Category Archives: news

by | June 8, 2010 · 9:07 am

youtube clip of today: tag team.

CNN wondered, Gawker wondered, and now Six Words wonders: was Barack Obama in the 1993 video for “Whoomp, There It Is?”

Here’s the screenshot that started it all:

Gawker gives a pretty comprehensive pro/con list debating whether our POTUS is a video star:

FOR

  • It really really looks like him!
  • Obama has a well-documented fondness for hip hop. He likes Kanye West and Ludacris.
  • Obama has a history of hip hop cameos. In 2008, reports said he was featured on an upcoming Q-Tip track. Though Q-Tip ended up simply sampling one of his speeches.
  • As one commenter on SomethingAwful noted: The man in the video is playing dominoes with his left hand. BARACK OBAMA IS ALSO LEFT HANDED!
  • The video was released in 1993. Barack would have been around 31 when it was filmed, a year or two out of Harvard Law. Seems like something cool that our coolest, cigarette-smoking, hoops-shooting future president would do as an early 30-something.

AGAINST

  • But, actually, by 1993, Obama was deeply involved in community activism in Chicago. In 1992, Obama famously helped boost voter turnout among blacks through his tireless organizing. How would Obama had the time to film this video? And why the hell would the director of Tag Team’s video seek out a notable community organizer to play a domino player? Maybe they were buddies from Harvard or something.
  • Also, Tag Team is from Atlanta. If Obama wanted to make his rap video debut, wouldn’t he have chosen an early-90s act from his beloved Chicago? Maybe Da Brat, or Crucial Conflict? And he would obviously be wearing a Bulls hat—not a Compton one.
  • Most of these conspiracy theorists base their observation on a low-quality YouTube version of the video. Take a look at this screenshot from a higher-quality video: Doesn’t look much like him, actually. Also: earrings? Obama is cool, but not that cool.

I think I’m going to conclude that it’s him, because that would just be the greatest. But what do you think? Is that our beloved Barry?

Thanks to Wegs for the tip!

[Posted by Mallory]

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by | May 26, 2010 · 11:00 am

six degrees of john mayer’s manhood.

Thank you, GQ, for this brilliant and way too entertaining chart. (Click to enlarge)

I love how it connects Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Kimmel, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Remember that?

[Posted by Kathleen]

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by | May 19, 2010 · 4:41 pm

newest olympic mascots will haunt dreams.

I don’t know why, but people get super excited about the Olympic mascots.  I’ve written about them before— and here I am again. So move over, 1996 Atlanta mascot Izzy.  Move over, Fuwa, the  2008 Beijing mascots. Ladies and Gentlemen, the new Olympic gold medal winners of fug: Wenlock and Mandeville, the official mascots of the 2012 London Olympic games. Feast your eyes on these!

Somebody PLEASE make the first openly gay Olympic mascots joke, so I don't have to.

Yikes! You might be asking yourself, “What the friggity frig are those?” The article from the Guardian does its best to explain:

The pair are based on a short story by children’s author Michael Morpurgo that tells how they were fashioned from droplets of the steel used to build the Olympic stadium.

Droplets of steel, you say? Well, alright. How… abstract.

Maybe it’s because I’m 24 now (wahhhh) and an old lady, but I don’t really understand the necessity for these new-fangled Olympic mascots.  Is the torch not enough for us?  If you think I’m wrong, please let me know.  Maybe I’m the only one that fails to see the value in a duo of one-eyed, flippered, Nickelodeon-show-reject, don’t-look-if-you-have-epilepsy monstrosities.

Consider your dreams haunted, readership! You’re welcome!

In other news, guess what? Today is Wednesday, which means tomorrow is Thursday, and that’s the day before Friday! Huzzah!

[Posted by Kathleen]

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by | May 17, 2010 · 11:52 am

a monday roundup of random stuff.

Just a friendly reminder, courtesy of PostSecret.

GUYS. Guess what? I’m officially done with grad school. Do you know what that means?! I’ll tell you: I get to wear a hood and stand out in the sun wearing polyester on Friday, and I get my nights and weekends back. Let’s celebrate with a collection of assorted finds from the Internets:

Happy Monday, everyone! And a happy belated birthday to co-blogger Kathleen! I think we successfully proved this weekend that your mid-twenties don’t really have to be any different from college. Thank goodness for that.

[Posted by Mallory]

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by | April 23, 2010 · 2:27 pm

youtube clip of today: youtube’s first.

Hey folks, ever lie in bed at night wondering what the first video EVER to be put on the YouTubes was?  No, really, have you? Well, here is your answer.  Five years ago today, Jawed Karim, one of YouTube’s founders, posted this video of himself at the San Diego Zoo.  Thanks, Jawed, for starting one of the most entertaining outlets for people to publicly embarrass themselves… or, even more likely, embarrass their friends. A tip of the hat to you, sir!  PS- Your video? BOOOOOOOOOOOORING.

