I know, Thylan sent me every video on the sift with him in it after my comment haha. I had watched one last week that rasch sent round, and it was fucking hilarious, just didn't remember the name. Thanks for letting me know danny

In reply to this comment by dannym3141:
Go and check out his podcasts with ricky gervais and steve merchant! You will NEVER look back.

In reply to this comment by alien_concept:
Fuck, I better go sort my life out. I need therapy or somethin, and you dannym are the perfect person for suggestions

Go and check out his podcasts with ricky gervais and steve merchant! You will NEVER look back.

In reply to this comment by alien_concept:
Fuck, I better go sort my life out. I need therapy or somethin, and you dannym are the perfect person for suggestions

Not a crazy idea, but difficult to execute, I think. I forwarded this to an ex of mine who is an ER doctor in a major American City, and this Doc had the following as a response...

(A)s long as they operate just like Wal-Mart does... you pay for what you get. Right now, shopping at wal-mart... you can't go, show them a card when at the door (insurance or aid info to ER registration), be assigned a personal attendant for all your shopping needs (ER staff - RN, tech, doctor), browse the store for your wares (test, meds, etc), choose what you need despite any professional opinion (a valuable skill spent years honing by ER staff), demand a meal or a sandwich, leave the store without paying, then have whoever is listed on your card (provided that you supplied genuine and accurate information) foot the bill. Wal-mart has much stricter rules... you go, find, by yourself, what you want or something close to it based on what they choose to sell, buy it (and your own food if you are hungry) and leave. If the store doesn't have what you want, you leave. If the staff or something about the store is not to your liking, you leave. If you show up drunk to the store and cause a disturbance, you get in trouble... not coaxed back into aisle 8 for fear that a lawyer is going to sue the store if you happen to leave and hurt yourself because you are drunk. If you decide to berate the staff while you are there because they don't have what you want, you get in trouble. If you don't pay, you get in trouble. If you cause a disturbance while you are there, you get in trouble.

Shows the power of the merchant in the US.

So yeah, part of me is all for the Wal-Mart plan... just make sure that the experience is true to form."

I'm fairy sure that this was on Xfm not Radio 2. (It was on the Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant radio show, which Karl produced)

I think I can understand the logic that went into Palin.

She's a big hit with the Bill Kristol set, because she's young, attractive, well-spoken, has a great biography, she's not an old white man, and she's a hardline neoconservative ideologue.

She's a Karl Rove style pick with a twist -- she'll comfort the people who're devastated that Bush can't just stay President forever, plus they think she has a chance to drive a wedge into the (in their mind) deeply divided Democratic party over women's issues.

They also believe that Hillary won't come out and hit Palin with a chainsaw over issues, because they're absolutely convinced that Hillary wants Obama to lose.

So the bullet points they gain are:

• Energize the "base" of evangelicals, and social conservatives
  
• Get a press buzz to focus on this "Fresh new face", to combat Obama on that front.
  
• Appeal to socially conservative women who want a woman in the White House
  
• Be able to say "see, we're not a bunch of sexists and racists after all"
  

What they lose is:

• The ability to hammer home Obama as not being experienced enough (Palin's resume is thinner than Obama's)
  
• The ability to reinforce the importance of National Security (since Palin has 0 experience with that)
  

That has me a little concerned, because in my analysis that means that the McCain campaign is going to totally detach from issues that matter (like experience), and go into total smear-merchant mode.

They've already made the shift, since there's now a spate of ads talking about William Ayers running here in Ohio, joining the ads that just flat out lie about Obama's tax plan (saying he'll raise your taxes if you make more than $42,000, which isn't true).

I expect the RNC convention to spend the entire time driving home baseless smears about patriotism, muslim, Wright, Ayers, and maybe we'll get to hear about the guy who claimed he had gay sex with Obama from the mouths of "serious" people.

I also expect that most of the positive stuff will focus on Palin's biography, and McCain's record as a P.O.W., and only Lieberman will talk about the bipartisan stuff.

I don't know if it'll work, but that's my prediction as an armchair strategist.

>> ^Trancecoach:
Well, Office is done. So is Extras. He's done a few stand-ups. What's Gervais gonna do next?


Well, his first Hollywood lead role movie, Ghost Town is due in 3 weeks, he's currently test-screening his Hollywood Directorial debut, "This Side of The Truth" which I think will be awesome, and he and Merchant is writing "The Man From The Pru, a third movie in the works.

In addition, season 5 of the podcast is due out in september, and if you havent heard of the comedy goldmine that is Karl Pilkington, head over to his website and grab the podcasts now.


Edit: Oh, and Flanimals is awesome too. And he has a semi-daily updated blog.

Overall, Gervais is one of the most productive comics in existence at the moment

The buffet merchant is actually Damon Wayans. His official credit was "Banana Man".

The generous buffet merchant is hilarious. Agh, the music is where it's at.

>> ^Payback:

Why don't the women stick up for themselves?


we don't because even if we can tell the difference between jest (rottenseed...) and a real sexist remark, it's not worth it to get in a flame war (i guess we're "learning our place" after all).

you see, on the internets we have been proven not to exist.

as for the video, i give it no vote: i appreciate the humor and the way the shot was put together, but at the same time i'm becoming more and more disgusted at crass objectification in media (of women, of kids, of men, of animals.. basically of everything that isn't an object has managed to have been objectified in a commercial in some form). even if this is indie it's still revealing an acceptance of disrespect that merchants have for their potential customers.

