Bryn y Fan GW/MW-018 in Mid-Wales and Steve G1INK/P on Hoove G/NP-024 in North Pennines. That was a total of eight chaser points, which for me on a weekend is a poor show, but that was due to my working/sleeping pattern because looking at the spots page there had been 46 spots today and 90 for the weekend. Bearing in mind we are in what might be considered the SOTA doldrums, a period between the good weather and the winter bonus that does not seem too shabby.

On Saturday there were stations on from Canadian and US summits and although I never heard anything of them they created quite a stir. My buddy Mike GW0DSP managed to work one of the Canadian stations on 20m CW and was as pleased as punch to get his first VA SOTA. Richard G0IBE/P on Bredon Hill G/CE-003 managed an SSB summit-to-summit contact with K1YMI/P on Crane Mountain W2/GA-044 not bad with both stations running 5w with Richard giving 4/1 and receiving a 5/3 report in return. Lets hope the activity stirs up more interest in the Americas. 

There is a worry that SOTA is becoming a victim of its own success with complaints on the reflector of the animalistic scrambles reminiscent of rare DX expeditions on the CW portion of 40 metres. Yesterday I waited patiently for the pile up to disperse in order to work an Austrian activator on 40 metres SSB, it took 45 minutes before I even bothered calling. If this had been a busy SOTA weekend I might have given up in order to work another station. As an activator I would relish the attention and I love the chance to fill the logbook but for the chaser the nice gentlemanly round of familiar call signs waiting for their turn is turning in to a bit of a melee. What somewhat worries me is that propagation is still poor, so what happens when it eventually comes good? I suspect then SOTA will hit new heights and the pile-ups will see stations closing down with callers still waiting, after all is considered you can only spend so long on a cold windy mountain.

r

Found this clean example on Global Auto Japan

fc blood

Has room for the kids

Tim Brooke-Taylor, Cotton Ward, Graeme Garden

They’re brilliant! Went to three of the four shows.

What I enjoyed most is their wit and on-the-spot improvisation and changes they made between the two shows. There’s so much subtle physical comedy too (especially from Tim) — the glances and postures; the timing of each phrase. So much confidence gained from years committed to comedy. Watching two masters of the art in action who are still good friends.

Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden

My favourite Goodie is Graeme and I especially liked the way he used to fall over in the TV show and as a kid, this inspired me to practise on the grass at home in the backyard — it took a bit of courage, as he’d fall straight back and have one knee bent up, which I found was helpful in partially controlling/breaking the fall. But Tim pointed out in the show today that Graeme used to wear padding on his elbows and back to cushion all his falls! Derr! A belated  “don’t-try-this-at-home” epiphany for me! However, Tim pointed out that for one spectacular fall — in the famous tomato sauce shoot-out in Bunfight at the OK Tearooms — Graeme spun around three times before he executed the fall and ended up accidentally flat on his face!

Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden. Tim takes the gender-bending role as usual, wearing a fluffy-frilled pink cowgirl hat.

I enjoyed the show more than their Australian tour in 2005, which was also great, but I think it felt more relaxed now the ice had been broken with that first visit and the setting was more intimate.  Aussies love The Goodies because it was repeated so often on the ABC. Their last TV show had been recorded in 1981. There are references to the snippets that were censored by the ABC (children’s slot TV) and an ABC archivist had found some juicy snippets that were screened today for the first time. (The British copy has been lost forever.)

Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden. I took this pic at the final show on Sunday night.

They recalled their history and showed an early pre-Goodies sketch of Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman doing a sketch as Northerners bemoaning life’s hardships, thus pre-dating the famous similar Monty Python sketch. There were gags about ageing and a lot of comments, when viewing clips, of how such scenes couldn’t easily be shot again today due to health and safety regulations. If they were making The Goodies today they’d be covering topics such as the Harry Potter films, Jurassic Park, and news and current events. Anything that cheesed them off.

Tim mentioned that he’d had a bit part in the first Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie and he’d been terrified during the scene that he’d push the wrong button on the computer as there was one that would wipe out the records of the Nestle chocolate factory.

Re: the shows. For the 12pm performance, the sound was patchy and there was loud music wafting in from a performance outside. They should reschedule the outside performances.
The Goodies fixed the problem by using different microphones for the 4.30pm performance and they changed a few of their jokey comments and references and even one or two clips — it was good to see such improvised flexibility.
In the second show, the video clip screenings busted half-way through so they improvised the rest of the show and at the end we saw a couple of clips. That was brilliant and Tim unexpectedly turned the tables on the interviewer, a Chaser bloke, a couple of times with some witty comments.

