"What Are You Doing New Years Eve?" (Video)

So, what are your plans?

Staying home?  Going out?  Have a sitter this year?  Leave a comment and let me know.

As for the Twitch family, we're going to enjoy our new place.  We're inviting over a few friends (which is something we weren't able to do with our old one bedroom apartment).  Keeping it small, quiet and simple.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Hitler, John Boehner And Pirates

"Name Prince Harry's last three Halloween costumes."

Some Johnny Carson humor (for those of you over the age of 35).

If you use the internet, you need to be aware of SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act.  It's currently being debated in the House of Representatives.  It passed the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month, and is expected to pass the House with strong support within the next couple of months.

SOPA will essentially bring online censorship to a level seen currently in China or Iran.  That isn't an exaggeration.  The day to day online experience as you know it will cease to exist.

Let me give you an example.  Here is a video of my daughter dancing our living room last night:



In the background of the video, 'Across the Universe' was playing.  It was originally recorded by The Beatles, but in this case, was being sung by Rufus Wainwright.

If SOPA passes, Sony Music, the label that owns the rights to The Beatles catalogue, could approach YouTube calling for the removal of the video.  All it would take would be an email.  YouTube would be forced to remove it.  Also, by embedding the video on this post, they could, if they desired, send an email to Go Daddy, the company hosting my website, claiming copyright infringement.  Under the articles of SOPA, Go Daddy would be forced to shut down my website.  Completely wipe it from existence.

Not because of a court order from a judge.  Not due to a notice from the F.B.I. or any local law enforcement.  But from a single email message from someone claiming they hold a copyright on material I am displaying on my website.  They do not need to show any proof of ownership.  I do not have the opportunity to remove the material in question.  'The Twitch Online' simply ceases to exist.  Years of work for nothing.  No record that it was even there to begin with.

How does this effect you?

Think about it.  The sites you visit every day - YouTube, Facebook, Google and Wikipedia, just to name a few.  All of them will either disappear or change in such a way that they will become practically unrecognizable.

And, in the end, is this new legislation really going to stop anyone from downloading a shitty CD in order to avoid paying $13.99 for it at Target.  If people have the motivation to pirate (lack of selection/price), they're going to find a way to do so.

Another casualty of SOPA will be the internet meme.  One of my personal favorites is the "Hitler finds out about _____".  If SOPA is enacted, that too will be gone.  The clip is taken from the 2004 German film 'Downfall'.  The video, while extremely funny, is surprisingly accurate and educational.



So, what can you do about this.  Get involved.  Contact your Congressman.  You can go to americancensorship.org right now to be directed to the offices of your local representative.  At the site, you can also sign a petition being sent to the state department, and send an email to Congress asking that SOPA not pass.  So far, more than 780,000 people have done so.

If this bill would have passed a decade ago, think about how different your life would have been.  If this bill passes in 2012, think about how different the internet will be for your children.  The internet was never intended to be policed to such a degree.  If the U.S. government can tell us what we can and can't say, watch or listen to online, what's next?

Was George Orwell just off by 30 years? 

Quote Of The Day

“Every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil that we don’t have to buy from a foreign source."

 - Rick Perry, speaking at a campaign stop in Clarinda, Iowa. 


And the home schooled crowd went wild...

In Memoriam: Bands We Lost In 2011 (Video)

In the spirit of the montage we have become accustomed to seeing during Oscar telecasts, stereogum has made a video of the bands that have broken up over the course of the year.

As with the awards show "In Memoriam" segments, there's the sporadic swell in applause.  There are the occasional superstar/A-List bands, scattered amongst the sea of bands that 98% of people have never heard of (unless there is a true fan out there).  The clip even features a couple of moments that catch you off guard, just like the Emmys do every goddamn year.

"Oh my god...LCD Soundsystem broke up?!?"

It's really quite clever.  Take a look.

Mashup Monday - 'Good Feeling'

For my final "Mashup Monday" post of 2011, logic would say to feature DJ Earworm's annual United State of Pop mashup.  It's where he takes the 25 biggest hits of the year and mashes them together.  Truth is:  Other than Adele's '21', pop music sounded like utter shit.

Instead, I thought I would share the latest track from Norwegian Recycling.  He debuted it last Tuesday night.  Called 'Good Feeling', it incorporates elements of the following tunes:

• Katy Perry - 'The One That Got Away
• Coldplay - Fix You
• David Guerra w/ Usher - Without You
• AVICII - Levels
• Black Eyed Peas - The Time
• Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me
• Britney Spears - Till The World Ends
• Bryan Adams - Summer of '69
• Chris Brown - Yeah 3X

It's not the best mashup in his catalogue, but still a great song.

Merry Christmas

May your holiday season be filled with magic and wonder.

'Miracle On 42nd Street' (Video)

May your Holidays be merry and gay...



Is it just me, or is he a hell of a lot better than she'll ever be?

Church Sign Of The Day

Boy, can it!

Word Of The Day: "Hitchling"

From the Urban Dictionary:

Jessi and I are, without a doubt, raising a hitchling.  We are so proud.

The Most Ineffective Advertisement Ever

I'm told there is a bottle of alcohol somewhere in the photograph.  I'm not seeing it.

Is it wrong that when I see Christina Hendricks, I make the same noise that Homer Simpson does when he's around donuts?

Guess Who...

The following photo was tweeted by a famous bearded musician last Wednesday:

Can you guess who it is?

More info on this freshly shorn singer after the break.

Twitch's Sunday Comics

"War Is Over...If You Want It"

The last contingent of American troops left Iraqi soil earlier this morning.

This Christmas, tens of thousands of families will be able to spend the holidays with their loved ones, instead of having them fighting a war overseas.  Mothers will be home to tuck their children into bed on Christmas Eve, and fathers will be there to open presents the following morning.

A myriad of gifts will be opened a week from today, but to many kids in this country, the greatest gift of all will be to have mommy or daddy home.

I thought this song was especially fitting given the situation.

**The following is the official video of the song.  It includes some disturbing images of war, which may be unsettling to some people.  While I could have found an alternate video for the tune, I think that this does a great job at representing the fact that, with human nature, while one armed conflict may be ending, it's only a matter of time before the world finds itself involved in another.**



Welcome home, servicemen and women.

Lindsay Lohan's Playboy Photos Leaked (NSFW)

The Playboy magazine featuring Lindsay Lohan was scheduled to be released mid-January.  However, a number of websites, most notably Drunken Stepfather, leaked the entire series of photographs on Saturday afternoon.  Hugh Hefner has announced that he may be putting the issue on shelves next week, in order to keep from it being a total loss for the publishing empire.

Completely unrecognizable.  I thought it was a blond Anne Hathaway.

It is reported that Lohan received $1 million for posing nude in the magazine.  In return, a "source close to Playboy" told TMZ that they would be getting the "holy trifecta"..."boobs, ass and vag".

Lies.  Lies.  ALL LIES!!

Not only did readers not get the "holy trifecta", but Lindsay is so Photoshopped, that between the ten photos in the magazine, it looks like there are three different women posing.

Save your $5.99.

View the entire series of pictures, uncensored, directly from the pages of Playboy, after the break:

Elijah Sets Michele Bachmann Straight

What an awesome kid.  In case you couldn't hear him, he said, "My mommy's gay, but she doesn't need fixing."

He's eight years old.

Right on, Elijah.