(i'm speaking as an art model *and* guinness drinker here)

Old pirates yes they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I from the bottom-less pit
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the almighty
We forward in this generation triumphantly
Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom
Cause all I ever had redemption songs, redemption songs

Emancipate yourself from the mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
Cause none of them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look
Some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book
Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom
Cause all I ever had redemption songs, redemption songs

Emancipate yourselves from the mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
Cause none a them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look
Yes some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book
Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom
Cause all I ever had redemption songs
All I ever had, redemption songs
These songs of freedom, songs of freedom

Tags for this video have been changed from 'monkey, lab, gervais, merchant, pilkington, kirsty' to 'monkey, lab, gervais, merchant, pilkington, kirsty, number 6, lipstick, code, rabbit, 00s' - edited by Eklek

>> ^kulpims:
being single right now I pretty much rely on blankfist and rottenseed to provide my masturbation material...


Smut merchants, hurrah!

Well YT is not loading at the moment so I'll just wander back later to see what all the fuss is about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_as_a_general
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khaybar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mu%27tah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tabouk
second paragraph of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Trench

Jesus never led an army or commanded his followers to kill anyone. Muhammad did both. And it wasn't all self-defense. The some of the stories justifying Muhammad's conquests as self-defense are just as suspect as the alleged "resurrection" of Jesus. Jesus, if he existed at all and the Jefferson Bible reflects him, lived by his word of "love your enemies" and "turn the other cheek" (except evicting the merchants from the temple, but nobody got hurt), while Muhammad used violence in defense and other objectives. All religious scriptures are based primarily on fantasy, but at least the character of Jesus didn't kill anybody (unlike his later followers)

Of course, I'm not defending the douchebaggery of the clerk in the video.

Nice poem:) I think we need more Bertolt Brecht:

FROM A GERMAN WAR PRIMER

AMONGST THE HIGHLY PLACED
It is considered low to talk about food.
The fact is: they have
Already eaten.

The lowly must leave this earth
Without having tasted
Any good meat.

For wondering where they come from and
Where they are going
The fine evenings find them
Too exhausted.

They have not yet seen
The mountains and the great sea
When their time is already up.

If the lowly do not
Think about what’s low
They will never rise.

THE BREAD OF THE HUNGRY HAS
ALL BEEN EATEN
Meat has become unknown. Useless
The pouring out of the people’s sweat.
The laurel groves have been
Lopped down.
From the chimneys of the arms factories
Rises smoke.

THE HOUSE-PAINTER SPEAKS OF
GREAT TIMES TO COME
The forests still grow.
The fields still bear
The cities still stand.
The people still breathe.

ON THE CALENDAR THE DAY IS NOT
YET SHOWN
Every month, every day
Lies open still. One of those days
Is going to be marked with a cross.

THE WORKERS CRY OUT FOR BREAD
The merchants cry out for markets.
The unemployed were hungry. The employed
Are hungry now.
The hands that lay folded are busy again.
They are making shells.

THOSE WHO TAKE THE MEAT FROM THE TABLE
Teach contentment.
Those for whom the contribution is destined
Demand sacrifice.
Those who eat their fill speak to the hungry
Of wonderful times to come.
Those who lead the country into the abyss
Call ruling too difficult
For ordinary men.

WHEN THE LEADERS SPEAK OF PEACE
The common folk know
That war is coming.
When the leaders curse war
The mobilization order is already written out.

THOSE AT THE TOP SAY: PEACE
AND WAR
Are of different substance.
But their peace and their war
Are like wind and storm.

War grows from their peace
Like son from his mother
He bears
Her frightful features.

Their war kills
Whatever their peace
Has left over.

ON THE WALL WAS CHALKED:
They want war.
The man who wrote it
Has already fallen.

THOSE AT THE TOP SAY:
This way to glory.
Those down below say:
This way to the grave.

THE WAR WHICH IS COMING
Is not the first one. There were
Other wars before it.
When the last one came to an end
There were conquerors and conquered.
Among the conquered the common people
Starved. Among the conquerors
The common people starved too.

THOSE AT THE TOP SAY COMRADESHIP
Reigns in the army.
The truth of this is seen
In the cookhouse.
In their hearts should be
The selfsame courage. But
On their plates
Are two kinds of rations.

WHEN IT COMES TO MARCHING MANY DO NOT
KNOW
That their enemy is marching at their head.
The voice which gives them their orders
Is their enemy’s voice and
The man who speaks of the enemy
Is the enemy himself.

IT IS NIGHT
The married couples
Lie in their beds. The young women
Will bear orphans.

GENERAL, YOUR TANK IS A POWERFUL VEHICLE
It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
But it has one defect:
It needs a driver.

General, your bomber is powerful.
It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
But it has one defect:
It needs a mechanic.

General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think.

- Bertolt Brecht, from the Svendborg Poems (1938)

Very interesting stuff, especially the stuff about Limp Bizkit. It brings me back to the Limp Bizkit clip from the PBS Frontline episode - "Merchants of Cool."

Corporate Culture, ain't it lovely.