Spartacus

Best of the Worst

Funny music videos are an endless source of amusement for some of us. Here are three of the best:

• Tommy Seebach's Apache: Seebach was a Danish pop star who died from alcoholism in 2003. (NB: the link shown at the bottom of the screen in the video is to an unrelated porn site. Definitely NSFW.)


• The Leningrad Cowboys cover of Sweet Home Alabama: with backing from the Red Army Chorus, no less. Simply awesome.


• Mohammad Rafi's Jaan Pehechaan Ho: think Bobby Darin meets Bollywood. (You may have seen this as part of the opening credits in Ghost World.) Very catchy tune.

Hat tip to Mikee, from the incomparable Tivoli Bread & Baking Co.

Shiny!

Imagine Auric Goldfinger as the host of a variety show on Russian TV in a post-apocalyptic alternate universe, and this is what you get. (Via Popbitch)

Culture Wars Down Under

An old friend of mine, Imre Salusinszky, has been appointed to chair the Australia Council's literature board. (The Australia Council is Oz's counterpart to the US' National Endowment for the Arts.) In spite of having been chairman of the English Department at the University of Newcastle and having a doctorate in English Literature from Oxford, his appointment appears to have upset some of Australia's arts establishment:

Fresh from appointing controversial historian Keith Windschuttle to the board of the ABC, the Federal Government yesterday revealed that The Australian's Imre Salusinszky will chair the Australia Council's literature board. Sydney Institute director Joe Gersh will become the council's deputy chair.

Former Australia Council chairwoman Hilary McPhee attacked the appointments. "This Government is shameless; their ideological bent is so palpable," she said.

But critic and cultural commentator Peter Craven said Dr Salusinszky "notwithstanding his deeply lunatic politics, is a man of considerable warmth with an intense feeling for the literature he likes".

Perhaps some of them are upset because Imre quit his tenured academic position several years ago to become a journalist working for that notorious fascist Rupert Murdock.

Anyway, I think Imre will do a wonderful job doling out writing grants since he cares a lot about good literature and not a whit about multiculti political correctness. (Of course, this begs the question of whether or not the government should be in the business of deciding which artists should receive funding in the first place, but that is another story.)

My Friend, The Jackal

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is really turning on the charm to curry favor among the OPEC delegates in town for the oil cartel's 141st meeting. He must have really made friends with his fond reminiscences about fellow Venezuelan Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as "Carlos, the Jackal." I guess Hugo forgot that one of his pal's most famous capers was shooting his way into an OPEC meeting in Vienna and kidnapping all the delegates.

Technorati Tags: Carlos the Jackal, Hugo Chavez, Opec

For the Wall Before He Was Against It

It's hard to separate reality from parody where John Kerry is concerned. Here is his position on the construction of a border wall between the US and Mexico:

Sen. John Kerry joined most of his Democratic colleagues last week in voting to build a wall along 370 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border.

But he now says that after the wall is built it should be taken down as soon as possible.

"I voted for it," Kerry acknowledged Friday while speaking to the New England Council breakfast.

But in quotes picked up by the Boston Herald, the Massachusetts Democrat added: "If I were making the long-term decision, I’d announce, you know, hopefully it’s a temporary measure, and we can take it down as soon as we have enough people" to guard the border.

Unbelievable. (Hat tip to Alarming News.)

On Getting 'Heathered'

The former fiancee of the soon-to-be ex-Mrs. McCartney has an open letter in the Sunday Times commiserating with the former Beatle about what it was like to be Heathered. Priceless.

Technorati Tags: Sir Paul McCartney, Heather Mills

Agent Enzo's Secret Life of Crime

Jeffrey Fleishman and Richard Winton have a great feature in today's LAT delving into Stefan Eriksson's shady past. It is mighty compelling reading.

Technorati Tags: Stefan Eriksson, Ferrari Enzo

The Healing Power of the Law

The threat of incarceration miraculously heals a California woman's paralysis. Perhaps "the Sheriff" of California disability law, Jarek Molski, can represent her. For more on the troubled (but fascinating) Mr. Molski, read this piece by Abraham Hyatt in the San Luis Obispo County New Times.

Technorati Tags: Jarek Molski, Laura Lee Medley

I Guess Starting Your Own Police Department Wasn't Such a Good Idea After All...

In the latest twist in the bizarre flying Ferrari saga, Yosuf "Yo" Maiwandi, the founder of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority, was arrested for perjury Tuesday.

Before this is over, these guys are going to wish they had never heard of the SVGTA. (Hat tip to Dennis.)

Technorati Tags: Stefan Eriksson, Ferrari Enzo, SVTGA

Lol

Tim Blair, paraphrasing Sean Connery, on the Chicago way. . .