Archive for May, 2011

This Is Not A Form Of Brainwashing of the Day: The Whitest Kids U’ Know versus The Pledge of Allegiance.

[abp.]

Music Video of the Day: Is Tropical – “The Greeks”

MEGAFORCE direct the mega-awesome visuals for the second single off the London-based indie trio‘s highly anticipated debut album Native To, out June 13 via Kitsuné.

Grab the MP3 here. Pre-order Native To on iTunes here.

[istropical / thanks frank!]

Fun Fact of the Day: “Colonel-in-Chief Sir Nils Olav is a King Penguin living in Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland. He is the mascot and Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian King’s Guard…On August 18, 2005, he was promoted to Colonel-in-Chief and on 15 August 2008 he was awarded a knighthood.

He is the first penguin to receive such an honour in the Norwegian army.”

[h/t: reddit.]

So You Think You Can Steal Someone Else’s Dance of the Day: On this week’s season 8 premiere of So You Think You Can Dance, hip hop duo Deon Lewsa Jr. and Damon Bellmon wowed the judges with a mesmerizing dance number that won the pair a ticket to Las Vegas.

But, in what is likely a first for this or any other dance show, allegations of choreography biting soon began to spread as viewers noticed striking similarities between the routine performed by Deon & Damon, and a routine choreographed by acclaimed hip hop dancers Laurent and Larry Bourgeois, AKA Les Twins.

Watch the side-by-side comparison above and judge for yourself.

[thanks nayim & corey!]

Footloose IRL of the Day: A number of demonstrators were arrested today while protesting a ban on dancing at the Jefferson Memorial.

According to protester Andrew Sharp, the U.S. Park Police told the group they would be immediately be arrested without warning if they started dancing. “I think some people thought it was a joke at first, and then they started putting handcuffs on people and were very, very serious about it,” Sharp is quoted as saying.

He and about a dozen others gathered at the Jefferson Memorial to protest a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling from earlier this month which upheld a ban on dancing at the monument officially put in place last year.

A flashmob that attempted an “MP3 experiment” on site back in 2008 were told they weren’t allowed to dance there. One of the participants, who was arrested on misdemeanor charges, took the matter to court on the grounds that dancing was protected free speech. The court ruled that, in order to “maintain decorum at the nation’s monuments,” no demonstrations were allowed inside.

[wtop / video: thanks hamtunes!] 

Movie Trailer of the Day: The red band trailer for David Fincher’s adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is being randomly attached to screenings of The Hangover II. Thankfully, one lucky moviegoer managed to capture the footage with their cell phone.

Sure, the quality isn’t great, and it’ll likely be taken down soon (the official trailer isn’t expected online until next week), but you should definitely drop what you’re doing and watch it.

The film, which stars Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander and Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist, is due in theaters December 21.

[pajiba.]

Extreme Accomplishment of the Day: 24-year-old kiwi Jed Mildon made action-sports history by performing the world’s first (recorded) BMX triple backflip at today’s Unit T3 Mindtricks BMX Jam in Taupo, New Zealand.

“This is the perfect result to three intensive months of practicing and training for this moment,” Mildon said after landing the jump. “The impact and implications hasn’t sunken in yet, but I’m so pumped to have aimed for something once deemed impossible and made my dream a reality

[espn / video: unitrider.]

Sign Of The Times of the Day: Ceariously?

[tasteoff / ratsoff.]

BAMF of the Day: A teacher calmly reassures pupils while five men are gunned down in a drug-related shooting outside her kindergarten in Monterrey, Mexico.

Redditor Tillhony provided a partial translation:

Yes my love, everyone on the floor. [What?], no, nothings happening just put your little heads down. Precious put your little heads on the floor, nothing is happening, just don’t put your heads up please!………..Lets to sing a song? class says yes, Lets sing…..I know which! ♩♩♩The rain drops are made of chocolate, I would love to be there, who wants chocolate!!!??? Opening our mouths to taste the flavor♩♩♩ Put your heads down yes? Now put your heads on the floor and lets open our mouths ♩AA AA AAA AA A AA♩ Are you guys opening your mouths? You have your little mouths open facing up? So the rain drops can fall into your mouths! Miguel you havent opened up your mouth?

[reddit.]

Another Follow Up of the Day: Urban Outfitters has responded to claims made by independent jewelry designer Stephanie “Stevie” Koerner that the retailer’s “I Heart Destination” necklace line ripped off her own “United States of Love” collection.

Inadvertently aided by a recent Regretsy post, which responded to the controversy by pointing out the slew of similar designs posted on Etsy long before Koerner’s store came online, UO noted that “a quick search on Etsy” shows Koerner’s design is far from original. “We are not implying that Koerner stole her necklace idea from one of these other designers,” UO says in its statement, “we are simply stating the obvious—that the idea is not unique to Koerner and she can in no way claim to be its originator.”

UO goes on to say that they normally wouldn’t bother issuing a public retort, but the “media response” to Koerner’s allegation “is threatening to impact the dozens of independent designers” with whom UO has a legitimate business relationship. “For many of them, having their work sold at Urban Outfitters is a very positive turning point in their careers,” UO says, “and we will not allow their hard work and commitment, or ours, to be undermined by these false allegations.”

Now, about those Rick Santorum campaign contributions…

[urbanoutfitters / @mileycyrus / image: regretsy.]