The show ended with a C&W song written by Bill Oddie and sung by Graeme and Tim, and we all howled along and joined in.

As an extra treat, for the fourth show the Funky Gibbon clip was shown at the end.

Bill Oddie, the co-writer with Graeme, wasn’t here in person or on videolink — he has a bad bout of depression and Graeme and Tim said they hoped he got better soon.

We bought a copy of the DVD, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue — a radio show featuring, among others, Graeme and Tim, and it’s excellent. They’ve been doing this BBC Radio 4 show for 37 years.

For the record, my favourite Goodie episodes are: Strawberries and Cream, Trapped, Cod, Murder on the Orient Express, Black and White Beauty and String.

Why in the world is a father in the back yard building something that could possible endanger his child?  Would you have a swimming pool in your back yard that is not gated in or you are not monitoring?  And what’s up with the thrill of chasing tornados?  I’m confused as to how this even happen?  And if it was seen via the Television by millions of viewers then could someone have possibly seen the bottom fall out with the child?

I have so many questions.  I’m totally lost here!  Is this a case of child negligence?  And how come the Big brother didn’t pull the younger brother out or yell or say stop?  And what do they mean that the balloon wasn’t meant to carry anyone?  How were they going to chase the tornado then?

Is it me or is there some information missing from this story?

Will the family be finned because they had to shut down the Denver airport?  Will the passengers at the airport be paid back for their delayed/missed flights and/or connecting flights?

Either way this is a terrible situation and when its all said and done I pray that they find the little boy.  I’m a parent and I can only imagine how they are feeling right now.

Children’s lives are often dictated by fantasy and dreams. They imagine themselves as kings or queens, great warriors or superheroes. They can conquer anything, and they can do it all from their room.

Many fantasy stories exist to entertain and educate children. Yet, for one 6-year-old boy in Colorado, what may have been a fantasy exploration has now become a desperate search, haunted by what it may find.

6-year-old Falcon Heene is the child of Richard and Mayumi Heene. The Heene family is highly unique for two reasons. First, the Heene family was featured on ABC’s ‘Wife Swap’ television series. Second, the Heene family is a family of storm chasers and extraterrestrial investigators. Falcon Heene, according to multiple reports, was seen by one of his siblings entering a large helium balloon that was tethered to the Heene home. The balloon has been reported as ‘part of an experimental arifcraft’ by various news sources, and has an access door at the bottom. It is unclear whether Falcon untethered the restraints holding the craft to his home, or whether the craft became free by accident.

If you don’t know the rest of the story, then it sounds like a Disney movie in the making. A young boy who’s father was reffered to in the Denver Post as an ‘amatuer scientist’ lived his life very differently than you or I. A storm chasing family, devoted to science and the world beyond, seems like the perfect setting for our favorite quirky characters.

The boy climbs into the craft, maybe to find aliens, maybe to go on an adventure, as young boys do, or maybe just out of boredom.

2 hours later, the balloon came crashing down, and the little boy was nowhere in sight.

Reality is never as good as our dreams

Now, the search begins. Authorities are working at this moment to find the little boy that an entire nation is rooting for. How can we not? Falcon embodies everything we find so wonderful about the young, and everything about them that scares us. Imagination without restraint, wide-eyed wonder without apprehension.

CNN reports that the door to the balloon was not breached or damaged, and that Falcon may not have fallen from the balloon at all. He may have escaped, he may not have been in it, he may be anywhere. The local authorities are optimistic, but logic might be against them. If young Falcon was in the balloon when it took off, and not when it landed, then how many explanations are there.

I hope the boy is fine. I hope he can tell us about his adventure in the balloon one day, about his fantasy journey across the Colorado sky, but I’m scared we may never get that story.

Like most, I’m afraid what the authorities will find. I’m afraid that young Falcon may have fallen from his helium dream world and come down to a very real earth. I’m afraid a family tragedy is currently being broadcasted for the whole world to see. I’m afraid that dreaming may be as dangerous as we all thought. But for Falcon, for the family, and for the unrestrained wonder that so many might approach life with, I’m afraid.

The new programme on ABC1 and ABC2 with a revolutionised perspective on news commentary. It consists of ‘the 19′, a group of nascent and established young Australian media professionals looking into current political and social issues. It’s a mix of satire, off the wall commentary and documentary.

