I never really knew of anything cool and famous that was related to Norway, other than Norwegian Cruise Lines and the Norway village at Disney's Epcot theme park. It ends up that there are some pretty well-known bands and musicians from Norway. When I think of Norway's music scene, I think of lots of electronic and metal music. Thankfully, there's more genres to it.
Röyksopp
This Norwegian electronica duo is probably best known in the U.S. for their song "Remind Me", which was featured on a Geico caveman commercial.
A-Ha
This band from Norway has been around since 1982 and they're still making music. Although I doubt anyone can name one of their songs other than "Take on Me".
Choosing a tattoo is a serious decision. However, should you ever regret your tattoo and want it removed or altered, you're in luck and you'll be in the company of many celebrities. Let's take a look at some celebrities who regretted their tattoos and did something about it.
Nick Lachey
Back in the boy band era of the late 1990s, 98 Degrees was quite popular. Apparently, Nick was so proud of his band that he got its name tattooed on his arm surrounded by a sun. How clever. Eventually, Nick realized his tattoo was lame and the band wasn't cool anymore, so he had that cutesy tattoo colored in. A solid sun isn't less stupid than an outline of a sun, but whatever.
Angelina Jolie
Haven't people learned by now not to get a tattoo of your significant other's name? After Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob split, Angelina had her "Billy Bob" tattoo removed. Now, in its place are the coordinates of the birthplaces of her children. I think the coordinates thing is kind of cool and at least once someone is your kid they are always your kid, unlike a husband or wife.
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee had each other's names tattooed on their ring fingers when they got married. After one of the times the couple split, Pamela had her "Tommy" tattoo altered into "Mommy". This isn't too awful of an alteration seeing how Tommy is the father of her boys. Now if only she could get rid of that hepatitis C, too.
Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams has lots of tattoos, but now he wants to clean up some of them. He's not going with the standard laser tattoo removal. Instead, he will have a new procedure where skin is grown from samples of his own skin and then sewn over the tattoos. It is similar to a skin graft, only skin isn't taken from anywhere, it is grown in a lab. This sounds pretty interesting, and hopefully he doesn't use that new skin as a blank canvas for new tattoos.
I imagine in about 10 years there will be plenty of women in their thirties who want their butterfly tramp stamps removed and guys who want their barbed wire tattoos removed. That's what you get for getting a trendy tattoo!
What makes it OK for some cartoon characters to be naked and not others? How come some animals don't have to wear pants but others do?
Clearly, cartoons aren't held to the same dressing standards as humans. That's fine, but I am curious about how a decision is made about which articles of clothing a character will and will not wear.
Both Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck have a significant piece of an outfit missing. Mickey Mouse wears shorts and gloves. He doesn't wear a shirt, but he's a guy so it's no big deal. However, Donald Duck wears a shirt and hat, but he doesn't wear any pants. Are mouse "parts" more vulgar than a duck's or something? It can't be based on sex because Daisy Duck also only wears a shirt and Minne Mouse wears a dress. Is it because duck butts are kind of cute and the animators wanted to show them off?
It can't be based on what type of animal the character is because Goofy is some sort of dog, and he wears a complete outfit, including a vest and hat. You can look to the Winnie the Pooh characters for more examples. Winnie the Pooh wears a little baby tee and Piglet wears a striped bodysuit, but Rabbit, Tigger, and Eeyore are naked.
Whether to be a naked cartoon or not isn't based on age either. Kanga (the mama kangaroo) doesn't wear any clothes. Roo (the little boy kangaroo) wears a shirt. You wouldn't want to cover up a kangaroo's pouch, but why give the little boy a shirt and not the adult mom? How backwards!
Even within the same type of animal, there are differences. Chip 'N Dale are totally naked, whereas Alvin, Simon, and Theodore are totally covered with long sleeve boy-dresses. Are Chip 'N Dale naked because their names can also refer to male strippers? There is a Chip 'N Dale movie where they are dressed in tuxedos like Chippendales. I haven't seen this movie, but maybe, just maybe, they are wearing clothing for once just so they can take it off. Oh Disney, you just might be the pervert people think you are.
There's tons of videos on YouTube about hidden messages in animated Disney movies, but here's a very short one that includes some of the most commonly talked about instances. If you prefer a video with actual movie clips and like "E-pro" by Beck, watch this one.
Since the dawn of time, there has been a great debate looming among all living beings: Who's cooler, dinosaurs or dragons? For the answer, you needn't look any further than cartoons.
The Dragons:
Maleficent - She is big, ugly, mean, and breathes fire. But, she's kind of cool since she's such a bad ass. When it comes to Disney, even the villains are popular.
