I never knew you could play the cello with that much ferocity… with a straight face, that is… This video’s instrumental, but the players’ “seriousness” makes up for it.

Apocalyptica - “Somewhere Around Nothing”

Oh, the angst! The pain! The post-teenage drama all electric cello players have to deal with!

As many of you have probably noticed by now, I’m not doing all that well at the moment. I’m going through a really hard time right now, and I’m sorry for largely cutting myself off from people. To tell you the truth, I just can’t handle being with most people right now without breaking down and crashing. I’ll be heading off to Governor’s School on Sunday, and won’t have any contact with anyone for a month, which may be a good thing. Maybe when I get back, I’ll be ready to be myself again.

I care about you all very much.

#m

What happens when you mix Mrs. Doubtfire with Peewee’s Playhouse? Verka Serduchka happens. Be careful, though - they had to pixilate parts of this video (which makes it all the more funny, in a way…).

Verka Serduchka - “Danzing”

It’s been a while since the video games industry has been hit with an outright ban of a game - 10 years in fact, for Britain. Even the Grand Theft Auto buzz a few years ago about the hidden sex level never garnered the complete removal of the game from store shelves. But that’s just what happened with Manhunt 2, another game by Rockstar (from the good ‘ole folks that brought us GTA) which was scheduled to be released next month. Unfortunately for the violence-obsessed company, the British Board of Film Classification said “No way” to the game, in which the main object is senseless killing. What does this mean for all those British 11-year-olds? They ain’t getting it - at all. A no go from the BBFC means that it’s illegal to sell the product in Britain (it’s the first time in 10 years they’ve given out such a rating).

Now, I think the game’s utterly pointless and stupid, and would never consider buying a piece of crap like Manhunt 2. But is banning it the right thing to do? Here in the US, the rating systems have a fail-safe: an X rating for the movie industry, or an “Adults Only” rating for video games. Getting one of those stamped on your box basically means you’ll only be able to get it from online porn shops or a bootleg copy on eBay. It’s as good as killing the game’s sales, but preserves that whole free speech thing. Do the British not have an equivalent rating?

Tell us what you think - did the BBFC do the right thing with their decision?

via Guardian Unlimited

Google announced their Public Policy Blog yesterday, outlining the internet giant’s hopes and dreams of a future where we can communicate openly and freely, discuss with civility the issues that face our culture, save the children, help the poor, cure the common cold, end world hunger, etc. The big discussion going on right now is over the 700MHz auction by the FCC, though surprisingly enough, a lot of the blog is devoted to straight-up politics. In fact, it seems that Google has been essentially hosting their own talk show, with bigwigs from the company interviewing no less than five potential presidential candidates, posted on (what else) YouTube for you to view.

I wonder how long until Cable starts offering the Google Channel. I can see it now…

Just for the heck of it, I ran Google’s blog through the W3C validation service: “Failed validation, 167 errors.” Nice, Google. Niiice.