It’s had mixed reviews, with people unsure what to compare it to – however this isn’t the Chaser, it’s not CNNN and it’s not a current affairs programme – the Hungry Beast is a mosaic of promising creative and incisive minds.

After the Chasergate ‘make a wish’ crucifixion – and the Australian television’s subsequent reticence to commit to projects and particularly that are new and confronting – it’s comforting to see that this program doesn’t shy away from opinion and blue comedy – despite its criticism prior to its premiere only a few weeks ago.

It’s a great thing that a production like this has taken off, and after only 2 episodes it’s clear this programme is represents new and exciting ideas. Sure, there are a few teething problems, having effectively 19 producers was perhaps a bit jarring at first but the production value is high and it has balls that few other programs have reached post-Chaser.

Tune in.

Keep it tuned in. I’m excited.

Un vrai Monstre sur 4 roues: C’est avec cette bête que Saito Daigo est devenu Champion Overall du D1GP de l’année passé

Haven’t done this for a few weeks. Been busy. Doing what? Mind your bees wax.

This week is Cab Calloway performing “Minnie the Moocher”. It’s a great song because of audience participation and it’s just damn catchy.

Compare with this old version, which I’m in two minds about, musically speaking:

And another more upbeat one from 1942:

In the light of recent controversy and uproar and much debate and argument til folks were blue in the face (myself included) over that skit on the Red Faces segment on Hey! Hey! It’s Saturday the other night, it’s interesting to note that Cab Calloway was once (and still is in some quarters, particularly for the earlier part of his career) considered as an “Uncle Tom“.

Uncle Tom is a pejorative term for a black person who is perceived by others as behaving in a subservient manner to white authority figures, or as seeking ingratiation with them by way of unnecessary accommodation. The term comes from the title character of American writer Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Critical and popular views of both the character and the novel have shifted over time, leading to the shift in the term’s use.

While perusing more Wikipedia stuff about blackface, there were these snippets about black minstrels, which I found interesting (more over the fold):

By 1840, African-American performers also were performing in blackface makeup…

When all-black minstrel shows began to proliferate in the 1860s, they often were billed as “authentic” and “the real thing”. These “colored minstrels” always claimed to be recently-freed slaves (doubtlessly many were, but most were not) and were widely seen as authentic. This presumption of authenticity could be a bit of a trap, with white audiences seeing them more like “animals in a zoo” than skilled performers…

…

African-American blackface productions also contained buffoonery and comedy, by way of self-parody. In the early days of African-American involvement in theatrical performance, blacks could not perform without blackface makeup, regardless of how dark-skinned they were. The 1860s “colored” troupes violated this convention for a time: the comedy-oriented endmen “corked up”, but the other performers “astonished” commentators by the diversity of their hues. Still, their performances were largely in accord with established blackface stereotypes.

These black performers became stars within the broad African-American community, but were largely ignored or condemned by the black bourgeoisie. James Monroe Trotter —a middle class African American who had contempt for their “disgusting caricaturing” but admired their “highly musical culture”—wrote in 1882 that “few… who condemned black minstrels for giving ‘aid and comfort to the enemy’” had ever seen them perform. Unlike white audiences, black audiences presumably always recognized blackface performance as caricature, and took pleasure in seeing their own culture observed and reflected, much as they would half a century later in the performances of Moms Mabley. 

Despite reinforcing racist stereotypes, blackface minstrelsy was a practical and often relatively lucrative livelihood when compared to the menial labor to which most blacks were relegated. Owing to the discrimination of the day, “corking (or “blacking”) up” provided an often singular opportunity for African-American musicians, actors, and dancers to practice their crafts. Some minstrel shows, particularly when performing outside the South, also managed subtly to poke fun at the racist attitudes and double standards of white society or champion the abolitionist cause. It was through blackface performers, white and black, that the richness and exuberance of African-American music, humor, and dance first reached mainstream, white audiences in the U.S. and abroad. It was through blackface minstrelsy that African American performers first entered the mainstream of American show business. Black performers used blackface performance to satirize white behavior. It was also a forum for the sexual double-entendre gags that were frowned upon by white moralists. There was often a subtle message behind the outrageous vaudeville routines:

The laughter that cascaded out of the seats was directed parenthetically toward those in America who allowed themselves to imagine that such ‘nigger’ showtime was in any way respective of the way we live or thought about ourselves in the real world.

