Dust off the cobwebs – Internet Fatigue

*cracks knuckles out in front of himself* wow, been a while since I stepped inside this blog – curse you facebook, twitter etc, and now Google+ for distracting me for so  many years

So, social media – where is it going? Are you all bored with it? Feel you’ve been made so addicted that you can’t live without but secretly want to be able to? Is it the bain of your existing haunting your thoughts – even using “going to the toilet” as an excuse to quickly log on and sneak a peak at whether your friend has moved from current location? Or perhaps it’s a new lease of life, creating new avenues of information, friendship and a place where you finally feel like you belong?

How ever your feeling, the term “Internet Fatigue” is growing and growing and I’m curious to know, after all this time has past – for new comers and internet old timers how as social media affected you?

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Post-halloween creepy photo

Yea, make of this what you will. 5 points for a decent caption.

[Source: Knuttz.net]

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Customer service like nowhere else in the world

Flickr: Sushi, to-go

The Japanese, it seems, have some of the best customer service in the world. Like this awesome story from Kotaku chief editor Brian Ashcraft. The story starts out with his wife buying sushi in a department store, and found a bug in it.

She called up Hankyu and told them she bought sushi there and there was a bug in it. The person she spoke with apologized and then offered to refund our money — by immediately driving to our house after we gave him our address.

It gets more awesome from there on in. Read, customer service departments of the world, and realize what utter, epic fail you all represent.

[Link: Kotaku - No, I was wrong, THIS is the best service ever]

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Rap around the world in 30 languages

I’m a linguaphile (someone who loves languages, you dolt! Nothing vaguely naughty about it!) so I watched this vid with fascination. I’d ordinarily say “amazing how this genre of music caught on around the world”, but all I can think of is “Jeez…that Swiss guy’s hair is so 70′s!”

Enjoy it! (the vid, not the hair.)

[Link via revivl.com]

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Nostalgia Fridays: Wattoo Wattoo Super Bird and Barbapapas

More old cartoons for your nostalgia Friday today, both of them of French origin! The first one is Wattoo Wattoo Super Bird, a cartoon I’d dimly remembered, but could never figure out or recall the name of. Isn’t the Intarwebs a wonderful place for rediscovering the wonders of your youth? I think the premise of this show is best left to Wikipedia:

The eponymous Wattoo Wattoo is a black and white ovoid bird. He comes from a cube-shaped planet called Auguste. In the first episode he becomes aware of the very stupid and extremely wasteful race called Zwas. The Zwas are goose-like creatures that live on the Earth in cities very much like our own. [...] Throughout the series Wattoo Wattoo helps the Zwas overcome their problems through the use of his seemingly magical powers. He is able to transform himself into any shape. Should he need the help of others of his race he has only to whistle. Other identicle birds respond to the call and come down from space like comets. As they fly down they vibrate and duplicate themselves until they are a flock ready to take on whatever challenge is required of them.

The second cartoon today is Barbapapa, a bizarre shapeshifting pink blob who tries to fit in with the human world. His family include his wife, Barbamama, and seven kids, collectively called the Barbababies (Barbabeau, Barbabright, Barbazoo, Barbabravo, Barbalib, Barbalala, and Barbabelle, if you want specifics).

[Thanks to Cligor for the first bit of awesomeness!]

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Today’s surprising movie trailer set in Johannesburg

I’m betting you won’t even see the end of this trailer coming… District 9 is a movie by Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp coming out “Summer 2009″. Have movie studios not figured out that the concept of “Summer” is just a teensy weensy tiny winy itsy bitsy sqeemy weemy tiny little bit subjective depending on which hemisphere you just happen to be occupying at any point in time? Anyhow, rant over. This movie looks interesting at the very least, and may even turn out to be good, for all that it’s set in Johannesburg. And I’m not going to spoil it any further. Just watch this trailer!

[Link: District 9]

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Today’s depressing web site: Wanna feel old

Ok, I’m REALLY feeling my age after reading through Wanna Feel Old. It’s amazing how much time has passed in pop culture. How old? Try this factlet: Ghostbusters came out a Quarter of a Century ago. How can so much time have passed?? Jeez…am I really that old?? I seem to remember Ghostbusters as if it were yesterday. And how about this fact: it’s been ten years since Savage Garden released an album. Argh! Where IS the time going?? Is anyone else feeling their age after reading this site?

[Link: Wanna Feel Old]

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Today’s insane new method of suicide: getting lost in a forest

The Japanese have come up with another novel way of committing suicide: getting lost in a forest and dying of exposure, starvation, or whatever other perils await you. The forest of choice is Aokigahara Forest, also called the Sea of Trees. Of course it’s crazy, but it’s so typically Japanese; I can’t see any other nationality coming up with something like this. Japan has a ridiculously high suicide rate (I’ve covered other crazy methods of suicide here before), and the rate’s gone up since the economy’s gone down, not that one caused the other, as any statistician will tell you!

Signs have been posted outside the forest to help deter the suicidal, and security cameras have been erected as well.

The goal, said Imasa Watanabe of the Yamanashi Prefectural Government is to track the people who walk into the forest. Watanabe fears more suicidal visitors will arrive in the coming weeks.

“Especially in March, the end of the fiscal year, more suicidal people will come here because of the bad economy,” he said. “It’s my dream to stop suicides in this forest, but to be honest, it would be difficult to prevent all the cases here.”

As a method of suicide, what do you think about it? At the very least, you’re not being inconsiderate by leaving a body for other people to sort out, and being considerate is all about what being Japanese is, yesno?

[Link: CNN.com - Desperate Japanese head to 'suicide forest']

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Disney’s “The Internet”

Well, not really, but it IS sung to Beauty and The Beast’s “Bonjour” (or whatever the first track in that movie is). And almost all of it is true, don’t you think?

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Nostalgia Friday: 15 80s songs in 6 minutes

These three young musicians kitted out with six keyboards manage to fit 15 awesome synthesizer songs into a 6 minute medley. Odds are, you’ll recognize at least all of the songs if you were even remotely interested in 80s music. Any favorite 80s songs that you have?

[Youtube - 80s synth medley (3 guys, 6 keyboards), via Buzzfeed]

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