2 unlimited are back , sort of

The name 2 Unlimited still belongs to the Belgian producers, but former lovers (they confirmed it!) and bandmates Ray and Anita have put together a new single, which may be popular or not. Though commercial dance is still popular in Holland (is it popular anywhere else?) I don't reckon this is going to be a big come back, but you never know. I saw Anita in a Never mind the buzzcocks line up, so I assumed they were in the same kind of celebrity limbo that usually leads to a reality soap, but apparently they're still in the music business. Oddly enough, the duo from 2 Unlimited mark 2, the new singers recruited after contract disputes are also releasing a new single, though this unconfirmed as yet. 90's nostalgia has a lot of records to sell this January.

Castles in the Sand

How the mighty have fallen. It's funny at first, but you begin to realise after a while how horrifyingly ephemeral the internet is. For all the concern over data floating around as search results forever, i.e. those embarassing photo's you don't want your boss to see, the real horror is the total randomness of what stays popular and what doesn't. Can you imagine having spent a good portion of your time on acquiring friends on a social networking site that becomes irrelevant? Now that the internet is here to stay, maybe it's time some serious architecture and institutions are built that manage to last until this global communication network goes the way of the dodo.

Byzantine Autistic Manouvering

I just watched this movie after years of hearing how great it is. And I was stupid to avoid it, assuming that it couldn't be entertaining whatever the pitch. It actually is as amazing as every critic thought it was. The trailer is pretty self-explanatory, but it just can't convey the numerous shots of telling blank faces. Obviously, the documentary makers did a lot to come up with a narrative, as they almost always do. Interestingly enough, it only made me think of another brilliant documentary about the amount of faking needed to make a documentary,Opération Lune. Maybe every documentary should be released only with it's anti-documentary as a double bill.

Yogurt

We've been living under the horrifying spectre of random health products for so long we can't even recognize a laxative anymore. Just to reiterate what every reasonable person ought to think when they see this: A yogurt company has created a patented, trademarked new bacteria that somehow finds it's way unscathed to your lower intestines, where it performs all the oddjobs your native intestinal flora is just to damn lazy for, which you notice because of the improved regularity of your bowel movements? Where can I get it? If they can do this, why am I still waiting for tar-scrubbing nanobots in my cigarettes?

Harry Potter and the welcome explanation

I think there's not enough serious literary criticism on youtube, but this comes close. I love the juxtaposition of Rammstein and what appears to be a cheery scrapbooking template. But seriously folks, I was mystified by how bad those last three Harry Potter books were, and mostly just toed the party line (I have friends who dressed up for the various releases) and agreed that it was awesome Harry defeated Evil, despite everything feeling kind of forced and weird. Luckily, this guy took it on himself to explain why that is. I'm not pretending I felt the calvinism, but there was something strange about all the righteous vengeance and suddenly straightforward plot. Now, all I have to do is internalise this argument and I can rain fiery hell down on Rowling apologists, if it deem it necessary. I can only tender the suggestion you do the same, hilarity is bound to ensue.