The End of the Summer of George Open Thread

@slate continues its proud tradition of writing very stupid things to get people to say "OMG, So Stupid You Guys, I have to link this."

Well, no link. But a Slate writer is upset over Jimmy Kimmel's Twerk-FAIL prank.

At Vulture, Josh Wolk suggested that the made-up video illustrates everything that’s wrong with television news. I think it illustrates everything that’s wrong with viral marketing. Kimmel’s prank is not a biting satire, nor is it a mirror to our stupid culture. It’s a hostile, self-promoting act—a covert ad for Jimmy Kimmel Live—rendered as ironic acid that corrodes our sense of wonder. If the Web provides a cabinet of curiosities, full of freakish baubles of humanity, the hoaxer smashes it to bits, then counts his money while he preens atop the rubble.

I know it sounds like butthurt to complain about the fraud, but seriously, what’s the point of Kimmel’s joke? If he really wants to “put an end to twerking,” then we can agree he’s just a jerk. (Who wants to squash a trend of people dancing in their bedrooms?) If he’s teaching us to be wary of what we find online, then his lesson comes 20 years too late, and it’s also self-defeating: A hoax like this doesn’t point to lapses in transparency, it clouds our view of everything. YouTube shows the world in all its weirdness, and gives a window on the geek sublime.

I know you were proud when you thought of that -- "geek sublime" -- but you shouldn't have been.

When liars spread their hoggish propaganda, they mist the landscape with distrust.

I'm sorry, was this some kind of near-English language like Esperanto?

Sounds like this kid raided his 8th grade notebooks for his first efforts at Pink Floyd/J.R.R. Tolkein Fusion Poetry.

The Geek Sublime indeed.

...

A friend who loves the hoax told me that I’m playing the part of a “fuming, veiny-templed square,” and that I don’t get the joke. It’s true; I don’t. How is Kimmel’s stunt substantively different from those of other lying members of the media we now deplore, like James Frey and Stephen Glass and the father of the Balloon Boy, Richard Heene?

He then answers his own question, noting that "technically" those were actual attempts at fraud and not pranks always intended to be revealed at some point, but still, he's very wounded over this, this ironic acid that corrodes his sense of wonder.

Thanks to @mkhammer and @freddoso.

Via @rumfshaker, this pig must be a Moron.

It appears that Eric Cantor is not taking the sage advice I offered in the post below.

Get close to a comfy chair or a yoga mat: Obama took time out from blowing up US foreign policy to compliment himself.

Attempting to prove my "Rule 34 of Cute" postulate, I googled "Cat Balloon" to see if there were any cute videos involving the themes of cats and/or balloons. My research is below the fold.

Before getting to that, look at Richard Branson bragging on himself.

This is a giant step. Our spaceship is now the highest commercial winged vehicle in history! We also successfully tested its feather system for carefree re-entry too - the first time that’s happened on a rocket powered flight.

Virgin Galactic Chief Pilot Dave Mackay was at the controls of WhiteKnightTwo, which carried SS2 to an altitude of 46,000 feet. Then SS2 pilots Mark Stucky and Clint Nichols, of Scaled, ignited the rocket motor for a 20-second burn propelling the spaceship to 69,000 feet. During this time, SS2 achieved a speed of Mach 1.43.

The main progress with this test is that we deployed the full expansion (up and down) of the feather mechanism at a high altitude, alongside testing the rocket motor performance. This feather mechanism was the key innovation that enabled us to get into the space program in the first place. It acts like a giant shuttlecock and slows the spaceship up as it comes back into the earth’s atmosphere.

Very cool beans. Video below.

And now, by unpopular demand, some Cat Videos.

Ehhh... not really that good. This one's also not very good but at least I'm just linking you to the end, where it picks up.

This one's better.

This one's okay.

Though I think my Rule 34 of Cute isn't holding up perfectly. While there are indeed Cat Balloon videos, I don't think we can say they're awesomely cute. Just sorta cute.

There are no balloons here, and these cats aren't cute per se, but they are showing off their athletic skillz.

I don't think I'm going to put up a freestanding post for Obama's 15 Minutes of Nothing. So I guess use this.

posted by Ace at 08:00 PM

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