Well, This Is Cool

From Dangerous Minds:

MAD magazine was at the absolute height of its circulation in the mid 1970s—north of two million of each issue hit the newsstands then—so it was no surprise that television executives wanted in on the action. ABC ordered a pilot for an animated MAD series, but shelved it due to the “adult” humor and apparently because they didn’t want to piss off their bread and butter. Dick DeBartolo (“MAD’s maddest writer!”) said of the ill-fated pilot (eventually aired as a one-off “special” apparently) “Nobody wanted to sponsor a show that made fun of products that were advertised on TV, like car manufacturers.”

Goddamn Morrissey

Pulled in its entirety from The A.V. Club (because it's hilarious) ...

Morrissey has cancelled his upcoming South American tour, citing a lock of proper funding. The mope rock singer posted an open letter lamenting the tour’s tanking and the state of his life in general, saying, like only Morrissey can:

“In a year when far too many disappointments have been buried this really is the last of many final straws, and I am not alone in feeling this. The future is suddenly absent, and my apologies are now so frequent as to be somewhat ridiculous, and it is I who apologize because no one else would bother. It is agonizing to be responsible for imparting such news - especially when it springs upon me unexpectedly and inexplicably. But the collapse of South America rings the curtain down with a colossal thud, and the major problems remain as insoluble now as they were in 2009. The obvious conclusion stares back at me from the mirror, and the wheels are finally off the covered wagon. Cancellations and illness have sucked the life out of all of us, and the only sensible solution seems to be the art of doing nothing.”

The singer ends his by saying, “I shall see you in my dreams,” whatever that means. If you see Morrissey, give him a hug.

Irony-Free Tuesday

Thanks to Mike/Matt who originally helped us get our Oatmeal on.
The website "Funny Junk" - which stole, re-hosted and monetized The Oatmeal - is now extorting The Oatmeal's creator for $20,000 under threat of a federal lawsuit. Story here. That's some straight, shameless, irony-free hubris!
Although our Bastardus Emeritus and British barrister could probably explain the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and other relevant legal minutiae to us in excruciating detail... the best thing by far is The Oatmeal's response. Enjoy.

Ouch

It's never funny when someone falls down. Unless it's Axl.

I Fucking Love Gervais

Apparently, he's catching some shit for being irreverent.  I'm just sorry I missed it.

I Give You ... Animoto

This is pretty cool. Animoto lets you create movies using your own photos and music. A 30 second video is free; longer than that, and it'll cost ya.

LBU Is Two Today

Well, another one's gotten by us. Congrats, bastards.

RIAA Continues To Not Get It

In a bid to hold on to the title of Biggest Assholes on the Planet, the RIAA now claims that making a digital copy - for your own personal use - of a CD that you legally purchased is ... wait for it ... theft.

From a recent copy of the Washington Post:

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.

"I couldn't believe it when I read that," says Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. "The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation."

Read the rest of this heart-warming article here.

Mind The Gap?

Emma Clarke, the voice of the London Tube, was recently fired for posting these spoof announcements on her personal Web site. (Some are pretty funny.)