Hug It Out Bitch

I dont' want to be accused of down playing a fantastic sentiment. I believe in the spirit that created Free Hug Day and believe that it is this very same spirit that will one day save us all. I could go on but I'd be doing this a huge disservice. So here - in his own words - is the verbiage from freehugcampain.com. I've also included a vid of this phenomenon in action. Don't wait until July 7th!



How it all started:

I'd been living in London when my world turned upside down and I'd had to come home. By the time my plane landed back in Sydney, all I had left was a carry on bag full of clothes and a world of troubles. No one to welcome me back, no place to call home. I was a tourist in my hometown.

Standing there in the arrivals terminal, watching other passengers meeting their waiting friends and family, with open arms and smiling faces, hugging and laughing together, I wanted someone out there to be waiting for me. To be happy to see me. To smile at me. To hug me.

So I got some cardboard and a marker and made a sign. I found the busiest pedestrian intersection in the city and held that sign aloft, with the words "Free Hugs" on both sides.

And for 15 minutes, people just stared right through me. The first person who stopped, tapped me on the shoulder and told me how her dog had just died that morning. How that morning had been the one year anniversary of her only daughter dying in a car accident. How what she needed now, when she felt most alone in the world, was a hug. I got down on one knee, we put our arms around each other and when we parted, she was smiling.

Everyone has problems and for sure mine haven't compared. But to see someone who was once frowning, smile even for a moment, is worth it every time.

The Roman Empire

One of my dearest friends is fond of saying that "Nothing has changed since the rise and fall of the Roman Empire". He's right. What he means (in my own words) is that human nature is pretty much the same now, as it was several hundred years ago.

In the (good?) old days they raped pillaged and plundered. Now we've become a bit more figurative but the theme remains the same. As human beings we continue to take what we can while we can and more if we can get our hands on it. And when devoid of a concrete solution we'd just as soon fight as not. If everyone believes as we do then we can have world peace. And thus Democracy is spread throughout the world.

In 7 days...more specifically on July 7th...the original "Free Hug Day" will be upon us. You can relax. I'm not going to ask anyone to invade a perfect stranger's personal space. You're just as likely to get a punch in the nose as you are a thank you in that situation. And you'd deserve it too.

July 7th, does however, seem like a good opportunity to be a better world citizen. Maybe it means recycling a little more than normal. It could mean that you carpool to work that day, or bus or somthing other than driving alone. Maybe it's something as simple as being nice.

Now I know what you're thinking. "There he goes again turning into a damn Hippy." Well maybe. But think about it - when was the last time someone on this ball of earth wasn't activly trying to kill someone else. You'd think that shit would get old after a while.

I personally can't think of one decade over the last 100 years that didn't have some sort of military conflict at it's forefront. You're welcome to disagree but if human nature has changed so much why was this vid so easy to make...

Those Who Survived Lived By A Simple Creed -- Any Job. Anywhere!

It is no secret that I am a tremendous dork when it comes to Science Fiction. I always have been. So on that long ago day that I ran across the Sci-Fi network (chanell 59 on my comcast cable) I knew that I was not alone.

There's this idea that I've written about before that the world is more "together" in the eyes of Science Fiction.

One of the best all time Sci-Fi shows is and shall remain Firefly. I got a little nostalgic this evening and decided to watch a few episodes amidst dinner and laundry (two of my other favorite things). If you're a fan of the show you'll really appreciate these.

This post is dedicated to this Joss Whedon's masterpiece (which not everyone likes) and us self proclaimed Browncoats. Keep flyin' my friends!


All these things that I've done


That's some bad hat Harry



Holding out for a hero


Worlds Collide



And we shall call it..."This Land"


Please Josh...Bring it Back to Life

Hit Like A Girl

A small short that is pretty well done. Jackie Chan eat your heart out.

Quick Robin! To The Way Back Machine!

"Ah yes, ah yes, ah yes."

"Thanks for tuning into W-A-G-R Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

"Now listen up all you would be band geeks"

"If you want to make it big the easy way out is to have a hit song themed around a person"

"We've had 'Dear Mr. President', 'Mr. Wendell'"

"But let's not forget 'Mr. Bob Dob A Lina' Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

I Could Teach You, But I'd Have To Charge

Courtesy of PunditKitchen.com. A delightful little webiste that allows you to add captions to pictures. Hillarity ensues.

New Meaning To The Words "Road Trip"

So this is why they put up with the hurricanes unbearable heat.



MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- A sleek, black limousine bus parked just a block from Miami Beach Police Department headquarters was being used as a brothel on wheels, a place where clients could come to solicit sex from prostitutes, police said.

"It was brazen," said Miami Beach police Detective Juan Sanchez.

Brazen not just for where the bus was parked, police said, but for how the bus' owner got prospective clients aboard -- by walking up to them on the street and describing the various sexual services available onboard.

One of those prospective clients, said Sanchez, was an undercover police officer.

"They were told what services they were providing on there and our undercover detectives went with it," said Sanchez.

According to an undercover detective who went on the bus, lap dances and sexual acts were offered for prices up to $125. Police said they recovered more than $2,000 in cash.

It was not clear how long the bus and its operators were soliciting on South Beach.

Police arrested the bus' driver, Clyde Scott, 41, and the bus' registered owner, Christine Morteh, 29. Three other women were also arrested: Leighann Redding, 24, Kimberly Daniels, 23, and Leah Harriss, 25.

The bus was impounded.

But wait there's more.

MIAMI -- The Local 10 Problem Solvers discovered hardcore porn being shot, produced and distributed right here in South Florida. But the setting isn't a darkened movie set, it's a van that could be driving right next to you.
It's sex on the move and it has a worldwide following. Local 10's Matt Lorch went undercover to find out how this operation works.
The online video shows two men in a minibus rolling around South Florida hunting for young women.

Man in van: "What's your name?

Woman on street: "Mandy."

Man in van: "Mandy's your name? Do you usually talk to strangers, Mandy?

Woman on street: "All the time."

Man in van: "What if I paid you 500 bucks to come with us."

The men offer money to get the girls in the bus.
The young women flash their breasts, and what follows is hardcore pornography that usually comes to a demeaning end with the men leaving or dumping the women on the side of the road.

Woman: "Wait. Wait. Wait! I forgot my bag. (Men drive off laughing.)
All the video was shot, produced and distributed by a Miami company called Ox Ideas. The company has at least 10 Internet pornography sites and lists Miami officers on upscale Brickell Avenue at the mouth of the Miami River, along with a warehouse on Northwest 24th Street.
Local 10's calls to the company were never returned.
Local 10 producer Michaela Mitzel became our mole. She responded to ads in alternative newspapers, called the company directly and eventually got a call back from a guy who identified himself as Olivier Caudron, a producer with Ox Ideas.
He asked Mitzel to come to their "shoot house" in a high-end area of Alton Road.
Over the course of three days Local 10 watched several young men come and go at that house.
Mitzel agreed to meet Caudron at a more public location.
Local 10 used a hidden camera while Caudron offered up plenty of information.
He said primarily the company is Internet-based and the video is seen worldwide. He estimated that conservatively they get about 100,000 hits a day.
Caudron told Mitzel that everyone on camera must sign a contract that hands the company the rights to the pornographic images.
He said the shoot itself takes anywhere between four to five hours with the actual act of having sex taking only 25 minutes.
So what's the pay for having sex on camera?
He said the pay for having sex on camera was $700 that would be in cash after the shoot.
So, what about video that shows the bus picking up women on the side of the road and dumping them when the sex is finished?
Mitzel said, "The whole scenario is staged. It's all acting, contrary to what you and I believe."
So is it misleading? Most likely -- but that doesn't mean it's illegal. And it is big business.
Internet pornography became a $2.5 billion industry last year.
More and more it's being shot in South Florida.
After Local 10's repeated calls to Ox Ideas that were not returned, we decided to track down the producer on our own.

Lorch: "Olivier, how are you? Matt Lorch with Local 10 News. I'm hoping we can have some of your time since your company won't call us back.

Caudron: "I don't have a company."

Lorch: "You don't have a company? You don't work for Ox Ideas?"

Caudron: "No, I don't.

Lorch: "That's what you've been telling our producers."

Lorch: "Do you think what you do exploits women?"

Caudron: "I don't know what you're talking about."

Lorch: "The conversation you had with our producer named Michaela."
So Lorch refreshed his memory about the details of their conversation.

Caudron: "I have nothing to say to you. I don't know what you're talking about."

After dodging Lorch's questions, Caudron hopped in his SUV, not willing to talk about his trade.
On the Web site's warning page, it does say the actions are intended for the world of fantasy and that all performers are over the age of 18.
But Local 10 wanted to know if it is legal to have sex while rolling down a public street.
In Part II, we take the video to the police to get answers.