Associated Press – “The group of Shaolin martial artists from Songshan, China, demonstrated their world-famous Kung Fu on the Assembly’s green carpets…. One performed a handstand balanced only on his index fingers, and another stood coolly while former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Culver City, repeatedly kicked him between the legs. The monks urged Wesson to kick harder.”

…JUST EAT YOUR BOOGERS!!!!

Dungeons And Dragons Concerns for the Christian. The cross-referencing of Gary Gygax with the authors of the bible is so lame it made me laugh.

I don’t know much about metroid prime, but here is a flash-illustrated comic version of the video game which looks pretty well done, though it is not in english.

The other night I watched the Joe Sarno film The Seduction of Inga. If you can find a copy of it on video its worth seeing; if for nothing else, the soundtrack that is done by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of Abba. I am not kidding. The movie was released in 1969, so the music is that late 60′s psychedelic pop music that was so all the rage those days… or at least was being recorded. Think of the late Zombies, Traffic or The Small Faces; something like that, but with a tiny germinating seed of Abba in the middle. The theme song is a late 60′s pop gem passed through a Leslie Cabinet and sprinkled with heavy guitar distortion. And if you don’t like that, there is at least a bizarre melodrama with a little sex thrown in to keep you watching… sort of. If you read most reviews of the film, they are from the perspective of disappointed people looking for hot softcore pornography. The film definitely heads in that direction, but the plot and storyline just get in the way too much; which makes it kind of cool. There is also the great Joe Sarno style of filmmaking; which amounts to great cinematography. And its not like the movie is entirely devoid of sex. Actually, I think it has appeared on late night Cinemax or Showtime at some point, so that should give you some kind of idea what its like. It would probably get an R rating these days. But that assumes a film like Seduction of Inga is still made today; and it isn’t.

The film is actually a sequel to another Joe Sarno film called (big surprise) Inga; which was released two years earlier in 1967. Inga was about a 17 year-old orphan who runs off with her Aunt’s boyfriend. The sequel takes place two years later with Inga abandoned by the guy and trying to live on her own. In the process. she turns to quasi-prositution and ends up with a older man with a some baggage in his past. From there is a great plot twist that has Jungian overtones in its resolution – anima and animus struggling in an alchemical conjunction. I won’t give the end away, but it involves incest, lesbianism and suicide; not necessarily in that order. Seeing the actress Marie Liljedahl as Inga, you wouldn’t think all that would happen to someone so innocent looking. Then again, Inga wasn’t born yesterday… just 18 years after a few decades before yesterday.

If all that doesn’t make you want to see the film, it also features Tommy Blom as Rolf, Inga’s guitar-playing neighbor. Tommy Blom is also known for being the lead guitarist for The Tages – Sweden’s answer to the Beatles. Apparently he left the Tages in the late 60′s and tried his hand at acting. Its funny, because people tend to confuse the Tages with another Swedish band, The Hep Stars, which featured a young Benny Andersson. Perhaps the fact that Tommy Blom is in this movie with Benny Andersson doing the soundtrack is a source of that confusion.

So yeah, go out and look for The Seduction of Inga. It you are a Swedish video store, you can ask for Någon att älska. Seduction Cinema is the company that released Inga on DVD and has been planning to release the Seduction of Inga. But the company has been saying that for a couple of years now. You can see the preview for Seduction of Inga on the Inga DVD though; which really is a condensed version of the movie – music and all. Inga is good too; really the better of the two movies. But its not as over-the-top as The Seduction of Inga is.

“Soundbug takes the signal from the audio device, and using world-first technology, effectively creates a sounding-board out of the surface to which it is attached.”

Basically it allows you to turn sliding glass doors, trash cans, or even PVC pipes filled with water into a stereo speaker.

neckface is blowing up.

neckface photo gallery.

neckface interview.

The centennial of the innaugural trip of the NYC subway is this year – on my birthday! (crazy)

NY Times special section on the centennial with lots of tasty treats.