One of the things that social media and networking sites teach us regularly is that no matter how secure we think our personal information is, it’s not. If you put a picture, video, phone number or even a thought on your blog, someone will always be able to track it down. While most of us will never experience anything worse than receiving some spam in our email inboxes, others will have their important personal and financial information stolen or assumed. Or worse. Who knows? There is no limit to the kinds of crimes that can take place on the Internet. But let’s forget about cyber crimes for now.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… A guy tries to use the Internet to achieve fame, hosting YouTube, Twitter and Tumblr accounts, as well as a self-made Facebook fan page, and he occasionally Tweets about how much he loves his girlfriend, a fellow aspiring Twitter comic, and he also randomly likes to pick on other Tweeters. Until one day, one of those Tweeters says, “Enough is enough” and fires back with one of the greatest trolling retaliations the Internet has ever seen.
All that and more in this edition of Week in Review…
Peter Coffin is a self-proclaimed Twitter and YouTube comic, who was “dating” Kimi Kobayashi, another Twitter comic. Peter Tweeted insults at “Xiaxue”, a popular Singapore model (above) who is open about her plastic surgeries, degrading her for setting a poor example for young girls, among other things. Xiaxue countered by performing an extensive background check on Peter and Kimi, only to discover that Peter IS Kimi and that he’d been milking the popularity of his “girlfriend” to help promote himself. Xiaxue posted an incredibly long breakdown on her blog, which doesn’t sound too harmful until… Reddit got wind of it.
Always the Internet’s awesome moral police, the Reddit community poured an ocean of gasoline on the fire, leading to Kimi’s sudden disappearance from Twitter and Peter’s subsequent whirlwind of denial and embarrassment. To make matters insanely worse, Coffin created an AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread on Reddit and posted it on his Twitter. While he claims that he is the subject of a smear campaign and that he did not create “Kimi”, Peter admits that he never even met his “girlfriend” and that he is actually heartbroken over this ordeal.
So let this be a lesson to you crazy Twitter kids – there is good fame and bad fame. This is neither. This is lost fame.
Speaking of fame, let’s talk about God, or Yahweh, as the ancient Isrealites liked to call him. A British theologian claims that she has discovered clear and concise evidence that the Bible’s God originally had a wife named Asherah, but that their relationship has been completely edited out. Francesca Stavrakopoulou reports in her BBC2 documentary that the Israelites actually had multiple gods that they worshipped equal to or slightly lesser than Yahweh, and that the Commandment “You shall have no other gods before me” simply means that you can’t worship any of the others more than Him. And unfortunately for the goddess liberation movement, that mean’s that God’s relationship status will eternally be set at “single”.
(Via International Business Times)
Lost in all of the chaos of the presumed final days of Muammar Gaddafi’s reign in Libya are the tireless efforts of various other world leaders to remind us that, hey, they’re a little crazy, too. Much to the surprise of most of the world, North Korea’s Kim Jong Il donated $500,000 to Japan in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake and tsunami. But Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez was there to pick up the cuckoo slack. Speaking during a celebration for World Water Day, Chavez said that he believes there could have once been life on Mars, but that capitalism came along and destroyed it, just like his precious Earth. Hugo, who of course owns Citgo, blames the United States and other capitalist countries for turning this planet’s lush forests into dry desserts. Oh, and Citgo made $128 million profit last quarter, in case you were wondering.
(Via Yahoo!)
The above video was unearthed this week by the great folks at Buzzfeed, and I got a kick out of it, not for inconsiderate reasons, but because I’ve always been taught to remember with a smile.
Iconic actress Elizabeth Taylor passed away on Wednesday and she was wildly remembered as being one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the silver screen. Liz paved the way for countless celebrities as she famously created her own fragrance, which at the time was a symbol for how incredibly revered she was in both the acting and fashion industries. The British legend was a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Actress and she was named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, but she’ll possibly – and even endearingly – be remembered most for her 8 marriages to 7 men (she married Richard Burton twice). But that’s not to make light of her amazing life, as she was an incredible voice for AIDS and HIV awareness during the 80s and 90s when the general public was terrified of addressing such a topic.
Victoria Jackson could have been remembered as the airhead blonde cast member of Saturday Night Live during the golden days of Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman. Instead, she’s creating a new legacy for herself as an outspoken proponent of the Tea Party and opponent of anything liberal. Her latest displeasure is the popular television program Glee, which, if you’re like me and don’t watch because you’re busy doing 1,000 pushups each night, is a musical about high school drama students who sing all of the world’s favorite pop songs ever written. Jackson’s specific problem was with a recent episode that featured a kiss between two men. Gay kisses are hardly new on television, as Roseanne gave us TV’s first woman-on-woman kiss decades ago, and two men kissing is hardly a rarity. In fact, her alma mater, SNL, features recurring sketches with men kissing. If only SNL had Glee’s ratings.
(Via Mediaite)
A dance studio in Texas was showcased on a Houston news report because of an unusual style that it had been offering – Christian pole dancing. Simply put, this incredibly strange take on the strip club style features women dancing to Christian music, with their clothes on, of course. While I’m not sure if they exist, I think a Christian strip club would be a great idea, since most of the clubs I’ve been to don’t serve alcohol. At least at a Christian strip club, they can turn your water into wine.
(Via The Huffington Post)
A breeder in Ireland ditched an 8-week old springer spaniel on the side of the road because it is deaf, and presumably has no value. Fortunately, a rescue group discovered the dog, named Alice, and brought her in to treat and take care of her. Along came Marie Williams and Mark Morgan, a couple simply looking to adopt their first dog. They’re also deaf, and when they were told about Alice, their choice was pretty simple. Through patience and a lot of doggy treats, they’ve been able to train Alice (above video) and create a very happy home. Thankfully, you don’t need to hear to see a tail wag.
(Via Newslite)
One week ago, Rebecca Black was acid in my ears, the singer behind the incredibly huge hit single “Friday” had everyone believing that the world was ending. People were incredibly mean, the trolls trolled harder than ever, and even Good Morning America’s Andrea Kennedy read the hateful comments from YouTube and iTunes to Rebecca’s face. And she just smiled. So why then has the girl whose song nearly sparked a Civil War on the Internet led me to change my own tune? Because as she told Jay Leno on a recent appearance on his show, she is donating every penny that she has made from the iTunes sales of “Friday” to earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan. You can hate her song all you want, but it’s impossible to hate her for doing something that so few in her shoes would do.
(Via Idolator)
There have seemingly been as many parodies of Rebecca Black’s “Friday” as she’s had views on YouTube, but the above video takes my cake for the best of the bunch. This bad lip reader interpretation actually gives the song some edgier lyrics and makes it quite enjoyable. Not that I condone 13-year old girls promoting gang fights. At least not since the judge warned me.
(Via The Daily What)
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- At posting time, the Top 5 most followed Tweeters are… *drum roll with hands on computer desk*… 1) Lady Gaga with 8,980,399 followers, 2) Justin Bieber with 8,351,588, 3) Britney Spears with 7,210,179, 4) Barack Obama with 7,129,649, and 5) Kim Kardashian with 6,875,561. At least the leader of the free world beat out the chick who dated Reggie Bush. (Twitter Counter)
- In a survey of nearly 1,800 Americans, approximately 88% had heard of Facebook while 87% had heard of Twitter. The other 13%? People who refuse to give up on MySpace. (Convince and Convert)
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