Okay. So the video is pretty lame and I try to bring you entertaining yooootoooobs to make the work day go by a little faster. Here’s something cooler:

It’s not a trick, it’s an ILLUSION! Two points if you get the reference.

And on that note, I hope the next 2.5 hours fly by for you all!

[Posted by Kathleen]

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by | April 22, 2010 · 9:44 am

today is a google holiday, hooray!

Today’s Google Holiday: Earth Day. Shocking, right?

What I was Googling: seance. It’s, um, a hard word to spell. And I may have been Googling it for reasons involving spirit animals and DVDs and shammans but you know what DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT. Instead, focus on the fact that the following video just broke my heart into a million pieces:

As if I wasn’t already completely and totally obsessed with pugs, someone comes along and makes a video about an environmentally-friendly pug. And then I swoon, and try to again figure out how a pug could live in my shoebox-sized apartment when I’m about to start a job that will require a lot of travel. The world is so cruel, but I have faith that Jeff (my future pug, duh) and I will be together one day. Until then, thank god for videos of pug puppies on YouTube.

[Posted by Mallory]

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by | April 10, 2010 · 5:45 pm

happy birthday to my little walsher!

Today is a very important day. It marks the 24th year that one of my favorite people in the word has been alive. I mean, 24, gross, but there’s a lot for Walsh to celebrate: surviving college, having me in her life, the work of The Postal Service…

Back in the day, when Walsh and I were mild freakshows who managed to find each other (and other delightful freakshows) in the halls of our freshman dorm, we ADORED that song. It was borderline unhealthy. And I’m not saying we sang duets and alternated who was the girl and who was the boy, but we totally sang duets and alternated who was the girl and who was the boy. Sometimes it really amazes me that I have friends.

Then I remember that Walsh makes things like this in her free time…

…and I understand why it all works. So here’s to you, Walsh. I’m glad you were born, glad you were adopted, and DAMN thankful that you saw past my side ponytail so that we could get to where we are today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

[Posted by Mallory]

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by | April 9, 2010 · 12:52 pm

crazy shiz going on with tiger.

As you may have heard, here or elsewhere, Tiger Woods did some naughty things and for a while everyone hated him. Now he is trying to get everyone to love him again. There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on related to that, what with Elin Woods being sort of unreadable and Tiger doing weird shit like making a creepy commercial with the hope that people will forgive him. A few comments about that…

First, a Just Six Words and a Picture submittal from loyal reader Susnan:

Riddle me this: zippers for whaaaat?

Fair question, Susnan. Faaair question. I read an interesting article yesterday about the fact that Elin Woods has been pretty impossible to read these days. She’s always wearing her sunglasses, and she hasn’t quite condemned/all-out ditched Tiger, but she’s also not standing by him. Those crazy Swedes…what ARE they thinking?

But the real question of the week is Who thought this commercial was a good idea?!:

Frankly, I don’t understand. Who sat in on that Nike meeting and was like “OOH, I’ve got it. Let’s have Tiger stare at the camera looking all haggard and pathetic, and we’ll have his DEAD DAD do a voiceover that seems to be questioning this whole affair thing. GENIUS!” And it is genius. If by genius they mean creepy as fuck. I think that no matter what Tiger’s publicity team does for him, he will get back in the nation’s good graces to some extent simply because he’s a good golfer. We are great at ignoring the indiscretions of celebrities, and because he’s had his public flogging, I think things would have gone back to normal either way. So…from my expert standpoint, this commercial was unnecessary (as in won’t help Tiger or Nike all that much), except to give people nightmares. Yay!

With boob zippers on our mind and Tiger’s piercing stare in our hearts, I bid you a happy Friday.

[Posted by Mallory]

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by | March 24, 2010 · 2:21 pm

youtube clip of today: a BFD.

Oh FINE.  Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen it (and certainly heard it) by now, but here is everyone’s Uncle Joe dropping the F bomb on live TV.

I think he’s the greatest.  He’s just so lovably inappropriate!  You know he was sitting there thinking to himself, “What powerful words can I say to B that he will remember for the rest of his life?” Well, he certainly found the words to say. Perhaps he just forgot that there were 250 hot mics around.  Regardless, I’m glad it happened, and here’s why: it’s been lightening up the health care debate and people have been having some fun with it.

Yup.  School House Rock got BFD’d.

But back to Biden. As Press Secretary Robert Gibbs tweeted, “And yes, Mr. Vice President, you’re right“. Because he is.  It IS a big deal.  And it’s long overdue.

PS- Here is a great tool to see how the health care legislation will affect you.  Super easy– just put in your marital status, if/how you have health care and what you make.  Click here.

[Posted by Kathleen]

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by | March 23, 2010 · 4:14 pm

just six words and a picture.

A note left by Rep. Patrick Kennedy on his father’s grave (Ted Kennedy). Warning: if you have a bleeding liberal heart, this may make you weep. This picture comes from the White House’s Flickr stream.

“Dad, the unfinished business is done.”

[Posted by Kathleen]

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