…

In the Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA), an all-black vaudeville circuit organized in 1909, blackface acts were a popular staple. Called “Toby” for short, performers also nicknamed it “Tough on Black Actors” (or, variously, “Artists” or “Asses”), because earnings were so meager. Still, TOBA headliners like Tim Moore and Johnny Hudgins could make a very good living, and even for lesser players, TOBA provided fairly steady, more desirable work than generally was available elsewhere. Blackface served as a springboard for hundreds of artists and entertainers—black and white—many of whom later would go on to find work in other performance traditions…

The minstrel show was appropriated by the black performer from the original white shows, but only in its general form. Blacks took over the form and made it their own. The professionalism of performance came from black theater. The black minstrels gave the shows vitality and humor that the white shows never had.

…

The black minstrel performer was not only poking fun at himself but in a more profound way, he was poking fun at the white man. The cakewalk is caricaturing white customs, while white theater companies attempted to satirize the cakewalk as a black dance. Again, as LeRoi Jones notes:

If the cakewalk is a Negro dance caricaturing certain white customs, what is that dance when, say, a white theater company attempts to satirize it as a Negro dance? I find the idea of white minstrels in blackface satirizing a dance satirizing themselves a remarkable king of irony—which, I suppose is the whole point of minstrel shows.

Elsewhere, namely on Twitter, I found myself defending those guys on Hey! Hey! Initially I had declared I was 50/50 on the issue — I could see and agree on both sides of the argument (to a point) — but as the day wore on, I found myself more and more arguing in defence of those guys. But I’m not going to rehash the whole debate here. I’m still 50/50 on the situation, but I will say this: I think the reaction has been extreme and over the top and I do regret getting a bit aggressive at times. The best comment about this whole argument, and which I fully agree with, that I’ve seen was this:

But I do take umbridge that people who don’t find the skit offensive, even if they are fully cognisant of the history of ‘blackface’ humour, are labelled stupid, racist or ignorant. This is a dangerous development in racial discourse in Australia and internationally. Simply labelling someone as racist if they don’t agree with a particular view on a racial issue can make it incredibly difficult to even have discourse at all on racial issues, and generally gets people making aggressive comments they wouldn’t feel the need to make if they weren’t being called something which they can’t really defend against. What do you say other than “I’m not racist”?

I personally think there has been an over-reaction to the skit. Blackface is not something that has such an awful history in Australia, and while I understand where Harry Connick Jr is coming from, I think this is an example where more has been read into a pretty thoughtless skit than was ever meant to be. Call me racist… since that’s the easy way out. If you don’t engage people on the issue, on their opinion, on the facts, then there is no engagement, just name-calling, and no one gets anywhere with that.

However, I must ask, where was the fuss when the Chaser did this skit?

The Chaser obviously had the budget and professional make-up artists to actually look like the Jacksons. Lucky for them.

On a side note, someone mentioned to me on Twitter that the skit on Red Faces had to be a minstrel skit because of the purple shirts the guys were wearing and the jazz hands. I watched the skit again: there were no jazz hands, just disco dancing. I’ve Googled for the purple shirts thing, but can’t find anything about it. If anyone knows anything about that, please let me know in the comments.

Anyway, ultimately, it was a poor decision, greater thought should have been made, perhaps less black and more brown on the faces (like the Chaser) would have helped if they really had to go ahead and do the skit. The men are on the record for stating that their intention was to parody the Jackson 5, not perform as minstrels. I do think the reaction was a knee-jerk one. By all means, point out the potential offence and say it wasn’t such a brilliant idea, but save the outrage for something that is blatantly and obviously racist, like the comments you can find on News Ltd websites.

Elsewhere, Andy B doesn’t give a shit about being circumspect and tells it like it is.

Two 71 Crestas just plain ruling

YES, there’s some gems in here…

Check it:

☆装飾改造車輌愛好家☆

Just up are some videos from last Sunday morning at Shiraoi Carland

Cool to see all these cars take on new looks again in 2009.

Now the wait for photos to pop up in all the usual places!

Holla

These photos were from May this year but have only just been uploaded

All desktop size and high quality so make sure you click them!

Yes that is the exhaust through the cabin! This car is mad

Mark II displaying perfect ‘wheel fitment’

Well executed shark-nose C110

Tough box

Backwards cap

Factory stz two-tone

Yeh Soarer

Pastel GX71

GX71 with Special Magic in the back seat

430, usual treatment

Candy cane cooler lines

The infamous Soapra

This Chaser could go lower

This Cresta probably couldn’t

Clean Soarer

Mark II

Fucked 330

Period modified GX71

Cops had a presence too…

— Cresta          —          Chaser          —          Mark  II —