Figment - If you haven't visited Journey into Imagination at Epcot, you are missing out. He's a little weird looking and his theme song will get stuck in your head like crazy, but he can fly and he gets away with interrupting all the time. When you're 6, it's cool.
Is anyone else sick of seeing the cheeseburger phone like the one used in the movie Juno? I love the movie (Go see it if you haven't already!) but I hate that phone!
I'm sure that a food-shaped phone fad is probably already underway. After seeing the Hamburger Phone on about a million blogs, I decided to see what other phones exist that look like food. Here's some of what I found:
Slang 101 is back in session for a second semester.
Kangaroo - A female who has a large lower half of the body but a regular-sized top half. Example: Her butt takes up two seats on the bus, but she wears size small shirts! What a kangaroo!
Hamwich - Ham and sandwich combined to make one word. Example: My mom packed me a hamwich and Snack Pack for lunch!
Webmerized - Being mesmerized and totally submersed in the Internet. Example: John is so webmerized that he passed up World Series tickets to stay home and play World of Warcraft.
Crop Dusting - A stealth tactic of farting while walking past a person or group, leaving behind a stench and the blame on someone else; a walk-by-farting. Example: Joseph ate at Chipotle and then went crop dusting around the mall.
Pregzilla - An unpleasant and angry pregnant female. Similar to bridezilla, the term for a heinously mean and bossy bride-to-be. Example: Janet is constantly whining about getting fat and she has hoarded all of the cookies in the house. She's such a pregzilla.
Newsflash: text messaging is NOT new. Lately, there has been an explosion of text messaging in advertisements making it seem like text messaging is this crazy new fangled method of communication. Have these businesses been living in a hole for almost ten years?
If you are old, Amish, or have been hiding out in a cave and are unfamiliar with text messaging, pick up a copy of this waste of paper. You've got opposable thumbs, so you might as well use them more often.
Take a few seconds to endure this Cingular commercial. I guess I didn't get the memo that it's the new thing to only speak the first letter of each word to communicate. I'm cool with abbreviations and some acronyms, but this is just an absurdly stupid attempt at being funny. Also, why does a 10 year-old have unsupervised cell phone access?
As I am typing this post there is a Chevy Aveo commercial on the radio talking in an exaggerated form of instant messaging and text messaging. Definitely not amusing. No even halfway normal human talks anything like this. The dialog is similar to that of the Cingular commercial, but even worse because there aren't any subtitles. I have no idea what information I was being told. That's advertising money well spent.
Sometimes, where someone has decided to get a tattoo can reveal a little something about that person's personality. Sure, it is stereotyping, but stereotypes don't just come out of no where.
Upper Arm
Classic tough guy or wannabe tough guy. If the tattoo goes all the way around the upper arm (like barbed wire) you are a tool that fell for a trend.
Neck/Face
You think you are hardcore and want that sucker to be seen by everyone all the time. Say hey to Jeffrey Sebelia for me.
Lower Back
Ahh, the "tramp stamp". You wear really low-cut jeans, let your thong peek out, and like it. You're probably just dying to be the next girl Akon brings up on stage.
Ankle
You are a good girl trying to be just a little bit bad, especially if it is a heart, flower, or cross. Nice try, but we know you still return your library books on time.
Knuckles
Intimidating others is one of your hobbies. You like words and phrases that are preferably 8 characters long.
Belly Button
You are weird for showcasing your belly button and believe that you have a good stomach that should be showed off. You probably do not have a good stomach.
Lower Hip/Groin
You think it's somewhere that no one will see it. Nice try. I know you're showing it to plenty of people.
UPDATE:
Chest
Woman: You want to draw attention to your cleavage. Plain and simple. Man: You are trying (unsuccessfully) to camouflage your man-boobs.
Shoulder Blade
You want everyone else to have to look at it, but not subject yourself to looking at it every day.
There are so many euphemisms, synonyms, slang, etc that sometimes it can be hard to know what means what. Here's some help, ya heard?
Mantastic - Feeling truly fantastic after successfully completing a very macho act. Example: After 12 beers, a giant leap over the blazing bonfire, and a long makeout session with his girlfriend, Jimmy felt mantastic.
Clicktease - When an ad or link seems like it will take you to a pornography site. It is misleading and does not take you to any kind of sexual material. Example: Darn! Instead of being an ad for a website with free pornography, it was just a clicktease that led me to a site for refinancing mortgages.
King Kong - An obnoxiously loud car stereo system. Includes sub woofers and amps to make it "thump" really hard. Example: You can hear him coming from a mile away. He's got some dope King Kong in his trunk.
